Sidebar:
I have been to Texas 2 times, and both were very different situations.
The first time I went to Texas I had a layover in George Bush Airport in Houston. As soon as I was greeted with a giant Fox News store, right in the airport with Fox News on no less than 6 giant flat screens.
I soon noticed that about 1 in 10 people (which was a LOT of people) were wearing the same orange hoodie, which I eventually figured out was a Texas Longhorns thing. This continued throughout the entire airport.
I got thirsty and started looking for a store to buy a Coke, but I couldn't find a single one. However, I did find 3 separate stores selling BBQ sauce.
As I boarded my plane, I noticed the guy next to me was reading Sara Palin's book. So take that all as you will, it goes without saying that I walked face first into stereotype central.
The second time I went to Texas it was a little different. I drove through with starla. As I past through west Texas the smell of oil fumes gave me a pretty bad headache, but it was interesting to see all the wind power they have out there. It was also kind of strange to see oil pumps in the middle of cotton fields o.o
We went through I don't even know how many small (very very small) towns, ALL of which had a "Home of (High School Football Team)" sign. SOME had hand painted anti-Obama, pro-McCain/Palin, but I'd say I saw less than 10 total.
When I got to Austin I was actually really surprised. Austin was like nothing else I had experienced in Texas. HUGELY urban, very hipster, just a pretty cool place, honestly (not that I'm into the hipster thing, but it was a breathe of fresh air). A friend of mine there took us to a nice local restaurant, I got a Lone Star Beer, had an excellent turkey sandwich. Afterwards we went to Austin's 6th Street which was...definitely a welcome sight. Even on a Thursday night is pretty pretty happening, and I went to some damn cool bars there.
My experience showed me that Texas is FULL of grey area, and I feel like a lot of the bad reputation it gets is from the lower populated areas. I will say that a lot of Texas feels like another country all of its own. Texas stars are on everything (highways, banks, gas stations, McDonald's), and everything there is "Texas Tire Repair" or "First National Bank of Texas". Everything in Austin is "Capital of Texas (whatever)." Texas LOVES Texas.
BACK TO THE TOPIC:
I haven't even really turned on my Playstation since the outtage, now. My PC and PSN both died at the same time, so I've been unable to really get into Portal 2 with starla, and now I'm just getting more and more used to using my newly purchased 360 instead.
By the end of May PSN may have completely vanished from my memory if there's not some super sweet exclusive PS3 title coming