Masato wrote:Grateful Dude wrote:Masato wrote:
You're from Texas?
wow that's interesting. I only know legends and rumors about that mythical land. Met a few Texans, they tend to be memorable folks, for good or for naught lol
Well, I’m originally from the middle of nowhere small town cornfields of Illinois. Moved down here for grad school and never left. Been in Austin for about 20 years now, so I’m like half a native Texan?
It is a unique land, and like you said, I’ve met a lot of interesting and wild people down here (good and bad). Austin has been a good fit, but growing too rapidly for my liking. Austin has this weird hybrid of country and hippie kind of people that I seem get on with well, and I’ve always found them interesting. Had never seen that type of people until I came here hah.
Hey Grateful Dude, thanks for sharing. I love when folks share a little peek of their part of the world... I think place to place around the world differs more greatly than we tend to assume, every location has its unique aura or whatever. I trip out to think that there are basically infinite little pockets like this that we will never know. And some we might get to know.
Do you think you will go back to Illinois one day? Any meaningful roots there?
When I see the name Illinois I always think of the Blues Brothers, lol
We Canadians always make fun of the ignorant americans who don't know shit about Canada, but truly the same goes the other way, all I really know of the states is what we see on the TVs, for sure its distorted terribly lol
Have you ever seen around where our friend Mega lives?
As far as going back to Illinois...perhaps for a visit, but I'll never move back there. If this makes sense, it was a good place to grow up, but not to stay. I had a great childhood there, we had plenty of room to roam and everything we needed to be happy (and a bit wild). But by the time I got done with high school, I knew I had to get out of there and see more of the world. I honestly and truly can't imagine what my life would be like if I was still living there. And unfortunately, I've heard that all the small towns around where I grew up are infested with meth nowadays and have all gone pretty far downhill.
My folks (and 3 adopted kids now) still live in Illinois, but not in the town where I grew up (i.e. not much reason to go back to my hometown anymore). That's about my only strong tie to Illinois still. I have only stayed in touch with select hometown friends over the years, and all of them have moved on to other states too. I do still have some aunts/uncles and cousins in Chicago (Blues Brothers!), and I never mind visiting there every once in a while. In the past 15 years or so I think I've only made two trips back to Illinois. My brother and his family are here in Austin too, so my folks generally like to get away from the rural cornfields and come visit us down here instead of the other way.
I haven't seen in person where Mega lives, but I believe Mega is in the beautiful land of BC correct? I've been a mountain biker for many years now, and several spots in BC are on my bucket list of locations to come visit and ride someday. BC is a Mecca for us forest bikers
My wife has never had her tent stakes too firmly planted in a given town (she moved around a fair bit as a kid, whereas I always lived in the same town until college), and this Texas stint is the longest she's ever lived in one place. So she's kind of always got the itch to get out of here. Austin has been a good place for us, but at the rate it is growing and changing (not to mention the cost of living), I don't see us staying here forever. For now we are tied here because of my job, but I'd love to go a little more rural and in the mountains somewhere and enjoy a mellower pace to life