Texas is a great place to live...don't forget Steve (aka Scorpio) is here as well. If you are looking at using busing as your transportation, Dallas is the place to live. It has bus service throughout the city and trains are becoming equally as accessible. I use them often and they are cheap and clean; they are also the best way to visit the downtown area as parking is expensive and a hassle. There is El Centro college right downtown and other satellite campuses throughout the area...yes, you must go to college and major in business. From your postings, you are too smart not to get a degree and run your own business. Oak Cliff is an area that has inexpensive housing and it is going through a true revitalization. Duncanville also offers bus service as it is still within the Dallas city limits. Neither city has a "hopping nightlife," but you are just 15 minutes from downtown.
If you are looking for more of a hip city to be in, then you must go south to Austin, the state's capital. This is "music central" in Texas. Each year there is the South by Southwest Music Festival. Last year, I met the Foo Fighters just by walking down the street. As well, being the state's capital, large corporations are based in the region. At this point I will stop rambling. I hope you will enjoy wherever you live, as I tell my daughter, it's not really where you live, but how you live!
Yeah I was kind of leaning towards Austin. I also like San Antonio which I hear has a high crime rate. Although not to sound bold but that doesnt scare me to much! Ive been to some of the worst parts of the worst cities From New York to Newark and Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Miami, San Diego and Las Vegas plus some others. Ive rarely found conflict. Im usually pretty good at avoiding it ... call it a survival skill lol. But ive heard alot of great things about Austin. I actually plan to visit Austin and take a look around for a week or 2 in the next month or so.