defend the indefensible: living in florida

The thing which finally made them that Florida was not for them: We were driving down, and we drove through a small town in Northern Florida, and along the Main Street there was a big ol' KKK demonstration. They were standing on the street corners with signs, waving at the passers-by. My stepfather had to quickly talk my mother out of driving directly into the demonstrators.

When we got back home, they put the condo up for sale. "

I don't know how far from Tampa "outside of Tampa" is, but this is mostly bullshit. Yeah Florida is horrible in the summer but winters are horrible up north, and your parents should have realized this before they moved here. There are dozens of excellent nonchain restaurants in Tampa - just drive a little bit up North Armenia and you'll pass at least 20. If insects are a problem screen in your porch/balcony. And as for the old "nothing to do", please - they probably put as much effort into finding "things to do" as they did finding good restaurants. Rural Florida is The South, true, which is why I live in the city.

All the anti-Florida stuff in this thread was just lame. For being supposedly smart hipsters, I'd expect more than some alligator jokes.

I guess we could have found more things to do. We could have gone to the Dali museum again, or perhaps drive an hour for some dinner theater. At least the lack of interesting things to do, the stiflingly hot weather, and the swarms of insects meant we got to spend some "quality time" together inside our condo.

Oh, also, all the beaches we tried along the Gulf were the pits.

But this is about defending the indefensible, so: Weeki Wachee is fantastic. Although last I heard, it was in danger of being shut down. And there were these egrets who lived in the parking spaces next to ours -- there were three of them, and they were there every time we visited, always in that same parking spot, and they were the greatest thing about the only state in the union that I have no interest in setting foot in ever again.

Actually, the thing I miss most about Florida (other than my parents) is the lizards, snakes and turtles you could see nearly any time. You'd walk by a bush next to the house, and there'd be this great rustling sound of dozens of lizards scurrying for cover!

My parents never had air conditioning the whole time I was growing up. The best we could afford was a large FAN. Today I absolutely cringe at the thought but back then I was fine! Of course, in Seattle I now wear t-shirts in 50-degree weather, when in Florida that temperature would have seen me in MULTIPLE sweaters.

for a minute there, i thought that you were referring to FL's governor and his extended family!

where i learned that alligator tastes like chicken

(xpost with Vicky's lovely photos)

-- Layna Andersen (layn...), October 29th, 2004.

we have these in South Carolina too!

i went to a friend's house once, and he came out of his garage with one on his shoulder. for a second i thought he had one as a pet! i asked him about it and he saw it and was like, "gah!"

to clarify, for a second i thought it was one of those huge hissing cockroaches they sell at exotic pet stores.

Season Tix to Diseny = cheap getaway to a land that is well designed and serves real alcohol. Epcot especially. Like an 82 world's fair that never went away...although they're slowly destroying it.

St. John's county beaches are pristine and barely discovered. 60's oldies radio sounds so good in that setting.

Classic 80's Miami Bass, of course.

Listening to my beloved Brazilian pop/jazz makes more sense driving down A1A than it does sitting in my shoebox apartment here in NYC.

And needless to say, in 20 years, I made a number of really smart really good friends, but it's pulling teeth to find those people.

Destroy the rest, which is an assload.

When I worked for an insurance brokerage in north florida about 4 years ago, the salesmen insisted on telling me what I could do for their "clonce". It took nearly a month for me to figure out they were talking about their "clients".

Floridud.

I did become very curious about this so I took a drive into it one day. Very creepy to say the least. Twighlight Zone-ish.

Can you imagine being 14 and telling people at school "i live in celebration". Pretty in Pink part II.

I went to college with a guy from Celebration. Just as weird as you might expect -- never wanted to talk about it.

I used to loathe Florida until I went on a 5-day canoe trip through the 'Glades and up the western coast. Fan-fucking-tastic. Nowhere in Cali feels as tropical, in my experience (ie - muggy).

Heh. South Florida is NOTHING like this. More like Hispanics and indie-too-lates.

Also, about the bookstores: where in S. Florida do you live? Cuz "Books & Books" or whatever it's called-- that is a totally great bookstore. Everything that a corporate bookstore should be (as in a vast selection of everything including an entire room of art/architecture/poetry), but not corporate. And their sandwiches are killer.

One of the places they like to loiter is:

http://www.electroalliance.net/

Books & Books is truly the exception -- it is, in fact, the only independent bookstore in South Florida. I worked at B&B's South Beach store for close to three years. On some days I wish I still did.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/30/jailed.rapevictim.ap/index.html

TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- A college student who told police she had been raped was jailed for two days after officers found an old warrant accusing her of failing to pay restitution for a 2003 theft arrest.

While she was behind bars, a jail worker refused to give her a second dose of the morning-after contraceptive pill because of the worker's religious convictions, the college student's attorney said.

http://www.wftv.com/news/6253589/detail.html

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Sanford mother says she will never be able to hold her newborn because an Orlando hospital performed a life-altering surgery and, she claims, the hospital refuses to explain why they left her as a multiple amputee.

The woman filed a complaint against Orlando Regional Healthcare Systems, she said, because they won't tell her exactly what happened. The hospital maintains the woman wants to know information that would violate other patients' rights.

Claudia Mejia gave birth eight and a half months ago at Orlando Regional South Seminole. She was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center in Orlando where her arms and legs were amputated. She was told she had streptococcus, a flesh eating bacteria, and toxic shock syndrome, but no further explanation was given.

The hospital, in a letter, wrote that if she wanted to find out exactly what happened, she would have to sue them.

"I want to know what happened. I went to deliver my baby and I came out like this," Mejia said.

Mejia said after she gave birth to Mathew last spring, she was kept in the hospital with complications. Twelve days after giving birth at Orlando Regional South Seminole hospital, she was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center where she became a quadruple amputee. Now she can not care for or hold her baby.

"Yeah, I want to pick him up. He wants me to pick him up. I can't. I want to, but I can't," she said. "Woke up from surgery and I had no arms and no legs. No one told me anything. My arms and legs were just gone."

Her 7-year-old son, Jorge, asks his mother over and over what happened to her. Neither she nor her husband has the answer.

"I love her, so I'll always stick with her and take it a day at a time myself," said her husband, Tim Edwards.

The couple wants to know how she caught streptococcus, during labor or after. She doesn't know. She knows she didn't leave the hospital the same.

"And why, I want to know why this happened," she said.

Her attorney, Judy Hyman wrote ORHS a letter saying, according to the Florida statute, "The Patients Right To Know About Adverse Medical Incidents Act," the hospital must give her the records.

"When the statute is named 'Patients Right To Know,' I don't know how it could be clearer," Hyman said.

The hospital's lawyers wrote back, "Ms. Mejia's request may require legal resolution." In other words, according to their interpretation of the law, Mejia has to sue them to get information about herself.

That's the sticking point, the interpretation of the Patients Right To Know act, a constitutional amendment Florida voters passed a little more than a year ago.

Mejia's other attorney, E. Clay Parker, said the hospital is not following the law

"We were forced to file this and ask a judge to interpret the constitutional amendment and do right," Parker said.

Mejia hopes the right thing is done. She said not knowing exactly why it happened is unbearable. She only hopes she'll be able to soon answer her little boy's question, 'What happened?'

"He told me everyday, 'What happened,' and I don't have any answers for that," she said.

ORMC said Mejia is requesting information on if there were other patients or someone on her floor with the streptococcus. They said, if they release that to her, that would be a violation of other patients' rights.

I saw a picture of 1000 people lining up to fill in 35 job positions to be a firefighter in Miami on an NYT from last week. oy.

Those who would sacrifice culture for weather deserve neither.

http://gawker.com/5951314/used-enemas-resold-to-cvs-customers-after-being-resealed-and-returned

mugshot = O_O

story = O_*

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/wildlife-officials-ready-to-round-up-menacing-tegu-lizards-video/2190506

Yeah, Florida will never run out of invasive species to hunt.

usually they're called the sick and elderly.

Good news for Floridians: significantly less toilet iguanas in your future
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/22/toilet-invading-iguanas-invasive-species-banned-florida