Gettin' Stuck in St Aug's

For a while I thought I hated this place, between breaking my foot, my tires getting slashed and rocks being thrown through windows I was really getting sick of this place. Yea, I live 2 houses away from the beach and can see the ocean at my dinner table, but once you live somewhere like this you don't appreciate it. Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck inside my head and can't get out. Skateboarding used to help me with this but I've decided to give it up because I don't want to end up on crutches again. My room-ate might be the most negative person I've ever met. He is substance dependable. Whether it's whiskey, pot, painkillers or adderall he never wants to be sober. I don't get it. We are living right on the beach and he talks about how he can't wait for college to be over. He is from Virginia Beach and I'm from New Jersey. Why is it that he feels he has to be *ucked up all the time. After a night of drinking I love just paddling out into the water and sitting there. Him on the other hand likes pop a couple pills or have another drink. He's a good kid and whenever I'm down he finds a way to talk to me and make me realize where we are. We're in Florida, people would vacation at are house and think it's sick. Now this is where I don't get it. He can get me out of a rut by talking positive to me, but then he will go and say how he is super depressed and can't handle reality. He say's he is either going to be a raging alcoholic when he is older or completely sober. His dad is a preacher which I don't understand how he is so negative but hopefully he takes the path of being sober. I mean come on, college isn't that bad, bars, parties, surfing, sun and a little bit of work sounds like the life to me right?

Is it the just the schools in the south??

I dont know what it is. I used to always feel super stressed out wherever I was. Back in 5th grade one of my teachers gave me a nervous habit of picking underneath my thumb and middle finger nails. This habit would end in summer then I would pick it right back up once the next school year would start. This followed all the way into high school and into college. When I attended University of Rhode Island I think this habit hit it's peak. My thumb nails were almost completely picked off and the numbing cold would be extremely painful. After being in St. Augustine I have found that the picking is at it's minimum. I dot know what it is. Maybe it's the laid back teachers. It's not that their laid back but they will listen to anything you have to say. At URI I would go in and talk to teachers after class and they would act like I wasn't even a person but a number. Yes, some of URI's classes had up to 3oo people in them but even the classes that had just 20 in them the teachers would seem like they didn't care about their students. Here at Flagler I feel as though every single one of my teachers would go a mile for me. If I went in for help with a paper, the teacher would spend as much time as I needed until I felt comfortable. Is this another difference between the south and the north or is it just different schools?

Home Cooked Meal??

Living here on my own right by the beach I find myself eating many cans of tuna and eggs. Nothing to special. Every now and then on a Sunday we'll cook some pasta but thats about it. I got invited to a friends house for a home cooked meal. All I heard was the word steak and shrimp and I said "I"m in."

So I went on over to her house and all I could think about was that juicy salty steak. For an appetizer she brought out some grits. Oh boy do I hate grits. I sucked it up and pretended they were good but once she left the table I spooned it into the nearby garbage. Next she brought out some fried shrimp. This was very good but was a little greasy. Coming from an Italian family I'm not to used to fried foods.

She dumbed something on my plate, I had no idea what it was. I thought it was just a huge chicken nugget. Nope, I was wrong. "It's country fried steak." I have never even heard of this but it was actually very good. I really don't know what it is about the south and frying everything. Maybe it's because its the easy way out or maybe they just like the taste of everything fried.

"EY GIT BAK DER TO JER-Z"

As I look in my mirror and switch lanes on 312 today, a man in an old beat up pick up truck decides to ride my ass. Instead of slamming on my breaks and letting him hit me, I switched into another lane. At the next red light the man pulled up next to me. I just looked over and stared at him noticing his appearance: camo hat, dip in his lip, toothpick hanging from the side of his mouth, oversized haggard beard and long straw-like hair. I knew he wanted to say something so I just kept staring at him. Soon enough he took the tooth pick out of his mouth and said " Eyder git bak to jer-z wit dat kinda drivan". Now I really didn't do anything out of the norm. He was way behind me and as I switched lanes he floored his car and decided to ride me. All I could think about was how he really just saw my New Jersey plates and got pissed off. He was probably just on his way to the store to get some more Natural Ice and a can of dip.

Do people actually care?

What i do notice a lot of down south, is people will start conversations with you anywhere. I mean up north people say hi or hows it going. But here down south people seem like they actually care. After someone asks you hows it going, and you start telling them, they will actually stand there and listen and continue to talk to you.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in the twilight zone a lot of the times. There have been many

times that I find myself having a conversation with someone whether I'm at the grocery store or just grabbing a cup of coffee somewhere.

I can only remember a couple times up north that I have held a conversation with a complete stranger for more then 5 minutes. So if you ask me....people down south really do care.

Sluggish South??

Is the south slow, or is the north just really fast paced? Is it laziness or are people up north just always in a rush for no reason? I told all my friends up north that people down here are so slow. My mother always tells me she's nervous I am going to become more slow from living down here. She always gets mad at me for my "chill" or "relaxed" personality. It's not that I'm slow, for the most part I am "chill" and "relaxed", but I know when to be. Every job I'v ever had I have always gotten promoted. In one month being at a high-end grocery store, I went from scanning veggies to Floor Manager and Book-keeper. Only if my mom could realize I am different from how I am at work and how I am at school/work. I feel as though this relates to the south. People are not lazy down here, they just have a whole different way of looking at life. Why rush it, and get pissed off at the person who can't get the change out of his pocket quick enough. Everywhere I go with my mom she ends up getting pissed at someone:whether were at CVS getting shampoo or at Starbucks getting coffee. Whenever she says something to someone she gives them such an attitude. I usually nudge her on the side and tell her to stop and she usually does. Then we walk out of the store and I ask her why she got so aggravated and I tell her it wasn't the cashiers fault. Then I go on and ask her "What the hell are we in a rush for?" Were usually just going straight home, therefore there was no need for her to get mad in the first place.

Beach Bums in St Augy

One thing I still don't understand and can't get a grasp on is why there are so many bums everywhere? Any and everywhere you look their is always a dude with gnarly hair and a huge beard, oversized backpack, asking you for some money or standing there on the corner of a red light with a sign reading " Need work". I just dont get it. The bums here aren't your normal bums either. Up north the bums in New York are actually homeless for a reason. I'v talked to many bums up north and the reason their living on the street is because they had a sh*ty past and ended up here and its to late to get a job, they have nothing. I'v had multiple conversations with the bums here and usually they say its a lifestyle. They think its a way of life, be a bum, and mooch of other people. A way of life, are you f*ckin' kidding me. If its a way of life, im not giving you any money. The only time I gave a bum money here was when I saw he had 2 dogs with him. I walked up to the little convenient store, saw a girl and guy( both of which had dreads, now dont take me wrong, I thing dreads are sick, just tryina give some visuals here) and 2 dirty but at the same time cute dogs just posted up chillin. As I was about to open the door, the guy said " Uh, hey mannn, you got any money?" He was definitely stoned outa his mind, but that goes with the "lifestyle" you know, just straight living the dream. So I said "hold up dude" and I walked inside all i could think about was if I gave him money, he was just gona blow it on some weed for him and his grimey lookin girl. So instead of givin him money, i went over and grabbed a decent sized cold water, and a big can of wet doggy food. I grabbed a coffee cup for them to put the water for the lil doggies. The dogs were super happy after I opened the cans of food and gave it to them, I felt bad because they were lookin at me like they wanted a nice pet behind the ears, but I really didnt feel like smellin for the rest of the day.

The bums here in St Augy kinda remind me of that movie "Into the Wild" with Emile Hirsch, he plays a kid who just graduated college and doesnt want to deal with the cultural norm of going back to grad school, getting a set job and family. He cuts all his credit cards, burns is social security number and changes his name. He believes that happiness can be obtained just living in nature, not dealing with the money, not getting jobs, not creating a family, not falling in love etc. He soon dies by himself, and the last thing he said was " happiness is only real when shared".