Three days a week I sit in a car with two older ladies for at least 3 hours. This time is spent sometimes in silent thought, with NPR on the radio and each of us thinking about the acts we must do for pay that day, other days though are filled with deep intellectual conversation.
One of the woman is a mid 40s Filipino from a rich and traditional family, the other a early 50s Jamaican from Brooklyn with a husband who is tied directly to the NYSE. I, I am the anomaly here, the young one, the male, the 20something, as these two ladies begin the plans to transition from the manufacturing to the meditation chapters of life I am also in transition, but from the matriculate to manufacturer.
We share ideas, views, and laughs. Most of our conversation is spurred on by the NPR stories we are all half listening to as we interact with our phones, the portals to the information that directly affects our commute. Each of us are much more connected to these information interfaces than with each other the idea of complete silence in such a close proximity to other people seems rude to ignore so we have conversation, none of it being very exposing but all of it being much easier to take in than the silence that no conversation would require.
These conversations though have revealed to me the stark differences in the realities between generations. The death of dreams from one generation to the next and the rise of new dreams in their place. The three of us, me the professor of Sociology, the Filipino the socially aware para-legal, and the Jamaican from New York, all have our interest, albeit each distinctively different, in the #OccupyWallStreet.
I though feel more than a detached gross interests in this deviancy toward the status quo. I feel connected to the protesters. I am part of the 99%. I am part of this 'Forgotten Generation.' As much as I pretend to have it all together, as much as I seem to have it all together, I am reminded daily that it is all much more fragile than it should be.
I followed all the rules, did all of what I was told to do, for what? For a contract job (that don't get me wrong I do love but do wish it was more than just a part time semester to semester contract) that I am never certain what the future holds with it. I have the education, the clean criminal and credit record, the creative mind, the connections that impress, and the family that continually lifts me up. Even with all this I still find myself finding more simularities to those in Union Park than I do to those in my carpool. Why? Why do I feel more connected to seemingly dirty hippies in a park than to those who work in the buildings around me?
I think it because of the future outlooks. I share a future of uncertainity, of despair, of hardship. This, of course, due in small part to the refusal for the greatest generation and the silent generation to look beyond their own realities to those of future generations. The silent genration has finally spoken up and stolen away our future. Generation X has seen this reality and has stepped up its claim for a part of the dreams pie that those that preced partook of. This though has little to no pie for us, the Y, the Millienials, the lost boys of the 21st Century. We are this centuries forgotten generation.
Our schools are improving, our colleges are attempting to fix the issues surrounding cost and accessibility, companies are looking at new ways to train employees. All this though leaves a generation in the margins, our children will inherit a educational, political, and environmental world that is much improved; our parents will retire from jobs of meaning with no doubt of their social security ever being stopped. This generation, my generation, has been told from the beginning that we will not have social security, and know on top of that the way we were supposed to prepare for the future (that being of course through ample education and devotion to corporations) is now also not delivering. We are the forgottens. The generation that will have to fix the self obsessed actions of our parents cohort and prepare the way for a positive cosmos for our children. We though are the builders of this bright future. When great projects are undertaken the workman though, the builders themselves, rarely see the completion of the greatness. They rarely are able to bask in the awesomeness of their creation.
Right now though we have yet to be given the tools for this undertaking, right now we are still sitting at the gates, unmistakably taking up residence at the literally and physical doorways of power, Wall Street itself. We, as a generation, as standing up and demanding to let in on the conversations, demanding that we are allowed the dream the dreams we were promised, demanding that we be heard, demanding that now is the time for this great undertaking.
Now it should be noted that I am no way an anarchist or agreeing with the outrageous demands that some associated with this movement have stated. I am but a 20something that did every thing right all to end up nowhere near the promised lands that my teachers, my seniors, promised to me. I still believe this promise land exist but now I must prepare for a much longer journey there, all the time knowing that few ever see the promise lands that set out for. I hope that I can at least stand on a mountain and look beyond the last few obstacles that stand between the desert and the land of opportunity, or equality, of stability. Once I believed that I would have opportunities to enjoy the realities of this land but now my hope is to see at least have the confirmation, the certainty, that future generations will be able to enjoy. My role is not that of resident but of trailblazer towards it.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Confession of love...for a city.
So work has been going well. I had some car problems last week but now everything is good and the car is driving better than ever.
With October already here I've been looking to the future a lot lately. Right now I am at my dream job. Every day I realize that almost everything I have ever wanted I have. While that feeling is one of amazement and pure joy there is also a nagging 'now what' that keeps tugging at my thoughts. My teaching contract expires in December and as of right now I have absolutely no idea where the future is taking me.
I've been toying around with the idea of going back to school. I am placing my hope that the economy rebounds sooner than later, but I did that same move in 2008 and ended up in a dead end job at a bankrupt company. That move is what caused me to realize it was time to get my M.A. So the same move again has me worried.
All in all though I am much more optimistic about the local economy than many other people seem to be. Orlando is building itself up to be able to weather these economic storms much stronger than it did before and the next year will be one of massive job creation in the region. With the Lake Nona Medical City finally coming online and the pre-recession hotel occupancy already back I am sure that 2012 will be a year of steady growth for the City Beautiful.
My concern though stems from finding where I fit into all this. I love Orlando. I use love only because there isn't a stronger word than that to describe my infatuation with this region. Some people find it odd that I am actually a fanboy of a city. But why not? There are plenty of trekkies, star wars has the 501st Legion, and this weeks Apple news only shows the obsession that many people have with this company. So if people can be fanboys of corporations and movies why not of cities?
Of course this lends itself to some difficulties in life. When one is obsessed with a city how does one look for career opportunities that are not within that region? As of right now the city I love seems to be giving not as much love back and that means even though I love it I may have to leave it.
Now one thing about obsessions though is that when someone has one they quickly become an expert on that topic. Just as a trekkie could be able to tell you all the planets visited in the original series I too am able to quickly reference numerous projects around the Central Florida region. This knowledge lends itself to a certain depth of understanding that I struggle to find in many others. And those that I do find it in seem to be as optimistic about Orlando as I am. Now this may be all of us denying the realities of the economy or may be that we truly see something deeper, something more powerful than what shows up on the radar of economist and politicians.
I don't know what the future holds but I am hopeful that in the end my optimistic, albeit possibly childish, beliefs in Orlando economic rebound beyond that of what any economist would openly discuss lends itself to allowing me to fall more deeply in love with this beautiful city, the City Beautiful.
With October already here I've been looking to the future a lot lately. Right now I am at my dream job. Every day I realize that almost everything I have ever wanted I have. While that feeling is one of amazement and pure joy there is also a nagging 'now what' that keeps tugging at my thoughts. My teaching contract expires in December and as of right now I have absolutely no idea where the future is taking me.
I've been toying around with the idea of going back to school. I am placing my hope that the economy rebounds sooner than later, but I did that same move in 2008 and ended up in a dead end job at a bankrupt company. That move is what caused me to realize it was time to get my M.A. So the same move again has me worried.
All in all though I am much more optimistic about the local economy than many other people seem to be. Orlando is building itself up to be able to weather these economic storms much stronger than it did before and the next year will be one of massive job creation in the region. With the Lake Nona Medical City finally coming online and the pre-recession hotel occupancy already back I am sure that 2012 will be a year of steady growth for the City Beautiful.
My concern though stems from finding where I fit into all this. I love Orlando. I use love only because there isn't a stronger word than that to describe my infatuation with this region. Some people find it odd that I am actually a fanboy of a city. But why not? There are plenty of trekkies, star wars has the 501st Legion, and this weeks Apple news only shows the obsession that many people have with this company. So if people can be fanboys of corporations and movies why not of cities?
Of course this lends itself to some difficulties in life. When one is obsessed with a city how does one look for career opportunities that are not within that region? As of right now the city I love seems to be giving not as much love back and that means even though I love it I may have to leave it.
Now one thing about obsessions though is that when someone has one they quickly become an expert on that topic. Just as a trekkie could be able to tell you all the planets visited in the original series I too am able to quickly reference numerous projects around the Central Florida region. This knowledge lends itself to a certain depth of understanding that I struggle to find in many others. And those that I do find it in seem to be as optimistic about Orlando as I am. Now this may be all of us denying the realities of the economy or may be that we truly see something deeper, something more powerful than what shows up on the radar of economist and politicians.
I don't know what the future holds but I am hopeful that in the end my optimistic, albeit possibly childish, beliefs in Orlando economic rebound beyond that of what any economist would openly discuss lends itself to allowing me to fall more deeply in love with this beautiful city, the City Beautiful.
Friday, September 23, 2011
4 months, a life a new.
Wow, that went by fast! Time to get back into blogging. You know me, I have such a love-hate relationship with blogging. I just get pulled back to it. I feel so connected to this medium, for 8 years, off and on, back and forth, through the highs and lows.
I sure left off in May in a low. Life was getting rough for awhile there. Freshly out of grad school, no job, and I started to fear that would be my new normal.
But now let me pick back up. So many changes in 4 months.
Let me give you the short run down then I'll go into details about them. Maybe I'll just give the overview tonight and go into the details in coming up entries.
So here is the run down of all that has happened.
Um, I was working at the coffee shop-yeah, I quit that, more on that later.
So now I've found a real career. I'm a professor now at a school in the Tampa region. I love it. It's only an adjunct position through December. Hopefully they offer me another contract for the spring semester. For now though I am loving this job. This is what I am meant to do. I am part of a carpool to Tampa the three days a week I teach.
I am still at UCF working in the sociology lab. Sure the work there is few and far between but its good while it last.
My roommate Brian moved out and now we have a new awesome roommate S. from Calcutta. It's a great cross-cultural experience.
I'm still single but there is someone I been talking to. Actually I have a few people I'm interested in but only one that really stands out. I'll keep you informed how it all goes.
I just left the coffee shop last week (thus the reason I have time to even write this). I was working in Tampa three days a week and at the coffee shop 3-4 days a week. It was rough and not needed. I wanted to stay at the coffee shop but with their lack of ability to schedule me for less hours and the amount of energy it took out of me for such little pay. I was not sleeping, going 40 or more hours on less than 4 hours of sleep. Like I said, it was rough, but worth it. I finally was able to focus my energy on teaching and education. I teach sociology and even with all the education I've taken in these past years I still feel totally inadequate for teaching it. I spend so much time researching and confirming what I think is the answer. Each class day I focus both on the topics of our book and a different sociologist. This means I spend a ton of time researching different sociologist and looking into how they link back to the topics that each class time focuses on. I also included at least two videos in each class, I try to include a recent current news story, and some type of class interaction time. This takes a massive amount of time. I use the book website and base my powerpoints on theirs but it still takes a large amount of time to rewrite, improve, and adjust them with all the aspects that I like to see in the class.
Well this is getting long and I've been trying not to fall asleep. It was a rough day, ripped my pants, forgot my phone, had no gas when I thought I did, forgot to pack my computer charger, at least 6 accidents on the way to work, yeah insane day. You know though, even with all the rough and insane that I must put up with, at the end of class, after the last student has left and before the first for the next class come in, there in that second I stop, look around, realize that I am living my dream and that no matter what life is good.
Good night, thanks for reading, and welcome to the wormhole.
I sure left off in May in a low. Life was getting rough for awhile there. Freshly out of grad school, no job, and I started to fear that would be my new normal.
But now let me pick back up. So many changes in 4 months.
Let me give you the short run down then I'll go into details about them. Maybe I'll just give the overview tonight and go into the details in coming up entries.
So here is the run down of all that has happened.
Um, I was working at the coffee shop-yeah, I quit that, more on that later.
So now I've found a real career. I'm a professor now at a school in the Tampa region. I love it. It's only an adjunct position through December. Hopefully they offer me another contract for the spring semester. For now though I am loving this job. This is what I am meant to do. I am part of a carpool to Tampa the three days a week I teach.
I am still at UCF working in the sociology lab. Sure the work there is few and far between but its good while it last.
My roommate Brian moved out and now we have a new awesome roommate S. from Calcutta. It's a great cross-cultural experience.
I'm still single but there is someone I been talking to. Actually I have a few people I'm interested in but only one that really stands out. I'll keep you informed how it all goes.
I just left the coffee shop last week (thus the reason I have time to even write this). I was working in Tampa three days a week and at the coffee shop 3-4 days a week. It was rough and not needed. I wanted to stay at the coffee shop but with their lack of ability to schedule me for less hours and the amount of energy it took out of me for such little pay. I was not sleeping, going 40 or more hours on less than 4 hours of sleep. Like I said, it was rough, but worth it. I finally was able to focus my energy on teaching and education. I teach sociology and even with all the education I've taken in these past years I still feel totally inadequate for teaching it. I spend so much time researching and confirming what I think is the answer. Each class day I focus both on the topics of our book and a different sociologist. This means I spend a ton of time researching different sociologist and looking into how they link back to the topics that each class time focuses on. I also included at least two videos in each class, I try to include a recent current news story, and some type of class interaction time. This takes a massive amount of time. I use the book website and base my powerpoints on theirs but it still takes a large amount of time to rewrite, improve, and adjust them with all the aspects that I like to see in the class.
Well this is getting long and I've been trying not to fall asleep. It was a rough day, ripped my pants, forgot my phone, had no gas when I thought I did, forgot to pack my computer charger, at least 6 accidents on the way to work, yeah insane day. You know though, even with all the rough and insane that I must put up with, at the end of class, after the last student has left and before the first for the next class come in, there in that second I stop, look around, realize that I am living my dream and that no matter what life is good.
Good night, thanks for reading, and welcome to the wormhole.
Friday, May 20, 2011
The life, well at least one aspect of that life, that I dreamed about and got!
So the last few days I've been up at my parents place relaxing before the next survey kicks off in the research lab. I know once I start a full time job I won't have a lot of time to spend with my parents so I want to come home one last time before I get that job. That one last time has turned into like 4 visits now but you can't spend too much time with your parents...wait yes you can! lol. No I love my parents to death and as our dog Beethoven gets older I cherish every moment I get to spend with her. I was there when she was born in the living room of our old house just 3 days after Christmas in 1998 and we have a bond that few people seem to have with a pet.
While I do love the time with my parents in their new, well a little remodeled and extensively cleaned, beach-esqe cottage in Mt Dora the time I spend outside of their house makes me realize both how much I have changed since leaving Lake county in 2002 for college and how much I now take for granted. Every time I come here I am shocked by the lack of customer service, the huge amounts of old people EVERYWHERE, and how spread out every thing is. I love Mt.Dora, don't get me wrong, but I can't stand the idea of having to drive everywhere.
I now live in a type of neighborhood that all my life I've only dreamed of living in. Well let me give a quick run down and explanation here so you can understand where I am coming from. This is a rough summary and dont hold these dates to any level of exactness
6months old-5- Mt. Plymouth--A house in the woods, on a dirt road a few wooded lots from the paved road and golf course. My earliest memories are of my parents and I walking through the woods to our neighbors house, past an abandoned playground overtaken by the woods. Also memories of walking along the golf course (modeled after the St. Andrews course in Scotland )in the evenings with my parents. There was also a peacock who seemed as interested in me as I was in him. He even brought his lady friend over to our house one day as I messed around in the backyard. From there we moved to a rental property.
5-6yrs old- Mt Dora-- This was the most urban place I ever lived. We rented this house while building our house in Yalaha. It was a small house on a cul-de-sac. We lived next to my elementary school principle. Each day we would walk through the cemetery across the street and would feed the goats in the retention pond area nearby. It was a few blocks from downtown but still have a very suburban feel to it. From here we moved to the middle of nowhere in a place called Yalaha (yes the same Yalaha now made famous by the Yalaha Bakery).
7yrs old-Yalaha--We lived in a huge house (3 finished bedrooms with 4 partly unfinished ones upstairs), with 30 foot ceilings in the living room on top of one of the biggest hills in all of Central Florida. From my splattered painted bedroom I could see the fireworks at Disney every night. While our house was amazing it was in the middle of nowhere and after a year my parents driving back and forth to Mt Dora each and every day we moved.
Part of 7 and 8-Tavares--From Yalaha my parents bought some land in the middle of nowhere near Umatilla, Florida (close to Lake Dalhouise for my readers familiar with Lake county). While our next house was being built we rented an apartment in a small single story complex in Tavares. This was my only experience ever living in an apartment till I moved off to college. There were many kids in the neighborhood. I practiced basketball, would bike ride around the circle of the apartment complex, I would go explore the woods behind the apartment complex, climb under the fence to explore to orange grove. I went to friends house when his parents weren't home and we watched Disney Channel. It was the most people I ever lived around and I loved it. Then we moved back to the middle of nowhere.
8-17years old-Umatilla/Eustis--On Halloween weekend of 1993 we moved into our brand new house in the middle of nowhere between Mt. Dora, Eustis, and Umatilla. We had just started going to church in Umatilla and I was now going to a new school in Mt. Dora. We were about 3 and half miles from Umatilla, about 8 miles from downtown Mt Dora but around us was nothing but a few mansions (on the lake) and cows.
We lived about a quarter mile from the original retirement compound/castle of Dr Edgar James Banks, the early 20th century archeologist that Indian Jones is said to be based upon. While it was cool living near semi-famous people and former mafia owned mansions the idea of having the only kids in the neighborhood be the calves that I witnessed the birth of. There were a few kids in the neighborhood across the street but for whatever reason I never really met them or hung out. After moving much closer to my school my school moved far far away. It was originally close to our house but after the first year it moved to the other side of Leesburg, a good 45mins from the house. My mother would wake me up early each morning and I would do the drive. I tried a closer to school for about half a year but it just wasn't for me so back to the 45min drive. I did have friends from our new church (the very Willow Creek style church that was first church in Lake county to have a contemporary service) but most of them lived up in Umatilla. So whenever I wanted to hang out with them I would get on my bike and ride along the country roads past the orange groves and lakes around the tight curves up to the Umatilla. The school I went to was only 4 days a week so I usually would ride my bike up on Fridays and wait on my friends to get out of middle school.
By high school the 45 min drive and lack of local friends, along with some other reasons, convinced my parents and I that it would be best if I went to the high school in Umatilla. So for all of high school I went to Umatilla High, this was some of the best and worst times of my life, not to worry though I think there were more good than bad, I think. While I was bit, no a full fledged, religious nut at this point I still somehow managed to keep lots of friends and was well known by almost everyone in the school. I still felt like the new kid though and didn't ever really fit in to the country lifestyle of the school.
As soon as I started driving I would take one of my best friends, Big D, and together we would head out to Orlando. I spent many nights (many more than I told my parents about at least) driving I-Drive. We would met the coolest people and do the craziest stuff that seemed like a world away from Umatilla. We would eat at the tacky McDonald's, make fun of tourist, and do some celeb spotting. I helped Tiger Woods Christmas shop for his kids, sat beside N*Sync and O-Town at dinner, chat with PGA players, and shopped at Armani Exchange.
We would also explore The Villages, Daytona, and even a boring trip to Paltaka but somehow we would always end up back in downtown Orlando or on I-Dive. MY first true urban experiences weren't in a city CBD or in a time of trying to make it, they were along a road of fantasy and dreams. I fell in love with the city as I drove past countless putt putt golf courses and endless hotel towers.
As college come closer I wanted to stay near my family but wanted to escape the country life that had for whatever reason been all that I had really experienced my entire life. By this point I knew I was very different than these gun toting, animal killing, teeth missing, drama creating, rednecks that seemed to surround me. So I chose the school at the only other place I knew and loved. I chose a college on Hwy 192 in the heart of Kissimmee. At the age of 17 (yes I was 17 the first week of college) I started college on 192. I attempted to commute but after one semester I was so over the country lifestyle that I moved onto campus. I was now laying in bed at night just minutes from the bustle and international flair of the Orlando tourist scene and I loved it. I spent many nights eating at all the nice restaurants and I swear I have been in every gift shop in Orlando. I moved around some after leaving this college, Lakeland for another school, Tampa, and then to where I live now.
So I tell all of this to say now I live in an apartment building with shops on the front, a brick lined street out front with retail and restaurants, celebs are spotted walking past my apartment (well not big celebs but Carrot Top is at least kinda famous!).
While I do want an actual house it must be in a neighborhood like this one, never anything less urban than this. At night I take strolls past windows with Chihuly art on display, past windows of upscale restaurants and art studios. I now live in a community full of festivals, a block from a major bus line, a block from a weekly farmers market, two blocks from a Hagen Daaz (this could be dangerous) and even within walking distance of any fast food I could imagine!
Whenever I come home to my parents beach-esqe cottage home on a cul-de-sac on their half acre with their neighbors on each of their half acre lots. It is by far the most urban of any setting they have lived, except for the rental homes, but its suburban to its core. Strip malls, retail chains, and SUVs are all around. After a few days I miss my urban peace of mind. I love the idea that I can walk wherever I want. I now live in a place that my whole life I dreamed of. I rode my bike all the way to downtown Orlando before. Sometimes real late at night I get in my car, roll the windows down, and drive around the city. Its the most peaceful place I can find. I grew up in the country but somehow, for whatever reason I find the city much more peaceful. Albeit Winter Park is not the big city by any means but its the most urban I've experienced and its much more urban than what the average person ever gets to experience.
Sometimes I forget how much I love where my life has brought me but after a few days of riding around in an SUV going from strip mall to strip mall I miss my Winter Park lifestyle more than I ever missed the lifestyle I grew up around. Needless to say tomorrow I head back home.
While I do love the time with my parents in their new, well a little remodeled and extensively cleaned, beach-esqe cottage in Mt Dora the time I spend outside of their house makes me realize both how much I have changed since leaving Lake county in 2002 for college and how much I now take for granted. Every time I come here I am shocked by the lack of customer service, the huge amounts of old people EVERYWHERE, and how spread out every thing is. I love Mt.Dora, don't get me wrong, but I can't stand the idea of having to drive everywhere.
I now live in a type of neighborhood that all my life I've only dreamed of living in. Well let me give a quick run down and explanation here so you can understand where I am coming from. This is a rough summary and dont hold these dates to any level of exactness
6months old-5- Mt. Plymouth--A house in the woods, on a dirt road a few wooded lots from the paved road and golf course. My earliest memories are of my parents and I walking through the woods to our neighbors house, past an abandoned playground overtaken by the woods. Also memories of walking along the golf course (modeled after the St. Andrews course in Scotland )in the evenings with my parents. There was also a peacock who seemed as interested in me as I was in him. He even brought his lady friend over to our house one day as I messed around in the backyard. From there we moved to a rental property.
5-6yrs old- Mt Dora-- This was the most urban place I ever lived. We rented this house while building our house in Yalaha. It was a small house on a cul-de-sac. We lived next to my elementary school principle. Each day we would walk through the cemetery across the street and would feed the goats in the retention pond area nearby. It was a few blocks from downtown but still have a very suburban feel to it. From here we moved to the middle of nowhere in a place called Yalaha (yes the same Yalaha now made famous by the Yalaha Bakery).
7yrs old-Yalaha--We lived in a huge house (3 finished bedrooms with 4 partly unfinished ones upstairs), with 30 foot ceilings in the living room on top of one of the biggest hills in all of Central Florida. From my splattered painted bedroom I could see the fireworks at Disney every night. While our house was amazing it was in the middle of nowhere and after a year my parents driving back and forth to Mt Dora each and every day we moved.
Part of 7 and 8-Tavares--From Yalaha my parents bought some land in the middle of nowhere near Umatilla, Florida (close to Lake Dalhouise for my readers familiar with Lake county). While our next house was being built we rented an apartment in a small single story complex in Tavares. This was my only experience ever living in an apartment till I moved off to college. There were many kids in the neighborhood. I practiced basketball, would bike ride around the circle of the apartment complex, I would go explore the woods behind the apartment complex, climb under the fence to explore to orange grove. I went to friends house when his parents weren't home and we watched Disney Channel. It was the most people I ever lived around and I loved it. Then we moved back to the middle of nowhere.
8-17years old-Umatilla/Eustis--On Halloween weekend of 1993 we moved into our brand new house in the middle of nowhere between Mt. Dora, Eustis, and Umatilla. We had just started going to church in Umatilla and I was now going to a new school in Mt. Dora. We were about 3 and half miles from Umatilla, about 8 miles from downtown Mt Dora but around us was nothing but a few mansions (on the lake) and cows.
We lived about a quarter mile from the original retirement compound/castle of Dr Edgar James Banks, the early 20th century archeologist that Indian Jones is said to be based upon. While it was cool living near semi-famous people and former mafia owned mansions the idea of having the only kids in the neighborhood be the calves that I witnessed the birth of. There were a few kids in the neighborhood across the street but for whatever reason I never really met them or hung out. After moving much closer to my school my school moved far far away. It was originally close to our house but after the first year it moved to the other side of Leesburg, a good 45mins from the house. My mother would wake me up early each morning and I would do the drive. I tried a closer to school for about half a year but it just wasn't for me so back to the 45min drive. I did have friends from our new church (the very Willow Creek style church that was first church in Lake county to have a contemporary service) but most of them lived up in Umatilla. So whenever I wanted to hang out with them I would get on my bike and ride along the country roads past the orange groves and lakes around the tight curves up to the Umatilla. The school I went to was only 4 days a week so I usually would ride my bike up on Fridays and wait on my friends to get out of middle school.
By high school the 45 min drive and lack of local friends, along with some other reasons, convinced my parents and I that it would be best if I went to the high school in Umatilla. So for all of high school I went to Umatilla High, this was some of the best and worst times of my life, not to worry though I think there were more good than bad, I think. While I was bit, no a full fledged, religious nut at this point I still somehow managed to keep lots of friends and was well known by almost everyone in the school. I still felt like the new kid though and didn't ever really fit in to the country lifestyle of the school.
As soon as I started driving I would take one of my best friends, Big D, and together we would head out to Orlando. I spent many nights (many more than I told my parents about at least) driving I-Drive. We would met the coolest people and do the craziest stuff that seemed like a world away from Umatilla. We would eat at the tacky McDonald's, make fun of tourist, and do some celeb spotting. I helped Tiger Woods Christmas shop for his kids, sat beside N*Sync and O-Town at dinner, chat with PGA players, and shopped at Armani Exchange.
 |
| XS was were I spent many nights, 3 floors-1st was a restaurant, 2nd was huge arcade, and the 3rd was an indoor/outdoor club. now this great business and its cool building are long gone :-( |
We would also explore The Villages, Daytona, and even a boring trip to Paltaka but somehow we would always end up back in downtown Orlando or on I-Dive. MY first true urban experiences weren't in a city CBD or in a time of trying to make it, they were along a road of fantasy and dreams. I fell in love with the city as I drove past countless putt putt golf courses and endless hotel towers.
As college come closer I wanted to stay near my family but wanted to escape the country life that had for whatever reason been all that I had really experienced my entire life. By this point I knew I was very different than these gun toting, animal killing, teeth missing, drama creating, rednecks that seemed to surround me. So I chose the school at the only other place I knew and loved. I chose a college on Hwy 192 in the heart of Kissimmee. At the age of 17 (yes I was 17 the first week of college) I started college on 192. I attempted to commute but after one semester I was so over the country lifestyle that I moved onto campus. I was now laying in bed at night just minutes from the bustle and international flair of the Orlando tourist scene and I loved it. I spent many nights eating at all the nice restaurants and I swear I have been in every gift shop in Orlando. I moved around some after leaving this college, Lakeland for another school, Tampa, and then to where I live now.
So I tell all of this to say now I live in an apartment building with shops on the front, a brick lined street out front with retail and restaurants, celebs are spotted walking past my apartment (well not big celebs but Carrot Top is at least kinda famous!).
While I do want an actual house it must be in a neighborhood like this one, never anything less urban than this. At night I take strolls past windows with Chihuly art on display, past windows of upscale restaurants and art studios. I now live in a community full of festivals, a block from a major bus line, a block from a weekly farmers market, two blocks from a Hagen Daaz (this could be dangerous) and even within walking distance of any fast food I could imagine!
Whenever I come home to my parents beach-esqe cottage home on a cul-de-sac on their half acre with their neighbors on each of their half acre lots. It is by far the most urban of any setting they have lived, except for the rental homes, but its suburban to its core. Strip malls, retail chains, and SUVs are all around. After a few days I miss my urban peace of mind. I love the idea that I can walk wherever I want. I now live in a place that my whole life I dreamed of. I rode my bike all the way to downtown Orlando before. Sometimes real late at night I get in my car, roll the windows down, and drive around the city. Its the most peaceful place I can find. I grew up in the country but somehow, for whatever reason I find the city much more peaceful. Albeit Winter Park is not the big city by any means but its the most urban I've experienced and its much more urban than what the average person ever gets to experience.
Sometimes I forget how much I love where my life has brought me but after a few days of riding around in an SUV going from strip mall to strip mall I miss my Winter Park lifestyle more than I ever missed the lifestyle I grew up around. Needless to say tomorrow I head back home.
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