Bible Thumped

I live in what a friend once referred to as, “The Buckle of the Bible Belt.” On the ten mile drive to my parents’ place from my apartment, there are at least ten churches on the route. There are several more within a mile of the route. Yes, there are a lot of churches in the area. One might think that, with all of these churches in the area, there would be many community service organizations helping those less fortunate, like the homeless. Instead, there is one homeless shelter that I know of in the county and not many more soup kitchens around. The general feeling from people here is that if you belong to any religion (and a particular church), that’s good. If you belong to their religion, that’s better. If you don’t consider yourself Christian or aren’t very religious, then there is something deeply wrong with you.

All of that played in my mind last week when I saw something that could serve as the poster child of irony. In my town on Saturdays, as people are out enjoying the day, others dressed in their best stand at busy intersections preaching at the top of their lungs and waving bibles at passing cars. I hadn’t realized how weird that was (I do think it’s weird, don’t get me wrong) until a friend’s husband, on his first trip here, was shocked by the idea that someone would do that. Those of us who find the idea uncomfortable call them, and the people that come up to us in public places to advertise recruit tell you about their religion (yes, that happens, too) “bible thumpers.” After a while, you block them out and go about your day.

Irony has kept me from forgetting about what I saw last Saturday.

I was at a light waiting to turn. In the grass median was a homeless woman holding up a sign asking for money. Across the street, two lanes of traffic, was a bible thumper in a tie screaming at the people waiting at the light that they’re going to hell for not believing what he believes. If he truly considered himself a Christian, shouldn’t he have tried to help the woman instead of ignoring her?

Now, I don’t know how long they were out there at that intersection. For all I know, he might have tried to help her earlier. It just gives what he was doing a feeling of hypocrisy.

Holy Crap, Batman!

I looked up at the calendar the other day and saw that it was nearly June. I also realized that it had been a while since I posted. It’s not that I forgot about it; I’m just a procrastinator.

So, what’s been happening since the last post? Not much. Maybe that’s why I haven’t posted. I have a lot of gripes about the world, so I’ll get to that at some point in the very near future. There will be more soon. I promise.

April's Fool

A rather cruel April Fool’s joke was played on us at the TV station by the producer of one of our shows. She called to tell us that all of the guests for a show we were recording on April 2 has asked to reschedule. We don’t have many times to record shows, and she knows that. It’s also something that has, on occasion, happened, although not quite as bad as an entire show. We were not amused.

April has brought something else: the 18th anniversary of my arrival in my current home town. In 1990, I moved here from a suburb of San Diego. All my parents told me about our new home was that it was in Florida. When we took an exit off of Interstate 10, I thought we were going to stop for gas. I was surprised when we passed the gas station and continued on what appeared to be a semi-rural road. This was my new home, and, even at the age of 10, I was mightily disappointed.

Not much has changed in the 18 years since moving here. It’s still a small town with an entrenched leadership dead set against helping the community grow. Of course, many of the people in the town like things the way they are. I believe that means crappy. I’ve made some bad choices in my life that have kept me here, but I plan to leave for good within the next year.

One ironic note: when I told my mom how I felt when we first moved here, she didn’t realize that she didn’t tell me exactly where we were going. Also, she now regrets moving here.

Streets of Philadelphia

With all things being equal, I'd rather be in Philadelphia. –John McClane, Die Hard

I had a wonderful time up in Philly seeing people that I haven’t seen in twelve years or more. The weather was pretty good the entire time, but, for someone who’s spent the last twenty years in warmer climates, it was cold. The first day, we arrived, at about two in the afternoon, the temperatures were in the low forties. As a comparison, it wasn’t that cold at home when we left home at five in the morning.

There was lots of food involved from my aunt and my cousins making sure I was full to the cold and less-than-soft soft pretzel I had in the airport as my dad and I waited for our flight home. I went to Pat’s Steaks in South Philly for a cheesesteak from the world famous stand, and it was underwhelming to say the least. A cheesesteak place in North Philly (the name escapes me at the moment) does a much better job. Both of the pretzels I had, the one at the airport and one that I had downtown, weren’t that good.

So, what did I do? I drove many miles around the city (odd given my work driving). The second day that we were there, my aunt guided my dad to see some of the changes in North Philadelphia where they grew up. It’s impressive the changes that I could see, and I haven’t been there since 1996. I could tell it was a shock to my dad. Later during the trip, my dad caught a cold, and I didn’t want to sit there doing nothing. I convinced my cousin to guide me to places twice. The second time I saw what happened to my home where I lived in the late eighties on the former military reservation just off of the former navy base. The modest homes are now townhouses billed at $300,000. Ugh.

One of the highlights was my ride to the Gallery in downtown Philly. It was notable because it was the first time I had been in Center City alone. Granted, the last time I was in the city I was 16, but it was still an interesting thought. The big reason for the entire trip was to see my relatives. I saw my grandma, several cousins, and many aunts and uncles, and I plan on seeing all of them again in less than twelve years.

Catching Up

I’d planned to update earlier this week, but life decided to throw me a bunch of things to do at work. The result was that I was too tired to do anything, and I spent most of my energy trying to stay awake past eight PM. A few things of note happened in the last week:

Ye Olde Dance Music

We’re by the jousting ring, right next to the DJ booth. –Michael

Last Saturday, I went to the annual Renaissance Fair. The above quote should tell you how closely they came to medieval times. It was an…interesting experience. They had Asian food, which was apparently a staple of Renaissance Europe. They did have jousting, but the playing of the first measures of “We Will Rock You” broke the mood. Did I mention they had a DJ booth? When we walked in, they were playing electronic dance music. It felt more like a pseudo-medieval crafts fair with all of the booths selling stuff.

Will I go back next year? Who knows.

Road to Nowhere

As part of my job at a TV station, I occasionally have to leave the building to shoot video. This last week, I drove 150 work related miles. I don’t think I drove 150 work related miles this year before last week. Did I also mention that I’m tired?

In addition to the driving, I have to edit the footage that I got. I also have to edit one show and a promo that might actually be done. My standard response to stuff that we should do (not necessarily has to be done), is now, “I’ll add that to the list.” I don’t expect to get to those things anytime soon.

Philadelphia Freedom

Next Thursday I leave for my long awaited trip to Philadelphia to see relatives, eat cheesesteaks, and remember what it’s like to be in a city. I’ll have a wrap up of the trip when I get home.

Another Year Older

Last Sunday was my 28th birthday (yay!). Do I feel any different? No, just a little tired from work.

I was thinking about all of the things I saw and did in the last year, and I was a bit surprised at how long it was. I watched a good friend of mine get married, and I introduced the bridal party at the reception (without the public speaking issues). I visited a local fort that I had always wanted to visit but I didn’t have time. I also rode a ferry across Mobile Bay on a day where no one should’ve been on the water. I was within two miles of a tornado, but I didn’t get to see it. I did see some of the damage about an hour after it hit. Actually, I was about ten to twenty miles away from another tornado that hit the morning of my birthday and did damage to many homes. Finally, I finalized plans to go to Philadelphia to see the city and visit relatives, some of whom I haven’t seen since my last visit to the city in 1996.

Expect to see more about my trip to Philly. Here’s to a good year!

Annual Valentine’s Day Rant

I am not a fan of Valentine’s Day. I like the idea of reinforcing love, but not at the expense of those who don’t have it. It seems that the world itself is single-person hostile, and VD (appropriate acronym, I think) adds more force to that.

For example, I was going to order a pizza one day and found a “deal” in a coupon filler in the mail. The deal was that I could order a pizza for six dollars each if I ordered three pizzas. Since I was eating by myself, I figured that three pizzas was a bit much for me. However, ordering two or less pizzas cost seven dollars. I understand that economies of scale might have an effect on costs, but why would it kick in at the third pizza?

(I know the answer: to get people to buy more pizza.)

Anyway, that doesn’t explain my dislike toward Valentine’s Day. My problem comes with the idea that those who aren’t with someone are seriously flawed. Everything on Valentine’s Day basically says that single people don’t exist. Given the general bias against single people, an entire day devoted to couples only can be annoying to those flying solo. The day can’t pass fast enough for me.

Tomorrow, February 14, couples should find time to be with each other. After all, the idea is for love to be in the air. However, don’t forget about those who aren’t with someone. Be courteous to single people, and don’t treat them like they don’t exist.

Oh, why the annual rant? Because I notice the same things every year, and nothing seems to change.

Super Bowl Wrap Up

Fans of the Patriots may want to skip this entry.

The Giants beat the Patriots! The Giants beat the Patriots!

I am by no means a Giants fan, but I’ll cheer on any team playing the Patriots. Along with a good portion of the nation (Michigan and a few New England states had more Patriot fans; all other states had more people supporting the Giants), I wanted to see the Patriots go down. I think that, one day, a team will run the table, but I don’t think this should’ve been that team given the possibility that they might have cheated. They may be vindicated in the future, but, right now, they have a major case of bad PR.

Anyway, the game was fantastic. I like seeing close games and good defense, and this game had both. Aside from the first quarter where both defenses looked shaky, the game was a stop after a stop. It was close to the end, and now the Giants can celebrate.

The end of the game brings up one more question. I wasn’t able to see what happened after time ran out, but the last thing I saw was Bill Bellichek leaving the field before Eli Manning kneeled down to run out the one second left on the clock. If he returned, great. If not, it has to be one of the more classless things I’ve seen. Your team lost in a good, close game. Stick around and give your opponents their due.

Oh, and Giants beat the Patriots!

Strange Encounter

Something happened to me yesterday that makes me think that I get weirded out too easily. I was at one of my favorite restaurants, O’Zone, about to enjoy a calzone when a woman walked up and said hi and invited me to her table. Now, in this town, when people walk up to you, they usually have an agenda. Often, it involves religion. I have somewhat strong views on personal beliefs mainly that one shouldn’t try to force beliefs upon others. Oddly enough, that’s not what this woman had in mind.

The first thing she did after saying hi, introducing herself (unfortunately, I’m horrible with names, so I can’t tell you hers), and shaking my hand, she gave me a hug. That was weird, I thought. Then, she sat down, and offered to buy me a drink (I don’t drink, so I turned her down). We had a short conversation where she tried to get me to do a few strange facial expressions before she gave me another hug, blew me a kiss, and returned to her table.

People might think that she was hitting on me, but I saw her leave with a guy that looked fairly close to her. Then again, she did just hug a stranger twice. If she was hitting on me, she came on both too strong and too weird, at least for me. Maybe it was too weird because it doesn’t happen that often.

Very Stupid Things

A couple of incidents last night made me wonder what was going on with the world. The first happened as I was driving on a winding road called Scenic Highway. As I crossed over Interstate 10, I saw two cars sitting in the right lane waiting to turn onto the interstate. The strange part of it was that the light was green, so they could go at anytime. When I got closer, the lead car suddenly turned left in front of me. I hit the brakes fairly hard to keep from running into him. Unfortunately, the guy kept going, apparently heading for the Dairy Queen on the left side of the road. Due to cars waiting to turn left, he couldn’t see oncoming traffic, and a car slammed into him. For the rest of the night, I thought about that and said to myself, “What a moron!”

The second event happened at about midnight. My neighbors have been getting on my nerves with loud music and shouting at odd hours of the night. Last night, just as I was about to drift off to sleep, I heard what sounded like someone using a power tool of some sort. I went next door to tell them to stop, and, when they opened the door, I discovered what they were doing. The noise was from a vacuum. Yes, they were vacuuming at midnight. Personally, I’ve never wanted to do housework late at night, but I could be in the minority (I doubt it). I’ve kept this issue fairly quiet, so to speak, but it might be time to talk to the property manager.

Florida: The Bankrupt State

As a state employee, I’ve heard all of the gloom and doom talk regarding the budget for this year. At one meeting, the big boss basically said, “Don’t expect any raises, equipment, or more hires. The state’s hurting, and so are we.” This gave me the impression that the state of Florida would do it’s best to cut the fat and that the state’s income, which comes from sales and property taxes, wouldn’t be touched as far as their levels.

Those thoughts changed when I saw the sample ballot for the Presidential Primary on January 29. Along with the presidential candidate selection, there is a proposed amendment for the Florida Constitution that would lower property taxes. Now, I understand that people like having lower taxes, but to do this at a time where the state is crying about being in so much financial pain just seems a bit hard to swallow. I would think people like having state services, too, although I could be wrong about that.

I would like to think that the people of Florida will look at the proposed amendment and say, “Wait a minute! We can’t do this right now!” I expect the people to say, “Lower taxes? Sure!” Let’s see if the state declares bankruptcy next year.

It's the Fog! Run Away!

Winter on the central Gulf Coast can be quite confusing. Last week was the coldest it’s been in a while. Today, it was up in the high sixties, and tomorrow it’s expected to be in the seventies. It’s no wonder that, whenever I look at the flu map for the United States, Florida (of all places) tends to have a high number of sufferers. With temperatures fluctuating by thirty to forty degrees between highs and lows on a regular basis, I’m surprised that more people aren’t sick.

Of course, illness isn’t the only thing that comes with wild temperature swings. In the summer, our relative humidity is usually at eighty percent or higher. In the winter, it drops to around thirty percent on a cold day and fifty to sixty percent on a warmer day like today. So, what happens when temperatures drop quickly in a humid area?

Fog. Heavy fog.

I just returned from dinner, and I’m glad I didn’t have a problem. There were times when the road seemed to disappear in clouds. I went for a walk and discovered that my visibility was somewhere around a quarter mile. This isn’t the worst I’ve seen though. There is a road near my parents’ house that I’ve seen fog so thick, I nearly came to a stop trying to pick my way through it. Fortunately, that doesn’t happen too often.

So, when I head home tonight from work, I hope there’s no one crossing my path on my short drive. I might not see them if it’s too foggy.

Big Voice

I had a musical awakening tonight as I was driving home from work: I really like Sara Bareilles’s music. Some background first:

I first saw the video for “Love Song” several weeks ago. Frankly, I wasn’t that impressed. The song had probably one of the best first lines I’ve heard in a song, but, other than that, I didn’t really like it. I felt that her voice was somewhat thin, and I didn’t see me purposely looking for her music.

Then, two weeks or so ago, I was at Chris’s office (yes, the same one mentioned in My Very First Post). Along with giving me a Christmas present (a keychain that can show digital pictures), he gave me Little Voices in a trade. The first track is “Love Song.” The CD gets MUCH better after that. I think there are at least four or five songs that would’ve caught my attention and made me want to learn more about Bareilles. If she keeps making songs like “Vegas,” I think greater things can be expected from her.

Blocked Writer

So far, 2008 hasn’t been bad. Of course, it is only January 2, so things might change in the coming weeks. I’m back at work after the long break, and I’m glad to be back. I’ve discovered that I don’t have much of a life without my job, and the three weeks or so off were boring.

What do I have to look forward to this year? This is the year I plan to be published, if anything because it didn’t happen last year. Perhaps I should explain:

In April of last year, I had a great story idea. So, I started writing. One year and seventy thousand words later, I was finished. Getting it published as a novel seemed the next step, so I decided to get an agent. Now, I understand that agents probably get query letters from aspiring novelists daily, and I realize that they probably can’t read through everything in a timely manner, but it’s frustrating to spend so much time on something and being unable to get them to actually read it. It’s annoying to wait six weeks for a response and getting a preprinted rejection that says, “we didn’t read it because we don’t know who you are.”

Perhaps I should just be more patient and wait for the more positive responses to come. I would love to get a letter that said, “we’re not going to take you at this time because of issues with your writing. For example…” In any case, I have good feelings about this year. This is the year I get published.

My Very First Post

Welcome to all of you who’ve stumbled upon this blog. I’ve decided, in this first post, to explain why I’ve decided to start a blog. To those who care, it’s a short journey.

At the end of 2004, I started a website called Juantans Speaks at the urging of Chris, a friend of mine who wanted to see me do something on the web. The site was filled with blog-style posts on many subjects from politics to sports and more. I updated it for about six months before real life stepped in and ate up all of my free time. The site finally died in December 2005.

Recently, Chris has been on me again to do something online. He recommended this place because he knows that I’m lazy. After several months of waffling, I finally put this together. I plan on making this thing prettier, but, for now, I’m going to leave it be.

What can you expect to see here? I don’t know yet. Most likely, you’ll see references to my life and things that bother me. Politics, both local and national, are fair game, but I’ll try to keep things light.