cast of characters update: Heather Queen
heather and i don’t talk much…. we don’t know much about each other. that is something i would like to eventually change, i admire heather.

did you hear that?
let me repeat myself… because its not everyday that those words come out of my fingertips

i admire heather

last night i apologized to heather…. i told her
“I’m sorry if I’ve been a prick today… I’ve had a very bad day”

jonquil and i had gotten into a very large argument

to which she replied “I’m used to it by now…. you always act like that”

that simple statement made me think about how i treat people subconsciously…. am i really so rude that i would treat my friends harshly without even realizing i am doing it?

i thought that this couldn’t be the case… i thought she had to be taking something i was saying the wrong way…. but as i was walking around… thinking of what i would say in this blog article i started realizing, half the things i wanted to say about heather, in my short little description of her…. were quite rude…. i know heather would understand that i wasn’t being serious about any of it, however,
all my life people have poked fun at me
they have never meant any of the things they have said
it was all in good fun
yet it still hurt

i do that to people allot…. i joke… and it hurts them

the first step towards change is admitting you have a problem

who is this heather you may ask?
heather is a beautiful blond girl i work with.
she has strong character and a loving heart
many people don’t give heather the credit she deserves
they talk about how she is dense…. how she doesn’t get jokes…. things are way over her head.
i think heather is smarter than most people give her credit for
heather is 19
has a good job
makes more than i do
has her own car
her own place
she is living by her rules…
that the hell have you done?

the new “teenage mutant ninja turtles” movie trailer is online now

based on the original Eastman and Laird comics… although not as dark and evil….
and way more cartoony

click for trailer

in act 2 of Twelfth-Night; or, What You Will, Shakespeare wrote
“are you mad? or what are you? Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty? Do ye make an alehouse of my ladys house, that ye squeak out your coziers catches without any mitigation or remorse of voice? Is there no respect of place, persons, nor time, in you?”

these four lines from a forgotten play lingered in my mind this past week, as i traveled up and down St. George street in St. Augustine Florida.
Pushing past tourists crowding into 18th century buildings converted into gift shops and art galleries, filled with signage reading “DESIGNER SUNGLASSES $5!!!, CITIES OLDEST GHOST TOURS!!! AUTHENTIC FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH BOTTLED WATER . buying modern mead graphite pencils at “Americas oldest wooden school house”

tourists taking pictures of everything, taking pictures of their children straddling cannons used to defend America from the Spanish, taking pictures of their trailer trash wives sitting on the Casa Monica t-model bridal car, and my personal favorite, taking pictures of authentic students at Flagler college.

these people have no respect… they go so far as to stick their cameras in the windows of Flagler while classes are in session, to take pictures of the classrooms. The school eventually had to put in blinds, but that didn’t stop people from pushing their cameras past the blinds to take pictures…. now the school just keeps its windows closed.
the slave market has now turned into a free for all shopping experience, filled with hippies selling new age oils and herbs… Arabian hustlers selling knockoff designer wares. and people dressed up as colonial soldiers selling discount Disney world tickets. screw the history WE MUST HAVE 5FF ADMISSION TO SPACE MOUNTAIN!!!!

St. Augustine has 4 forts along its many coastlines
tourists know about 2
and only know how to get to one
the Ponce de leon fort.
at one time to fort was free for all to come and enjoy.
no admission fee.
no workers standing around keeping watch
no gates or doors keeping you out of the many areas

there was one man who worked in the fort
his name was Dan and every two hours he would call everyone to the courtyard and tell about the history of the fort. he would tell about all the hidden writings on the walls… the art… the names, dates… he would take you on a tour if you were so inclined. he would take you to these two small rooms… where the dirt floor was a dark black color, he would tell you “the dirt here is very strange its a black thick dirt as opposed to the sand floor the rest of the fort has. the sediments here are strong and packed hard into the earth.” he would invite you to dig up some of the dirt and look at it, study it… he would tell you to smell it, and as you held it up to your nose he would tell you that you are in the latrine.
Back then the brick foundation and top level walls were made of coquina rock. the rock was soft due to age… tourists would break off pieces of the walls and foundation, to take a piece home. as a result this 300 year old fort started to crumble. Walls that withstood cannon balls from close range are no match for tourists with lack of respect. The fort went through a ten year multi million dollar renovation. It’s foundation was rebuilt along with most of the walls, turrets, and towers, the moat was drained, most rooms closed off, and all historical artifacts were put behind glass. The huge wooden doors that were never closed were replaced with a draw bridge that closed at 8pm. the vast open spaces of the top level are filled with speakers blaring out historical anticdotes in English Spanish French and Arabic.
admission price…. $10

the other three forts are protected by the citizens of St Augustine….. tourists couldn’t pay someone who lives in St Augustine to take them to two of the forts…
fort Matanzas however is sometimes shown… as sort of a reward

the beautiful cobble stone streets of St Augustine have been replaced with tar… to ease the passage of tourist’s range rovers. houses… churches… orphanages…. hospitals… turned into Italian and Mexican restraints, Armani outlets, and gift shops that sell pirate flags, rubber swords and cardboard parrots.

The unmistakable white sand beaches are now brown with snickers wrappers…. the glow of sunlight hitting the wet shells along the coast line has been replaced with beer cans. seagulls eating cigarette butts. blue fifty gallon drums line the beach to serve as trash cans… because aparently people are physically unable to carry their trash back to their cars. and in all honesty… people will only use the cans if they are within arms reach

on the coast of vilano beach there is a castle
a real castle…. made of large stones… with towers streching into the skies. it was a treat to drive down the coast and see this gorgeos castle surronded with palms… dense forests on one side…. clear blue seas on the other… the castle isnt there anymore… well im sure its still there, but you cant see it… it has 20 story hotels packed in on all four sides. vilano beach was the hidden beach…. the empty beach only locals knew about. now its a place for the wealthy to vacation away from the poor normal tourists
I think Joni Mitchell said it best
“Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

as I look back at what this city was 15 years ago, i cant help but think of what it will be in the next 20. will America really fulfill its dream of becoming the most technologically advanced country in the world? will we have flying cars and artificial intelligence? will our food orders be taken by McRobots?
will we live in vast stainless steel towers.
and is this what we really want?
are we as a people willing to trade our history, the beauty of our land, for a cheaper cup of coffee? the English have wooden houses that are over 600 years old, and we as Americans cant keep a stone fort, built to withstand fire, cannon balls, bullets, and explosions, standing for 300 years?

Eddie Izzard said “You tear your history down, man! 30 years old, let’s smash it to the floor and put a car park here!”

if we keep advancing… what will we leave our children.
at this rate their history class will consist of “the way back machine” and an old Acura dealership