Living in the past

Random thought about Fourth of July in this country. While I think it's a great time to get together with family and celebrate, I get really sick and tired of the people who feel they need to set off firecrackers, fireworks, etc. hour after hour into the night. I come from a state which has banned almost all handheld fireworks - bottle rockets, and any others which can fly - due to the increased chance of injuries. They also enforce the law and I've seen many people get cited for having illegal fireworks which were then confiscated.



Then I moved to Florida and I feel like I stepped into the 10 year time warp. I came to a state that still allowed drive up windows on liquor stores, had radio stations that played '80s music like it was still 1985 - the same 10 songs on the play list, play 2 songs, 18 commercials, 5 minutes of inane DJ chatter, a few more commercials, 3 songs, etc. In addition, they had the same STUPID morning shows which had the "Thursday Morning" psychic, and that kind of drivel -and Florida allows an obscene number of different fireworks packages to be purchased regardless even when the state is having a huge drought. Totally bizarre. Plus, the majority of jobs in this state seemed to be service oriented -restaurants, gas stations, clothing and other mall stores - or tourism related. There was no apparent "big business" in Florida. Skip ahead a few years and .... it still seems like nothing has changed.

The drive-up windows at some liquor stores such as ABC Fine Wines and Spirits, have closed down, but that wouldn't have happened if not for a newspaper article pointing out how much drive up alcoholic beverage sales contribute to drunk driving. Closing the windows was a huge improvement considering how ABC allegedly used to hand out a cup with ice and a swizzle stick in it to anyone asking at the counter or through the drive up. They had stopped the cup of ice policy by the time I worked there in 2002 - not that the same people didn't CONSTANTLY ask for it and whine when we wouldn't provide it -, but the drive up windows (in Tallahassee) didn't close until at least 2003, right around the time for Florida A&M's homecoming game as I recall.

My point being this state is backward in a great many ways. Those of us that have moved here from elsewhere in the US, probably came for the weather, I know I did. In my case, I also came to attend one of the top Master's programs in my field. I love the weather here - including the occasional hurricane - and want to be in Florida. Unfortunately, unless some things change, such as moving the economy away from tourism, I won't be able to stay. There just aren't enough jobs for those of us who got our Master's degree and expect to be paid as such in this state, and I find that unfortunate.