I live in Riverview, Fl.  It's a suburb of Tampa.  Ahhh Florida.  It's such a far cry from where I grew up in an old neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio.  

Who decided that the best type of communities to build are the ones that look like they were plucked right out of a 1950s magazine?  Every house looks the same, hardly any yard, and not a single mature tree in site.  In Florida its compounded by sweltering heat.  I know not everywhere is like that, but its frustrating to see how many places are.

I find myself missing the midwest so much this time of year.  I'm so sick of the humidity and the heat.  I know there are those same 1950s communities in Cleveland, but along with them there are so many "old neighborhoods" as well.  I wrote a poem about this last year, and can't seem to locate it.. another time I guess.  It's stored away in my house in Orlando somewhere.  But then again what usually happens when I locate an old poem... I end up wanting to burn it.

I find the older I get the less and less interesting I become.  They never tell you that in grade school. "Listen up class.  When you hit your late twenties you start to realize you are not the least bit interesting or original.  The more you read and study the more you realize its all been said before- and better.  Keep studying!"  Maybe this is why so many of us in the late twenties start families and have kids- we're freakin' bored of being boring!  I know I sound like such a pessimist, but I'm really not.  Hey- the twenties took away some of my naiveness, but hell they also gave me wine.   Cheers, and here's to at least trying.