The Happy News thread

[Alelou]

Oh heck, Largo! My grandparents used to live there, before they moved up to Croomacoochee (gotta love those names). So you ALSO survived Pinellas County and all those elderly drivers and Scientologists!

[Pitseleh]

Yup... I barely went anywhere in Largo 'cause I was broke most of the time. I did enjoy going shopping to Orlando on holidays. It's like the outlet Mecca over there.

[Alelou]

All the way to Orlando? (I-4 is SO BORING!!!) When I lived in Florida, Orlando was nothing much and Kissimmee was this little one horse town that you'd miss if you blinked. Then Disney came and it all exploded.

But that's Florida. I hardly recognize most of the places I grew up in.

The bubble sure is burst there now. It's always boom and bust. It's a crazy, crazy place.

[Pitseleh]

Yup, the I-4 is absolutely boring. I also had a hard time over there when we went driving 'cause CR is all about mountains. You literally cannot look to the horizon without seeing green mounts surrounding you if you're in either of the four central provinces. Over there, everything's flat and pretty much alike. Highways seemed endless 'cause of that... I learned to love Florida, but CR is so different that it took me a while to get used to being down here again.

[Linda]

My sister lives in Tallahassee and my parents when they were alive had moved from Rochester New York to Stuart Florida. I liked visiting Stuart in winter and each time I came there every couple of years, the town had grown so much since the last time I visited that I got lost driving around.

[Alelou]

Yep. I went down to visit friends in Clearwater a year and a half after we moved and barely recognized the place. It's freaky 'going home' to a place that changes that fast.

We moved from Clearwater, FL to Greenfield, MA the week of Christmas. There was a mountain at the end of the road, six houses down, between us and the Connecticut River. This mountain was pretty steep and it just filled up my bedroom window. I used to feel so claustrophobic, like it was going to fall on me. I could feel it out there even in the dark!

And the thing that always gets me first when I'm back in Florida is just how big the sky is. I guess it's from the flat terrain.

[CX]

Clearwater is overrun by a cult which Florida state is apparently unwilling or unable to do anything about - if you're assaulted by a Scientologist, the police will actually threaten to arrest you on whatever trumped up charge they can think of.

[Alelou]

You don't have to tell me that. My dad was the Editor of the local paper (since defunct) when the Scientologists came in and took over downtown by paying cash for the old hotel and a bunch of other buildings -- they resented any investigative stories being written about them so they sued everybody, put armed guards on the roof of their complex, aimed listening devices at the paper, planted a spy in the newsroom, and planted cocaine on one of the reporters. And set up a dummy "hang out" joint for high school kids across the street from the high school. They are BAD NEWS and the worst thing the Clinton administration ever did was allow them church status. They really are a cult, though I think they are driven more by the profit motive than anything else.

Though I'm depressed to hear the police seem to have been co-opted. It wasn't always that way.

[JadziaKathryn]

Really? I didn't know this about Clearwater. When did it happen? I used to go there and visit my grandparents at their winter place. Haven't been since... let's see, '04 anyway, so before then. Did I just not know about the Scientologists then, or has it happened since?

Um, happy news. We got rain all day instead of snow. That's very happy news up here in February.

[Alelou]

Scientologists came to town in 75. This site does a good job of detailing their machinations: http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/CoS/timeline.html.

It's not really that obvious unless you're downtown and there you can see the faithful walking around like zombies going to their (expensive) courses. And good luck to you if you ever try to challenge that organization.

[JadziaKathryn]

Woah.

[Pitseleh]

Ok, happy news: I got to play football! And I scored two goals. I'm actually invited to play again on Sunday, so let's see how that goes.

[Alelou]

Cool!

[justTripn]

Ok, happy news: I got to play football! And I scored two goals. I'm actually invited to play again on Sunday, so let's see how that goes.

Wow, really!

[Asso]

Ok, happy news: I got to play football! And I scored two goals. I'm actually invited to play again on Sunday, so let's see how that goes.