Last year I saw the fireworks in St. Pete Florida. In more ways than one too. I considered myself fortunate to live downtown, just 5 blocks from the water where they blow them off. Every year, my neighborhood would be invaded by the mongrol hordes of thrillseekers from all over Pinellas County. They would park anywhere they could and if you left your space in the street to go somewhere, chances are you had to park damn near 7 or 8 blocks from where you lived once you got back. The crowds were just that bad. For myself, I had hit the bigtime. I had a private space in a tow-away zone, lived on the second floor of a nice apartment building and had my own balcony space. My view of the fireworks were only partly obscurred by trees and one highrise. I sort of miss it, but one thing I do remember is that the crowds were unusually ignorant, bold, and retarded last year. When it came time to go home, the fuckin people ran stopsigns in mass, drove blocks and blocks the wrong way up one way streets, and at one point, refused to yield to Emergency Vehicles that were trying to get back to the station for shift change. St, Pete Police had to arrest 3 drivers in front of the wives and kids, force the cars onto peoples lawns, and then clear the streets to let the Fire Trucks through.
As much as I miss St. Pete and all my friends, I certainly DO NOT miss living in such close proximity to out and out ASSHOLES of that magnitude. Even though the economy in Cleveland Tennessee is reminiscent of St. Pete in the late '80's, the people are a vast improvement over the gimme gimme selfish jerks I left behind. The 4th of July here was kind of weird. They blew the fireworks off on Tuesday night so as not to interfere with Wednesday night church services. Fireworks of pretty much all kinds are legal here too. I splurged and bought a box of 4 Killer Bee mortars, 5 boxes of Big Bangers, (they'll blow off a fingernail no problem!) and a 12 pack of bottle rockets. I'll probably still have some left when New Years rolls around.
I spent the 4th at my dad's house in Chattanooga. He's got a nice house way up on a ridge above Lake Chickamagua. He's 67 now, so I help him with his yardwork and his back yard is about a 35` slope that ends in a small creek. I missed seeing him crash his riding mower through the fence last year. He had the fence removed and that took all the fun out of watching him mow the back.
We got on the computer and I showed him this Hovercraft lawnmower thats made by Huesqvarna, and he just might try to get one. Then in the spirit of "One Upsmanship" he actually fuckin found a website that was showing the World Premier of a freaking Robot Lawnmower, that is completely programable and automatic.
Jesus, he has enough toys as it is! After a way cool dinner, shortly after my stepmom got home from work, we finished up watching the new Scorcese movie "The Departed." About halfway through it, I heard something that sounded like someone walking around on the deck outside. This really freaked me out, since the decks are 15 feet off the ground. Both parental units were dozed off, so I got up and investigated. It turned out to be shock waves from the fireworks going off down on the lake. My getting up woke them, and they managed to stay awake for the rest of the movie. It made me realize just how old we are all getting. It makes me realize there really is'nt all that much time left, really. I'm just glad that I managed to find the strength and resolve to forgive them for the whole Straight bullshit and everything that came with it. Now while you may be able to pick your nose, you can never pick your relatives, so you just have to make the best of it. Take care everybody, and if you are gonna still be blowing off firecrackers, remember to use a punk (an incense stick works best) because cigarette lighters have a bad habit of burning the whole damn fuse at once and then BAMM! Then you wind up with the nickname "Lefty." 85 DJ