Sweet Caroline? Really?

When it began, I can’t begin to know when

But then I know it’s growing strong

Oh, wasn’t the spring, whooo

And spring became the summer

Who’d believe you’d come along

Hands, touching hands, reaching out

Touching me, touching you

Oh, Sweet Caroline

Good times never seemed so good

I’ve been inclined to believe it never would…

So I now live in South Carolina. I am here because of a choice I made that I cannot undo. Yet. I seem to continue to make choices without thinking them through. It is a very juvenile way of running my life…especially in my 40’s. I can tell you that I am on a path of evolution that seems to be fraught with pitfalls. I keep making bad choices, but they are my bad choices and so far, as best as I can tell, my bad choices are only causing me angst. I am working on fixing this personal flaw in the next software upgrade. Steve Rogers 5.1? S.R. Vista? Maybe it is time to format and start over.

I lived in Atlanta for 10 years and it was pretty amazing. There were sporting events, concerts, outdoor festivals, a mixture of local and chain restaurants, great BBQ (and for my South Carolina people BBQ isn’t just pulled pork. There are actually many things that make up BBQ. Brisket and chicken are all available at BBQ restaurants all across the country. Everywhere except Florence. Get over the friggin pulled pork already), and basically options. I moved to Jacksonville and there didn’t seem to be as many options, so I bad mouthed it. I had no idea how good I had it in Jacksonville till I arrived in Florence, South Carolina.

On one of my visits here during my stay in New York I pulled up the app Yelp on my phone. I navigated to the section “What’s Hot in __________” and it inserts the area you are currently located in. Yelp displayed a message saying it was unable to locate anything Hot in Florence. I posted a picture on my Facebook page and made a joke about it, but I was honestly depressed. There are few things to peak my interest here. I hope that anyone from here that reads this will understand that I am not a small town guy and take my rantings as the opinion of one silly, slightly twisted individual and not decide that we need to go to war because I don’t like it here. Also remember that I have only been here for a tad over a month and my opinion could change tomorrow and I will buy a house and plant roots. I want roots. Roots are good. A double wide, 2.5 kids, an F-150 and a petite southern belle making chicken fried steak or some other fine southern delicacy. Yummmmo.

I recently taught a class at work about service excellence. I always use Wal-Mart as an example of how not to provide service of any kind. This is a common example and I have never had someone object before. I got more than a few objections here. I was told that I just didn’t understand the South. When I informed the commenter that I was from Miami and that you don’t get much more south that that, I received a chuckle and was told that “isn’t the real South”. Hmmmmm. I mentioned a few local grocery stores and use an example of a higher end store that is known to charge a little more than other local chains, but I go there because the cleanliness of the store and the selection is larger. I was told “it must be nice to have it like that” I assume in reference to my ability to pay a little more for groceries in order to shop somewhere that has selection and cleanliness as a priority. I was being chastised and made to feel like an elitist for wanting to shop in a store that is clean. CLEANLINESS is elitist? Maybe I just don’t belong here.

As far as meeting people, there is not very much as far as social outlets. There is no Meetup group within an hours’ drive. I actually thought about starting a singles group here, but I hope to not be here long enough to use the yearly membership fee. Oh, did I mention that everyone here smokes. EVERYONE!!!!. Ok, maybe not everyone but there are enough at my work that do that they have 15 picnic tables outside to create a smoking area…and there are times when there is standing room only. YEEHAW!!!

My one friend here is the manager of a local band and he invited me to the first appearance after he took over the management of the band. It was at a “members only” club that is set up that way to allow for indoor smoking. I wasn’t able to sit through the entire set because it hurt my lungs to be in there. Granted, I was on the tail end of bronchitis, but I can’t imagine it would have been much better if I was 100%. I am sorry I couldn’t stay GG (you are now Gun Guy by the way) and I look forward to seeing them at a non-smoking venue in the near future. Shout out to Fallen Child. I love live music and if you have an opportunity to see these guys, check them out. They are raw and new, but very solid. Good luck GG. You need to get them back on stage. Maybe try to get the opener, T.J. Love under your management as well. He was really good too.

Ok, here is a reason for those in Florence to hate me…A Florence 10 is a Jacksonville or Atlanta 6 and a New York 5. There. How You Like Me Now, Bitches??? Let the hate begin. Love Ya.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it….

Still have not received any video links from my followers to attach (and maybe I don’t need them since I don’t think anyone even clicks on these) so here is a live and acoustic performance of My Immortal by Evanescence. Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_mdnDaweVw&feature=related

2 comments on “Sweet Caroline? Really?”

KimmiRoRo Apr 18, 2012

Jville grew on ya, eh Tom? Coming down from the high of NYC probably isn't helping Florence any. Hope to see you this weekend ar Lat30.
Bryan Apr 18, 2012

Look you have to give it up for a culture that considers lard a food group. That can flash fry anything from a snicker bar, to cheesecake, to pizza, hell they can fry fat and make it taste good. To a community that celebraates the red white and blue – just a different version of the flag that contains those colors, and less stripes, 2 diagonal lines. Remember a 2am visit to Wal*Mart is the highlight of a first date. "getting lucky" in Florence means you went home with no contagious diseases.

If you told them you were eating Ben & Jerry's they would think you were gay.

But brisket? – we are going to make a good jew out of you yet, red hair and all 🙂