4 posts tagged “florida”

Optimum Online BOOST Before/After, originally uploaded by gitagrrl.

Um.. $10-$15 more a month, still less than what I paid in Orlando for 8Mbps service. Worth it? Shyah.

So what had happened was, some time went by between blog entries, and then I felt out of sorts, all disjointed and stuff, so more time went by, and then I just felt silly, so I gave up. But between then and now, I've found myself, on occasion, gazing with jealousy upon tumblr-hosted tumblelogs. Today, when the urge to start my own became overwhelming, I thought that before I made yet another half-assed attempt to blog, I should see what's been going on with Vox over the past eight months.

Whoa. This place has changed a lot. There's a lot of cool new stuff here. The one thing I still like about Tumblr is its simplicity, both in form and in function. Tho' it, too, can serve as a hub to observe my updates on various social networks and web sites, it remains clean and uncluttered. I still find Vox cluttered and overwhelming. I can simplify my profile to remove some of the clutter, taking out the widgets I've added and Vox's own modules, but then I lose functionality. No good.

The single thing that makes Vox nearly as appealing as Tumblr (just for the solo microblogging experience, mind you) is the new Vox This bookmarklet, an absolutely fantastic new feature. Haven't tried it yet, looking forward to doing so. Solo microblogging experience aside, I'm diggin' groups on Vox, at least in theory. I'll have to see how they play out in reality. I just went and joined a bunch of 'em, so I'll see how it goes.

In other news, after nearly 5.5 years of living in Orlando, I'm finally - finally! - getting out of Florida. I'm moving back home to NY in two weeks!

Most of those of my friends who read about Charlotte understood the spirit in which the anecdote was shared. One, however, lambasted me for my behaviour. Apparently, I tricked Charlotte into thinking she was safe in this house and then proceeded to betray her trust. Anyone who knows me knows that I am all about anthropomorphism, but come on, that's going a bit far. Still, my friend's entitled to her opinion, and anyone who agrees and thinks I acted atrociously will be most pleased by tonight's little story.

I was lying on my bed, talking on the mobile phone, which was plugged into the wall, charging. The wall is not far from the bed, just far enough for the cord to reach. But if I want to be comfy while I'm talking, I basically have to hang my head over the edge of the bed. This gets tiring, and I'd been listening to my friend for like two hours. So every once in a while, I'd shift a bit - a little this way, a little that - to stay comfy.

So I'm lying across the width of the bed, yeh? Now usually, I've got my head on the right and my feet on the left, but just for sh**s and giggles [is it just me? do you find it impossible to swear on Vox too?], I turned around... and saw a big, black thing way over there, on the other side of the room, by the closet, the linen closet, and the bathroom. In other words, by all my stuff. <Insert first shudder of anticipatory revulsion.>

I unplugged the phone, mm-hmm'd and yep'd my friend, and tip-toed closer.

Massive. Creepy. Crawly. <Insert second shudder of revulsion.>

I sneaked out of the room to get, well, you know, the stuff, and as if sensing my malevolence, the thing (and by thing I mean palmetto, the bane of my Floridian existence) turned tail and ran... into my bathroom. Where the bulb's blown. <Insert litany of expletives.>

Of course I followed, but carefully, and I only took a couple steps. I peered around the doorjamb, and there it was, barely visible in the darkness (I think I neglected to mention that it was 2am). Shfffffffffffffffft, bam! I hate using bug spray in the house; the noxious fumes make it difficult to breathe properly. But well, I think I also neglected to mention my phobia of the creepy crawlies. I was all a-tremble, barely able to work the spray can. No way was I getting any closer to that thing than I had to.

So. Mission accomplished, yeh? I only ever see one of these things at a time, and usually not more than once every couple weeks, depending on the season. Obviously not this season. Oy! For the first time ever, another one of the things scurries from the pitch blackness into the charcoal shadows. Ack and squeak and ew and urgh and stuff. <Insert several more shudders of revulsion.> So ya. Reflex, right? I spray and I spray and the bug, which is bigger than the first, flies at me.

Okay so, I got it eventually but.. Sorry, did you catch the phobia bit? Do you get that as far as we New Yorkers are concerned, these things are not supposed to fly??! Can you feel the trauma? *Sigh.* My karma is seriously being affected by all this insecticide.

Right. You lot can stop laughing now. Really.

Several weeks ago, a spider moved into the corner of the ceiling in my kitchen.  She wasn't doing any harm, so I just let her be.  I've no idea whether the spider was a he or a she, but I named it Charlotte and it became a she.  In time, I came to find her presence reassuring. She was the biggest of the few spiders who've made their home in the corners of this house and, well, her name was Charlotte. I mean come on.

Once in a while, I would catch Charlotte wandering out of her corner.  I've no love for creepy crawlies in general, so I wasn't too happy when she did this.  I would stand and blow up at her web 'til she returned to her corner, sedate once more.  A few days ago, I found Charlotte out on an expedition.  She'd traversed nearly half the length of the kitchen ceiling and was directly above my head! Further, she wouldn't behave and go back into her corner, so I did the only thing I could do: grab what I needed and leave.  When I returned to the kitchen next, there she was, back in her corner, as if she'd never strayed. Hmph.

Ah.. the good old days.  Today I found Charlotte all the way on the other side of the house, just outside the study.  She wasn't on the ceiling, she was on the baseboard, just above a floor covered with that awful neutral brown wall-to-wall carpet. Meaning I could be walking barefoot and never see her... *shudder*.

I did what I had to do. Charlotte met her match in my smiley-face, all-purpose bug squasher.  And now, I am sad. Her corner just isn't the same now; somehow, it looks more deserted than any other spot in the house.

I'll miss you, Charlotte. I'm sorry.