holy bloody s@%*!...

yeps, day 2 of being sick yields more e mail, sleeping and internet surfing!

This will not be very long, yet i saw something in the news that had me screaming, partially in laughter yet mostly in a oh-my-god-you-canNOT-be-serious fashion. i was about to log onto yahoo mail when i saw a heading that made me shout

...holy bloody s@%*: you have got to be kidding............ the tampa bay devil rays........in the world series?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

this is insane!

i lived in the tampa bay area for 7 years. it was my last home in the US before i moved to denmark. i lived in north tampa and in tarpon springs (home to the largest greek population in the world outside of greece), only to land in st. petersburg prior to my departure.

and i remember all the devil ray drama.

i never got it, to be honest. first off, i never really was a fan of baseball. i did grow up going to yankees games, it is more fun in person (better with the beer), yet i never got the fever. i prefer nfl football (ok, i admit, i am a die hard nfl fan!!).

i remember the days where less than 500 people would go to a devil ray game. yeah, i know, i am sounding cynical in all of this, almost brat-like, yet i remember how we thought they would never take off. i am glad to see after all this time they have made it (not as good as the florida marlins making a world series debut after just joining the major leagues, yet i digress...)

we were shocked when they put the stadium in the back-then retiree capital of south florida-- st. petersburg. younger people with families lived in upwards of one hour drive (if lucky with traffic, usually longer) from the stadium. we never understood this. they were the target market.

and getting into st. pete was ok, with the exception of poorly marked directions, even though tropicana field was h.u.g.e and could not be missed.

and that afterwards there was not really any place to go to celebrate. which really was not a problem, actually, as the devil rays always got beat.

and tailgating before the games was tough as the parking was not sufficiently ambient to do so.

yet i am reflecting on the st. pete that i knew in 1997 when i first arrived from the olympic city of atlanta, georgia. st. pete was still a retirement capital, yet under the surface things were brewing. the race riots helped, albeit for a while it was really tense in the city. it brought needed tension to the surface to set change into motion.

by the time i left in 2004, st. pete was (and is) amazing now-- more balanced in a diverse way. the artsy community took over a section, and now it boasts cosy cafes and jazz bars.

the gay-borhood between 7th and 22nd ave is very cool-- the key largo styled older homes are being refurbished and there is a vibe unparallel there in comparison to the rest of the area. i remember when my best friend jamie and her now hubby bought a home there, only to be greeted by a gay couple who was soooo excited to have the first straight couple on the block!

and it brings back memories of the first time i drove to st. pete in the fall of 1997 and got lost behind children's hospital... where i saw an eagle walking on the road and i almost hit it.

which triggers my memories of the fab christmas bashes that dr. guerrier would throw for about 500 people, faithfully every year (he is now on his 24th one!). as he is from the carribean, the food was from the region as well as the band. although i could never stomach the green curried goat. yet dancing the night away until 4am always brings a smile to my face as i remember the people, my friends, the smells of christmas at dr. g's.

as i am writing this, i am glad for the process. from near cynicism to appreciation and gratuity. i do not want to overlook the special times from years ago, nor forget them.

i have not been back since 2006. most of my friends have moved on and disappeared from the area with an exception of a handful. some have started their own families, others children are more grown than when i last saw them. yet the beauty of it all is that life is changing and evolving... very cool indeed.

and oops, this was longer than intended, yet so helpful...

i now can smell the salt laden winds of the gulf, feel the dew kissed grass in between my toes, as the last snap of light from the sun setting into the horizon quickly flashes green before going to sleep in the sea.

life is beautiful.

question-- what puts gratuity in your heart?