Happy Sunday LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers:
This month marks my 10th anniversary of living in Florida. I cannot believe I have been here for ten years. Where does the time go? Now for six of those years, I traveled constantly for work so that is probably why I didn't get sick of Florida right away. I am a fickle person who is used to moving every couple of years.
Combine my dislike of winter cold with a depressed housing market and the recession and voila! I'm still enjoying Florida! Some of my Floridian neighbors do not appreciate being the butt of America's jokes about our crazy crimes. They feel that other states have just as many bizarre criminals as we do. (Yeah, we're looking at YOU, Texas!)
But I fully embrace our status as "America's Australia" (to steal a line from the TV show "30 Rock.") I was recently tweeting about Florida with a Savannah, GA tweeter. I typed "If you have a face, we'll eat it!"
This was a reference to the Miami guy who tried to eat the face off a live, conscious homeless man. Time Magazine called it a "cannibalistic ambush." (Which is SO going to be the name of my next band ... as soon as I get some talent.)
What I hadn't heard, according to Time Magazine, that the alleged cannibal stated to the homeless man:
"You're going to be my wife, and this is going to be a lover's concerto," while singing the 1960's song `Lover's Concerto.'
He allegedly said this before he tried to eat the guy's face off.
If someone was going to try to eat my face, would I appreciate the extra added bit of "romance" before the act? Hmmm. No, I think if I had a wish I'd just want the guy to stop trying to eat my face.
Luckily, I have managed to live here ten years without having my face eaten (knock on wood). I also haven't been killed for wearing a hoodie and carrying Skittles. I haven't been assaulted then buried alive to suffocate in a plastic garbage bag. I haven't been reported kidnapped by an imaginary nanny. I didn't win the lottery, then been murdered and buried under a patio concrete slab. I haven't accepted an offer of a boat ride only to be thrown overboard bound at the hands and feet to drown with two family members.
Ugh … so much evil. So much crime.
I read the following quote on Twitter a couple weeks ago. It made me sad because it was (probably inadvertently) posted around the time of the South Korea ferry disaster. But it is a very true statement.
"An entire sea of water can't sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can't put you down unless you allow it to get inside you."
We choose what we internalize and take to heart. If someone has offended you, you can hold it close to your chest like squeezing a handful of broken glass. Or you can let it go. It is your choice what to let in and what to push away. It is your choice to fill yourself with happiness or negativity.
The picture below is my neighborhood in Tampa, Florida. Many mornings the rowing teams go by. I'll see rays and water fowl, occasionally some dolphins or even a lost manatee.
When I think of Florida, this is what I try to picture. Not all the evil crimes.
On this Sunday, I hope your ship is filled with positivity versus negativity.
I also hope you're not eating someone's face. Thanks for reading!
This month marks my 10th anniversary of living in Florida. I cannot believe I have been here for ten years. Where does the time go? Now for six of those years, I traveled constantly for work so that is probably why I didn't get sick of Florida right away. I am a fickle person who is used to moving every couple of years.
Combine my dislike of winter cold with a depressed housing market and the recession and voila! I'm still enjoying Florida! Some of my Floridian neighbors do not appreciate being the butt of America's jokes about our crazy crimes. They feel that other states have just as many bizarre criminals as we do. (Yeah, we're looking at YOU, Texas!)
But I fully embrace our status as "America's Australia" (to steal a line from the TV show "30 Rock.") I was recently tweeting about Florida with a Savannah, GA tweeter. I typed "If you have a face, we'll eat it!"
This was a reference to the Miami guy who tried to eat the face off a live, conscious homeless man. Time Magazine called it a "cannibalistic ambush." (Which is SO going to be the name of my next band ... as soon as I get some talent.)
What I hadn't heard, according to Time Magazine, that the alleged cannibal stated to the homeless man:
"You're going to be my wife, and this is going to be a lover's concerto," while singing the 1960's song `Lover's Concerto.'
He allegedly said this before he tried to eat the guy's face off.
If someone was going to try to eat my face, would I appreciate the extra added bit of "romance" before the act? Hmmm. No, I think if I had a wish I'd just want the guy to stop trying to eat my face.
Luckily, I have managed to live here ten years without having my face eaten (knock on wood). I also haven't been killed for wearing a hoodie and carrying Skittles. I haven't been assaulted then buried alive to suffocate in a plastic garbage bag. I haven't been reported kidnapped by an imaginary nanny. I didn't win the lottery, then been murdered and buried under a patio concrete slab. I haven't accepted an offer of a boat ride only to be thrown overboard bound at the hands and feet to drown with two family members.
Ugh … so much evil. So much crime.
I read the following quote on Twitter a couple weeks ago. It made me sad because it was (probably inadvertently) posted around the time of the South Korea ferry disaster. But it is a very true statement.
"An entire sea of water can't sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can't put you down unless you allow it to get inside you."
We choose what we internalize and take to heart. If someone has offended you, you can hold it close to your chest like squeezing a handful of broken glass. Or you can let it go. It is your choice what to let in and what to push away. It is your choice to fill yourself with happiness or negativity.
The picture below is my neighborhood in Tampa, Florida. Many mornings the rowing teams go by. I'll see rays and water fowl, occasionally some dolphins or even a lost manatee.
When I think of Florida, this is what I try to picture. Not all the evil crimes.
On this Sunday, I hope your ship is filled with positivity versus negativity.
I also hope you're not eating someone's face. Thanks for reading!
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