Friday, November 25, 2011

First Post From Jax

I had a few things on my “to do” list today. Writing this post was one of them, but then I started looking at Tumblr and it all went to shit. I'm not exactly sure what direction this is going to head, but then again, none of my other posts had a point either, so I suppose it works. Just to start things off easy again, I'll do my go-to format and do some kind of a list thing. So, here's what has happened in the three months since my last post:

1. After I left London, I moved to Jacksonville, Florida to work for Deutsche Bank. My job is nothing special, nothing glamorous, nothing spectacular, but it is a job – and for that I can be thankful. It pays the bills and then some, which is more than some people can say and I feel lucky to have it. On top of that, it's in fucking Florida, so I can hardly muster up enough gumption to bitch about it especially given the fact it's currently 65 degrees at 11 o'clock at night. Fuck. Yes. I went for a run today near my apartment while wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Outside. Yes, it is the end of November. No, my situation does not suck.

2. As a supplement to #1, I was just in northwest Ohio a few days ago for Thanksgiving and it was all I needed to confirm I made the right decision to move here. When I stepped off the plane in Detroit, it was somewhere around 40 degrees and colder than I have encountered in about eight months. I was ill prepared for the journey to say the least. I brought a few thermal shirts with me on the journey to the cold-as-fuck north as I figured it would be more than enough to keep me warm. Dead wrong. Not only was I shivering and swearing the entire time, I ended up sleeping in said thermal shirt to keep from freezing to death in my parents' living room. Then on a night out on the town, I was under the delusion I would be just fine in the “you-think-this-is-cold-just-wait-til-December” weather, wearing one of my flimsy shirts that would cause heat stroke down here. Lets just say I'm not looking forward to the trip back next month for Christmas. I'm starting my petition to have the family come down here for Christmas instead.

3. The only real gripe I have about Jax (for now) is the bitchin' traffic. I live something like five miles from work, which would take less than ten minutes to traverse in optimal conditions. On a good day, it takes around fifteen minutes to make the trek from my residence. On a bad day? Hours. I have never missed the London Underground more than I do while driving to work. The worst drive to work I have encountered was about a month and a half ago where there was an accident on every major highway/road around my area. Every single road had an accident taking up at least one lane, if not multiple. On this day, it took me nearly two hours to go five miles. I could have walked it in less time. Yes, I realize major cities have traffic jams and yes, I realize a lot of people have commutes that take an hour plus every single day. However, I do not care. It should never take two hours to drive five miles. Most days I long for the times when I could walk from home to work in fifteen to twenty minutes. But alas...

4. Traffic aside, I cannot think of a single complaint I have about this city. I'm within 30 minutes of nearly everything and there's always something going on if I feel the need to amuse myself. I suppose there is a striking lack of concerts here, but Orlando is about two hours away and has oodles of them for my liking should the need/want arise.

5. Future plans: I'll be heading to New Orleans for New Year's Eve (about an eight hour drive) and since I've never been, I'm very much looking forward to it. While I'm there, I will be in attendance as Carolina ends the season at 3-13 (linebackers or linemen in the draft, please!) and the Saints win the NFC South. Also, I'll be headed to Shanghai and Beijing, China at the end of January for the Chinese New Year...so who the fuck needs concerts?!

I guess the bottom line is this: I'm happy. It's been a long time since I could say that and actually mean it. I live fifteen minutes from multiple beaches, the weather kicks ass, and I have a great girl who is everything I've ever wanted and more. In short – life is good.

5 comments:

  1. Girl = guy. With hairy balls.

    Iceman

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  2. Oh...look at Jared with all the jokes. He's a funny guy!

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  3. Sounds like you're great weather and shitty commute are the perfect combination for a WALK to work! Glad to hear you're so happy :) Will you be home on the 18th for my bday party? Ohio Skate is all ours!

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  4. Yeah, a walk to work would be pretty fantastic if I didn't live so far away. It would take me at least an hour to walk it - and that's if I'm power-walking the fuck out of it. Unfortunately, I will not be back on the 18th, so I'll have to miss the extravaganza. I'll be back on the 24th - the 29th. What dates are you going to be back for the holidays?

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  5. I totally feel you on the traffic. I just started my job and it's a 30 min drive normally, and then my 3rd day there were 3 accidents on the only freeway I could take to work. 1.5 hours later....

    Also, I can't even describe how jealous I am that you're going to China.

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