A few months back in April, I had been fired from my job from a restaurant in the bay area for being 'weird'. Can you believe it? Weird, In Florida. Hah! But it happened, and it really threw me for a loop. I never had fit in, never, BUT that was always what I thought set a person aside as an individual, that very spice and change that gave everyone their own flavor and made life and those you encountered interesting! Better yet! That in Florida, where we are a constant source of pokes on the news, but we are a state full of 'freaks'! Wonderful strange things that you can't ever just put into a box. (You couldn't put anything into a box here, because I'd bet you it'd escape and become a part of our ever changing eco-system). It's hot, it's sticky with the deep levels of humidity and when your summers are spent knowing a sudden shower full of crashing lightning is just around the corner (My first & only year to date in college at the Art Institute, we were always SURE to save every 5 minutes because the lightning outside was both spectacular and enough to keep us sitting in our classrooms until it passed.) I grew up in a state where I knew nothing of snow days, but missed several weeks of a school year for Hurricane days.
Florida has as wide of a range of people, as it does imported animals. A wild, subtropical area that after 25 years I have still yet to really soak it all in, but I will say, all the natural born Floridian's in my family are 'weird', but you know what? So is everyone else who came from the north and populated this area. Mixing everything up from the islands in the south, through the deep southerners, the snowbirds and the ones who just came to stay. There is no 'normal' here, the state motto should be 'let your Freak Flag Fly' but most importantly, I don't want it any other way. It's who I am, It's who we all are, and I will continue to march on to my own beat in to old age.
My name is Nic Pallante, I've spent my entire life in the state of Florida, save a few summers in Rhode Island. This is my blog, my passions are Art & my son. I am a huge fan of nintendo hand helds, Legends, Folklore, Mythology & Fairy Tales. I am completely drawn to all things aquatic & I love experementing with my Garden. We live in the Subtropical Tampa Bay area and if you recognize me, feel free to talk to me. I am weird, I let my freak flag fly, but I don't bite! Usually.
Find me on the web!
@OceanicInks on Instagram
@OceanicInks on Twitter
www.facebook.com/oceanicinks
www.bigfishchemist.net
