there are those who claim that the pay scale in Florida demonstrates the ignorance of Floridians and in spite of the massive influx of northerners, especially Northeasterners and Midwesterners and people from industrial unionized states, the areas ties to the old South and slavery... so I think about the extra hour and a half I put in today and realize that at time and a half I am making approximately one half of what I made in New York in the late 1980s... in fact, I have yet to earn as much working a full year including massive overtime down here as I made working only to July of 1990... something is very wrong with that picture...

you pay for the climate...

I've been told that the climate is worth it, that people flock to the state in droves, especially young people, so the worker pool is flooded and employers can pick and choose and ignore inflation... I've been told it is a very transient state made up of mostly retired people who don't care about workers rights and kids who don't care about tomorrow or benefits or career plans... I've been told it is a right-to-work state, whatever that means... all I know is employers can hire and fire most people at their whim and they can keep their pay rates down to near poverty level, especially in jobs that are usually underpaid like health care and teaching and such... the caring professions...

the cost of living is lower...

I keep hearing about the cost of living being lower in Florida and I'm trying to figure out just what costs less than other places I've lived... gas is up to $1.91 at the cheapest place in town and over $2.00 at the brand name places, with higher prices near the highways where they can get away with it... a loaf of cheap bread is a buck fifty and the baking factory is right here... fruit?... apples are $1.39 to $1.89 a pound, oranges are fifty cents each and grapefruits are 60 to 90 cents each... milk is $2.79 to $3.89 a gallon... chopped chuck is $2.49 a pound... this is a completely by-memory impromptu estimate and my guess is it's proably low... rents?... $850 for a two bedroom apartment way outside of downtown, $1100 for a three bedroom... more for a three bedroom house... buying?... $130,000 gets you a starter home, small, quickly built, way outside of town... you want space, land, some luxury, bring $200,000 for the basics and keep adding... but if you are not buying a house down here you are spending the same for cost of living as most of the northeast and a lot less than many places in the country, so there's another pie in the sky in the face Florida throws at you... or me, since I'm the one living here...

here comes the sun (la la la la)...

yes, it comes back around to the sunshine, where else can sun worshippers go in this United States and still be near the ocean?... southern California is one of the few places that definitely costs more than Florida... the gulf coast may be an option if you want to get deeper into the south, but do you? (after living in the south for most of the last fourteen years, I can say no)... and yet every time I ponder another move to another area, my mind drawns a blank because I love the water, the heat, the sun, and being able to walk around nearly naked all year round... if I must live without intimacy and partnership, at least I live in physical comfort...

while financially, it was much more comfortable to have extra money so the savings continually went up (instead of steadily down as it does here in Florida, especially recently), I stay here for the physical comforts... I wonder how much of that is laziness sometimes, but after years of living up north (NYC, Toronto, Buffalo) and a couple of years in other places, this is the most affordable tropical area I've found so I remain... if only I was not so alone so much, it would be close to heaven...

I've nodded off a few times while writing this (hence, the title) and apparently I am too sleepy to head to the gym this morning, so I am going to crawl over to bed and fall over... I am sure there are many more thoughts that can put me to sleep besides money and the weather, but I've found enough for one morning... aren't we lucky?...

. o O ( NOTES ARE THE NEW HAPPY PILL ) O o .
(just let me know you were here)