debate

I've been listening to the democratic debate on NPR and I still don't know who I am going to vote for in the Florida primary. I'm still leaning towards Dean, though I'm getting a tad sick of hearing him talk about how he is like Clinton and how much he loves Clintonian style of doing things. It's not that I had a problem with Clinton, in fact, I loved Clinton -- he was a good multi-tasker -- but Dean's over identification with him is getting a little disheartening. It's like he's performing a political version of the "Monica" to get Clinton's support.

None of the others have said much that I really like . . .

And I still hate Joe, despite the fact he says some intelligent things, he still sounds like he's spouting bullshit.

RotK

OH! I'm off to see RotK again! This time with friends.

Riverside, Florida, a fictional place I might create.

I'm thinking of naming the town that Paul and Jake come from, Riverside. It sounds like a good name for a town such as this one. The town is located near a river, after all. I just don't know if I should create my own fictional town, or loosely base it on some real town. For now, I'm going with Florida, since I'm from Florida and it's what I know -- though I doubt I will even bring up the name of the state or even a name of a major city. I can name the University something generic, either after a dead person or just simply after the town (Riverside State University is a plausible name). I just don't know.

I've been messing around with map quest and have found a pair of Riverside, Florida's. One seems to be a neighborhood within the Jacksonville metropolitan area; and the other isn't too far from Deland, north of Orlando. The first would obviously be out, but the second is tempting but it's a flyspeck of a town. Deland is a more likely choice there, but I've no interest real in making up crap about Deland, Florida.

So that's pretty much where I stand. I guess it would help if I really knew more about small towns and moderately sized towns (I think this is my third gripe about this in a while). Can it really be like In the Heat of the Night or Varsity Blues or Sweet Home Alabama Is the Hollywood version anything like the real thing? I know the obvious answer would be "well, since you want to know so badly, why don't you go live in one and find out?" And that would be a good idea, if I had the idea to give up some of my creature comforts that I enjoy in the city. I could interview people, but I would most likely get the obvious answers. I doubt I would be able to get to the insider understanding that want. I would most likely get a list of gripes about living away from "everything" (which would be interesting insight for more than a couple of my female characters who are looking to marry and get out of town) and how nice it is to live away from the hell of the city (which would be interesting insights into other characters, just not the main ones who are doing the talking). I really need to think about this. Questions though, do need to be asked. Maybe I could read up a bit more too.

I think I need to do this as much as research into heroin addiction and the treatment programs for it.

If you've no idea what I'm talking about in this post, I do recommend reading Ron's Rock Opera on my DeviantArt account (the "My Website" link, or whatever the hell it says)

Oh, for the record, Return of the King is just as good, if not better the second time through. Despite the fact, it's STILL hell on the legs.