Tick, tock, tick, tock

HurricaneTeen is waiting for his brother to send down the cables required to upload pictures from his camera. He is getting impatient. When he gets them, he will have lots of pictures for you.

A Victory for Minorcan Heritage in Florida

The St. Johns County School District is constructing a new middle school on my family's old land grant in Mill Creek, FL. The school is located in the World *choke* Golf *gag* Village, and will serve those residents and the kids from the rural areas (the remaining portion of our land grant) surrounding it.

I have wondered for some time what they would name this school, and an elementary school they are building in the same area. I always thought that it would be cool if they named the school after my Minorcan family (Pacetti) in some way.

At a school board meeting last Tuesday, these were the main proposals for the two schools:
Elementary School
Ward's Creek Elementary School
World *choke* Golf *gag* Village Elementary School

Middle School
Pacetti Bay Middle School
Fairways Middle School

....And the winners are....
WORLD GOLF VILLAGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
PACETTI BAY MIDDLE SCHOOL

It's a good thing that Pacetti Bay beat out Fairways, because I would just have to go bang my head on a brick wall if they caved in to naming BOTH schools after golf...

I look at it this way...
Golf has been in Mill Creek for 8 years.
Pacettis have been in Mill Creek for 203 years.

Thank God they let us keep this little sliver of culture in a place where culture is being forced out to make way for fairways and "World Golf."

You can read the whole story at http://staugustine.com/stories/041107/news_4525033.shtml.

I'll have more on this tomorrow with:

• The significance of Pacetti Bay.
• My comments on "World Golf Village" beating out "Ward's Creek"

A Victory for Minorcan Heritage in Florida

The St. Johns County School District is constructing a new middle school on my family's old land grant in Mill Creek, FL. The school is located in the World *choke* Golf *gag* Village, and will serve those residents and the kids from the rural areas (the remaining portion of our land grant) surrounding it.

I have wondered for some time what they would name this school, and an elementary school they are building in the same area. I always thought that it would be cool if they named the school after my Minorcan family (Pacetti) in some way.

At a school board meeting last Tuesday, these were the main proposals for the two schools:
Elementary School
Ward's Creek Elementary School
World *choke* Golf *gag* Village Elementary School

Middle School
Pacetti Bay Middle School
Fairways Middle School

....And the winners are....
WORLD GOLF VILLAGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
PACETTI BAY MIDDLE SCHOOL

It's a good thing that Pacetti Bay beat out Fairways, because I would just have to go bang my head on a brick wall if they caved in to naming BOTH schools after golf...

I look at it this way...
Golf has been in Mill Creek for 8 years.
Pacettis have been in Mill Creek for 203 years.

Thank God they let us keep this little sliver of culture in a place where culture is being pushed out for fairways and "World Golf."

You can read the whole story at http://staugustine.com/stories/041107/news_4525033.shtml.

HurricaneTeen Has Made History

I believe I made history a couple weeks ago while I was in St. Augustine (what better place to make history???)

I (think) I was the first person EVER to come home from a Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting and immediately watch hockey thereafter.

Please tell me if you know of anyone who has done this. I am considering contacting Guinness World Records (okay, not really.)

Speaking of hockey, it's playoff time in the NHL, and my Pittsburgh Penguins are in contention. I'll keep you posted on how badly we get our behinds whipped (we have a VERY young team.)

Speaking of being very young, I am going back down to Flagler Estates tomorrow to scout out some more property to buy. Yes, I just might be making mortgage payments when I am 16-years-old. All those years of penny-pinching and saving money appear to be paying off.

Goodbye, my friends. I must get to bed early if'n I want to be up at 5:00 tomorrow morning! Fare thee well!!

FloridaCracker, I feel your pain...

If you read FloridaCracker's Pure Florida blog, you know that he recently completed his huge series of essays required to attain a certain certification for teachers. I am feeling quite overwhelmed right now, just as he felt (so overwhelmed, he actually GAVE UP BLOGGING for a while!!!)

My predicament is very similar in that I have a big story (somewhere around 20-40 pages) due Monday for my creative writing class...And I have a whopping 3 pages written.

The story is supposed to be a kid's story using creative and/or humorous writing as a way to teach specific morals, without the kids even realizing they are being taught. Sounds a lot like Brave New World, eh?

I chose to write about my dog's life on the street, in which she traveled the country on the rails as a "hobo puppy." I have had such a lack of motivation, though, that I do not enjoy working on it that much.

In order to fuel my creative thoughts and help me focus, I had planned on going out to my #1 place of inspiration...The swamp. But........get ready.......are you sure you're ready??......hold onto your seat because you may just fall out of it when I tell you.......I DID NOT FEEL LIKE IT. I know, the end is near. Since when does HurricaneTeen not feel like going out in the swamp?? Ugh, maybe I am just too ready for the school year to end.

So why does a person who loves creative writing so much have so little done, even though he has had a week now to do it? Well, in the past couple months I have been in a writing lull (hence the lack of blog posts), and I do not find myself enjoying it as much as I usually do. However, I feel like I am pulling through, and I think I am ready to get cracking.

My goal is to get ten pages done tonight, bringing my total to 13, and if I don't get that done, I will feel that I let ALL OF YOU down...So if I don't have that amount done by my next post (tomorrow) PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE give me some encouragement and/or a scolding. I REALLY need it.

Thank you.

(And I am not kidding...YELL at me. I am going to tell my parents to do the same.)
And the fact that I am working from 10:30 AM to 8 PM, then I have church till 11:30 does not help my situation, either. But I WILL get it done!!
Now I am off to write before I get distracted.
Good night !

Wow...Amazing parallels...

The Old Elm Tree by the River
By: Wendell Berry

Shrugging in the flight of its leaves,
it is dying. Death is slowly
standing up in its trunk and branches
like a camouflaged hunter. In the night
I am wakened by one of its branches
crashing down, heavy as a wall, and then
lie sleepless, the world changed.
That is a life I know the country by.
Mine is a life I know the country by.
Willing to live and die, we stand here,
timely and at home, neighborly as two men.
Our place is changing in us as we stand,
and we hold up the weight that will bring us down.
In us the land enacts its history.
When we stood it was beneath us, and was
the strength by which we held to it
and stood, the daylight over it
a mighty blessing we cannot bear for long.