A Reboot

Tampa and I just don’t get along. On good days, I would characterize our relationship as similar to that of two opposing signs of the zodiac, like snakes and pigs, we just don’t mesh well. On bad days, it’s more like I’m having an allergic reaction and my irrational, intense aversion to our current home city will cause me to break out into hives. After a trip to the Florida State Fair yesterday, I again found myself stewing in distaste for Tampa. State fairs bring out the worst in people, including me. Carnival rides and fried Twinkies attract crowds of the morbidly obese, loud, boorish personalities and then encourages them to BE MORE SO. Also, there were a lot of Scientologists and other Christian fanatics trying to talk to me about Armageddon which will put anyone (except maybe Tom Cruise and Sarah Palin) in a pissy mood.

This morning as I was (again) complaining to Ryan over Skype about Tampa, it occurred to me that I need an attitude adjustment. Really, I’m not overly negative person but I find myself fixating all the things I hate about it here. The flatness. The bugs. The aggressive drivers who absolutely, positively must get to that red light ahead of you and everyone else. The terrible smoothie shops. I could go on. And on. And on. (And totally will if you ask!)

Everyone should be able to have their “thing”—that little bit of unsupported neurosis or hatred of something (like, mushrooms or scorpions). But hating an entire city is ignorant and lame and only making me miserable. Which brings me to my mission: getting to know Tampa a little better. I vow to visit at least one new Tampa Bay area site each week for the next 3 months: a museum, park, restaurant or shop and will document it here for posterity, whether people read it or not.

The awesomely crafty Sonia forwarded this city guide from Design Sponge and I thought it would be a great way to start. If anyone knows of any cool restaurants or a shop in Tampa I should check out, please let me know. I’ve also found a few other blogs about getting to know Tampa so it seems I’m not alone! Except, perhaps I can be a bit more of a judgey bitch than some of those other bloggers.

Tampa better bring it.