FreeLunchRoom - The #1 Freebie Trading Forum on the Internet! » Having Fun & Socializing » Break Room / Off-Topic » Regional Chatter

[MrsPickett]

But moved to Myrtle Beach and now live in Florence.

[miladydi]

I have been to and thru Florence many times. I used to live just off Hwy 501 halfway between Florence and Myrtle Beach. I am now in Shallotte, NC just over the border.

[lelestubby]

Hi everyone! i'm glad to be here! aren't you? Kershaw is around an hour's drive north of Columbia.
All country here!

[mekap04]

Originally Posted by lelestubby

Hi everyone! i'm glad to be here! aren't you? Kershaw is around an hour's drive north of Columbia.
All country here!

Hello, nice to see someone from South Carolina. I live in the upstate Greenville/Spartanburg area.

[kandisaffiliates]

Originally Posted by kandisaffiliates

Hello from the Severed Heart of Myrtle Beach, SC!

Hence the term ‘Severed Heart of Myrtle Beach’.
Written by Priestess Kandi Ranson-King
A Kluckin Informer

Hello there,
We live in the severed heart of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Ok, I know what you may be thinking; “Why in the world would anyone admit that they live in the severed heart of any place?”
I’m here to explain the reasoning behind this statement.

First and foremost as a partner and Executive CEO of Kluckin Films, the only Motion Picture Production Company on the Grand Strand, Kluckin Films has been creating horror movies, commercials, documentaries, music videos, event videos and the likes since 1999.

We have all lived here since the mid ‘90s.
The location ‘Severed Heart of Myrtle Beach, SC’ is accurate as to our base location. The term fits with our main theme (horror movies) as well.

I have also been working on Kandi’s Treasures for some time now. Early on I began to utilize MSN Groups and created warehouses of information. These libraries have helped me to bring your brain a few more wrinkles.
Money To Be Made, The Myrtle Beach Home school Meetup Group, Myrtle Beach locals insider, Magic Parents In Myrtle Beach, BringSteveKimBallman and Kluckin Films.

There is another reason we use this description to disclose our location.

What was once one of the highest vacationed, and most visited cities on earth, is now filled with lots of empty holes where major attractions once stood.

Personally, as many residents, we are wondering what will happen to us, to our families and how are we going to make ends meet.

Though we have seen slight improvements, such as larger hotels; renovating to look like something out of Vegas. We have witnessed more destruction and are finding more, and more, empty holes in our city, literally.

There is nothing here now.
We have nothing to draw visitors. No tourist’s attraction in the City Of Myrtle Beach. We just don’t get it. Almost feels like our local government is trying to drive us all away. Clear out the entire city of Myrtle Beach’s population all at one time.

[1] Myrtle Beach was primarily designed and built to draw revenue with tourism as it‘s base. With empty lots, where major attractions once flourished with tourists, how are we supposed to make a living?

Inside the city seems like a ghost town, when in the past life was abundant.

[2] Tourists had embraced the idea of showing their offspring the joys of vacationing in Myrtle Beach for generation after generation. Where will these generations spend their hard earned vacation dollars now?

Check out the brief history, and then see suggestion at the bottom.

Hence the term ‘Severed Heart of Myrtle Beach’.

For a brief history of our area

• 1899 Seashore and Conway Railroad began construction of a line from Conway to the beach. The first tobacco warehouse opened in Conway.
• 1900 The first train ran to the beach, then called New Town (on the coast) and was re-named Myrtle Beach for the native Wax Myrtle shrub; Myrtle Beach is named by Adeline Cooper Burroughs, who won a contest (Myrtle Beach was formerly called New Town; Conway was once called Old Town).
• [2] 1901 The first Myrtle Beach hotel, Seaside Inn, opened, followed by a bathhouse and a wooden pavilion
• 1905 Oceanfront lots are sold for $25. If the buyer agrees to build a house costing $500 or more, lots are free.
• 1912 Simeon B. Chapin and Burroughs and Collins Co. form Myrtle Beach Farms.
• 1925 The original Myrtle Beach Pavilion is torn down and replaced.
• 1927 Myrtle Beach's first golf course, the Ocean Forest Club, opened. It is later renamed Pine Lakes International Country Club. This has led to the construction of over 130 golf courses around the Grand Strand.
• [1] In the 1920s came the first efforts to establish a tourist industry in our area and a telephone line connects Conway to Myrtle Beach.
• 1931 It was forbidden for men to go shirtless at Myrtle Beach. Women wore skirts and carried parasols on the beach.
• 1933 The Myrtle Beach News is founded as a weekly publication by C.L. Phillips and J. Clarence Macklen.1936 Myrtle Beach State Park - the first in the state - opens for visitors.
• 1938 Myrtle Beach was incorporated; while W. L. Harrelson was our mayor.
• 1940s The shag is born; ‘40 the first Myrtle Beach Bike Week happened.
• 1941 the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base established.
• 1942 Because of World War II, the Grand Strand becomes a blackout area, with no smoking permitted after dark.
• 1943 Myrtle Beach Army Air Field is formally established. Runway construction originally began in 1940.
• 1944 The second Pavilion burns down; The Gay Dolphin Gift Cove opens on Ocean Boulevard.
• 1948 Brought us the grand opening of the Conway-to-Myrtle Beach road, U.S. 501; Ocean Drive Beach was incorporated.
• 1949 Myrtle Beach Farms constructs the concrete and virtually storm proof Pavilion.
• 1950 The Myrtle Beach Sun is founded by Atlantic Publishing.
• 1954 Sun Fun Festival was held in Myrtle Beach for the first time (Though some records who that it was 1950); Oct. 15 Hurricane Hazel leveled the Grand Strand ; Coastal Carolina was established; County Board of Education became an elected body and the Superintendent of Education became an appointive post; the Horry County police department was established.
• 1958 Ocean View Hospital opened in Myrtle Beach.
• 1961 Publisher Mark Garner buys the Myrtle Beach News and merges it with The Sun (which he purchased in 1957). The paper has since been known as The Sun News.
• 1965 Myrtle Beach High School gained the first black students and Horry-Georgetown-Marion Technical College was established [Marion later dropped out.]
• 1970 The Myrtle Beach Convention Center was built; Myrtle Beach Farms Company talks of needing a Shopping mall; Waccamaw Pottery opened to the public.
• December 1973 construction began to the first mall in Myrtle Beach, named Myrtle Square Mall, which was designed by Nelson Benzing Design Associates.
• On Friday, September 13, 1974 Ocean Forrest Hotel was destroyed by fire; The S.C. Hall of fame opened in Myrtle Beach.
• 1975 A piedmont airline offers the first ever civilian air flight into Myrtle Beach. April 16 Myrtle Square Mall opens to the public.
• 1978 Brought us the closing of Ocean View Hospital and the opening of Grand Strand General Hospital in Myrtle Beach
• 1984 Horry County Railroad was established to continue rail service to Myrtle Beach.
• On September 21-22, 1989 Barefoot Landing opened and Hurricane Hugo leveled the state.
• 1986 The Sun News is purchased by Knight Rider Inc.
• 1991 Myrtle Beach Farms and the Burroughs and Collins Co. merge to form Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc.; Grand Strand residents, and tourists alike, join together to build a sand sculpture that measured 16 miles in length and earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.
• March of 1993 Myrtle Beach Air Force Base was closed by the U.S Government; the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Redevelopment Authority, along with developer McCaffery Interests set out to turn the nearly 4,000 acres of prime land into the Market Common, Myrtle Beach.; on July 1 Coastal Carolina, (independent of the University of South Carolina) became the Coastal Carolina University, as we know it today.
• 1994 Grand Strand General Hospital changes its name to the Grand Strand Regional Medical Center that we know today.; September 1 McCaffery Interests, Inc. of Chicago, Illinois, announced the purchase of an 87-acre site formerly part of the 3,744 acre Myrtle Beach Air Force Base.
• 1996 AVX Corp. moved its corporate headquarters to Myrtle Beach. ; Blew in two hurricanes. On July 12 hurricane Bertha then on September 5 hurricane Fran.
• 1995 Broadway at the Beach opens to the public.
• 1996 Beach, currently located on 17th Avenue South.
• 1999 Hurricane Floyd hits the Carolinas and causes near-record flooding for the Grand Strand. ; The Waccamaw River crests at 13.2 feet.; Kluckin Films was started by Dwayne Paul King and Wendell Smith
• 2003 Construction began on Coastal Grand Mall.
• March 2004 Coastal Grand Mall opened its doors to the public. There have always seemed to be many empty holes here, right from the start. This land is still in development, with much pre-planned work to be completed.
• On December 22, 2005 Demolition began on Myrtle Square Mall.
• 2006 Demolition is completed on Myrtle Square Mall; the land remains vacant to this day. ; September 30, the Myrtle Beach Pavilion closed to the public; around the time the public became aware the Pavilion would close came announcements that the construction of Hard Rock Theme Park would soon start. ; December demolition began on Myrtle Beach Pavilion.
• 2007 January - Demolition of the Myrtle Beach Pavilion was completed and an empty lot remains to this day.
• 2008 April - Hard Rock Theme Park opens then in September Hard Rock Theme Park closed in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.; Sept. 23 A series of Myrtle Beach City ordinances were passed that make it impossible to hold Myrtle Beach Bike Week events within the city limits of Myrtle Beach. ; September the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame was created.

THANKS FOR CHECKING THIS OUT!
We are forced to pay to live here. We can’t see what we are paying for. There is nothing here! We are hoping that someone, somewhere, somehow will hear our cries to bring our city back to life again. Even if tourism is not what our local government wants to do. We need to create jobs and stability for ourselves. After all it is ours. This is where we live. It has long been said that Myrtle Beach will either make you or break you. What are you going to choose?
We have to make it happen। We have to come together and help each other, network together and grow together once again. Like a team. Teamwork only works, when you work it. This Community did it once, we can do it again.

T together
E veryone
A chieves
M ore

Let’s combine all our small businesses as much as possible. If we work together the strong will survive. Together we can make a difference. Together we will win!

Sources:
http://bikeweek.com/news.cfm/mode/details/id/2547http://www.marketcommonmb.com/press.html
http://www.mbpavilion.com/
http://groups.msn.com/myrtlebeachlocalsinsider
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/
http://www.hchsonline.org/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://www.cityofmyrtlebeach.com/
http://www.cityofconway.com/
http://www.horrycounty.org/history/index.asp
Kluckin Films Gateway
School of Hard Knocks

[kandisaffiliates]

Originally Posted by miladydi

I have been to and thru Florence many times. I used to live just off Hwy 501 halfway between Florence and Myrtle Beach. I am now in Shallotte, NC just over the border.

Do you go to Galaxy Skating rink and watch live wrestling?

[etattoochick10]

Originally Posted by floppy.dog

Anyone from South Carolina say hello - Greenville myself - No matter where you are from have a great day...................

im from greenville!! heeeey!!!!

[MrsPickett]

I live in Florence, SC! Moved from Myrtle Beach!

[kandisaffiliates]

Would you be interested in meeting?

I would be willing to organize a meeting for us to get together and meet in Myrtle Beach, SC. If it turns out well we can schedule a meeting every so often after the first.

I think that it would be great for us to get together, compare notes and get to meet each other face to face.

[kandisaffiliates]

A Day In The Life of A Taxi Driver - New Years Eve 2009

by Priestess Kandi Ranson 01-01-2009

Hello 2009!

Whoo Hoo!! We made it through another year. Can you believe it? I can hardly contain myself. This has been one bumpy ride. And now all of that is over…….

Being a Taxi Driver can be quite rewarding in more ways than one. There is nothing like it in the world!

I made some new friends and caught up with a couple old ones. I met new people from all over the world and experienced a garden variety of situations, all over a 12 hour period.

Tonight I had lots of fun, though I can't help but to think of how disappointing it was for everyone, financially, this year. I can remember a time when we would have all booked and taken home about 3-4 times more than we did over the past day.

I was almost glad that Buddy decided to tag along for the ride.
Buddy is my best friend. He is a small, blond, six and a half year old Pekingese. He has been part of the family since he was only three months old. He rode along on the front passenger seat as one set of passengers came and went. Watching intensely out the window and paying close attention to where we were going and where we were at. He would check out each person who entered the cab just by looking at them over. He was enjoying his New Year!

Around 1:30 AM I was crossing Ocean Blvd. A van ran out in front of me. I slammed on the breaks and avoided a collision. Buddy was not buckled in. His entire body slammed into the dash board and then he dropped into the floor board. He was shaken and scared.

Heck, I was too. I was afraid that he was injured worse than the bump on his head and his upset nervous system. It was at this moment I decided that it was time for Buddy to go home and rest. I was glad that the dash is built so high, otherwise Buddy would have met the wind shield.

You see, I feel like everything happens for a reason.
At one moment my mind started spinning, only lasting for a few seconds, and I realized the there was a good reason I must have been sent to pick up each and every one of the people whom I did this night.

I set out each day with a mission.
‘Today I'll be in the right place, at the right time, to meet the right people, for the betterment of all.'
‘I see opportunity in every challenge.'

This day did not short change me on challenges, this is for sure.
I know that I didn't do as well as others, but did better than others. It seems, according to the static‘s, that I may have faired out average.
Over all I did well if you ask me. Just look at the big picture.
Note: This is not the order of events of the evening.

The Best highlight of the evening:
At midnight I met my husband who also drives a taxi for the same company. We saw 2009 arrive together

This was one of the highlights of the evening:
Not one person puked in my cab and I only had one guy which passed out in the cab.

But hey! I didn't have to deal with that, because he had 4 friends with him! Now here's the kicker; these 5 individuals were on their way out.
I picked them up in a taxi at approximately 11:20 PM; EST, to go OUT and celebrate the coming of the New Year.

I have to wonder what this guy's last memory will be. Will he even remember that he was in a cab, at all? Good thing he had 4 friends to help bring him into the New Year. He seemed to be having a problem with this all by himself.

I went on a total of 3 NSP's (No Service Provided). This is where you get to the call and drive away with no fare.
Then I ended up picking up two fares that had no money. I could have had them sent to jail, but over a $5-$10 run? No way! In the end I'd have lost much more than it would have been worth. The wait time alone, for the officers to arrive to the scene, would have hurt any taxi driver's pockets this night.

So I took their word that they will, oh let's wait for it……………..

• ‘I'll pay you tomorrow after I get up with my boys and do this here drug deal.'

- This guy is utterly obnoxious! When he called me a car ran out in front of me

• ‘I'll tip you really well and you are now my mode of transportation, guaranteed for at least the next 6 months.'

- This guy seems genuine, yet sly.

Ok, keeping an open mind, I can not say that I believe or disbelieve either statement. I have to be impartial, yet judgmentally sound at the same time.

Different Type of Highlight:

I met up with some old acquaintances.

I had the pleasure of meeting one chick's daughter, sister and a friend of the family, when I took them home. It was a bit different, than usual, to see her. You see, she one of the best damned barkeeps on the Grand Strand, in south Myrtle Beach. We are accustomed to looking at each other from across the bar.

Hey! I got asked for my first autograph while driving a Taxi Cab. I can tell you that this can be a scary thought! People are funny and have used the ‘Can I have your autograph ?' line to harm others before.

They took home with them a dated and autographed Kill Syndrome DVD (Single). There were even 3 photos snapped of her sister and me. She told me she would share these photos with me through E-Mail. I replied, in a joking manner, the she would be the first one to actually do it.

Many photos have been taken of me, but never have I received any. I have to wonder if I am scaring them away, though. Once you have seen Kill Syndrome, or even some of the behind the scenes shots, you will never be the same!

Then I picked up another long lost barkeep. On the ride to his pad we reminisced about how we (Kluckin Films) would come in and brainstorm, leaving behind strange drawings on napkins. He even recalled my preferred kind of ale.

On my way to pick up a bid call I see one of the stars from ‘The Bleeding' by Kluckin Films. Though it is a dry 28 degrees and windy; I see him walking down the sidewalk with a glow of total joy of the nights celebration beaming like a beacon. He lives in a neighboring state so we do not get to see him much. It turned out that he had been trying to contact me or my husband for the past 5 hours, with no success. Even after approaching another taxi driver with our own company. He claims that the driver refused to help him get in touch with us.

The pick up was only 2 blocks away from where I had seen our star. I pull into the parking lot and get out of my cab, then walk in and ask for the person who ordered the cab.

Sitting there in front of me, at the bar, a couple piped up quickly and said that ‘they got tired of waiting and took off walking'. Back out to my cab I go. Another driver with the same company whipped his taxi into the parking lot.

I told him what happened. He immediately started to defend the fare, saying, ‘That's my ex-room mate, they are waiting for me.' ‘Let me go in and see what they're doing'.

Just about the time he starts to walk around the van they came out the door. The male of the couple walked up to me with a $5 bill in his hand, looked me square in the eye, smiled and proclaimed ‘Sorry, we're riding with him, but thanks for showing up.' Then he extended the $5 my way. I just smiled and said thank you and got back in my cab, then drove away.

Our star was weighing heavily on my mind and my heart. I dig out my old phone, which I use as a phone directory, and dialed his cell. You should have heard the surprise in his voice when he realized it was me! I back tracked 2 blocks and got to meet a friend of his, from back home, and spend about 10 minutes talking. We got our hugs in, because we both know that will be the last time we see each other, until the next time he decides to pop back in. No one ever knows when that will happen, sometimes not even him, till he is just there again.

I picked up 2 ladies, my grandmother's age, and carried them one block, from their hotel, to the nearest country bar. Bright Blessings and Healing Energies I send to thee. They had arrived in Myrtle Beach to ring in the New Year. They spent the entire day in a doctor's office having a leg examined.

Of course they wanted my card with my personal number on it. I did give it to them. Long after I had dropped them off and had almost forgotten about them, for the moment, one of the ladies called my new cell phone to put in a request for a time call. I took it.

It happened that they wanted to be picked up at the same time the party place was to close. I did arrive about 10 minutes early. Sitting outside I actually acquired 2 fares. The ladies did not mind that a group of 4 wanted to ride as well. The second group was going in the same direction, only further south.

This actually happened to me twice this night. Taxi service may be difficult for some to get on New Year's Eve. This is one day most people do not mind sharing a taxi with total strangers.

Over all I have to say that I had a great night, met some wonderful people, helped many celebrate the New Year and on top of it saved a lot of lives.

By the end of the night I ended up driving about 170 miles. This cost me all of $20.00 to fill the gas tank. I spend $3.00 on cleaning the Taxi. I booked $201.00 0n the meter and ended up taking home about $150.00 cash.

Can you say that your New Year's Eve was this rewarding?

Happy New Year Everyone and may 2009 be Happy, Healthy and prosperous for you and yours~

_____________________

Originally published on SearchWarp.com for Priestess Kandi Sunday, January 04, 2009

Article Source: A Day In The Life of A Taxi Driver - New Years Eve 2009