No, just the part about St. Petersburg, Florida.
This may come as a shock to you, but up here in the New York City, we don’t get a lot of news and weather about St. Petersburg, Florida. I’m sure it’s great though. :rolleyes:
I’ve never heard of Saint Petersburg, Florida. At least, not that I can recall anything notable about it. I read newspapers and magazines, I’ve traveled across the United States many times (including going to Florida), I’ve lived in several different states, I’ve taken several History and Geography classes, and I am a native born US citizen. What is so special about Saint Petersburg that I should immediately know something about it? 
I guess the roll eye thingie is supposed to somehow convey the vastly greater level of culture accruing to those who live in New York City; I’m at a loss to explain it in any other way. I would expect people who have even a rudimentary knowledge of American geography to recognize the name of the fourth largest city in any given state and to be able to locate it on a map; apparently the man my sister talked with couldn’t do even that. Nevertheless, I will retract my poor opinion of people who are ignorant of the geography of their home country. After all, if it ain’t in my backyard, it don’t count, do it?
I don’t believe I claimed you should know something about it; I do think one should be able to locate it on a map. I didn’t add, because I didn’t know it at the time, that the man my sister talked to also didn’t know what or where Orlando, Florida is; he did remember hearing about a navy base in Jacksonville, but couldn’t pinpoint its location.
No, the rolleyes is directed at your arrogance that people should somehow know some small unremarkable city a thousand miles away in another state .
The vastly superior level of culture and sophistication of New Yorkers goes without saying. 
Anyhow, I think I’ve outgrown this friendship. Let’s not continue it.
While I do agree that never having heard of St. Petersburg, FL is a little odd, you’ve GOT to be kidding with this comment. What’s the fourth-biggest city in South Dakota? Arkansas? Hawaii? Rhode Island? Maybe some people from those states can let us know, and there’s a pretty damn good chance a lot of us will never have heard of them. The fourth biggest city in Illinois, my state of residence, is Naperville. Hell, the only thing Naperville’s famous for even in Illinois is for being boring.
(Although my own hometown is the 4th biggest city in California and I would be pretty surprised if you’d never heard of San Francisco before.)
ETA: I do agree about the being able to find it on a map part, though. Atlases aren’t that hard to use.
I think drawing something out by not returning messages (i.e. suddenly becoming unreachable) is a harsh thing to do to someone. Yes, they will eventually figure it out, but it might take a while and it will probably make that person feel pretty bad. If I were in your shoes, I would probably say the following:
“My friend, it was good to hear from you. I’m going to be honest and let you know that I have difficulty maintaining long-distance friendships (since I prefer to be able to see my friends in person or something like that). Why don’t you give me your address and if I’m ever in your neck of the woods, I’ll give you a call? Otherwise, I wish you the best. Take care.”
You invite over all the friends that you’ve outgrown. Sit them all down and explain that you are no longer able to enjoy their company as you are better than they are. Then you release the hounds.
Real answer - Just don’t be available to him. He’ll find someone in his shallow end of the gene pool to splash about with soon enough.
I’d just like to point out that as another resident of this St. Petersburg, Florida place, I definitely do not expect people to have heard of it, and don’t expect them to be able to point to it on a map either. Now Tampa? That’s a different story.
-foxy
Yeah, that was a little over the top, wasn’t it? I think my elderly cantankerousness got the best of me, with a little help from my native stubbornness.
I apologize to all concerned and retract each and every insult I’ve ever uttered to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Except those directed towards my ex-wife.
Ask them to help you move or ask them for money.
Better yet, try to sell them AMWAY.
No, no, it’s not AMWAY, it’s a multi-level marketing opportunity!
You laugh, but one of my GFs friends constantly bothers her entire sorority with Amway-like cosmetics crap.
“why don’t you tell your friends”
“because I’d like to keep them”
I can’t think of any friends I’ve outgrown, but I’ve had a few who outgrew me. Apparently I did not live up to their expectations. More’s the pity.
Just be slow about answering him back and keep it short and boring so he’ll want to drift away.
Well, duh. About one-third of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel, Live and Let Die, is set in St. Petersburg, according to what I just read on Wikipedia.
That, and a friend of mine who lived there briefly said it was a shithole.
I was there once, I think. I remember some fort or something. Something historic, or at least old, which I guess is the same thing. Horse-and-buggy ride narrated by mumbling old black guy tugging the reins. Hoofclaps clattering on cobblestone. Sticky hot, miserable, sweating in my cheap tank top, just wishing we’d go back to our odd-smelling room at the Best Western so I could have another McDonalds vanilla shake. I was a fat kid, and God knows those shakes didn’t help. Heard they intentionally omitted the “milk” from the name because they’re actually made from cow eyeballs, which turns out to be not entirely the case. Point is, education is important. Old “friends”? Not so much.
Nice attitude. I live in Australia - I’ve heard of St Petersburg, Florida.
Yes, but you probably never heard of it before you got to earth did you? huh? huh?
The main problem of the OP is that he already let the person into his life. It’s fairly easy to be short and uninterested from the start and watch it disappear. But this is like a lie - once you begin, it’s hard to stop, because simply, you feel stupid and fear the consequences of your silly behaviour once revealed. You find you’re not the man you want to be, hence the embarrasement. If it wasn’t for the persona thing, wouldn’t you just tell the man to sod off?
Also, as an European, I follow the discussion on St Petersburg, Florida, closely.
New where City, now?
Any time I encounter a New Yorker who is woefully (and yet arrogantly) unfamiliar with his nation’s geography, I am reminded of this classic New Yorker cover, which seems to capture the phenomenon pretty well.
