Christmas

It has been a very buys last two weeks. I haven't had the time to sit, organize my thoughts, and blog. I'm not quite sure where to start. It really has been that busy and my thoughts are a whirlwind.

Two Thursdays ago, I attended Open Mic as usual. It was a good night overall, and I feel as though I did a particularly good job on my Christmas song, Frozen. I also played Endless. After playing I received really wonderful compliments from some people in the audience. One was from, Tom (think), who hosts an open mic in Fultonville at a church once a month. He was quite impressed with Frozen, which made me feel very good. I have to say that it may be one of my most well-written songs as far as the whole package is concerned.

On Friday and Saturday, I did some Christmas shopping and started making my black santa hat (yes, I bought materials and sewed a santa hat for myself -- I can be quite crafty). I wrapped gifts for my family and put them underneath my tree. The doing of these things took up most of the weekend -- except for Sunday when I rested for most of the day.

This past Thursday was the last Caffe Lena open mic of the year 2009 and the last open mic before Christmas. Also, I was hosting it. I have to say, I had been looking forward to hosting this night for quite some time. I was planning on making a warm, holiday edition of open mic. I foresaw musicians sharing Christmas songs with sing-a-longs and telling stories about Christmas traditions. With the termination of my marriage, I was especially looking forward to experiencing a Caffe Lena family (open mic musicians!) Christmas.

I have to say that the night exceeded my expectations and was easily one of the best open mic nights I have ever attended. I really felt very happy to be a part of it. During the night, I listed who played what Christmas songs in order to document the festive parts of the evening:

Maurizio played a folky rendition of White Christmas with Phil Drum and his fabulous version of Little Drummer Boy, which is alway satisfyingly wonderful.
Phil Drum played The Christmas Song and Elvis' Santa Claus is Back in Town.
Wilow played The Christmas Letter by Reba MacEntire (spelling?) and Santa Baby, which was very cute!
Gail Sparlin played an orginal Christmas song. A solemn, bluesy piano number called A Fine Time For Being Blue. She also told a nice story about how her high school choral students sang carols at an upscale restaurant to raise money for a charity. They made 27 dollars when there were upwards of 200 hundred people in the restaurant. The students donated their own money to charity when they discovered how little they made. A nice Christmas-spirit story.
Willie the Moak played a unique version of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town in his guitar-string-tapping style/.
Rik Kent played Christmas inspired instrumentals.
Jeffrey T played his original song Christmas or Hanukah and a jazzy version of Sata Claus is Comin' to Town in which Maurizio backed him up on with some lead guitar work.
And I played the last Christmas song of the night: My original Frozen.

Somewhat toward the end of the night, a performer (Samara) played a "proposal song" and upon completion of it, got out an engagement ring, dropped to one knee, and asked her girlfriend to marry her. The girlfriend said, "yes" and I was left with interesting task of getting up on the stage and introducing the next performer.

On Friday, I worked late. Then my mom brought food over and gave me some instructions on cooking the turkey. On Saturday, my brother and his wife came over, as did my mom and a friend of hers. We had turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and rolls. The turkey came out quite good. It was my first time cooking a turkey and I succeeded. I made the comment that it was "on the dry side," but everyone disagreed. (Truthfully, it was a little bit dry, but it wasn't DRY by any means). We opened some gifts and played a card game and visited for a little bit. Then we had ice cream cake for my birthday.

After that, my brother, his wife, and I went to my dad's for spaghetti dinner and games and gifts. We laughed very hard while playing some games (as we often do) and had a great time.

Later that night, I went to my friend's house for a party. He planned a party for those of us that birthdays in December. I had been telling them that I wasn't going to be able to go, due to having Christmas with my family. So, they were very surprised to see me show up.

This morning, I woke up around noon. It has been a lazy Sunday and I've mostly just watched TV, had left-overs for lunch and dinner, and cake and cookies for dessert.




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I wrote a new song!! I'm very happy with it and I can't wait to play it for people. However, I am going to keep under wraps for a while. It's a song that uses spring time as a metaphor and in the song, the sun is out and the snow is melting. So, it doesn't fit with this time of the year. So, I'll see if I'm able to keep myself from playing it out... not sure I'll be able to succeed with that.

Ho Ho Hosting

Ho Ho Hosting Caffe Lena's open mic!! Lots of christmas songs. It's freezing cold outside but feels warm in the caffe. Friends and songs. It doesn't get any more christmas spirity than this. Love it!!

Ho Ho Hosting

Blog You. You Blogging Blogger.

It's not very late on a cold December Sunday. Even so, I am in bed (which is where I spent a good portion of my day) being warm and sleepy. The headache that I have had since this morning is finally subsiding and I feel that I may be able to fall asleep peacefully without being in pain. The comfort of this realization has prompted me to open up blogger and write.

You see, it has been a while since I've blogged. Two weeks, as a matter of fact. And I should have a lot to write about. The problem with having a lot to write about is that when you do open blogger a whole bunch of things start to happen: 1) You have no idea where to start 2) You fear that you'll forget to write about something 3) You leave out bits and pieces of things in order to prevent yourself from writing a lot 4) You know it's going to take a while to get it all down, so you give up and leave it as a draft.

All such thoughts are going through my head...

Still, I haven't blogged in two weeks and I need to get all this stuff out of my head so that I have twice as much to write about next week.

Let's start with the recent holiday. I found myself attending two thanksgiving dinners: one with my mom at a friend of her's place and one with my dad. There was the usual food stuffs available for consumption at both and both sets of dinner were fabulously delicious. The problem, however, occurred to me on Friday. Even though I attended two thanksgiving dinners, I did not end up with any left-overs. This prompted me to seek out a turkey when I went to the grocery store on the Monday after the holiday weekend. Oddly enough, they had no turkey.

Friday night (after the holiday) turned out to be a blast. I went "out" with friends and found myself (along with my friends) buying one friend (who has "not been drunk in a long time!") drinks all night. Eventually, everyone left (except me) and wondering where they had gone, I texted them. The text I received from my drunk friend read: "yeai goinoninome" and I will never forget it.

My friends left without me because I was in the back of a bar being hugged by a girl that I had graduated high school with some time ago. She was in town for the holiday and we randomly ran into each other at the bar. I stayed later than my friends catching up and whatnot and eventually gave her and some of her companions a ride home. (despite the getting-my-friend-drunk, I was quite sober).

Not much else occurred through the weekend, so I shall fast forward to Thursday (aka Open mic night).

I braved the Victorian Stroll in Saratoga to get to Open Mic. I had to park four or five blocks away due to the sheer amount of people taking up the city. I also had to stand in line forever to get some food at Uncommon Grounds. Part of my standing-in-line-forever was brought to me by a youngish couple with their toddler who wanted a happy meal so bad I almost walked back to my car and drove to the nearest McDonald's for him. I stood with guitar in hand and laptop over my shoulder waiting while mom and dad read and reread the menu to the kid asking him what he wanted. He didn't want to budge on the chicken nuggets (who would?) as the watch on my wrist got closer and closer to open mic time. Eventually, I did get waited on and was able to eat quickly and get to Caffe Lena in time.

It was a short list of performers (a lot of people stay out of the city on Victorian Stroll night) and a three-song-night. I played three originals and rather poorly, I might add. The sound was not working with me and the monitors kept cutting in and out. Through the first song I couldn't hear my guitar and messed up enough times. The frustration of getting to the open mic and then sucking lead to an unfulfilling night overall. Even so, it was good to see the familiar faces at Lena's. It has been a while thanks to the holiday, my vacation, and being sick for three weeks. Wow. Over a month with no open mic.

On Friday, I went "out" with friends again. First I stopped off at the friend-who-we-got-drunk-last-week's house for pizza and a movie. He refused to go out again after last week. "Out" was somewhat fulfilling. Lots of friends and laughing and whatnot.

Saturday, I went to Troy's Revolution Hall for the Alta Mira CD release show. It was a blast and the band's sounded amazing! I picked up the CD and am dying to start playing it for people. The sound at the show was truly fabulous and the lighting was wicked cool. Unfortunately the weather was bad and the roads were slippery. This most likely contributed to the 300 people who were present (there easily could have been more).

I could write more about the show, but there are sure to be plenty of reviews and pictures and things all over the local music websites. I could also post pictures from my cell phone, but they aren't going to amount to anything compared to what the professional photographers are going to post.

Plus, it's a little bit latter now and the headache is completely gone, but I'm tired. It's been a long week at work and late nights for the past few. I need the sleep, so I'm going to take it when I can get it.

I have a brief "to do" list that I neglected this weekend... I'll have to do it this week. I also want to put up some Christmas decorations. Right. Bed.

Day 4 and 5 (Vacation Diary)

It is now Sunday. Which means I am three days late writing about day four of my vacation and two days late writing about day five. I'm a bad blogger some times. I have been very busy since being home. There was a gathering Saturday night at a friend's house and I have had to unpack and tidy things up after the unpacking. I picked my cat up on Saturday and slept A LOT. I guess I was partially jet-lagged and partially behind on sleep. I have also been taking care of the sunburn that I had gotten on Thursday and haven't written about yet...

Okay. Time for the catch up.

I woke up Thursday morning (Day 5 of the Vaca) in the late morning and went straight for the poolside. Of course I put on sun tan lotion and took extra care to make sure I covered my back. In fact, I put on SPF 15 first and then added SPF 30 to my back because I had gotten a little red in some spots. In the next four hours, I laid on my stomach, laid on my back and switched back and forth between the two. I realized a couple of times that I had fallen asleep while laying out and these times occurred while on my stomach (I just typically sleep that way). It was great while I was out there. I had my mp3s and the sound of the ocean, which was less than twenty feet away. There were very few other people out by the pool. It was so relaxing and thinking about it now makes me wish I could do that for four hours each day of my life. I'm certain I would be a much more relaxed person in general if I could.

When I went back up to my room I felt the burn on my back. I checked it in the mirror and noticed more red that I had had before. I also noticed that I didn't have that much color overall. What a rip-off. Four hours in the sun and only a light tan (and some burn) to show for it?

I went to get some food (because it was lunch time). I ate at Denny's and had a Grand Slam. Not quite sure why I was in the mood for breakfast at 2:30 in the afternoon, but I was.

When I returned to my room, I was exhausted and my back hurt A LOT. I checked it in the mirror again and it was lobster red... and it covered my whole back. "How did that happen?" I thought. I had extra SPF on me... ugh.

So, I used some aloe vera gel and fell asleep on the hotel bed.

When I woke, it was dark. And I was very groggy. I think the sun burn took a lot out of me. I took a coldish shower and then turned the hot water off completely, letting it cool my back down. Put on more aloe vera and got dressed. This was the last night of my vacation and I wanted it to be a good one. My plan was to get some food at the Mai Tai Bar, which I did, and then head over to a place called the 509 Lounge, which I saw on Wednesday night and was hoping then. Once there, I stood in line behind some very dressed up youth-ish looking folks. They were all generally acting like assholes and I thought, "the whole placed can't be full of assholes..." Then I got up to the bouncer checking IDs. He said, "Are you with the frats?" And it all began to make sense. For a brief second I thought to myself, "I could lie and say 'Yes, I am with the frats,' but that would mean that I would get in and be stuck amongst a bunch of assholes." So, I said, "No," took my ID back and walked away happily.

I decided to go to Razzle's again, the crazy dance club I attended the night before. There was quite literally no one there. I figured I might be too early, so I got a drink and hung around. After a while, four Asian girls walked in. In one section of the club, there are lighted poles (not sure why...) and one of the Asian girls was dancing provocatively around it. I walked over and asked her if I could put a dollar in her shirt. She said, "yes" and we all talked for thirty minutes or so about how lame the club was tonight and where we were all from and how many and what time of drinks we had all had. I left them with a "nice to meet you" and got myself another drink. They began dancing with themselves on the dance floor. Which made me wonder... why would a group of girls dance with themselves when there is a gentleman who is clearly interested in one of them nearby? Lame.

Anyways, they left shortly after and so did I. While walking to my car, a very-drunk-or-high-or-both-man asked me if he could draw my picture for money. He had a torn up sheet of paper that looked as if it had been pulled out of the trash. I said, "no" and prodded me for money. I walked away from him as he stumbled and tried to keep up with me. I lost him around the corner. Then -- no joke -- three steps later, I run into a woman who tells me this obviously made up story about how her friend left her with no gas and went home with a guy and could I please give her some money. I said I didn't have any cash on me and was paying with my debit card. She said, "There is an ATM machine right over there." I said, "I'm not crazy, lady. Leave me alone." And I walked quickly away from her as she huffed and puffed.

I cruised up and down the strip for twenty minutes or so, just to feel the cool night air blow in through my rental car window. Then, I pulled into my hotel parking garage and went up to bed and called it a night.

Almost forgot. I took this picture of a sand sculpture that I saw in many different stages of development each time I went to Ocean Walk area, which is where the Mai Tai Bar is:



When I woke up the next morning, it was actually early: 8:00. I ate breakfast, packed, showered, packed more, and finished packing. Then I checked out and left the hotel. I went to my Grandpa Bordy and Granny Nanny's house and visited with them for a while. My grandpa is in a carving club and he has many cool carvings that he's done around the house. Whenever I visit (every few years or so), he has some new ones mixed in with the ones that I've seen in the past. This time, I took some pictures:





I was quite impressed with the dog, which was a new one since the last time I had seen them. I have one of his early carvings that he did, but it's put away somewhere, I think. He sent me a carving knife once with a block of wood that was started and some instructions on how to do it. I gave it a shot, but just couldn't get into it. Music is my thing.

Anyways, I left their house around 11ish and drove an hour and half to the airport, where I dropped off the rental car, checked my luggage, went through security, and found the terminal that my plane was leaving from. I had intended to blog then, while I waited, but I only had a half an hour before the plane would start boarding. And I was tired and hungry. So I bought a slice of pizza and a coffee. I ate and drank and found I didn't have enough time to blog.

I boarded the plane and when we got in the air, I pulled my laptop out and worked on my screen play. I finished reformatting act II. What I need to do next is type out act III and add the scene numbers to act II and III. Then it needs a couple read throughs and I'll start giving it out to friends to get feedback. I'm excited... while reformatting it I "watched" the scenes unfold in my mind. It's good! I can honestly say that I would enjoy seeing this movie.

Anyways, I took a picture of my Downtown Disney souvenir:



Only six dollars! He is attached to my laptop bag. I also came home with a stuffed Shamu that Tif won (by beating me) at Sea World. I put Shamu on the top of one of my shelves in the living room.

After the plane landed, I went out to eat with my dad and told him about the trip. Then I drove home. On the drive home, I realized how tired I was from the whole thing and I couldn't wait to get into bed. I arrived. Brought my stuff in and dropped it where it was most convenient. Then, at about 7:30 I turned out all the lights and plopped down for some much needed rest. And I stayed in bed until about noon the next day!

Now it's six o'clock on Sunday and I have to start getting myself ready for work tomorrow. Oh work... you silly nine to five thing. So unlike a vacation, you are. You should take a tip from vacation days, work days... sleep in and lay out in the sun... that would be the perfect job. Where do I sign up?

Day 5 (Vacation Diary)

I don't remember getting a tattoo last night... I do remember getting the word "Light" stamped on my left hand when I walked into a dance club (time out: Yes. I went into a dance club). I attempted to wash "Light" off my hand, but it doesn't seem to want to come off at this time...

More on the dance club later. First a catch up.

I woke up Wednesday morning and had some breakfast. My plan for the day? Lay by the pool. What did I do? I laid by the pool. First, I went across the street to shop for a beach towel. I had checked out some other places the night before, but didn't find any that weren't either cheaply made or costing more than I wanted to spend. I found one Wednesday morning:



If you can't beat 'em... (wait...). I bought the confederate flag beach towel for two reasons. 1) it was not cheaply made. 2) it was in my price range. The was also a dolphin towel of the same non-cheapness and price range. And even though I love dolphins as much as the next guy, I chose the flag for the comedic value. Some seagulls decided to hang out in the pool as well... and it made me feel a little be strange about swimming in it.





While laying by the pool, I listened to mp3s on my phone. Some pool-side-laying-around-music was brought to me by: The Killers, Cold Play, Franz Ferdinand, and Kings of Leon.

I left the pool around three o'clock when the sun went behind the hotel. Around five, I drove the strip (Atlantic Ave/A1A) and stopped off for food and drinks at a place called Mai Tai Bar. It was quite possibly the coolest venue I've been to. Mai Tai Bar is about a long stones throw from the ocean. They have gas fires above you. And the chairs are cousiony.







I watched/listened-to a solo acoustic performer. He played poorly original covers, but ultimately sounded pretty good. I started to miss my guitar. After the solo guy, a band set up and also played covers. I thought I would enjoy the night life at Mai Tai, but I was only one of about twelve people in the place. I left after the band's first set. I walked back to my car and discovered that I was parked directly in front of a dance club called Razzles. A sign said "Ladies Night" and so I walked in and was stamped on my left hand.





I could write about my experience at this place and fill about twenty pages. People is crazy... girls is crazy. I don't know why loud thumping R&B music makes women bend over and grind their rear ends up against black dudes... For a little while I was standing next to a girl whose shirt was up over her bra, was wearing a short skirt and was bent over so far her hands were on the ground, and this guy was grinding up against her butt. I walked away and later saw the same guy doing the same thing to a completely different girl.

I met some girls from Russia. I remember Jade, because the other girls had names that I couldn't figure out how to pronounce. I danced with them for about five minutes. Then they disappeared. I saw them dancing with themselves after that... I thought to myself, "am I that bad of a dancer?"

At one point, the DJ played a remix of Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. I video'd it along with the bewildered look that often make when something strange is happening:



I left the club around 2:30. Came back to the hotel and passssssssssssssssed ouuuuuuuuuuut. Which is why I am posting about Day 5 on Day 6. It's 10 and the sun is shinning. I've got my swim trunks and my flippy-floppies... I'm going to go and lay by the pool with my mp3s and confederate flag towel.

Day 4 (Vacation Diary)

Today, I saw something that I have never seen in real life before...

but first: a catch up.

I woke this morning late again. I love me some sleeping in time. Got dressed, ate breakfast, and packed my stuff. Then I hopped in my lame rental car and headed off toward Ormond Beach (which is a part of Daytona Beach) and my hotel.

I felt sad leaving Tif's house. I had a blast catching up and just hanging out. Tif is fun 100 percent of the time!

My lame Hyundai Accent became a little less lame when I figured out how to change the EQ on the radio. Whoever had the care before me turned the treble way up and the bass down. WHO TURNS THE BASS DOWN!?!?!?!? No wonder I had to blast the radio just to hear the beat. I fixed the problem and felt a little bit better about driving it.

It took me a little less than an hour to get to my hotel. I checked in and brought my stuff up to my room, smelling the salty sea the entire time. Here are some pictures of my room and the view:







After getting settled and having some lunch, I lathered up in sun tan lotion and went out and laid by the pool. (*NOTE: I would have laid on the beach except it was high tide and there was literally only twenty feet of beach, which includes the area where cars can drive by). Once the sun went behind the hotel, I left the pool-side and walked the beach. Not sure how far I went, but feet were pretty tired when I returned. I swam in the heated pool and went in the jacuzzi for a bit. Then I went back to my room and took a nap.

When I woke, it was a little after five. I decided to shower and walk down to the downtown area and pier where I had seen some eateries and shopperies (shopperies??) on my way to the hotel. It seemed like it was five minutes from the downtown area and pier when I drove. Somehow, that translated into a half-an-hour/forty-five-minute walk. After a while walking, I considered turning back... then I thought, "that wouldn't be very Frodo-like." So, I kept on.

I did, however, move from walking the sidewalk to walking the beach. At this point it was dark and I could see the neon lights of a "sling-shot" ride in the distance. I took a picture:



As is illustrated in the picture, it was quite a ways away when I took the picture. I walked on, even though I decided that no matter how far I walked, I was never actually going to reach it.

I reached it.

Then I sat down for a long while and rested my aching feet. I wandered around the shops and considered attending the Mai Tai Bar that was there. There weren't many people present and so I decided to just hang out outside. After a while, I explored some of the area nearby -- a lot of places were closed -- and then started my trek back.

There were two scrubbily dressed gentlemen sitting on a bench as I walked by. One of them, (the one with no teeth) asked me if I had any pocket change to spare. I stopped and dug around in my pocket. I pulled out a dollar and asked if they knew anything about the bus schedule (I had seen the bus stop signs and the buses on my way to the shopperies, and didn't want to walk all the back). They explained that there are two buses each hour, but they hadn't seen one in a good while. I thanked them and gave them my dollar. At each bus stop that I passed, I stopped for five minutes or so and waited. No buses came by during the whole hour walk to my hotel.

On the way, I saw some weird stuff...

While waiting at one bus stop, I heard the sound of flip flops pounding the pavement. I turned to see a youngish woman running (or as close to running as you can do when wearing flip flops). She stopped behind a hotel sign "hid" for a period of time. She smoked a cigarette and then ran off behind the hotel lobby area where she disappeared for a few moments. "That was weird," I thought. Then I heard her flip flops again and she ran down the length of the hotel and disappeared in a stair well. I didn't hear her flip flips after that.

After a while of walking, I had pretty much given up on the bus began singing to myself to keep my mind off how much my feet hurt while I picked up the pace. I just wanted to get back to the hotel!!

And then I saw her. She was bouncing and walking somewhat provocatively, moving her hips back and forth and her shoulder forth and back. She was wearing a tank top, showing off her mid-driff, which I wished was hidden. Her jeans were very much too tight and they were rolled up at the bottoms. She had a very large bag and she shook her hair back and forth. She was on a corner across the street from where I was walking. She walked back and forth and around in circles. She was "working."

I had never seen a prostitute before in real life. I wondered what might have happened had I been on the other side of the street. Would she have talked to me? What would she have said? I'm sure she would suffixed any statement with "baby" or "sugar" or "honey." I was glad I was on the other side of the street.

As I walked, I thought to myself, "What a weird night!" Then I saw ANOTHER her. This time, she was cute. She seemed too cute to be a working girl. She was on the other side of the street about three blocks away from the other prostitute. She was thin and had blonde hair. I took her for a non-working girl and almost crossed to her side of the street just walk by her. Then she walked around the corner and a white pick up truck pulled up next to her. I didn't hear what was said, but she eventually got in. "HOLY CRAP!" I thought. Two prostitutes in one night! And two bums! Lucky me!!

I'll have write to my dad and say, "Where did you put me?!?" because he had set me up with the hotel.

Wild.

Anyways, I'm going to call it a night. I'll try the Mai Tai Bar tomorrow. I checked out their website and found that they'll have live music from 5:30 on. Awesome.

I think I'll take the Hyundai tomorrow. Yeah. That's what I'll do.

Day 3 (Vacation Diary)

I am sleepy. So very sleepy. It's almost 11 and I've just returned from having a great dinner with Tif and her friends near Cocoa Beach. We ate at a bar and grill called (appropriately) Grills. Grills is on the inter coastal waterway (not that you needed to know that) and there was a nice breeze that kept things cool on an otherwise warmish night.

Right now, Tif is (seriously) using a nail file (at my suggestion) to fix a tooth crown that broke on her today. And it worked, apparently. So, the moral of the story is: if you ever break your tooth crown, you can use a nail file to smooth out the sharp parts and make your mouth happy.

Today's blog posting is soundtracked by the song Cape Canaveral by Conor Oberst. This is because there are a lot of signs around and to Titusville that also direct you to Cape Canaveral, which prompts me to think about -- and sing -- the song. I am listening to it on iTunes right now.

This morning, I got a late start. The alarm went off at 8:30 and I reached over (without looking) to the clock radio and hit the snooze button. Except that I didn't hit the snooze button and unintentionally turned the alarm function off. I realized this at 10:15.

After breakfast and showering, I went to Downtown Disney, which is basically a shopping/eating/being-entertained place. I grabbed a hot dog for lunch and walked through some shops. I bought some gifts at the House of Blues, spent a load of time in the Lego store, bought some more gifts and a souvenir for myself at World of Disney, and generally just hung out and enjoyed the sun and shade.

Next, I went to Old Town, which is a neat little area with shops and rides. It was a ghost town. There were literally no people besides me and shop owners. I popped in and out of shops, but didn't find anything that needed to be bought. I had an ice cappuccino and mooched some wi-fi off of a nearby restaurant.

At that time, I received a text from Tif inviting me out to dinner with her friends. I accepted (in text form) and left Old Town. I found an outlet mall and bought some shirts at the Gap and a pair of shoes that I will wear for work since I need new work shoes.

I got lost on my way back to Tif's, but arrived just in time to get changed for going out to dinner. Dinner was a lot of fun and Tif's friends -- like Tif -- are really cool people. Lots of laughs.

Here are some pictures I took at Downtown Disney. I think they are mostly self-explanatory:











(Okay. That last one needs an explanation. It's a build-your-own light saber station!! SWEET! I wanted to build one, but didn't want to pay twenty dollars to do so)

As for tomorrow... I'll be leaving my friend's place for a condo on the beach. I'm going to relax by the ocean for a bit and then head back to Orlando at night.

And on that note: it's past midnight and it's technically now day four of my vacation!

Day 2 (Vacation Diary)

I am sitting at my friend Tif's house. We just got home from an adventure at Sea World! We had a fabulous time.

Firstly: a catch up.

Albany. The plane boarded a little sooner than was planned and there were only like 40 people on it so it boarded fast. We ended up landing about 30 minutes earlier than expected, which was sweet because the line for picking up the rental car was long and took forever.

I picked up my car. It's a Hyundai Accent and looks like this:



It smells a little bit like cigarettes, but I didn't realize that until after I drove away with it. It has XM Satalite Stereo, which is tough to use while you are driving to a place that you've never been before on roads that you've never driven before. I managed to get on the wrong road (according to my directions), but found a road that took me to the right place.

After a trip to the market, I ate dinner with Tif at her house. Then we went to City Walk, which is the "area" of shops and clubs and eateries and such outside of Universal Studios. We walked the City Walk and stopped at Hard Rock. I bought four guitar pins! I picked up two right away and was torn between two others. Then I just bought all four. Can't wait to add them to my collection!!

We watched a band play at Margaritaville. They didn't play Jimmy Buffet. The lead singer had long hair and a fan in front of him that blew his hair every which way. It was quite dramatic. He also sang in different voice. For example: he did Metallica with the gruff "rrrrrouff to nevah nevah land" voice and then sang Journey's Don't Stop Believin' and channeled the higher Steve Perry tone. Wicked.

This morning, we woke up at eight and went to Sea World. Below are some pictures from the day:









There is a ride called Manta that we went on twice. It was pretty insane. I'd like to find a way to describe the way you ride the ride, but I can't. Check out www.seaworld.com for pictures and a video. It was a very smooth rollercoaster, which is my favorite type. We also rode Kraken, which was an insane ride, but not smooth. And Journey to Atlantis, which turned out to be a very, very wet ride! It was somewhat like the desperado plunge at the Great Escape. But, it was that times a thousand. We got soaked and decided that it was shower number two for the day.

Shower number three was at the Shamu show. We sat in the "soak zone" and wished we hadn't. We shaw sharks in an under water viewing thing. And manatees. We pet sting rays and manta rays. (They feel slimey without the slime). I tried to pet a dolphin, but it kept just out of my reach. We saw a dolphin show. The last ride of the day was the Polar Express. It was kind of cheesy, but we got to see Santa Claus in the North Pole.







After Sea World, the car (Tif's, not the Accent) was making a funny chunka-chunka noise. We looked at each other with quizzical looks. Then we smelled the burned rubber smell. We pulled over and found that the back right tired was swiss cheese.

Here is a not-so-good picture of the swiss tire:



Luckily, Tif's boyfriend was able to come out and help us put the donut on. (She didn't have a jack). Then we came back here and played a game of Scattergories.

Tomorrow, Tif works. I'm going to do some exploring of the Orlando area. There will most likely be a stop at Downtown Disney. I think I'd like to buy some Mickey Mouse ears...

Till next time.

The Rental. Hyundai Accent.

The Rental. Hyundai Accent.

Dolphin

Dolphin