The Great Florida Road Trip (and Other Roadside Attractions)

Summertime and the livin's easy.  The end of the school year came, as it always seems to, quickly.  I had a great summer planned with two trips and time to get work done as well.  I want to create my own text book for Journalism, and gather resources and plan for the American Cultural Literacy class I'm teaching next year.  So far, things haven't quite worked out as I planned.  The mission trip to Nicaragua was cancelled, and I chose NOT to go back to Italy, where my soul lives, to go on it.  So that's pretty dissapointing, especially since it seems like everything in my life is currently pointing me towards the choice I now think I should have made.  But... it's too late now.

I have had plenty of time to get work done, though, and am still going to a journalism workshop put on by ASNE (American Society of News Editors) in Missouri.  Not the most exciting location, I suppose, but a place I haven't been, free travel there, and an opportunity to learn how to do what I do better.  I can't really complain.  Plus, I'll get to spend some time in Chicago and Michigan afterwards, so that's even more of a plus.

I needed to take off, so to speak, for at least a little bit, so I decided on a little road trip.  The Room mate and I took off together for a long weekend, beginning in Orlando and ending in Sarasota.  I wanted to visit friends, as well as see Eatonville and the mermaids in Weeki Wachee, so we set off with those goals in mind.

We left Friday night and headed to Orlando.  We got in late and attempted to sleep in, but the excitement or the new bed or our 30s prevented us from accomplishing goal one.  So, we got up earlier than we wanted to and made the short trip to Eatonville.  Before stopping there, since we had so much time, we decided to do a little geochache stop... and jump shots.  Y'know, for the kids.

I wanted to go to Eatonville for two reasons.  One, it's historically significant.  It's the first all African-American incorporated town to exist in America.  Two, it has literary significance--a writer I teach, Zora Neale Hurston--spent her childhood there, and many of her stories take place there.  If you don't know her stuff, read Their Eyes Were Watching God and let your life begin to change.

Here's proof I was there, a marker in the median indicating the year the town was officially established, 1887.  There wasn't much to see there, but we found the woman in the library extremely helpful.  There was, theoretically, a path to walk (not well marked and extremely confusing) and an art museum we had to wait to see (the woman who ran it stepped out), but it seems there is some sort of movement, although slow, to make the town more of a destination.  I think it should be.

After a morning in Eatonville, we headed to Old Town Disney to walk around and each lunch in the car.  The joy, the nostalgia, of peanut butter and jelly never gets old.  I think the find of the afternoon were some glass rings that cost $1.00, which is exactly how much a giant glass ring should cost, in my opinion.  I bought three.

From Old Town Disney, we headed to meet a friend at Epcot.  I haven't been to Epcot in probably 14 years, since the band trip when I was in high school.  All I know about it is that the countries are there (except South America, or even Central America, does NOT represent.  At all.  Lame Disney.  Lame.  Little did I know that the most magical thing that has ever happened to me at Disney, a place of magic, was about to happen.

Eric, T, and I got on "Spaceship Earth" narrated by Dame Judy Dench.  Once we got through the caveman days, and through ancient Egypt and the invention of papyrus, and into ancient Rome when it happened.  The ride stopped.  The usual announcement came on, something about staying seated and resuming soon, but after about three minutes of this Eric said, "Y'know, I've had to evacuate people from Toy Story a bunch of times."

"What?  What do you mean 'evacuate'?"  I reply, a dream forming in my mind.

"Well sometimes the rides just don't get going again, and we have to evacuate."

"That's POSSIBLE?!  I want to get evacuated  from a ride.  That's AWESOME!"

And then... about five minutes later... it happend.  We got up out of our "spaceships," onto the path along the side of the ride, and walked out into a light drizzle, Fast Pass for Mælstrom in hand.  It was so awesome that I cannot truly and effectively express how awesome it was.

Although it was hard to top the evacuation, there was still plenty of Epcot to see.  One of the rides I remembered from my youth was the one that goes through the gardens, where "scientists" (Eric says they're legit) work on growing plants in all kinds of cool ways.  Here are some Disney sunflowers, because they're pretty.

After a few rides, we headed to meet some other friends in the countries, where Eric, T, and I stopped for a picture.  In Morocco.  Like ya do.

We ate in China (nothing amazing) and then headed to Norway so T could ride the ride.  Good thing we got those Fast Passes, 'cause in Norway we encountered the longest wait of the day--25 minutes!  We skipped the line and got right on... then found this guy at the end.

No, I did not realize that my viking had only had one horn.  Don't judge.

We then headed back to Spaceship Earth, and completed the ride before the way out, and even traveled to the future, where we sent ourselves a postcard.  Pretty fun.

The next day of our road trip was packed: tubing in the morning and mermaids in the afternoon.  I don't have any photos to share from tubing, mostly because we were, y'know, on inner tubes.  In water.  And water and cameras don't really mix.

We went down the Rainbow River, about a two-hour course down a lovely river in northern-central Florida.  It took us a little less time, mostly because I'm really not good at just floating, so I paddled a little bit...or a lot bit.  Still, we saw turtles and lots of birds, and some summer houses and boats I lusted after, and some great trees.  It was a little too relaxing for me, but enjoyable.

Then we ate some quick lunch in the car and headed to Weeki Wachee State Park, where there are women who do a mermaid show three times a day.  They swim all under water, in tales, and take hits of oxygen from these tubes located all around the tank.  It's pretty outstanding, actually.  It's a little girl's dream come true.

Here I am, wishing I could be as awesome as the mermaids.

And here's a shot from the show.  We saw "The Little Mermaid" and these are two of her sisters.  The black tube between them is the oxygen hose.

I'm just saying that seeing the mermaids was on my Florida Bucket List, or even my Life Bucket List, let's be real, and now I can proudly say it's checked off.  And it was awesome.

Our final stop on The Great Florida Road Trip was Sarasota, where I have a friend, T and I have a mutual friend, and T has family.  We picked up a pizza and brought it to her grandma's and ate it with some tomato and mozzarella that we picked up at the side of the road from an Amish stand.  Sweet.

The next day, we took T's cousins, who are nine and six, I think, to the Ringling Museum, which is free on Mondays.  Only the art museum was free, and the grounds, but it was something new to do, at least.  There were quite a few paintings of Italy and from Italian masters, which just put a little salt in the still-open wound of not going to Italy.  I saw some of the artists I'd seen at the Louvre, as well, like the guy who paints vegetables into portraits of people, which I enjoy.

The girls weren't really into the art (can't blame them) but I think they liked walking around the grounds, which were lovely.  They were made to look like they're straight from Italy, and I feel like they succeeded.  Do you?  

This is a picture of the house, which we didn't go into but walked around the outside of.  I'd like to head  back someday and check out the rest of the property.

John Ringling's wife, Mable, had a rose garden on the property, which was also lovely.  We didn't spend too much time there; it was small, plus it was hot outside so we were all sort of ready to leave.  Some of the flowers even smelled nice, and they looked lovely too.

That night, before we headed home, we met two friends at a Vietnamese place for dinner.  It was delicious food, and great to see the guys and catch up.  I feel like all of my friends are moving away, and this road trip was a great way for me to be proactive about seeing the few that have only moved cities, not states.

This trip was a great way for me to cross several things off my Florida Bucket List, which is probably pretty close to being completed now.  It wasn't Italy, but it was a nice little break, and a way to celebrate not having to work until August.

Much love.

The official birthday breakdown

You only turn 30 once. And, sadly, some people don't make it that far. So I figured since my 30th was this year, I'd better go all out. I'd gone back and forth on ideas for a party for a while. I wanted a prom, but then I thought a quince would be fun, and funny since I never had one, and then it somehow just developed into an 80's prom, which, it turns out, is the BEST birthday party idea EVER.

Some wonderful friends allowed me to use their house for the party, so I went over earlier in the day to set it up. We had a dance floor, food area, picture area, and even a gift table, just like a real prom. The theme was Vogue, like the magazine, and the invitation was a Vogue cover I made of myself, Vogue-ing like Madonna, with all the details. NOT gonna lie--it was awesome.

I also made covers for several of the guests, to use for decorations. We posted them all around and they were great conversation pieces (plus, I'm now a master user of PhotoShop, which is good for, y'know, a journalism teacher), not to mention witty and hilarious. ;)

Then came the photo area, set up like a Vogue cover, where the Prom Committe and I (complete with buttons) took the first photos of the night.

The colors, if you hadn't guessed, were silver, black, and teal. I dressed to match. The table for favors looked a little something like this, with the favors being slap bracelets. Totally 80's.

The dance floor was awesome--we just set up a projector to project crazy colors and crap on the ceiling, and some sweet 80s jams were rockin' all night. "Don't Stop Believin'" was a huge hit, along with "I Had the Time of my Life" and a little "Lady in Red." Classics, my friends. Classics.

No prom would be complete without a crowning of the King and Queen, so of course people voted on winners. I, to my chagrin, won Queen and my friend Matt won King, mostly, I think, because of his awesome hair. Here I am, celebrating my win...

Here are Matt and I doing our King and Queen dance, complete with Dirty Dancing-style moves...

And this is our official King and Queen photo.

The whole party was just so fun. People went all out in dressing up and we were just dancing and talking and taking random pictures all night. I highly recommend it!

Now, of course, it was a prom and proms don't really have cake, but this was a BIRTHDAY prom, and you can't have a birthday without cake, homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting! My favorite!

Themed parties are key to life, and this one was no exception. It was exactly how I wanted to bring in my 30's--smiling, laughing, and dancing until I hurt. Thanks to everyone who came to help me celebrate, even the randoms. It was awesome.

My actual birthday was on the following Wednesday, when I had class at FIU. I didn't really celebrate much on the actual day, but I did make birthday brownies for my class (even though I had to sort of ghetto rig them) and I called it good. Poor college kids are grateful, so that was happy.

The next weekend was Labor Day weekend, and I hadn't been home since, I think, Christmas, so I went home to see my family and pick up Lancelot, who was in Michigan at his "summer home" while I was in Italy.

I got in later than I was supposed to, but my Coot came and picked me up faithfully and the next morning, bright and early, we headed to the season opener for U of M when they played Western. It was a bit too hot to tailgate, although we gave it a solid try, and the game ended up getting rained out, but it was still great to spend time with my Coot and see some college football at the Big House.

The Big House has been redone since I was there several years ago for an exhibition GVSU game. Now it has lights (!!) and a new press box area.

It also now has big, clear, beautiful scoreboards, with closed captioning that can provide some funny commentray (if you read it) during times of boredom.

And, while I don't care much about football, I DO love tailgating and marching bands!

The game started slowly with Western scoring early, but U of M showed them who was boss at the Big House before too long. At one point, though, during the second quarter, it started pouring. I mean, seriously pouring--we all got soaked! Here I am with my seat buddies, after the downpour...
We still look cute, it's true. Eventually, the game restarted and I saw an awesome half-time show that was based on MTV. It was, however, slightly depressing because I'm sure most of the members of the band weren't even alive when the songs they were playing came out. Tra. Gic. Eventually, the rain started up again, this time with thunder and lightning, and they had to evacuate the whole place.

Coot dropped me off at a Panera, where my parents met me with Bubba and we all went on our merry way.

I spent the rest of the weekend bonding with my family and Bubba. I was so glad to see all of them, especially Bubba and my sister, whom I hadn't seen since Christmas. My family took me out to Mitchell's for a birthday dinner (scallops, YUM) and we snapped a quick picture.



All in all, I got to bring in my 30s with some of my favorite humans, both in Michigan and here in Florida. I can't really ask for much more. To even have had 30 years is a gift; someone in my graduating class passed away last year and that is a total mind cruncher. I am so happy about where my life is at this point that I don't even feel stress about "the big three oh." I'm just happy to have been where I have been, seen what I've seen, and experienced all I've experienced.

The week after my birthday celebrations, Frank Warren, founder and creator of PostSecret, a Sunday morning tradition as faithful and sometimes moving, as church, was speaking at the University of Miami and then, a day later, at Lynn University. The Weave got a friend and me a ticket, and we went to see him speak. Here's Frank, on stage at Lynn.

The event was moving and fascinating, and it just made me so happy. The best thing Frank said, and something I will probably always remember, is that, in Hebrew, the word "secret" means, "come closer."

Really, I think, that's what PostSecret is about--by sharing a secret anonymously, you connect yourself to someone else who feels the same way, or has had the same experience, and you realize that, for all our differences, we are really more similar than different. The world really is a tiny place, and each human is just a part of this interconnected, beautiful, fragile network of others. A good lesson to begin a new decade.

So here's to my 30's. I'm embracing them with my arms open, ready for whatever shows up.

Much love.

The In Between

After I got back from lovely, lovely Italy, I spent time longing to be back there. Italy changed me and it was hard to adjust back to normal life in Miami. The food here tasted gross for a while, and there was really no purpose to my days. I don't do well without purpose. Once I got back, there was about two weeks before meetings started up at school and I spent the days watching Netflix and knitting, mostly.

I went to the movies a few times, which is sort of different for me since I've sort of hated most movies for a couple of years now. First, I saw Stupid, Crazy, Love on a room mate date. I, as a rule, hate romantic comedies and movies about crap like true love and everlasting happiness, so I can't say I was a huge fan. However, the movie was worth the price of admission to see the scene where Ryan Gossling takes his shirt off. It's a thing of true beauty and I would like to personally thank Canada for their contribution to the world. Thank you, Canada. I want to hug you... and then Ryan Gossling. A lot.

I also saw Captain America for free ninety nine, which is exactly in my price range for movies. So it could have been a flaming pile of crap and I wouldn't have felt bad about it, but, as it was, it wasn't so bad. In general, I like comic book/superhero movies, and Chris Evans isn't too hard on the eyes, either. Plus Americans weren't portrayed as evil capitalists, or stupid money grubbers or anything stereotypical and negative. It was a little bit refreshing.

Harry Potter again was a good life choice, and this time I wasn't slightly distracted by the subtitles using different names for the characters. It was still pretty bittersweet to see, but worth it. I invested, like, ten years of my life into loving Harry Potter and all that that means, and now it's done. I know he will stand the test of time, but it's sad to know there'll be nothing new about him. And I also wonder what the next cultural phenomenon will be that affects so many people in that way--what will the next Harry Potter be? I certainly hope there will be one.

Midnight in Paris was a movie a friend told me about; she said I should see it due to the literary connections in it. I didn't really know anything about it except that it was directed by Woody Allen, whose work I could take or leave, and had Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams in it. It turned out, my friend was right. I really liked it! First of all, it's sort of about Paris in the 20s, when all of these amazing artists were centered there. Let me just say that I love me some Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, and Adrian Brody's Dali was hilariously awesome. The movie also had a nice message--which you'll have to see to get, given I don't want to spoil it--and beautiful Paris scenery, which only made my heart ache to go back to Paris. Finally, it's sort of about what I love about traveling--going off the main road, and just seeing what's out there; finding the magic of a city beyond tourist destinations and photo opportunities. Anyway, definitely rent or Netflix it.

The last movie I saw was The Help. I haven't read the book, nor do I really have the desire too. Someone told me it was hard to get into, someone whose opinion I trust, and I just don't have time to read books it'll take me ages to get into. So anyway, I saw The Help and enjoyed it as well, but it was tough for me. Civil Rights stories are always tough for me because I just wonder... I wonder if I would have been strong enough to do what was right or if I would have just gone along with society and tried to find peace with myself, as if that could be possible. Thinking about that time in American history is just sad and intense, but also powerful. I wonder what it's like to fight for something like that, to believe in a cause, to have leaders so powerful and articulate.

Emma Stone is great one of my new favorites, and I love me so me Allison Janney, too. Not to mention that the entire style of the movie--the south, the costumes--was just beautiful. If I could look like a southern housewife in the early 60s every day, I would not be mad... Except for the big hair, which just seems like a lot of work. At the end of the movie, yeah, I felt all warm and fuzzy about how this little white girl defied society and made her little piece of the world better and all that wonderful stuff, but I think ultimately I just took away that the smart, independent, writer chick ends up alone. What a shocker.

In the in between of Italy and school, my Russian Ballerina friend celebrated a birthday, which turned out to be the last one in Miami for a while. She recently moved to DC to pursue her dream, and I can't begrudge her for it. She had a birthday dinner at a place called George's in the Grove, a spin-off or whatever that's called in the restaurant world, of Le Beuchon du Grove, where Eric, T, and I ate amazing French food last year. It's this, like, fancy French place that, all of a sudden, turns into a club complete with Black Eyed Peas and a smoke machine when they celebrate someone's birthday. Weird. But the food was YUM (you can probably guess what I had... Hint: it used to have a swirly shell) and I had lovely conversation with some new people, and lovely wine, and it was a lovely evening all around. August birthdays are the best. :)

o far, the school year has been just meetings with one Freshmen/Senior day with kiddos. I'm looking forward to it, though. I've got high level and low level English kiddos, and then my journalism kids too. It should be another good year. This year is the first I'll be teaching all classes and levels I've taught before, so that is also a relief... every other year I've had to prepare from scratch. No. Bueno.

Our new principal seems good, similar to Sr. Pat, who is now in Naples. It seems like several people are doing some strange posturing or just behaving awkwardly, but I just figure I'll keep doing my job the way I know how and everything will be fine. So I'm going with that.

My classroom, my little kingdom by the sea, is all set up and ready to go. I even have four new computers for journalism, which is SUPER exciting. I can't even stand it! I'm a little obsessed with my "Jrnalism corner."

The biggest drama in my life upon return has been FIU drama, of course. For about a week I was in a craze; I didn't know if I'd be able to take classes or not. But after talking to several people, emailing like crazy, and having calming, if not necessarily helpful, lunches with friends, something worked out, as things like that tend to do, and I'm taking two classes this semester. One is Intro, which I should have taken, y'know, FIRST... but who's keeping track, really? The other is going to be an independent study project, so that'll work out perfectly. Excited to start back.

Finally, as I return from Italy another friend is moving there. I only wish I'd had the tip on this job before I came back! But a friend in Boca, who is also on Team D, is moving to Florence soon and had a Harry Potter-themed farewell. The party was very well decorated, due to some awesome *ahem* fans and decorators, but the real triumph of the night was a recipe for alcoholic Butterbeer which was a TOTAL win. :)

I'm glad to be back but I miss Lancelot. I'll get him back soon enough, though, when I get to see my fam on Labor Day weekend.

Until then...

Much love.

Climb Every Mountain

Since New York, I've been entrenched in life once again, but have managed to have a little fun.

The Tony-Award winning musical In the Heights was here in April, and I really wanted to go. So I bought myself a ticket and took myself on a date. I got my ticket the day of the show, but it was still a great seat. It was, technically, and "obstructed view" but I could see everything fine. I think there was, like, a mic pole or something in my way. But the show itself was so great--I've had the soundtrack for a couple of years and I've listened to it some. There are a few songs I dig on, but it wasn't, like, life-changing for me, like Wicked. It seemed kind of cheesy--and not in that "all musicals are kind of cheesy" way but in a like, "Really? REALLY?!" sort of way. But it wasn't when I saw the whole thing. I just made me proud to be the daughter of an immigrant (well, half of me, anyway) and it made me miss my abuela.

Soon after the end of the semester at FIU approached, and I, luckily, had no actual final exams. I had one take home exam and a presentation, both of which, I think, went okay. I ended up with a B and a B+... I'm not thrilled about it, but I did what I could, I guess.

At the end of the semester, my professor had a little gathering at her house. It was a potluck, and it was fun to hang out with everyone outside of class. There was even a white elephant-style gift exchange, through which I got a game called Quiddler, a fun word game. And at 1 a.m. we ended up in the pool. It was pretty funny, and a great way to end my first year as a grad student.

I took my lack of exams as a sign that God Himself wanted me to get away and have an actual vacation, so I did. The Aussie, Tanya and I went to Curacao for a few days. All I wanted was a beach and a hammock and a beer, and I got all of that, although not at the same time.

Curacao is this little island off the coast of Venezuala, but is not Venezualan. It's part of the Netherlands Antilles, and it's linguistically fascinating because most people speak at least four languages if not more. I was having a ball! But that's nerdy news for another day.

We stayed at this little resorty place that was really lovely and had its own private beach, which we utilized on our last day there after exhausting all other beach options. Here I am at the resort...

Our itinerary was basically laying on a beach, snorkeling, eating, watching the sunset, and climbing a mountain, all of which were quite successful. Here we are the night I arrived, before we went to have a drink and watch the sunset. :)

That night we ate Indian food and everyone's was, like, one notch too spicy. Oops. But it was still delicious. Actually, we ate quite well in Curacao. I had THE BEST escargot I've ever eaten one night, when we went to the number one rated restaurant on the island. We were only the second party in the place, and the staff took really good care of us. We even got some freebies. Key. Another night, we ate at this tiny little place with an awesome vibe and I tried ox tail, which was different than I had anticipated. It wasn't bad but it wasn't amazing either... I did like it, though. The best part about that meal, though, was this...

I got my hammock! WOOTY WOO!

The downtown area of Curacao has a couple of distinctive features. There are the brightly colored buildings, which are apparently, like, Dutch architecture or something, this bridge that moves like a horizontal draw bridge, and this floating market, where people from Venezuela come over for the day with produce or what have you, and sell it. It looks pretty awesome... check it.


Let me discuss momentarily the mountain climibing situation and my lack of photos of said situation. My camera decided to be awesome and begin dying on this trip, so it was spotty which pictures I got and which I didn't. The mountain day, it decided not to work so I have no photos of the actual climb or at the summit. Let me say, though, that this was a LEGIT climb, not some hike uphill. Towards the top, we literally had to climb up rocks, hanging on to vines, trees, other rocks, whatever was there. It was kinda my favorite part. Climbing the whole thing was touch though, I can't lie. I struggled, but I made it! And it was so worth it at the top!

Poor Bree, though, decided to squeeze a cactus on the way down, and had spines in her hand for the rest of the trip and even after. Fail. But she still managed to use her magic brain GPS and get us all around the island, driving with an injured hand. Because she is amazing. Later that day we went to another national park and saw these natural water+rock formations, one of which was called La Pistola because it shot water up in the air like a pistol. Pretty cool! Again, no picks because of my stupid camera.

One day we took a trip to Klien Curacao, this even smaller island off the south bit of the larger island. It was so beautiful and the water was so blue, and there was even a shipwreck and lighthouse you could go explore if you wanted to. And we did. I wish I had pictures of it all, but again, my camera was experiencing its final, painful days of life.

Although Klien Curacao was lovely, it pales in comparison to the amazing sunset we saw on my second day. We went up north to Playa Kalki, and sat on the beach nearly all day. Then we went up to the restaurant at the resort there, and got THE outside table with a view. And we saw this...
It was out of control beautiful... This picture doesn't even begin to do it justice. It was really just perfect, and relaxing and wonderful, all of which I needed.

In other news, at work we put together a team for this year's Corporate Run, a yearly race in Miami. I didn't run, I walked, but here's just a little taste of how popular this run is...

There are people as far as you can see. And more in front of me. It was out of control. I wasn't in it to really compete, but I'm glad I did it. Our team did well, from what I understand, so that's cool too. All in all, it was really just a fun, bonding, healthy thing to do with colleagues and friends.

I also went to prom for the first time while working at ILS, but for some reason have no pictures of it; I think I just didn't bother taking my camera out. So I'll have to obtain some and then post them here. It was fun and lovely--the kids looked great and it was nice to see them dressed up and dancing and acting like kids for even a couple of hours. It was also fun for me to dress up and play pretty for an evening.

This post is so long overdue... I really just struggle with time to update, and waiting for pictures from other people and being lazy... Blah. I need to get it together!

Much love.

The one in which I cover all the cultural bases...

It seems 2011 is going much the same as the end of 2010... busy, busy, busy! Trying to find time to update this blog, while also living life and acquiring the material to do so, is difficult as ever. I actually began this entry back in the middle of January, but haven't had time since then to finish it. So far, 2011 has been pretty great and I've been keepin' it classy, trying to go to culturally and mentally enriching events.

First, back in January, I went to a poetry reading at Books & Books that was partially organized by my ballerina friend, Anya. The poet was a Haitan/feminist/lesbian/writer/actress/playwright/Michael Jackson fan named Lenelle Moise. I got there a little late, but within the first two poems I saw she mentioned both Michael Jackson and zombies (twice). She was a great performer, almost dancing her poems as she read them, and I really dug what she was doing. I've been really into poetry lately, so actually seeing some was a great treat. A simple YouTube search will yield some results, if you wanna check out her stuff, too.

Soon after, I headed to Boca to meet up with The Weave and head to the Palm Beach Opera House to see Verdi's Requiem, an opera. I kind of wanted it to be a fat chick in a viking helmet just singing her guts out and breaking glasses and stuff, but it wasn't. Turns out, this opera was based on a church service... or something. There was a choir, and a lot of Latin (or maybe Italian, I don't really know), and four singers in front who were, like, soloists or something. There was this pretty intense theme of timpani bangs, which was my favorite part, but the rest of it I didn't really get. The music was kind of lovely, and very intricate, and I enjoyed myself, but wish I knew more about exactly what I was listening to. It seems like opera is something you really have to be INTO to appreciate completely.

I also got some culture by seeing some of my boy Willy Shakespeare. The Aussie, my co-worker and friend, played Juliet in this year's Shakespeare Miami production of... you guessed it... Romeo and Juliet. She was a little more bad@$$ than your regular Juliet, sword-fighting and stuff, but the ending was still the same. I always want it to be different and I get surprised every time I see it... Like I don't know what's coming or something. I don't know... Shakespeare is just so brilliant that no matter how many times I've seen it, the play still gets me, and surprises me, and changes with each production and actor and staging.

The quarters were a little cramped (people have NO respect for blanket boundaries even though our spots were saved) but, hey, it was something free and fun to do on a Saturday night. Plus, we got to pick up and chat with The Aussie's mom, Momma O, who was enthralled by my GPS that spoke Aussie... or sort of spoke Aussie, as it turns out. She, apparently, couldn't stop talking about it throughout the rest of her stay.

Speaking of Aussies and they joy they bring to driving and life in general, team Australia had The Third Annual Australia Day party a weekend later. The party was at a park, and some claim to have seen a manatee in the water, but I just watched the pelicans and enjoyed the company. The day was rainy, but good times were had anyway. I tried my hand at cricket (again) and found that I had improved exactly none since the last time I attempted to play, about two years ago. We also enjoyed Australian treats like faerie bread (bread with butter and sprinkles... that's literally it...), Vegemite sandwiches (made that mistake once, never again); and lamingtons (which are DELICIOUS).


For Valentine's Day, T and I did a "room mate date" since neither of us celebrated with an actual Valentine. I obtained free movie tickets, and she had a gift card for the theater, so we had a cheap night out. I wanted to see The King's Speech, but T didn't want anything that serious so we settled on Just Go With It, the Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston/Dave Matthews (surprise!). I'm glad it was free... let's just say that. I think I've reached a point in my life where I just can't watch romantic comedies (except the classics, of course) without bringing along my cynicism and a healthy dose of REALITY. They just end up making me angry, rather than entertaining me. It wasn't an awful movie by any means--I just can't enjoy romcoms at the moment. Dave Matthews was funny. And Nicole Kidman was funny. And Jennifer Aniston looks great. That's about all.

The last bit of life I need to report on is a little daycation kayaking adventure, or as they call it here in Miami, kaYAKing. A few of us from work drove down to Key Largo, rented kaYAKs, and headed out on the bay for a couple of hours. It was a beautiful day, and so peaceful and lovely out on the water, not too hot, not too cool; there was even a breeze.

We kayaked out into the bay into a little area of mangroves. The trees, which might be my favorite of trees, were on both sides of us, and in the middle was a little river where speed boats, bought at the Miami boat Show that weekend, sped up and down at crazy speeds and pushed our little kayak crew off into the surrounding trees. We got to see them up close and personal on several occasions. Check them out...

In between speed boats, Kim and I made friends with some guys from Minnesota who were fishing. We brought them luck because as we paddled over, they caught a fish! We eventually asked our new friends to take a group photo of us, which we managed after much awkward paddling and camera passing.

We kayaked for about two hours, and headed back to watch the sunset over the water with a cold beverage, and then headed to dinner. The sunset was beautiful, and I wished I was still out on the water to see it, but our boats had to be back by 5:30. Things on the shore weren't so bad, though.

Dinner was delicious, and all together the day was a total win. It was a perfect little get away that was much needed. I should take more daycations, just days to be in the sun and smile and laugh.

The consequences of the day, however, made themselves known at 3 AM when I had to get up and go to CVS to get some Aleve because I was in total AGONY, my arms just ached and ached and I couldn't make them stop. NIGHT. MARE. Aleve, however, did the trick and I was able to go to sleep. Lesson learned for next time: make sure I have Aleve on hand.

I've so far succeeded in being better about balancing FIU, work, and life this semester. I'm glad about that, although finding time to update here is still proving to be difficult. I need to get better, though, so I can chronicle my summer. You see, as many of you know but some of you may not, I am going to be in Italy for at least five weeks this summer! I am SO excited! I'll be living with a host family and getting paid to teach, so the trip is actually going to be quite affordable, not to mention amazing. I am so blessed!

Much love.

Holiday Happiness

Since we last met, I've celebrated Thanksgiving, finished a semester, and gotten into the holiday spirit, which is a rarity for me.

I spent this Thanksgiving as I did last year. Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in the morning, followed by cooking, and then a trip to FIU, where my friend and fellow piano bar lover and Michigander, Eric lives. Last year, he made a delicious Turkey and this year he did the same. There were a couple other misfits there--those who didn't or couldn't go back home to their families, and we shared a delicious meal together. Check out our spread...

There was beer bread, salad, butternut squash, rolls (which were really buns, lol) mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and, of course, turkey. I dunno, maybe it's because it's been my way for the past few Thanksgivings, but I kind of like spending the day with people who are bound by the similarity of not having a place to go; I like just opening an invitation and allowing any misfit or out-of-towner to come in. It's the second best thing to being with family.

After dinner, Eric and I played American Idol Karaoke on his Wii. Not gonna lie--it was pretty awesome. I feel a new tradition coming on... especially since I was pretty decent at it.

My semester at FIU ended much as I had hoped it would. I got a B and B+, which is really what I was aiming for. I think a B in two classes and a full-time job is more than remarkable, and I'm quite proud of myself. I did learn quite a bit, although it's sort of tough to work phonetics or language acquisition into normal conversation, but I'm working on it. Next semester I'm excited about the classes I'm taking; one of them is a historical linguistics class, which I'm so interested in I already started reading the text book. It's okay--I'm a nerd. I'll own it. :) Five more semesters to go!

The week of finals at FIU was stressful, but I had a few holiday gatherings to look forward to. First, I went to a "cookie party" which I'd never done before but turned out to be kind of cool. Everyone brings a dozen or so cookies and the recipe, and then everyone sort of trades. I made almond cookies, otherwise known as Mema's Best Cookies in the Whole Wide World, but they didn't turn out like hers do. It's okay, I guess, she DOES have several decades of practice that I don't have. I think my problem was the eggs... Here's hoping they're better next time.

Our becoming-annual Dadeland Family Christmas Party was the following week , plus the yearly Christmas luncheon, where I win booze. It's what I do. This year was no exception--I won eighteen Guinness (score!) and enjoyed some holiday merriment with friends I'm blessed to also call co-workers. I was getting to think I wouldn't win anything--it was down to the wire and all the Garcias had won, as had most of my department members, AND most of the people at my table, but luckily I pulled it out at the end. Yes!

The family party was a good time. All the usual suspects were there--beer and cheese soup, hot schnocolate, beer, Christmas cookies, pie... oh yeah, and some cool people were there too. :) It was a delicious and fun evening, and we even managed a bit of flippy cup, where, I believe, the girl's team was the big winner, although some may object to that.

Here's some of our reverie... Eric and Sparty, who made the rounds in his Christmas shirt and green bow.

And our annual picture by the tree, which turned out super cute thanks to an awesome photographer... ;) Don't we look festive and full of holiday cheer?

And I couldn't resist posting this, possibly the cutest picture of Lancelot that I have. He, of course, enjoyed the party, possibly more than anyone else, considering his big, brown eyes, still wield great power over other people, even if they no longer work on me.

The Aussie had a bonfire that same weekend, with all of her "Shakespeare" friends, but I joined in anyway considering my great love for the bard, my boredom, and my overwhelming desire to procrastinate instead of pack. I had met some of them already at other various gatherings, and knew I was in for a nice evening when I walked in and started quoting "Sassy Gay Friend" to a dog named Ophelia, and people knew what I was talking about. And then we made s'mores, and performed the monologue from The Sandlot in tandem with another guest, which was basically awesome. Too bad I smelled like fire for, like, three days afterward. lol

I left to come to Michigan on the 20th, and arrived with only one small incident. Chicago, which had been bombarded with what airline folks like to call "weather," had to re-route a few planes, which were sent to DTW. And arrived just before we did. And were taking up ALL THE GATES. For me, the worst part of any plane ride is the minutes between landing and getting off. I hate it. You're there, where you wanted to be, but you're still so far away. Needless to say, sitting in the airplane buckled in, on the runway, for an extra half an hour was NOT enjoyed by anyone on the flight, especially at 11:00 at night. Still, I arrived, I'm in Michigan, and all is well. I'm home for Christmas.

Since I've been home, I've been playing. Tuesday I saw Black Swan, which I still think I'm recovering from. Definitely worth seeing, and definitely stays with you for a while. I think I liked it; I certainly think the performances were outstanding, and I love Natalie Portman. That's about all I can say about it. lol. Yesterday, a few Holt kids went to Beggar's Banquet for 1/2 off bottles of wine and some nibbles and laughs. It was great to see The KG, who is a baller, and my sister as well. I'm looking forward to the rest of my time here, and a New Year's back in MIA.

Much love.

Birthtober

Hi everyone! I'm still alive, although busier than I've ever been. I know I haven't written in ages and ages, but i can never seem to find a moment to just sit down and do it. School and work are keeping me extremely busy. I've been studying and reading like crazy, trying to keep up with and ingest everything. Three years of this life is going to be tough, but, hopefully, worth it. I do like what I'm learning but I almost feel like it's undergrad again--I know what I want to study so why am I taking all the classes that aren't about that subject? I know that the knowledge all builds upon the knowledge before it, but yeah. Anyway, I'm content but busy.

So... Let's back way up. October was a month of birthdays for me. A co-worker and good friend had a surprise party for her big 3-0, and The Weave also had a birthday soiree for 10/10/10. It was pretty outstanding, except for the fact that I spent the majority of the party (at least two hours) dying on the couch because my blood sugar was super high and wouldn't come down. I later came to discover that my infusion set had come out, which is why it wouldn't go down. Thankfully, CW drove me back and I fixed the problem. Boo for parties ruined by blood sugars.

The next morning, though, we had a lovely birthday breakfast out, and, since my problem was now solved, I could thoroughly enjoy it. It was very festive, as you can see...



For Halloween I, of course, carved a pumpkin which I later brought into my classroom and lit up as I read my students "The Raven." Every year I think it's so awesome and every year I feel like the kids don't care. But, in a paraphrase of Mother Theresa, I do it anyway. So yeah, this is the pumpkin I carved:


It looked pretty cool, I must say.

Now, usually, especially since I've been here, I'm not into Halloween. It's basically all about girls wearing a bra and panties (or less) and calling themselves a "nurse" or a "cop" or something ridiculous like that, which, to me, is NOT okay. Just cal yourself a "bikini model" or a "stripper" but let's not pretend you're something legitimate. So yeah, no me gusta. But this year, a friend celebrated a milestone and so we threw him a party. It was a Halloween/zombie themed party because "the undead never grow older," which, let's be serious, is pretty brilliant. So I was a zombie for Halloween this year and it was a good life choice. Here are the birthday boy and I:

And here are a couple of hard up zombies who just need to feast on some flesh, human or not!

I looked pretty awesome and it was fun; much better than going out and having to deal with a Miami Halloween. No thank you.

The rest of my life is pretty much consumed with work and school, both of which are going well. I'm not going home for Thanksgiving tomorrow, due to time and money factors. It's one more in a line of a few Thanksgivings I've spent away, which actually seems to be the pattern at this point, but that's okay. I still have many, many things to be thankful for this year, and many people too--like all of you. Thanks for being in my life.

My next update will probably be Christmas break, when we'll find out how the semester went for me... Cross your fingers for me!

Much love.

Birthday Bonanza and Other Bits

I figure that if your birthday falls in the middle of the week, like, say, a Tuesday, you can celebrate without guilt on both the weekend before and the weekend after.

Birthday celebrations started a day earlier than expected when my friend Yesi called me at 9:30, when I was deeply into pajama mode, and asked me to go with her to see her friend and fellow drama teacher receive an award and play a song. Not being one to turn down a chance to be fabulous, I put on my party pants and shoes and we headed out.

It took us quite a while to even FIND the dang place we were looking for, and on the way Yesi informed me that we were going to the "Miami Dance Music Awards" which kind of made my stomach hurt considering how much I love (read: HATE) dance music. Then we finally found the place and walk in, and it was like walking into another country WITHIN the foreign land that is Miami itself. It was loud and everything was in Spanish, and I walked in to a room full of laser lights with a band onstage playing what sounds like 80s tunes, and I look up and see a dude playing a key-tar. It was secretly amazing.

We proceeded into the place, across the laser-lit dance floor, and found Yesi's friend who, I thought, was a DJ since she was, apparently, a "freestyle" artist. Well, come to find out, "freestyle" is a kind of music that made it only to Miami, New York, and L.A... Like Latin 80s dance music, as far as I can figure. And the awards? They were more like lifetime achievement awards or something, and at one point Tito Puente Jr. was, like, chillin' on stage. Everyone who won an award had contributed greatly... no one, as far as I could tell, was still making music.

Yesi's friend finally performed a little after midnight, and her song was, like, a fun 80s tune (in English!!) and it was cool to see her. But by far the best act of the night was this dude in a bedazzled black t-shirt (I'm talking FULLY bedazzled--gold jewels in a geometric grid ALL over). He won an award for a song and band I'd never heard of, which at this point I was expecting, and then the guy who gave it to him was like, "Why don't you just do a little song for us?" And Mr. Bedazzled is like, "What? Me? No, I couldn't possibly..." When you know the WHOLE time that $#!t was planned. It was hilarious. And then Mr. Bedazzle croons a song, in Spanish, from, like, the disco era and it was out of control. I was like, Is this really happening? WHAT is going on?

Then in the process of being there, Yesi sees a guy looking at me so I discretely try to look back. Turns out, dude's totally gay, which explains the look. lol. I also saw a little person, which was amazing. Actually, MOST of the people there were characters, including the HOT bartender and an awkward relationship between an ugly dude and his email order bride/escort/lady of the evening. I'm just saying she was wearing clear heels (SURE sign) and a "shirt" that, I was certain, would show her nipples at any moment if she continued to dance the way she was dancing. Wow. The entire eveing was certainly an experience to be remembered. I still haven't processed it all; it was just too much for my senses to take in.

The following day I had my birthday celebration (version 1.0), which wasn't anythign too amazing, mostly because all my brilliant ideas were somehow foiled by fate, timing, money, or all of those. I settled on dinner at RA, a sushi place in Sunset. I've always had good food and a good time when I go there, so it seemed like a wise choice.

There ended up being a dozen of us for the dinner portion and it was yum. RA has the appetizer called, like, Dynamite Scallops or something, and it's basically the perfect food: scallops (although bay, not sea), mushrooms, and spicy goodness. WIN. I also had a roll (I can't recall which one but it was good) and all was pleasing. Now, I ate a good deal, but I didn't quite feast like SOME people...

I believe there were seven plates in total. OUT of control! :)

Here's a group photo of us, enjoying dinner.

After dinner, the waiter, who I'd sort of harassed earlier in the night because I wanted my tonic wanter bubbly, brough the obligatory birthday free dessert, which was some sort of ice creamy thing. Tempura icecream, maybe. I was so excited about it, I forgot about the "blow out the candle" thing and just started eating. My friend Jeff filmed the presentation, song, eating and candle blowing. If you're really that interested you can watch video of the big event here.

After RA, a few of us (read, two) went to Fox's where a couple other friends came out for a drink. It was great to see everyone, some of whom I haven't been able to see since my return from Boston. It was a fun night, and I got home at a decent time so all was well. No more birthday ragers--I'm getting up there!

Birthday celebration part deux came the next weekend when The Weave came down from Boca and Eric, who was out of town the week before, came to hang out with us, too. We went to dinner Saturday night at Benihana, which sends you a coup for $30 during the month of your birthday. Holler! It was a fun dinner with good people, and my favorite part of the dinner show is the onion volcano! Yay!Here we all are, re-celebrating.

We finished the night at Crazy Pianos because I had two $25 certificates I'd bought over the summer for not even half that price. It was a fun (and cheap!) night, and we made friends with the (hot) bartender because we wanted to request the bed intruder song. Our dream was not realized but it was fun anyway.

The next morning, we all met up again on the Beach to have "Drag Queen Brunch" at The Palace. Eric's gone a few times, and he says it's always fun, which it proved to be. The draw is paying $35 for breakfast and unlimited mimosas, but, since I can't really drink more than one, I got a bloody Mary and eggs Benedict, both of which were delicious. The other aspect of the breakfast is the drag performances, which happen about every 15 minutes or so. It was thoroughly entertaining; the emcee was quite funny and the performances (some of them) were pretty outstanding. I managed to get this photo of Champagne something-or-other, who I'm pretty sure, was my waitress at Lips last year when I went for another friend's birthday. The drag queen world must be a small one.

All in all, a very successful birthday, I'd say. I'm looking forward to this year being...milder than last year. My Master's is going well, teaching is challenging but awesome, and, so far, I'm managing everything well. This year, I am once again hopeful about and excited for what is to come.

Much love.