Today is Easter and this time around I conceded to El's request to go to church. We go twice a year it seems - Easter and Christmas Eve. Shame on me.
Near the Premium Outlet Mall (with Banana Republic!) is Mary Queen of the Universe. We used to make fun of it because of how HUGE and extravangant it was. "They must be Baptist" was our standard joke seeing it everytime we drove by enroute to go shopping - until we found out it was Catholic and designed for the benefit of tourists. Well this year, jokes aside, we decided to attend mass there.
The compund itself it beautiful in a kind of touristy, theme park way - complete with a gift shop! Fountains, Rosary Garden, and a huge monument with sponsor's plaques on it adorned the gigantic church. The shrine itself was clean and well maintained. Four services today and the priest was no joke. He got right to the point about the history of the shrine and how sinful it was to miss church, disagree with the church on anything and take communion without confession recently. El and I decided to forego the communion. We're guilty as sin - literally.
We did both agree, though, before mass started that we would make a better attempt at going back to church on Sundays and even going to confession soon. And "tah-dah!" we're blasted by the priest. Not personally, but you get the point. The service was nice and flowers covered the floor of the altar. The congregation is Catholics from all over the world visiting who first pay homage to the modern golden idol of Mickey Mouse (how ironic) with very few locals in attendance.
Afterwards, Rachel, El and I decided to have lunch at Bahama Breeze for a (somewhat) light lunch. The sky got a little grey and we figured it was going to rain, which it didn't.
Monday, March 28, 2005
After lunch I had planned on taking advantage of the clear weather and grill outside. I had bought some food prior and planned on firing up the gas grill and making seafood kebobs and seared ribeyes. El and Rachel prepped the sides and beverages. I cracked open a bottle of Beringer white merlot to polish off the meal.
Valentine's Day Round Two
As part of El's Valentine's gift I bought two tickets to see Maroon5 at the Silver Spurs Arena this past Saturday. The day started out pretty nice. The rain had subsided long enought to make the weather cool and clear.
We got to the arena in Kissimmeee in time to catch the opening act, The Donnas. Eventhough they had gained some popularity in the recent past, I wasn't really into them. Pretty generic rock music. They weren't bad, but they weren't great either. Their stage presence, despite their attempts to get the crowd going, was pretty mediocre.
During intermission Silver Spurs plays music videos of up and coming artists. Two of the videos stood out. The Bees had a hilarious video with their song Chicken Payback, with the game phenom Dance Revolution and the Japanese's infatuation with the game as part of the imagery. Another artist with an interesting sound was Sondre Lerche.
Eventually Maroon5 got onstage much to the joy of the mostly female audience. A nice light show and performance by the group didn't fail to entertain.
We got to the arena in Kissimmeee in time to catch the opening act, The Donnas. Eventhough they had gained some popularity in the recent past, I wasn't really into them. Pretty generic rock music. They weren't bad, but they weren't great either. Their stage presence, despite their attempts to get the crowd going, was pretty mediocre.
During intermission Silver Spurs plays music videos of up and coming artists. Two of the videos stood out. The Bees had a hilarious video with their song Chicken Payback, with the game phenom Dance Revolution and the Japanese's infatuation with the game as part of the imagery. Another artist with an interesting sound was Sondre Lerche.
Eventually Maroon5 got onstage much to the joy of the mostly female audience. A nice light show and performance by the group didn't fail to entertain.
For the guy factor they performed an encore of covering an old rock classic, AC/DC's Highway To Hell. The drummer and lead swapped places and performed a respectable rendition. Afterwards, we caught a late dinner at one of our favorite sushi restaurants, Amura, in the Dr. Phillips area. All in all it was a great night.
Friday, March 18, 2005
You Wanna Be Where Everyone Knows Your Name.
Whenever I go to Charleston, it's always with mixed emotions. When I Ieft years ago it was with the intention of never coming back, but to visit. There's definitely pros and cons with Orlando vs. Charleston.
While my sister, Cher, and I were driving downtown to kill some time I mentioned how it was nice to be anywhere in Charleston and see someone you know. Not even an hour after that we're walking on King Street to get some coffee when honk! honk! "ERICK!". My buddy Carl drives by on his way to class. Even running into Derek and catching up at the hospital was cool. Back in the day it was always nice to see friends along the way and chat for a bit. Hell even Savannah, very similar to Charleston, was that way.
In Orlando, everyone is out for self and for the most part lacks some sense of common courtesy. People drive like asses and are rude. It's definitely made me more of a cynic. The southern mentality is certainly a very real thing. People are just NICER in the south (Florida doesn't count eventhough technically they are further south). There are times when I just want to ram my foot up someone's ass over here.
What keeps me from moving back? Oh just the standard materialistic things - money, lack of jobs in my field, slow pace (although sometimes that can be a good thing), not enough to do or see. The one thing that always stuck in my head was that when I left it was because it felt like Charleston was the Town That Time Forgot. Oof. It was like living there meant just living for the weekends.
The things I certainly loved about Charleston was, of course, old friends and family. They say that the friends you make during your formative years are the ones that you bond closer and later on it becomes harder to find people you click with. I believe it. I also love the wide variety of events that happen each year - Spoleto Festival, Southeastern Wildlife Expo, etc. I REALLY miss being fifteen minutes from the beach. I miss the smell of diesel fuel from the marina and oyster beds as weird as that seems. The city is also well known for their cuisine. Doesn't sound too exciting, right? But as a foodie and aspiring restauranteur I dig it. Now if I managed to get my restaurant going there and move closer to the beaches...
While my sister, Cher, and I were driving downtown to kill some time I mentioned how it was nice to be anywhere in Charleston and see someone you know. Not even an hour after that we're walking on King Street to get some coffee when honk! honk! "ERICK!". My buddy Carl drives by on his way to class. Even running into Derek and catching up at the hospital was cool. Back in the day it was always nice to see friends along the way and chat for a bit. Hell even Savannah, very similar to Charleston, was that way.
In Orlando, everyone is out for self and for the most part lacks some sense of common courtesy. People drive like asses and are rude. It's definitely made me more of a cynic. The southern mentality is certainly a very real thing. People are just NICER in the south (Florida doesn't count eventhough technically they are further south). There are times when I just want to ram my foot up someone's ass over here.
What keeps me from moving back? Oh just the standard materialistic things - money, lack of jobs in my field, slow pace (although sometimes that can be a good thing), not enough to do or see. The one thing that always stuck in my head was that when I left it was because it felt like Charleston was the Town That Time Forgot. Oof. It was like living there meant just living for the weekends.
The things I certainly loved about Charleston was, of course, old friends and family. They say that the friends you make during your formative years are the ones that you bond closer and later on it becomes harder to find people you click with. I believe it. I also love the wide variety of events that happen each year - Spoleto Festival, Southeastern Wildlife Expo, etc. I REALLY miss being fifteen minutes from the beach. I miss the smell of diesel fuel from the marina and oyster beds as weird as that seems. The city is also well known for their cuisine. Doesn't sound too exciting, right? But as a foodie and aspiring restauranteur I dig it. Now if I managed to get my restaurant going there and move closer to the beaches...
Post-Op
Back from my brief stay in Charleston and my father's second, but not last, surgery. The weather started out beautifully, warm and clear, but as soon as surgery day came it became cold and wet (perfect to reflect the mood). With just a couple of "oops" along the way, overall the surgery went well. They were able to repair all three aneurysms and move around his issues with blood flow to his liver, thus avoiding a dialysis machine. He was in a great deal of pain the first night (typical of first day recovery). We did what we could to destress and take our minds off of constantly worrying about him. I feel awful for him. I know he's been going through a tremendous amount, but this time around he's been trying to put on a strong face. We know what he's going through. Thankfully, his recovery (to me at least) is going smoothly. Much faster than I anticipated. He actually moved to PCU the day I was about to leave (it took him almost a week last time vs. 2 days this time) so I knew he was on the right track.
I guess it's just that time in our parent's lives that things start to catch up to them. Great. I've got something to look forward to in my sixties. While in SC a couple of my friend's parents were going through surgeries as well. Carl's mother had some polyps removed and an old friend's (Derek Boyd - whom I haven't seen in years) father was recovering from a bypass, like my pops, just a few rooms down. Wishing them both quick recoveries for their parents.
I guess it's just that time in our parent's lives that things start to catch up to them. Great. I've got something to look forward to in my sixties. While in SC a couple of my friend's parents were going through surgeries as well. Carl's mother had some polyps removed and an old friend's (Derek Boyd - whom I haven't seen in years) father was recovering from a bypass, like my pops, just a few rooms down. Wishing them both quick recoveries for their parents.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Round Two
I got word from Cher a couple of days ago that my father has been having tenderness in his abdomen. We've been worried about his state of health since his quadruple bypass in January. Cher has been taking the brunt of the responsibility because of her proximity. After his angiogram his doctors scheduled him for his next procedure to repair 3 aneurysms in his abdomen and legs. Early Tuesday morning is his scheduled gameday. I plan on driving Monday morning to Charleston to be with him and help out. This still isn't the end of his surgeries. After his six week recovery he is slated to have his ongoing kidney stone issues resolved as well. To thicken the plot, so to speak, my mother is also having her share of medical woes. She has been putting off her surgeries to care for him. Looks like the four of us (Ricky, Rachel, Cherilyn and I) will be back to rotating shifts whenever we can to help care for him and my mother. She's taken a good beating mentally and emotionally these past few months. Hopefully by the end of both of their surgeries and recoveries they'll take a well-deserved vacation. They're certainly welcome to stay with us here in Florida for some R/R.
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