Past extended long weekend

Had a very nice past long weekend spending my time down in Orlando, Florida visiting mach. The mini-vacation was refreshing, and seeing how much Florida changed after not going there for more then a decade was really nice.


I completely forgot about the lizards scuttering about everywhere in Orlando and at first was amazed to be able to see the lizards out in the open. Since you don't usually see reptiles of any kind wandering about in the open in Ontario the lizards in Florida interested me. Boy they're fast when they want to be, and can jump pretty good. Of course when Mach saw a squirrel at one point, he was very surprised to see one "that big" but I was like "yeah whatever", I've seen too many of those already. :P

Mach had a party Saturday night in which I met up with a few new furs, but most who I've seen before and either met in passing at a con, or at the very least saw in passing at a con. It was a fun night of socializing and watching movies, and generally getting to know some of the Florida furs better. I had a fun night with that and the night ended with an interesting debate on science and the scientific method between Mach and another fur. It was interesting to listen to, but I decide not to add to the debate as it was already fairly heated, but not an argument.

On Sunday we met up with a few people from the party the night before to go out to one of Universal Studio's theme parks (the one with the roller coasters... I forget the specific name of the park). It's been well over 5 years since I've been on a roller coaster and I was hoping that I would be fine for the most part. With the first ride I figured out that not being able to feel the seat is what freaks me out, so after learning that I found if I push myself against the seat for the whole ride of the roller coaster that I would be perfectly fine. I know it's cheating, but it's better then chickening out all together. :P I also remembered why I never usually go to these theme parks anymore. Out of the 6 or so hours we where there, the actual time we were on the rides was somewhere between 10 to 15 minutes. Not the best of use in time. All-in-all though I enjoyed the experience and the company, and given the right people I'd do it again.

That evening Mach and I went to a nice artsy restaurant called Tu Tu Tango (I think that's the spelling?) where you can actually buy any of the art displayed there and watch the preforming artist (in this case a pair of Tango dancers) while you eat. What's also unique about this restaurant is that there are no appetizers or main dished, but every dish is a medium size sample that you can order and share amongst your dinning group. We ended up getting 7 plates of food and a plate of dessert. I think it's the second time I've been buzzed by alcohol in my lifetime. Funny thing is that it was again Long Island Ice Tea that got me buzzed, like in the first time. The food and atmosphere of Tu Tu Tango was excellent, and the service was great. I will have to go back there when I head down to Orlando again.

Monday was a more lazy slow paced day of relaxing and sight seeing. Two of Mach's friends came by that missed the party on Saturday and together we went to the amusement park area/strip of Orlando where there was a lot of little entertainment stuff going on. Some of it was surreal to see, but it definitely was amusing. Later we went to a book store and just did some relaxing, browsing and cooling off. Going to a modern book store, I can see why libraries would be a dieing breed. Luckily I doubt that libraries will be going away anytime soon.

After taking a fairly long evening nap late that same evening I had a chance to go see a small part of Disney World at Pleasure Island. Since this was the home of one of Cirque's production I was naturally interested. I ended up playing around with a Diabolo for a while and getting a DVD that I didn't have yet. Next time I will actually have to go see the show when I'm down there. Otherwise, looking through Pleasure Island, most of the attractions there were clubs, most pretty much beside each other. In between those were some stores and food places, all still very much in the Disney frame of mind. It was fun to see but it was getting late and Mach needed to get to sleep as he worked the next day, and most things were closed so we head off back for Mach's place.

Tuesday was a fairly quiet day as Mach was at work but I took the opportunity to get rest, as I would be traveling back home all evening. I also spent my time editing some audio files I was intending to edit for a while now. When Mach did get home from work, it was a bit later then he was expecting, but still we went for an early dinner before I had to catch my flight. We spent more time eating then Mach would have liked, and he was worried I maybe somewhat late form my flight back home. Luckily that worry was unfounded, and I actually waited about half an hour to get boarded onto the plane.


I had a very nice trip to Orlando and I'll definitely have to do it again. Special thanks goes to Mach for having me down there, and many thanks to everyone I met down there for making my time down there fun (you know who you are). Wish I could have spent more time with everyone down there.

Till next time, Ta!