Florida: day 2

In the past week, I didn't have to go to work on Saturday, rocked the house at VI, then endured the first week of our Outlook conversion process. It wasn't as bad as the time we changed everyone's usernames, but I was a busy busy bee. Hence the lack of input. I did get to see Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest (more on that later) and have some Awesome Times.

Yesterday I flew down to Florida for the Necronomicon (big Warhammer event). I thought we might miss our plane due to traffic in Providence and fears of a deadline for getting our tickets. Five minutes after parking my car, I had my pass in hand and was through the security checkpoint, relaxing leisuerly with a lobby full of chattering children and eldery golfers. Our flight was packed and sounded like a school bus field trip for 6th graders, but the background rattle and hum from the plane put me to sleep right away. I still love flying.

Florida was hot and humid, but so was Boston. The airport at Orlando was cavernous, a rave there would be outstanding. Magic Kingdom indeed. Our friend Chris picked us up, and we drove to the OCCC. Another cavernous, labryinthine building where it took us 45 minutes to find our room. (Sensing a theme here?) I played a few practice games, in which my dice utterly betrayed me again. A pretty bleak start to the weekend, but it can only get better from here.

We ended the night by devouring two boats worth of sushi and some terrific lobster bisque at Amura, then retired to my friend's house. I stepped barefoot in the grass in the teeming Florida air for twenty seconds, and then my feet started to burn. Yep, fire ants. Painful little bastards, and the "perfect" way to end my first night down here.

Bad dice can't be worse than fire ants. This is the thought that will get me through the day. Time now to shower and leave for the hall.

Florida: day 2 some more.

Orlando is the most surreal town I've been to in, well, ever. We traveled along International Blvd today. Everything was giant sized and neon, and everything stretched out to forever. There were water parks on the main drag, every other building looked like a theme park attraction, Epcot Center meets Capitalism Blvd. Lakes and ponds were everywhere you looked, we were sure that alligators were lying in wait to snack on Yankee tourists. I'll bet the gators are pansies compared to the fire ants.

I've eaten more beef today than I have in weeks, my body is in a quasi state of rebellion. If it weren't for all the good sushi I had last night, I'm sure my gut would rebel.

The heat here is only slightly different from Boston. The sun feels a little warmer, the breeze a little cooler. The humidity parts a little bit as you walk through it, but it's still a dense cloud you have to push through if you want to make any progress.

There's a little more unwinding to do, then all systems are shutting down. I grabbed two four packs of wine to drink during the games today. After my first horrible game, I started to drink anytime something went wrong. This evolved into BoozeHammer, where I rewarded every spectacular roll with a taste of sweet wine, and every boned roll with a draught of the bitter. Five mini bottles and two games later, I'm 2-1 and had one of the best, suspenseful, nail-biting games in a long time. We are 180 degrees from last night and at cruising speed.

Two games and three bottles of wine to go. Go on my son!