Browse Author: beakatude

Challenge!!

We went to Epcot today. Ryan tried to convince the ticket lady to give us the Florida price so we could get a park-hopper pass at a discount but it didn’t work…boo. So, we spent the day at Epcot and didn’t see Mickey even once. There were some cool rides including “Test Track”, which simulated being in a car on a test track going through hairpin turns and feeling the difference between ABS brakes and wihtout. We also rode “Mission: Space”, which is known for making people throw up. It involves putting you in an enclosed pod and strapped in as if you’re going into space. They have you watch a holographic monitor while spinning you so hard that you feel the G-forces on your body as if you’re actually in a slingshot around the moon. I held tightly to the barfbag they provided in the pod and kept my head pressed against the headrest. What made these rides more interesting was the fact that the Epcot Center readily sells alcohol next to the pretzels and ice cream. Jes challenged Bang to drinking as many pints of beer as humanly possible. It was like being in Vegas…walking around the park with a beer in your hand…felt kind of illegal. Well, each time Jes and Bang purchased a Bud Light, we got in line for a ride. They allow you to stand in line with the beer but then make you get rid of it before getting on the ride. So, Jes and Bang ended up having to chug their beers each time we went on a ride. I’m surprised neither of them threw up. I also made a challenge to Tob that afternoon. I bet him a pint of ice cream if he could eat one of every item on the ice cream menu, which added up to seven different items. He went for it and I was getting a little sick watching him.
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For a late lunch, we stopped in “Germany” one of the featured countries around the lake. We ate at the Biergarten for a German buffet, huge 1-litre mugs of beer, and entertainment. Those musicians were pretty talented…playing one of those long horns that start from the stage and sit on the floor. Jes kept saying, “this is the best place ever!” I guess it was because that one litre of beer there was way cheaper than 2 pints of Bud Light in the park. We also learned the German pronunciation of Lowenbrau…this lunch was quite educational.
We spent the rest of the day walking around in each of the other countries while Jes and Bang drank more beer. There was also a Charlie Horse War and an Ass-Kicking Contest throughout the evening. Everyone was pooped out by 7:30 so they went home. Jes and i stayed after to watch the fireworks at 9:30. Good times…
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By the way, Tob won. He ate a total of seven items: 1) Nestle Crunch Ice Cream Bar, 2) Mickey Cookies and Cream Sandwich, 3) Rainbow Popsicle, 4) Chocolate-dipped Ice Cream Mickey, 5) Strawberry Bar, 6) Chocolate-dipped Frozen Banana, and 7) Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich. *sigh* I guess I owe him a pint of ice cream now.

Cheese-town

OK. St. Augustine may be the “Oldest City in the U.S.” with the “Oldest Schoolhouse” and cobblestone streets but I’m not sure it really needs to have tourist traps. This morning, I went on a hunt for the “Fountain of Youth” discovered by Ponce De Leon. Ryan, Michelle, and I tried to take the trolley tour but it was going to cost 18 bucks. So, we grabbed a free map and took a little walk down the street. After some wrong turns and some problem-solving, we found it. It’s too bad it looked like a rundown Santa’s Village with creepy Christmas music playing overhead and an awesome statue of Ponce De Leon out front. They charged us $5 to get in to see the “Fountain of Youth” and Ryan claimed me as his sister so I could get the AAA discount of 50 cents off…hm…me? Sister of the whitey? Interesting. Anyway, we got a sip of the Fountain of Youth…questionable and we’ll probably get cholera. They even had a fake planetarium with a huge glowing Earth with a cheesy voice overhead explaining the different route that Columbus and other explorers took. It was hilarious and Ryan said it was like a Monty Python spoof. Well, that’s $5 I won’t be seeing ever again.
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After check-out, all seven of us piled into the mini-van and went to the Kennedy Space Center on our way to Orlando. With some more wrong turns and directions from a kick-ass old man at the gas station, we found it. Since it was already 4 pm, we only paid $10 to get in and got to see the Rocket Garden, go inside the Space Shuttle, and check out the new Space Shuttle Memorial. It was cool…it’s just too bad that our space program is so sucky right now. Jes was saying how this place would have been so cool in uh…1984! On our way to the condo, we stopped on the side of the road and saw a pod of dolphins hanging out by where we stopped. We caught a glimpse of a few of them coming up for air one at a time and ended up with stinky fish-smelling flip-flops when we got back in the van. I’m sure Ryan enjoyed that the most…he hates seafood…haha.
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Well, we’re checked into our condo and we saved $59/person by passing on Medieval Times. Ryan wanted to go so bad but the rest of us were so against and got out of it. We’ve gotta save up for our day at Epcot tomorrow. What an awesome way to spend our time in the campiest state in the country. Yay…Cheese-town!!

Yucky Morning, Beautiful Evening

Last night was fun…probably too much fun. We all met up with G and Dena at some bar down the street and it was a good thing we walked there. It was like a Roebling Reunion with the six boys back together again with me, “Seven”. There was a cowboy singing some oldies and a one-eyed pirate hanging out with the crowd. The walk home was interesting and I’m amazed that we all got back in one piece. Unfortunately, I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache and my tummy did like anything I put in it…including water. I missed the apparently scrumptious breakfast at 9 am and had to sleep off my headache until 12 pm. I had to hide under the covers to muffle the sounds of the parade outside and shield my eyes from the sunny morning. Jes even went for a walk with Michelle to check out the parade and colonial reenactment. Luckily, I was feeling better in time to get ready for the wedding that started at 2:00.

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G & Dena got married at a very pretty Catholic church. The historic town made the wedding seem that much more elegant. The guest list was pretty small, which made the church look even bigger. Since it was a traditional Catholic wedding it was about an hour and fifteen minutes long. They left in a white horse-drawn carriage with champagne for a ride around the town. In the meantime, the rest of us looked for a sports bar so we could watch the beginning of what turned out to be a very pathetic game between UCLA and USC. Cocktail Hour and Dinner was at Casa Monica, a really pretty castle-like hotel and unfortunately the Best Man’s speech was pretty painful. It reminded me of Victor’s “Free Kobe” speech a couple years ago.

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Well, I’m back at the B&B while the others went on to the next waterin’ hole. I need to get some sleep…this morning was rough.

Roundhouse kicked to St. Augustine

I woke up today at 6:30 am PST for a long travel day. One of Jes’ old roommates, Gerard, is getting married on Saturday and the rest of the Roebling House is going out there to help celebrate. After a 5-hour non-stop flight from LAX to Orlando (MCO), waiting an hour for the melters to arrive, driving another 2 hours in our rental mini-van, we arrived in the oldest U.S. city by 10:00 pm EST.
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The journey to St. Augustine had its moments.
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Jes and I couldn’t get upgraded because they only had one opening for us. Instead, we sat together in Economy Plus, which wasn’t bad. It was just really dry in the cabin and I had a bad case of the sniffles. At the airport, we went to Borders to buy a book or two. I thought I’d try out the Sudoku craze and bought a book of puzzles to try. Maybe it will be a good activity for the flight to Thailand.
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Eventually Bang, Vyl, Ryan, Michelle, and Tob arrived and we took a really long shuttle ride to get our dope ride. In the mini-van, we frantically searched for a place to eat. We ended up at Waffle House per the request of Vyl, our Southern girl. The diner was pretty ghetto with an interesting set of “characters” who worked there. First was our server who was missing some of her front teeth, then there was the cook who ended up making us two of everything on accident, and then the other server who was a portly woman and very protective of the dishtowel she brought from home. I guess you had to be there. Anyway, I had some waffles and cardboard sausage patties, Michelle had some grits, Ryan tried the hashbrowns with chili and cheese on top, and Bang had a gray steak with his eggs. The remainder of the drive to St. Augustine included stupid yet hilarious Chuck Norris jokes, Bang’s runny nose, and making fun of Tob, as usual.
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We checked into the B&B on 63 Orange St., which is owned by a nice lady named Jackie. I had never stayed at a B&B before so I had no idea what to expect. Jes wasn’t too pumped about the accommodations but I thought it would be a good experience. It’s basically a really old house and we each took a different room of the house. We stayed in the room that once belonged to a girl named Effie (one of the four sisters in the family). There was a guest book in the room that gave us a bit of history about the house and the room. It said that when she lived there, her mother was a widow and would rent out their rooms for some income. When guests stayed over, all the sisters had to sleep in the attic. Oooo…spooky. Jackie did mention that some same the house and town is haunted…this is going to be an interesting weekend.
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OK, we’re going out for drinks with the bride and groom-to-be now. Let the party begin!

pulled in all directions

Grrr…work is so crazy right now. Being the only occupational therapist on staff at my preschool, I manage about 80 kids. It’s a saga of reports, goals, treatments, meetings, consults, more meetings, and more reports….it just doesn’t stop. To make matters worse, I have an upcoming trip to Florida lurking around the corner and I’m trying to get things done before I leave. In fact, I will have to get off the plane on Tuesday morning and get my ass to a 1:45 meeting next week. I hope my flight is on time.
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Another funny thing about being the only one of my kind is that I somehow appear to be the super therapist who has an abundance of time on my hands to take care of every need that comes along. This is one of the reasons why I don’t eat lunch in the teacher’s lounge. I’ve come to realize that each time I pass a teacher or administrator on my way to somewhere on campus, I get bombarded with questions such as “did you get the email I sent about so-and-so?” or “have you gotten a chance to observe so-and-so?” or “will you be able to attend a last minute parent meeting and come with a progress report in 5 minutes?” What ever happened to, “how are you?” and “how was your weekend?” Let me growl a little more for a second…grrrr…ok. That’s when I feel very fortunate to have a portable on the other side of the school to myself where I can blast my music, eat my oatmeal, and write my reports in peace. I may like this “new” job but I certainly do miss PTN sometimes.

Is that carrot or bell pepper?

If you had to choose between your abilit y to hear and your ability to see, which would you be willing to give up? I just had a conversation about this and decided that I would prefer to lose my hearing. I think I’d be ok with not being able to hear again. I’d be fine if I couldn’t use my iPod anymore and I would certainly have a lot more patience with the screaming kids at work. I couldn’t use the phone anymore but who needs to anymore with all the text and instant messaging available? I’d be so sad and lost without my vision tghough. I’d have to put my cameras away. I wouldn’t see the expressions on the faces of my friends and family. And don’t get me started about the number of falls and bruises I’d have. My proprioception is bad enough with my sight already compensating.
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Today I got an itty-bitty taste of life without sight when I got my eyes checked. In the middle of the examination, the optometrist asked me to take out my contacts and just toss them in the trash. She said that she’d replace them with a new pair once she figured out my new prescription. Well, I thought we were almost done so I didn’t think twice about the request. Little did I know that it would take another 20-30 minutes before I could see clearly again. The office was a total blur and trying to maintain eye contact with the optometrist was giving me a headache. Since I had to go back to work that afternoon, I had to return in the evening to get my pupils dilated. Well, that was another interesting experience. My pupils were almost the size of dimes and I could sort of make out distant figures but certainly could not see close-up. So when Jes and I went to dinner right afterwards, I couldn’t read the menu, I couldn’t see my food, and everything was a little lesss enjoyable. I was so afraid of getting a super Thai chili surprise in my mouth since I couldn’t really tell what was on my plate or spoon. So there you have it…my hunch was confirmed. I would lose my hearing any day. By the way, I’m typing with compromised vision at the moment so forgive me if there are typos.