Kia Ora-

A good birthday celebration weekend for V and quite full too.

It started off Friday with The Italian Job and dinner at Westshore Plaza (OK, actually the food court there, but I Evo’s is quite good) with Christel and her father.

Saturday I picked V up at the place she gets her oil changed and we lunched at Woody’s. After that we got her truck and went bowling at Florida Lanes (and inadvertently got involved in a Tuesday night league). Later I took her to her (sorta-)surprise party. Matt, Rubis, Kirk, Karen, Mr. Eric, Christel, V’s Mom & Dad, V, and I climbed for 2 hours and then went to dinner at Friday’s until about midnight. And to answer your question, no she did have a clue but wasn’t too sure—sorta-surprise complete!

Sunday she picked me up and we went to Orlando for the night, hanging around Pointe Orlando. We saw Finding Nemo and ate at Lulu’s, which was pretty good. They even have drinks that are served in fishbowls—I’d never seen that, but apparently it’s common. We had an early night back at the hotel and watched Disney Channel shows.

Monday we met Mr. Eric up at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. We did the parks and ate at the Hard Rock Café. I was surprised that my shirt (SpongeBob Ripped) once again attracted A LOT of attention. But that’s cool.

By the end of everything we were pretty much spent. V said she had a great weekend and that’s what counts. And it was fun.

Of course, personally speaking, anytime we go up to Orlando I always have to question why I should come back to Tampa at all. I mean, I guess deep down I do love this city, or at least don’t loathe it enough to do something about it and move. But I gotta wonder why I am still here (like the lines from today’s intro song, something I wrote with much conviction—but don’t’ get me started about the deterioration of my writing abilities).

Ah well. Home sweet home.

Keep the faith.

-N.