Ah vacationing. What better time to blog is there than upon returning from a wonderful vacation? As you may remember, I was planning a trip to the bahamas. This trip was canceled, due to be rescheduled at some point, by the threat of Hurricane Dean, a threat that did not manifest in the bahamas. While I would have risked a hurricane, I was not going to risk the loss of my vacation if the cruise line had refused to leave port. Instead, Brittney and I spent the week (Sunday through Thursday) visiting family and friends and auditioning for American Idol. Before getting to the teaser, I shall start from the beginning.
I got permission to skip work on Sunday and let my coworkers have more tables, since work has been a bit slow. Brittney and I headed to northeast Tampa and attended the church service at which her dad Larry plays the music. The people were friendly and the music was awesome! The guest speaker has been a missionary in Turkey for many years now, and a missionary to several countries for a total of fifteen years, establishing an average of fifteen churches each year in eastern Europe. His message centered around the fact that God does not call us to "easy", but that when we say "Yes!" to whatever it is to which we are called, God accomplishes it through us. 92 of the 97 churches that he helped establish are still thriving, in countries that know nothing of "protestant" or "baptist" or "catholic" but only know life with Christ or life without Christ. Amen!
After church, we joined Larry's fiance Kendra for mid-afternoon pre-dinner socializing. The primary entertainment was a cute and frisky puppy, and the two young girls, one Kendra's grandaughter and the other Brittney's niece, born a day apart and best of friends. Brittney and I left shortly before the roast was done (neither of us eat beef) and headed to the USF library, a six-story monstrosity that we could both spend days browsing. Dinner was at the Grape, a small restaurant at which you can put together a three-wine tasting with an excellent meal. The evening was capped with swing dancing, and our friend's final Charleston Line Dance for the semester.
Monday was mostly spent choosing and practicing songs for American Idol auditions on Wednesday, but I took Brittney to Siesta Beach, and we had dinner at the restaurant at which Megan has been working. We ended the evening with Into The Woods, which was very familiar, as we have been reading Grimm's Fairy Tales for a couple weeks now. I love that musical! [sighs happily]
Tuesday morning, we tried to get out early and failed, heading toward Orlando to Cocoa Beach and Brittney's Granmama and Uncle Dade. We were delayed by our inability to find things, difficulties with the printer (to print out our lyrics), and later a car fire on the freeway, and then a necessary but frustrating double Uturn on a tollroad to avoid a 30 mile stretch while low on gas. We found a wonderful winery on the way called Keel and Curley to get a gift for Granmama. We didn't do a real tasting, because we were driving, but both dessert wines were well worth the $20 price tags (we bought two bottles of the Florida Frost Red, one for us and one for Granmama). Their other selections include a strawberry Chardonnay, a blueberry Pinot Noir and a Tangerine Zinfandel. We arrived in time for an early dinner, preceded by good conversation and book browsing. Mmmm, antique books! Next time I'm by, I'm going to get her encyclopedias. Hooray!
We left after dinner, heading down to Miami. We arrived around 11pm and signed up for the American Idol auditions, and then we stayed the night with my friend Jordan Nassar from high school. He lives three blocks from the site of the auditions, which was extremely convenient for us. I'm not sure how convenient it was to host us, since his mom was visiting, and they were in the process of replacing the floors with tile. But wonderful hosts they were, and I hope to return the favor if he (or they) ever come to Tampa. We had expected to camp out in line, but they used a wristband system instead, and sent us away until it was "recommended" that we line up between 5 and 6am wednesday morning. After a few hours of sleep, we rose and straggled over at 6:15.
Just as our expectation to camp in line was misplaced, so was our idea to bring a loaf of bread with peanut butter and honey for food for the day. We weren't allowed to bring in anything except unopened water bottles. And, we didn't get inside until 9:30. Luckily, we found this out the night before, so we didn't have to throw it away, but left it with Jordan. I made breakfast, but Brittney wasn't hungry, and I ate most of it. However, we did forget some of our books, so we had a couple novels, some poetry and our bibles, but we didn't have any storybooks (all four were in the car, behind the closed and guarded gates to Jordan's complex, which we had doubts would be opened to us if we tried). After getting inside, we found our seats (which turned out to be the wrong seats, though we didn't realize it until near the end of the day) beside a guy named Peter Michael. He turned out to be a Godsend, with two years experience auditioning for American Idol, and as a professional singer, guitarist and songwriter, had made it further each year, learning from the previous year. Not only is he a new friend with whom we had great conversations, but he also coached us both on our songs. We had plenty of time to do so. Having arrived so late, we were in the "going last" section of the bleachers of the stadium. We also had a group of guys and girls in the row in front of us that were very friendly, who had snuck in a DVD player. We, however, read and talked and napped and watched the auditions.
After the opening activities getting some crowd shots singing and dancing and saying things such as "The next American Idol is coming from Miami!", we had to wait until 7:30pm to audition, with only overpriced stadium food for lunch (they closed down mid-afternoon). The auditions themselves were done at 10 tables on the floor, in a row, separated by curtains. The hopefuls were lined up in front of each table in groups of 4, which would perform as a group one after the other, then all four would be sent away or chosen to stay at once. If you were sent away, your wristband was cut off, and you were directed out the door, do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dollars. If you got to stay, you were given a "golden ticket", a bright yellow piece of paper, and sent through the winner doorway to fill out more paperwork and go on to whatever the next step is. The rest of us had only filled out video release forms. Technically, we're not allowed to talk about American Idol, but since hundreds of thousands of people know exactly this much, having themselves auditioned (or had a child audition) for American Idol, I'm not worried about relating it. If there is anything I may have learned (which I don't think there is) that I shouldn't talk about, I won't, and I'm going to avoid a couple things just to be on the safe side.
Our seating section was nice because the prospective Idols were facing us as they sang (the "early" seats faced the judges), so we got to watch all (and hear most) of the crazy performances. Many of them were amazing, but not amazing enough, or not what American Idol was looking for, namely, professionalism (or brilliance) and song selection along the lines of what they're going to be singing on television. Brittney and I didn't make it, but in her case, since they asked her to sing a second song (which she had also perfected, at Peter's coaching), it was more likely that she was the wrong genre than not a good enough singer. I was the wrong genre, but I was Not asked if I had something else prepared. [laughs] We invited Peter to dinner afterward, but he had to stay late because he made the first cut. If he makes it to the show, we're voting for him, because he's awesome in more ways than one.
We proceeded to have two great meals with Jordan. For dinner, we headed to the main Miami strip (we drove past Miami Ink, where the show is filmed) and ate at Pasha's Mediterranean Restaurant. Not only is it extremely affordable, but they serve breakfast as well as dinner, and half (or more than half) of the menu is vegetarian. I could eat there seven days a week! [laughs] Brittney took some good photos as well. Then for lunch on Thursday, we went out to Garden of Eatin Vegetarian Restaurant and Juice Bar. It is a vegan Haitian restaurant, complete with rastafarians wandering around and free range chickens (and a rooster) in the parking lot. There are many "side" items like vege burgers with soy cheese, fresh mango or fried plantains, but the real deal is the special of the day. The chef/owner cooks a special meal of the day and serves it by "small" plate or "big" plate, for $5 or $7 respectively. This includes a good sized appetizer bowl of soup, and a plate with at least five different things. Our meal was vegetable soup with potatoes and carrots and corn (still on the cob), and then bazmatli brown rice, pumpkin stew, steamed cabbage (soooo excellent!), a salad with a homemade dressing, and soy protein meatballs. And yes, the small plate is easily big enough to fill up anyone! I would eat there every day if I could. Just don't get there early; lunch isn't ready until at least 11:30, and the waiter takes a break between breakfast and lunch. Oh, and did I forget to mention, I had the Ginger juice, and it wasn't a ginger beer, it was Essence of Sweet Ginger, complete with a dessert sweet on the tongue and a fireball burn in the throat. I loved it! The lemonade was amazing as well, using something we couldn't identify, but definitely fresh sweet lemons. I don't know about the rest of the juice drinks, but I'm sure they're all very good, and potent, and need a meal as a chaser [laughs].
Brittney and I then went to North Beach, avoiding South Beach and all that it's known for, and it was the first time I've been to the Atlantic. The waves are vigorous, even when small, and the shells and rocks were broken up to make up the beach. Large stones were in the water about ten feet out, but beyond that, it got very nice and warm. I got a sunburn under my hair [laughs], and we headed home, arriving around dinner time, just in time to unpack and shower and head out to kareoke with Megan. Then IHOP, then sleep, and then back to work, and the daily grind, minus a coworker, so it will be a while before I get two days off in a row again. [laughs] which is ok, because I need the money. Ok, blogger. My laundry is almost done. Au revoir, until again.
I got permission to skip work on Sunday and let my coworkers have more tables, since work has been a bit slow. Brittney and I headed to northeast Tampa and attended the church service at which her dad Larry plays the music. The people were friendly and the music was awesome! The guest speaker has been a missionary in Turkey for many years now, and a missionary to several countries for a total of fifteen years, establishing an average of fifteen churches each year in eastern Europe. His message centered around the fact that God does not call us to "easy", but that when we say "Yes!" to whatever it is to which we are called, God accomplishes it through us. 92 of the 97 churches that he helped establish are still thriving, in countries that know nothing of "protestant" or "baptist" or "catholic" but only know life with Christ or life without Christ. Amen!
After church, we joined Larry's fiance Kendra for mid-afternoon pre-dinner socializing. The primary entertainment was a cute and frisky puppy, and the two young girls, one Kendra's grandaughter and the other Brittney's niece, born a day apart and best of friends. Brittney and I left shortly before the roast was done (neither of us eat beef) and headed to the USF library, a six-story monstrosity that we could both spend days browsing. Dinner was at the Grape, a small restaurant at which you can put together a three-wine tasting with an excellent meal. The evening was capped with swing dancing, and our friend's final Charleston Line Dance for the semester.
Monday was mostly spent choosing and practicing songs for American Idol auditions on Wednesday, but I took Brittney to Siesta Beach, and we had dinner at the restaurant at which Megan has been working. We ended the evening with Into The Woods, which was very familiar, as we have been reading Grimm's Fairy Tales for a couple weeks now. I love that musical! [sighs happily]
Tuesday morning, we tried to get out early and failed, heading toward Orlando to Cocoa Beach and Brittney's Granmama and Uncle Dade. We were delayed by our inability to find things, difficulties with the printer (to print out our lyrics), and later a car fire on the freeway, and then a necessary but frustrating double Uturn on a tollroad to avoid a 30 mile stretch while low on gas. We found a wonderful winery on the way called Keel and Curley to get a gift for Granmama. We didn't do a real tasting, because we were driving, but both dessert wines were well worth the $20 price tags (we bought two bottles of the Florida Frost Red, one for us and one for Granmama). Their other selections include a strawberry Chardonnay, a blueberry Pinot Noir and a Tangerine Zinfandel. We arrived in time for an early dinner, preceded by good conversation and book browsing. Mmmm, antique books! Next time I'm by, I'm going to get her encyclopedias. Hooray!
We left after dinner, heading down to Miami. We arrived around 11pm and signed up for the American Idol auditions, and then we stayed the night with my friend Jordan Nassar from high school. He lives three blocks from the site of the auditions, which was extremely convenient for us. I'm not sure how convenient it was to host us, since his mom was visiting, and they were in the process of replacing the floors with tile. But wonderful hosts they were, and I hope to return the favor if he (or they) ever come to Tampa. We had expected to camp out in line, but they used a wristband system instead, and sent us away until it was "recommended" that we line up between 5 and 6am wednesday morning. After a few hours of sleep, we rose and straggled over at 6:15.
Just as our expectation to camp in line was misplaced, so was our idea to bring a loaf of bread with peanut butter and honey for food for the day. We weren't allowed to bring in anything except unopened water bottles. And, we didn't get inside until 9:30. Luckily, we found this out the night before, so we didn't have to throw it away, but left it with Jordan. I made breakfast, but Brittney wasn't hungry, and I ate most of it. However, we did forget some of our books, so we had a couple novels, some poetry and our bibles, but we didn't have any storybooks (all four were in the car, behind the closed and guarded gates to Jordan's complex, which we had doubts would be opened to us if we tried). After getting inside, we found our seats (which turned out to be the wrong seats, though we didn't realize it until near the end of the day) beside a guy named Peter Michael. He turned out to be a Godsend, with two years experience auditioning for American Idol, and as a professional singer, guitarist and songwriter, had made it further each year, learning from the previous year. Not only is he a new friend with whom we had great conversations, but he also coached us both on our songs. We had plenty of time to do so. Having arrived so late, we were in the "going last" section of the bleachers of the stadium. We also had a group of guys and girls in the row in front of us that were very friendly, who had snuck in a DVD player. We, however, read and talked and napped and watched the auditions.
After the opening activities getting some crowd shots singing and dancing and saying things such as "The next American Idol is coming from Miami!", we had to wait until 7:30pm to audition, with only overpriced stadium food for lunch (they closed down mid-afternoon). The auditions themselves were done at 10 tables on the floor, in a row, separated by curtains. The hopefuls were lined up in front of each table in groups of 4, which would perform as a group one after the other, then all four would be sent away or chosen to stay at once. If you were sent away, your wristband was cut off, and you were directed out the door, do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dollars. If you got to stay, you were given a "golden ticket", a bright yellow piece of paper, and sent through the winner doorway to fill out more paperwork and go on to whatever the next step is. The rest of us had only filled out video release forms. Technically, we're not allowed to talk about American Idol, but since hundreds of thousands of people know exactly this much, having themselves auditioned (or had a child audition) for American Idol, I'm not worried about relating it. If there is anything I may have learned (which I don't think there is) that I shouldn't talk about, I won't, and I'm going to avoid a couple things just to be on the safe side.
Our seating section was nice because the prospective Idols were facing us as they sang (the "early" seats faced the judges), so we got to watch all (and hear most) of the crazy performances. Many of them were amazing, but not amazing enough, or not what American Idol was looking for, namely, professionalism (or brilliance) and song selection along the lines of what they're going to be singing on television. Brittney and I didn't make it, but in her case, since they asked her to sing a second song (which she had also perfected, at Peter's coaching), it was more likely that she was the wrong genre than not a good enough singer. I was the wrong genre, but I was Not asked if I had something else prepared. [laughs] We invited Peter to dinner afterward, but he had to stay late because he made the first cut. If he makes it to the show, we're voting for him, because he's awesome in more ways than one.
We proceeded to have two great meals with Jordan. For dinner, we headed to the main Miami strip (we drove past Miami Ink, where the show is filmed) and ate at Pasha's Mediterranean Restaurant. Not only is it extremely affordable, but they serve breakfast as well as dinner, and half (or more than half) of the menu is vegetarian. I could eat there seven days a week! [laughs] Brittney took some good photos as well. Then for lunch on Thursday, we went out to Garden of Eatin Vegetarian Restaurant and Juice Bar. It is a vegan Haitian restaurant, complete with rastafarians wandering around and free range chickens (and a rooster) in the parking lot. There are many "side" items like vege burgers with soy cheese, fresh mango or fried plantains, but the real deal is the special of the day. The chef/owner cooks a special meal of the day and serves it by "small" plate or "big" plate, for $5 or $7 respectively. This includes a good sized appetizer bowl of soup, and a plate with at least five different things. Our meal was vegetable soup with potatoes and carrots and corn (still on the cob), and then bazmatli brown rice, pumpkin stew, steamed cabbage (soooo excellent!), a salad with a homemade dressing, and soy protein meatballs. And yes, the small plate is easily big enough to fill up anyone! I would eat there every day if I could. Just don't get there early; lunch isn't ready until at least 11:30, and the waiter takes a break between breakfast and lunch. Oh, and did I forget to mention, I had the Ginger juice, and it wasn't a ginger beer, it was Essence of Sweet Ginger, complete with a dessert sweet on the tongue and a fireball burn in the throat. I loved it! The lemonade was amazing as well, using something we couldn't identify, but definitely fresh sweet lemons. I don't know about the rest of the juice drinks, but I'm sure they're all very good, and potent, and need a meal as a chaser [laughs].
Brittney and I then went to North Beach, avoiding South Beach and all that it's known for, and it was the first time I've been to the Atlantic. The waves are vigorous, even when small, and the shells and rocks were broken up to make up the beach. Large stones were in the water about ten feet out, but beyond that, it got very nice and warm. I got a sunburn under my hair [laughs], and we headed home, arriving around dinner time, just in time to unpack and shower and head out to kareoke with Megan. Then IHOP, then sleep, and then back to work, and the daily grind, minus a coworker, so it will be a while before I get two days off in a row again. [laughs] which is ok, because I need the money. Ok, blogger. My laundry is almost done. Au revoir, until again.
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