Wandering Aimlessly

Before I get to how I've become acquainted with practically ALL of Orlando, let me get in what's been up the last few days. Let's see. I'm forgetting already, which is not so good. Makes me sad. =( I want to remember EVERYTHING this time. <.g> Hmmm. So I can't remember Wednesday. Must not have been exciting. I worked. Yippee. Thursday I was on register, which always makes me happy. Andrea AND Heather (two of my roommates) each came and visited me. I love them. Then Gina, Tonya, and Tonya's friend Theresa met Jessica and I at our restaurant. Theresa had never been to MGM, so we rode Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster with her (both of which she loved), and tried to see Fantasmic, but it was standing room only and we decided that we're here for months and can see it another time. Then we went to the Ale House, ran into Carolyn, and had a grand old time. Oh, and were told by at least eight people that Joey had been there the night before. <.shrug> We ended up leaving there at two, going home and drinking and talking until god knows when, and getting little sleep (which will become important in a moment).

Friday. Worked again. Register again. They love me. Ha ha. Gina came over again, and she, Carolyn and I went bowling with Joaquin, Marcus, Scott, and Jeremy. I think it's our new Friday thing. Then we did karaoke again. We sang Love Shack. The place was considerably more crowded this time, so that's the only song we got in, but the karaoke guy brought lots of microphones just for us. Last week he'd only had one, so we had to share. So that was exciting. After bowling, we went to Steak 'n Shake, and got home about 2:30. I stayed up talking to Andrea until 3, then at 3:20, the phone rang and got me up again. Wrong number. Bastard.

Now the Day of Being Lost. Got up at 4:45. That's where the no sleep comes in. Left at 5:30 and headed to TD Waterhouse to wait in line. Got there without a hitch. We (Carolyn, Tonya, Jessica and I) were about tenth or so, arriving at 6. Met some people (some nice, some a bit less so), used the facilities at the Marriott about twelve times (okay, not really, but after two diet Cokes from McDonald's, we did make the trek over there enough for the staff to recognize us... heehee). At nine they did the lottery. Those things suck. We ended up about halfway back, and then most of the end of the line had had people spread throughout, so they all moved up to join their parties. How unfair is that? Grr. Oh well.

Found out about the 21+ party at the Groove, and learned that we couldn't get those tickets at TD, so after the lottery, Tonya and Carolyn went to find a ticketmaster. The plan was for Carolyn to drop Tonya off there and go to work, and after Jess and I got our tickets, we'd go pick her up. So we got our tickets. C and I are behind the basket row A, (which is 5th row). Not terrible. Jessica's center court, but row P. I feel bad she's sitting alone. She was RIGHT behind me in line, but between me and her, they sold out of the $75 two-day tickets.

Okay, so left there. Tried to follow directions to the ticketmaster. Went the wrong way once and ended up in south Orlando in this little very-Florida-y neighborhood (pink houses and such). Decided that was the Wrong Direction and turned around. Found Hwy 50 finally, went right. (Our directions: there will be a Burger King on your left, then a McDonald's on your right, then a bank and a strip mall on your left. There's a store called Infinity which has a ticketmaster.) Didn't see the Burger King OR the McDonald's, so pulled into Target to ask directions. They said "There's a ticketmaster inside Infinite Mushroom right over there." So Infinity, Infinite Mushroom... pretty close. And yes, there was a bank. So we went in, asked if they'd seen T and C. Nope. Okay. By this time it's after 11. Tickets had gone on sale at 10, and T had been there since 9:30. The woman told us there was a ticketmaster in Disk Jockey down on West Colonial (same road as Hwy 50), so we turned around and went that way. Saw the Burger King and McDonald's, and pulled into EVERY strip mall that followed a bank. Finally went to an Exxon to ask for directions, and he told us it was about five miles away (we'd already driven a good three miles down the road, and the guy at TD said it was close!). By now, Carolyn should have been at work, and I was getting panicked that T had been in some little store for almost two hours. I didn't know C's work phone, so I called the Disney Reservation Line (only number I could remember), waited on hold for 10 minutes, and finally talked to someone who gave me the Disney Switchboard number. Called there, asked to be connected to Blizzard Beach, it was busy. Call back in 10 min. AHH! So I tried again, got through. No one knew where C was, so I left a message. Started driving again. Continued going into every strip mall imaginable. Finally she called, about noon. She had T with her. Turns out, we were SUPPOSED to go right on 50, but they'd told us left, so T and C had gotten horribly lost as well. They'd never found Infinite Mushroom. They'd found the Disk Jockey, however, and gotten us tickets, and then Carolyn had been a half hour late to work. Oops.

So we went home in torrential downpours. I went to the store, did my laundry, did NOT get a nap. Then went to see Gina's new apartment with Tonya. Left at 5:30 for what SHOULD have been a 15-20 minute ride. Missed the Beeline Expressway, ended up BACK in downtown Orlando. T was driving this time. We got on the Turnpike by mistake, had to backtrack, finally found the Beeline. Arrived at Gina's at 7:30. Saw her apartment, tried to follow Gina to Jeremy's. She's hell to follow. We lost her turning out of her apartment complex. I kept seeing glimpses of her about a half-mile up, and SOMEHOW we caught up to her at a light. We had NO idea where Jeremy lived, so it's a miracle we found her. Got to J's, and then followed HIM to Joaquin's. He was much easier to follow. Joaquin cooked us all dinner, which was SO cute.

Then David called, and wanted us all to come over to watch the Tyson fight. We did. My old manager Kevin was there. I didn't ever think Kevin liked me much, and NEVER thought he'd remember me. He jumped over the back of the couch screaming "KATE!!", gave me a huge hug, and was like "Why haven't you visited me at Tusker House (where he manages now) yet?" I mean, guys are a lot nicer in Florida, I think, but it was fun that he cared. I was about to die of exhaustion by this point. It was midnight, but David wanted to go to the Ale House again. So we went. I love them. All of them. I got to know David's roommate Lance (Larry <.g>) a bit better, cuz the boy NEVER talks. But at 1:00, I couldn't stand anymore. I'm kinda sad that I left, because Carolyn stayed until two and said they had SO much fun, but I was starting to see double. Lol.

So I got home, talked to Heather for a bit, and fell into bed about 1:30. Got to sleep until 9:00, and I am happy and refreshed. I have to work today, and then Gina's having us over for dinner. Yay! And whew. That was a lot of typing. <.g>