Ft. Lauderdale - Day 2

I went shopping at Walmart and bought way too much stuff, like 10 bags, that I now have to cram into my suitcase somehow.

This bird  was in the parking lot at the mall.  It looks like a duck of some kind, but nothing I've ever seen before.  I'm assuming this plainer one is the female, male to follow. UPDATE: This is a redhead goose.

 Fort Lauderdale beach, which I got to see as we drove past.  Ah well, it was crowded anyway.

 It's like a cross between a rooster and a duck...

 This bird was perched outside the window of the hostel looking around.  It has a body similar to an owl but the face like an eagle.  I'll have to ask my dad, he knows these things. UPDATE: This is a peregrine falcon.  Oops, no, red-tailed hawk.

 A shot of the courtyard of the hostel.

 Another scene from Ft Lauderdale beach.  Why are these photos so out of order?

Oh and that's the end.  Board the boat tomorrow!
Oh, and a special mention to Conner at Boardwalk Bar who made my day yesterday a little bit brighter.  Yes, strippers, the answer to, and cause of, all life's problems.

A brief comment interlude

I don't know how older people get together.  It must be a tremendous desire to and a bending of wills, and a part of me thinks it's a lack of self-esteem or self-confidence, but I could be wrong, I only came up with the theory today.
I started seeing someone for about 10 minutes before I left on the cruise.  Now when I was younger I would have thought about this person, called him, written about him, talked about him with all my friends.  But I didn't.  I had to work late all week and the little time I did have I wanted to spend time by myself.
So I got a message from him today, as I have gotten the same message from a different man in my life the last three years I went on this cruise, saying I was moving too fast. I believe it was code for he felt threatened by me on the cruise.  But what I do know is it's not that I was moving too fast, in fact I wasn't moving at all.  Unlike when I was younger, I hadn't moved a single step.  And I think the impulse when I was younger would be to rush and correct the mistake, find out what was in his mind, see if I could correct whatever the problem was. 
Who the heck has the time or desire for all that?
When I say I have self-confidence, I mean it.  When I say that I know I will be fine without a man, for the first time in my life, I mean it, I REALLY mean it.
There was a brief exchange and he mocked me, not in a big way, a very little way in fact, but he did. 
So I suppose this is why I'm writing this.  Trying to sort out in my head, and on paper, what this means, what I feel.  I think a part of me is mad that I'm feeling anything, that this new wave of self-confidence hasn't just made me blow over this in 2 nano-seconds, and I don't think that's realistic and I don't think I'm being fair to myself.  This is my new goal.  Set realistic expectations for myself.
Okay, so I feel bad there was an argument/disagreement/tiff, whatever the hell it was.  I feel like there is a trend of people rejecting me and I don't like that, but at the same time I was mocked, that I was rejected for not having petty insecurities, and that's not what I'm looking for anyway, so maybe if the wrong people keep rejecting me, maybe that's okay.  I'm going a step further and saying it's a good thing, and will have a positive effect on my long term growth.
So life has moved on, and I am a little blue about the situation, and that's okay.
We good.  Thanks for listening.

Press coverage on the cruise

An article on the cruise in USA Today.


In unrelated news, I think my hostel is a halfway house for recently released criminals. Sleep with one eye open takes on a whole new meaning.

My clothes are melting

My clothes are melting. 
I've never seen anything like it before. 
You know how on a hot day, if you have a nap when you wake up your clothes are all wrinkled and it looks like you slept in them?  Well it's so hot out, that happens here when I sit down in a chair for 30 seconds. I stand up and it looks like I've drug my shirt out from underneath a sleeping dog. 
This ain't good. 
I'm going out to meet Alberto's friends tonight, I can hear them now, "And who's this homeless tramp you've brought?"
What kind of clothes won't wrinkle????
If only I had remembered to bring my thong bikini!

Ft. Lauderdale

Man is it hot here!  The humidity is killing me.  It's like 11 pm and 30 degrees.
Got here fine, slight delay of about 20 minutes on my flight from Montreal to Ft Lauderdale but I got my bag and I checked in fine at my hostel and I have internet so what do you want?

My hostel is a converted apartment building, think a very low rent Melrose Place.  There seems to be some kind of air conditioning, but I don't know how it works yet and there's not much of it.  Hope to find out more in the morning.  There's one bedroom with like 5 beds in it, I'm on top bunk tonight with no ladder so I'll have to grand-jute my way up there, or more like, try and run and leap.  We'll see how that goes.
Alberto and I having pizza for dinner:




Alberto checking out guys in the pizza place:

We drove past the legendary gay Florida strip club Johnny's.  We may be going tomorrow or Saturday:

Some shots of the living room area of the hostel room:

Billy Elliott - The Canon Theatre

I warn you now, this review will be hyper critical. I loved the movie and I've been waiting years to see this show. It was sold out when I went to London in 2007. It came to New York and Chicago after I had been. I've been wanting to see this forever! And on Toronto's opening night I got my chance.
Billy, they ask so much of this kid, he has to dance, skip rope, run up the wall, wear a dress, act, sing, put on an accent. Yikes!  I expected him to come out selling ice creams in the intermission. Knowing all that is required, you're basically not going to get that from a 12 year old boy. Tonight we had Cesar Corrales, a Welsh name if I ever heard one. The blind casting notion led this Cuban boy to play the Welsh miners son and gave me some reservations. None of the other roles were blindly cast, everyone else on the cast was pasty white, so why make the exception for Billy?  At the same time if he really was the best fit for the role how can you turn him down?  But what next, Nicole Kidman as Rosa Parks?  But it must be hard for actors with all the white roles, and to always be losing out on the colour of your skin.... It's a conundrum. That being said, if the lights were dim and you squinted this kid could pass for Welsh. Two of the other actors playing the role are Asian. Is there no limits?
Anyway, Cesar was an amazing dancer. After his big dance number I stood and applauded. I have wanted to do that a few times, give a standing ovation in the middle of the show, but no one else ever seems to. Well, this time about 30 people stood up so I knew it was my chance, and I'm glad I did. 
Cesar as Billy.
Dancing - A+
Accent - A (a lot of work went into this, and there were times he sounded exactly like Jamie Bell from the movie)
Singing - B (not much singing was involved, some of the accents he hit a bit too hard while singing)
Acting - C (too much over-dramatics and oversize movements, like he was acting for the balcony)
Overall, the kid did mostly win me over which was amazing as I was sure I would hate anyone but Jamie Bell in the role.
It was nice to see David Light in the ensemble, the last time I saw him was as the lead in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Dillon Stevens steals the show as Billy's fey friend Michael.
An excellent story, four or five very strong songs and some amazing dancing definitely put this show in my top five.

Clearly Perfect Glasses

The deal of a limetime!

I got a pair of glasses today I ordered from http://www.clearlycontacts.ca/.

The AMAZING thing is they were $300 frames, I got for $38, and that included anti-glare and scratch proof lenses.  Plus I had a $10 off coupon so I got them for $28. 

It's hard to find glasses in a store that fit my big head but their glasses are easily sorted by frame size. 

I ordered them on Thursday and they came Monday morning.

I got Transitions lenses for an extra $60.

Why would anyone ever buy retail again?!?!

I'm officially in love with this store.

Here's me in my new glasses, you can click to enlarge:

Here they are transitioned: