Sunny Orlando

[Variable Rush]

'sup dudes, Orlando just got a bit more Random. I've been here since yesterday and it's fun, though all I've done was eat at fine restaurants, threatened English relatives with gators, and walked a lot.

I'll be heading home Monday, and I hope to be able to hook up with FFMusicDJ while I'm here.

Later, I gotta hit the pool :lol:

[Almasy Marquis]

I love Orlando.

I'm waiting to get my grandmother's house there.

[joe_cam]

Give Mr. Haroon a hug for me...
I gotta visit him...

[Cloud Strife]

Well, Rush, either 8 people hate you so bad they don't want you back or they like you enough that they want you to have a good time.

[Flik]

Better give Haroon enough man love for all of us.

[Nodame]

thanks for calling me man, sorry my phone was dieing :( give me a call any time VR

[Variable Rush]

Okay guys, I'm back home in Jacksonville and I figure I may as well inform you all about the trip.

English Word of the Day: Queue

A queue (pronounced Q) is nothing but a fancy word meaning 'line'.

Before I begin the story proper, I must say this: Somewhere around Eustis Florida, we stopped and ate lunch at a Golden Corral restaurant. We were there for about a half hour or so eating the buffet lunch. It took a few minutes for me to realize that over the speakers they were playing the same song over and over again. Then it hit me that the song sounded JUST LIKE a Town song from any number of RPG's, I told my mom that I was gonna go explore the Mystic Cave of Bogardenia when we left and she knew what I was talking about and said "That did sound a bit like an RPG song didn't it?"

Alright, we drove my car down to Orlando last Saturday (April 24) and we got to the hotel (Quality Inn Plaza). We met up with my grandma and my aunt Doris (my grandma lives in Jacksonville, she had been there since the week before when the Englanders came). My dad got the room without a problem and then we went to go meet my cousin Claire.

We hung out for a bit and then my brother called my grandmothers cell phone (ya, she has a cell phone and I don't) and said he was on the way. He made the normally 3 hour trip in 2 hours which should tell you how fast he was driving.

When he got to the hotel, we all went to the Sizzler. One thing about my family is that we NEVER go to steak houses, so I guess that was a big deal since the Englander's were there (they probably hadn't ate steak in a while because of the Mad Cow Disease scare in England).

The next day, we took them to Gatorland (they had already been everywhere good) and showed them gators swimming around. I was bored as hell because, well, this is Florida, gators are everywhere. My mom once ran over one in her car. And while we were in Orlando, the news reported that an alligator had been apprehended after it ate someone's dog.

That night, we went to a shopping center down the street and went to a pub called the Cricketeer's Arms and they all got blazingly drunk, then left the pub, went back to the hotel, found there was a bar there, and continued to get drunker.

At the pub, I got my only souvenier from Orlando: A glass bottle used to make a drink called Nuts & Berries.

So far to the Englanders all Florida is is theme parks, gators, and bars.

The next day, we did some things I don't remember but when we got back to the hotel I went across the street to a shopping complex called Pointe Orlando. I wanted to go to FAO Schwartz and look around, but it was closed. There were other non-FAO stores, but I didn't buy anything.

Later that night, I called Haroon up and we had a good chat. Then my grandmother burst in the room and said something like, "Me and your aunt Doris are gonna go get plastered at the bar again....(notices I'm not paying attention to her...) Hey! You're on the phone! Your dad will kill you, it shows up on the bill, etc etc." Imagine that in an old English woman's voice who has spent some time in America.

Then Haroon and I talk a bit more then we have to and I watch a bit of Orlando TV and fall asleep. A few hours later, my mom and dad come in from finding YET ANOTHER PUB and drinking themselves silly again with cousin Diane. They then say that "Grandma said you were on the phone...." It took them a few minutes to remember that I had a friend who lived in Orlando who I was gonna try to hook up with.

The next day, we ate breakfast with them (at the Sizzler, is that the ONLY restaurant they know of!??!! I still didn't get to go to that three floored McDonald's that Haroon told me about).

Then we left and came back to Jacksonville and I'm happy to be home.

[DCT]

three floored McDonald's that Haroon
I'm moving to Florida.

[Anonymous]

three floored McDonald's that Haroon
I'm moving to Florida.
Three-floored McD.'s restaurant? That's still nothing compared to that 600~700 seat capacity McD.'s there used to be in Beijing...and then they leveled the damn building...communists...

[Vanion]

There is a Mcdonalds somewhere here in NE Oklahoma (near the Oklahoma/Missouri border I believe) that has an enclosed arch/bridge that stretches over the highway it sits by and connects it to a rather nice truck stop over on the other side of the highway. Been there before but I just can't remember where exactly it's at.

[Almasy Marquis]

Gatorland is awesome. There's also a very quality alligator farm/park in St. Augustine.

The best restaraunt in Orlando is a place called "Dexter's" over in Winter Park. Go hit that up next time someone suggests Sizzler's.