Florida

Friday through Sunday I took a (far too brief) vacation to Florida. The trip was prompted by a wedding; one of Kerry's high school friends got married on Marco Island. So I had little choice but to be dragged to the Gulf Coast of Florida. It took a lot of arm twisting. The wedding was on a beach, which I was previously unaware of. That would have been good to know beforehand. So there I sat in a wool suit during the picturesque ceremony. If the picture was of me, it would mostly be of me sweating, since it was about 88 degrees out. But the heat on the beach was temporary - the wedding moved inside for dinner and dancing. My biggest complaint about the wedding was that the DJ played a remix of Journey, which I found completely unacceptable. In other words, the wedding was a lot of fun. The food (filet mignon and pistachio encrusted snapper) was absolutely delicious, really pushing it over the top.

The morning after the wedding, Kerry and I went to the beach on the Gulf. Neither of us packed sunscreen, so we had to keep it brief. Lobster just ain't in the cards in the Gulf. I had never been in the Gulf before. It was warm, beautiful, and totally ridiculous for an ocean. Being a New Englander, I'm used to the Atlantic. If you're lucky it gets to the mid-fifties in there. Even in August, a wet suit is appropriate. The Gulf was otherworldly to me. It's not what salt water is about. But you know, I could get used to it. I liked not coming out of the water shivering. In June!

The other days, we hung out in Naples. It's a nice, albeit silly, place. There are three types of people there: regular people, retirees (who we can call older regular people), and super rich vacation homers. The super rich vacation people have these absolutely crazy homes. Like 20 bedroom, multimillion mansions with backyards on the Gulf to provide easy access to their yachts. Yachts, plural. And these are just vacation homes. It is hilarious yet sickening.
Besides these mansions, Naples had nice beaches, shopping and restaurants.I had some of the best sushi of my life (in Florida, surprising, right?). And went to a fun pub, concisely named "The Pub," that had a good vibe and lots of great beers. Much of yesterday was spent contemplating dropping this whole law thing and just being a bartender at The Pub. Silly you think? Well they get to wear kilts to work. How silly does that sound now?! I think it's just how I get after being somewhere pleasant, then returning to something as...unpleasant...as barbri. Unpleasant = me being polite.

Now I'm back to barbri, which is what I'm gonna go ahead and blame for my failure to update on. It really is time consuming! Especially when you spend days catching up because you take a trip to Florida. (Who is irresponsible enough to do that?)
I had a tussle with them, but I'll talk about that later. Too much effort.

Saturday night in Florida I got to check something off my list: make fun of a Heat fan. Me, to a guy in a Heat jersey: "Oh, you're a Heat fan. Nice to see that. I didn't think you were a real thing. Like a unicorn." Of course it came back to bite me. I ended up watching Game 7 in the home of Heat fans. But I don't really want to talk about that - it's too raw.
Instead, I'll talk about another first that happened that evening: I used a beer koozie. (Yes, I remain a New England elitist.) It was so exciting; my beer stayed cold for so long. Do they look ridiculous? Yes. But they serve a purpose. Count me in. I am so cosmopolitan now.