Five years ago, my last vacation as a bachelor began. It was definitely overdue since I didn’t take a real one in 2001 with my grandmother’s passing in the Spring and all the joys of buying a house. Those stupid 19 losers had little effect on the decision. As 2002 was getting started, the stress of last year was getting to me and I think it was Jose’s idea to come to Orlando. It sounded like a great idea at the time too because the weather would be solid, Spring Break for most colleges would be over and I needed to bounce some opinions off of him, half of which I never got around to discussing.
We had a great time as always. It began as soon as he picked me up from the airport at midnight. A quick meal at the Steak n’ Shake near his house was the unofficial kick off. Other things had changed. Jose now drove a spiffy Mustang, good thing I didn’t pack too much. He still had the same house but it was decorated differently with new pictures. There was also a new housemate since my last visit in 1996. Chris seemed cooler than what’s-his-face. I got to sleep in Jose’s office which was occupied by his PC (my ongoing, 14-year campaign of nagging him into a Mac wouldn’t succeed for another two years).
The week of relaxation, fun and yakking kicked off on Sunday at his job with Fox 35 during its final days under the Meredith Corporation. News Corp was in the process of “buying” the station through their usual tactics of threats and intimidation. He had permission to head out early so we could attend the They Might be Giants concert at Orlando’s Hard Rock Cafe. The Johns were in a giddy mood overall because they had recently won a Grammy for the Malcolm in the Middle theme song. They previewed a couple more songs for their upcoming kid-friendly record No! for the crowd. This show had a recently signed act opening as well, a little band from Chicago called OK Go. TMBG’s openers are always solid and I was already excited about buying their upcoming CD. I even had a brief conversation with their drummer Dan as I signed up for their e-mail list.
A couple days later we took in the Magic v. Bulls game. I think I made Jose feel a bit too guilty over the last opportunity we missed so he had the tickets in advance. We had a solidly great time despite both teams being sorry shadows of their former Nineties glory. The advantage went to the Magic since they still had McGrady playing and they easily beat the Bulls by at least 10 points.
Due to Jose’s second-shift lifestyle and my adjustment to being a “normal” employee, I had most of the mornings to myself. I would go running for what appeared to be a close estimate of a mile in his suburb, clean up, read the latest James Ellroy novel and borrow his cable modem. Jose was still quite the night owl then. I would tire out and fall asleep around 10-11 EDT and he’d be up most of the night with his housemate playing PS1. Wish I had the energy to try but then again, once you have PS2, PS1 is rather limiting. It still worked out, a major element of a vacation involves sleeping, taking it easy by reading or writing casually and most importantly, not being held to a strict schedule.
Another reason for the trip was to scout out the location for the upcoming Apple Store in Orlando. I was seriously thinking about applying to be the Mac Genius there. We discussed the cost of living and housing as he showed me where this new overpriced fashion mall would be. When I got back to Austin and the recruiter told me Apple no longer covered relocation, it was a dead idea. Besides, I had just bought my house six months earlier, I didn’t want to deal with the annoyance of selling it. Jose still gave me a great tour of Orlando if I moved to his city, especially the best two fan-boy-comic-game stores in the area. I remember one of them had a bootleg copy of the Star Wars holiday special shown on CBS when I was a kid. We never got around to discussing the future with women: for him, I think he was seeing someone occasionally in Tampa and I wasn’t sure about the future with Somara, buying a house was a big step. We still had made progress since 1996 when we made our pseudo-pact.
The final day was spent checking out the Universal Theme Park. I had no idea he was unfamiliar with The Cat in the Hat when we went on that ride. I guess kids in Puerto Rico don’t read it in grade school. My fear of heights made the Spider-Man ride rather rough on my nerves. Rather amazing how a pair of 3-D glasses and hydraulics make one feel as if Doctor Octopus will throw the audience off the Statue of Liberty. I should’ve looked up to the ceiling to adjust my perspective sooner. It’s an attraction I don’t recommend riding on the day before one flies anywhere.
At the end of the vacation, I thanked Jose and told him it was his turn to come out to Austin again but he returned the favor in a better way, by coming to Vegas the next summer for the wedding and another gathering in 2005. I haven’t been back since thanks to other matters getting in the way. Jose has since moved to another house, almost got married, has changed housemates and received a promotion at his job. I hope to have one last week like this one before he gets married because Somara and I will stay at the Nickelodeon-themed hotel for that joyous event.
Correction, Mar. 24, 2007: D’oh! My friend Mark M pointed out that I must’ve posted this from the future. It was five years ago, not ten. Sorry.
Don’t you mean -five- years ago?