That other fireworks day
I can hardly believe it’s July already. That means I’ve been at my job for a month now, the World Cup is nearly over, and the next holiday I have to look forward to is Possum Day. On the plus side, I now have full health coverage in the event of an accidental death or dismemberment…always a good thing.
This past weekend I spent my half-birthday nearly the same way I spent my last real birthday—drinking with Kelly in a bar full of English people. We went down to the Cricketer’s Arms, our favorite overpriced Orlando pub, to watch England play Portugal in the World Cup quarterfinals. We had to pay $5 just to get in, which was a bit annoying considering the match was being broadcast on ABC and anyone with a crap TV and a pair of rabbit ears can get it for free. Or maybe we were paying for the ambience…I’m not sure, but we got there early enough to get seats in front of the giant screen, so we weren’t complaining. I can honestly say we got our money’s worth out of the game, although it was a heartbreaker when the match remained scoreless at the end of the extra time and Portugal went on to win in penalty kicks. There was enough déjà vu in that pub to make you want to cry.
After the game Kelly and I cheered ourselves up with a bit of “spot the plonker” as we drove down I-Drive, then went back to her house to watch the Brazil/France game. I’ve spent so much time in the past month watching soccer that I don’t know what I’m going to do when the World Cup wraps up this Sunday. I would say I could look forward to the Premiership starting up again, but I don’t get Fox Soccer Channel, so the only way I can keep up with those games is by heading to the pub down the road on weekends. Football season will be starting up not too far from now, I guess. But having gotten used to the high-intensity of soccer and the 90-minute matches, I suspect the 4 hours+ of stop-and-go play of college football is going to tax my attention span. We’ll see…I’m still completely psyched for the UF/UCF match up this fall! I’ve even added Coach O’Leary as a friend on Facebook where he’s joined by Knightro. (I tried adding Albert the Alligator since I am from Gainesville, after all, but he never confirmed…jerk.)
In addition to watching soccer and cooking a delicious Sunday roast (mmmm…), Kelly and I went to see The Devil Wears Prada Saturday night. It was okay, but it definitely won’t be winning any awards. It was fun to see all the clothes, though! And Anne Hathaway was really cute in it. So cute, in fact, that she inspired me to get my hair cut the next day. I had contemplated bangs for a while, but had been so busy I couldn’t be bothered to look for a new hairstylist down here. So when Kelly told me her roommate’s friend was a hairstylist and did a really good job, I just decided to go for it. So Sunday evening Kelly went with me and I got full-on bangs for the first time since 4th grade. And they are so much fun! I wasn’t too worried about whether they’d look good or not—I was bored with what I had and would’ve been happy with a total hack job so long as it was something new. But, thankfully, they turned out nice. I still surprise myself every morning when I see myself in the mirror, but I’m slowly getting used to the new me.
After a loooong drive back, and a very taaaall cup of coffee, I made it back down to Fort Lauderdale by midnight Sunday. Monday was kind of rough at work, but, luckily, my boss let everyone off early since the next day was a holiday. Hooray! So what exciting activities did I do in my extended evening? I bought groceries, made beef soft tacos, and threw an hour and a half of my life away on some horrible French movie about a teenage couple who listened to Creedence Clearwater Revival, smoked crack and ran away together to an artists’ colony. Mmm hmm. Remind me why I subscribe to the Sundance channel again?
Thankfully, my 4th of July was much better than the evening prior. One of the guys I work with who started the same day as me, Jeremy, called me on Monday night to say that his friend’s friend was having a party if I wanted to go. So Tuesday we went to Pembroke Pines where there were lots of people at this barbecue. It was really fun, and the weather turned out to be really nice. It didn’t rain at all, and there was a nice breeze that kept it from being too unbearably hot, even though we were outside the entire time. There was a dee-jay in the house playing all kinds of music…from techno when we first arrived, to Chamillionaire (several times), to Radiohead. But the best part of the whole day was when I heard 50 Pence’s “In Da Pub” blaring from the speakers. I couldn’t keep myself from giggling.
There were kids there who were shooting off fireworks for the entire time we were there, being supplied from what seemed like an inexhaustible arsenal. There were about a million bottle rockets, sparklers, fountains, and massive round of fire crackers that rivaled the Chinese New Year display in Leicester Square that Kelly and I went to. My personal favorite was the exploding bucket…some genius’ home-made gunpowder concoction, that when placed under a sturdy, plastic bucket blew it sky high and into a dozen pieces. Perfectly safe for the children to play with, if you ask me! Later on, when it got darker, the big guns were brought out. The whole neighborhood had these really cool fireworks going off—the good ones that look semi-professional and probably cost about $50 apiece.
The coolest thing ever was on the drive home on the Interstate; there were fireworks going off everywhere, in all directions, in every color. There aren’t any really tall trees here, so you could see them close by and far off in the distance. It was really beautiful. I bet a view from one of the high-rise condos would have been priceless that night, although I was perfectly happy to sit and watch them from my own little balcony once I got home.
A full day at work yesterday seemed really loooong, but at least it’s a short week and it’s already nearly the weekend. I’m pretty excited for Saturday to roll around, because I’m pretty much decided that this weekend is the weekend I’m going to get myself a new furry friend! I’ve been putting off getting a cat until I knew I’d have time for it, and I think now’s the time. I called the Broward County Humane Society today and they said they had plenty of little kittens there, so first thing Saturday morning I’ll hopefully be going kitten shopping. I can’t wait! I’m going to make it the next Norton the traveling cat and I can take it all over the world with me on my travels. Or it can travel up to exotic Gainesville and hang out with Tiger, Mabel and my folks while I do the jet-setting. My parents won’t mind that, I’m sure. 🙂
Oh, one last thing…very, very good news!! My friend, Sophie, just sent word that she’s in remission and cancer-free! So hooray hooray hooray for her and fingers crossed she can have that long-postponed Florida vacation soon!
Tags: 4th of July, England, fireworks, Florida, football, Fort Lauderdale, kittens, Leicester Square, Orlando, Portugal, soccer, Travel, World Cup
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