- Have Dinner with my brothers Ralph and Joe and his Canadian girlfriend Sheyla and family.
- Have Lunch with my brothers and my mom.
- Have a few drinks with a couple of my Army buddies.
- Watch Ben Folds at the Hard Rock Live Venue at Universal Studios with Ralph and my Godson Brian.
- Spend time with my girlfriend.
- Spend time with my Ralph.
- Spend time with my Dad on his birthday.
So, I got a lot done. As infrequently as I get a chance to spend time with family, I have to take these opportunities when I can. For those friends of mine whom I missed, forgive me, we'll hook up next time in town, promise!The other thing is that I get a chance to compare and contrast where I've come from, to where I live now, and see how much has changed since I left in 1999.
Every time I go back to Orlando, I look around as I'm being driven to my Dad's house where I usually set up camp for my stays, and I'm overwhelmed by 3 feelings, awe, jealousy, and relief. Awe, in that I'm amazed at the shear amount of growth Orlando has had in the years since I've been gone. True, much of the growth is phony, like a giant Potemkin's Village has sprouted up over night, (think the fake Rock Ridge, next to the real Rock Ridge from Blazing Saddles) Jealousy, in so much that I'd love to be living among friends and family in a place that has grown so much. Finally Relief, in that I'm so glad I don't live there now, because in some respects I doubt I could have grown as much as I have personally, if I had stayed. In the years since I've left, I've lived in Salt Lake City, Denver, and in the Philly Burbs, and had more than my share of interesting experiences along the way.
Of all the things that changed that impressed me the most, about Orlando, was the arrival of the classic "Hipster" (Nihilistus Artsyfartsycus) (That's the Latin name for the genome and species) :)
I'm serious, I couldn't believe it. Skinny jeans, ironic t-shirts, pork pie hats, single speed bicycles, in ORLANDO, the City where cool trends go to die. The thing of it is, one of two things is about to happen, the hipster, as we know it, is about to become extinct because it has arrived in Orlando, or, the Orlando that I knew, the Puerto Rican/Redneck-Rebel Flag/Evangelical Christian/Boy Band producing town is becoming extinct.
How did the Hipster manage to make it down to Orlando, I wonder. Are they leftover implants by the Democratic party to relocate Obama voters to the south to turn Florida into a Blue State? Are they economic refugees in so much as it's just gotten to be to expensive, even in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York for them to afford to live there? 
Seriously though, I imagine that the University of Central Florida, through it's Bachelors Degree in Visual Language from its Digital Media department, as well as its Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy. Valencia Community College has some graphic arts programs as well as the "DAVE" School (Digital Animation and Video Education) at Universal Studios, and of course the Grand-daddy of them all, Full Sail "University" has attracted many of them down there.
Part of my loathing for them is my jealousy of them, first in that they are skinny, but also in that they get to pursue something they love, while living the bohemian lifestyle, while not exactly eschewing the need for technology, as on the one hand maybe they don't have a nice car, but they have iBook and an iPhone in their messenger bag while tooling around on a Vespa motor scooter or that ubiquitous 1 speed bike. Plus, all the coffee you can drink while writing that screenplay? Sign me up!
So in the 10 years that I left, Orlando got Hipsters, non Starbucks coffee shops, hell, Orlando actually GOT Starbucks coffee shops, independent record stores, motor scooter culture, pretty much all the cool, hip things I pursued these last 10 years between my visits to Seattle and Portland, and my stays in Salt Lake, Denver and now here in West Chester. So, should I move back to Orlando now that I have a place to hang out that wasn't there before?
There was and still is the Enzian Theater, an independent movie place (that served beer) that showed foreign films with subtitles and those Spike and Mike sick and twisted animation festivals, (are you listening West Chester? We need a cool theater!) but Orlando was about as shallow and superficial as it got. (lots of orange tanned, fake boobed bimbos, rhoid raging, spiky haired douches) Not a whole lot of places for a guy like me to gather with friends and discuss the nature of travel beyond light speed, and Roman Legion Order of Battle.
I guess the answer is no, I wouldn't move back, because with my luck, if I'm right, the trend would be over by the time I got there. Seriously, it's a matter of practicality at this point, I've got the good job happening here, this place has everything I need, PLUS, here, in West Chester, there's actually no need to run the air conditioner...in MARCH, like it is down there. Trust me I'm no big fan of the winters here, but come on, 90 degrees, in March? I grew up with that for 30 plus years, I'm kind of digging where I am, thank you very much...
