And its over. Today was by far the most mellow. Just got in some sun, sleep, and good food before having to head back. I just finished packing, and have a flight leaving in the morning. Adios.

Tuesday:

I visited University of Miami today. It was hard to get a vibe given that there were no students there at all. The campus was very nice... a kind of mellowed off white theme going everywhere with most of the money put into landscaping. The is just perfect, and I look at Coral Gables to Miami as I do Evanston to Chicago. Though, instead of stuck-up, it seems more mellow. My dad hit up all of his pals who were still around in the Music Department (getting my name around too). That was the main event. I woudn't mind living there at all, it just costs a bundle, but they have a burning jazz program and med school... so we'll see.

Wednesday:

This was the mellowest day yet. Woke up at 11, laid in the sun for 2 hours, played piano, laid in the sun for another hour.... ate dinner.... and now im sitting here typing... and its 11:13pm right now. Maham. Oh also, my grandparents checked into our hotel today. They are on their way to Key West to celebrate their anniversary, so we got to eat dinner with them at Specchio's . This is a great restuarant if i havn't mentioned it earlier... we have friends running it, and we try to hit it a couple times every trip down here. Well, thats my day, buenas noches.

Monday:

Today is my birthday. I chilled by the pool for the first half of the day. Then, my parents bought me a 12" Apple Powerbook... its ridiculous, i love it. Then we went to a tastey Argentinian steakhouse for dinner that had 80's music videos projected onto this sheet in the middle of the restuarant. Crazy. Well, that was my birthday.

Sunday:

Sorry about the odd order of dates, also, something I forgot to mention. Yesterday, Gene and I found a white grand piano in one of the ball rooms of the hotel. We’ve been playing on that in-between swimming and eating, which is the itinerary for the average day here. This night, we drove to Fort Lauderdale to see the Dirty Dozen. They are a pimp group that’s a mix of New Orleans Jazz and Funk, with a Tuba for a Bass playing. They were playing in the “Culture Center”, which is like a big city version of Club Soda. The smell of weed was ripe as the opening act performed. It was the worst thing I’ve heard since Dear Hoof (check them out to find out what I’m talking about). It was like Phish with 3 auxiliary percussionists, except…they played one beat for an hour, changed themes (or the 1 chord they jammed on) maybe a total of 4 times, and the keyboardist was not willing to phrase one thing in his solo (which was for the whole set pretty much). Anways, Dirty Dozen was kickin' and kept the energy high the whole time. Another great night, and I'm finally up to speed on everything, It is now Monday morning.

I'm Back in Miami...

Thursday:

It was damn early… 5am…
My dad, brother, and I drove to Detroit and met with Katy and her family. Katy spent the night in Detroit, and slept in till 6:30. After meeting up, we figured out the seating for the plane. Since my parents have flown to every place on earth twice, we were upgraded to have one first class seat. Gene of course took that. Though pretzels and orange juice are the best combination, I was hoping he would share some of his cheese cake with us… which he didn’t. My mom rolled up and picked up my family and Katy from Miami International (who I think only saw her family for a total of 2 hours while in Miami…who could blame her). Not having enjoyed the luxury of a 3 course meal on our flight, Katy and I were real hungry, and stopped at a deli off of Collins Ave. on the way to our hotel. The weather of course kicked Michigan’s ass, but it was still a little too windy and cold to swim or tan, so we hung in a hot tub for a bit then got ready for some dinner. Meeting with the rest of the Picards, a lovely group of people, we had some Italian food at “Tiramisu” on Lincoln Ave (the heart of the Art Deco District parallel to Ocean drive which is the most southern part of Miami on the nice side…. If you care to know). The Picards split, Katy and I went for a walk, and the rest of my family went to the Delano Hotel to chill in the bar and listen to some nice vocal jazz. I describe this hotel as “tastefully fucked up”. Upon walking through layers of sheets from the ceiling to the ground and a vast empty wooden floor, you notice furniture and beds are randomly placed both outside and inside the hotel. There is a DJ re-mixing some D&B for the lobby, a restaurant and bar kind of fit into the whole thing, and a pool at the very end of the long hall. Anyways…. After meeting back at the Delano, Gene and I sat in at the bar and played a set of music after the singer was done. It was pretty cool, the no-so sober audience was groovin’ with us. The first day was done, what a day, and it’ll only get crazier.

Friday:

Engage…
This is shop day. I got Katy some hip clothes for Christmas around the “villiage-ish shopping” area of Collins Ave. We hit up a Cuban dinner for some cheap quality food. I won’t bore you with any more info, but we noticed one crazy thing. The city is full of Jews and gay people. Lots of Jewish people, I’m assuming because it’s a real affluent area, and gay people… not sure why. Oh well… This day ended at my favorite restaurant, “Speccios”, with some amazing Italian food with family faces. I hadn’t really gotten much alone time with Katy, and this was her last day, which made things pretty sad after dinner, given she had to head back to the hotel. She was to set sail the next morning the Bahamas.
…Terminate