October 18, 2015

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States of America

I woke up today at 11:00 and hung out in my room, communicating with old childhood friends, Cleto and Arduino) via the internet. We decided to meet up and Cleto ordered an uber car to pick me up. The uber car arrived in a very short time at 15:30 and the driver took me to Hollywood Beach – this was the first time I had ever ridden in an uber car and I must state that I loved it, at least compared to taxis, and if anyone has read my journal entries they will know that I have had many awful encounters with taxi drivers throughout my travels, so uber was a very pleasant and welcome change for me, as well as the rest of the world. Anyway, I reached the beach and met up with Arduino (whom I had not seen in six years) and Cleto (whom I had not seen in ten years or so); so it was happy reunion and we had much to talk about over beers. We first drank at a tiki bar and Arduino ordered pizza for us to snack on from Capone’s (it was a pepperoni, mushroom, and onions pie). We then walked to Nick’s Bar for more drinks and food. I asked the waiter for a Hindu trader sandwich in jest (this just confused the waiter and another came to take the order), and I had a gin martini instead (à la a certain winged, Venetian lion in a certain short story – anyway, I found it amusing and that’s all that counts); I also had fish and chips and corn. After our meal, we walked the looong walk to Cleto’s house in Hollywood, FL (which looked a lot like the neighborhood I had lived in while I resided in South Florida). At Cleto’s house we hung out and drank alcoholic root beer and blueberry-flavored beer (for some reason he couldn’t just have normal beer stocked in his fridge). Later on, as it became late, Arduino left for his home and Cleto ordered another uber to take me back to the hotel I was staying at. We said our goodbyes, I paid Cleto for the uber rides he had ordered for me throughout the day, and then I left for the night. The uber driver took me back to the hotel and I went to bed after midnight.

 

Note: Cleto and Arduino, if you are reading this, I Italicized your names to allow you both plausible deniability. I applied this method in Paris and Pamplona with Giovanni and Michelangelo and decided to continue its use here. I don’t actually know any Italians.

An open journal or an exercise in narcissism.