Laissez les bon temps rouler.

So Christmas came and went.
I flew to Orlando, Florida to spend it with my family. We chose to go to Universal Studios this year. It was quite fun. The Jaws ride is my favorite. I rode it twice. My mom and dad rode an indoor rollercoaster, Revenge of the Mummy, which I think might have a been a little much for my mother and her high blood pressure (yes, we totally ignored the sign).
Universal has a new park, the Islands of Adventure. This has a pretty cool rollercoaster, the Dueling Dragons, and they will have a Harry Potter section opening in 2010. This park also has a Dr. Seuss section, which probably seems sweet and fun during the day but strangely and nightmarishly surreal at night when I was there.
I only spent 2 days there, while the rest of my family had 4-5 days. My parents are traveling on thru the South to New Orleans where my mother and father are looking forward to eating mudbugs. I warned them about the Hurricanes (the drink, not the high/low pressure system).
I'd been to Universal Studios before. In 1996, I went with my friends Kalpana, Billie, and Elmer. We got it into our heads that we needed a vacation during school break and fun people everywhere were doing fun, spontaneous things. So if we weren't doing something fun and spontaneous, we weren't fun and spontaneous people. Something had to be done about that, so Kalp and I decide to go to Walt Disney World (she had never been). We call Billie and Elmer and away we go, literally the next day. It took all day to drive down, we slept in a motel room with no ceiling, we decided that Walt Disney World was too expensive, we spent a whole day at Universal Studios, and then we drove all the way back. We discovered that South of the Border is a total shithole. I caught the stomach flu, which kicked in full force on the way home on 95 North in Georgia where I upchucked my cookies in my stockinged feet cause I didn't have time to put my shoes back on. All in all, it was a great time. I still have pictures.
I thought about that trip a lot when I was down there this year. I really need to call them (Kalp and Billie, not Elmer - who knows where he is - he was never actually MY good friend - maybe Kalp knows where he is now - but I prolly still won't be calling him.) Coincidentally, Kalp, Billie and I have been to New Orleans together, where my parents are now. That's a story for another time.
Happy New Year - make it one to remember.