Lately I can barely be bothered to lift a finger.

Actually, it’s been a while since I could be bothered, so this is not exactly breaking news.

But I did go on a business trip, had a bunch of new experiences, and figured I should probably leave some kind of record before all of it gets replaced in my brain by one completely useless detail, like what somebody was wearing at the airport.

Also, yesterday a younger friend messaged me and said they like that I write a blog and have all these random thoughts floating around in my head. They started telling me about things they had been thinking about too, very casually, without filtering everything into some polished little statement, and it made me feel strangely warm.

Like, oh.

Someone actually pays attention to what I think about.

Nice.

And I realised it probably matters to communicate what I’m thinking and how I’m feeling once in a while.

If you leave everything sitting inside for too long, it does not become vintage.

It becomes a problem.

Or comes out sideways somewhere extremely inconvenient.

So. Blog.

I went to Florida on a business trip sometime in mid-to-late March.

Very organised process.

I was in Pennsylvania, driving home, and work called me and basically said, go to Florida.

So I went to Florida.

That was the itinerary.

The people there were really nice, though, and everything was still being set up, so there was always something happening and people constantly moving around. Very busy, very noisy, very we are building the plane while flying it, but honestly I kind of like environments like that.

Anyway, during the weekends I escaped and went wandering around.

Starting with Tampa.

[Tampa]

1. The Florida Aquarium

I’ve always liked aquariums.

Zoos somehow feel more wild-wild, whereas aquariums feel cleaner and cooler and blue and slightly more civilised.

I realise this distinction probably means absolutely nothing to the animals.

Still.

Aquarium first.

And The Florida Aquarium had VERY clear good points and bad points.

No ambiguity whatsoever.

First thing I did was look around the gift shop.

Obviously.

And they actually had really cute clothes there, which I did not buy because apparently I enjoy manufacturing small regrets for myself.

Later I went back to the hotel, looked for the same stuff on Amazon, and couldn’t really find it.

Should’ve bought it.

I will probably remember this longer than several important professional lessons.

Also: Florida has a lot of alligators.

There were alligator warning signs around the hotel too, and people kept talking about them appearing around the area.

I personally did not see one.

But somebody told me real Floridians are so used to alligators that they’ll basically just give them a little move along please kick with their foot.

Not sure how factual this is.

I chose not to conduct field research.

So technically the aquarium could have just picked theirs up nearby.

Who knows.

Then: stingray.

From above, a stingray looks like someone left a cardboard box soaking in water until it became sentient.

But when you see the underside???

REAL CUTE.

Extremely cute little face.

Unexpected.

Then there were these birds that were genuinely professional-level poop machines.

The white lady in front of me started gagging, and apparently nausea is contagious because I immediately started feeling sick too.

Human solidarity.

Beautiful.

And next to them: bird-poop frogs.

Very cute.

Also genuinely shaped like bird poop.

Evolution did them slightly dirty there.

Then I got to this section that looked exactly like where I imagine a real mermaid would live.

Dark, underwater, slightly mysterious, very deep sea princess who has seen things.

The fish themselves, though, had absolutely zero light behind the eyes.

Nothing going on.

You know how in cartoons, when they dub deep-sea creatures, they always make them speak really slowly like the water pressure has compressed their brain as well?

Exactly that.

They were swimming around looking like:

…………………………hello.

Honestly, peaceful.

Maybe they have figured something out.

Then there was what I mentally called the My Lovely Sam Soon section, because suddenly I remembered the scene where Sam-soon was being sweet to Sam-sik’s niece/nephew and talking about Momo.

Why did my brain retrieve this exact memory inside a Florida aquarium?

No idea.

Storage system is chaos.

But in the end, I think I actually liked coming outside and looking at the harbour more than looking at the fish.

It was open, breezy, my chest felt less stuffy, and the cruise ships were HUGE.

Like ridiculously huge.

I stood there going wowww ship.

So technically my favourite aquatic attraction at the aquarium may have been a boat.

2. Tampa Premium Outlets

Then I went to Tampa Premium Outlets.

Very Woodbury-ish.

I bought a skirt there.

Over the next two months I wore it twice.

At this rate I’m predicting maybe three more appearances max before the end of the year.

Excellent cost-per-wear strategy.

No notes.

3. TCT — Tough Camper in Florida

Then on the way back from Florida, I was driving toward Tampa Airport.

I’d been driving for something like ten hours when the car broke down.

Perfect.

So I ended up booking an Airbnb camper for one night.

The neighbourhood around it was a little scary, and suddenly I was basically stranded alone inside this camper thinking, wow, excellent decisions have brought me here.

So I drank wine straight from the bottle to calm myself down.

Someone had sort of randomly bought me that bottle of wine earlier, and in hindsight I feel like it was my lucky charm.

Or just alcohol.

Hard to say.

Either way, it served its purpose.

[Plant City]

After Orlando, Plant City was probably my favourite place.

This was my second and final weekend outing, so by then it actually felt like I was setting off on a proper little trip.

And because Florida was still new to me, everything felt more exciting than it probably objectively was.

During the whole business trip, except when I was in my hotel room, I had basically been around people nonstop.

Working together, eating together, moving around together.

Then suddenly I was by myself.

And it felt a little chilly and lonely.

But also really nice.

Both things at once.

I LOVE cute little small-town vibes.

Absolutely helpless against them.

Plant City was adorable.

There was this place called Krazy Kup — K-Kup in my head because obviously I immediately shortened the name — and that whole area was so antique and pretty.

Very small-town-Americana romantic etc etc.

Except there were human statues EVERYWHERE.

So many that at one point I saw someone sitting on a bench with their head in their hands and genuinely thought they were another statue.

I was about to go sit next to them.

Then the “statue” suddenly FLAPPED INTO LIFE.

Just moved.

I nearly left my body.

Turns out it was a real person.

Sorry to that man.

He was just existing.

[Orlando — Godlando]

Orlando.

Dreams.

Fantasy.

Disney.

Universal Studios.

All that, yes.

But even the neighbourhoods around them were actually so pretty.

I went to this place called the Windmill Restaurant because the name made me imagine some scenic restaurant with a charming view and elegant little Orlando atmosphere.

No.

It was giving local golf-club gathering.

Very everyone here knows someone named Bob.

And the food arrived in this giant bowl looking genuinely like somebody had prepared dinner for a dog they cared about but not enough to plate nicely.

And it tasted bad.

Like, impressively bad.

At least expectations were managed immediately.

Outside, though?

GORGEOUS.

Actually beautiful.

Probably just Orlando carrying the restaurant on its back.

Then finally:

Disney.

I GOT TO DISNEY.

The valet guy asked if I was alone and if I was a tourist.

I said yes.

And somehow he let me park for free.

So my original plan was just: quickly look around the gift shop, absorb one molecule of Disney, leave.

Simple.

Instead I immediately liked it way too much.

I didn’t properly go into full Disney mode or explore everything. I mostly wandered around, rode the gondola, looked at everything from above, soaked in the atmosphere, and watched families running around together looking ridiculously happy.

And I’m sitting there thinking—

I am a 31-year-old adult and I am THIS excited.

Imagine being six.

No wonder children lose their minds here.

Then I went over to Universal.

And weirdly???

Not that moved.

Disney had already got me.

I actually stood there debating whether I should buy a Disney ticket and go back instead of doing Universal properly.

But there was one major ethical issue.

The valet man.

He had told me to quickly look at the gift shop, stay maybe two hours, and come back.

And for some reason I had now developed loyalty to him.

Like we had signed a treaty.

Also I thought, okay, if I ever come back, maybe Disney can be a honeymoon thing.

So I deliberately didn’t see everything.

Which sounded romantic at the time.

Now I’m like girl just BUY THE TICKET.

But at least I kept my promise to the valet guy.

Integrity.

Universal Studios

Universal was immediately—

people.

People people people.

Crowded from the entrance.

I walked through the Harry Potter area for a bit, but honestly Harry Potter is still more romantic to me as words on a page.

You can build the castle.

You can sell Butterbeer.

You can put robes everywhere.

Still, nothing beats reading it and constructing a completely unreasonable version of Hogwarts inside your own head.

Sorry.

Book wins.

Then I just wandered around, enjoying the vaguely La La Land scenery, staring into space and worrying about my future.

As one naturally does while surrounded by theme-park attractions.

Very cinematic.

Then suddenly—

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Or Universal’s fake version of it.

And because I actually know the real NYPL, I saw it and immediately went:

ah.

Okay.

Something inside me cooled down instantly.

Like someone turned the romance setting off.

So I found a nearby bench, pulled my hat over my face, and slept for one or two hours.

Theme park ticket well spent.

When I woke up—

DARK.

The entire sun had basically left while I was napping.

For a second I thought about just going back to the hotel.

But then I remembered:

I may have missed Disney’s 100th anniversary, but am I also going to miss Mardi Gras’s 30th anniversary???

NO.

So I stayed for the parade.

And by the time that finished, the entire day was just gone.

Night.

Done.

Thank you Universal Studios for the very good nap.

[Miami Beach]

After Orlando, I drove another seven-ish hours down to Miami Beach.

And honestly the night drive was scary.

Especially the last hour before reaching Miami Beach.

VERY scary.

At one point I got into some stupid road situation with another driver.

They gave me the finger with their left hand.

Fine.

Message received.

But apparently they were worried I might not have absorbed the full meaning, because then they opened the window, drove ahead, stuck their hand out and gave me the finger AGAIN with the other hand.

TWICE.

I got professionally flipped off twice.

Very thorough customer service.

Meanwhile I was just sitting there getting progressively more nervous.

Then I finally arrived at my accommodation.

And the accommodation looked like somewhere a person disappears halfway through a Korean gangster movie.

Fantastic.

Exactly what I needed after the drive.

But the next morning I woke up, went outside, and the ocean was glittering in that extremely meaningful-looking way water does when sunlight hits it just right.

So naturally I started making wishes.

All of them.

Anything I could think of.

Career wish.

Life wish.

Love wish.

Money wish.

Probably several duplicate wishes.

If the universe was accepting submissions that morning, I submitted the full application package.

Then I finished Miami with brunch.

Miami was pretty.

And the whole place had this excited, slightly buzzing feeling.

Like everyone was already halfway into some plan.

Very fun.

Very pretty.

Very Miami.

[Palm Beach]

Then I drove north along the beach and accidentally entered private hotel property.

As you do.

A concierge came over and was basically in the process of politely kicking me out when he asked where I’d come from and why exactly I was hanging around there.

I said New Jersey.

He looked at me like—

why are you HERE.

Fair question.

Then he realised I had come all the way from Miami Beach by myself and looked even more alarmed.

Like, you drove here ALONE???

Yes sir.

I have apparently been making a series of choices.

But then he softened and said something like, well, looks like you’re having a good time.

Which was actually very sweet.

Beautiful hotel.

Kind concierge man.

Getting removed from private property.

The whole thing felt extremely Wes Anderson for about five minutes.

Very romantic.

Even though technically I was being asked to leave.

And after all that, I partied around Florida like I was never going to have fun again.

Naturally, my tyre blew out and I got sick.

So the following week my life basically went WAJANGCHANG.

Complete collapse.

I’m still recovering.

But at the time?

I was happy.

Actually, even before I started travelling around on the weekends, I was happy just working there too.

The people were good.

The atmosphere was good.

I liked being there.

And I still want to go back to Disney once more and do it PROPERLY.

I never had any particular obsession with Florida before this trip.

Wasn’t really on my list.

But once I got there, there was unexpectedly a lot to see, and driving around from place to place was genuinely fun.

A lot of the Resco guys apparently own houses in Florida too.

And before I left for the trip, a manager from another department had casually mentioned that he owned a house there.

At the time I was like:

Why does everybody want a house in Florida???

HURRICANES???

Then I visited.

Ah.

Okay.

I get it now.

Someone also told me that if you buy a house on relatively high ground, then unless the hurricane is particularly severe, you may mainly end up dealing with something closer to very heavy rain rather than catastrophic flooding.

I have not personally verified the full science of Florida real estate.

But.

Retirement note:

HIGH GROUND.

Anyway, I should probably be saving a lot of money if I want to have some cute Florida retirement house one day.

Unfortunately my crypto is currently trapped in some weird situation.

And the other day at work, one of the managers was speaking in a thick Daegu accent while ordering a pair of smart glasses around—

do this.

show me that.

And I was watching like…

wait.

Those look kind of good.

Now I want smart glasses.

So this is where we are financially.

Need to save money.

Would also like to buy unnecessary future technology.

Very strong retirement planning.

Anyway.

Another week is over, and another month is starting.

9090 (= GO GO)