The more things change

I have not done a blog post for more than a year, and I am amazed that my life appears to be on loop.

• I have moved cross country again.
  
• I am now in a position where when a hurricane hits I still leave the office (but now have to go to a command center),
  
• I have bought a new place (and am already thinking about how much money I will make when I sell it),
  
• I am still on the do not call list with the former most amazing bf (who I still attempt to email in vain)
• I am still in collaboration with the great contributors of the blog that never got to be what it could be: Kordor
• I am back to a diet of shots and fried food
• I am still trying to recover from the South Beach Diet (while consuming shots and fried food)

What has changed and what I am excited about is that many of my friends have grown into my lifestyle. For so long some of my best friends were so stuck where they were that they considered my movements reckless while still dreaming of leaving themselves. Now one is married in Scandinavia, another is Sleepless in Seattle, another realizing new opportunities in Rio and many others are on professional journeys that have taken them just as far in life. Am I the same person in a different world? Have I grown and matured? Or have I actually grown into a life that I was leading for so long?

I am sitting here in a hotel room in transition for what is easily the 20th time in 15 years. I am not tired, I am not bored, but at the same time the thrill of the move and the opportunity seems to be a lot more bold on paper and during the interview than in real life. To top it all off I manage a verbose, intelligent, easily distracted 25 year old whose personality is a spitting image of mine at the same age.

With this new move I have the potential to improve the lives of so many and to transform communities in a way that will impact them in the future almost as long they have existed, but I myself have not reached the moment where I truly realized the breadth and impact of my professional charge. As the character Brick said in one of my most favorite movies of all time "I'm waiting for that click in my head." Click? Clique? Tick? Hmmmmmmm

I hope to keep up the blog a bit more in the future. It is good to read how the more things change, the more they change to a better sameness.

When did I turn into a size ......

I'm gonna say size 6 in relation to that but I had the opportunity to see a recent pic and I realize the South Beach Diet is a farce. My true diet consisted of shots and friend chicken for a significant portion of my time there. I went from a size 2 to a 4 (you gotta keep it even!!!!). Here on the West Coast I still see myself as a blond beauty, but a nice and dear new friend of mine took of picture of me and I feel like the damn Sperm Whale from Reno 911.

Right now I'm spinning. As I close my eyes I see myself turning from Jenifer Hudson to Beyonce. And I am telling you I am a DREAMGIRL!!!!!



* Dear lord if you ever see me on F-A-T Chance please kill me.

Miami Eats Numero Dos: The Blue Door Cobb Salad

FLASHBACK

Life doesn't get any better than sitting on the patio of the Blue Door Restaurant enjoying one of the worlds best Cobb Salads. I don't if it is sitting at the perfect table (of which all the tables are perfect), peering into the wonderland that is the Delano back lawn, having the South Beach ocean breeze waft the grey smoke from your Marlboro Light into infinity, or being surrounded by all the gaudy fabulousness that only comes from nouveau riche tourists and "businessmen" with expense accounts, but things are good.

Like all men about to begin a journey into a great abyss, in my case a 5 day journey into the bowels of middle America, I felt the need to have a last meal. The Cobb Salad was what I chose. What it exactly fed (my growing self awareness that I was leaving, my established and growing sense of self grandeur that came from living for 3 years in Miami, or my empty stomach) I'm not sure but it hit the spot.

The bacon was smoky, the shrimp pink, the avocado smooth, the lettuce and tomatoes crisp, it was more than a meal, it was like my life in South Beach beautiful arranged on a plate. I felt as if I was in the protagonist in Like Water for Chocolate, ingesting my memories, my emotions. It was at the very same table that I had my first meal after breaking up with most amazing bf, met the cute waiter that gave me my very first Christmas sex (and it was a gift that kept on giving, or coming? or both?), met the up and coming maitre d' with the perfect shoes, and spent the friend's birthday that I still don't completely remember.

I was at the place that when I first arrived, made me realize that I had moved somewhere that was bigger than me, that would cause me to realize and express a happiness that I now so easily feign when being photographed. In other words it was bliss.

Starting Over (or Again?)

While I have not been in Miami for more than a year it continues to inform my life and my on going experiences. People still call me to reminisce about the great times we had at the Delano, or the recipe for the best shots ever from the bartender at my old haunt Twist. The crazy thing is that while all of us have moved on (including myself as noted in my second to last post over a year ago) those memories evoke a sense of euphoria and nostalgia that very few places can. Seeing the supportive and informative comments of my compadre Miamista also have stirred my juices to blog once again. And so with that I promise to you and myself to remember where I became a grown up (in South Beach) and share with you my journey in becoming an adult and to share, to the best of my abilities, my musing on life and love .

Sincerely and with respect and adoration,

Sr. Miami Muse

Shelly Winters and Beer

This the beginning a of ongoing series of my final meals in Miami. This will be ongoing (promise)

Zeke's

Zeke's is the best thing to happen to Lincoln Road and I a so happy that I discovered it before I left. Run by amazing woman that looks like a sexy Shelly Winters from Florianoplis Brazil, Zeke's sells over 80 beers for the low low price of $3. This place is no frills but full of fun.

What a long time it has been since I last posted on my 5-star blog. I want to thank the one and only Miamista for the public shaming that is the impetus for me remusing on Miami. The problem is that I have left the sands of Miami Beach, driven through the mountains and prairies and to the Pacific Ocean (which, surprisingly, is white with foam). So now I am forced to ask the question, Can I still have Miami Musings when I no longer live in Miami?

If anything I think that I have enough material for a good amount of entries on living in South Beach and working in Overtown. In some ways I am freer to blog on certain topics since I am no longer bound by employment and proximity. Since my last post a lot has happened besides the move:

• I have been put on the do not reply list by the man formerly known as most amazing bf



• I declared my love for a 22 year old Puerto Rican on the first date, only to be left hanging on Thanksgiving



• I hung out with the ex and the wife at a reunion dinner



• I had a great experience regarding, tequila, Jim Beam, an SUV, erratic driving, the Fort Worth Police Department, a rich bi-curious Chicano, and his bi-racial friend whose dad is now dating his best friend and roommate’s mother



• I listened to six Books on Tape



• I had the unsurprising revelation that two of visitors had slept together after meeting me, but before realizing they were both going to stay with me



• I got a $25,000 raise



• I lost 10 pounds



• I actually got good service at a non-Ian Schraeger owned establishment in the Miami metro area



• I am sure that there are many more experiences, and I can’t wait to share them with you!!

LET THE POSTING RESUME!!

Its been a long time since a put up a post. Things have been so crazy and harried to compose a coherent and interesting message. Interestingly most of my life has not been taking place in Miami. Plus life in Miami is the on cruise control; going well and with the flow.

While not a local I have acheived the status of a regular. I have seen this when visiting friends in other hip cities. The regular knows the bartender, can get you into a good restaurant and has a posse that in a very nice cross section of city that you are in. While right now I am posse less, I still fit in the category.

The major update to the life has been the demise of the one interesting relationship with the man formerly known as the amazing bf. As always break-ups are more dramatic than the relationship and in this case that is saying a lot considering he lived in NYC and I in Miami. The break-up even led to a spin off blog that included a beautiful sonnet to a love lost. Add to that some champagne, strawberries and flowers and you have the makings of a reconciliation, but unfortunately something was missing. It seems that French are not keen on saying sorry for calling their bfs whores, but are willing to "show" their sorriness by spending money or coincidently running into you and a friend at restaraunt 1,500 miles from where they live.

Anyways enough about the ghost of relationships past. It is time to look at my present and the to the future. Big things, Big Miami things are in store for the Muse in '06. I cant wait to share them.