Welcome to Miami

I’m not quite sure where to begin with the madness that has been Miami. We’ve spent two days here, and it has been a hell of a good time. While in Miami, we’ve been staying with Julie/Jewel, our great friend Rachel’s sister. She was generous enough to give us a key to her apartment by the beach because she slept at her boyfriend Mike’s place. This is becoming a theme, and it’s crazy that people are entrusting us with keys to their houses/apartments. Another crazy thing is that this is the third or fourth place we’ve stayed where we were either the first guests to stay at a new residence or the first people at all to even sleep in someone else’s place. Anyways, enough with the preamble, let’s get into some stories… 

We spent our Fourth of July driving ten hours from Atlanta to Miami, instead of spending it with all of our closest friends celebrating Seth and Danielle’s wedding. What’s worse is that a ten-hour drive turned into twelve because my favorite toy, the dumbass GPS, got us lost once again. We drove around Miami for what seemed like an eternity before finally finding Jewel’s place. Her and Mike (boyfriend) were spending the 4^th on a friend’s yacht, watching fireworks over the ocean. Sam and I had to entertain ourselves, so what could we do? Well of course, we found a liquor store and bought some beers, then found a pizza place and bought some dinner (at 11pm). So we ended up having a pretty kick ass 4^th with just one another, drinking, eating great pizza, and watching Animal House and The Graduate on Sam’s laptop. One thing I’ve been learning on this trip is that things rarely go as planned and having the ability to have fun no matter where you are or what you’re doing is truly a virtue. Most of you know that I’m anal as shit about having a plan and trying to make things go exactly the way they’re supposed to. Fortunately, this trip has been teaching me that I can’t go through life that way, and I need to more frequently play the cards that life deals. Anyways, my point is nothing we planned on doing on the 4^th came through and we ended up having a killer time just drinking, eating pizza, and chatting it up. (Side Note: Sam and I learned more about each other in the drive to Miami and our night in than I think either one of us bargained for. Just a sample…Sam now knows who of our friends I’m most attracted to…and I won’t mention that here!) Anyways, a simple evening with not much to it turned into a great time. 

Now, day two in Miami was the complete opposite of simple and low key. I woke up and drove to the beach from Jewel’s (it’s really only about a half mile away but I underestimated how close it is). I went for a run on the beach, which kicked my ass because all the beer drinking, pizza and hot dog eating, and lack of working out is slowly putting me out of shape. Nonetheless, it was a great time and the scenery was beautiful. The water is crystal blue around these parts. And strangely, there are really no waves in this area and the ocean is incredibly calm. For those who don’t know, I’m a complete beach junky and could spend every waking second of every day there and be 100% happy. But unfortunately, I had to leave the beach to make it to a baseball game (I guess that’s why we’re on this trip in the first place. Damn.). 

Jewel and Mike joined Sam and me for the Florida Marlins game. They play at what used to be Dolphin Stadium, but was recently renamed Landshark Stadium thanks to Jimmy Buffet. I’ve never seen less people at a baseball game. If I had to guess, I would say the crowd was about 2,000 people. The stadium looked even emptier because it is a football stadium and it’s huge. We had a great time at the game in spite of the fact that it was 98 degrees out and we were baking in the sun the entire time. I was sweating more than Patrick Ewing in his prime. We ran into some OU people at the game randomly. This is happening way more than I thought was possible. This is the second city in a row that we RANDOMLY crossed paths with some Bobcats that we know. One other thing I noticed is that prices for food/souvenirs at the game were outrageous because the Marlins can’t sell tickets so they need to make money some how. 

DISCLAMIER: THE FOLLOWING STORY IS NOT FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T WANT TO LOOK AT THEIR BABY IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT. THAT MEANS YOU MOM J HOWEVER, I WANT TO BE TRUTHFUL IN EVERYTHING I WRITE, SO HERE’S HOW THE REST OF THE DAY WENT. 

One thing I’ve been trying to do on this trip is surrender to our hosts’ lifestyles. A great way to gain experience on this trip is to let our hosts show us a good time and never say no to doing anything they want to do. Each time we stay with new hosts, I like to attempt to become part of their lives for a few days. In other words, “When in Rome…” 

Moving on…after the game we went back to Mike’s apartment and met his kick ass dog Odie. We started making some drinks and snacked on Mike and Jewel’s huge array of stolen hot sauces with chips and Jewel’s delicious homemade salsa. Then we went down to the pool with our drinks to just relax and chat about life. After a few hours, we cleaned up a bit and went to dinner at an incredible authentic Argentine/Mexican/Cuban restaurant. The chicken fajitas were the best I’ve ever had, period. 

While at dinner, Mike received a text from a friend asking if we’d like to meet him at Solid Gold. At first, Sam and I were drained and decided we would just have our hosts drop us off at Jewel’s before they went out. We didn’t think we could handle another night out. We were wrong. We changed our minds and decided to go with Mike and Jewel to meet their friend. One thing that’s amazing is how well connected they are (shout out to OU MIS: Your network is your net worth). On our drive there, Jewel gets on the phone with a friend and the conversation goes something like this -

Jewel: We’re on our way to Solid Gold. Who do you know there that can hook us up?

Friend: Yada Yada Yada.

Jewel: Cool, so ask for him, him and her and tell them we know you?

Friend: Yada Yada Yada. 

Result: We park the car for free, skip the cover, and get escorted to a VIP table. 

Anyways I’m rambling now, so I’ll try to wrap up soon. Sam is spoiled. Her first strip club experience was in a Miami club at the VIP table. We got complimentary drinks and then Chris (the Friend) and Mike bought a bottle of Grey Goose for our table. We proceeded to drink way more of it than is necessary, especially for me because Vodka never sits well in my body. Sam’s first ‘tip’ was hilarious, but she enjoyed the hell out of it. The strippers could smell new blood and they loved Sam knowing it was her first time. So to make a long story short (which I’m absolutely terrible at), Sam will forever be tainted with the idea that all strip clubs are like this one. That is until she visits a place like Concepts or The Crazy Horse on Brookpark Rd. and gets a wake-up call. 

I could never lead this type of lifestyle on a daily basis. It’s just not my personality. But for one day, I had a damn good time. 

My favorite part of our stay in Miami was the moment at Solid Gold when Sam learned (via a group vote from the people we were partying with) that she should “let her hair down more often!” 

Sorry about writing a novel. I know it was long, but I hope you enjoyed it. 

Peace,

Matt