orlando: week one

florida is totally strange.
It's as though all the parts and peoples were made from rubbery rubbery and hollow.
If you are looking to write a thesis on the intricacies of facade in american culture, I recommend orlando as an excellent field study. The whole place is laced with a tangible sensation of what that is.
atrocious food. Absolutely everything is a fancy facade with nothing to back it up. I suspect that I will be wearing just the front of my clothes, attached by some sort of tabs over my shoulders, by the time I return from here.

universal studios is a trip. I've been trying to take phontos of the madness. But, the crazy doesn't quite seem to be making it through the lens. There is actually a mini, faux new york city set with functional businesses in it. I go there for starbucks sometimes. All the buildings are fake two story ones and they have actually carved cracks into the sidewalks with some sort of tool. there is a delancey st and 5th ave and a weensy "central park" comprised of about four benches, a statue and a mix of real and fake shrubbery. There's also a sizable 2D painted public library complete with carved lions out front. The poetry of existence of this is not lost on me.
This cluster of blocks is just a few steps away from the "twister" building with the smoking sign and around the corner from the live filming of wrestling in the building next to ours. They block through their moves in the alleyways in all their spandexed glory. Right when I walk out of our building, I can see the Nemo ride and the dr. seuss land and the hulk roller coaster just beyond. All the buildings on our side of the fence have art deco paint schemes and big hollywood-like "Stage 34"s etc. on them. There are pieces of different rides in the alleyways and gobs of golf carts zooming around.

I'm told we can get into bunches of theme parks around for free. I'm thinking the best policy is going to be to not bother looking any further for "normal" but plug my nose and sail down that rabbit hole.