We are living in some wild and crazy times right now. The world feels so chaotic at the moment, mostly due to a certain “leader of the free world,” and with that much trauma it can be difficult not to sit and stew in it.
I recently was chatting with my Bay-area counterpart, Watermark Out News’ Managing Editor Ryan Willaims-Jent, about that and we both agreed that we can’t always be doom and gloom in our Editor’s Desks. So we both are taking our space provided this month and talking about some things that are bringing us joy in our lives. Hopefully, if you too are feeling like everything is too much at the moment, these things will help you to pause, smile and look for the joy in your life.
If you are in the Central Florida area, then this most recent joy in my life is ready and waiting for you as well. It’s the International Flower & Garden Festival at Epcot. One of the perks of being a Watermark editor is getting to experience the amazing festivals in our area, and no one does it better than Disney.
Thanks to the amazing folks at Epcot, I was again invited to check out all this year’s festival has to offer and I was once again able to bring with me my perpetual plus one, Rick Todd. As someone who can’t even keep a cactus alive, I am blown away by the beautiful topiaries on display throughout the park each year. Flowers, bushes and tress all designed to look like your favorite Disney characters, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse, the women of “Encanto,” Winnie the Pooh and Friends, Kermit and Miss Piggy, Donald Duck, Groot and so many more.
The highlight of the festival for me, as it is with every festival, is the food. Disney goes all out with the food at these festivals and this year is no different. Some of my personal favorites are the chicken and waffles at The Honey Bee-stro, the peanut butter and jelly soft serve at the Swirled Showcase, the ramen cup in Japan and the banana foster bread pudding in The American Adventure.
You can check out photos from our little day adventure in Epcot at WatermarkOutNews.com. Those photos we took leads me into another bit of joy in my life. Now I am embarrassed to rave about this because I have stood fast against joining what I have always called “the Apple Cult,” but I was recently invited to the Apple Store at The Mall at Millenia for the launch of Apple’s new iPhone 16e. While I was there the folks at Apple got a look at me waving my Google Pixel around and decided to loan me one of their new phones to use side-by-side with my current one.
I don’t know if I am completely sold yet but I have been really impressed with it so far. I am not a tech guy so I was totally glazed over as they talked about the phone’s A18 chip, 4-core GPU and 48MP fusion camera. Honestly, I have no idea what any of that means, I just pulled it from my notes from the event. But what I have loved about it is how amazing the pictures look, how clear the sound is and how long the battery has lasted for me. I am going to be using both the iPhone and my Google Pixel together over the next few months as I cover Central Florida, so you all will be able to tell me which one is working best as you scroll through WatermarkOutNews.com.
I will be able to really test the limits of these phones with my next bit of joy. At the end of March, I am going with my family on my first cruise. I am not an open water kinda guy, so taking a cruise on the high seas was never a bucket list item for me but last year my mom had open-heart surgery and to celebrate her recovery all the other kids wanted to take her a cruise, so away I will go. It’s a fairly short trip, only four days to the Bahamas, but after my initial trepidation I have started to get pretty excited about it. My brother instructed me to download the app so I could look over the ship map and review the itinerary to see what kind of trip it will be.
While it is not specifically a gay cruise, they do have several LGBTQ+ socials on the itinerary which I plan to attend and hopefully I will meet a queer Jack Dawson who has 10 bucks in his pocket and has nothing to offer me and he knows that but he’s too involved now. Or maybe he will just draw me like one of his French girls and be on his way, either way I am excited to finally take this leap.
Speaking of trips, in this issue we are taking a look at the LGBTQ+ activists heading up to Tallahassee for Pride at the Capitol and the Let Us Live March. We also chat with the incomparable CeCe Teneal as she prepares for her Aretha Franklin show at Orlando Shakes.
I know things are tough but keep fighting and take some time to find the joy in your life. I hope you enjoy this issue.
