I went downtown to the Grand Bohemian Hotel to meet Terry after work for a drink and appetizer. My plan was to go to the Amway Center afterwards, perhaps to sketch plastic bucket drummers on the street. I had several happy hour drinks however and decided it was too cold outside to be sketching. The Grand Bohemian is where the visiting Miami Heat players were staying. Terry told me she looked out her office window and saw a huge crowd of fans surrounding the team bus. The basketball game started as we were sipping our drinks. We could see the commentators and behind them the Amway Center looked more than half empty. I don’t think the Orlando Magic fans knew their home team would be trounced. The bartender changed the station to a college game once the Magic took to the court. Artist Donna Dowless was dropping off one of her paintings in the Grand Bohemian Gallery. She waved as she was leaving.
Terry left and decided to scout out the activity around the Amway Center. Happy hour ended as I was working on the sketch. The waitress offered me one more Blue Moon at the happy hour rate anyway. I got a text from Terry and she let me know that I had made the right decision to sketch the hotel bar, the streets around the Amway Center were deserted.