A Special Christmas Eve “Blair's An Uncle” Blog

I am going to start off not in chronological order, but that's because something major happened this past Thursday... I became an uncle, to twins! It's the sister I have that lives in Kansas and everyone visited back in the Christmas season of '09, if you remember that far back reading of my time in the cold, cold Midwest. I am real happy it happened as there's been ups and downs in her and my brother in law having a kid, but things went right and now they have twin boys, Connor and Blake. They were scheduled to be born next month but early on Thursday, they decided to come out early. It wasn't the best timing; the plan for a few weeks was that my mom would fly out on that day, in order to help her out. Obviously, the plans are changed now. I know she wished she could have been there when they were born, but that was just bad timing.

Important thing is, the two tykes are doing fine now, they were given some “awww” little Christmas hats and some cute pictures of them have been taken. As I don't plan on becoming a parent myself, my two sisters having kids is the next best thing. As you might expect, my parents are quite happy to be grandparents; it hasn't fully sunk in yet that I am Uncle Blair. That is the highlight of Christmas season, for sure; it otherwise doesn't feel like the season at all due to how different things have been this year with the birth and all that. Me and my dad are still here in Florida and we do have a spot to have a Christmas meal at; it's not like I or him have to try and make an elaborate meal!

Now, onto the rest of the week. This past Tuesday night I went to Winter Garden Village where I spent some time in Best Buy (I did not buy anything) then I went to Planet Smoothie to get a drink. Man, the lady that was working there... I am pretty sure she was under 18 but she had on a shirt that showed off cleavage AND had on a pair of shorts that were microscopic. They barely covered her... but anyway, that was awkward and made me feel like a dirty old man; I imagine I wasn't the only person who felt that way when they looked at her and her rather inappropriate for her age outfit. Then again, Lord knows that isn't the first time I've seen in person a girl under 18 who really should have worn more clothing than she had on. But anyhow, at least the drink I had was good.

Wednesday was dull so let me talk about Thursday besides the whole becoming an uncle thing. I was going to eat at the Red Robin which just opened in Winter Garden Village. I got there and the spot they have it at isn't that large to begin with, so there was a line waiting outside just to get in, and no thanx to that. I decided to go to Uno's Pizzeria, as I hadn't been to one in a long while. The last time, me and someone I know was there and the experience was less than ideal so that's why I hadn't been there in ages. The experience there was fine but it gave me the worst-ever dosage of food poisoning. Trust me, you don't want to hear the details of why this was cleary the worst but it wasn't pretty. That sort of sours me on the place, you know. That's why I did not do much on Friday; the whole end of the world stuff was pretty stupid and even people making fun of it got tired at times. Thursday night was when the apocalypse happened... in my stomach!

Saturday, the only thing I did was briefly visit a Gamestop then I went to a nearby Target where I walked around for a bit and I ate at the Pizza Hut Express they have. That pizza experience was at least better and I had zero stomach issues this time around.

Sunday, I went on over to Friendly Confines to watch the Chicago Bears play against the crappy Arizona Cardinals. They surprisingly started off 4-0 then even more surprisingly lost 9 in a row before winning last week. All of that is unexpected. Chicago won 28-13 and while it was one of the last exciting 28-13 games you could ever watch, at least Arizona's crappiness really helped out and ensured that they would lose. And there were less annoying people around, thankfully. An individual I discussed before-Tugboat-was there, and the last time I mentioned how I was disappointed in him acting like the worst kind of sports fan concerning his team (the Colts); this time it was much better. No whining about stupid things or ripping on his team (which is now going to go into playoffs; the Bears have a chance to make the playoffs but they have to win their final regular season game next week plus need some help). Plus, he gave me a hilarious moment when he left a voicemail on someone's phone and included the phrase, “Yo yo yo, play with my yo-yo!” No kidding. I literally laughed out loud.

My next blog will be next Tuesday, the first day of 2013. Seemed appropriate. I'll talk about what I did the last days of 2012, including what I did for Christmas and what I got myself and what people got me for the big day. I hope everyone has a nice holiday season.

Ravishing Rick Rude, Mongoloids, & The Miami Connection

Here's what I've done since last Monday. That day itself was rather dull; the only thing of note was that I got a much-needed haircut and the joint was dead when I got there so I got it done real quick. Tuesday and Wednesday were dull, except that Wednesday night I did watch parts of that almost 6 hour concert from New York City for Hurricane Sandy relief. I happily made fun of Kanye West's performance as it's Kanye West and he's a loathsome and horrible human being all around. Thankfully, many people on Twitter agreed, where I made comments and retweeted funny statements I came across.

Thursday, in the evening I went with someone I know to IHOP for dinner, as hey why not and plus the last time we were there, groovy 70's music was playing. This time it was oldies and I was happy with that as it reminded me of listening to the oldies station as a kid. Good times. The chicken & waffles was also good times.

Unfortunately, due to the accident I was involved with last month, for awhile at least don't expect me to drive any lengthy distances. Thus, I unfortunately was not able to see a wrestling tournament that has happened each year since '03 known as the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup, a 2 day tournament involving 16 wrestlers. It is named after a late wrestler who passed away at the age of 21 due to leukemia. I had seen all of them live since '04 (and I saw '03 on DVD) and it's always a great weekend filled with local wrestlers and guys from all across the country coming in. There's plenty of quality wrestling seen and there have been some incredible matches throughout the years. This is also the last JPMC they're ever doing, for various reasons. I really was gutted to not be able to go to it. Sigh. It was in Ybor City and at least at this time it's too far away. It was actually in the same club that I saw the women's wrestling show back in October. You know, the joint which charge eight bucks for a big cup of PBR (still pretty ridiculous, I say).

Anyhow, I wish I could have been there as I definitely have enjoyed those weekends... even the one in '07 that Jared David St. Laurent's toadies tried to ruin with rude comments and even trying to blind me by shining a laser pointer in my eyes! True story. I did not mention that in full anywhere online as I did not want to give them the satisfaction. But that is enough about about a bunch of mongoloids I haven't given a damn about in a long time but I presume they're still the same terrible people that they were years ago (which is a reason why I feuded with them, because they deserved to have their true colors shown).

To get back to a more pleasant subject (and because of that I won't go into detail on that horrifying thing which happened Friday morning up in Connecticut), Friday night I spent watching the UFC event; it was on Fuel TV and then FX and it was live from Australia (it was Saturday morning then afternoon there) and while it was not an event of big star names, it was a quality show as it had plenty of entertaining fights. I only saw parts of Saturday night's UFC on FX show as I had to go to a movie theatre for a special screening. It was of a bad movie from the 80's that a company found a print of and screenings were greatly received so it went on tour, and finally it came to Orlando. It was appropriate, as despite its title most of it takes place and was filmed in Orlando. I am talking about Miami Connection, a hilariously awful film about a rock band of Taekwondo practitioners who do battle with ninjas that ride on bikes, along with drug-dealing bikers. Yep. I saw it on YouTube when someone uploaded it a few months ago (but shhh on that; it was taken down) and I did a review for it on my movie reviews blog; the particular review is at: http://blairreviewsmovies.blogspot.com/2012/09/miami-connection.html

I was happy to see it on the big screen. I know that some already have a backlash against it. Yeah, I agree that there are funnier and shittier bad movies out there and if they got this treatment crowds would likely also go bananas for it, but I don't know why some want to slag it for being overrated as a bad movie experience, but oh well. Of course some people I know who are huge bad movie fans are amongst that crowd... shrugs shoulders. I got there and had drinks at the patio bar they have at The Enzian (the arthouse place I've mentioned a number of times before; they had couches and fancy chairs and tables and food gets brought to you. I then waited in line to get in. Turns out, some of the film's stars were there; it was Grandmaster Y.K. Kim (a legit master at Taekwondo; he runs Martial Arts World in Orlando, and in fact a van load of his students were there to watch the film), the guy in the film that looks like Oates from Hall & Oates (or Ravishing Rick Rude; more on this late 80's wrestler later) and the black guy in the movie. They spoke for a bit before the screening. Then, everyone watched that funny bad movie and it was a grand old time. There was much cheering and laughter. Afterwards, Kim signed posters for free and of course I got one.

Sunday, it was off to Friendly Confines to watch the Chicago Bears play against their hated rivals, the Green Bay Packers. Considering how riddled the Bears have been by injuries by this point, I wasn't expecting much and indeed they lost 21-13. There were some questionable calls from the referees-and I usually don't complain about that stuff like most sports fans do-but even if they were perfect, the Packers still would have won. I am certain of that; they just played obviously better than Chicago. The Bears fans there acted like mongoloids (to use a term I saw someone I know use on Twitter yesterday) but enough about those annoying people. Even the people I sat by who were obvious bros (one kept on calling the other “brah”; yep, brotastic!) weren't as annoying. I did laugh in the game when after a sack, a Packers player impersonated Ravishing Rick Rude; you know, if you remember him from the good old days of pro wrestling, he would swivel his hips; well, that's what that player did and it was amazing. After that I stopped by Total Wine & More for a bit and I got some random things before returning home.

I'll be back a week from today; not much is planned yet but as always I should have something interesting to write about; hopefully not a lot of it will be complaining, but that unfortunately tends to happen when you live in The Sunshine State.

The Blog Where I'm Simply Having A Wonderful Christmastime

Yep, I am referencing the Paul McCartney song that many people seem to loathe. Last week I was walking around the neighborhood and a car passed by blasting that song. Not surprisingly the car was a newish Mercedes and the driver was a middle-aged white guy.

Here's what I've done since I last posted my blog on the last day of November. That day I didn't do anything, but the next day I did go back to Winter Garden Village to visit some other stores (including World Market) and I did get some random items. Sunday, I finally returned to Friendly Confines to watch the Chicago Bears play. The drive there and back was the usual... meaning, plenty of terrible Florida traffic! Yeah I did get mad at it, as usual. Hell, I even saw a near-accident in the parking lot as some dumbass pulled out without looking and almost hit TWO moving cars. Good one, Troglodyte. Unfortunately, there was no shortage of Trogs there on this day... and they were mainly Bears fans. Do you need to yell stupid worthless comments at the game after %nearly every single play%? Some people think that you do, and I quickly got irritated with it. To make me feel better I had some beer and that's quite rare for my afternoons there. They had some that were discounted as they want to get rid of it so I took advantage of that.

The alcohol helped me deal with the people there and the game itself. Chicago ended up losing to Seattle; I wouldn't be too mad about it as Seattle is quite good, but the last two Seattle drives that caused them to win, the Bears D was real bad and that was disappointing. At least the Bears had some good moments themselves. Also, a former employee was there visiting. She worked there when I first started going to FC and I hadn't seen her in like a few years. At least I got to briefly chat with that nice young lady.

Sunday night it was determined that due to how things turned out, Northern Illinois University (from a smaller conference) got a big bowl bid and on January 1st they'll be playing a big college football game in Miami against Florida State University. Boy I got pretty tired pretty quick of so many people whining and bitching about how NIU shouldn't be there, especially from that loathsome Troglodyte network known as ESPN; I even got that crap from some people I know on Facebook. I'd much rather see an underdog play in one of those big bowl games (which has happened a few times before) personally and I've always thought that way. I am not sticking up for NIU just because I grew up 30 miles north of the campus or I know quite a few people that went to college there.

Monday I had to go up to Leesburg. It was related to the crash last month but don't worry it wasn't a big deal and now I can fully put that behind me. I also stopped by the city's Lake Square Mall, a joint that is less than happening, to say the least. At least I stopped by a smoothie place in the mall and I got the treat known as the Peaches & Cream Delight, an appropriate name for sure.

I did nothing Tuesday and Wednesday so let me skip ahead to Thursday. I had free time so I went to Universial Studios, Citywalk in particular. I ate at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville as it's been too long since I've been there. Their cheeseburgers (in paradise) are as great as ever so let me mention what alcoholic beverage I had; it was known as Shipwrecked and it was basically a mango-flavored drink along with some other fruits. Very good. I then went to their AMC Theatres and I watched Skyfall again, this time on their IMAX screen. Yep, the movie is still real good. The alcoholic beverage I had at their bar was a holiday-themed beverage known as the Peppermint Shake; it had vanilla ice cream and peppermint schnapps, among other things. Needless to say I thought that was quite tasty.

Friday and Saturday were dull so let me skip ahead to yesterday. I went to the good old Friendly Confines to watch the Chicago Bears play at the Minnesota Vikings. There was a big snowstorm going on in Minneapolis so thankfully the game was in a dome stadium... one I was in back in the mid 90's to see a college football game. I wouldn't mind going back to the Twin Cities... if nothing else to visit the Mall of America again. Anyhow, the Bears played like crap and lost 21-14 in a game that wasn't as close as the score says it was. That was disappointing.

So was how too many of my fellow Bears fans acted. Real immature and dumb. Some of the dumb ones even argued with each other over things too asinine to even bring up here. And there were other meatheads there too... sigh. At least the food there was as good as usual and other games were going on, a few of which ended up being pretty exciting. But I tell you, some of those people there, I wonder when it was last that they showered or laundered the clothing they had on. There were some pungent odors going on, including from one guy who briefly sat by me. I swear his stench singed my nose hairs! Despite all the complaints it was nice being there and enjoying the atmosphere, even if I wish there was less stupidity there. I am disappointed with how the Bears are playing, sure, but I have seen FAR worse Chicago teams in my lifetime, for sure.

I'll be back a week from today. I could be doing some real exciting things but nothing is set in stone quite yet.

The Blog Where I'm Back In The Saddle Again

Yep, I've returned, sooner than expected. I won't say much about the whole process of dealing with that little car crash thing, except that thankfully I am fine health-wise and I do have another vehicle to drive around; what sort of car it is... that isn't important as of now.

Here is a recap of what I've done since my last blog, meaning the last half of this month. Friday the 16th, I and someone else went to Steak & Shake, also known as the place where I was going to when that wreck happened. The food there was fine but their chocolate peppermint milkshake was pretty great. Interestingly, as me and that person were walking in, we passed by a family leaving, and (of course) in a Southern drawl I heard the dad tell his young kids, “I reckon, if I had the choice, I'd give you roadkill for dinner!” I am not making this up.

Saturday, I managed to catch all of the UFC pay per view at home; nevermind how, but I did. It was something I did not want to miss, as big star Georges St. Pierre was returning to fighting for the first time in 19 months (he tore his ACL) and that main event was quite good. The show itself had its ups and downs but at least ended on a strong note.

Sunday was dull so let me skip ahead to Monday night and the big Chicago Bears game against the San Francisco 49ers. Chicago had to start a backup quarterback and there really isn't much I'd like to say about the game, except that the 49ers won 32-7. Nothing happened until Thanksgiving, where I had a nice meal at home and despite the drama of earlier in the month it was still a nice-enough day. Other people certainly have it worse than me and my immediate family is doing well; that's the most important thing.

The next few days I don't have much to say. I decided not to go to the Central Florida Auto Show nor go out anywhere to see the Bears play. While I do enjoy that auto show and looking at various new cars, it has lost its luster in recent years with not as many auto makers sending cars there so missing it one year isn't too big of a deal, even if there is some vehicles there I wouldn't have minded seeing, mainly the models just introduced. As for the Bears, I had no idea what to expect from the team; the starting QB came back from injury and I did not know how he would play. Turns out, the Vikings have faded and even though a surprising number of Chicago players got hurt during the game, the Bears won 28-10. It sounds like a game that wasn't the best so it's no big loss to not see it. I do plan on watching their next game, which is against a tougher opponent (the Seattle Seahawks).

This week, I started driving around again; I haven't gone far but it was nice to be back on the road again. I haven't been too skittish and I've felt mainly normal about being behind the wheel. Monday, I went to Winter Garden Village where I got some things from Best Buy then Barnes & Noble; I also went to Planet Smoothie where I had a limited edition Nutella drink; believe it or not, I had never tried Nutella in any form before. Not bad. Tuesday, I went to Walmart to get some items, and that's really it in terms of places I went that are worth mentioning.

I'll be back on Monday the 10th so that I can return to posting when I normally do. I'll be able to talk about two Bears games and I am sure I'll get into some adventures worth writing about.

My Last Blog Post For Awhile

In case you missed the news, I was in a car accident late Monday afternoon. Of course I won't be saying much about that whole thing except that everyone ended up fine. Considering that I will be laying real low until this whole matter is settled, this will be the last blog I will do for awhile. Not much to talk about, you know. Once things are back to normal I shall return. During the meantime I will still be writing about various things that happen so once I do return it may be a jam-packed blog. I will still be on Facebook and Twitter, making comments when appropriate. And I will still be talking about movie at my movie reviews blog at: http://blairreviewsmovies.blogspot.com/

Hopefully no one worries too much about me. I'll be fine. Being in a car accident is no fun-I had never been in one, as a driver or passenger-but I'll manage the situation.

Now, onto what I did this week. Well, Monday was a wash. Tuesday I stayed at home. Wednesday, the one thing I did that was not crash-related was go to the dentist. It was a simple cleaning and thankfully, nothing bad was found so I don't have to go back there until May of next year. Thursday was another quiet day and later today I am getting a ride from someone and we will be going to the local Steak & Shake, where ironically I was driving to on Monday when the wreck happened. I am sure I'll enjoy being there.

As if losing Mako's and my vehicle wasn't bad enough... Hostess is now going out of business! Leave the memories alone. At least I'll return to this blog in hopefully a short amount of time.

007, Roseanne, & Saying Goodbye To An Old Friend

Sure, the “old friend” is a nightclub and not a human being, but I received a big surprise on Saturday night and it wasn't a good one. Details at the end.

Before I get into recapping the past week, I never mentioned in the last blog how I discovered only after I had gotten back from Paranormal Activity 4 the whole Lucas sold his company to Disney and there will be new Star Wars films; I was quite shocked by the news, like everyone was. I just hope the new ones are better than the prequels. As for what I did on Monday, the only thing of note is something I'll mention for comedy's sake; if you want to laugh at me, go ahead. I checked out a movie I had taped off of Lifetime (yes) and referenced in the last blog. Of course, I would do such a thing if the movie starred Rachael Leigh Cook. It's known as Left to Die and it's (unfortunately) a true story about how a woman's mother ended up jailed in Ecuador via drugs being planted in her bags and the woman has to work for almost two years to get her out. It's the type of movie appropriate for that network, as there's drama with the woman's brother, the mom is sick, there's an on-again and off-again relationship with a man... like I said, appropriate for the network. It's a standard TV movie but it wasn't bad. Plus, Rachael looked rather attractive so that was good.

Tuesday, I went and voted in the big election. Holy cow some of my fellow voters were stupid! They didn't know where to go from the very beginning (even though it was clearly a table where several people sat and depending on your surname told you which person to go to), they did not understand the ballot, they asked if they had to fill out all of the ballot... I was appalled and by now I am used to Floridian stupidity. I won't get into talking about who I voted as that is information I'll keep private. Although, I still laugh that a party I had never heard of before known as the Peace and Freedom Party elected ROSEANNE as their candidate and Florida was one of the ballots she got on. Hilarious, I say. No I did not vote for her.

I saw the early part of the election coverage at night but I decided I needed to relax for a few hours so I went to the local cineplex to check out a film, and I saw The Man With The Iron Fists. I had no idea what to expect as it seemed odd from the advertising and I heard some bad buzz. Turns out, it WAS rather odd and strange but if you have lowered expectations concerning everything, you might enjoy it like I did. I can't believe such a film was made and released by a major studio, but I am glad it did as I'd rather have that than the cookie-cutter crap you get from the major corporate bean-counter studios.

Wednesday and Thursday weren't eventful. I did get the car washed which was good as the next day it was taken in. Tuesday, a mysterious light came on and I looked in the manual; it was related to the alternator! I wasn't happy about it as those aren't cheap. The light came on but as the car gets heated up it would turn off. I won't bore you with the details but after an examination the best guess is that there's a component in the alternator which could go bad at any time, meaning it could be a month from now or five years from now. If it always stays on, that's when the trouble will start. I suppose I can't get mad about that happening given there's been little problem with the vehicle since I got it over 5 years and 89,000 miles ago. Believe me I have had issues with previous vehicles in the past, ones that were used and who knows how they were treated before I got them. They included a 1984 Lincoln Town Car, a late 80's Oldsmobile station wagon, and a 1996 Chevy Beretta that was received at 95,000 miles and lasted until more than 190,000 miles. Friday wasn't too exciting either. I knew Saturday would be action-packed (or at least that's what the plans were) so I decided to relax on Rebecca Black's favorite day.

In the newest installment of wacky spam e-mail, yesterday I received a pair which simply said, “So hard you can break an egg” and “grow a long and hard one”. Subtle.

Saturday, what a day of mixed emotions. I did not do anything until the evening. I decided to go into downtown Orlando to visit their theatre so I could watch Skyfall-a movie I heard many good things about, and that it was much better than a film I did not care for, Quantum of Solace-and then head on over to good old Mako's. I saw the film in a crowded theatre and turns out, it was as good as I heard. Even better than Casino Royale and it's definitely the most Bond-style film that Daniel Craig has done. After that, I walked back to the Mazda to change shirts and go in the club... only I noticed that it was closed! I had no idea. I decided to walk around downtown Orlando for a bit but I did not feel like going anywhere else to have a good time. I did pass by a pickup truck sponsored by Monster and they were handing out free drinks. I got their Rehab drink, which is tea mixed with lemonade. I am not a tea fan but that combo was better than expected. I only had a few sips of it then once I got home I put it in an empty Gatorade bottle to drink it on a different day. I looked online and this is scuttlebutt but apparently Mako's has new owners and they closed it down so once it opens back up it'll be under a different name and who knows if it will be the same or if it will be a more traditional club.

Sunday, the only thing I did was stay at home to watch the big Bears game in the evening against the Texans. The Bears lost 13-6 in a real battle where their QB got knocked out of the game and that was really it for the team (I'd rather forget about that rainy contest), so let me pay my final respects to Mako's. I had gone to it about two times before the summer of '07, but after that I went there often and for the most part I had at least a good time there if not a great time. Oh all the entertaining stories I've told here about that place, all the wacky events I saw there, all the attractive young ladies that were around... good times and great memories. Among the things that happened there:

Someone who says they were involved with casting with the show Beauty & The Geek (yeah, this was a long while ago) talked to me for about a minute; that's all it was. I did not have any further contact with that guy.

That drunk girl walking on the bar who was so drunk she fell off and splatted on the ground.

Several fights that happened in there.

A couple who were having sex right out in the open in the club.

The dirty dancing that I did with some random ladies.

The booty-shaking and dirty dancing that happened on their stage.

Back when you could pay a fee to go on their giant swing with a scantily-clad young seductress, I did that a few times and it was great!

And oh so much more. I know that some smartasses will comment on this situation and it'll be the usual idiocy from those idiots who have made comments about that old gal in the past. I'll ignore that and I'll say goodbye to that place. I will miss it and who knows when I'll go out again to party at some new place. Leave the memories alone, and this time I am being serious with that phrase and not sarcastic.

I'll be back a week from today. I do know that one day I'll have to be at the dentist to have my teeth cleaned and on Saturday night they are showing the pay per view portion of the big UFC event on the big screen so I'll be there, and I know I should have enough to talk about for that blog.

The Blog Where I Realize I Still Have Plenty Of Haters

I'll explain in a bit what I am referring to. This week ended up being more eventful than expected. Monday... it was not the best day. I won't get into it as it's my personal life. Don't worry it's nothing serious I need to say here. It's just that sometimes your best isn't good enough, you know. Let me instead mention that I did have dinner at a Five Guys (a quality place, as always) and after that I walked around for a bit at the nearby Altamonte Mall. That's all I really feel like saying. I don't feel like saying much more as I don't want anyone to feel depressed, you know. But hey, I don't want anyone to feel bad or worry about me. I'll be fine. Heck, compared to what all those people experienced in the Northeast a week ago, I should never complain.

Tuesday, I had free time in the afternoon so I decided to go to the local Epic Theatres and finally check out Paranormal Activity 4. It's probably a sign that I didn't go to see it as soon as I could like I did with the first three; in hindsight, boy am I glad I did not see it at its midnight debut. The two lead teenagers were actually good and you didn't hate them. The story, though, pure crap. There were massive plot holes and lapses in logic that ended up being infuriating. Then the ending was a total wet fart and not satisfying at all. Sure, the movie had creepy moments but overall it was wildly disappointing; I really liked the first three, so maybe the series is running out of steam doing the same old shit all the time.

Wednesday, it wasn't the most exciting of Halloweens. I stayed in and relaxed. I did watch some horror films, including the 2007 film Trick 'r Treat, which for some reason (probably drama-related in nature) was treated like crap by Warner Brothers and it deserved far better as it's a real good and fun anthology movie. I did discover that a wrestling fan who I had seen at local shows many times in the past (believe it or not, it's been almost three full years since I had gone to shows regularly; I have a hard time believing it myself) must follow me on Twitter as the day before I mentioned how PA 4 “left a bad taste in my mouth.” He replied to me and made the expected homosexual-related remark concerning what put a bad taste in my mouth. Cute, real cute. After all those years he's still MAD about me.

What the issue was... back when I reviewed local shows I said some things about him... all those things I stand by. He is a big fat bald guy who acts like an ass and I mentioned that and he obviously still holds a grude about it. Me, I am like “yeah whatever, dude” about it. Back 5 years ago when me and him were at the same show he took an unauthorized photo of me and posted it online. Incredibly creepy, yes. I did retweet that crude comment he made about me to show I still have haters after all of these years and to show off the intelligence of said haters. And he isn't even one of the minions of Jared David St. Laurent either. I know I haven't mentioned those guys in ages so if you're relatively new to these blogs... I'll just say that Jared David is a guy with a severe mental illness who tries his damndest to try and ruin people's lives and he's a loathsome pile of crap. The people who worship him are just about as bad. I haven't really thought of that pathetic gang in months; I am sure that revelation will make them mad. As that is about as much attention as they deserve... it probably shouldn't be a surprise then why I don't feel like going to shows any longer. The fact that when I look at results the past few years more often than not I wonder what in the blue hell is going on with a various promotion in terms of booking the fed and storylines and such things; I feel befuddled by it, you know. Unfortunately the local wrestling scene isn't like how it used to be in the good old days, to sound like a bitter old man.

Thursday, I went to Walt Disney World; Epcot, to be exact. I had some food from the Food & Wine Festival I wasn't able to get to the last time. There was even more whiny bratty kids there and rude A-hole parents there than usual; I tried to ignore that the best I could. The old band that they had playing there a few times a day this time was... 38 Special. Awesome. They played some random tunes and also the three ones you hear on the radio stations, and I saw various older people getting down to their music. Tremendous. I don't know if this is just BS as in this person just made it up because the lyrics could be interpreted that way, but according to that anonymous messageboard person, their most famous song Hold On Loosely is actually about choking your chicken! It's possible...

Friday was another lazy day, but Saturday I decided to get more exercise as I certainly could use it. I went to that James A. Van Fleet State Trail (the same one I biked oh so many months ago) and this time I walked part of it. It was nice to get some fresh air. The only wildlife of note I saw was a tortoise. Still, at least I did something out of the norm. I did go to Burger King afterwards; I wanted to use their Coca-Cola Freestyle and plus I decided to go with their Wisconsin White Cheddar Whopper again, this time with bacon and lettuce. A fine meal it was. Strawberry Sprite mixed with Vanilla Sprite is also a fine decision.

Sunday was NFL time, so I went to Friendly Confines to watch the Chicago Bears go against the Tennessee Titans. The Titans aren't a very good team, I knew this already. However, I was caught off-guard by just how much of a massacre the game proved to be. Tennessee looked absolutely atrocious! They made numerous mistakes and allowed Chicago to make many great plays and no surprise then the Bears won 51-20 in a game that wasn't as close as the score would suggest. It was great watching Chicago so thoroughly dominate someone. The rest of the month, the opponents of the Bears will be a lot more difficult than the Titans. December won't be too easy either but November is awfully tough.

There isn't too much else to say about my time there. Thankfully there wasn't any loathsome behavior I had to deal with that raised my ire and dander. One thing I noticed is that after I parked the Mazda and I walked to FC, there was dried-up vomit in the parking lot! Obviously, someone had a great time at the sports bar the night before. Once I got home, things were going fine... then suddenly I developed a headache and did not feel well at all. I have no idea why. I ended up taping something I wanted to watch live; yes, I still use VHS tapes to do this. It still works for me.

For this upcoming week, I plan on seeing a movie or two on the big screen. I know for certain I'll see the new movie Skyfall as hey, it's Bond and this time it looks more like a traditional Bond film than the other two Craig movies. Otherwise, there's the big election on Tuesday, and it is on purpose that I haven't said a thing about it until now; I will NOT be touching that with a 39 foot pole. I am sure I will participate in other interesting activities no matter what they are.

Frankenstorms, Walmart Creatures, & Ghoulishly Dumb Sports Fans

Yep, this will be another shorter than usual blog. I've had other stuff on my mind and other things are occupying my time. I won't get into those things, but today I'll have to be doing something, and hopefully I do well on it. If not... meh.

Monday, I stayed at home and relaxed. So, let me skip ahead to talking about the Monday Night Football game between the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions. I watched it from the comforts of home. Unfortunately, the game was really not a pleasing one to watch. A lot of offensive ineptitude on both sides. Thankfully, at least the Bears won 13-7.

Tuesday, I had free time so I was able to go out and visit some places for the first time and a familiar standby. Earlier in the year in Winter Park a Bojangles fast food restaurant opened. The only time I had eaten at one was years ago; I don't remember which city but it had to be on one of the trips I took either from Florida to Illinois or returning from Illinois back to Florida. I remembered it as being fine. I finally went there on this day, and I also thought the food was fine. Not great, but still fine. The next time I go there I won't have the roasted chicken bites, as they weren't as fantastic as I was hoping. I did have Cheerwine for the first time. That stuff is tastier than I expected. After that I went to a grocery store in Dr. Phillips I had passed by many times but never went in; it's known as The Fresh Market and the name really says it all. It's another one of those joints (it's a chain on the East Coast) that's a fan of the organic movement. I say that at least part of the movement is based on poppycock, but that's another story for another time. Some of their products are unique and they looked interesting so I got a few of them. If only I also could have gotten the rather hot brunette who was walking around in a tiny grey dress and brown boots... but she had a boyfrend with her, so no dice there. After that I went to the nearby Pinkberry; I heard they had a pumpkin flavor. They did not. Instead I had their original, with a lemon topping. That was real good.

Wednesday and Thursday were rather boring. So, let me skip ahead to Friday, where all I did was go to Walmart to pick up a few items. It's how my schedule worked out but I knew there would be plenty of people there on an early Friday evening and I was right; it also meant dealing with a whole lot of Walmart Creatures (i.e. Walcreatures); the website People of Walmart will show you why I do that particular stereotyping. While I did not see anyone who needed to be on that website due to them being a total trainwreck, I still experienced such things as yelling kids and oafish adults. Not a surprise, but it doesn't mean it was not annoying.

I would also like to mention that I am glad the heavily hyped Frankenstorm did not hit Florida. Friday was pretty windy and it cooled down this weekend, but otherwise the weather wasn't much of a factor at all. I am sure that next year the Syfy (i.e. the former SciFi) channel will have some sort of movie shown with the name Frankenstorm. You just know it'll happen, especially if the storm F's S up like it's predicted to. Also, as an aside, when I talked about that lady wrestling show I attended, I saw two different shirts inspired by the Dawn of the Dead poster. The first one was for the popular iPhone game Plants vs. Zombies, and the second was The Dude of the Dead. Yes, a Big Lebowski reference. I happen to be one of the few around my age who hate that film, but to each their own.

Sunday Sunday Sunday, I went to Friendly Confines to watch the Chicago Bears play against the Carolina Panthers. Carolina was likely better than their record and I know the Bears isn't as good as their record, where they've only had one loss. This game... a lot of it wasn't pleasing to the eye for the Bears fans. They all but had their pants pulled down due to how badly they played for a lot of it. But, they were at least able to cause field goals instead of touchdowns and when Chicago finally got it going, they were somehow able to get a win by one point. Boy were there plenty of whiny Bears fans around and that is unfortunate. I tried to be chill about it and even if they would have lost I would not have been as upset as those guys were. Then, there was the guy I've talked about before, known as TUGBOAT. From previous impressions I thought he was a jolly old wacky guy. On this day, when I had to sit not that far from him while football was on, he is just another A-hole sports fan, and a pretty bad one at that. He is a fan of the Indianapolis Colts, who have had a rough past few seasons, admittedly, but they've been better than expected this year with a high-profile rookie QB who is still a rookie, so of course he won't be picture-perfect. Man was there a lot of whining and crying on his part... and the Colts won in overtime! Yet he still seemed unhappy about it. What a massive disappointment.

After I left there, I stopped at Burger King before heading on home. Someone I know wanted food from there so I helped them out. I got mad at that place earlier this year for various reasons; my time at a BK (it was different from the other ones in the area I've visited) it took forever to make and then my simple order was screwed up. At least their limited edition White Wisconsin Cheddar Whopper and their Gingerbread shake was real good.

I'll be back a week from today. There isn't too much planned for the upcoming week but I know I'll stumble into a few things... and find enough people that will make me shake my head.

Trader Joe's, Louisiana Hicks, & Wacky Spam E-Mail

I'll start this off by talking about the spam e-mail I've gotten as of late, all concerning concoctions that allegedly increase the size of your penis. The first one I got was “Challenge Mike Myers As The Love Guru.” Yes, a reference to that film from 2008 that most people likely have forgotten by now. Plus, while I've only seen some clips from it I am pretty sure that the title character isn't some sort of sex machine type who has an enormous schlong. The other ones I got of note were “Germany Shows Portugal The Strength In An Extra Inch” and the incredible, “Tim Russert's Sex Scandal Exposed At Funeral.” Um, what? How in God's name did they come up with that dead celebrity to use to sell their scam product?

As for Monday, the only thing I did was go out with someone to a nearby restaurant, and this time it was a joint I hadn't been to in too long... IHOP. They now offer up chicken & waffles and I partook in that. It was tasty. What was even tastier was their 70's-riffic soundtrack they were playing. It was everything from the Doobie Brothers to a disco song or two even I hadn't heard of before, and my two personal favorites of the time we were there, Soul Makossa and Stevie Wonder's Boogie On Reggae Woman. I definitely was not expecting to ever hear tunes like that at an IHOP restaurant.

Tuesday through Thursday were dull. I didn't do much, aside from going to Walmart one day to get some random items. So, let me skip ahead to Friday, which had plenty for me to talk about. I actually went out and about, took a different way to go to a city I hadn't spent much time in, and I went on more than a short drive to see a wrestling show. What I did in the evening was go to Ybor City (a neighborhood right by Tampa that used to make millions of cigars and still now has up a bunch of old buildings and oddly enough is now a big nightclubbin' spot) to see an all womens wrestling show in a club. I know that makes it sound like I watched hot oil wrestling or ladies wrestling in their underwear. Rather, it was legit good wrestling involving talented lady wrestlers; it's better than most of the wrestling you see in WWE, as for the longest time they've had random models trying to wrestle and it usually does not turn out well. But before that... I went to a Trader Joe's for the first time ever.

Now, I've had some food from there in the past, but it was from other people who brought it back home from elsewhere. I had never been inside one before. Awhile back they first opened a store in Naples, which is a long ways away from where I live. A few months ago they opened the second store in Sarasota and on Friday I decided to go there. I did not take an Interstate route; rather, I decided to be different and went on back roads to get there. It would have been a better drive if not for all the dunderheads on the highway, doing such things as tailgating me; unfortunately that isn't a rare happening in Florida. Once I made it there, the store wasn't as large as I suspected, but they were able to pack a lot of items in there. It was quite crowded, which did get annoying at times. They have quite a unique variety of food and drink items for sale, and the prices are real good, so I was able to get a number of items for only 40 bucks and change. If they had one in Orlando I'd go there at least once in awhile. Sure, it's quite hipster-riffic in various ways (from the names they give some of their foods to how 60's music was the soundtrack of the store... note I am not hating on that; I thought it was awesome, as it reminded me of my youth when there were still oldies stations on the radio) but overall it was neat.

After that, I went through St. Petersburg via the awesome Sunshine Skyway bridge and ended up in Ybor City. I parked in a parking garage by a club that had a famous band playing there that night... GWAR! No kidding. That weird-ass band is still around. I walked to the show and price gouging aside (should a big plastic cup of Pabst Blue Ribbon really cost 8 bucks? Shame on that club) it was a real entertaining show. It was also nice seeing familiar faces I hadn't seen in far too long. After that I walked around Ybor City for a bit but I didn't go into any of the clubs. I had a feeling that there would be price gouging all over so saving my cash was the best thing to do. By far the most popular place there was a big dance club and most of the people waiting in a long line to get in... let's just say they were dressed as if they were going to an LMFAO concert. Rather silly, in other words.

Saturday I stayed at home and relaxed so I'll skip ahead to Sunday. While my favorite team the Bears aren't playing until tonight, I still went to Friendly Confines for dinner and as I figured it wouldn't be as busy as usual for a Sunday there during the NFL season (I was right), why not go there? I ended up having more to talk about than I expected. I watched all two games that were on at the time and I had dinner than dessert. I was at the bar (as always) and I only had soda for refreshment. At first, I sat not that far away from a skeevy-looking guy who at least wasn't an ass and he was also a Bears fan. After he left, in came some ladies, and one of them... she didn't make herself look real good. She was a loudmouth and she was dropping F-bombs like it was nothing. If she would have been a cool lady then that'd be one thing, but just from listening to what she was saying and how she was acting, she came across as a really NOT nice person, and that's a major turn-off. Once they left... oh boy.

Once those dames left, in came a pair of guys, and they were so stupid they reached a Ryan Lochte level of ignorance. I presume everyone has heard enough of Ryan's absolute stupidity to get my reference. While they weren't exactly like him (they didn't use “like” every third word as if they were a braindead 15 year old girl and they never said “Jeah!”) I am just talking about intellect. They had obvious Southern accents; they didn't help their cause but trust me I am not stereotyping them just for that. By the time they were there I was consuming my dessert; it is known as Strawberry Bites as it's pastry filled with strawberry filling and it's topped with ice cream and whipped cream. It's real good. One of them asked what I was eating and I had to tell them a few times the name of the food item I was consuming. It was more of the same when they were conversing with one of the female bartenders. They were so stump-dumb I felt bad at all the repeating that had to happen. I was starting to wonder if they were good at sniffing paint thinner; really, how else would you explain them asking her (I don't think they had met before that day) to babysit their Great Dane, get real offended when she simply asked them where they were from then asking if they lived in Orlando (they were from Louisiana and they never answered why they were in Orlando) or have trouble understanding what the complicated dessert known as “Chocolate Brownie” was... I swear, this is ALL true. If that wasn't bad enough, listening to them talk about football... they were the worst kind of whiny crying overdramatic drama queen. I was so happy to get away from those dumbasses. What Louisiana hicks.

Yep, I run into the most interesting people sometimes. When I post my next blog a week from today, I am not expecting it to be as entertaining as this blog was. I know I'll be talking about a pair of Chicago Bears games but that's about it.

Stories of Liam Neeson & Casually Racist MMA Fans

Once again, a week that wasn't too exciting aside from some interesting evenings. Monday and Tuesday weren't really worth talking about, so let me skip ahead to Wednesday. I decided to go to a different movie theatre to catch out Taken 2. I went all the way up to Deltona to see it, as they have an Epic Theatres up there which is out in the boonies (which may explain why when I was there, hardly any vehicles were there; maybe that place has become an... epic fail!) and the reason why I went there was that they have two giant screens and the movie was shown on one of them. Before I went there I had dinner in Altamonte Springs at a Jersey Mike's sub shop; that place is fine but there are others I enjoy more. While I was there I heard discussion amongst the employees over how they recently got a counterfeit 100 dollar bill, of all things. After that I walked around the nearby Altamonte Mall for a bit then went up to Epic.

Speaking of epic fails, Taken 2... the first movie is a lot of fun and entertaining for what it is. The sequel, though, that is no fun. The story sucks and the action was filmed in a shaky-cam and way too quick editing style, so much of it is hard to make out. I almost always hate that crap. Then, there were all the preposterous situations and things that just don't make sense. Such, as the finale. What a limp resolution to the conflict with the villain. What a disappointment. At least it was nice to see it on a giant screen... although at times I almost got motion sickness from the camera shaking around so much. Also, Liam Neeson did his best with the crappy story. I won't get into the journey there and back, except that I had to deal with some real nincompoops on the highway.

Thursday and Friday, the only thing of note is that one of the afternoons I was at Target looking for something, when I stumbled across something that gave me “the feels”, to use a douchy term that has become popular this year. I found some apple cider. That reminds me of my youth from when I was a kid growing up in Belvidere, Illinois. There was (and still is) an apple orchard known as Edward's Apple Orchard. I remember going there every fall as a kid, and amongst the things they sold were cinnamon apple donuts and apple cider. Leave The Memories Alone! Anyhow, the past few years, someone I know has brought down apple cider from there for me to drink. That has an effect on my digestive system but it's oh so good! I know, an overshare of information...

The excitement was on Saturday night. There was a UFC pay per view. It was from Brazil. I did not see the Facebook fights but I watched the prelims and then the pay per view at good old Friendly Confines. After that big blow-up I had over the local Buffalo Wild Wings last month, it'll be some time before I return there. As there's no Bears game this week, I figured it only made sense to make the drive there. It's a sports bar during a busy day and night (plenty of college football along with a big baseball game) so I was expecting some idiotic boorish behavior there and I was not let down. Not to stereotype (as I never do such a thing...) but the most obnoxious loudmouth fans there were supporters of the Florida Gators and the New York Yankees; that is no shock to me at all. There were also drunken buffoons around and I tried my best to ignore them, but a few times I did flash some dirty looks when I absolutely had to. Yep, I'm still not a real people person. Anyhow, there were at least some decent people around, from cheerleaders that looked to be around 13 or 14 years old, to a dwarf, to some nice-looking ladies, to people that looked like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Stana Katic. A wacky night, as you can see. Unfortunately...

It was clear that there were some racists present, or at the very least bigots. Now, I am not a fan of Anderson Silva (the main eventer, and remember, a Brazilian guy who was fighting in a pay per view that was taking place in Rio, Brazil) despite his great skills and how he's one of the best MMA fighters of all time. It's definitely not because he's not white. Rather, it's his attitude and how in some fights in the past, he treated things like a farce when he shouldn't have. That's the main reason. So, the main event was him vs. a white guy who is a veteran but wasn't close to being in Silva's league. Things went how most people expected and the racists there were PISSED, yelling about how when the fight was stopped it was BS (despite it not being the case at all. The white guy was hurt pretty bad) then when he was interviewed after the fight he of course spoke in his native Portugeuse, as it only made sense to. The racists then yelled, “Speak f*cking English!” Lovely. That's not even getting into the big debate over if you live in the United States you must speak English or any of that thorny topic I will not touch with a 39 foot pole. Rather, it's the idiocy of getting mad at a Brazilian for speaking his native language when the show is IN Brazil. What a bunch of dumbshits those guys were, and not just for their bigotry. From what I heard on Twitter, racists getting mad at Anderson Silva did not just happen at Friendly Confines, but likely at many sports bars across the country. Sigh...

My Sunday was boring; I just stayed in and watched some NFL action. So, I'll mention now that when I post my next blog a week from today, I won't be talking about the Bears again (as their next game isn't until Monday night the 22nd) but I still have an idea or two in my head in terms of things to do which will at least give me something to write about and will be different from the 2012 norm for me.

A Happy Columbus Day/Canadian Thanksgiving Day Blog

I know, but there isn't too much else I could use for an interesting title so I might as well mention the holidays that are taking place today.

Here's what I've done since last Monday. Monday the 1st was rather boring.... until the evening. Sure, I was at home but I still watched the big game between the Chicago Bears and the Dallas Cowboys. I had no idea how that would turn out. Turns out, Dallas played pretty terribly and that was a key factor in Chicago winning 34-18. I was happy with how the Bears looked.

Tuesday, I went out and about... to Walt Disney World. Yep, humblebrag. I went to Epcot in particular; I needed to use my new annual pass and why not go to their annual Food & Wine Festival to eat some different foods and enjoy the sights and sounds? Sure, the sights and sounds include whiny screaming kids, A-hole parents who do a terrible job raising their kids, and buffoonery caused by people drinking alcohol... but at WDW I am used to bad family behavior and with how Epcot sells booze, it makes things worse. But I still had a fine time there, despite it being off and on rainy. Yeah, I did have some alcohol myself; it was hard cider. I went to the Mitsukoshi store that is in the Japan area; I got some food & drink; they certainly offer some unusual treats there. Also, I have to mention that during this time, a band from the 90's was playing in the stage area. During this time of year they always have some old band/singer performing there. In the past I've walked by performances from Boyz II Men and Hanson. That made me feel ancient as I remember their songs from my youth. Well, this time it was Sugar Ray. Yep, it still made me feel old. The other acts there this year include Howard Jones, Blues Traveler, and Air Supply. Believe it or not, all of these acts are pretty popular, at least from the times that I've walked by them in the past.

Wednesday I laid low; Thursday, I did go out for something great. On the way to Downtown Disney, I stopped to get gas, then once I got there I walked around, ate dinner, then made it into the AMC Theatres before the heavens opened up and it started pouring rain. I heard that where I live, it was real bad weather, with thunder and lightning and a lightning strike real close to the house. I am glad I was at AMC watching a one day only screening of a classic film that was remastered for its Blu-Ray release next month... Lawrence of Arabia. Needless to say the film is still a bonafide classic and it was great seeing it on the big screen, the true proper way to see a film of such scope. It was a long experience as they had some special features before they showed the really lengthy movie; it started at 7 PM and I did not get out of the auditorium until 11:15. I am certainly glad I went and saw it, though. It is a great movie.

As I did absolutely nothing Friday or Saturday besides once again laying low, let me mention a rather interesting subject line to a spam e-mail I got. All it said was, “Grow a big package today.” Alright then...

Sunday, I went and watched the Bears play again, this time against Jacksonville. It was up in Jacksonville, but I wasn't able to pull it together and make it up there. If I would have known way back last December that Chicago would be playing there, I would not have made the trek up there to see the Jaguars play against the San Diego Chargers, and them get their ass kicked. Still, that day was pretty fun overall even with my anger at bad traffic and other things, like some less than intelligent fans who I had to be around. One person who I wouldn't put in that category was that nutty young lady who called herself SPACE CASE. What a wacky enthusiastic Jacksonville fan. I wouldn't have minded being around that loony dame again... I still had a fine time at Friendly Confines, even with the usual idiots that are there, the types that are loudmouth jackasses, bellowing and moaning and even shrieking all the damn time. What drama queen idiots. As I usually am able to do I just tuned them out and watched the games. On this day, the score at halftime between the Bears and Jaguars was 3-3. Not pulse-pounding excitement. However, in the second half they opened up a can of whoop-ass and the final score was Chicago 41, Jacksonville 3. While it would have been nice to have seen the Bears streamroll an opponent in front of a crowd that I heard was filled with Chicago fans, watching it in a sports bar was still a nice experience.

Unfortunately, another lean week for me, as you can see. I am hoping the next blog will have more entertainment involved. I know I'll be going somewhere to watch the upcoming UFC pay per view; the Bears have a bye week so I won't be talking about them. I am sure I will watch Taken 2 sometime this week; I saw the first one on the big screen and enjoyed it for what it was. I'll have to find some activities to do, if only to provide material for me to write about.

A Boring Short Blog, But I Did Pour 'em A Glass Of LOL's

I know, a bizarre title, but I did not come up with the phrase “Pour'em A Glass of LOL's” on my own. You won't believe where I got it from.

Monday... well, Monday was rather dull. I kept it on the downlow. However, in the evening I did watch part of that now controversial game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks, and I did see that preposterous ending live, and I was stunned. Green Bay got shafted... and I am a fan of their big rivals, the Chicago Bears. Man did Facebook and Twitter blow up after that happened. I did contribute on the latter, retweeting funny comments about how the WWE and their Monday Night Raw was more legitimate than Monday Night Footbal, and that the XFL is also more legitimate. There was then a trend of various things that are better than the replacement refs that the league has which has been the cause of so many problems with the NFL this year and why that has turned me off; there were many funny ones along with plenty of really off-color ones. I didn't make any “too soon” remarks and instead listed some things that were better than the refs, such as Honey Boo Boo and Chris Brown. Man, Brown and Rihanna really deserve each other; what terrible human beings they are. Anyhow, that Tweet of mine got retweeted 7 times, six by random young ladies. Hmmm. I was and am flattered.

Tuesday, the only thing I did was go to Winter Garden Village where I went to Staples and picked up an item or two, then walked on over to Planet Smoothie where I picked up a beverage as I had a coupon for one for cheap. Wednesday, the only thing I did was go get a haircut. I know, pulse-pounding excitement. Thursday, the only thing I did was go with someone to a restaurant in Clermont that opened recently but I have been at one of their Orlando locations before; I am referring to Graffiti Junktion, a sports bar sort of place where you do see graffiti all over, and the food is pretty good. On this night, I enjoyed my almost-always of a burger and fries. The person I was with wasn't as big a fan of their food but that is OK.

Friday, the only thing I did was go to Walmart. I bought a few items, including some Welch juice. The flavor was Berry Pineapple Passion Juice. If you've bought any juice from Welch recently, they have various random phrases on the top of the packaging. I did not see this until I got home, but the phrase on top of this particular container of juice... “Pour'em A Glass of LOL's” I couldn't believe it. I can't explain what the phrase means or how Welch's products will make you laugh out loud or why you want such a thing to happen. Still, at least it made me LOL.

Saturday was another dull day where all I did was watch the UFC show from England, both on Facebook and then Fuel TV. It was really good, quality-wise. Name-wise it wasn't huge but that is OK. Sunday, finally I have something to write about. The Bears don't play until tonight (who knows how that'll go) but I still went to Friendly Confines in the late afternoon, in order to watch the late games and have dinner. It was the usual there. You know, some meatheads that I try to ignore but more often than not I am able to laugh at their total drama queen ways instead of being too annoyed at them. There were some fun games to watch too, so that was nice.

I did witness a phenomenon for the first time, and it involved D-bags who I figured were D-bags as soon as I saw them. I know, I stereotype too much... this time it was founded, as it usually is. I did not know of this until last year when I heard it discussed on a podcast, but if you're a college dude and you are “getting Iced” it means that a bottle of Smirnoff Ice is presented to you in a surprising or “clever” way. You show it to someone and tell them you're Iced, and that person has to get down on one knee to at least chug part of it. I am not making this up. They certainly never did this sort of thing when I was in college in Illinois back in the Stone Age. There's always the trick with the bottle of beer where if your buddy's beer almost full and you take the bottom of your bottle and tap the top of the other person's bottle, your buddy's beer will foam up and they have to slam it down to avoid a mess. Never happened to me but I saw it quite a few times and I am sure it's still done now. My stereotyping of those guys was proven right when I saw them do an Icing on one of their own. I can't believe I got to see it with my own eyes.

When I post my blog next week, I am sure it will be more eventful than this one. I'll have two Bears games to at least mention, and on Sunday they'll be up in Jacksonville to play the Jaguars. My plans for that game... uncertain as of now. It may be a big roadtrip for me and it may not. You'll have to wait until next Monday to find out what I ended up doing.

Ninja Rap, iOS6, & Running Like A Scalded Ape

I do apologize for that angry rant I posted yesterday morning. I was pretty upset at various members of humanity and I had to share my feelings. I did feel more like myself Sunday afternoon and today I am feeling fine. Now, I was looking at something online in the past week and a person used the phrase “runs like a scalded ape”; I laughed so hard I had to use it here.

Monday the only thing I ended up doing was going to the local World Market to look and see what they had and I mainly got some snacks from Australia... mate. Aussie-style licorice is pretty tremendous if you've never had it before. Of course, in the evening I watched the final episode of Perception, at least until it returns in 2013, presumably in the summer. I will miss that wacky and goofy and yet entertaining at the same time show.

Tuesday was uneventful so let me skip ahead to Wednesday. I went out and about in the evening. It wasn't until the night before that I figured out what I was going to do. I saw an advertisement for a restaurant known as Brick House Tavern & Tap; I clicked on it and turns out they have a handful of locations Texas and to the east. I wondered if it was going to be a hipster/douche kind of joint; after all they had something known as “man cave sauce” and one of their items is “the gun show burger”. Still, I wanted to check it out. They even offered up something they called a beer bong! No, its not the funnel and tube like you'd find at a standard college kegger on a Saturday night (or a certain nightclub in downtown Orlando...). Rather, it's a big glass tube with a wooden base and a tap on the side. Interesting, for sure.

It turns out, the place is really nice, from the layout to the brick theme (and there's even a fireplace) and big soft chairs, even at the bar. One of the unique food items they offered was chicken & waffles; as I've never gone to Roscoe's in Los Angeles to have their chicken & waffles, I figured I should have it here. It was really good! I sat at the bar and as it was only a buck at the time, I had a can of... Pabst Blue Ribbon, and in a small brown paper bag! That doesn't exactly dispel the idea that it at least is partially a place for hipsters, but even with that I still think the place is real cool so I highly recommend it. While I wish it wasn't on the pain in the ass road known as International Drive, that's where it is, just south of the Joe's Crab Shack they have there. Oh, and the bartender I had was appropriately built like a brick house! No kidding. After that I went to the nearby Pinkberry as it's been too long. I had their limited edition chocolate hazelnut flavor and that was pretty good.

Also during the day, in the afternoon I installed iOS6 onto my iPod Touch. Lord did that take a long time. At one point I thought it froze up, which did not make me happy. Thankfully, after an hour and a half it finally installed. Mostly I am “meh” to it as it doesn't really affect anything for me and it's largely the same as it was before. Still, in the evening I assisted someone I know in installing that on their iPod Touch.

Thursday, the only thing I did was go to a grocery store to get some items. That was it. Although, while responding to someone I know on Twitter about a pyramid-shaped building in Memphis, it reminded me of how I and some people I know went there for Spring Break in 2003 back during my college days. That was during a rather bad time in my life; I'd rather not go into details as to why it was bad for me, except that I was unhappy and feeling depressed most of the time for a variety of reasons. Not everything with the trip went right but it was cool to visit Graceland, some of their museums, and eat a peanut butter and banana sandwich in a restaurant. Oh, and I know I've talked about this a long time ago, but for 9 bucks a piece me and the gang went to a giant pyramid-shaped building to watch the Memphis Grizzlies beat the crap out of the Chicago Bulls. This was back when the Bulls were a pretty terrible team. It was cool to visit such a unique building but it was better in design than as an actual arena, so that's why it was quickly abandoned and a normal arena, the FedExForum, was built on Beale Street; I remember passing by it being constructed. I wish there would have been a Pyramid II but alas... of course as Memphis was named after an Egyptian city, that's why someone thought to build one in Tennessee. Now that arena is being converted to a... Bass Pro Shops store! But of course...

The excitement stated with Friday. The afternoon was dull but the nighttime was the right time for me, as it usually is. I went and saw Dredd 3D on the big screen. It was released elsewhere before coming to America, so I've heard a lot of strong praise for it and it blows the goofy mid 90's movie Judge Dredd out of the water. I saw the Sly vehicle a few days ago and yeah, still not a great film. Dredd 3D, though... pretty awesome. I am surprised by the general mixed reaction, especially from the action fans who I thought would have ate the film up. I thought it was a blast. It's simple yet effective and there's plenty of bloody action; that made me happy. After that I went to Mako's and wow, what an uneventful night aside from the usual wackiness. It just wasn't busy there at all for the most part. I know that early in the evening it was rainy but after that the weather was fine. I was befuddled at how dead it was. At least there was one thing to write about: early on when there was only a few customers in there besides me, they played a rather interesting song and a male employee danced to it on the bar; that tune? An infamous song from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. Yes, Vanilla Ice's Ninja Rap! I thought that was hilarious. Yes, I did see the movie on the big screen as a 10 year old. Hey, at the time I was a huge Turtles fan, as many around my age were.

Saturday... I already talked about that evening; I did watch the pay per view via less than ethical means. From the preliminary fights to the pay per view... I didn't see every fight but I did watch most of them and overall it was a good show. I did drink some alcoholic beverages while viewing the show and that did make me feel better. Sunday, I went to good old Friendly Confines to watch the Bears play against a rather lousy team, the St. Louis Rams. The game was rather lousy too, for the most part. Not all that exciting. But thankfully the Rams made some really stupid mistakes that helped out Chicago and partly due to that, the Bears won 23-6. Sunday was a fine day; sure, on the way there and on the way back the traffic was its usual poor selves and I saw some dipshit weave in and out of traffic on a city street as if he was Lewis Hamilton (or to use a more American example, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) and he did so in a Hyundai Accent, and I also got tailgated by some assclown, but sad to say that sort of behavior does not really surprise me when I drive in Florida so I was appalled but I did not get angry about it.

As for the upcoming week, I am not expecting it to be too exciting. The Bears don't play again until Monday night October 1st so I can't write about that experience in the next blog. I'll try to do some things that are halfway worth talking about, at least. Hopefully I won't blow my top again and have to deal with some poor excuses for human beings.

A Special Sunday Morning Angry Blog

It's been a long while since I've posted a blog here and it wasn't on a Monday; but, Saturday night something happened and it seemed like the right thing to do to type this up late Saturday night while I am still fired up about it. To copy and paste (for the most part) what I wrote on Twitter and Facebook last night:

“Saturday night ended up being total crap; when you go to your usual spot to try and watch the UFC pay per view (the first one in more than a month due to a show being cancelled at the last minute; I've gone to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch it for more than a year and a half now) and hardly any TV are showing the prelim fights, there are plenty of meatheads around who are yelling and bellowing AND one of those yelling meatheads keeps on touching you trying to talk to you and claiming to know you when you've never seen them before... I left, went home, and became even less of a people person than usual; thus, I'll have to illegally watch the pay per view as much as I hate to do so; I am not as hot for the show as I was before tonight went down the toilet and for at least the next few months I'll have to try and find another spot to go to to watch the pay per views as I don't feel like returning to BWW anytime soon.”

I've never been the type to take sports so seriously. As cool as college football was (before it was revealed in many different ways this “amateur” thing was SO dirty and corrupt and money-grubbing and many schools would totally piss on tradition for an extra buck... that made me give up on it, pretty much), I've never been a Troglodyte for it; sad to say many people are like that, especially in the South. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting one of those dumbasses down here in the South. Being around so many of those meatheads soured my mood and after having to spend time close by one of those bellowing buttheads and then he tried to talk to me and claims he knows me from the past when I've never seen him in my life... I actually yelled at him (something rare for me if you've known me for a good amount of time) and told him to stop touching me, as I'd rather not have some A-hole I've never seen keep on touching me.

I know I've said it before here but I'm not always a people person. That seemingly is how I've always been. Now, of course I try to be friendly enough when I am out in public. I am not the talkative type but that's just me. Of course, when you try to talk in a group setting and more often than not you get blown off/ignored/been made clear you should not be talking... that is why I haven't become much of a people person. I wish that wasn't the case but alas it is. Usually that is A-OK with me; I often don't mind doing most things on my own, or driving to places and meeting people there. That's just me.

Sure, this night was pretty bad but when I post my usual blog Monday afternoon, that should be quite a bit cheerier than this one is. The rest of the week has been fine. When I am out and about today hopefully I am not disgusted with the human race like I was last night.

The Recount Of Doing It Gangham Style & Zeppelin Exploding Terrible TV Shows

If you haven't heard about it now, there's a dance-y song out that became a viral hit; it's known as Gangham Style from Korean pop singer Psy. Besides the tune being incredibly catchy, the video is extremely wacky and so is the dance you see featured in the video.

Man, what an odd start to the week I had. Monday itself wasn't too eventful, until the evening. As I've done for awhile now, I watched the show Perception. The show had some famous guest stars, like Freddy Rodriguez, Dave Thomas (yes, the former SCTV guy) and Steven Culp. It was a rather odd episode to begin with but then it took quite the ballsy left turn that in hindsight was pretty awesome. They also obviously trolled at least part of the fanbase by having something happen, and that amuses me. As that episode was ending I got on Twitter and got some shocking news, that being Jerry “The King” Lawler, legendary wrestler turned announcer legit had a heart attack during an episode of WWE Monday Night Raw. That was sad to hear as I used to be a big WWE fan and it was common nature to hear his commentary each and every Monday and while watching the pay per views. He's also an awesome pro wrestler and I've seen him wrestle a few times before.

To try and pick up my spirits I found and watched a really obscure but now a cult hit online movie known as Miami Connection, actually set and filmed in Orlando. A company found a print and has taken it on tour. It is SO bad and yet so hilarious no wonder it's become a cult hit. I have no idea if it'll ever be on the big screen in Orlando even though that makes the most sense so I was glad to find a copy of the full movie on YouTube to watch (but shhhh on that) and it lived up to the high expectations. It was a no-budget thing but those goofballs from the area I've called home since '04 tried their best. After that I had to watch a repeat of that night's Attack of the Show. Yeah, it was to oogle and goggle a certain brunette. I've never enjoyed the program but it was atrocious. A co-host was some Arabic guy I had never heard of before and when you could understand him, his “humor” was more like anti-humor. And of course he interviewed her. At least she was pretty and she was funny too.

Yeah, I think only I can have days quite like that.

Tuesday, I ended up going out to dinner with someone I know; as it was close by we chose the nearby Bob Evans restaurant. The two times I've been to that location, it was mainly filled with old people, which is alright with me. I'd prefer them to bratty little kids, who were there too and I had to sit not that far from those noisemakers. Good job on the parents to control those hellions, I say. After that, the evening wasn't too exciting, but I did watch a lesser-known movie featuring that brunette, and it was certainly more entertaining than I expected. You can read my movie reviews over at: http://blairreviewsmovies.blogspot.com/

Wednesday. I did something I really should not have done, but to be fair I had to see it for myself to confirm my suspicions that it was the worst show of all time, and boy this was proven true. I could only make it a few minutes but I did indeed watch the tire fire/train wreck/zeppelin explosion that was Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. The Hindenburg going down in flames... less of a disaster than this show! After that experience, I almost wish that the Mayans were right concerning the world ending in December, because of people actually enjoy that worthless exploitative garbage... sigh. It's not even the fact that most of the family is disgusting white trash, it's that they're so happy to be exploited and to have many people laugh at them while they do obviously staged events. And people are happy to laugh at these buffoons. I do feel sorry for that 6 year old girl, though. She's just cursed.

Thursday, I went out and about. I ended up at the MovieStop by the Florida Mall. I looked around, turned in a few DVD's and got some more, then I ate dinner at the Dairy Queen inside the mall and walked around for a bit. While I was at the mall, I experienced quite the event... in the men's room. I was in a stall, when I noticed what certainly looked like a 100 dollar bill on the ground. My eyes grew wide and my heart filled with glee. After I finished, I picked it up.. it was actually an advertisement as on the back it talked about some sort of money making scheme that sounded like poppycock and hogwash to me. I was NOT happy about it.

I then ended up at the good old Friendly Confines to watch the Chicago Bears play against their hated (and longtime) rivals, the Green Bay Packers. The cheeseheads lost their first game, but it was to a really good team so there wasn't much shame in that. This game... it started off rather slow, but the Packers got going... and the Bears never did. They lost 23-10 but it wasn't as close as the score would suggest. Chicago just did not look too good.

At least I was able to have a few beers... and a big plate of chips and salsa, which I demolished. It took some time but the Wi-Fi finally worked there, so that provided a distraction, and I even made a joke about how the average Amanda Bynes drive was better than most of the Bears offensive drives; I patted myself on the back for that one. I had no idea until the next day that the young actress who has totally self-destructed got into yet ANOTHER fender-bender. She's had a shocking amount this year and I really hope she gets help for all of her personal demons. The same goes for Lindsay Lohan, who has a not too much better driving record, not to mention having many more problems in general.

Friday was rather boring; I just stayed at home and relaxed. Saturday, it was more of the same. I thought about going out and doing something, but it was rainy for part of the day and plus, I did not feel at 100 percent so I figured I would be better off staying at home and engag in more relaxation. Sunday, I did not do much more than that; I did at least use a coupon for McDonalds and that's what I had for lunch. Dinner was homemade tacos. I know, rather lame to have such a boring weekend, but next weekend for me definitely should be more entertaining. I have a variety of things planned, from seeing the Bears play a lousy team that they should be able to beat (the St. Louis Rams) to the UFC finally having another pay per view and barring any last-minute injuries (always a possibility for them considering the horrible luck they've had this year) it should be a good one, and other things that will be a surprise.

Football Discussion, Killer Klowns From Outer Space, & Rock Lobster (Ooh-Ah)

Here's a recap of what I've done since Labor Day. I kept it real on LD; I was pretty boring and had a burger and fries for dinner, both home made but it's still what I'll call my “almost always” when I'm out at restaurants. As always since July, I watched the latest episode of Perception. This time the episode seemed even wackier than usual. It involved a girl's neck getting broken on a college campus and somehow secret experiments being done on that campus to create a pill that gives an adrenaline boost that will be used on soldiers but of course it goes wrong... yes, that somehow tied into the episode. Pretty ridiculous... but awesome too.

Tuesday, the only thing I did was go to a Target that I had only been to once before. I wanted to do something different. I walked around and only picked up a few random items. The drive on the way there and on the way back was even more stressful than expected, so in the future I'll be going to the Target's I usually frequent, which are closer to me. Wednesday was boring and Thursday the only thing I did was go to Walmart, but what a bevy of shirts I saw there. I don't mean on sale; I mean, the shirts that I saw people wearing.

One dad was there with his toddler daughter and I do question his wisdom of wearing a t-shirt that was advertising a bar in Sint Maarten (I'm using that spelling, one of seemingly 100, to describe the area of the island of Saint Martin that is controlled by The Netherlands). The bar's name? The Blue Bitch Bar! No kidding. Sure, I've seen much worse in public places (including Walmart) but still... then, I saw a lady in her 40's who looked like a typical Walmart customer but she had on a tremendous black shirt. It was a Killer Klowns From Outer Space shirt! I have seen that wacky 80's cult comedy/horror in the past, but it's been years. The logo on the front closely resembled the orignal DVD cover; that was quite the great and unexpected sight.

Friday, that's when things picked up. I ended up going earlier than expected (long story) but I decided to travel on down to Lakeland and the movie theatre they have down there with an IMAX screen in order to watch the one week re-release of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I've seen the movie on VHS, DVD, and even on the big screen a few years ago when the AMC Theatres at Universal was showing it for a few days. But watching it in IMAX was pretty grand. The crowd was small; seeing it with a big audience may have made it even better. After that I ate at a nearby quick service restaurant known as Burger 21. I know it originally started out in Tampa and now it's in Lakeland and soon it'll be in Orlando. They offer up a good burger and fries and their chocolate malted milk balls milkshake was fantastic. I ended up eating outside in their patio area; sure, they had fans going but I only went out there as it meant not being by a certain customer. When I got in the restaurant I had to wait in line to order and I was right behind a loathsome creature; it was a young girl in high school who apparently is a cheerleader. She was talking to her poor boyfriend and not only was she LOUD for no reason at all, what she was saying and how she talked... she sounded like the most inane 8 year old you could ever come across. I was thanking all the possible Gods in heaven when she finally shut her yapper; I wasn't going to take the chance that she would start blathering away again while I was trying to eat dinner, so that's why I ate outside. They played random music over the loudspeakers and it shouldn't be a shock that I preferred the older songs they whipped out, such as Sussudio and other 80's ditties.

As for the drive there and back home... I ended up getting pretty mad. When you have people pulling out in front of you more than once and everytime it happened a wreck nearly happened... I am not going to be a happy camper. I don't even want to talk about some of the traffic I had to deal with.

Saturday I stayed in and relaxed. I also caught up on sleep. So, let me skip ahead to Sunday and the start of the NFL season. Even though I still think it's extraordinarily stupid the league is still using replacement refs instead of paying the regular refs to get their asses back on the field, I went to good old Friendly Confines to watch the Bears play against the Indianapolis Colts, have some food there, and check out the other games going on when I could. The Bears ended up winning 41-21. The Colts used to have a star QB who got hurt and couldn't play last year and a former quality team TOTALLY went down the toilet. I mean, much more so than they should have just from that one injury. That QB is now gone and they have a rookie starting as quarterback so I expected Chicago to win. The game started out horribly for the Bears but after that blip they played much better. I was amazed to see an actual effective Chicago offense as I'm used to them being... well, offensive. It was nice watching that and having their good food. If only it wasn't for the meatheads there... and in what isn't a surprise to me, some of those meatheads weren't that far away from where I was sitting at. Having to listen to them yell and be drama queens over their football team... that has never been my thing. I was happy to get away from them.

However, I was happy that the gravelly-voiced guy known as TUGBOAT was there. Remember, he was the gruff-voiced middle-aged guy who I say looks like former pro wrestler Arn Anderson and I had seen him there before. He and some of his pals were rather wacky; for example, I could not tell you why they opened a sugar packet, poured it onto the bar, then formed some lines to make it look like lines of coke, or why one of them fake snorted it up with a giant straw. But it did make me laugh, along with their love for the shot known as Rock Lobster, presumably named after The B-52's song. I found out later it is Crown Royal, raspberry schnapps, and cranberry juice. Apparently it is nectar from the Gods, at least according to those dudes. Early on they were talking about how great it is, then later when it was announced that for the next 15 minutes there would be 2 for 1 Rock Lobster shots, they lost their shit. I couldn't believe how crazy they became for a random shot. Oh yes I did laugh.

When I post my next blog a week from today, I know I'll be talking about a Thursday night (that's right, not Sunday) game between the Bears and Packers; I'll have to go out and about to watch it as I still don't get the NFL Network where I live and it seems like I never will. I'll also be doing a few other things including a likely trip to see a long movie marathon on the big screen.

The Oogieloves (and Blair Russell) In The BIG Balloon Adventure

I could not help but go with such a wacky title today; if you don't know, that Oogieloves film is a G-rated thing from some of the people who brought Teletubbies to America. It was released this past Friday to over 2,000 screens... and it was announced today that it's made less than 500,000 dollars! Broken down, that's only a few people per screening. That is literally the worst all-time for a movie released that wide. No surprise it did so poorly; if you've seen advertising for it, the title creatures are people in bizarre scary-looking costumes and the whole thing looks like a bad drug trip. And yet the movie features some famous faces, like Toni Braxton, Christopher Lloyd, and even Cary Elwes. One of these days I should watch it just to laugh at the atrociousness.

I should also mention that today is interesting in terms of famous songs. If you're familiar with the classic 70's song by Temptations known as Papa Was A Rollin' Stone, then you'll know that the first line states that “the third of September” is when the titular Papa dies, then the rest of the tune talks about how much of a lout he was.

Here's what I have done since this past Monday. On that night, I watched the latest episode of Perception. It was the usual from that show... meaning that I enjoyed it, and not just for the female lead. They almost always have at least one guest star of note, and this time it was both Edward Furlong AND Tom Sizemore; both guys are known for being on the drugs. Apparently Tom is off of it currently but that really ruined his career and that's a huge shame as if he wasn't hooked on the hard stuff for years, then his talent would have made him a bigger star. Given that a few days before the episode aired he got robbed of his wallet while in L.A.'s Skid Row as he “asked for directions” and it got stolen, I'll presume he's still hooked; he does not look the same as he did in Terminator 2. He looks older than he actually is and is bloated. There's another shame.

Tuesday was pretty dull so let me skip ahead to Wednesday. In the evening I went to the local theatre in Clermont (Epic Theatres, to be exact; usually that place isn't too busy, unfortunately for them) to check out the film Lawless. I hadn't even heard of it until a few weeks prior when it was heavily advertised on a UFC pay per view. I checked it out and knowing that I should have lowered expectations due to some of the reviews I came across, I managed to enjoy it. When it got bloody, it was real bloody. After I gave it its props online I came across some real negative reviews and that made me feel like a dope; I'm still sticking with my opinion.

Thursday, I ended up going to JC Penny's to pick up some pajama wear, to be honest. Let me skip ahead to Friday then, where I actually ended up doing something. In the evening I went to the Winter Garden Village area. I first went to World Market. I suppose it could be called a hipster place; of course there's no definitive definition of what a hipster even is and what a typical person who is in that category happens to enjoy. I just go by the stereotypes, which is always fine by me. As I've said before, some of the things they do is fine; others, though... anyhow, when I do go there I enjoy picking up food items and the gourmet sodas/beers they get from across the country and in terms of alcohol all across the world. This time I got a six pack of random single bottles of soda they had there, then a 10 pack of 5 different pairs of root beers. But don't call me a hipster! After that I went to the nearby Planet Smoothie to pick up a beverage. I know, what an exciting life I usually lead.

Saturday, I actually ended up going out and about. I did not have the best night's sleep and yet I wasn't able to take a nap. I paid attention to the college football as the season just started. There was nothing else to do so that's what I did... I doubt I'll pay too much attention after this day as in the past year I've griped about how college football has been ruined due to how there's been massive changes due to pure greed, corruption, drama, and then the whole Penn State thing... a MAJOR turn-off. Then again I'm not happy with pro football either as at this time they still have replacement refs as the usual ones are on strike and the NFL is being A-holes about it so even though the replacement refs are terrible they're still going with them for the start of the regular season... another thing for me to be turned off by.

Anyhow, in the evening I ended up at Universal Studios. I had found out the night before that their movie theatre (a place I hadn't gone to in a long while; several times I've had real problems with the crowd there) was showing The Blues Brothers, a flick I hadn't seen in many years. I arrived there, and possibly saw someone I knew walking to the parking lot. But, I wasn't sure if it was them and besides, the way I was feeling at the time, I was not at 100% at all. Despite this, I not only went out and saw that long-ass film, but I got a colorful alcoholic beverage from the bar they have at that AMC. It was one of a few Blues Brothers-themed drinks; what I got was cake-flavored vodka (yes), blueberry schnapps, and Sprite. Not very manly, I realize, but it was really darn good. As for the screening, I would have preferred it if it wasn't obviously a DVD projection (and that DVD print isn't so good to begin with) and the sound would have come from more than the front speakers; still, it was nice to watch that wacky film again and the small crowd there was at least into the movie and obviously were big fans going into it.

Sunday was a pretty boring day so let me mention one last thing to close this out: me talking about Florida drivers! I know, I always do it but this time let me mention a pair of stereotypes. If you see someone with stick figures on their back window telling you how many people are in their family, expect them to not be so good on the highway. I don't know about anywhere else but in The Sunshine State those stickers are popular. But of course. I had a problem with one of those people on the highway Saturday night. Also, Lincoln Navigator and especially Cadillac Escalade drivers will usually be awful on the road. I can't tell you the number of times that has happened to me throughout the years.

On this holiday I am also going to be boring. Thankfully, when I post my next blog a week from today I know I'll at least have the start of the NFL season to talk about, and I'll mention if the usual NFL-watching experience at the old Friendly Confines is the same... I'm betting it is. Also, Raiders of the Lost Ark is coming out this Friday for a week engagement at IMAX joints; I for sure will be checking that out.

Tales of Oogling/Goggling, Yodeling, & Being Skurred Of Hurricanes

Here's a recap of what I've done in the past week. Last Monday I ended up going out to dinner with someone I know and we decided to get crabs! To be exact, we went to a Joe's Crab Shack in west Kissimmee in a location that just recently opened. They are wacky and they enjoy talking about crabs. They're also a place that when we were there, many advertisements were plugging that they had Pabst Blue Ribbon. They must be going after the hipster crowd... I was that guy who didn't get seafood there. Instead I had chicken fingers and fries while my friend had some seafood. It was a fine-enough time there. The one time the waiters/waitresses danced (a trademark there) it was to the Quad City DJ's lone hit, C'Mon N' Ride It (The Train), which made me feel ancient as that song came out 16 years ago. Anyhow, I had only been to a Joe's once before, I think in '05 or '06, and it was nice to go somewhere different.

In the evening, Perception returned and boy, what an episode. It revolved around a psychiatrist offering up a pill that allegedly made gay people not gay; it was actually something else that resulted in “mind-blowing sex” (a phrase used a few times) and it was wildly entertaining.

Tuesday, in the morning I did a nice thing and dropped off someone at an airport. Instead of the airport in Sanford it was the infamous Orlando International one. Thankfully at least it isn't hard to navigate getting in or out of there. After I dropped that person off, I decided to head east and have lunch at Larry's Giant Subs, a place I can only visit once in a blue moon as now they only have one location and it's far away for me. I was happy to have a delicious sandwich there. After that I stopped at a random place or two before heading on home.

Wednesday and Thursday was pretty dull so let me skip ahead to Friday. I went out and about and ended up at The Cheesecake Factory, a joint I hadn't been to in too long. It was the same old same old there, but that's fine. Man, I wish that one HOT brunette who used to work there long ago still worked there. I apologize for sounding like a pig there but it's true. Of course I had a burger and fries. In terms of my evening... oh man do I know how to party! I watched something on the Lifetime Movie Network; I know, I know. Of course, it was a film starring Rachael Leigh Cook. It was a Canadian TV movie that hadn't been on American TV before. It's Stealing Paradise; I don't know why it's called that but it's about an MIT genius aeronautical engineer (believe it or not, Cook; even I was amused by that) who has a big project stolen from her by a co-worker. She gets pissed and someone kills that co-worker and everyone thinks it's her. It's a murder mystery sort of thing and no the twist isn't that she actually was the killer. It was someone else. It was fine and entertaining for what it was; of course I oogled and goggled her, to use a pair of words that someone I know online has started to use as of late. While I was watching that motion picture I consumed some alcohol, including a great concotion known as ZOMBIE KILLER, which is apple wine mixed with both cherry and honey. It's great, and no matter what anyone else may think I had a real good time on Friday night.

Saturday, oh what a day. In the late afternoon I left and ate some fast food before going to a German restaurant in Sanford. Someone I know was having a birthday get-together. For the past few years now it was done at that place. Despite my heritage, most German food isn't really for me. Too much onions and odd flavors. This time I had some Black Forest cake. It was really good! It was a fun time there, especially after the band appeared and played the traditional old-time music from the region. Yep, accordion time, singing/clapping along, and songs about drinking beer and getting drunk. Shortly before I left there was a yodeling contest; no, I did not participate but the person celebrating the birthday did. It's a friendly place so you can probably figure out what was done to declare the winner(s); it was fun, and it was amusing seeing the most intoxicated people there make the biggest fools of themselves while performing. From someone's recommendation I had the radler, which is like beer mixed with lemonade. It's actually pretty good.

After that I left and went to... Mako's! It'll be my last time there for at least the next few weeks. I had a real good time there. Besides the usual antics there with the games and loudness and people celebrating bachelorette/bachelor/birthday parties there and scantily-clad ladies, it happened to be the busiest I'd seen it there in a good amount of time, also. What I dug the most was that there was no shortage of good-looking females around. Of course I would greatly enjoy such a scenario, and I did. More oogling and goggling! The wackiest thing I saw there was a girl practically going into the men's room to yell at her wasted boyfriend and to drag him out of there. This time, no blotto'ed girs falling off of the bar. Oh, and I did get a bodyshot from a booty-tacular lady working there, and it was great. Who knows when I'll be back, though.

Sunday, the only thing I did was return to the Orlando International Airport to pick up that person and drive them back. I ate dinner at a nearby Chipotle. The day was pretty dull.

As for that big hurricane which was supposed to hit Florida but now didn't even come close to hitting any area besides Key West and the small islands around that awesome city, a lot of people in this state were awfully stupid about it and being fraidy cats and skurred about it when they really shouldn't have. It's not like this is the first hurricane to hit this state, for Christ's sake! I won't even get into the Republican National Convention being in town and how almost all of today's activities were cancelled way too soon and it turns out there likely was some rain in Tampa but that's it. It makes Florida look awfully stupid, them being dumbasses about something they should have plenty of experience dealing with. I don't want to rip on the state I live in all the damn time but I have to, especially when Floridians act this idiotic. It was rainy for much of Sunday afternoon and it was pouring rain this morning but otherwise the weather hasn't been out of the ordinary.

As for the upcoming week, I don't plan on doing too much. There was going to be a UFC show on Saturday but it got cancelled a few days ago because one of the main event fighters was a selfish A-hole, pretty much. I don't want to rant and rave about that too but I am like many in thinking the whole situation just flat out sucks. Now I'll have to find other things to do to keep me occupied. No matter what I'll be back a week from today, as always.