I know everyone will ask where I came up with such a strange title; it turns out that it's the title to a 1971 album by rock group The Faces. It's the album which has the song Stay With Me; this was back when they had Rod Stewart as their lead singer. I just discovered that album title a few days ago and I both laughed and shook my head. Anyhow, this is what I did from last Monday to today aside from Saturday, which I wrote about in a special blog I posted last night.
Monday, I went out to Winter Garden Village to walk around for a bit and purchase some cheap items. There were two thoughts that came to me on this day. First, I saw an ad on TV which was of a product that you spray on your hair in order to paint over grey hairs! As you can see, it sounds so preposterous it was almost to the end of the commercial that I realized it was a real product and not a spoof ad. Secondly, there's an artist I've learned of recently; he calls himself Gotye and unfortunately, when I see that name I think of Goatse! If you don't know what Goatse is... I'd rather have you look it up than me having to try and explain it here using language that isn't R-rated.* That is unfortunate as in terms of Top 40 music, I definitely prefer him to most of the dreck that you find in that format now in the past 5 or so years, both in terms of the music and his singing voice; the genre I've heard called electronic pop and his voice has been compared to Peter Gabriel or Sting; both sound accurate to me.
* The way I first found out about Goatse was a long time ago; I mean, this was in my apartment days at Illinois State University. I saw the address for goatse.cx without an explanation as to what it was written in chalk on the sidewalk. That reminds me of how back even further you'd find out about house parties to go to and get your underage drink on... not that I ever did that sort of thing... OK, I can't lie, that's what I did! Anyhow, once I got back home I looked it up and boy was I in for a shock! By the way, that website was taken down years ago.
Tuesday, I thought about doing something in the evening but by that time I was dead tired so I decided to be lazy and I stayed in instead. So, I'll mention something that I somehow neglected to mention in the last blog I did: I got a haircut. I definitely needed one. For the first time, the place that I go for haircuts had good business in the location they moved to at least a year ago. I didn't mind waiting for a bit as I felt a little better about how long they would be open before they shut down for good.
Wednesday and Thursday was rather dull; Thursday's highlight was me going to Target, after all. So, onto Friday and... Mako's! Truth be told I was going to go there on Saturday night but when I discovered there was going to be an MMA event in Ocala on that night, I just moved up my downtown Orlando adventure up one night.
It turns out that my time there wasn't as exciting as when I was there two weekends ago, where wacky things happened and some guy tried to start a fight with me. However, I still had a real good time there enjoying the usual sights and sounds; you know, drunk girls there who are customers dancing on poles, drunken dancing from guys on the ground, etc. I discovered that if you have some rolls of toilet paper on a long stick and you have a container of compressed air behind it, if you let the air go it literally creates quite the streaming effect! I know, sounds wacky all around but man is that place great, seeing crazy things like that at any moment.
The most noteworthy thing I can mention is that I ended up getting two bodyshots; as I've mentioned before, it's where a young lady gets on the bar and shakes her T&A right in front of you and then you get to consume a shot that is nestled in her bosom; it's great! However, I saw one guy receive one and a few times he tried to put his hands on the lass giving him one; needless to say that's a no-no and I wanted to chuck a beer bottle right at his head! I'm not saying that because the lady he was pawing was the dame who has been pretty nice to me the last few times I've been there; it's more of a common sense thing, as why would he think acting like that would ever be appropriate? What a cretin! I'll be back there one time sometime in May... if not more.
My Sunday was rather boring; I stayed at home to relax after the previous two days I had. So, I'll mention now that I'll be posting my next blog a week from today. The upcoming week does not have too much planned but as always I'm sure I'll stumble into something worthwhile.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
The Evil Elf & Socrates Pierre: A Recap Of My First-Ever Live MMA Event
I tell you, until Friday night I had no idea I would be seeing my first live MMA show last night. However, on Twitter Lance Storm (yeah, the guy who was in ECW, WCW, and then the WWE) retweeted an app that was in part created by former WWE wrestler Sugar Shane Helms (i.e. The Hurricane) called iMMA which lists all sorts of events and one feature shows you which events are happening the closest to you. I downloaaded the app onto my iPod Touch and then looked and saw that there was going to be a show in Ocala. I looked it up and actually saw some names I recognized so even though the cost was more than what I wanted to pay, I still decided to head on up there and thus at the last minute I ended up changing my plans around and I did on Friday night what I was originally going to do last night. When I post my regular blog the next afternoon you'll see what I mean.
Saturday, I left in the afternoon to head on up to Ocala. I decided to take the scenic route and I stayed on 27 until I got to Ocala rather than using the Turnpike and then I-75. I had to get gas and a little later get something to eat before I ended up at the venue. Well, I dun goofed, as they say. 27 was busier than expected. Plus, I only found this out as I was driving there, but Leesburg had a biker fest going on so needless to say I saw many two wheeled vehicles on the highway. I stopped in Leesburg to get gas, then it was closer to Ocala (Belleview, to be exact) that I had dinner at Burger King. I was finally able to use that coupon I had for one of their new smoothies... and, it wasn't worth the wait! I thought it wasn't too good at all. I'm officially done with BK for awhile. There are many better places to go to for a meal.
Anyhow, I enter the city of Ocala and as I've mentioned before way back when, that city has a real confusing mess of a street system in what the streets are called and how things are just organized in general. It's quite easy to get lost there. In fact, I had to do some backtracking on this day but I finally got to the venue (the Ocala Entertainment Complex) which is an inside nightclub and attached to it is pretty much a warehouse that has a covered roof but otherwise is open-air. Right next door is a big grass field so parking was no problem. It does have a lot of room. There were at least a few hundred people there. The one big thing I wasn't happy about... port-a-potties outside! Enough said. But hey, there thankfully was a big videoscreen that you could watch which used several different camera angles. Nice set-up. As I sat in the back it was the only way I could see what happened when the fight was on the ground.
In several ways this reminded me of an indy wrestling show. For example, the event was supposed to start at 7 but instead started at 7:30. There were 7 fights; more were scheduled but for various reasons they did not happen. Then again, the show was originally going to be at another venue (that was quite a bit north of this place, so I'm glad for the change for that reason) so I am just glad the show happened. The ring announcer (Dude McDuderson, as I never heard his name) seemed fine but the sound system wasn't all that great so I didn't hear most of what he said. Thus, for almost all of the fights I'm calling the dudes by what nicknames I was able to hear or other things that made me remember them.
Evil Elf defeated Texas Chainsaw. Yeah, those were the nicknames I heard. It was a back and forth affair for the one round it lasted, but Elf was able to get the win with a rear naked choke. A lot of his family/friends were there so there were loud cheers when he won.
Don defeated Ginger Zombie. Oh, this fight. I'm calling the guy Don as he had “Don” shaved into the side of his head. The fight stayed on the feet the entire time and only lasted like 2 minutes. It ended with Don drilling the ginger a few times in the face and he got knocked out so badly... he had to be stretchered out! Yikes. I hope that guy ended up OK. His g/f (either that, or his sister) was there and I don't need to tell you what sort of reaction she had. There was a delay after that as the paramedics had to attend to him, but after that, onto the third bout.
They had several spots open where you could purchase alcoholic beverages. I purchased a bottle of water early on... but after that I got some beer! They also had ladies walking around and you could order items from them and they were dressed in outfits that wouldn't look out of place at Mako's, actually.
Thundercat beat St. Pete Guy. Yes, that was his nickname, Thundercat. This was the only fight that didn't last one round; instead this went two. The main story is that most of the fight was on the ground, and Thundercat marked up his face with elbows, producing a nasty-looking cut. The doctor looked at it twice and the second time, he stopped the fight. As it was almost all Thundercat, I doubt things would have changed if the fight would have lasted longer.
Socrates Pierre defeated Blondie. Yes, that's his real name, Socrates Pierre. That's awesome. I call the other guy Blondie as his walkout music was Rapture, which I fully approve of. Most everyone else's was not too different from what you get at indy shows; you know, rock music that I usually don't give a damn about. The story here was that Blondie had success on the feet but Socrates took it to the ground and that was his world. He got the rear naked choke victory.
Intermission time. Yes, just like at an indy wrestling show. I'll mention here that while the crowd was filled with either bro types or white trash, they actually for the most part did not act too bad. I was expecting worse behavior. Even with the fights were on the ground I didn't hear much in the way of complaining. Oh, and whether working there or there to watch the fights, there were some rather attractive ladies around; I'll never carp about that.
Carlos beat Glitch Mob. Carlos had a mohawk while the other guy came out to the Glitch Mob version of Seven Nation Army, i.e. the song used in the G.I. Joe 2 trailers. The fight mainly stayed on the feet and the most notable thing is that on two occasions Glitch accidentallly got hit right in the peas and carrot. Soon after the second shot, Carlos got the win, making the crowd happy.
The ring announcer was fine, I suppose, although he shouldn't have tried to act so much like Bruce Buffer, as that just made him look low-rent.
Aaron Johnson defeated James Hammortree. Hammortree-from the area-was a fighter on The Ultimate Fighter: Liddell vs. Ortiz back in 2010. His opponent changed a few times but he ended up facing a dude from Georgia who had about a .500 record. This was quite short. Johnson got on a leglock and the ref stopped the fight. Now, that may have been premature... but I don't think James was going to escape the hold either.
There was actually a special guest there, and he happened to be an Ultimate Fighter winner. It was Orlando's Jonathan Brookins, who I understand is an unusual sort. No one there seemed to give a damn about him when he was interviewed in the cage. Then again, I'll be honest and say that I've never given a damn about any of the seasons of The Ultimate Fighter.
Thomas Saur defeated Warpath. If you don't know, Warpath has been around for years and he's a real journeyman, also having a .500 record but he has faced off against well-known guys such as Antonio Bigfoot Silva, Dan Severn, Don Frye (twice) and Bas Rutten. This time, he faced off against a local dude and this wasn't his night. Right away Warpath got drilled HARD in the head-I mean, it was loud-and ate a few punches and ended up on the mat, where he got in a North-South choke (of all things) and he submitted. The crowd went home happy so that was good.
Overall, I expected a bunch of short fights as that's the sort of thing you get at this level of show. I wish the card would have lasted more than 2 hours but that was how it turned out. It was entertaining and one of these days I'll go to another event of this level. Also one of these days I'd like to go to a UFC show but that's something else for another day.
I'll be back tomorrow afternoon with my usual blog where I talk about the rest of the week I had, which will have more tales involving alcohol.
Saturday, I left in the afternoon to head on up to Ocala. I decided to take the scenic route and I stayed on 27 until I got to Ocala rather than using the Turnpike and then I-75. I had to get gas and a little later get something to eat before I ended up at the venue. Well, I dun goofed, as they say. 27 was busier than expected. Plus, I only found this out as I was driving there, but Leesburg had a biker fest going on so needless to say I saw many two wheeled vehicles on the highway. I stopped in Leesburg to get gas, then it was closer to Ocala (Belleview, to be exact) that I had dinner at Burger King. I was finally able to use that coupon I had for one of their new smoothies... and, it wasn't worth the wait! I thought it wasn't too good at all. I'm officially done with BK for awhile. There are many better places to go to for a meal.
Anyhow, I enter the city of Ocala and as I've mentioned before way back when, that city has a real confusing mess of a street system in what the streets are called and how things are just organized in general. It's quite easy to get lost there. In fact, I had to do some backtracking on this day but I finally got to the venue (the Ocala Entertainment Complex) which is an inside nightclub and attached to it is pretty much a warehouse that has a covered roof but otherwise is open-air. Right next door is a big grass field so parking was no problem. It does have a lot of room. There were at least a few hundred people there. The one big thing I wasn't happy about... port-a-potties outside! Enough said. But hey, there thankfully was a big videoscreen that you could watch which used several different camera angles. Nice set-up. As I sat in the back it was the only way I could see what happened when the fight was on the ground.
In several ways this reminded me of an indy wrestling show. For example, the event was supposed to start at 7 but instead started at 7:30. There were 7 fights; more were scheduled but for various reasons they did not happen. Then again, the show was originally going to be at another venue (that was quite a bit north of this place, so I'm glad for the change for that reason) so I am just glad the show happened. The ring announcer (Dude McDuderson, as I never heard his name) seemed fine but the sound system wasn't all that great so I didn't hear most of what he said. Thus, for almost all of the fights I'm calling the dudes by what nicknames I was able to hear or other things that made me remember them.
Evil Elf defeated Texas Chainsaw. Yeah, those were the nicknames I heard. It was a back and forth affair for the one round it lasted, but Elf was able to get the win with a rear naked choke. A lot of his family/friends were there so there were loud cheers when he won.
Don defeated Ginger Zombie. Oh, this fight. I'm calling the guy Don as he had “Don” shaved into the side of his head. The fight stayed on the feet the entire time and only lasted like 2 minutes. It ended with Don drilling the ginger a few times in the face and he got knocked out so badly... he had to be stretchered out! Yikes. I hope that guy ended up OK. His g/f (either that, or his sister) was there and I don't need to tell you what sort of reaction she had. There was a delay after that as the paramedics had to attend to him, but after that, onto the third bout.
They had several spots open where you could purchase alcoholic beverages. I purchased a bottle of water early on... but after that I got some beer! They also had ladies walking around and you could order items from them and they were dressed in outfits that wouldn't look out of place at Mako's, actually.
Thundercat beat St. Pete Guy. Yes, that was his nickname, Thundercat. This was the only fight that didn't last one round; instead this went two. The main story is that most of the fight was on the ground, and Thundercat marked up his face with elbows, producing a nasty-looking cut. The doctor looked at it twice and the second time, he stopped the fight. As it was almost all Thundercat, I doubt things would have changed if the fight would have lasted longer.
Socrates Pierre defeated Blondie. Yes, that's his real name, Socrates Pierre. That's awesome. I call the other guy Blondie as his walkout music was Rapture, which I fully approve of. Most everyone else's was not too different from what you get at indy shows; you know, rock music that I usually don't give a damn about. The story here was that Blondie had success on the feet but Socrates took it to the ground and that was his world. He got the rear naked choke victory.
Intermission time. Yes, just like at an indy wrestling show. I'll mention here that while the crowd was filled with either bro types or white trash, they actually for the most part did not act too bad. I was expecting worse behavior. Even with the fights were on the ground I didn't hear much in the way of complaining. Oh, and whether working there or there to watch the fights, there were some rather attractive ladies around; I'll never carp about that.
Carlos beat Glitch Mob. Carlos had a mohawk while the other guy came out to the Glitch Mob version of Seven Nation Army, i.e. the song used in the G.I. Joe 2 trailers. The fight mainly stayed on the feet and the most notable thing is that on two occasions Glitch accidentallly got hit right in the peas and carrot. Soon after the second shot, Carlos got the win, making the crowd happy.
The ring announcer was fine, I suppose, although he shouldn't have tried to act so much like Bruce Buffer, as that just made him look low-rent.
Aaron Johnson defeated James Hammortree. Hammortree-from the area-was a fighter on The Ultimate Fighter: Liddell vs. Ortiz back in 2010. His opponent changed a few times but he ended up facing a dude from Georgia who had about a .500 record. This was quite short. Johnson got on a leglock and the ref stopped the fight. Now, that may have been premature... but I don't think James was going to escape the hold either.
There was actually a special guest there, and he happened to be an Ultimate Fighter winner. It was Orlando's Jonathan Brookins, who I understand is an unusual sort. No one there seemed to give a damn about him when he was interviewed in the cage. Then again, I'll be honest and say that I've never given a damn about any of the seasons of The Ultimate Fighter.
Thomas Saur defeated Warpath. If you don't know, Warpath has been around for years and he's a real journeyman, also having a .500 record but he has faced off against well-known guys such as Antonio Bigfoot Silva, Dan Severn, Don Frye (twice) and Bas Rutten. This time, he faced off against a local dude and this wasn't his night. Right away Warpath got drilled HARD in the head-I mean, it was loud-and ate a few punches and ended up on the mat, where he got in a North-South choke (of all things) and he submitted. The crowd went home happy so that was good.
Overall, I expected a bunch of short fights as that's the sort of thing you get at this level of show. I wish the card would have lasted more than 2 hours but that was how it turned out. It was entertaining and one of these days I'll go to another event of this level. Also one of these days I'd like to go to a UFC show but that's something else for another day.
I'll be back tomorrow afternoon with my usual blog where I talk about the rest of the week I had, which will have more tales involving alcohol.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Mixed Martial Arts, Not Having It My Way, & Hummingbird Vice
So, here's a recap of what I've done the past week. There is one thing from the preceding week that I did not mention but it actually relates to something that happened a few days ago. The Burger King that is located right in Clermont, I'm going to stop going there. In the past I've dealt with some stupid people and this time it was the last straw. It seemed like everyone there was brutally incompetent and enough was enough.
Monday, I went out in the afternoon to go to the local Publix to get some items, including a sandwich. On the way back I was on Highway 27 and saw that the northbound lanes were all closed down. Someone must have wrecked pretty bad and I know from where it was at, it was at the entrance of a big subdivision filled with old foagies who are retired (to put it bluntly) and I've seen plenty of stupid drivers coming in and out of there so no surprise someone caused what looked like a serious accident.
Tuesday through Thursday were pretty dull, although on Thursday I decided to go to another Burger King in the area. I have a coupon for a free small fruit smoothie, which I do want to try. I get down there, order food from an androgynous person (seriously, I have no idea if they were male or female. It was just like It's Pat) and guess which machine was out of order at the time? I was not happy but as they did have a Coca Cola Freestyle machine there (as many Burger Kings do now) so at least I was able to get that. But, I don't plan on going to too many Burger Kings in the future as I don't have it my way. When they ruined their chicken tenders by changing them into something much worse than they used to be... that broke my heart!
Before I get to Friday, let me mention a few things. Remember me ranting and raving earlier in the year about some random indy wrestler in Florida bashing women's wrestling? Well, it turns out that it WAS an angle and he promises to get involved with a girl vs. girl bout at a show next weekend. I don't know why that was done online given that only a few people at most would even find out about it, but that's how dumb local wrestling can be sometimes. By the way, I will not be at that show; it's promoted by a mentally ill guy who is NOT Jared David St. Laurent but does bizarre things online like having conversations amongst himself with various alter egos, among other things. His shows have many advertised wrestlers no-show, they're WAY too long, and the promoter himself is a middle-aged roided-up guy who has an enormous HGH-filled gut, as if he was in his third trimester. No thanx to me being there.
Oh, and recently I got a spam e-mail which was titled Hummingbird Vine, all about attracting those birds to my backyard. At first, though, I thought it said Hummingbird Vice! Why I thought
Friday, I had to pick someone up at the airport in St. Petersburg so I decided to spend some time in Tampa before heading down that way. I first visited the mall in Brandon now known as Westfield Brandon; it was largely the same as when I was there last, but I noticed there was a new milkshake place there; it's known as Shakeout and the gimmick is that you can add over 100 different items to your beverage, from cereal to fruit to candy and many other things. I had it with Reeses Pieces and Reeses cereal; I know, boring but it was pretty good. I then drove on over to the International Plaza, a high-end place that's by the Tampa Airport. I walked around there and again that looked largely the same as when I was there the last time. I had dinner there and I was cheap so I had some Chick-Fil-A, as nothing else there that was made quick tickled my fancy. After that I left to pick up that person and the journey was made home. Aside from the usual nincompoops on the highway it was a nice day.
Saturday, it was dull until the evening, when I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the latest UFC pay per view. Due to how things worked out it was the first UFC pay per view I watched there in almost 4 months, back when Brock Lesnar lost (to a really roided-out guy, it turns out, but that's neither here nor there). This time around, the show did not exactly please me. The fights I saw on Facebook and then FX weren't that great for the most part, and while most of the pay per view bouts were entertaining, I was actually let down by the main event. It was interesting... at first. But then when I realized how it was going to go, I was not happy. The main was a title fight between two guys who legit don't like each other due to some incidents that have happened in the past. As I legit don't like the champ for a litany of reasons, I was really hoping the challenger would step up and dethrone the champ. However, the challenger just fought a crap fight and wasn't able to do much of anything against the champ, and the champ fought a frustratingly conservative fight; thus, aside from some entertaining moments the fight was just completely boring to me. I was and still am baffled by all the praise I heard for it from podcasts and other places; I was extremely disappointed by it; it was NOT fought like a grudge match between two guys who legit wanted to pistol-whip each other.
As for the experience at BWW, the place was absolutely swamped with people. I presume most of them wanted to see the main event. Unfortunately many people there just turned me off. I won't rant and rave about it as I'm mainly over it by now. But good Lord were there some loathsome people around, between Troglodytes who shouted while speaking to each other even though they were right by each other (and the noise around them wasn't loud; they just wanted to be dumbshits), Bro types being Bro's, people acting ignorant all night... that ticked me off far worse than the main event. Sigh; at least the food was good and I had some brewskis. Also, as a wrestling fan I laughed that there was a random customer there who looked like a young and thinner version of Diamond Dallas Page!
Sunday was dull so I'll tell you that I'll post my blog a week from today. Only a few things are planned but next weekend should be good.
Monday, I went out in the afternoon to go to the local Publix to get some items, including a sandwich. On the way back I was on Highway 27 and saw that the northbound lanes were all closed down. Someone must have wrecked pretty bad and I know from where it was at, it was at the entrance of a big subdivision filled with old foagies who are retired (to put it bluntly) and I've seen plenty of stupid drivers coming in and out of there so no surprise someone caused what looked like a serious accident.
Tuesday through Thursday were pretty dull, although on Thursday I decided to go to another Burger King in the area. I have a coupon for a free small fruit smoothie, which I do want to try. I get down there, order food from an androgynous person (seriously, I have no idea if they were male or female. It was just like It's Pat) and guess which machine was out of order at the time? I was not happy but as they did have a Coca Cola Freestyle machine there (as many Burger Kings do now) so at least I was able to get that. But, I don't plan on going to too many Burger Kings in the future as I don't have it my way. When they ruined their chicken tenders by changing them into something much worse than they used to be... that broke my heart!
Before I get to Friday, let me mention a few things. Remember me ranting and raving earlier in the year about some random indy wrestler in Florida bashing women's wrestling? Well, it turns out that it WAS an angle and he promises to get involved with a girl vs. girl bout at a show next weekend. I don't know why that was done online given that only a few people at most would even find out about it, but that's how dumb local wrestling can be sometimes. By the way, I will not be at that show; it's promoted by a mentally ill guy who is NOT Jared David St. Laurent but does bizarre things online like having conversations amongst himself with various alter egos, among other things. His shows have many advertised wrestlers no-show, they're WAY too long, and the promoter himself is a middle-aged roided-up guy who has an enormous HGH-filled gut, as if he was in his third trimester. No thanx to me being there.
Oh, and recently I got a spam e-mail which was titled Hummingbird Vine, all about attracting those birds to my backyard. At first, though, I thought it said Hummingbird Vice! Why I thought
Friday, I had to pick someone up at the airport in St. Petersburg so I decided to spend some time in Tampa before heading down that way. I first visited the mall in Brandon now known as Westfield Brandon; it was largely the same as when I was there last, but I noticed there was a new milkshake place there; it's known as Shakeout and the gimmick is that you can add over 100 different items to your beverage, from cereal to fruit to candy and many other things. I had it with Reeses Pieces and Reeses cereal; I know, boring but it was pretty good. I then drove on over to the International Plaza, a high-end place that's by the Tampa Airport. I walked around there and again that looked largely the same as when I was there the last time. I had dinner there and I was cheap so I had some Chick-Fil-A, as nothing else there that was made quick tickled my fancy. After that I left to pick up that person and the journey was made home. Aside from the usual nincompoops on the highway it was a nice day.
Saturday, it was dull until the evening, when I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the latest UFC pay per view. Due to how things worked out it was the first UFC pay per view I watched there in almost 4 months, back when Brock Lesnar lost (to a really roided-out guy, it turns out, but that's neither here nor there). This time around, the show did not exactly please me. The fights I saw on Facebook and then FX weren't that great for the most part, and while most of the pay per view bouts were entertaining, I was actually let down by the main event. It was interesting... at first. But then when I realized how it was going to go, I was not happy. The main was a title fight between two guys who legit don't like each other due to some incidents that have happened in the past. As I legit don't like the champ for a litany of reasons, I was really hoping the challenger would step up and dethrone the champ. However, the challenger just fought a crap fight and wasn't able to do much of anything against the champ, and the champ fought a frustratingly conservative fight; thus, aside from some entertaining moments the fight was just completely boring to me. I was and still am baffled by all the praise I heard for it from podcasts and other places; I was extremely disappointed by it; it was NOT fought like a grudge match between two guys who legit wanted to pistol-whip each other.
As for the experience at BWW, the place was absolutely swamped with people. I presume most of them wanted to see the main event. Unfortunately many people there just turned me off. I won't rant and rave about it as I'm mainly over it by now. But good Lord were there some loathsome people around, between Troglodytes who shouted while speaking to each other even though they were right by each other (and the noise around them wasn't loud; they just wanted to be dumbshits), Bro types being Bro's, people acting ignorant all night... that ticked me off far worse than the main event. Sigh; at least the food was good and I had some brewskis. Also, as a wrestling fan I laughed that there was a random customer there who looked like a young and thinner version of Diamond Dallas Page!
Sunday was dull so I'll tell you that I'll post my blog a week from today. Only a few things are planned but next weekend should be good.
Monday, April 16, 2012
The Raid: Redemption, A Female Skrillex, & Ghost Peppers
Here's what I've done in the past week, and much of the action took place from Friday through Sunday. Monday through Thursday were rather dull. Sure, one day I went to Walmart to pick up a few items and another day had me doing laundry, but otherwise I decided to lay low. Mainly that was because I knew I would have quite the Friday and Saturday.
Friday, I went to Epic Theatres to see a double-bill that I came up with. First, I saw Lockout, which basically tries REALLY hard to be like a Snake Plissken film. You know, the always cool Escape From New York and the not so cool Escape From L.A. Well, I'd rather watch L.A again rather than this film, as it's just not so good aside from some fine-enough moments. It's just a nothing of a film where not too much interesting ever happens. It's edited in a way to make it PG-13; pretty much the rest of the world got the more explicit version but not America, for some reason. Instead, this French-made film was edited into incoherency ruining what little action you do see. The one-liners were mostly lame, the opening 5 minutes had some PS1-level CGI, one villain I could barely understand due to his thick accent... need I say more? Actually, I will. The ending wasn't good as it was done so poorly at one point I was confused as to what in the heck was going on; not a good thing during the climax. Really, you should just watch Escape From New York again.
After that I saw something I have heard a LOT of hype for the past few months. It's an Indonesian martial arts/action filmed called The Raid: Redemption, made by a Welshman married to an Indonesian woman. Me, it seems like I usually get turned off to something hyped that heavily. However, this time the hype was worth it. If you love movies in those two genres then it is a MUST-see. There's a lot of action and it's all done very well. It's a type of martial art you really haven't seen on the big screen before and it's a joy to watch. Many people end up getting hurt/killed pretty badly in this movie... yeah! I unfortunately saw it with only one other person; thankfully I found out the next day what the film is like with an actual crowd.
The rest of Friday was dull so let me skip ahead to Saturday. The afternoon was watching on Facebook and Fuel TV the UFC event from Sweden. It was pretty good. Now, onto the evening. Oh what an evening I had. I parked in downtown Orlando but no I did not go to you know where first. Instead I went to the downtown cinema now known as Cobb Plaza Cinema Cafe 12. There I saw The Raid: Redemption again and this time there were about 10 other dudes there. That was enough for me; those guys did not know what they were in for, so they often marked out for all the cool stuff in the film. That made it a great time.
After that I went to my car and changed shirts before I returned to the magical location known as Mako's; I'll mention a few random things before I get to that. In terms of spam e-mail they haven't been too interesting... except for last night, when I got one about ghost peppers and it was just rambling about what is technically known as the Bhut Jolikia chili pepper; why, I have no good explanation for getting an e-mail talking about one of the world's hottest peppers. Anyhow, in terms of vehicles I've seen some all-electric Nissan Leafs (or Leaves, I guess) on the road but it wasn't until Saturday night when I was walking around downtown Orlando that I saw the electric/gas vehicle known as the Chevy Volt, and I saw two different Volts.
Anyway, here's what happened to me at Mako's. It was largely the usual there; you know, attractive women all around, loud music, dancing, wacky games and all that. But, some things out of the ordinary took place and this was one of the wildest nights I had there in quite awhile.
* This happened early in the night. I was minding my business, standing by the bar they have in the front of the place, half-watching those activities and half watching the random NBA game they had on. Suddenly, some white trash-looking guy who looked like a druggie and the type of person who aspires to work at a Chevron gas station (I don't want to stereotype, but...) suddenly started staring at me and got in my face! I have no clue why, except that he must have not liked my face; either that, or he wanted to kiss me! I tried walking away but then he followed me and did the same thing; I asked him what his problem was before fastly moving towards the front to find someone like a security guard. Even better, a fine man who usually MC's the action there and I think has worked there the entire time I started going there once in awhile (i.e. 2007) saw this and got a security guard to kick him out. Heh heh heh; I did thank him and that was a very nice gesture on his part.
* But of course I have a feeling that some people will read that and still say that in cases of bullying, it's the fault of the victim rather than the bully. And remember now, it's some people I know online who would unfortunately say this.
* It's usually a popular spot for bachelor and bachelorette parties, for obvious reasons. There were several different bachelorette groups there at the same time. One of them had on t-shirts that listed several activities that they had to do. One of them was “Have a random guy write his phone number on the bride's shirt”. That guy was me! I did give a legit phone number; it's not like I'll ever get a call so I might as well.
* If you've ever seen the dubstep king known as Skrillex, he has a bizarre hair style where the left side of his head is shaved; not the top of the head, just the side. Imagine my surprise seeing a girl there sporting that same hair style. I have no idea why you'd do such a thing but maybe that's just me.
* I ended up meeting up with some random dudes there. One I never got his name but he was a big drunk spender and without any provocation he decided to buy me some free booze (i.e. shots!) and even paid to have one of the females working there give me a bodyshot, which is where she basically shakes her T&A right in front of me and then I take a shot that is nestled in her bosom; it's fun! Soon after that I did another bodyshot, this time paid by me and I did that as the nice young lady (who I've gotten to know the past few times I've been there) wanted me to do one with her, so I did.
* There's a second guy, I'll refer to him as A. I briefly chatted with him. He was hanging out with some random people, including a woman who I rank rather highly on the attractiveness scale. I was only able to briefly chat with her. I wish I could have had a longer conversation with her... although I was quite disappointed when I saw her pull out a cigarette and started smoking it. Son of a... smoking is a big turn-off for me in general, and I get grossed out when I see a member of the opposite sex do it; a girl smelling like an ashtray, no thanx!
So yeah it was quite the night there. It shouldn't be too long before I return there.
Sunday nothing happened; however I will mention one quick thing. As I've mentioned before, I have a sister who lives in Kansas with her husband. If you've been watching the news the past few days, they had a lot of tornadoes in the area. Also, my parents were there at the time! Thankfully there were no tornadoes where they were; it was windy but that was it. That was a big relief as needless to say there was panic as soon as I heard there could be horrid weather where they were.
I'll be back a week from today and there's a few things I know I'll be doing. I'll be spending some time in Tampa on Friday before I head on over to St. Petersburg to pick up someone from the airport, then Saturday I'll be at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch a UFC pay per view that at least has a pretty big and interesting main event.
Friday, I went to Epic Theatres to see a double-bill that I came up with. First, I saw Lockout, which basically tries REALLY hard to be like a Snake Plissken film. You know, the always cool Escape From New York and the not so cool Escape From L.A. Well, I'd rather watch L.A again rather than this film, as it's just not so good aside from some fine-enough moments. It's just a nothing of a film where not too much interesting ever happens. It's edited in a way to make it PG-13; pretty much the rest of the world got the more explicit version but not America, for some reason. Instead, this French-made film was edited into incoherency ruining what little action you do see. The one-liners were mostly lame, the opening 5 minutes had some PS1-level CGI, one villain I could barely understand due to his thick accent... need I say more? Actually, I will. The ending wasn't good as it was done so poorly at one point I was confused as to what in the heck was going on; not a good thing during the climax. Really, you should just watch Escape From New York again.
After that I saw something I have heard a LOT of hype for the past few months. It's an Indonesian martial arts/action filmed called The Raid: Redemption, made by a Welshman married to an Indonesian woman. Me, it seems like I usually get turned off to something hyped that heavily. However, this time the hype was worth it. If you love movies in those two genres then it is a MUST-see. There's a lot of action and it's all done very well. It's a type of martial art you really haven't seen on the big screen before and it's a joy to watch. Many people end up getting hurt/killed pretty badly in this movie... yeah! I unfortunately saw it with only one other person; thankfully I found out the next day what the film is like with an actual crowd.
The rest of Friday was dull so let me skip ahead to Saturday. The afternoon was watching on Facebook and Fuel TV the UFC event from Sweden. It was pretty good. Now, onto the evening. Oh what an evening I had. I parked in downtown Orlando but no I did not go to you know where first. Instead I went to the downtown cinema now known as Cobb Plaza Cinema Cafe 12. There I saw The Raid: Redemption again and this time there were about 10 other dudes there. That was enough for me; those guys did not know what they were in for, so they often marked out for all the cool stuff in the film. That made it a great time.
After that I went to my car and changed shirts before I returned to the magical location known as Mako's; I'll mention a few random things before I get to that. In terms of spam e-mail they haven't been too interesting... except for last night, when I got one about ghost peppers and it was just rambling about what is technically known as the Bhut Jolikia chili pepper; why, I have no good explanation for getting an e-mail talking about one of the world's hottest peppers. Anyhow, in terms of vehicles I've seen some all-electric Nissan Leafs (or Leaves, I guess) on the road but it wasn't until Saturday night when I was walking around downtown Orlando that I saw the electric/gas vehicle known as the Chevy Volt, and I saw two different Volts.
Anyway, here's what happened to me at Mako's. It was largely the usual there; you know, attractive women all around, loud music, dancing, wacky games and all that. But, some things out of the ordinary took place and this was one of the wildest nights I had there in quite awhile.
* This happened early in the night. I was minding my business, standing by the bar they have in the front of the place, half-watching those activities and half watching the random NBA game they had on. Suddenly, some white trash-looking guy who looked like a druggie and the type of person who aspires to work at a Chevron gas station (I don't want to stereotype, but...) suddenly started staring at me and got in my face! I have no clue why, except that he must have not liked my face; either that, or he wanted to kiss me! I tried walking away but then he followed me and did the same thing; I asked him what his problem was before fastly moving towards the front to find someone like a security guard. Even better, a fine man who usually MC's the action there and I think has worked there the entire time I started going there once in awhile (i.e. 2007) saw this and got a security guard to kick him out. Heh heh heh; I did thank him and that was a very nice gesture on his part.
* But of course I have a feeling that some people will read that and still say that in cases of bullying, it's the fault of the victim rather than the bully. And remember now, it's some people I know online who would unfortunately say this.
* It's usually a popular spot for bachelor and bachelorette parties, for obvious reasons. There were several different bachelorette groups there at the same time. One of them had on t-shirts that listed several activities that they had to do. One of them was “Have a random guy write his phone number on the bride's shirt”. That guy was me! I did give a legit phone number; it's not like I'll ever get a call so I might as well.
* If you've ever seen the dubstep king known as Skrillex, he has a bizarre hair style where the left side of his head is shaved; not the top of the head, just the side. Imagine my surprise seeing a girl there sporting that same hair style. I have no idea why you'd do such a thing but maybe that's just me.
* I ended up meeting up with some random dudes there. One I never got his name but he was a big drunk spender and without any provocation he decided to buy me some free booze (i.e. shots!) and even paid to have one of the females working there give me a bodyshot, which is where she basically shakes her T&A right in front of me and then I take a shot that is nestled in her bosom; it's fun! Soon after that I did another bodyshot, this time paid by me and I did that as the nice young lady (who I've gotten to know the past few times I've been there) wanted me to do one with her, so I did.
* There's a second guy, I'll refer to him as A. I briefly chatted with him. He was hanging out with some random people, including a woman who I rank rather highly on the attractiveness scale. I was only able to briefly chat with her. I wish I could have had a longer conversation with her... although I was quite disappointed when I saw her pull out a cigarette and started smoking it. Son of a... smoking is a big turn-off for me in general, and I get grossed out when I see a member of the opposite sex do it; a girl smelling like an ashtray, no thanx!
So yeah it was quite the night there. It shouldn't be too long before I return there.
Sunday nothing happened; however I will mention one quick thing. As I've mentioned before, I have a sister who lives in Kansas with her husband. If you've been watching the news the past few days, they had a lot of tornadoes in the area. Also, my parents were there at the time! Thankfully there were no tornadoes where they were; it was windy but that was it. That was a big relief as needless to say there was panic as soon as I heard there could be horrid weather where they were.
I'll be back a week from today and there's a few things I know I'll be doing. I'll be spending some time in Tampa on Friday before I head on over to St. Petersburg to pick up someone from the airport, then Saturday I'll be at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch a UFC pay per view that at least has a pretty big and interesting main event.
Monday, April 9, 2012
American Pie, YOLO, & Easter Ham
Yeah, this won't be as long of a blog as usual; I have a feeling the one I post next week will be longer but I don't want to give out any spoilers. I'll comment on what I did from Wednesday the 4th up to Easter.
If you don't know what YOLO is, it stands for You Only Live Once and it was said by a crappy current rapper in a recent song. In a rare bit of me being hip with the times, I know that many young people think that phrase is “so deep” and all that. Sure, living life to the fullest is great and all but it seems like the majority take that phrase to mean they feel free to act like total jackasses; at least from what I know, the type of people who brag about YOLO are the same who use Troglodyte words like “swag” and “cray” and all of those people I tend to avoid in the same way that David Tuthill and Jared David St. Laurent avoid healthy food... and now there is a song from the "lovely" Nicki Minaj (and I mean "lovely" in this case as "horrific-looking") known as Beez in the Trap! If you want me to tell you what that phrase means, then you're asking the wrong person.
Wednesday night I actually saw a movie from the late 90's on the big screen and no it was NOT Titanic. Rather, I stumbled upon something interesting that I would not have known if I didn't stumble upon it... some AMC joints across the country would do a one-time showing of the original American Pie on the big screen. I checked that out and indeed that movie is still pretty funny. Unfortunately I wasn't able to rent the second one (although I saw parts of it on TV last weekend when I was in South Florida) but for the first time in 9 years I saw American Wedding as I was able to rent that. I didn't like it at the time and I still don't like it now. It was just an off-putting movie with a lot of crassness and not a lot of niceness, you know.
Thursday was just movie-watching at home so I'll skip ahead to Friday. I ended up having dinner at good old Friendly Confines, because why not? Actually, I went there because I was going to see American Reunion at the Regal they have all the way out in Oviedo; I hadn't seen a film there in a few years and I hadn't walked about that mall in a few months. Besides, FC had their anniversary celebration on Saturday so I figured I would give them some business the day before. While I was at FC I was reminded of something I had trouble with at times in South Florida. Sometimes the Wi-Fi worked fine but other times I had a bitch of a time trying to get it to work with my iPod Touch. Sometimes I could not get it to work at all, and I was quite unhappy about that. Anyhow, it took way too long but I finally got it to work at FC. While I was there I had the usual, drank an Abita Amber (it's not too shabby) and watched some baseball.
After that I drove over to Oviedo but unfortunately there was a road rage incident. I honked at someone because they were acting like a total nincompoop, and they got mad and lashed out, so I returned the favor and I even yelled something really not nice out the window at them. Boy did I end up not feeling too good about that as me acting a fool is not something I usually do and I shouldn't have made that comment... even if they did deserve it.
I ended up having to take the scenic route to the mall but I still made it there in time to walk around for a bit before seeing American Reunion. That was just about as good as the first two films in the series. There's a lot of vulgarity and hilarity but it also has heart. There's topless action... and male nudity if that's your thing.
Saturday, I went to Winter Garden Village after dinner as hey, I had free time. Plus, I had to go to a store to get ink for the printer and as they had a Staples there, it worked out great for me. I got that item, picked up a drink from elsewhere, then went home. Sunday, it was a lazy Easter. However, dinner was ham. As long as I can remember, every Easter the dinner meal was ham. It's like how way back when, when my family went to my grandfather's for Christmas Eve the meal would be goose.
By the way, it probably won't be too long before I am back down in S. Florida and see the likes of two Lamborghini's, a Rolls Royce Phantom, several Bentley's, several Jaguar XJL's (at least 80,000 bucks when new) and my first-ever spotting of a Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet (yes, a convertible version of an SUV; it is exactly as ridiculous as you think it is) as I did last weekend. That's because a few days ago I heard that a second-tier UFC show will be in the big arena by Sawgrass Mills Mall. I haven't been to any MMA show before let alone UFC, so I may have to check that out despite the long drive and having to go back there when I experienced some real stressful driving.
I'll be back a week from today and that should be a more entertaining blog than this is. Some interesting stories to tell, in other words.
If you don't know what YOLO is, it stands for You Only Live Once and it was said by a crappy current rapper in a recent song. In a rare bit of me being hip with the times, I know that many young people think that phrase is “so deep” and all that. Sure, living life to the fullest is great and all but it seems like the majority take that phrase to mean they feel free to act like total jackasses; at least from what I know, the type of people who brag about YOLO are the same who use Troglodyte words like “swag” and “cray” and all of those people I tend to avoid in the same way that David Tuthill and Jared David St. Laurent avoid healthy food... and now there is a song from the "lovely" Nicki Minaj (and I mean "lovely" in this case as "horrific-looking") known as Beez in the Trap! If you want me to tell you what that phrase means, then you're asking the wrong person.
Wednesday night I actually saw a movie from the late 90's on the big screen and no it was NOT Titanic. Rather, I stumbled upon something interesting that I would not have known if I didn't stumble upon it... some AMC joints across the country would do a one-time showing of the original American Pie on the big screen. I checked that out and indeed that movie is still pretty funny. Unfortunately I wasn't able to rent the second one (although I saw parts of it on TV last weekend when I was in South Florida) but for the first time in 9 years I saw American Wedding as I was able to rent that. I didn't like it at the time and I still don't like it now. It was just an off-putting movie with a lot of crassness and not a lot of niceness, you know.
Thursday was just movie-watching at home so I'll skip ahead to Friday. I ended up having dinner at good old Friendly Confines, because why not? Actually, I went there because I was going to see American Reunion at the Regal they have all the way out in Oviedo; I hadn't seen a film there in a few years and I hadn't walked about that mall in a few months. Besides, FC had their anniversary celebration on Saturday so I figured I would give them some business the day before. While I was at FC I was reminded of something I had trouble with at times in South Florida. Sometimes the Wi-Fi worked fine but other times I had a bitch of a time trying to get it to work with my iPod Touch. Sometimes I could not get it to work at all, and I was quite unhappy about that. Anyhow, it took way too long but I finally got it to work at FC. While I was there I had the usual, drank an Abita Amber (it's not too shabby) and watched some baseball.
After that I drove over to Oviedo but unfortunately there was a road rage incident. I honked at someone because they were acting like a total nincompoop, and they got mad and lashed out, so I returned the favor and I even yelled something really not nice out the window at them. Boy did I end up not feeling too good about that as me acting a fool is not something I usually do and I shouldn't have made that comment... even if they did deserve it.
I ended up having to take the scenic route to the mall but I still made it there in time to walk around for a bit before seeing American Reunion. That was just about as good as the first two films in the series. There's a lot of vulgarity and hilarity but it also has heart. There's topless action... and male nudity if that's your thing.
Saturday, I went to Winter Garden Village after dinner as hey, I had free time. Plus, I had to go to a store to get ink for the printer and as they had a Staples there, it worked out great for me. I got that item, picked up a drink from elsewhere, then went home. Sunday, it was a lazy Easter. However, dinner was ham. As long as I can remember, every Easter the dinner meal was ham. It's like how way back when, when my family went to my grandfather's for Christmas Eve the meal would be goose.
By the way, it probably won't be too long before I am back down in S. Florida and see the likes of two Lamborghini's, a Rolls Royce Phantom, several Bentley's, several Jaguar XJL's (at least 80,000 bucks when new) and my first-ever spotting of a Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet (yes, a convertible version of an SUV; it is exactly as ridiculous as you think it is) as I did last weekend. That's because a few days ago I heard that a second-tier UFC show will be in the big arena by Sawgrass Mills Mall. I haven't been to any MMA show before let alone UFC, so I may have to check that out despite the long drive and having to go back there when I experienced some real stressful driving.
I'll be back a week from today and that should be a more entertaining blog than this is. Some interesting stories to tell, in other words.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Blair's Wild Wrestlemania Weekend Recap
Alright, so here's what I've done from Friday morning up to today. The main thing was that I went down to Miami for the first time in almost a year as I'd experience Wrestlemania weekend (meaning other wrestling shows taking place) and I'd see my first-ever Wrestlemania, which is something I should go to given how long I've been a wrestling fan.
I woke up on Friday morning and I drove off to my hotel in Pompano Beach; The Forum, to be exact. I stayed there almost a year ago today when I was down there to watch the Marlins play in Sun Life Stadium against the Washington Nationals. As I mentioned at the time, the place is interesting is that not only is it run by a religious group (you mostly forget about that while you're there; it's not really shoved in your face) but it used to be a hospital! Hey, at least it's a quiet place. Sure, I wish that their Wi-Fi didn't require you having to go down to the front desk to ask for the password to log in, but at least they have a computer and printer on each floor so I used that and my iPod Touch was used out in the wild, with middling success; more on that later. The drive there was pretty stressful as boy did I run into some real idiots and A-holes; the less said about them the better... I don't want my blood pressure to get too high.
I checked in the hotel and bummed around there a bit before I went to a Ring of Honor pro wrestling show in nearby Ft. Lauderdale. They're an independent wrestling company but one of the bigger ones due to the highly skilled guys that they typically use. I've seen some GREAT shows from them in the past, and I'm talking about being at those events live way back when. This time, it wasn't quite as great but there were some quality matches, even if at times it felt like overkill in terms of all the crazy shit they did, dropping each other right on the head and doing other high-risk stuff. Still, I did enjoy it quite a bit.
Saturday, now this day did not turn out as planned. I did go to the Sawgrass Mills Mall, as is pretty much tradition for me when I am down there. I walked around for a few hours, had lunch there, and I ended up buying some cheap items. The lunch I had was from a joint called Chicken Now; the theme is obvious. The tenders tasted fine, the service less so. I had a drink from a nearby place called Green Leaf's. It was a healthy joint that happened to have a place attached to it called Banana's (B-A-N-A... wait, why am I quoting that awful song?) that offers smoothies. I had one with coconut crème and it was pretty darn fantastic.
Not so fantastic was the weather when I left there. It was raining and it got worse by the time I made it to Miami Beach. I had dinner at a joint I had eaten at once before, the Shake Shack; it's a franchise mainly located in New York City but they do have one in MB because it's hip, I suppose. They have some delicious burgers and fries but best of all is the item they are named after. At that particular place is a tremendous concoction known as the Vice Crispy Treat, containing cream, marshmallows, and crispy cereal; I give it my highest recommendation.
I was going to see another wrestling show, this time in MB at a hotel. Problem was, when I got to the hotel there was no visible place to park for what seemed like miles around. I couldn't park at a meter as it'd run out long before the show was over with, there was no parking garage to be seen, and given that there was also a separate wrestling convention going on at the same place... I was NOT going to hunt for an hour or more to try and find a long-term parking place and have to walk a double digit amount of blocks just to get to the hotel, and hike the same distance back to the vehicle, so I said the hell to it and stopped at the Aventura Mall until I went back to the hotel. I was not happy about that whole situation, and I still am not delighted about it.
Sunday, things were better. I checked out of the hotel and went to the new baseball known as Marlins Park, where the team formerly known as the Florida Marlins and now known as the Miami Marlins will start playing this year. They used to play in the stadium that the Dolphins still play football in, the stadium that's had like a dozen names but for now is known as Sun Life Stadium. That stadium was not well-designed for baseball, and being outdoors in the typical Miami weather... no wonder attendance there was almost always pitiful. Now, the new Marlins Park has a retractable roof and after spending a few hours in it, it's a really nice and modern joint. I mean, if Miami doesn't get good attendance in such a great place, then there's no hope for that franchise in that city.
I got a ticket from a scalper (I know I know) and it was definitely more than I wanted to pay but as he was the only scalper I saw anywhere, I bit the bullet and paid the price. It did mean I sat in the lower part of the stadium and I wasn't able to explore but that part of the stadium. What I saw, like I said it's a great stadium. It was an exhibition game against the Yankees but the first half they played the usual starters. It proved to be an exciting contest with a lot of scoring. Unfortunately it was the end of the 8th inning and the score was tied 8-8 and I had to leave at that point, as the game was already going on for 3 hours by that point and I wanted to make sure I got to Wrestlemania with time to spare. At least I had seen a good amount of baseball by that point so I did not mind leaving at that point, even if I wish I could have seen the end. The Yankees won 10-8, though, so maybe it was a good thing I left the time I did.
By the way, not everything in the stadium went smoothly. Mainly, the videoboard and how it was run; they even had something misspelled! I saw the word "procecuted" instead of "prosecuted" and did I ever shake my head when I saw that.
I made the drive to Sun Life Stadium to watch Wrestlemania 28, the first one I ever saw live. There were at least 70,000 people there (the attendance figure they announced during the show was totally something they pulled out of their ass and not actually accurate) and now at least I can say I saw one in person given that I've been a big pro wrestling fan for more than 20 years now. In hindsight maybe I should have gone to Wrestlemania 24 in Orlando as that was a better show than this one. Sure, 28 had some quality matches. But, it also had quite a bit of stupid BS attached to it, the sort of stuff that reminded me why I haven't regularly watched WWE in years, and why I am really glad I haven't watched WWE in years. At least the experience was great watching The Rock wrestle in the main event, the whole presentation and all the theatrical stuff, with the stage, the rig above the ring, the fireworks, and all that. The crowd was into the show and that made it fun too, even if some of the people I came across... well, to be honest they fit most of the negative stereotypes people have concerning wrasslin' fans. You know, the clueless stupid trailer park trash sort of stereotype. But they at least provided entertainment for me. I was also amused to see one enormous guy who looked like the spitting image of Baby Huey. No, not the old cartoon duck and not the shitty one hit wonder rapper. I mean the late 60's R&B singer who was like 400 pounds plus and had a gigantic afro and sadly passed away at the age of 26 due to drug-related issues, but had a great singing voice.
I got back on the road relatively quickly due to me being parked way in the back by the entrance. Otherwise I would have been there a long while; it shouldn't have been such a lengthy process to leave the parking lot but the main issue was Florida drivers being their usual stupid Troglodyte selves. Don't even get me started on all the horrid driving I saw down there with all the rude ignorance and driving almost triple digit speeds as if it was the Autobahn. It's like there are three separate Florida's, with the panhandle, the rest of the state and then South Florida, which almost seems like another country. Anyhow, I drove straight home and I was glad I made it back shortly after 3 AM as I thought I would get back later than that. It's just today I feel mostly recovered from that trip. I wish I would have seen more people that I knew who were down there (I did come across a friend of a friend who I met once a few years ago; it was nice to chat with him for a few minutes) but warts and all it was a nice experience.
Monday was boring but Tuesday I did go to T.G.I.Friday's with someone I know. We hadn't been there in ages. The food was fine so it was a nice choice.
I'll be back Monday the 9th. I do not have that much planned for the next 5 days but I know the rest of the blogs I do that cover this month will be quite eventful.
I woke up on Friday morning and I drove off to my hotel in Pompano Beach; The Forum, to be exact. I stayed there almost a year ago today when I was down there to watch the Marlins play in Sun Life Stadium against the Washington Nationals. As I mentioned at the time, the place is interesting is that not only is it run by a religious group (you mostly forget about that while you're there; it's not really shoved in your face) but it used to be a hospital! Hey, at least it's a quiet place. Sure, I wish that their Wi-Fi didn't require you having to go down to the front desk to ask for the password to log in, but at least they have a computer and printer on each floor so I used that and my iPod Touch was used out in the wild, with middling success; more on that later. The drive there was pretty stressful as boy did I run into some real idiots and A-holes; the less said about them the better... I don't want my blood pressure to get too high.
I checked in the hotel and bummed around there a bit before I went to a Ring of Honor pro wrestling show in nearby Ft. Lauderdale. They're an independent wrestling company but one of the bigger ones due to the highly skilled guys that they typically use. I've seen some GREAT shows from them in the past, and I'm talking about being at those events live way back when. This time, it wasn't quite as great but there were some quality matches, even if at times it felt like overkill in terms of all the crazy shit they did, dropping each other right on the head and doing other high-risk stuff. Still, I did enjoy it quite a bit.
Saturday, now this day did not turn out as planned. I did go to the Sawgrass Mills Mall, as is pretty much tradition for me when I am down there. I walked around for a few hours, had lunch there, and I ended up buying some cheap items. The lunch I had was from a joint called Chicken Now; the theme is obvious. The tenders tasted fine, the service less so. I had a drink from a nearby place called Green Leaf's. It was a healthy joint that happened to have a place attached to it called Banana's (B-A-N-A... wait, why am I quoting that awful song?) that offers smoothies. I had one with coconut crème and it was pretty darn fantastic.
Not so fantastic was the weather when I left there. It was raining and it got worse by the time I made it to Miami Beach. I had dinner at a joint I had eaten at once before, the Shake Shack; it's a franchise mainly located in New York City but they do have one in MB because it's hip, I suppose. They have some delicious burgers and fries but best of all is the item they are named after. At that particular place is a tremendous concoction known as the Vice Crispy Treat, containing cream, marshmallows, and crispy cereal; I give it my highest recommendation.
I was going to see another wrestling show, this time in MB at a hotel. Problem was, when I got to the hotel there was no visible place to park for what seemed like miles around. I couldn't park at a meter as it'd run out long before the show was over with, there was no parking garage to be seen, and given that there was also a separate wrestling convention going on at the same place... I was NOT going to hunt for an hour or more to try and find a long-term parking place and have to walk a double digit amount of blocks just to get to the hotel, and hike the same distance back to the vehicle, so I said the hell to it and stopped at the Aventura Mall until I went back to the hotel. I was not happy about that whole situation, and I still am not delighted about it.
Sunday, things were better. I checked out of the hotel and went to the new baseball known as Marlins Park, where the team formerly known as the Florida Marlins and now known as the Miami Marlins will start playing this year. They used to play in the stadium that the Dolphins still play football in, the stadium that's had like a dozen names but for now is known as Sun Life Stadium. That stadium was not well-designed for baseball, and being outdoors in the typical Miami weather... no wonder attendance there was almost always pitiful. Now, the new Marlins Park has a retractable roof and after spending a few hours in it, it's a really nice and modern joint. I mean, if Miami doesn't get good attendance in such a great place, then there's no hope for that franchise in that city.
I got a ticket from a scalper (I know I know) and it was definitely more than I wanted to pay but as he was the only scalper I saw anywhere, I bit the bullet and paid the price. It did mean I sat in the lower part of the stadium and I wasn't able to explore but that part of the stadium. What I saw, like I said it's a great stadium. It was an exhibition game against the Yankees but the first half they played the usual starters. It proved to be an exciting contest with a lot of scoring. Unfortunately it was the end of the 8th inning and the score was tied 8-8 and I had to leave at that point, as the game was already going on for 3 hours by that point and I wanted to make sure I got to Wrestlemania with time to spare. At least I had seen a good amount of baseball by that point so I did not mind leaving at that point, even if I wish I could have seen the end. The Yankees won 10-8, though, so maybe it was a good thing I left the time I did.
By the way, not everything in the stadium went smoothly. Mainly, the videoboard and how it was run; they even had something misspelled! I saw the word "procecuted" instead of "prosecuted" and did I ever shake my head when I saw that.
I made the drive to Sun Life Stadium to watch Wrestlemania 28, the first one I ever saw live. There were at least 70,000 people there (the attendance figure they announced during the show was totally something they pulled out of their ass and not actually accurate) and now at least I can say I saw one in person given that I've been a big pro wrestling fan for more than 20 years now. In hindsight maybe I should have gone to Wrestlemania 24 in Orlando as that was a better show than this one. Sure, 28 had some quality matches. But, it also had quite a bit of stupid BS attached to it, the sort of stuff that reminded me why I haven't regularly watched WWE in years, and why I am really glad I haven't watched WWE in years. At least the experience was great watching The Rock wrestle in the main event, the whole presentation and all the theatrical stuff, with the stage, the rig above the ring, the fireworks, and all that. The crowd was into the show and that made it fun too, even if some of the people I came across... well, to be honest they fit most of the negative stereotypes people have concerning wrasslin' fans. You know, the clueless stupid trailer park trash sort of stereotype. But they at least provided entertainment for me. I was also amused to see one enormous guy who looked like the spitting image of Baby Huey. No, not the old cartoon duck and not the shitty one hit wonder rapper. I mean the late 60's R&B singer who was like 400 pounds plus and had a gigantic afro and sadly passed away at the age of 26 due to drug-related issues, but had a great singing voice.
I got back on the road relatively quickly due to me being parked way in the back by the entrance. Otherwise I would have been there a long while; it shouldn't have been such a lengthy process to leave the parking lot but the main issue was Florida drivers being their usual stupid Troglodyte selves. Don't even get me started on all the horrid driving I saw down there with all the rude ignorance and driving almost triple digit speeds as if it was the Autobahn. It's like there are three separate Florida's, with the panhandle, the rest of the state and then South Florida, which almost seems like another country. Anyhow, I drove straight home and I was glad I made it back shortly after 3 AM as I thought I would get back later than that. It's just today I feel mostly recovered from that trip. I wish I would have seen more people that I knew who were down there (I did come across a friend of a friend who I met once a few years ago; it was nice to chat with him for a few minutes) but warts and all it was a nice experience.
Monday was boring but Tuesday I did go to T.G.I.Friday's with someone I know. We hadn't been there in ages. The food was fine so it was a nice choice.
I'll be back Monday the 9th. I do not have that much planned for the next 5 days but I know the rest of the blogs I do that cover this month will be quite eventful.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Exotic Snakes, People of Walmart, & Creepy Online Relationships
Here's a recap of what I did from Monday up to when I left late Friday morning; tomorrow will be my recap of my time this past weekend in South Florida.
Monday was dull (as usual), Tuesday I went out to dinner with someone I know to a nearby Applebees, Wednesday was my return to bike riding as this time I went to another part of that trail, and Thursday was WalMart. More on that in a minute.
Now, this is out of the ordinary but I came across something so preposterous on Facebook on the page of someone I know (I'll call him Z) that it just has to be preserved for all time. I originally had something far longer written down but I decided to cut it down just to the basics. Basically, on Z's page he laughed about something that happened with a guy I'll call A and a girl I'll call B.
They are friends with some people I know online. The whole deal was explained throughout Monday so I didn't get the full story until later on. A and B got to know each other online and they chatted that way and on the phone/text also. A met B and A got mad because B never sent him a current photo of her and due to her being sick, B weighed quite a bit more than she used to, but it's not like she was 500 or even 300 pounds, not even close to it. Well, A acts like a meathead and literally speeds off in his truck (OF COURSE he drives a truck, not that I'm stereotyping here...), doesn't give her the flowers and chocolate he got for her, and there goes that relationship. Of course, A nor anyone else explained the full situation until later in the night; it turns out that the photos B sent to A... B in real life is a totally different person than the person in the photographs! Not to spoil anything, but someone in that epic thread referenced a certain mysterious documentary that came out in '10 and named after an aquatic animal and yes, that reference is SO appropriate here. I won't say more about the reference as the big deal about the documentary is that the less you know going in the better.
Early in on the thread I got pretty mad, as some people made some weight-related comments about B, and it's more fratboy jock behavior that I do not particularly care for. Later on when the apparent truth about B was revealed, I had less sympathy for her.
But anyhow, B defended herself in the thread and boy that's when the comedy began. B explained that she and A had a passionate relationship online and through the phone device, even to the point that she and him were going to move into a house together and go on a cruise.
Remember, when those plans were made, THEY HADN'T MET IN PERSON YET. Am I the only person who finds that little detail to be absolutely preposterous? I hope not, as I couldn't believe it myself.
Now, I have no idea how old B is, as there's a possibility that who she is and the pictures she has up online of herself may be someone else... even her daughter, which is pretty creepy. No matter her true age/looks, going through all those plans on A's part when they hadn't even met yet... I can't help but laugh at that. I hope that isn't standard human behavior there. Oh, and apparently Z ALLEGEDLY once sent B some nude photos of him in hopes of a hookup! What a mess that situation was-no matter the true story-and I can't believe people like A and B even exist. And don't get me started on how more than one person I know made statements online concerning the bully situation that actually blamed the victim for them getting bullied! Um, no, it's the attacker's fault! I guess those same people blame the rape on the victim rather than the rapists...
On that light note, onto the rest of the week... Tuesday I went with someone to the Applebees that is by the corner of 192 and 429. We hadn't been there in a long, long time. The food and drink tasted good. It's just that the waitress wasn't the best as the order that we got wasn't letter-perfect from what we actually ordered. None of it made it inedible so I won't complain too loudly about it.
Wednesday, I had free time so for what may be the last time in a long while, I went on the James A. Van Fleet State Trail to ride on that old bicycle. This time I rode the northernmost part of the trail. It was nice but not the most scenic part of said trail. Besides the usual birds and butterflies, the only animals I saw were some squirrels (which I can see with little effort in my neighborhood), and... early on I saw something which I couldn't make out; then I got closer and thought it was shedded snake skin. Then, I realize it was an actual living snake! Thankfully it wasn't completely blocking the path so I was able to get around it with no problem. It was actually pretty colorful; it was orange and a white-ish color.
Thursday, the only thing I had to do was go to Walmart. Lord, there were some incredibly rude and loathsome people there; not too surprisingly many of them looked like the type of individuals you'd see on the People of Walmart website.
I'll be back sometime tomorrow afternoon where I'll do another post, this time devoted to from the time I was down in South Florida up to today. Not everything went according to plan and I spent more money than I was expecting but it was still a memorable experience and there are some interesting tales to tell.
Monday was dull (as usual), Tuesday I went out to dinner with someone I know to a nearby Applebees, Wednesday was my return to bike riding as this time I went to another part of that trail, and Thursday was WalMart. More on that in a minute.
Now, this is out of the ordinary but I came across something so preposterous on Facebook on the page of someone I know (I'll call him Z) that it just has to be preserved for all time. I originally had something far longer written down but I decided to cut it down just to the basics. Basically, on Z's page he laughed about something that happened with a guy I'll call A and a girl I'll call B.
They are friends with some people I know online. The whole deal was explained throughout Monday so I didn't get the full story until later on. A and B got to know each other online and they chatted that way and on the phone/text also. A met B and A got mad because B never sent him a current photo of her and due to her being sick, B weighed quite a bit more than she used to, but it's not like she was 500 or even 300 pounds, not even close to it. Well, A acts like a meathead and literally speeds off in his truck (OF COURSE he drives a truck, not that I'm stereotyping here...), doesn't give her the flowers and chocolate he got for her, and there goes that relationship. Of course, A nor anyone else explained the full situation until later in the night; it turns out that the photos B sent to A... B in real life is a totally different person than the person in the photographs! Not to spoil anything, but someone in that epic thread referenced a certain mysterious documentary that came out in '10 and named after an aquatic animal and yes, that reference is SO appropriate here. I won't say more about the reference as the big deal about the documentary is that the less you know going in the better.
Early in on the thread I got pretty mad, as some people made some weight-related comments about B, and it's more fratboy jock behavior that I do not particularly care for. Later on when the apparent truth about B was revealed, I had less sympathy for her.
But anyhow, B defended herself in the thread and boy that's when the comedy began. B explained that she and A had a passionate relationship online and through the phone device, even to the point that she and him were going to move into a house together and go on a cruise.
Remember, when those plans were made, THEY HADN'T MET IN PERSON YET. Am I the only person who finds that little detail to be absolutely preposterous? I hope not, as I couldn't believe it myself.
Now, I have no idea how old B is, as there's a possibility that who she is and the pictures she has up online of herself may be someone else... even her daughter, which is pretty creepy. No matter her true age/looks, going through all those plans on A's part when they hadn't even met yet... I can't help but laugh at that. I hope that isn't standard human behavior there. Oh, and apparently Z ALLEGEDLY once sent B some nude photos of him in hopes of a hookup! What a mess that situation was-no matter the true story-and I can't believe people like A and B even exist. And don't get me started on how more than one person I know made statements online concerning the bully situation that actually blamed the victim for them getting bullied! Um, no, it's the attacker's fault! I guess those same people blame the rape on the victim rather than the rapists...
On that light note, onto the rest of the week... Tuesday I went with someone to the Applebees that is by the corner of 192 and 429. We hadn't been there in a long, long time. The food and drink tasted good. It's just that the waitress wasn't the best as the order that we got wasn't letter-perfect from what we actually ordered. None of it made it inedible so I won't complain too loudly about it.
Wednesday, I had free time so for what may be the last time in a long while, I went on the James A. Van Fleet State Trail to ride on that old bicycle. This time I rode the northernmost part of the trail. It was nice but not the most scenic part of said trail. Besides the usual birds and butterflies, the only animals I saw were some squirrels (which I can see with little effort in my neighborhood), and... early on I saw something which I couldn't make out; then I got closer and thought it was shedded snake skin. Then, I realize it was an actual living snake! Thankfully it wasn't completely blocking the path so I was able to get around it with no problem. It was actually pretty colorful; it was orange and a white-ish color.
Thursday, the only thing I had to do was go to Walmart. Lord, there were some incredibly rude and loathsome people there; not too surprisingly many of them looked like the type of individuals you'd see on the People of Walmart website.
I'll be back sometime tomorrow afternoon where I'll do another post, this time devoted to from the time I was down in South Florida up to today. Not everything went according to plan and I spent more money than I was expecting but it was still a memorable experience and there are some interesting tales to tell.
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