I know, not the most original title; it just fits best for today, the last day of 2013. I can't believe 2014 is right around the corner. This year really flew by for me. I won't give any sort of recap for what happened; there were ups and downs, everything from briefly being invited over to hang out with six ladies on my birthday when I was at a club (of course I have never seen them again), having to get a root canal, getting to see KISS for only a few bucks in a literally last minute deal, and just meeting my twin nephews for the first time. Who knows what 2014 holds for me. For now I'll talk about from the night of Christmas to yesterday.
After I posted my blog on Christmas day, the only thing I did was go out with my dad to a restaurant. We decided on IHOP, as we knew it was open, I did not want to search to see what was open, and I enjoy their food. We enjoyed our food; not to stereotype but I saw what I believe was a Jewish woman dressed up like an old biker woman. Pretty strange.
Thursday, nothing happened except that I went and saw a movie on the big screen. It was the local Epic Theatres in town. Only because it was the holidays, it was a big crowd there instead of it being barren as it usually is on a weeknight. I watched The Wolf of Wall Street as it had a nice pedigree and it's based on a true story and I trend towards the non-fiction rather than the fiction. I thought it was great although I understand why some are turned off by it. It's 3 hours exactly, first off, and it's also very profane and in your face. A lot of excess is shown, the F bomb is dropped over 500 times, there's rampant drug use and other debauchery... it's not for everyone but I and the crowd I saw it with really enjoyed it.
Friday, the only thing I did was get some fast food; otherwise I relaxed. So, let me skip ahead to Saturday. In the evening there was a UFC pay per view and it was a really big one. Of course I had to see it when there were two huge title fights. Before the pay per view it wasn't too crowded there; once the PPV started, though, it was a full house. The fights before the PPV were fine but nothing special. The pay per view itself was quality and it had several real memorable moments. If you care I know you already know what happened in the main event with a grotesque injury happening. Everyone (including me) freaked out when there were two slow motion replays of the injury happening. It was gross. I do know from this night and the last time she fought, that Ronda Rousey polarizes people. I don't care for her or her laughable “tough girl” act myself and I'd enjoy seeing a fighter defeat her.
Sunday, it was a big day of pro football. It was the last day of the regular season and the Bears were in a huge game; if they beat their hated rivals the Green Bay Packers, they make the playoffs; if they lose, then Green Bay makes the playoffs. Well, Green Bay is in the playoffs. I'd rather not talk about how they lost the game, except that Chicago did some really stupid things and that was the reason why they lost. Talk about disappointing. At least I did return to the restaurant known as Twin Peaks to check out the game; the food, drink, and “scenery” were all nice so the day wasn't a total loss.
Yesterday, I had to do “real life” stuff. In short, the bank I banked at closed their doors in the town I live in and to do business, you have to make a 20 minute plus drive to the nearest location and well, that isn't convenient. So, in a few days I'll have to try and find a new bank in town to be a part of. Like everyone else, I get mad and frustrated at how banks often close their doors, change locations, merge, etc. In the evening I got Chipotle for dinner and as usual, I got frustrated with rude/ignorant/stupid Florida drivers. Even during the holiday season that kind of crap will put a burr under my saddle, or a bee in my bonnet.
I will be back on schedule when I return Monday the 6th of January. I know that from now until then I do not have much of anything on the agenda yet. No plans for New Years Eve; then again I haven't done anything on that date in years. I'll find something to do to keep me occupied.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
A Special Merry Christmas/Road Trip Recap Blog
Here it is on Christmas Day, a recap of what I've done since Monday the 16th. This will be a different recap than usual, given that during the time period I went on a road trip with family, all the way to Kansas and back. The 16th and 17th were dull aside from getting prepared for the trip (and that is when we opened presents; I got money, clothes, and gift cards; worked for me. I was even happy to get socks), so let me skip ahead to the 18th.
On the 18th real early in the morning, my parents and I left for the drive from Florida to the area of Wichita, Kansas to see my sister, brother in law, and my twin nephews, who have just turned one year old. We drove from Clermont to Longview, Texas; that's in the northeast corner of the state. Up to Louisiana things weren't too exciting. Then, we had to deal with the traffic on Interstate 10 and 12. It was pretty bad in terms of number of cars on the road and also, number of rude drivers. Really, while the drivers weren't as bad as those in Florida, there were still plenty of rude ignorant people and that was disappointing. Then, there was some sort of event that closed I-12. We had to take a detour on rural roads to get around it and at times I was reminded of the Louisiana setting in the recent film Homefront.
Things were dull until we got to Longview. My parents had stayed there before and the last time, they stumbled upon a local redneck bar/restaurant sort of place known as Leon's Steakhouse & Saloon. While it wasn't like the joint you saw in the beginning of Roadhouse, you can still probably imagine the type of people that would frequent such a joint. There were many people with the stereotypical Texas twang AND I saw quite the sight in the parking lot: the front of someone's pickup truck had longhorns & a Christmas wreath on the front. Amazing. The food was really good, at least.
Thursday, we did the second part of the journey to the area of Wichita, Kansas. That was pretty dull... except for just north of Dallas, where there was a huge delay on the highway... to fix some potholes. It backed up traffic real bad, just to do such a thing. If it would have been at 9 PM when not a lot of traffic was out that's one thing, but it was 9 AM and it was at least a 45 minute delay. Everyone got mad at that and that's why on the way back, a route was decided upon that would skip Texas altogether. Finally we made it there and it was great finally getting to meet my nephews (Connor & Blake) in person. It was nice interacting with them and that provided plenty of entertainment. Dealing with them and two Labrador Retrievers at the same time... I don't know how my sister and her husband do it.
Friday, everyone went out to dinner at a local bar/restaurant known as the River City Brewing Co. Yep they make their own beer. I do know that their food is real good and they offer plenty of it for the price. As you might expect, that is the one time that everyone went out and about. That is OK with me of course, as I understand with having one year olds and all and like I mentioned already, Blake & Connor provided plenty of entertainment on their own. That night it started to get real cold and that brought in the crappy weather, which I wish would have come a day later. Freezing rain was in the afternoon and it turned into a few inches of snow by nightfall. It reminded me of how I had to deal with such things back when I used to live in Illinois way back when. It did help make things seem more like Christmastime, though.
Sunday, we drove back home and it was decided it would be done all in one day instead of stopping somewhere for the night. It wasn't my decision to have it done that way. The drive “only” took 22 hours and by the time we finally got home, oh boy was I exhausted and barely able to function. All that said it was still a great trip as it was awesome to hang out with family I rarely get to see and meeting the twins... even the ridiculous Sunday drive was worth it.
It started off with driving through the snow (not in a one horse open sleigh) and it cleared up in northern Oklahoma which was good as the roads weren't always in good condition. It was great in Arkansas seeing a 90's Mustang blow by us after some tailgating and they had to be going at least 100 MPH... and moments after the pass, a local cop was hiding behind a bridge and he pulled them over. We literally lol'ed. A few hours were spent driving through southeastern Arkansas (it was a shortcut) and was that a depressing area to be in. A lot of small time where there were plenty of fallen-down buildings & businesses that clearly hadn't been operating in years. Later, another shortcut was going through middle of nowhere Mississippi leading to the boonies of Alabama.
It was starting to get late and yet on that road there was no restaurants or gas stations of note until you got to the town of Citronelle, Alabama. We found a Hardee's and wow at most of the people there; trashy people, whiny brat kids that weren't controlled by their trashy parents, dumb rednecks... amazing. At least the burger and fries were good. Once we hit the panhandle area of Florida, there was a few hours of pounding rain. All that washed the salt off of the vehicle, but otherwise that was no fun. If anyone was wondering, I only listened to a few minutes of the Chicago Bears game vs. the Philadelphia Eagles game on the radio. The Bears got humiliated and lost 54-11, so that's why I only listened to a few minutes of it. I couldn't believe they got destroyed so badly. We got home around 5:30 AM ET and being home was such a welcomed sight.
I won't get into the particulars but my mom is staying in Kansas until New Years Eve. That is why later today me and my dad are going to some restaurant in town for dinner. Which one it is, I do not know yet. Monday and Tuesday of this week are uneventful aside from me catching up on online stuff and on Monday night having a 10 dollar box from Pizza Hut, which is a medium rectangle pizza, breadsticks and cinnamon sticks. A quality deal it is.
I will be back on New Years Eve this upcoming Tuesday. I do have some things in mind for what I'll be doing between now and then.
On the 18th real early in the morning, my parents and I left for the drive from Florida to the area of Wichita, Kansas to see my sister, brother in law, and my twin nephews, who have just turned one year old. We drove from Clermont to Longview, Texas; that's in the northeast corner of the state. Up to Louisiana things weren't too exciting. Then, we had to deal with the traffic on Interstate 10 and 12. It was pretty bad in terms of number of cars on the road and also, number of rude drivers. Really, while the drivers weren't as bad as those in Florida, there were still plenty of rude ignorant people and that was disappointing. Then, there was some sort of event that closed I-12. We had to take a detour on rural roads to get around it and at times I was reminded of the Louisiana setting in the recent film Homefront.
Things were dull until we got to Longview. My parents had stayed there before and the last time, they stumbled upon a local redneck bar/restaurant sort of place known as Leon's Steakhouse & Saloon. While it wasn't like the joint you saw in the beginning of Roadhouse, you can still probably imagine the type of people that would frequent such a joint. There were many people with the stereotypical Texas twang AND I saw quite the sight in the parking lot: the front of someone's pickup truck had longhorns & a Christmas wreath on the front. Amazing. The food was really good, at least.
Thursday, we did the second part of the journey to the area of Wichita, Kansas. That was pretty dull... except for just north of Dallas, where there was a huge delay on the highway... to fix some potholes. It backed up traffic real bad, just to do such a thing. If it would have been at 9 PM when not a lot of traffic was out that's one thing, but it was 9 AM and it was at least a 45 minute delay. Everyone got mad at that and that's why on the way back, a route was decided upon that would skip Texas altogether. Finally we made it there and it was great finally getting to meet my nephews (Connor & Blake) in person. It was nice interacting with them and that provided plenty of entertainment. Dealing with them and two Labrador Retrievers at the same time... I don't know how my sister and her husband do it.
Friday, everyone went out to dinner at a local bar/restaurant known as the River City Brewing Co. Yep they make their own beer. I do know that their food is real good and they offer plenty of it for the price. As you might expect, that is the one time that everyone went out and about. That is OK with me of course, as I understand with having one year olds and all and like I mentioned already, Blake & Connor provided plenty of entertainment on their own. That night it started to get real cold and that brought in the crappy weather, which I wish would have come a day later. Freezing rain was in the afternoon and it turned into a few inches of snow by nightfall. It reminded me of how I had to deal with such things back when I used to live in Illinois way back when. It did help make things seem more like Christmastime, though.
Sunday, we drove back home and it was decided it would be done all in one day instead of stopping somewhere for the night. It wasn't my decision to have it done that way. The drive “only” took 22 hours and by the time we finally got home, oh boy was I exhausted and barely able to function. All that said it was still a great trip as it was awesome to hang out with family I rarely get to see and meeting the twins... even the ridiculous Sunday drive was worth it.
It started off with driving through the snow (not in a one horse open sleigh) and it cleared up in northern Oklahoma which was good as the roads weren't always in good condition. It was great in Arkansas seeing a 90's Mustang blow by us after some tailgating and they had to be going at least 100 MPH... and moments after the pass, a local cop was hiding behind a bridge and he pulled them over. We literally lol'ed. A few hours were spent driving through southeastern Arkansas (it was a shortcut) and was that a depressing area to be in. A lot of small time where there were plenty of fallen-down buildings & businesses that clearly hadn't been operating in years. Later, another shortcut was going through middle of nowhere Mississippi leading to the boonies of Alabama.
It was starting to get late and yet on that road there was no restaurants or gas stations of note until you got to the town of Citronelle, Alabama. We found a Hardee's and wow at most of the people there; trashy people, whiny brat kids that weren't controlled by their trashy parents, dumb rednecks... amazing. At least the burger and fries were good. Once we hit the panhandle area of Florida, there was a few hours of pounding rain. All that washed the salt off of the vehicle, but otherwise that was no fun. If anyone was wondering, I only listened to a few minutes of the Chicago Bears game vs. the Philadelphia Eagles game on the radio. The Bears got humiliated and lost 54-11, so that's why I only listened to a few minutes of it. I couldn't believe they got destroyed so badly. We got home around 5:30 AM ET and being home was such a welcomed sight.
I won't get into the particulars but my mom is staying in Kansas until New Years Eve. That is why later today me and my dad are going to some restaurant in town for dinner. Which one it is, I do not know yet. Monday and Tuesday of this week are uneventful aside from me catching up on online stuff and on Monday night having a 10 dollar box from Pizza Hut, which is a medium rectangle pizza, breadsticks and cinnamon sticks. A quality deal it is.
I will be back on New Years Eve this upcoming Tuesday. I do have some things in mind for what I'll be doing between now and then.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Sigourney Weaver, Twin Peaks, & Outlet Mall Madness
Here's a recap of what I've done since my last blog. As usual for me these days there's only like a few days of excitement then the rest of it is absolute nothing happening; I won't say much about Skyrim, for instance, except that I'm still really enjoying the fantasy adventure and I am glad no one ever spoiled for me some of the wackiest missions and quests you can do in the game. I won't spoil it either, except that there are some real weird moments.
Last Monday, I returned to Epcot at Walt Disney World. Heh, I know. I went there to look for an item to purchase for the holiday season. They did not have it but there is a Plan B and that was enacted. So it was not a wasted trip there. I went on a ride or two, walked around and got exercise on a nice day. In the early evening began the first of three presentations on Epcot's stage area. It's a Candlelight Processional that tells Christ's birth with help of a celebrity narrator, a small orchestra and a big choir. The narrator for a few day block: Sigourney Weaver. I saw it and it's a popular deal. It was cool seeing a celebrity live (especially that celebrity) and it was really well done.
Tuesday and Wednesday were dull (you don't need to hear about me getting Burger King for lunch) so let me skip ahead to Thursday. I needed new jeans as I threw out some old ones I've had for years and they don't fit quite as good as they used to; I presume they shrank... or that's how I would like to tell the story. I figured I would go the cheap route and go to a giant outdoor outlet mall in Orlando to look for two pairs. I needed some for my big roadtrip to Kansas and back. I walked around and I went in various stores to see what the best/most interesting deals are. I got one from the Rue21 outlet store. I found a pair for only 10 bucks, believe it or not. The second pair I got from Banana Republic as I am pretty sure I've never purchased anything from there before and they were half off... the price, not the pants themselves. Once I left that crowded mall, I decided to go to the rustic-themed Hooters-esque location known as Twin Peaks. I went for the food! Actually I went there for more than the food, although what they offer is pretty good.
Friday and Saturday I did not do anything (besides enjoy such things as Led Zepplin now being offered by the streaming service known as Spotify) so let me skip ahead to Sunday. Yesterday I went out and about to see the Chicago Bears play against a team that seemingly has had a dark cloud over them for many years now, the Cleveland Browns. Chicago did not always play well but eventually they got it together and they won. However, I did not go out to the usual spot to see it; I went elsewhere, and I decided to go to the aforementioned Twin Peaks. Typically awful International Drive traffic aside, it was a nice decision on my part. I had a tasty lunch and was able to consume some early afternoon beer. Don't worry, I rarely drink alcohol so early in the day. There weren't as many stupid “sports fans” around which was good.
I do know that I'll be happy not to do any driving on the big road trip; other people will be behind the wheel for the long drive to Kansas and back (presents and other items are being brought along, so it's easier to do it that way rather than fly out there). In the past week, some of the traffic... simply awful. I am pretty sure the way people drive in other states will be better than Florida, but I recently had to deal with such nimrods as someone who I almost hit because they were dumb and couldn't stay in their own lane. Florida drivers are always the dirt worst and I am glad I've only been in one accident, they are that atrocious.
I will be back not next Monday but on Christmas Day (Wednesday the 25th) to give a recap of what happened to me from now until then. I won't be doing anything today and tomorrow so it mostly will be about the road trip to Wichita Kansas and back. I hope to tell some interesting stories and do things and go to places I rarely or never get to experience. I might once in awhile post comments about the trip while I am on vacation on both Twitter and Facebook. I have no idea how much Internetting I'll be able to do. I also hope not to freeze my butt off in the chilly Midwest. I know from looking online I'll probably have to deal with “ice pellets” and “snow showers” while I am there. Can't wait!
Last Monday, I returned to Epcot at Walt Disney World. Heh, I know. I went there to look for an item to purchase for the holiday season. They did not have it but there is a Plan B and that was enacted. So it was not a wasted trip there. I went on a ride or two, walked around and got exercise on a nice day. In the early evening began the first of three presentations on Epcot's stage area. It's a Candlelight Processional that tells Christ's birth with help of a celebrity narrator, a small orchestra and a big choir. The narrator for a few day block: Sigourney Weaver. I saw it and it's a popular deal. It was cool seeing a celebrity live (especially that celebrity) and it was really well done.
Tuesday and Wednesday were dull (you don't need to hear about me getting Burger King for lunch) so let me skip ahead to Thursday. I needed new jeans as I threw out some old ones I've had for years and they don't fit quite as good as they used to; I presume they shrank... or that's how I would like to tell the story. I figured I would go the cheap route and go to a giant outdoor outlet mall in Orlando to look for two pairs. I needed some for my big roadtrip to Kansas and back. I walked around and I went in various stores to see what the best/most interesting deals are. I got one from the Rue21 outlet store. I found a pair for only 10 bucks, believe it or not. The second pair I got from Banana Republic as I am pretty sure I've never purchased anything from there before and they were half off... the price, not the pants themselves. Once I left that crowded mall, I decided to go to the rustic-themed Hooters-esque location known as Twin Peaks. I went for the food! Actually I went there for more than the food, although what they offer is pretty good.
Friday and Saturday I did not do anything (besides enjoy such things as Led Zepplin now being offered by the streaming service known as Spotify) so let me skip ahead to Sunday. Yesterday I went out and about to see the Chicago Bears play against a team that seemingly has had a dark cloud over them for many years now, the Cleveland Browns. Chicago did not always play well but eventually they got it together and they won. However, I did not go out to the usual spot to see it; I went elsewhere, and I decided to go to the aforementioned Twin Peaks. Typically awful International Drive traffic aside, it was a nice decision on my part. I had a tasty lunch and was able to consume some early afternoon beer. Don't worry, I rarely drink alcohol so early in the day. There weren't as many stupid “sports fans” around which was good.
I do know that I'll be happy not to do any driving on the big road trip; other people will be behind the wheel for the long drive to Kansas and back (presents and other items are being brought along, so it's easier to do it that way rather than fly out there). In the past week, some of the traffic... simply awful. I am pretty sure the way people drive in other states will be better than Florida, but I recently had to deal with such nimrods as someone who I almost hit because they were dumb and couldn't stay in their own lane. Florida drivers are always the dirt worst and I am glad I've only been in one accident, they are that atrocious.
I will be back not next Monday but on Christmas Day (Wednesday the 25th) to give a recap of what happened to me from now until then. I won't be doing anything today and tomorrow so it mostly will be about the road trip to Wichita Kansas and back. I hope to tell some interesting stories and do things and go to places I rarely or never get to experience. I might once in awhile post comments about the trip while I am on vacation on both Twitter and Facebook. I have no idea how much Internetting I'll be able to do. I also hope not to freeze my butt off in the chilly Midwest. I know from looking online I'll probably have to deal with “ice pellets” and “snow showers” while I am there. Can't wait!
Monday, December 9, 2013
Notes About Hungarian Prog Rock & Harry Belafonte Dubstep
Lest you think I am making part of the title of this blog up, recently someone I know in the online world posted a status on Twitter where he mentioned he was pissed at his neighbor because he was blasting a Harry Belafonte dubstep song from his garage. That makes me laugh and laugh, because “Harry Belafonte dubsep” actually being a thing is both preposterous and amazing... although maybe not as I actually have heard some other oldies songs dubstep remixed, such as Yakety Yak and The Duke of Earl. Really. A little later I'll explain what I'm talking about when I mention Hungarian prog rock, which is actually a thing; progressive rock happened and happens all across the world.
This past Monday I did not do a darn thing so let me skip ahead to Tuesday. I had free time so at first I went to the Barnes & Noble close by International Drive just to roam around. I did make a purchase then. After that I returned to the Brickhouse Tavern & Tap, a nice joint I hadn't been to in a long while. I had a random local beer there and ate chicken & waffles. The lady bartenders there were rather... interesting, but they treated me nice, so I can't carp, even if I wish one of them wouldn't have yelled for no reason so often.
Wednesday was dull so onto Thursday. I went on a different adventure in order to look for an item for someone. I'll be vague as who knows who reads this. It involved me going to Total Wine & More, a joint I've been to a few times but again, I hadn't been there in awhile. I looked around for something but it wasn't there, unfortunately. I'll have to go somewhere else in the upcoming week to locate it. It doesn't mean I didn't purchase items for myself, though.
After that I ended up at the Oviedo Mall... yeah, I hadn't been there in awhile because it's a ways away from where I live in Clermont and really, not a lot is there now anyhow. I decided to attend their cinema in order to watch Homefront. Sure it isn't the best movie but I still thought it was entertaining and when Jason Statham started kicking ass it was great. After that I ate at some local place that was in the food court; I had my almost always of a burger and fries and what an odd place to discover the Nelson Mandela news; they had some TV there, you see. It wasn't a shock due to his bad health as of late; it was still sad.
Friday, I did nothing except watch the free UFC show on TV, which was shown live from Austraia, where it was Saturday morning there. That is a country I would love to visit one of these years, even if it takes a lot of plane time to get there. That show was memorable for a free event and it had a surprisingly awesome main event. Saturday, I got myself a Burger King lunch and that was it for excitement... until the evening when I looked up a pretty obscure album on YouTube and I went down the rabbit hole of discovering that all sorts of super-obscure albums and songs from the 70's are on there; I mean, acts that even I hadn't heard of before. That includes acts in countries that were Communist way back when. That includes fusion jazz from Czechoslovakia and prog rock from Hungary (I'll namedrop the acts Skorpio and Locomotiv GT... even if it makes me sound like a hipster, which is not something I want to be for the most part). At least it kept me entertained.
Sunday I stayed at home because the Bears don't play this week until tonight. The early set of games on this day... pretty incredible for the number of wacky plays and awesome finishes, and many were in pretty crappy weather; thank heavens Florida is seemingly the only place in the country where the weather isn't awful. I might as well mention now that I may have to experience those crappy conditions soon, as for the Christmas season me and my parents will be visiting Wichita, Kansas to visit my sister, her husband and finally I'll be able to see my twin nephews in person. Yeah, pictures will be taken and once I get back I'll post them online for anyone who wants to see them.
I'll be back a week from today and I do know I'll be doing a few things before I have to take off the middle of next week.
This past Monday I did not do a darn thing so let me skip ahead to Tuesday. I had free time so at first I went to the Barnes & Noble close by International Drive just to roam around. I did make a purchase then. After that I returned to the Brickhouse Tavern & Tap, a nice joint I hadn't been to in a long while. I had a random local beer there and ate chicken & waffles. The lady bartenders there were rather... interesting, but they treated me nice, so I can't carp, even if I wish one of them wouldn't have yelled for no reason so often.
Wednesday was dull so onto Thursday. I went on a different adventure in order to look for an item for someone. I'll be vague as who knows who reads this. It involved me going to Total Wine & More, a joint I've been to a few times but again, I hadn't been there in awhile. I looked around for something but it wasn't there, unfortunately. I'll have to go somewhere else in the upcoming week to locate it. It doesn't mean I didn't purchase items for myself, though.
After that I ended up at the Oviedo Mall... yeah, I hadn't been there in awhile because it's a ways away from where I live in Clermont and really, not a lot is there now anyhow. I decided to attend their cinema in order to watch Homefront. Sure it isn't the best movie but I still thought it was entertaining and when Jason Statham started kicking ass it was great. After that I ate at some local place that was in the food court; I had my almost always of a burger and fries and what an odd place to discover the Nelson Mandela news; they had some TV there, you see. It wasn't a shock due to his bad health as of late; it was still sad.
Friday, I did nothing except watch the free UFC show on TV, which was shown live from Austraia, where it was Saturday morning there. That is a country I would love to visit one of these years, even if it takes a lot of plane time to get there. That show was memorable for a free event and it had a surprisingly awesome main event. Saturday, I got myself a Burger King lunch and that was it for excitement... until the evening when I looked up a pretty obscure album on YouTube and I went down the rabbit hole of discovering that all sorts of super-obscure albums and songs from the 70's are on there; I mean, acts that even I hadn't heard of before. That includes acts in countries that were Communist way back when. That includes fusion jazz from Czechoslovakia and prog rock from Hungary (I'll namedrop the acts Skorpio and Locomotiv GT... even if it makes me sound like a hipster, which is not something I want to be for the most part). At least it kept me entertained.
Sunday I stayed at home because the Bears don't play this week until tonight. The early set of games on this day... pretty incredible for the number of wacky plays and awesome finishes, and many were in pretty crappy weather; thank heavens Florida is seemingly the only place in the country where the weather isn't awful. I might as well mention now that I may have to experience those crappy conditions soon, as for the Christmas season me and my parents will be visiting Wichita, Kansas to visit my sister, her husband and finally I'll be able to see my twin nephews in person. Yeah, pictures will be taken and once I get back I'll post them online for anyone who wants to see them.
I'll be back a week from today and I do know I'll be doing a few things before I have to take off the middle of next week.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Tales Of Skyrim, Auto Shows, & Paul Walker
I'll be honest here and say that I really did nothing of note from last Monday the 25th through Thanksgiving. I just laid low and relaxed. At times my right foot has felt odd all throughout November and I do not know what the issue is. I presume it'll go away but that's just a presumption. At least I stayed off my feet when I could. Thanksgiving was quiet; I had a nice meal with the parents and things went well there.
I did start playing the game Skyrim. It came for free along with Forza 4 when I purchased the Xbox 360 this past December. I tried it once but I wasn't too sure about it so I moved onto other games. Recently, I decided to give it more of a shot, and oh boy did I go down the rabbit hole! It's a wacky fantasy world but it's engrossing as there is a LOT to do in that expansive colorful world and there is plenty of player choice in what you can and can't do and what order you do it. I am playing a reptilian creature, because I could.
Friday, that's when things got real interesting. I wasn't able to go to it last year, but just about every year on Black Friday I don't go to the stores to participate in the awfulness known as Black Friday where I wait in lines for hours and deal with the worst of humanity all to try and get a great deal... instead of that horrible trend that I wish would go away, I instead go to the Central Florida International Auto Show at the convention center in Orlando where I get to look at many different automobiles. This time I got a better look at the new Corvette and I also got to see the new Viper up close for the first time. Both are great, great cars... at least from appearance but I am sure they are great to drive too. I did enjoy walking around and checking out all those vehicles, especially the new ones that have come out in the past two years. I parked at a different spot than usual and instead of having to take a shuttle to get there, I was able to walk there which was nice... but man did I do a lot of walking on this day and I was exhausted during the night.
While I was at the auto show I saw quite the shirt that was worn by-of course-a young man who looked like a tool. It was pretty vulgar and not appropriate for an all-ages event like that. It was in yellow with a school bus on the front and below the bus was a phrase; it said, “Driver, stop the bus and let my brother Jack off”. Yes, a crude masturbation reference!
Saturday, I stayed at home and did nothing. During the late evening I was shocked to hear the rumors about Paul Walker dying in a car crash. At first only one website reported it but once it was confirmed... very sad and he seemed like a good dude. I've only seen a few of his films but the Fast & Furious movies started off goofy and somehow changed into wacky over the top greatness with the last two ones.
Sunday, I returned to the Friendly Confines restaurant to see the Chicago Bears vs. the not so good Minnesota Vikings. Saying that, of course the Bears lost in overtime in a contest they should have won and they had opportunies to and just failed. At least there were less idiots there than the last few times I was there; the ones who were barking like circus seals and being jackholes were far away from me. The people around me seemed decent and did not give me any problems and in fact I said a few words to a random lady in her 40's.
Even then, I almost left and in fact paid the bill to leave at halftime before changing my mind; the reason why... things were good there then some Troglodyte decided, “Hey, for no reason let's blast the volume to the Bears game as loud as it can go! Let's give people permanent hearing damage by it being absolutely deafening at over 100 decibels!” Honestly, it was that bad (I am not exaggerating at all) and I really should have left ASAP. Finally, right before I was able to leave someone decided how stupid this was and it was finally back down to a level where you could hear yourself think and not have a splitting headache. To be frank, the person who decided to try and shatter everyone's eardrums deserves to be spat on for sheer stupidity's sake. I did not want to have to have the bartender deal with two bills from me but I imagine she understood and maybe even agreed with me when I told her why I wanted to not be there any longer. Even though Chicago lost there were some great plays after halftime so I am glad I was able to see the whole contest. And of course, the day after a famous celebrity died in a fiery car crash due to either going too fast or mechanical failure (or maybe both), I saw some horrid driving on the roads, whether it's people going too fast (and too furious) or not paying attention because they're flapping their jowls on their phones. Florida drivers: still as awful as ever.
When I post my next blog a week from today, I actually have no idea what I'll be writing about. The next Bears game is a week from tonight and I'll be able to watch that at home. I'll try to pull something out of my hindquarters (to speak like someone from the 1940's) so I will have something to write about next time.
I did start playing the game Skyrim. It came for free along with Forza 4 when I purchased the Xbox 360 this past December. I tried it once but I wasn't too sure about it so I moved onto other games. Recently, I decided to give it more of a shot, and oh boy did I go down the rabbit hole! It's a wacky fantasy world but it's engrossing as there is a LOT to do in that expansive colorful world and there is plenty of player choice in what you can and can't do and what order you do it. I am playing a reptilian creature, because I could.
Friday, that's when things got real interesting. I wasn't able to go to it last year, but just about every year on Black Friday I don't go to the stores to participate in the awfulness known as Black Friday where I wait in lines for hours and deal with the worst of humanity all to try and get a great deal... instead of that horrible trend that I wish would go away, I instead go to the Central Florida International Auto Show at the convention center in Orlando where I get to look at many different automobiles. This time I got a better look at the new Corvette and I also got to see the new Viper up close for the first time. Both are great, great cars... at least from appearance but I am sure they are great to drive too. I did enjoy walking around and checking out all those vehicles, especially the new ones that have come out in the past two years. I parked at a different spot than usual and instead of having to take a shuttle to get there, I was able to walk there which was nice... but man did I do a lot of walking on this day and I was exhausted during the night.
While I was at the auto show I saw quite the shirt that was worn by-of course-a young man who looked like a tool. It was pretty vulgar and not appropriate for an all-ages event like that. It was in yellow with a school bus on the front and below the bus was a phrase; it said, “Driver, stop the bus and let my brother Jack off”. Yes, a crude masturbation reference!
Saturday, I stayed at home and did nothing. During the late evening I was shocked to hear the rumors about Paul Walker dying in a car crash. At first only one website reported it but once it was confirmed... very sad and he seemed like a good dude. I've only seen a few of his films but the Fast & Furious movies started off goofy and somehow changed into wacky over the top greatness with the last two ones.
Sunday, I returned to the Friendly Confines restaurant to see the Chicago Bears vs. the not so good Minnesota Vikings. Saying that, of course the Bears lost in overtime in a contest they should have won and they had opportunies to and just failed. At least there were less idiots there than the last few times I was there; the ones who were barking like circus seals and being jackholes were far away from me. The people around me seemed decent and did not give me any problems and in fact I said a few words to a random lady in her 40's.
Even then, I almost left and in fact paid the bill to leave at halftime before changing my mind; the reason why... things were good there then some Troglodyte decided, “Hey, for no reason let's blast the volume to the Bears game as loud as it can go! Let's give people permanent hearing damage by it being absolutely deafening at over 100 decibels!” Honestly, it was that bad (I am not exaggerating at all) and I really should have left ASAP. Finally, right before I was able to leave someone decided how stupid this was and it was finally back down to a level where you could hear yourself think and not have a splitting headache. To be frank, the person who decided to try and shatter everyone's eardrums deserves to be spat on for sheer stupidity's sake. I did not want to have to have the bartender deal with two bills from me but I imagine she understood and maybe even agreed with me when I told her why I wanted to not be there any longer. Even though Chicago lost there were some great plays after halftime so I am glad I was able to see the whole contest. And of course, the day after a famous celebrity died in a fiery car crash due to either going too fast or mechanical failure (or maybe both), I saw some horrid driving on the roads, whether it's people going too fast (and too furious) or not paying attention because they're flapping their jowls on their phones. Florida drivers: still as awful as ever.
When I post my next blog a week from today, I actually have no idea what I'll be writing about. The next Bears game is a week from tonight and I'll be able to watch that at home. I'll try to pull something out of my hindquarters (to speak like someone from the 1940's) so I will have something to write about next time.
Monday, November 25, 2013
The Bears, Celebrity Impersonators, & HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA
Monday, I wasn't thinking about doing anything but I changed my mind and I went to the familiar haunt known as Winter Garden Village. I ended up at the World Market and I did purchase a few items there. I then went to Barnes & Noble and purchased a pair of DVD's. I then strolled on over to Planet Smoothie and I wanted to try a limited edition flavor they had, but they were out of the key ingredient so I was SOL there and I instead got something else, which at least was tasty.
Tuesday was dull so let me skip ahead to Wednesday. I ended up going with someone to dinner, and that person wanted to go to Uno's, so off we went for some Chicago deep dish pizza. The last time I was there, I was solo last December and later that night, I had the worst case of food poisoning I ever have experienced. I'll spare you the details of why I know it was the worst of all time, but I know for certain it was. Thankfully this time there were no issues with the food and it was a fine experience there, although I wish their pizzas were as large as they used to be and now of course they do cost more.
Thursday was dull so let me skip ahead to Friday. What an odd night it proved to be. I decided I should do something so off I went to the Florida Mall. I walked around for a bit and I had a treat from Pinkberry; they used to have a few locations in the Orlando area but the rest closed down so now I can only go there to have their product. As I ate that, I saw a sight which for a moment made me wonder if I somehow stumbled into a David Lynch or a Coen Brothers film. Certainly it's one of those things that could only happen to me. A crowd started to form and it was people dressed up. I thought that was odd so I went in closer to investigate. It was a large group of celebrity impersonators! I am not joking. There was Jack Nicholson, Danny De Vito, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, the Obamas, George W. Bush, Sean Connery, and others. Was there a convention in town? I have no other explanation for such a thing happening on a Friday night. Quite a few people came around to take pictures and it was bizarre all around.
Then, I walked by the Microsoft store and they have an Xbox One kiosk. It had two screens on opposite sides. On one side was a dance thing with the Kinect device. On the other side, though... they were playing a viral video on loop from a few years ago that I recognized right away. It was HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA (as it's known on YouTube), which is a bizarre dance cover of 4 Non Blondes' What's Up and it's matched to clips from the 80's He-Man cartoon; it's weird and awesome at the same time. I have no idea why they were showing it outside of a Microsoft store, though.
Saturday was boring so let me skip ahead to Sunday. What a day that did not start off so well but ended up alright. I should note here that through this month, I've had at least a few cases of people tailgating me. Yes. I'd step or slam on the brakes to get the message across, but down here in Florida people are so stupid they likely would crash into you via rear ending, and considering I had an accident last November (it does NOT seem like it happened a year ago), I don't need to get into another one. Anyhow, tailgating happened to me on this day too. Man alive were there some awful reckless drivers on the road overall. That did not help my mood.
I went to the usual spot (Friendly Confines) to watch the Chicago Bears play against the St. Louis Rams. I knew this time that weather wouldn't be a factor, as the Rams play in a covered dome stadium. Unfortunately the team still has problems so it wasn't a pretty game to watch and they ended up losing. I was thinking about leaving early but until near the end it looked as if they weren't out of it so I had to stick around for that and in hindsight... also, boy were there some loud bellowing crybaby drama queen idiots there; good Lord! There was also a guy there who talked like he had been drinking for hours, and he was like that when I got there around 12:30 PM; hearing him and a lady bartender talk about some crappy music awards show that happened last night and he wanted to record it and her watching it live just “to see what Miley will do!” made me want to drink bleach on the spot! Sorry but it's true. I've made it clear before what I think of the druggie tramp and I sure as hell don't think her music is any good at all, so I did not see a second of that performance, although I do know what it was about and could you be any lamer in trying to get attention? I did end up leaving before the game was over once the outcome wasn't in doubt.
At least once I got home things were fine. I had a nice ham dinner and I just relaxed. As for the next blog I'll post (which will be a week from today), I do know something I'll be doing and I have some other ideas so I should be writing about some interesting things, although maybe not as strange as what I experienced this past Friday.
Tuesday was dull so let me skip ahead to Wednesday. I ended up going with someone to dinner, and that person wanted to go to Uno's, so off we went for some Chicago deep dish pizza. The last time I was there, I was solo last December and later that night, I had the worst case of food poisoning I ever have experienced. I'll spare you the details of why I know it was the worst of all time, but I know for certain it was. Thankfully this time there were no issues with the food and it was a fine experience there, although I wish their pizzas were as large as they used to be and now of course they do cost more.
Thursday was dull so let me skip ahead to Friday. What an odd night it proved to be. I decided I should do something so off I went to the Florida Mall. I walked around for a bit and I had a treat from Pinkberry; they used to have a few locations in the Orlando area but the rest closed down so now I can only go there to have their product. As I ate that, I saw a sight which for a moment made me wonder if I somehow stumbled into a David Lynch or a Coen Brothers film. Certainly it's one of those things that could only happen to me. A crowd started to form and it was people dressed up. I thought that was odd so I went in closer to investigate. It was a large group of celebrity impersonators! I am not joking. There was Jack Nicholson, Danny De Vito, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, the Obamas, George W. Bush, Sean Connery, and others. Was there a convention in town? I have no other explanation for such a thing happening on a Friday night. Quite a few people came around to take pictures and it was bizarre all around.
Then, I walked by the Microsoft store and they have an Xbox One kiosk. It had two screens on opposite sides. On one side was a dance thing with the Kinect device. On the other side, though... they were playing a viral video on loop from a few years ago that I recognized right away. It was HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA (as it's known on YouTube), which is a bizarre dance cover of 4 Non Blondes' What's Up and it's matched to clips from the 80's He-Man cartoon; it's weird and awesome at the same time. I have no idea why they were showing it outside of a Microsoft store, though.
Saturday was boring so let me skip ahead to Sunday. What a day that did not start off so well but ended up alright. I should note here that through this month, I've had at least a few cases of people tailgating me. Yes. I'd step or slam on the brakes to get the message across, but down here in Florida people are so stupid they likely would crash into you via rear ending, and considering I had an accident last November (it does NOT seem like it happened a year ago), I don't need to get into another one. Anyhow, tailgating happened to me on this day too. Man alive were there some awful reckless drivers on the road overall. That did not help my mood.
I went to the usual spot (Friendly Confines) to watch the Chicago Bears play against the St. Louis Rams. I knew this time that weather wouldn't be a factor, as the Rams play in a covered dome stadium. Unfortunately the team still has problems so it wasn't a pretty game to watch and they ended up losing. I was thinking about leaving early but until near the end it looked as if they weren't out of it so I had to stick around for that and in hindsight... also, boy were there some loud bellowing crybaby drama queen idiots there; good Lord! There was also a guy there who talked like he had been drinking for hours, and he was like that when I got there around 12:30 PM; hearing him and a lady bartender talk about some crappy music awards show that happened last night and he wanted to record it and her watching it live just “to see what Miley will do!” made me want to drink bleach on the spot! Sorry but it's true. I've made it clear before what I think of the druggie tramp and I sure as hell don't think her music is any good at all, so I did not see a second of that performance, although I do know what it was about and could you be any lamer in trying to get attention? I did end up leaving before the game was over once the outcome wasn't in doubt.
At least once I got home things were fine. I had a nice ham dinner and I just relaxed. As for the next blog I'll post (which will be a week from today), I do know something I'll be doing and I have some other ideas so I should be writing about some interesting things, although maybe not as strange as what I experienced this past Friday.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Foreign Sodas, Sports On The Big Screen, & David P. Batman
What an interesting at times preceding week I had. Monday I did not do a darn thing for Veterans Day, except in the evening rewatch a movie that happened to have an ex-soldier character in it: First Blood and John Rambo. Sure, some wacky jingoistic America F*** Yeah movie about soldiers (the film Act of Valor from last year is the perfect film for that role) could have been done too but I decided to go more serious with my movie selection.
To humblebrag, on Tuesday I got to go to Walt Disney World. I returned to Epcot. I walked around and had dinner there, and went on a few attractions. The main thing is that I went to the Club Cool building, where you can buy some Coca-Cola merchandise and also sample some exotic flavors (for free) of their products that aren't sold in the United States. For many years they had the same few flavors and finally last month they switched out most of them for other flavors. I tried all the new ones. Most are pretty good. Drinking something that you could otherwise only get in Thailand, Zimbabwe or Brazil is pretty cool to me.
Wednesday, I went to get my teeth cleaned. It was a standard thing I do every 6 months or so. It was uneventful and thankfully all my teeth are fine so I don't have to go back there until May of next year, barring something awful happening such as another root canal, but I hope I'll never have another one of those. I got back home and looked at the mail. There's a local free newspaper that comes in the mail this week. Right on the front page advertising financial planning was a middle-aged dude named DAVID P. BATMAN. I laugh and laugh still at such an awesome name.
Thursday, I did a few things. I went to the Blockbuster in town to check out the start of their liquidation. I did purchase some discs and in the future I'll try to go back there before they close down for good. I did see in the parking lot a vehicle I rarely if ever see in the wild: a Fisker Karma, a fancy-looking car that's like a Chevy Volt in that it's both electric and gas-powered. The company went kaput, though, and not just because the most famous owner of the car is the horrible human being known as Justin Bieber.
I went with someone to both Sam's Club and the nearby Logan's Roadhouse, one of several similar joints where you can eat shelled peanuts at your table and leave the shells on the ground. Only a few items were purchased at the Sam's Club, and the food I had at the Roadhouse was tasty.
Friday I did not do a darn thing either so let me skip ahead to Saturday. That was the most interesting day out of the week for me. I went and saw the latest UFC pay per view on the big screen, via Fathom Events. It's something they rarely do, which I understand as from what I know, almost all or all haven't been greatly attended. This was the case again. The show was the 20th anniversary for the promotion so it was a pretty nice card and the pay per view portion was quite good overall; unfortunately there was controversy in the main event and I agree with the majority that it was unfortunate it happened even if it wasn't all-time terrible as some thought. The broadcast started off with audio but no picture and once it was fixed the image went out again; after a second fix thankfully that was it and no fights were missed so I was relieved; if I would have missed any of the bouts... I would be ranting and raving about it here, for sure. It was nice to see it that way.
Before I even made it there, I stopped at Rocket Fizz to get some more gourmet sodas (boy were there some tool customers there; I am glad I did not stick around long) then I ate at one of the many Ale House restaurants they have in Florida. If nothing else those places tend to have a lot of room for big crowds, and that was good as it was a popular place. I went to the one in Winter Park, as I watched the pay per view at the nearby Regal Theatres. I wish I wouldn't have done something dumb right in front of one of the attractive ladies who work there... but it's a minor thing so I won't get into the details (or “deets”, as some would say... I don't use terms like that, though). There were some dope customers there; I tried my best to ignore those bozos and all their yelling or stupid questions as I watched sports and most of the Fox Sports 1 UFC fights before the pay per view. Those bouts weren't all that good. I wasn't sure how the night would turn out but it turned out well.
Sunday, I did not want to have to make the drive to Winter Park twice in less than 24 hours so I just stayed home and I decided to watch the highlights of the Bears vs. Ravens game via the NFL Red Zone Channel. I ended up making the right choice as the weather across the Midwest was HORRIBLE. I mean, tornadoes and crap. That delayed the game for 2 hours and it left the field in awful condition so I am glad I did not go out to see the game in full. The Bears won in overtime 23-20 so that made me happy.
As for the upcoming week, nothing is on the agenda yet. Not a single thing. As always I'll stumble into some adventures worth talking about when I return a week from today.
To humblebrag, on Tuesday I got to go to Walt Disney World. I returned to Epcot. I walked around and had dinner there, and went on a few attractions. The main thing is that I went to the Club Cool building, where you can buy some Coca-Cola merchandise and also sample some exotic flavors (for free) of their products that aren't sold in the United States. For many years they had the same few flavors and finally last month they switched out most of them for other flavors. I tried all the new ones. Most are pretty good. Drinking something that you could otherwise only get in Thailand, Zimbabwe or Brazil is pretty cool to me.
Wednesday, I went to get my teeth cleaned. It was a standard thing I do every 6 months or so. It was uneventful and thankfully all my teeth are fine so I don't have to go back there until May of next year, barring something awful happening such as another root canal, but I hope I'll never have another one of those. I got back home and looked at the mail. There's a local free newspaper that comes in the mail this week. Right on the front page advertising financial planning was a middle-aged dude named DAVID P. BATMAN. I laugh and laugh still at such an awesome name.
Thursday, I did a few things. I went to the Blockbuster in town to check out the start of their liquidation. I did purchase some discs and in the future I'll try to go back there before they close down for good. I did see in the parking lot a vehicle I rarely if ever see in the wild: a Fisker Karma, a fancy-looking car that's like a Chevy Volt in that it's both electric and gas-powered. The company went kaput, though, and not just because the most famous owner of the car is the horrible human being known as Justin Bieber.
I went with someone to both Sam's Club and the nearby Logan's Roadhouse, one of several similar joints where you can eat shelled peanuts at your table and leave the shells on the ground. Only a few items were purchased at the Sam's Club, and the food I had at the Roadhouse was tasty.
Friday I did not do a darn thing either so let me skip ahead to Saturday. That was the most interesting day out of the week for me. I went and saw the latest UFC pay per view on the big screen, via Fathom Events. It's something they rarely do, which I understand as from what I know, almost all or all haven't been greatly attended. This was the case again. The show was the 20th anniversary for the promotion so it was a pretty nice card and the pay per view portion was quite good overall; unfortunately there was controversy in the main event and I agree with the majority that it was unfortunate it happened even if it wasn't all-time terrible as some thought. The broadcast started off with audio but no picture and once it was fixed the image went out again; after a second fix thankfully that was it and no fights were missed so I was relieved; if I would have missed any of the bouts... I would be ranting and raving about it here, for sure. It was nice to see it that way.
Before I even made it there, I stopped at Rocket Fizz to get some more gourmet sodas (boy were there some tool customers there; I am glad I did not stick around long) then I ate at one of the many Ale House restaurants they have in Florida. If nothing else those places tend to have a lot of room for big crowds, and that was good as it was a popular place. I went to the one in Winter Park, as I watched the pay per view at the nearby Regal Theatres. I wish I wouldn't have done something dumb right in front of one of the attractive ladies who work there... but it's a minor thing so I won't get into the details (or “deets”, as some would say... I don't use terms like that, though). There were some dope customers there; I tried my best to ignore those bozos and all their yelling or stupid questions as I watched sports and most of the Fox Sports 1 UFC fights before the pay per view. Those bouts weren't all that good. I wasn't sure how the night would turn out but it turned out well.
Sunday, I did not want to have to make the drive to Winter Park twice in less than 24 hours so I just stayed home and I decided to watch the highlights of the Bears vs. Ravens game via the NFL Red Zone Channel. I ended up making the right choice as the weather across the Midwest was HORRIBLE. I mean, tornadoes and crap. That delayed the game for 2 hours and it left the field in awful condition so I am glad I did not go out to see the game in full. The Bears won in overtime 23-20 so that made me happy.
As for the upcoming week, nothing is on the agenda yet. Not a single thing. As always I'll stumble into some adventures worth talking about when I return a week from today.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Escape Plan, Mountain Dew Game Fuel, & Having To Call 911
Alright, here is what I've done this past week. It was more interesting than expected. Needless to say, “having to call 911 on my cell phone" was not on my docket of things to possibly do during the week.
Last Monday night I watched the Chicago Bears play against their hated rivals the Green Bay Packers. I thought that the Packers would win given the circumstances. Well, I did not predict that real early on the Packers star quarterback would be injured and knocked out of the game. That changed things entirely and that was a big reason why Chicago won. I was happy even with those circumstances. Getting to watch it at home and not have to be around odious sports fans also made me happy.
Tuesday, I finally went and saw Escape Plan. I went and saw it at the Orlando Fashion Square Mall, a place I rarely get to. Both the mall (many closed/empty storefronts) and the theatre (you had to get tickets at the concession stand instead of the box office, the general run-down nature of the place) make me wonder how long they'll last as they aren't doing as hot as they used to. As for the film Escape Plan, I heard good things from people I usually would consider to be at least somewhat reliable, but I thought it was a poor story filmed in an inept crappy manner. I did not think it was good at all aside from some inspired moments. What a disappointment it is. It's more a drama than an action film but I knew that going in.
After the movie I stopped by a fast food joint I hadn't eaten at before and they're usually around Maryland but they opened one here recently... I am referring to Boardwalk Fresh Burger & Fries. It should be no mystery what I ordered along with a mint chocolate chip shake. I wasn't sure about the service and the burger was alright, but the cooked in peanut oil fries and the shake were both great.
Wednesday I did nothing except watch a smaller UFC show that was put on for the troops (it was held on a military base) so I watched that. Thursday, I figured I should get a haircut, so I did. I think I did need one. The lady-who was older than me-who cut my hair said she really liked my first name. Whether or not I was hit on, I was still flattered.
Friday, I decided to drive by the local Blockbuster in town. I wanted to see when they would start liquidating. While I am the Luddite type who prefers to walk in a brick and mortar store and pick out something for rental, I don't feel too sad that Blockbuster is finally shutting down given that they caused the demise of the mom and pop stores that I almost exclusively went to for many years. Anyhow, that will start this upcoming Thursday. I did stop at a nearby 7/11 and not only did I have a Slurpee, but I saw that there was a return of Mountain Dew Game Fuel, which has even more caffeine than regular Mountain Dew and it's for the type of people that play World of Warcraft for like 12 hours straight.
Saturday was dull (I did watch another free UFC show on TV and that was interesting) so let me skip ahead to Sunday. That is a day that I had to call 911! No, it has nothing to do with anyone at the Friendly Confines sports bar. Rather, it was someone on the road. While I was there, some annoying people were around but it wasn't like my last time there, where I almost flipped off a yelling ogre for being a complete D-bag; I was thankful for that. The Bears ended up losing by 2 points. It wasn't a pretty game by any means. Their starting quarterback returned from injury... only to suffer another injury. In hindsight, he may have come back too soon. I did pay attention to some of the other games going on so it ended up being a fine time there, and the food was good as usual.
On the way back home, though... I noticed an obviously impaired driver. When you're driving and you see a car stopped at a stoplight which is green and he doesn't move even after I blasted my horn at him, something's not right. He caught up with me and between him having extreme difficulty staying in one lane and him driving either really fast or really slow... they had to be either really drunk or really high on drugs. They got in front of me and they turned onto a different road. I had to pull out the phone and dial 911. Yeah, I was doing that while driving but I had to keep an eye on the driver to give the police all the proper information (which I did do) & to make sure that guy did not crash, as that could very well have been an outcome. After I talked to the 911 operator I hung up and at that point I was far ahead of that guy (he was a middle aged dude in a Lexus SUV) and I decided to head on home and hope that a police officer pulled him over.
A few years ago I had to do the same thing; I was driving back home from a wrestling show and I was in my town of Clermont and saw some young punk obviously drive drunk. Again I have no idea if he got pulled over but I hope so.
As for this upcoming week, I actually do have some things I know I'll be doing, from getting my teeth cleaned to seeing the latest UFC pay per view. I am expecting it to be a decent week.
Last Monday night I watched the Chicago Bears play against their hated rivals the Green Bay Packers. I thought that the Packers would win given the circumstances. Well, I did not predict that real early on the Packers star quarterback would be injured and knocked out of the game. That changed things entirely and that was a big reason why Chicago won. I was happy even with those circumstances. Getting to watch it at home and not have to be around odious sports fans also made me happy.
Tuesday, I finally went and saw Escape Plan. I went and saw it at the Orlando Fashion Square Mall, a place I rarely get to. Both the mall (many closed/empty storefronts) and the theatre (you had to get tickets at the concession stand instead of the box office, the general run-down nature of the place) make me wonder how long they'll last as they aren't doing as hot as they used to. As for the film Escape Plan, I heard good things from people I usually would consider to be at least somewhat reliable, but I thought it was a poor story filmed in an inept crappy manner. I did not think it was good at all aside from some inspired moments. What a disappointment it is. It's more a drama than an action film but I knew that going in.
After the movie I stopped by a fast food joint I hadn't eaten at before and they're usually around Maryland but they opened one here recently... I am referring to Boardwalk Fresh Burger & Fries. It should be no mystery what I ordered along with a mint chocolate chip shake. I wasn't sure about the service and the burger was alright, but the cooked in peanut oil fries and the shake were both great.
Wednesday I did nothing except watch a smaller UFC show that was put on for the troops (it was held on a military base) so I watched that. Thursday, I figured I should get a haircut, so I did. I think I did need one. The lady-who was older than me-who cut my hair said she really liked my first name. Whether or not I was hit on, I was still flattered.
Friday, I decided to drive by the local Blockbuster in town. I wanted to see when they would start liquidating. While I am the Luddite type who prefers to walk in a brick and mortar store and pick out something for rental, I don't feel too sad that Blockbuster is finally shutting down given that they caused the demise of the mom and pop stores that I almost exclusively went to for many years. Anyhow, that will start this upcoming Thursday. I did stop at a nearby 7/11 and not only did I have a Slurpee, but I saw that there was a return of Mountain Dew Game Fuel, which has even more caffeine than regular Mountain Dew and it's for the type of people that play World of Warcraft for like 12 hours straight.
Saturday was dull (I did watch another free UFC show on TV and that was interesting) so let me skip ahead to Sunday. That is a day that I had to call 911! No, it has nothing to do with anyone at the Friendly Confines sports bar. Rather, it was someone on the road. While I was there, some annoying people were around but it wasn't like my last time there, where I almost flipped off a yelling ogre for being a complete D-bag; I was thankful for that. The Bears ended up losing by 2 points. It wasn't a pretty game by any means. Their starting quarterback returned from injury... only to suffer another injury. In hindsight, he may have come back too soon. I did pay attention to some of the other games going on so it ended up being a fine time there, and the food was good as usual.
On the way back home, though... I noticed an obviously impaired driver. When you're driving and you see a car stopped at a stoplight which is green and he doesn't move even after I blasted my horn at him, something's not right. He caught up with me and between him having extreme difficulty staying in one lane and him driving either really fast or really slow... they had to be either really drunk or really high on drugs. They got in front of me and they turned onto a different road. I had to pull out the phone and dial 911. Yeah, I was doing that while driving but I had to keep an eye on the driver to give the police all the proper information (which I did do) & to make sure that guy did not crash, as that could very well have been an outcome. After I talked to the 911 operator I hung up and at that point I was far ahead of that guy (he was a middle aged dude in a Lexus SUV) and I decided to head on home and hope that a police officer pulled him over.
A few years ago I had to do the same thing; I was driving back home from a wrestling show and I was in my town of Clermont and saw some young punk obviously drive drunk. Again I have no idea if he got pulled over but I hope so.
As for this upcoming week, I actually do have some things I know I'll be doing, from getting my teeth cleaned to seeing the latest UFC pay per view. I am expecting it to be a decent week.
Monday, November 4, 2013
A Merry Berry Cherry Edition Of This Blog
This will be not one of the longest editions of my blog. In fact it'll be one of my shortest. It was a pretty quiet week for me. Monday was pretty dull. I just relaxed. Technically, Tuesday morning in the 3 AM hour I had to drop off another parent at the airport. This time it was the Orlando International Airport and this time it wasn't as wacky as my Sunday night airport run. I just dropped off that parent and on the way back I stopped at a Wawa gas station, as I hadn't been in one in months. I got a small sandwich and apple slices packaged together for only a few bucks. I also got a Rockstar drink in a flavor called Bubbleberry. I hadn't had it yet but I am interested in what the heck a bubbleberry is supposed to be. Tuesday proper, I got McDonalds for dinner.
Wednesday, in the evening I went to my familiar haunt of Winter Garden Village. I had dinner at the very popular on this night Chipotle before going to Planet Smoothie; they have two new limited edition flavors and the one I got was Merry Berry Cherry. It was pretty good!
Thursday was entirely unremarkable, except for one thing. As usual for me, I stayed home for Halloween and did not do a damn thing. Where I live doesn't get a lot of trick or treaters, but I kid you not, TWO trick or treaters showed up, and they were together. I can't believe it these days... when I was a kid things were certainly different.
Friday. I got Burger King for a meal. I went to the location near downtown Clermont as it was completely rebuilt. Then again my issues with the location wasn't with the building, but the employees. At least on this occasion, the employees were fine. Some of the customers, though... they were trash. There also were a pair that I'll describe in appearance as “redneck hipsters”. Whether or not they could be such a thing, I do not know.
Saturday was the one day of note for me. For dinner I went to Target to eat at their Pizza Hut Express. Hey, at least it's a cheap meal. It was actually a rainy day, too. I don't really remember one rainy day at all in October. After that I returned to a place I've been a few times before, World of Beer. This time, my time there was less than ideal. Yeah, it was because of sports fans! I am talking about those that are loudmouth loathsome louts. Of course they were all interested in the huge Florida vs. Georgia football game; that contest is always a big feud and a major deal. It doesn't mean that you have a right to be a loud rude A-hole; at least that's how I feel. I tried to ignore it as I consumed something I did not know was a thing... hard root beer! It was alcoholic root beer and it was really tasty. It was from Sprecher Brewery of Wisconsin, the same cats that make all those tasty sodas I like to drink. At least that make the trip there worthwhile... that and seeing an old extremely intoxicated man stumbling around, having difficulty finding the men's room, and once he did, he almost literally fell down drunk. He was there with other people who weren't as obliterated, thank goodness.
Sunday, I stayed in. The Bears don't play until tonight; there's a game I am not expecting them to win at all. I did hear quite the story from a neighbor that has his ear to the ground and knows all the neighborhood gossip... and it's a really big neighborhood too. Turns out, in a house that is less than a 10 minute walk from where I live, the FBI and the SWAT team came by and arrested some people! The crime they are accused of: impersonating police officers and robbing people. No kidding.
For the upcoming week, not a lot is planned yet, but I am expecting it to be more action-packed than this past week. I will post it next Monday even though it is Veterans Day.
Wednesday, in the evening I went to my familiar haunt of Winter Garden Village. I had dinner at the very popular on this night Chipotle before going to Planet Smoothie; they have two new limited edition flavors and the one I got was Merry Berry Cherry. It was pretty good!
Thursday was entirely unremarkable, except for one thing. As usual for me, I stayed home for Halloween and did not do a damn thing. Where I live doesn't get a lot of trick or treaters, but I kid you not, TWO trick or treaters showed up, and they were together. I can't believe it these days... when I was a kid things were certainly different.
Friday. I got Burger King for a meal. I went to the location near downtown Clermont as it was completely rebuilt. Then again my issues with the location wasn't with the building, but the employees. At least on this occasion, the employees were fine. Some of the customers, though... they were trash. There also were a pair that I'll describe in appearance as “redneck hipsters”. Whether or not they could be such a thing, I do not know.
Saturday was the one day of note for me. For dinner I went to Target to eat at their Pizza Hut Express. Hey, at least it's a cheap meal. It was actually a rainy day, too. I don't really remember one rainy day at all in October. After that I returned to a place I've been a few times before, World of Beer. This time, my time there was less than ideal. Yeah, it was because of sports fans! I am talking about those that are loudmouth loathsome louts. Of course they were all interested in the huge Florida vs. Georgia football game; that contest is always a big feud and a major deal. It doesn't mean that you have a right to be a loud rude A-hole; at least that's how I feel. I tried to ignore it as I consumed something I did not know was a thing... hard root beer! It was alcoholic root beer and it was really tasty. It was from Sprecher Brewery of Wisconsin, the same cats that make all those tasty sodas I like to drink. At least that make the trip there worthwhile... that and seeing an old extremely intoxicated man stumbling around, having difficulty finding the men's room, and once he did, he almost literally fell down drunk. He was there with other people who weren't as obliterated, thank goodness.
Sunday, I stayed in. The Bears don't play until tonight; there's a game I am not expecting them to win at all. I did hear quite the story from a neighbor that has his ear to the ground and knows all the neighborhood gossip... and it's a really big neighborhood too. Turns out, in a house that is less than a 10 minute walk from where I live, the FBI and the SWAT team came by and arrested some people! The crime they are accused of: impersonating police officers and robbing people. No kidding.
For the upcoming week, not a lot is planned yet, but I am expecting it to be more action-packed than this past week. I will post it next Monday even though it is Veterans Day.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Windows 8.1, Trollops, & Tampa Bay Road Trips
Here's what I've done in the past week. Last Monday I ended up going to Walmart for a bit and that went about as expected; nothing too crazy there. I was reminded of something else I did in the preceding week which caused some frustration. I installed Windows 8.1 on the laptop of a parent; I was hoping it'd be less aggravating for them to use than the terribleness that is regular Windows 8. It was a major hassle and took way too long but it finally downloaded and installed... and it's hardly different from Windows 8. That did not make me happy. On this day, I had to install Toshiba updates (yeah, that's the brand of laptop they had) and that provided more frustrations.
Tuesday was dull so let me skip ahead to Wednesday. In the evening, I went and finally saw Machete Kills. I enjoy the original Machete; I think it's a lot of fun. The sequel, though... a real mixed bag. There are good moments, but also bad ones. Overall I would rate it as average which makes it disappointing as it definitely was less than the first one. Alexa Vega and how she looked in the movie, though... that was a good moment! I've never seen any of the Spy Kids movies but she definitely has grown up from her child days.
Thursday, I had dinner with someone at a restaurant. It was Red Robin, a place I've been to once in Illinois and once in Kansas. One opened nearby last December but when I tried to go to it before it was always busy as hell. Thankfully, on this early evening the place wasn't crowded at all so that was a relief. I had my almost always of a burger and fries and also a spice pumpkin pie milkshake; all were at least good and at least I can say I finally ate at one of those places in Florida.
Friday, that was an interesting day... or at least night. In the evening I returned to the lovely place known as Ghost Bar & Lounge. It had been too long since I was there. It wasn't the busiest there but it still was a fine time there. I did see my favorite, which was Drunk White People Attempting To Dance, and as always it was fine entertainment. What was interesting was seeing a lady with fake boobs who had on a skimpy tank top and no bra, so she had total sideboob action going on. Not to be judgmental, but when I see such a thing, I have to think that the lady is a trollop! Anyhow, a random lady decided to give me a free shot, as there was one extra. I did not get to talk to her; this is because her guy friends did not look happy about her giving me a shot and gave me a less than friendly stare. They're probably tools... after I downed it, I thanked her and got the heck out of there.
What made the night noteworthy besides laughing at some dumb drunk people in general was that some people decided to dress up in Halloween costumes. I saw several people wearing sugar skull makeup, a young lady as an old lady, a shuffling zombie, Miley Cyrus' foam finger (speaking of trollops), and a guy who looked a lot like Chris Hemsworth with a full beard, so his Chris Hemsworth Thor outfit was perfect. Who knows when I'll return there (I may not go there in November) but at least I had a fun time there this time even if it wasn't one of my wackiest time at that establishment.
Saturday I stayed at home and relaxed, which was fine with me as Sunday I once again had to pick up a parent from the airport in St. Petersburg. As the Bears don't play this week the day was up in the air as to what I could do. I was lazy and I left in the late afternoon. I was going to eat at a restaurant on the west side of Tampa before making the pickup. The first place I was going to go to ended up being closed for good, so I had to go to a nearby spot. It happened to be a place I was at once before a few years ago. In Canada the place is known as Boston's Pizza, and in the U.S it's known as Boston's The Gourmet Pizza. While I was there I did have water (and some alcohol...) and the pizza I had was pretty darn good. I got a call while I was there that the plane flight would be delayed for 2 hours so I ended up spending a few hours there, and oh what an interesting few hours.
The male bartender was kind of a tool. The way that he acted was unfortunate. His behavior towards a lovely young waitress... he loudly noted how her boyfriend had given her a hickey, and he spoke in Spanish to her and what I could make out, he called her a cheap whore! I know he used the word “puta”. Even as a joke, not very funny or nice. One guy there looked like Dante from Clerks. Appropriately, a pair of Boston Red Sox fans came in. They are playing in the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. That game and an NFL game were taking place at the same time, so I watched that to kill time. Those fans ended up living to the worst stereotypes of Boston fans... Massholes, that's what the stereotype is. Oh, and I saw some douche walking around and he looked like someone you'd see star on a (hopefully never going to happen) Jersey Shore 2 show on MTV. He had on a black shirt... and fuchsia pants! I kid you not. It was a rather interesting time there, as you can see. It sometimes provided more entertainment than the sports games did.
Thankfully the pickup and then the drive home was spectacularly uneventful. That may also describe the upcoming week for me. Nothing at all is planned yet. Hopefully some wackiness happens to me, even if only to give me something to write about.
Tuesday was dull so let me skip ahead to Wednesday. In the evening, I went and finally saw Machete Kills. I enjoy the original Machete; I think it's a lot of fun. The sequel, though... a real mixed bag. There are good moments, but also bad ones. Overall I would rate it as average which makes it disappointing as it definitely was less than the first one. Alexa Vega and how she looked in the movie, though... that was a good moment! I've never seen any of the Spy Kids movies but she definitely has grown up from her child days.
Thursday, I had dinner with someone at a restaurant. It was Red Robin, a place I've been to once in Illinois and once in Kansas. One opened nearby last December but when I tried to go to it before it was always busy as hell. Thankfully, on this early evening the place wasn't crowded at all so that was a relief. I had my almost always of a burger and fries and also a spice pumpkin pie milkshake; all were at least good and at least I can say I finally ate at one of those places in Florida.
Friday, that was an interesting day... or at least night. In the evening I returned to the lovely place known as Ghost Bar & Lounge. It had been too long since I was there. It wasn't the busiest there but it still was a fine time there. I did see my favorite, which was Drunk White People Attempting To Dance, and as always it was fine entertainment. What was interesting was seeing a lady with fake boobs who had on a skimpy tank top and no bra, so she had total sideboob action going on. Not to be judgmental, but when I see such a thing, I have to think that the lady is a trollop! Anyhow, a random lady decided to give me a free shot, as there was one extra. I did not get to talk to her; this is because her guy friends did not look happy about her giving me a shot and gave me a less than friendly stare. They're probably tools... after I downed it, I thanked her and got the heck out of there.
What made the night noteworthy besides laughing at some dumb drunk people in general was that some people decided to dress up in Halloween costumes. I saw several people wearing sugar skull makeup, a young lady as an old lady, a shuffling zombie, Miley Cyrus' foam finger (speaking of trollops), and a guy who looked a lot like Chris Hemsworth with a full beard, so his Chris Hemsworth Thor outfit was perfect. Who knows when I'll return there (I may not go there in November) but at least I had a fun time there this time even if it wasn't one of my wackiest time at that establishment.
Saturday I stayed at home and relaxed, which was fine with me as Sunday I once again had to pick up a parent from the airport in St. Petersburg. As the Bears don't play this week the day was up in the air as to what I could do. I was lazy and I left in the late afternoon. I was going to eat at a restaurant on the west side of Tampa before making the pickup. The first place I was going to go to ended up being closed for good, so I had to go to a nearby spot. It happened to be a place I was at once before a few years ago. In Canada the place is known as Boston's Pizza, and in the U.S it's known as Boston's The Gourmet Pizza. While I was there I did have water (and some alcohol...) and the pizza I had was pretty darn good. I got a call while I was there that the plane flight would be delayed for 2 hours so I ended up spending a few hours there, and oh what an interesting few hours.
The male bartender was kind of a tool. The way that he acted was unfortunate. His behavior towards a lovely young waitress... he loudly noted how her boyfriend had given her a hickey, and he spoke in Spanish to her and what I could make out, he called her a cheap whore! I know he used the word “puta”. Even as a joke, not very funny or nice. One guy there looked like Dante from Clerks. Appropriately, a pair of Boston Red Sox fans came in. They are playing in the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. That game and an NFL game were taking place at the same time, so I watched that to kill time. Those fans ended up living to the worst stereotypes of Boston fans... Massholes, that's what the stereotype is. Oh, and I saw some douche walking around and he looked like someone you'd see star on a (hopefully never going to happen) Jersey Shore 2 show on MTV. He had on a black shirt... and fuchsia pants! I kid you not. It was a rather interesting time there, as you can see. It sometimes provided more entertainment than the sports games did.
Thankfully the pickup and then the drive home was spectacularly uneventful. That may also describe the upcoming week for me. Nothing at all is planned yet. Hopefully some wackiness happens to me, even if only to give me something to write about.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Gravity, Disney Drunks, & Neanderthal Sports Fans
Here's what I've done in the past week, which for as of late has been pretty eventful. Monday the 14th, I went to Walt Disney World. Heh heh heh. I was at Ecot as right now they have their annual food & wine festival. I walked around, saw the sites, had some treats rather than any non-dessert food (those are my tastes; I call it being a “selective eater”)-I had dinner at home-and oh yeah, I had a bourbon & honey shot and a frozen dragon berry rum drink. Both were good! I also enjoyed the desserts I consumed. The Dole whips are like nectar from the gods, and whether it be pineapple or orange, it's a must-eat.
I did not stick around to see the act that performed in the park for a half hour a few times a day... Wilson Phillips! I remember when they were a hit act in 1990, and that makes me feel ancient. I would have watched it if it was a more hard-rockin' act, like Survivor or Night Ranger, which are actual acts playing there later in the festival. Of course, there being plenty of alcohol around, that brought out the tools and drunken idiots; I always see them there during that festival and the flower and garden festival. I try my best to ignore them.
Tuesday, I went out to eat with someone. We could have gone to a frou-frou type of restaurant which opened right in town last month but looking at their menu, there isn't that much of a selection, and besides its pricy nature, there's what I've heard online about bad service and too small portions. I may go there on my own one night but with those complaints and the town I live in, there's a pretty decent chance it won't last for too long. Instead, we went to an old favorite, Steak & Shake. They somehow ran out of chicken fingers (this was during the 5 PM hour, too; how does that happen? I guess I'll blame the federal government being shut down!) so I had my almost always of a buger and fries, and I also had their limited edition caramel apple shake; now this was a fantastic idea, as it was great.
Wednesday, I returned to the Walt Disney World area. This time it was to watch a movie at the AMC Theatres at Downtown Disney; it was a film on their giant ETX screen. It was the film Gravity, and I heard from various people that it was best to see it in 3D and on a giant screen. Turns out, they were right. The movie actually was as great as I've heard from just about everyone. It is the type of movie that I'd enjoy and it was awesomely done. Hopefully you saw it already and were able to watch it on a giant screen, such as ETX, IMAX, or anything similar. Thursday was dull and Friday I only went to the familiar haunt of Winter Garden Village for a bit (I got a pair of magazines, among other things) so onto Saturday... I was speculating if I should go on a small road trip or not; I didn't, for a variety of reasons. In hindsight, after what happened the last two days, that may have been for the best.
Saturday I did not do anything until the evening; I went to the local Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the latest UFC pay per view. I figured it would be a busy day as there was a huge football game going on between the Florida State Seminoles and the Clemson Tigers, and there was a big baseball game too. Yep, it was packed there and of course the people running the joint were dumb in trying to figure out which events to put on which TV's, something that has always aggravated me. It's a shame that this happens and there are usually dumb customers there as the regular employees there are almost always pretty cool and I enjoy the food. And boy were there many stupid Neanderthals there; they were happy to yell and scream as their FSU team surprisingly destroyed Clemson. I wonder how many of them actually went to Florida State... or even went to college at all. And the thing is, the UFC pay per view was pretty good overall as there were many nice matches and one was great. I am happy that I likely won't have to be back there until late December; the next pay per view next month is also being shown at various movie theatres and barring anything unexpected that's how I'll be watching it.
Sunday, things actually got worse. Traffic was pretty bad when I returned to the Friendly Confines sports bar to check out all the NFL games going on, but focusing on the Bears playing against the Washington Redskins. The traffic was pretty crap going there and back. Sometimes I thought I was on the Autobahn people were driving so recklessly fast. Chicago lost in a shootout, but considering that several key players got hurt during the game (I now know the quarterback tore his groin; ouch!) I am surprised that Chicago still almost could have won it under those circumstances. There were SO many stupid people there... I won't talk about all of them and why they were cretins, except for one. He was a fan of Chicago's rival the Green Bay Packers, which was fine at all. Unfortunately, to put it bluntly he decided to be a drunken PRICK and ASSHOLE and loudly cheer for the Redskins to win, and in the most repugnant way too, and of course he cursed too. I did in fact give him an evil stare a few times; that's not something I do in general but this ogre really deserved it. In fact, I almost gave him the finger as I left! Flipping someone off on the highway is one thing (and yes I've done that before...) but doing it in person is completely different. It's good that I didn't as I (unfortunately) may see him there in the future. But he deserved a middle finger! With the Bears schedule, I don't have to go back there for a few weeks and after yesterday, thank goodness.
For the upcoming week, I really hope I don't have to deal with more Neanderthals, that's the most important thing. I have some ideas what to do for the weekend; besides that, I hope to have a cheerier blog and I don't have to rant and rave next time.
I did not stick around to see the act that performed in the park for a half hour a few times a day... Wilson Phillips! I remember when they were a hit act in 1990, and that makes me feel ancient. I would have watched it if it was a more hard-rockin' act, like Survivor or Night Ranger, which are actual acts playing there later in the festival. Of course, there being plenty of alcohol around, that brought out the tools and drunken idiots; I always see them there during that festival and the flower and garden festival. I try my best to ignore them.
Tuesday, I went out to eat with someone. We could have gone to a frou-frou type of restaurant which opened right in town last month but looking at their menu, there isn't that much of a selection, and besides its pricy nature, there's what I've heard online about bad service and too small portions. I may go there on my own one night but with those complaints and the town I live in, there's a pretty decent chance it won't last for too long. Instead, we went to an old favorite, Steak & Shake. They somehow ran out of chicken fingers (this was during the 5 PM hour, too; how does that happen? I guess I'll blame the federal government being shut down!) so I had my almost always of a buger and fries, and I also had their limited edition caramel apple shake; now this was a fantastic idea, as it was great.
Wednesday, I returned to the Walt Disney World area. This time it was to watch a movie at the AMC Theatres at Downtown Disney; it was a film on their giant ETX screen. It was the film Gravity, and I heard from various people that it was best to see it in 3D and on a giant screen. Turns out, they were right. The movie actually was as great as I've heard from just about everyone. It is the type of movie that I'd enjoy and it was awesomely done. Hopefully you saw it already and were able to watch it on a giant screen, such as ETX, IMAX, or anything similar. Thursday was dull and Friday I only went to the familiar haunt of Winter Garden Village for a bit (I got a pair of magazines, among other things) so onto Saturday... I was speculating if I should go on a small road trip or not; I didn't, for a variety of reasons. In hindsight, after what happened the last two days, that may have been for the best.
Saturday I did not do anything until the evening; I went to the local Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the latest UFC pay per view. I figured it would be a busy day as there was a huge football game going on between the Florida State Seminoles and the Clemson Tigers, and there was a big baseball game too. Yep, it was packed there and of course the people running the joint were dumb in trying to figure out which events to put on which TV's, something that has always aggravated me. It's a shame that this happens and there are usually dumb customers there as the regular employees there are almost always pretty cool and I enjoy the food. And boy were there many stupid Neanderthals there; they were happy to yell and scream as their FSU team surprisingly destroyed Clemson. I wonder how many of them actually went to Florida State... or even went to college at all. And the thing is, the UFC pay per view was pretty good overall as there were many nice matches and one was great. I am happy that I likely won't have to be back there until late December; the next pay per view next month is also being shown at various movie theatres and barring anything unexpected that's how I'll be watching it.
Sunday, things actually got worse. Traffic was pretty bad when I returned to the Friendly Confines sports bar to check out all the NFL games going on, but focusing on the Bears playing against the Washington Redskins. The traffic was pretty crap going there and back. Sometimes I thought I was on the Autobahn people were driving so recklessly fast. Chicago lost in a shootout, but considering that several key players got hurt during the game (I now know the quarterback tore his groin; ouch!) I am surprised that Chicago still almost could have won it under those circumstances. There were SO many stupid people there... I won't talk about all of them and why they were cretins, except for one. He was a fan of Chicago's rival the Green Bay Packers, which was fine at all. Unfortunately, to put it bluntly he decided to be a drunken PRICK and ASSHOLE and loudly cheer for the Redskins to win, and in the most repugnant way too, and of course he cursed too. I did in fact give him an evil stare a few times; that's not something I do in general but this ogre really deserved it. In fact, I almost gave him the finger as I left! Flipping someone off on the highway is one thing (and yes I've done that before...) but doing it in person is completely different. It's good that I didn't as I (unfortunately) may see him there in the future. But he deserved a middle finger! With the Bears schedule, I don't have to go back there for a few weeks and after yesterday, thank goodness.
For the upcoming week, I really hope I don't have to deal with more Neanderthals, that's the most important thing. I have some ideas what to do for the weekend; besides that, I hope to have a cheerier blog and I don't have to rant and rave next time.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Dryck Julmust, The New Corvette, & Columbus Day
Yep, not too interesting of a week this past week. That is alright with me, though. This past Monday I did not do much, except drink something that I had purchased from IKEA the previous week. It was a drink I had never heard of before; of course it's a Scandanavian beverage; it's known as Dryck Julmust. I had some and well, to me it was really blah and flavorless. I'll stick with their apple and pear drinks they sell in cans and the lingonberry they have on draft.
Tuesday, I volunteered to take someone's vehicle to the car wash as they were in a rural area and they ended up driving through a swarm of bugs. That's happened to me before. I went to a 7-11 station, got gas for them then went through the car wash, which did the job pretty well. While on the way there I saw quite the sight... the new Corvette! It's brand new and I noticed it had Michigan plates, so I believe it's either a test car or it's a car for the press for them to review for websites or newspapers. I was driving behind it but not close enough for my tastes. It got on the Turnpike as I pulled into the 7-11. That is a great-looking car, BTW.
Wednesday was pretty dull so let me skip ahead to Thursday, which was the one real interesting day of the week. I ended up going to a few different places. I first went to a MovieStop, a place I've been to a few times before; it's a new and used DVD/Blu-Ray store that has a wide selection and it's mainly used discs. I did pick up some discs. After that I returned to Rocket Fizz for some more gourmet soda. I picked up some random bottles, including one known as Margo's Bark; it has a dog on the label and all the profits are said to go to such places as animal shelters, so of course I had to get it. I had it last night and it was a root beer, and it was good. While I was there, I actually ran into someone I know from the days way back when I attended local independent wrestling shows. Yeah, he's a wrestler. I briefly chatted with him and that was a nice surprise.
After that I drove on over to the Friendly Confines sports bar, as I hadn't been there in over a month. It was the same old same old there. There thankfully was less in the way of loudmouth meathead sports fans there. I appreciated that. There actually were several boisterous hockey fans in attendance. Yes, there's more than a few hockey fans in Florida. I had some food and drink there (yes, alcoholic in nature) and I had a good time. I could have watched it at home but I decided to go there to see Thursday night's NFL game between the Chicago Bears and the pretty lousy New York Giants. Well, it wasn't the prettiest game but thanks in part due to Giants miscue, Chicago was able to win.
Friday, I went to the local Blockbuster. Yes, they are still around. I got a Blu-Ray disc amongst the rental haul. The lady who checked me out (no, not in a romantic way! I mean the lady who rang me up) asked if I had a Blu-Ray player. She then mentioned that there are plenty of people who try to play Blu-Ray discs on their DVD player... this is NO surprise to me! Saturday and Sunday I did absolutely nothing of note... at least not worth mentioning. I did see in the neighborhood a Porsche 911, and not an old one from previous decades but one from the past few years. If I ever win the lottery (or find a rich girlfriend) I just might get that car... although I wouldn't mind driving that new Corvette either.
I know, not the most exciting of weeks for me. However, I am expecting the upcoming week to be more interesting and more filled with events, so that will make for a more entertaining blog next Wednesday. I mean, I'll be doing something later today, which happens to be Columbus Day. I won't get into the whole controversy over whether Christopher Columbus should even be celebrated. I'll just plan on having a good day today.
Tuesday, I volunteered to take someone's vehicle to the car wash as they were in a rural area and they ended up driving through a swarm of bugs. That's happened to me before. I went to a 7-11 station, got gas for them then went through the car wash, which did the job pretty well. While on the way there I saw quite the sight... the new Corvette! It's brand new and I noticed it had Michigan plates, so I believe it's either a test car or it's a car for the press for them to review for websites or newspapers. I was driving behind it but not close enough for my tastes. It got on the Turnpike as I pulled into the 7-11. That is a great-looking car, BTW.
Wednesday was pretty dull so let me skip ahead to Thursday, which was the one real interesting day of the week. I ended up going to a few different places. I first went to a MovieStop, a place I've been to a few times before; it's a new and used DVD/Blu-Ray store that has a wide selection and it's mainly used discs. I did pick up some discs. After that I returned to Rocket Fizz for some more gourmet soda. I picked up some random bottles, including one known as Margo's Bark; it has a dog on the label and all the profits are said to go to such places as animal shelters, so of course I had to get it. I had it last night and it was a root beer, and it was good. While I was there, I actually ran into someone I know from the days way back when I attended local independent wrestling shows. Yeah, he's a wrestler. I briefly chatted with him and that was a nice surprise.
After that I drove on over to the Friendly Confines sports bar, as I hadn't been there in over a month. It was the same old same old there. There thankfully was less in the way of loudmouth meathead sports fans there. I appreciated that. There actually were several boisterous hockey fans in attendance. Yes, there's more than a few hockey fans in Florida. I had some food and drink there (yes, alcoholic in nature) and I had a good time. I could have watched it at home but I decided to go there to see Thursday night's NFL game between the Chicago Bears and the pretty lousy New York Giants. Well, it wasn't the prettiest game but thanks in part due to Giants miscue, Chicago was able to win.
Friday, I went to the local Blockbuster. Yes, they are still around. I got a Blu-Ray disc amongst the rental haul. The lady who checked me out (no, not in a romantic way! I mean the lady who rang me up) asked if I had a Blu-Ray player. She then mentioned that there are plenty of people who try to play Blu-Ray discs on their DVD player... this is NO surprise to me! Saturday and Sunday I did absolutely nothing of note... at least not worth mentioning. I did see in the neighborhood a Porsche 911, and not an old one from previous decades but one from the past few years. If I ever win the lottery (or find a rich girlfriend) I just might get that car... although I wouldn't mind driving that new Corvette either.
I know, not the most exciting of weeks for me. However, I am expecting the upcoming week to be more interesting and more filled with events, so that will make for a more entertaining blog next Wednesday. I mean, I'll be doing something later today, which happens to be Columbus Day. I won't get into the whole controversy over whether Christopher Columbus should even be celebrated. I'll just plan on having a good day today.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Mass Effect 2, Malathion, & IKEA Madness
Yeah, another less than action packed week, although at least this time I have a rather amusing story or two to tell. This past Monday I did not do anything at all, except remember that the night before when I picked up that person from the airport in St. Petersburg, the spot I pulled in... right in front of a Bentley Continental GTC convertible; meaning, it was at most only a few years old. Must be nice.
Tuesday, in the evening I did not go far; I ended up at the closest GameStop; I picked up the game Metro 2033 (it isn't the cheapest but I heard it's a quirky and different survival horror game, probably because it's from The Ukraine) and got some more Microsoft Points; I know, they don't do points anymore and now it's a cash system but they still have those cards and old points-based cards still work and it converts after you enter in the code. Anyhow, driving there (it's in an open-air mall) I noticed a trio of teenage boys and they were walking in the road instead of on the sidewalk. I thought it was a tool-like thing to do but maybe that's just me. In the GameStop, those guys came in... yep, they were tools! They were loud and stupid, and one of them admitted to “farting” and they all left together, where they then continued to be total bros... or at least that's how I view it. I mean, when you hear one of them in the new game section of 360 titles (meaning that no one has bought it yet and it's not a used title like most of the games there) ask, “Why is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 still a new game?” Um, because no one has bought that copy yet? Idiots! I did not actually respond to them as hey, I was outnumbered. Hearing that was enough right there to confirm my total judgmental first take on the trio.
Wednesday was dull but Thursday I did go to the nearest Aldi's to help someone pick up some items. That place has some quirks (at least to my American eyes) but they do have some good pricing at times. Friday was another boring day; I wasn't sure how it'd turn out but after a rough start it ended up being fine; long story which I won't get into. I did see something for the first time; me, my mom and a neighbor (a guy who is the best source of gossip in the neighborhood) were briefly outside and we noticed that a truck was driving slow and spraying something. I had no damn idea what it was at first but it turns out it was spraying for mosquitoes; I had no idea that was a problem as the house is in a subdivision, not in the middle of the woods. I was then informed by my parents that they were spraying Malathion, a mildly toxic mosquito killer substance. Back in both of their heydays, people would spray it around their hometowns.
Saturday, that was the interesting day for me, although not as interesting as some of the days I had last month. I went to the IKEA in Orlando, as it's been awhile since I've been to the giant Swedish retailer. I walked around, looked at the funky layouts, and I got some miscellaneous items that are only a few bucks each. That includes some food & drink. It was as busy there on a late Saturday afternoon as you'd expect; at least it being busy was fine and I did not get annoyed by anything or anyone. I then ate at Burger 21, a joint I've been to a few times before. The burger was more medium than medium well but it was still edible; the cookies & cream shake I had was pretty grand, though. I then walked around the Mall at Millenia for a short amount of time before driving home.
Sunday... before I get to talking about the Bears loss, I should mention that the past few weeks, videogame wise on the 360 I've been tied up replaying the first Mass Effect game before diving on into the second one. This was a good move on my part; I've mentioned the series before and you might have heard about it last year when the Internet was collectively pissed over how bad the Mass Effect 3 ending was. It's an action RPG set in space where throughout the trilogy you have to defend the galaxy while running into a wide variety of species and characters; there's action but there's also character interactions that is always interesting and the big deal is choice, as you can be a paragon of virtue in terms of how you act or you can be a jerk of a hero; also, you can import your character into the later games so your choices really do matter and you can have many unique experiences depending on your decisions. It's great. I thought the first one was pretty sweet but the second is a clear improvement in every way. Getting the three games in a bundle was a great decision. This past week I've been preoccupied with Mass Effect 2.
Anyhow, that was more interesting than the Bears game against the undefeated New Orleans Saints, who are still undefeated as they won 24-16. Once again the score was closer than the game actually was. Once again aside from a few plays the offense was blah and their defense was like a sieve, to use a phrase my parents like to say. I am glad I did not have to go out to see it as it wouldn't have been worth the trip. The next Bears game is this upcoming Thursday against one of the worst teams in the league, the New York Giants. I have little worry about Chicago losing that contest.
When I return a week from today, there isn't anything on the docket yet aside from-likely-staying at home to see the Bears game. Hopefully it'll be more interesting than most of my blogs as of late.
Tuesday, in the evening I did not go far; I ended up at the closest GameStop; I picked up the game Metro 2033 (it isn't the cheapest but I heard it's a quirky and different survival horror game, probably because it's from The Ukraine) and got some more Microsoft Points; I know, they don't do points anymore and now it's a cash system but they still have those cards and old points-based cards still work and it converts after you enter in the code. Anyhow, driving there (it's in an open-air mall) I noticed a trio of teenage boys and they were walking in the road instead of on the sidewalk. I thought it was a tool-like thing to do but maybe that's just me. In the GameStop, those guys came in... yep, they were tools! They were loud and stupid, and one of them admitted to “farting” and they all left together, where they then continued to be total bros... or at least that's how I view it. I mean, when you hear one of them in the new game section of 360 titles (meaning that no one has bought it yet and it's not a used title like most of the games there) ask, “Why is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 still a new game?” Um, because no one has bought that copy yet? Idiots! I did not actually respond to them as hey, I was outnumbered. Hearing that was enough right there to confirm my total judgmental first take on the trio.
Wednesday was dull but Thursday I did go to the nearest Aldi's to help someone pick up some items. That place has some quirks (at least to my American eyes) but they do have some good pricing at times. Friday was another boring day; I wasn't sure how it'd turn out but after a rough start it ended up being fine; long story which I won't get into. I did see something for the first time; me, my mom and a neighbor (a guy who is the best source of gossip in the neighborhood) were briefly outside and we noticed that a truck was driving slow and spraying something. I had no damn idea what it was at first but it turns out it was spraying for mosquitoes; I had no idea that was a problem as the house is in a subdivision, not in the middle of the woods. I was then informed by my parents that they were spraying Malathion, a mildly toxic mosquito killer substance. Back in both of their heydays, people would spray it around their hometowns.
Saturday, that was the interesting day for me, although not as interesting as some of the days I had last month. I went to the IKEA in Orlando, as it's been awhile since I've been to the giant Swedish retailer. I walked around, looked at the funky layouts, and I got some miscellaneous items that are only a few bucks each. That includes some food & drink. It was as busy there on a late Saturday afternoon as you'd expect; at least it being busy was fine and I did not get annoyed by anything or anyone. I then ate at Burger 21, a joint I've been to a few times before. The burger was more medium than medium well but it was still edible; the cookies & cream shake I had was pretty grand, though. I then walked around the Mall at Millenia for a short amount of time before driving home.
Sunday... before I get to talking about the Bears loss, I should mention that the past few weeks, videogame wise on the 360 I've been tied up replaying the first Mass Effect game before diving on into the second one. This was a good move on my part; I've mentioned the series before and you might have heard about it last year when the Internet was collectively pissed over how bad the Mass Effect 3 ending was. It's an action RPG set in space where throughout the trilogy you have to defend the galaxy while running into a wide variety of species and characters; there's action but there's also character interactions that is always interesting and the big deal is choice, as you can be a paragon of virtue in terms of how you act or you can be a jerk of a hero; also, you can import your character into the later games so your choices really do matter and you can have many unique experiences depending on your decisions. It's great. I thought the first one was pretty sweet but the second is a clear improvement in every way. Getting the three games in a bundle was a great decision. This past week I've been preoccupied with Mass Effect 2.
Anyhow, that was more interesting than the Bears game against the undefeated New Orleans Saints, who are still undefeated as they won 24-16. Once again the score was closer than the game actually was. Once again aside from a few plays the offense was blah and their defense was like a sieve, to use a phrase my parents like to say. I am glad I did not have to go out to see it as it wouldn't have been worth the trip. The next Bears game is this upcoming Thursday against one of the worst teams in the league, the New York Giants. I have little worry about Chicago losing that contest.
When I return a week from today, there isn't anything on the docket yet aside from-likely-staying at home to see the Bears game. Hopefully it'll be more interesting than most of my blogs as of late.
Monday, September 30, 2013
The Blog Where I Use The Words Quiescent And Clinquant
I am not trying to be a D-bag by using super fancy words. I found a post online which listed a bunch of obscure words and their meanings and even I hadn't heard most of them. Quiescent means “not active”, which wasn't quite the definition mentioned in the post. Clinquant means glittering like tinsel, which at least was correct in the post.
Unfortunately, a few days in the past week I was feeling ill, so I laid low and did not do much of anything. At least yesterday provided me some material to write. But yeah, I am now becoming old and sensible; how about that? Sometimes I feel like I am 72 instead of 32 (and I do have some grey hairs) and some may say that I usually act like an old man.
Last Monday I was thinking of going somewhere but it rained for a good number of hours so I instead decided to stay home and relax. Better than dealing with wet roads AND stupid Florida drivers trying to navigate wet roads, which should be easy but for many Floridians it's not. Tuesday, I went to my usual hangout, Winter Garden Village. I got a mainly strawberry smoothie from Planet Smoothie as it's a limited edition flavor; it was also made with Greek yogurt but despite not being too big a fan of that, it tasted fine enough for me. I also went in a Best Buy for a bit to see what was available. While I did not buy anything, I did notice a young child crying and alone. I walked away then I realized, “Oh boy, that kid must have lost his parents”, but when I tried to find him he vanished; I'll just presume it did not take him long to find mommy and daddy.
Wednesday and Thursday I did not feel good at all. I won't provide any details except that I was happy to stay in and replay the first Mass Effect game on the Xbox 360. I was happy to do that while seemingly everyone else is playing Grand Theft Auto V; I have no problem with that game as I've played III, Vice City, and San Andreas back in my PS2 days. It's just that I can wait a few years to play it.
Friday, the only thing I did was go to Walmart to pick up a few items. It was the usual there but there was nothing incredible I saw there, like some people who looked amazing with their appearance or some middle-aged woman purchasing 631 dollars worth of mostly random low-price crap. Saturday, it was yet another lay low day, except that I went to Burger King to try out their new Buffalo Chicken Strips. It was exactly what you'd expect. The service there did not live up to the term “fast food” but due to past experiences this wasn't too much of a surprise.
Sunday-yesterday-was the day of action. In the evening I had to pick up a parent at the small airport in St. Petersburg (not the big one in Tampa) and I volunteered to do it. I made a day out of it. I stopped to have lunch at a Hooters in Lakeland (but just for the food... or so I say) and also watch the Chicago Bears game against the Detroit Lions. Much to my surprise the Bears played like crap so between that and having to crane my neck to even see that TV (due to being lied to by someone there), I decided to only watch the first half of the contest. Chicago lost 40-32 but it wasn't as close as the score would suggest. I left there sooner than expected and I stopped to get gas; I drove until the gas tank was empty but I made it to the random Shell station fine. I then went to a big mall in the town of Brandon, a place I've been a decent number of times before. The only interesting part of my time there is going into a local gaming store known as RU Game? They sell any and all games; they even have old Japanese PS1 and bizarre cartridge games from Japan for gaming systems I don't even know. It was all strange and bizarre and just judging from that, Japan enjoys playing videogames based on baseball and horse racing.
After walking around there I went on the toll road through Tampa rather than I-4 and I-275; it was less crowded and I was happy with that as at times on Sunday, I swore that I was driving in South Florida. I saw people weaving dangerously in and out of traffic at high speed, and a minivan driving at least 100 miles per hour! I then ate at a new joint I just heard about on Facebook a few days ago. It's a Southern chain known as PDQ and it's chicken-based. They don't have one in Orlando yet and that is unfortunate as they have really good food. I enjoyed the chicken tenders and fries and I also approved of their milkshakes; I had their limited edition Cocoa Krispies flavor and I highly approved of that. I then killed time at Hulk Hogan's bar/restaurant-where I saw how the late football games ended-before finally making it to the airport and driving home. I almost ran over a bunny on a rural road but otherwise that was uneventful.
When I return a week from today for the customary blog, I have no idea what I'll be writing about yet. Sure, I plan on finally returning to the Friendly Confines to watch the Bears play the New Orleans Saints, but otherwise nothing is on the docket quite yet for the first week of October. I am just happy that while I was damn tired yesterday, I feel fine today and I am long past the short illness.
Unfortunately, a few days in the past week I was feeling ill, so I laid low and did not do much of anything. At least yesterday provided me some material to write. But yeah, I am now becoming old and sensible; how about that? Sometimes I feel like I am 72 instead of 32 (and I do have some grey hairs) and some may say that I usually act like an old man.
Last Monday I was thinking of going somewhere but it rained for a good number of hours so I instead decided to stay home and relax. Better than dealing with wet roads AND stupid Florida drivers trying to navigate wet roads, which should be easy but for many Floridians it's not. Tuesday, I went to my usual hangout, Winter Garden Village. I got a mainly strawberry smoothie from Planet Smoothie as it's a limited edition flavor; it was also made with Greek yogurt but despite not being too big a fan of that, it tasted fine enough for me. I also went in a Best Buy for a bit to see what was available. While I did not buy anything, I did notice a young child crying and alone. I walked away then I realized, “Oh boy, that kid must have lost his parents”, but when I tried to find him he vanished; I'll just presume it did not take him long to find mommy and daddy.
Wednesday and Thursday I did not feel good at all. I won't provide any details except that I was happy to stay in and replay the first Mass Effect game on the Xbox 360. I was happy to do that while seemingly everyone else is playing Grand Theft Auto V; I have no problem with that game as I've played III, Vice City, and San Andreas back in my PS2 days. It's just that I can wait a few years to play it.
Friday, the only thing I did was go to Walmart to pick up a few items. It was the usual there but there was nothing incredible I saw there, like some people who looked amazing with their appearance or some middle-aged woman purchasing 631 dollars worth of mostly random low-price crap. Saturday, it was yet another lay low day, except that I went to Burger King to try out their new Buffalo Chicken Strips. It was exactly what you'd expect. The service there did not live up to the term “fast food” but due to past experiences this wasn't too much of a surprise.
Sunday-yesterday-was the day of action. In the evening I had to pick up a parent at the small airport in St. Petersburg (not the big one in Tampa) and I volunteered to do it. I made a day out of it. I stopped to have lunch at a Hooters in Lakeland (but just for the food... or so I say) and also watch the Chicago Bears game against the Detroit Lions. Much to my surprise the Bears played like crap so between that and having to crane my neck to even see that TV (due to being lied to by someone there), I decided to only watch the first half of the contest. Chicago lost 40-32 but it wasn't as close as the score would suggest. I left there sooner than expected and I stopped to get gas; I drove until the gas tank was empty but I made it to the random Shell station fine. I then went to a big mall in the town of Brandon, a place I've been a decent number of times before. The only interesting part of my time there is going into a local gaming store known as RU Game? They sell any and all games; they even have old Japanese PS1 and bizarre cartridge games from Japan for gaming systems I don't even know. It was all strange and bizarre and just judging from that, Japan enjoys playing videogames based on baseball and horse racing.
After walking around there I went on the toll road through Tampa rather than I-4 and I-275; it was less crowded and I was happy with that as at times on Sunday, I swore that I was driving in South Florida. I saw people weaving dangerously in and out of traffic at high speed, and a minivan driving at least 100 miles per hour! I then ate at a new joint I just heard about on Facebook a few days ago. It's a Southern chain known as PDQ and it's chicken-based. They don't have one in Orlando yet and that is unfortunate as they have really good food. I enjoyed the chicken tenders and fries and I also approved of their milkshakes; I had their limited edition Cocoa Krispies flavor and I highly approved of that. I then killed time at Hulk Hogan's bar/restaurant-where I saw how the late football games ended-before finally making it to the airport and driving home. I almost ran over a bunny on a rural road but otherwise that was uneventful.
When I return a week from today for the customary blog, I have no idea what I'll be writing about yet. Sure, I plan on finally returning to the Friendly Confines to watch the Bears play the New Orleans Saints, but otherwise nothing is on the docket quite yet for the first week of October. I am just happy that while I was damn tired yesterday, I feel fine today and I am long past the short illness.
Monday, September 23, 2013
The Blog Where I Follow The Yellow Brick Road
Aside from two days I had a really dull and low-key week, but that is OK.
This past Monday, I had free time so I made the trip over to the town of Celebration and then The Loop outdoor mall in Kissimmee. Celebration is a town I've been in before but not in many months and this was actually the first time I was able to drive around all but the downtown area. If you don't know it was a master planned community done by Disney but as was the plan the entire time they quickly gave up control of it and now they run themselves. While I understand that the rules for maintaining your house there and all that are rather strigent and I understand how some could be creeped out by the idyllic design of the houses and neighborhoods, I am fine with it myself and it's cool, even for kitsch value. I drove around and I also walked around for a bit. After that I drove on over to The Loop to go into a store or two then I had dinner at BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse; yes, I still giggle at the name. The food was good and it was quite the interesting conversation I heard when the cute bartender began talking to a random guy regular about her personal life, which involved her b/f and him not taking great care of himself and her ex & child support; fascinating, really.
Tuesday and Wednesday was pretty boring, as I decided to lay low and not do much of anything. Thursday was also the same, except that I did go to Walmart and purchase a few items. My time there was dull but I tell you, even on that short journey there and back, I deal with idiots on the road! I hate having to mention it like a thousand times by now... it's just that it is true, the way people drive down here is absolutely atrocious.
Friday, that was the one real interesting day of the week for me. I ended up at Universal Studios CityWalk; that entire area was full of people as that was the first day of Halloween Horror Nights, a very popular thing... that I will never give two craps about! Sorry but that's just me. I ended up eating at the NASCAR Cafe, a place I've eaten at a few times before despite not being a NASCAR fan; it wasn't my first choice but due to crowds that's where I ended up. That is OK as they at least have good food... and drink. After I had dinner I walked to the AMC Theatres at CityWalk to check out a really old film that is out for only a week on IMAX screens and in 3D: The Wizard of Oz. Yes, I am admitting to watching this as an adult. Of course like most people I saw it as a kid more than once but my last viewing must have been many years ago. I did enjoy watching it again and if nothing else, seeing it on IMAX disproved one of the many popular rumors concerning the movie: the one where in a scene you can see a “little person” deceased in the background, hanging from a tree. It's obvious in the format that it's what most people said it was: a big black bird.
After that I went to downtown Orlando, where the action is. I went to where I always go (Ghost Bar & Lounge) and I had a good time there, despite there not being a lot for me to say; it wasn't one of those wild nights where drunk woman grind on my lap or anything of that sort. I just sat and stood around and watched sporting events on the TV and listened to some music that was LOUD. There was no acoustic acts live then the dance/rap music, but instead it was all dance/rap music. As always happens there, I saw the phenomenon of “Drunk White People Attemping to Dance” and as always, I laugh at seeing such a sight. I briefly chatted with a random lady there about something; I wish it could have been longer but oh well. It was a surprise seeing someone who used to work at Mako's way back when now working there. I had no chance to chat with her but it was still a nice surprise.
Saturday, I was feeling less than 100% so I decided to stay in and watch the UFC pay per view from home rather than go out somewhere and deal with dumb sports fans while many of the TV's are occupied with college football. Turns out, the UFC show was average all around with some decent fights but also some pretty bad ones... then the main event happened. That fight was pretty awesome and likely the fight of 2013. That saved things, for sure.
Sunday, the Chicago Bears played in the evening so I stayed in once again and I watched the Red Zone channel, where I could see highlights of all the games. As for the game I cared the most about, the Bears won 40-23 over the declining Pittsburgh Steelers. They got off to a big lead early and had to hold on and as typical, the Chicago defense really helped them out. Overall I can't really complain about the game or the season, where they are undefeated at 3-0.
As for the upcoming week, when I return a week from today I do not really know yet what I'll be writing about. I at least do have some things in mind; I probably won't be doing anything the rest of today as it's been raining all afternoon, but who knows what the next 7 days have in store for me.
This past Monday, I had free time so I made the trip over to the town of Celebration and then The Loop outdoor mall in Kissimmee. Celebration is a town I've been in before but not in many months and this was actually the first time I was able to drive around all but the downtown area. If you don't know it was a master planned community done by Disney but as was the plan the entire time they quickly gave up control of it and now they run themselves. While I understand that the rules for maintaining your house there and all that are rather strigent and I understand how some could be creeped out by the idyllic design of the houses and neighborhoods, I am fine with it myself and it's cool, even for kitsch value. I drove around and I also walked around for a bit. After that I drove on over to The Loop to go into a store or two then I had dinner at BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse; yes, I still giggle at the name. The food was good and it was quite the interesting conversation I heard when the cute bartender began talking to a random guy regular about her personal life, which involved her b/f and him not taking great care of himself and her ex & child support; fascinating, really.
Tuesday and Wednesday was pretty boring, as I decided to lay low and not do much of anything. Thursday was also the same, except that I did go to Walmart and purchase a few items. My time there was dull but I tell you, even on that short journey there and back, I deal with idiots on the road! I hate having to mention it like a thousand times by now... it's just that it is true, the way people drive down here is absolutely atrocious.
Friday, that was the one real interesting day of the week for me. I ended up at Universal Studios CityWalk; that entire area was full of people as that was the first day of Halloween Horror Nights, a very popular thing... that I will never give two craps about! Sorry but that's just me. I ended up eating at the NASCAR Cafe, a place I've eaten at a few times before despite not being a NASCAR fan; it wasn't my first choice but due to crowds that's where I ended up. That is OK as they at least have good food... and drink. After I had dinner I walked to the AMC Theatres at CityWalk to check out a really old film that is out for only a week on IMAX screens and in 3D: The Wizard of Oz. Yes, I am admitting to watching this as an adult. Of course like most people I saw it as a kid more than once but my last viewing must have been many years ago. I did enjoy watching it again and if nothing else, seeing it on IMAX disproved one of the many popular rumors concerning the movie: the one where in a scene you can see a “little person” deceased in the background, hanging from a tree. It's obvious in the format that it's what most people said it was: a big black bird.
After that I went to downtown Orlando, where the action is. I went to where I always go (Ghost Bar & Lounge) and I had a good time there, despite there not being a lot for me to say; it wasn't one of those wild nights where drunk woman grind on my lap or anything of that sort. I just sat and stood around and watched sporting events on the TV and listened to some music that was LOUD. There was no acoustic acts live then the dance/rap music, but instead it was all dance/rap music. As always happens there, I saw the phenomenon of “Drunk White People Attemping to Dance” and as always, I laugh at seeing such a sight. I briefly chatted with a random lady there about something; I wish it could have been longer but oh well. It was a surprise seeing someone who used to work at Mako's way back when now working there. I had no chance to chat with her but it was still a nice surprise.
Saturday, I was feeling less than 100% so I decided to stay in and watch the UFC pay per view from home rather than go out somewhere and deal with dumb sports fans while many of the TV's are occupied with college football. Turns out, the UFC show was average all around with some decent fights but also some pretty bad ones... then the main event happened. That fight was pretty awesome and likely the fight of 2013. That saved things, for sure.
Sunday, the Chicago Bears played in the evening so I stayed in once again and I watched the Red Zone channel, where I could see highlights of all the games. As for the game I cared the most about, the Bears won 40-23 over the declining Pittsburgh Steelers. They got off to a big lead early and had to hold on and as typical, the Chicago defense really helped them out. Overall I can't really complain about the game or the season, where they are undefeated at 3-0.
As for the upcoming week, when I return a week from today I do not really know yet what I'll be writing about. I at least do have some things in mind; I probably won't be doing anything the rest of today as it's been raining all afternoon, but who knows what the next 7 days have in store for me.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Greek Yogurt, Going Into The Further, & I Actually Watch Boxing
Yes, I did see Insidious and Insidious Chapter 2 on Thursday night, which is why I brought up The Further.
This past Monday, I did not do anything of note. So I'll mention something from my attending the Webber vs. Warner football game that I should have brought up last time. Near the end of the first half, some of the lights went out suddenly; yes, like what happened in the Super Bowl this past February. They came back on in a quicker fashion then they did at the Super Bowl. Tuesday, I had free time in the evening so I returned to my favorite open-air mall (Winter Garden Village) and I did some things, including pick up some items at World Market (there is such a thing as Pumpkin Bark, and it's great) and I had to try one of the two new flavors at Planet Smoothie. I had a berry drink made with Greek yogurt; I know some will consider it blasphemy but I don't think Greek yogurt is really all that good. Even in smoothie form I feel the same way.
Wednesday (9/11) I went out with someone for dinner. I decided on Chili's. Our time was fine there... aside from some cretins who were there that were celebrating a birthday and some decided to be LOUD and loathsome. I was so happy when they left as I was eating my boneless buffalo wings. They weren't the only oafs there but I'll change the subject as I don't want to continue to bitch and moan about the negatives on that day; the food was good and that was the most important thing. Thursday, that was an interesting day for me. I saw three movies, including a movie from a few years ago and its sequel. Let me explain.
Thursday afternoon I went to the AMC Theatres right by the Altamonte Mall as it fit my schedule in what I wanted to do, which was see a horror movie in the late afternoon then watch a double-bill of the first Insidious and its new sequel. It was You're Next, Indisious and Insidious Chapter 2. I had no idea what to expect from You're Next, despite it sounding like something right up my alley. Turns out, it WAS something right up my alley. I really did enjoy it and it was a pleasant surprise. All I'll say is that the movie is not quite what's implied in the ads and trailers. I'll leave it at that. After that I ate at the Chick-Fil-A at the Altamonte Mall and I walked around before I returned to the AMC to see the double feature.
I did get some free crap for the double feature, that being a lanyard and a poster. If only the crowd I saw the movies with would have not been such dumbs*ts. It was the usual idiocy and during the first movie (which I had seen before) I had to step out to ask an usher to come in to get the plonkers to not be so rude. That was disappointing. But, it was nice to see both on the big screen and both times go into the movie's wacky universe known as The Further. Those two movies are uneven, sure, but they are both entertaining and I will say that the sequel is different and better than the first one. I am glad that there have been some quality horror films that have come out this year on the big screen.
Friday I laid low and relaxed so nothing to report there. Saturday, I did something I never thought I would do: I watched boxing! Yes, it was the big fight with the legit awful human being known as Floyd Mayweather vs. a guy proclaimed as a Mexican superstar. I've talked about boxing before and I am not a fan; besides it being so dirty and corrupt, it seems like all fighters constantly hug... er, I mean “clinch” with each other which I understand is illegal to the point that each time it happens it's supposed to be a point deduction, but it never happens, so of course it happens all the damn time and it's just lame and cowardly and I detest it. Anyhow, I purchased the PPV... or at least that's what I'll claim here. What I saw on this night with the fights I watched or at least halfway watched... a lot of hugging! It's just not for me, obviously. Floyd coming out in the main event accompanied by Lil Wayne and Justin Bieber... LOL; clown show, I say, and having to hear Wayne “rap” was something I could have done without. But, if he was further cementing his standing as a gigantic heel and troll, then he was a success by choosing those two guys.
I do have to mention that I got a spam e-mail from someone who said that they were “Mr. Leung Wing Lok”, a name that made me laugh. Sunday was not the usual thing for me on a Sunday during the fall. I just did not get a good night's sleep and I woke up real early and did not feel well. I decided to just sleep in as long as I could and worry about things later. I got up and I decided the big trip I'd do was go to watch the NFL Red Zone Channel (where highlights of all the games are shown live) with a parent. I was able to see highlights of the Chicago Bears against the Minnesota Vikings. Turns out, it was another back and forth close game that Chicago only won in the final minute.
I am not pissed I missed such a thing; besides not missing the drive there and back where I always deal with at least one moron on the highway, when I'm at the actual sports bar/restaurant there's always loudmouth overdramatic sports fans there; I try to ignore them but at times I do get tired of their childish actions, you know. Also, during the game, it was on FOX and not to my surprise they had broadcast issues, so for parts of the game no one was able to see it except those in the stadium. That really made me feel glad I did not drive all that way and not be able to see the entire battle. Instead, I was able to see the highlights out of all the games (even at a sports bar where they show all the games it's tough to look at everything if there's several close games nearing the end and the TV's may be far apart away from each other, you know) and there were several close games, including the Bears contest. Overall, Sunday was fine.
In the next blog I'll post-a week from today-I have an idea or two as to what I'll be doing. That will provide me with enough entertainment to write about.
This past Monday, I did not do anything of note. So I'll mention something from my attending the Webber vs. Warner football game that I should have brought up last time. Near the end of the first half, some of the lights went out suddenly; yes, like what happened in the Super Bowl this past February. They came back on in a quicker fashion then they did at the Super Bowl. Tuesday, I had free time in the evening so I returned to my favorite open-air mall (Winter Garden Village) and I did some things, including pick up some items at World Market (there is such a thing as Pumpkin Bark, and it's great) and I had to try one of the two new flavors at Planet Smoothie. I had a berry drink made with Greek yogurt; I know some will consider it blasphemy but I don't think Greek yogurt is really all that good. Even in smoothie form I feel the same way.
Wednesday (9/11) I went out with someone for dinner. I decided on Chili's. Our time was fine there... aside from some cretins who were there that were celebrating a birthday and some decided to be LOUD and loathsome. I was so happy when they left as I was eating my boneless buffalo wings. They weren't the only oafs there but I'll change the subject as I don't want to continue to bitch and moan about the negatives on that day; the food was good and that was the most important thing. Thursday, that was an interesting day for me. I saw three movies, including a movie from a few years ago and its sequel. Let me explain.
Thursday afternoon I went to the AMC Theatres right by the Altamonte Mall as it fit my schedule in what I wanted to do, which was see a horror movie in the late afternoon then watch a double-bill of the first Insidious and its new sequel. It was You're Next, Indisious and Insidious Chapter 2. I had no idea what to expect from You're Next, despite it sounding like something right up my alley. Turns out, it WAS something right up my alley. I really did enjoy it and it was a pleasant surprise. All I'll say is that the movie is not quite what's implied in the ads and trailers. I'll leave it at that. After that I ate at the Chick-Fil-A at the Altamonte Mall and I walked around before I returned to the AMC to see the double feature.
I did get some free crap for the double feature, that being a lanyard and a poster. If only the crowd I saw the movies with would have not been such dumbs*ts. It was the usual idiocy and during the first movie (which I had seen before) I had to step out to ask an usher to come in to get the plonkers to not be so rude. That was disappointing. But, it was nice to see both on the big screen and both times go into the movie's wacky universe known as The Further. Those two movies are uneven, sure, but they are both entertaining and I will say that the sequel is different and better than the first one. I am glad that there have been some quality horror films that have come out this year on the big screen.
Friday I laid low and relaxed so nothing to report there. Saturday, I did something I never thought I would do: I watched boxing! Yes, it was the big fight with the legit awful human being known as Floyd Mayweather vs. a guy proclaimed as a Mexican superstar. I've talked about boxing before and I am not a fan; besides it being so dirty and corrupt, it seems like all fighters constantly hug... er, I mean “clinch” with each other which I understand is illegal to the point that each time it happens it's supposed to be a point deduction, but it never happens, so of course it happens all the damn time and it's just lame and cowardly and I detest it. Anyhow, I purchased the PPV... or at least that's what I'll claim here. What I saw on this night with the fights I watched or at least halfway watched... a lot of hugging! It's just not for me, obviously. Floyd coming out in the main event accompanied by Lil Wayne and Justin Bieber... LOL; clown show, I say, and having to hear Wayne “rap” was something I could have done without. But, if he was further cementing his standing as a gigantic heel and troll, then he was a success by choosing those two guys.
I do have to mention that I got a spam e-mail from someone who said that they were “Mr. Leung Wing Lok”, a name that made me laugh. Sunday was not the usual thing for me on a Sunday during the fall. I just did not get a good night's sleep and I woke up real early and did not feel well. I decided to just sleep in as long as I could and worry about things later. I got up and I decided the big trip I'd do was go to watch the NFL Red Zone Channel (where highlights of all the games are shown live) with a parent. I was able to see highlights of the Chicago Bears against the Minnesota Vikings. Turns out, it was another back and forth close game that Chicago only won in the final minute.
I am not pissed I missed such a thing; besides not missing the drive there and back where I always deal with at least one moron on the highway, when I'm at the actual sports bar/restaurant there's always loudmouth overdramatic sports fans there; I try to ignore them but at times I do get tired of their childish actions, you know. Also, during the game, it was on FOX and not to my surprise they had broadcast issues, so for parts of the game no one was able to see it except those in the stadium. That really made me feel glad I did not drive all that way and not be able to see the entire battle. Instead, I was able to see the highlights out of all the games (even at a sports bar where they show all the games it's tough to look at everything if there's several close games nearing the end and the TV's may be far apart away from each other, you know) and there were several close games, including the Bears contest. Overall, Sunday was fine.
In the next blog I'll post-a week from today-I have an idea or two as to what I'll be doing. That will provide me with enough entertainment to write about.
Monday, September 9, 2013
The Blog Where I Discuss Football (Big & Small Time) And Road Rage
Here's a recap of what I've done in the past week. I did not do anything on Labor Day or that Tuesday; I kept it on the downlow. After Wednesday, maybe I should have done the same thing. I ended up going to the popular hangout for me known as Winter Garden Village. I ate at the Chipotle there and then I went to the nearby Target to get a few items. My time there was fine and it was all standard stuff. However, the drive there was a hassle. To get there you have to be on a 2 land road for most of the time. I got stuck by someone who was just driving badly. They couldn't stay in their lane and they could not decide how fast or slow they wanted to go, which I what I can't stand. When I had the chance to, I passed by that person and honked at them; it was a corpulent older woman and shock of shocks she was on her cell phone. Apparently she lost her mind at being honked at, as suddenly she wanted to go fast and she was tailgating me. I quickly got tired of that, so I stepped on the brakes. She backed off... but turned on her brights. I was nice and did not give this pig the middle finger, even though it was really deserved. For no reason, she suddenly stopped and pulled onto the grassy shoulder. I did not stop and instead I continued on, away from that mentally ill Troglodyte. Strange stuff like this has happened to me before on Florida roads; hell, I've been chased before by cretins.
Thursday and Friday were also dull days as I knew I was going to have an exciting weekend. Saturday, I did something I haven't done in years. Back in my high school days I often saw the local football team play, which was good times. So was watching the home games of the college team while I was at Illinois State University. I once saw them play against now Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. Since moving to Florida in May of '04, though, I've only seen a few college football games live. But, I figured that this year I should change it. As of the past few years there have been several lower-level colleges that have started up their football programs. I could get into the minutiae of all the schools and which level of college football they're in but I'll spare you that as you probably aren't interested in that. Point is, on Saturday I went down to Lake Wales to watch in a high school football stadium a contest between the Webber Warriors (they're the relative old man in the scene; they've had a team since '03) and the Warner Royals, who had their first game last week against another start-up team and Warner lost. The two campuses are separated by only Crooked Lake. I had no idea what the attendance would be for what's pretty much a cross-town rivalry starting up for the first time. Turns out, it was a hot ticket but there was still plenty of room for everyone as it was a decent sized stadium.
The drive there, I had to deal with some heavy rain; at least the vehicle got a bath. It was the usual hassles on the highway with nincompoops. I went inside the Eagle Ridge Mall just north of Lake Wales. I had been in there before way back when. It's a small mall and it's alright but not many eating options. I had to go with Sbarro Pizza (for the first time in years and dessert somewhere else. The pizza tasted fine and did not cause havoc on my stomach, believe it or not. I made it to the stadium in Lake Wales. Parking was a real YOLO situation; at least there were plenty of spots as a lot of it was in grass fields. I sat on the hard metal bleachers and watched the game. It was sloppy play from both teams but it was still entertaining. I wasn't too surprise that the upstart team filled with inexperienced (at least inexperience on the college level) players ended up losing; the final score was Webber 23, Warner 0. Webber was helped out by Warner's mistakes, for sure. This ended up being the theme for the weekend but I had no idea this was the case until Sunday. At least the people I had to sit by were fine or at least tolerable. There were no loudmouthed rude idiots I had to deal with, thank the Lord. It was a nice night out so that was good.
As for the city of Lake Wales, I'd rather not deal with it too often, between the idiots who drive in the town, their refusal to mark streets as being dead ends or no outlets (it took longer than expected to get back on the highway) and other things, and while I imagine in later years I'll see more games from either school, but it doesn't mean I will always enjoy being in the area. It isn't that there are plenty of disgusting trashy people around; it's that it seems like there are too many disgusting trashy people who act like A-holes and clueless yokels. I do hope to visit some other spots to see football games this year, involving more new teams.
Sunday, I returned to the Friendly Confines sports bar/restaurant to watch the Chicago Bears play their first game of the season, against the Cincinnati Bengals. I figured it was going to be a tough test for the Bears and indeed it was. Chicago was losing but unlike most of the Bears fans there (including the random idiot who sat next to me at the bar) I did not lose faith and I figured there still was a chance Chicago would win. Partly due to some nice plays and partly due to some stupid Cincinnati mistakes, Chicago was able to win 24-21. I don't know how many Bears fans will admit it but the Bengals duo of Andy Dalton and A.J. Green have great chemistry and they made some really nice plays; I'll give them props for that. While the person to my left was dumb, at least the couple to my right were fine. There was plenty of idiotic yelling sports fans there but to be honest that's what I've come to expect from sports fans just about everywhere. At least I don't act like that, and at least the Bears ended up winning. There was some entertaining action in the other games they were showing at the same time, so I was never bored as I had lunch and dessert.
After that I made the short drive to downtown Winter Park in order to eat dinner at BurgerFi and then walk on over to RocketFizz to purchase some more obscure gourmet soda. That's what I did and the soda I had to drink on the way home... a special limited edition soda of Snooki! It was a wild cherry flavor and of course, Snooki is doing a duckface right on the damn label. I mainly got it for comedy's sake and to remind people how I have long been disgusted that The Jersey Shore show was a thing and that obviously fake garbage was actually popular and people enjoyed those awful, awful human beings. Anyhow, it actually tasted fine and it did not have the flavor of STD's and tanning lotion, so that was good.
When I return a week from today, I really don't know yet what I'll be writing about, aside from talking about watching the Bears play again. I'll eventually figure out activities to do, as always.
Thursday and Friday were also dull days as I knew I was going to have an exciting weekend. Saturday, I did something I haven't done in years. Back in my high school days I often saw the local football team play, which was good times. So was watching the home games of the college team while I was at Illinois State University. I once saw them play against now Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. Since moving to Florida in May of '04, though, I've only seen a few college football games live. But, I figured that this year I should change it. As of the past few years there have been several lower-level colleges that have started up their football programs. I could get into the minutiae of all the schools and which level of college football they're in but I'll spare you that as you probably aren't interested in that. Point is, on Saturday I went down to Lake Wales to watch in a high school football stadium a contest between the Webber Warriors (they're the relative old man in the scene; they've had a team since '03) and the Warner Royals, who had their first game last week against another start-up team and Warner lost. The two campuses are separated by only Crooked Lake. I had no idea what the attendance would be for what's pretty much a cross-town rivalry starting up for the first time. Turns out, it was a hot ticket but there was still plenty of room for everyone as it was a decent sized stadium.
The drive there, I had to deal with some heavy rain; at least the vehicle got a bath. It was the usual hassles on the highway with nincompoops. I went inside the Eagle Ridge Mall just north of Lake Wales. I had been in there before way back when. It's a small mall and it's alright but not many eating options. I had to go with Sbarro Pizza (for the first time in years and dessert somewhere else. The pizza tasted fine and did not cause havoc on my stomach, believe it or not. I made it to the stadium in Lake Wales. Parking was a real YOLO situation; at least there were plenty of spots as a lot of it was in grass fields. I sat on the hard metal bleachers and watched the game. It was sloppy play from both teams but it was still entertaining. I wasn't too surprise that the upstart team filled with inexperienced (at least inexperience on the college level) players ended up losing; the final score was Webber 23, Warner 0. Webber was helped out by Warner's mistakes, for sure. This ended up being the theme for the weekend but I had no idea this was the case until Sunday. At least the people I had to sit by were fine or at least tolerable. There were no loudmouthed rude idiots I had to deal with, thank the Lord. It was a nice night out so that was good.
As for the city of Lake Wales, I'd rather not deal with it too often, between the idiots who drive in the town, their refusal to mark streets as being dead ends or no outlets (it took longer than expected to get back on the highway) and other things, and while I imagine in later years I'll see more games from either school, but it doesn't mean I will always enjoy being in the area. It isn't that there are plenty of disgusting trashy people around; it's that it seems like there are too many disgusting trashy people who act like A-holes and clueless yokels. I do hope to visit some other spots to see football games this year, involving more new teams.
Sunday, I returned to the Friendly Confines sports bar/restaurant to watch the Chicago Bears play their first game of the season, against the Cincinnati Bengals. I figured it was going to be a tough test for the Bears and indeed it was. Chicago was losing but unlike most of the Bears fans there (including the random idiot who sat next to me at the bar) I did not lose faith and I figured there still was a chance Chicago would win. Partly due to some nice plays and partly due to some stupid Cincinnati mistakes, Chicago was able to win 24-21. I don't know how many Bears fans will admit it but the Bengals duo of Andy Dalton and A.J. Green have great chemistry and they made some really nice plays; I'll give them props for that. While the person to my left was dumb, at least the couple to my right were fine. There was plenty of idiotic yelling sports fans there but to be honest that's what I've come to expect from sports fans just about everywhere. At least I don't act like that, and at least the Bears ended up winning. There was some entertaining action in the other games they were showing at the same time, so I was never bored as I had lunch and dessert.
After that I made the short drive to downtown Winter Park in order to eat dinner at BurgerFi and then walk on over to RocketFizz to purchase some more obscure gourmet soda. That's what I did and the soda I had to drink on the way home... a special limited edition soda of Snooki! It was a wild cherry flavor and of course, Snooki is doing a duckface right on the damn label. I mainly got it for comedy's sake and to remind people how I have long been disgusted that The Jersey Shore show was a thing and that obviously fake garbage was actually popular and people enjoyed those awful, awful human beings. Anyhow, it actually tasted fine and it did not have the flavor of STD's and tanning lotion, so that was good.
When I return a week from today, I really don't know yet what I'll be writing about, aside from talking about watching the Bears play again. I'll eventually figure out activities to do, as always.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Urban Outfitters, Fritz The Cat, & Returning To The World Of Beer
Yep I am posting this on Labor Day. I definitely am not going to do any sort of labor today. Hopefully everyone has a nice holiday today.
Last Monday, I actually did something. I went with someone I know to Denny's. The one that was only a few miles from me closed down earlier in the summer so we went to another one instead. Oh boy... the service there was less than stellar and some of my fellow patrons were simply idiotic A-holes. So yeah, something that I sometimes think is “typical Florida”. At least I can admit that the music they played in the restaurant was pretty bitchin'. Not just because it was mainly older songs, but they were good older songs that I like. I made my own Grand Slam Breakfast (for dinner) so the day wasn't all bad, even if I was even more annoyed by stupid people than I usually am. Speaking of stupid annoying people, Miley Cyrus... cripes almighty, I can't think of a better poster child for the message of “kids, don't do drugs!” I got a lot of amusement of people ripping her apart for that horrible performance on that MTV awards show.
Tuesday I did not do anything so let's go to Wednesday. I did something out of the ordinary. I went to a restaurant during a weekday afternoon to have a late lunch and I had something at home for a later than usual dinner. I realized recently that I hadn't been to the Hooters-esque restaurant known as Twin Peaks since mid June. I figured I should rectify that, so I did. I had my almost always of a burger and fries and that was good; so was the Redd's Apple Ale I had. It's a beverage I've had before but this was the first time I had it on draft. It wasn't too crowded there, which was fine with me. After that I was going to stop at the usual spot in Dr. Phillips to get some Pinkberry; I got there and that place is no more; it was replaced by a place known as Yogurtology, but it wasn't open yet so I was SOL when it came to eating yogurt. I instead went to Barnes & Noble for a bit before walking on over to Planet Smoothie for a beverage, which was a good idea.
Thursday and Friday I was dullsville. That was fine with me; it was rainy weather on Friday so that made me glad I stayed in. I did watch something for the first time in a few years... the X-rated (but really it's R-rated in terms of content) cartoon from the 70's known as Fritz the Cat. It's wacky but entertaining.
The weekend, that's where things got interesting. Saturday I went somewhere early in the afternoon and I ended up staying in to watch the UFC pay per view. I imagine it'd be a madhouse wherever I went to for the purpose of watching the UFC prelims then the pay per view; that and me being dead tired by that time made me glad I stayed in. I won't get into why I went somewhere early in the afternoon but I did. I had a quick bite to eat at Jimmy John's before making it to World of Beer, a joint I haven't been to since the spring. What they had on TV wasn't completely college football centered (despite it being the start of major college football) I wasn't upset by it; I've been turned off by major college sports for a variety of reasons (as I've mentioned before) over the past few years so I am not going to pay too much attention to it. Not major college sports... a different thing as it doesn't seem so corrupt and dirty. I had hard cider as they played a variety of music, from Ween to Nicki Minaj (blah to the latter), and me hearing tunes from Phoenix and Death Cab for Cutie for the first time, no kidding. I consumed some hard cider and that was good times overall. I recommend the Swedish beverage known as Kopparberg Strawberry & Lime cider.
In the evening I watched the UFC show and it was pretty good overall. However, it had a prelim fight shown on the Facebook/YouTube stream between two heavyweights named Nikita Krylov and Soa Palelei... and it was horrible! Those two guys had horrible cardio so as the fight went on they became more tired and they could barely move, let alone fight. It was so bad it was hilarious. It may have been the worst UFC fight in the past few years.
Sunday, I went to the ritzy Mall of Millenia in Orlando. I walked around for a bit and went in a few stores but did not buy anything, expect for a smoothie from the area in Bloomingdales known as Forty Carrots. It was good! Note that I did not go in and I've never gone in the fanciest stores there, such as Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Cartier or Chanel. At least I did get some exercise. For the first time I went in the store known as Urban Outfitters; I never did before because it's a hipster store and hipsters usually aren't my thing. I went in and wow was it hipster douche central, from the way people were dressed (customers and staff) to what they were offering... I definitely did not buy anything there. Anyhow, in the parking lot by the valet service for Neiman Marcus, there were some vehicles belonging to the richest people of the area, that being a yellow Lamborghini, a red Ferrari, and a black Audi R8. Must be nice to be able to drive those.
Next Monday in the blog I'll post then, I am thinking of doing at least one thing that will be unique and will provide me a decent amount of material to write about, so that's good and it should be fun too.
Last Monday, I actually did something. I went with someone I know to Denny's. The one that was only a few miles from me closed down earlier in the summer so we went to another one instead. Oh boy... the service there was less than stellar and some of my fellow patrons were simply idiotic A-holes. So yeah, something that I sometimes think is “typical Florida”. At least I can admit that the music they played in the restaurant was pretty bitchin'. Not just because it was mainly older songs, but they were good older songs that I like. I made my own Grand Slam Breakfast (for dinner) so the day wasn't all bad, even if I was even more annoyed by stupid people than I usually am. Speaking of stupid annoying people, Miley Cyrus... cripes almighty, I can't think of a better poster child for the message of “kids, don't do drugs!” I got a lot of amusement of people ripping her apart for that horrible performance on that MTV awards show.
Tuesday I did not do anything so let's go to Wednesday. I did something out of the ordinary. I went to a restaurant during a weekday afternoon to have a late lunch and I had something at home for a later than usual dinner. I realized recently that I hadn't been to the Hooters-esque restaurant known as Twin Peaks since mid June. I figured I should rectify that, so I did. I had my almost always of a burger and fries and that was good; so was the Redd's Apple Ale I had. It's a beverage I've had before but this was the first time I had it on draft. It wasn't too crowded there, which was fine with me. After that I was going to stop at the usual spot in Dr. Phillips to get some Pinkberry; I got there and that place is no more; it was replaced by a place known as Yogurtology, but it wasn't open yet so I was SOL when it came to eating yogurt. I instead went to Barnes & Noble for a bit before walking on over to Planet Smoothie for a beverage, which was a good idea.
Thursday and Friday I was dullsville. That was fine with me; it was rainy weather on Friday so that made me glad I stayed in. I did watch something for the first time in a few years... the X-rated (but really it's R-rated in terms of content) cartoon from the 70's known as Fritz the Cat. It's wacky but entertaining.
The weekend, that's where things got interesting. Saturday I went somewhere early in the afternoon and I ended up staying in to watch the UFC pay per view. I imagine it'd be a madhouse wherever I went to for the purpose of watching the UFC prelims then the pay per view; that and me being dead tired by that time made me glad I stayed in. I won't get into why I went somewhere early in the afternoon but I did. I had a quick bite to eat at Jimmy John's before making it to World of Beer, a joint I haven't been to since the spring. What they had on TV wasn't completely college football centered (despite it being the start of major college football) I wasn't upset by it; I've been turned off by major college sports for a variety of reasons (as I've mentioned before) over the past few years so I am not going to pay too much attention to it. Not major college sports... a different thing as it doesn't seem so corrupt and dirty. I had hard cider as they played a variety of music, from Ween to Nicki Minaj (blah to the latter), and me hearing tunes from Phoenix and Death Cab for Cutie for the first time, no kidding. I consumed some hard cider and that was good times overall. I recommend the Swedish beverage known as Kopparberg Strawberry & Lime cider.
In the evening I watched the UFC show and it was pretty good overall. However, it had a prelim fight shown on the Facebook/YouTube stream between two heavyweights named Nikita Krylov and Soa Palelei... and it was horrible! Those two guys had horrible cardio so as the fight went on they became more tired and they could barely move, let alone fight. It was so bad it was hilarious. It may have been the worst UFC fight in the past few years.
Sunday, I went to the ritzy Mall of Millenia in Orlando. I walked around for a bit and went in a few stores but did not buy anything, expect for a smoothie from the area in Bloomingdales known as Forty Carrots. It was good! Note that I did not go in and I've never gone in the fanciest stores there, such as Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Cartier or Chanel. At least I did get some exercise. For the first time I went in the store known as Urban Outfitters; I never did before because it's a hipster store and hipsters usually aren't my thing. I went in and wow was it hipster douche central, from the way people were dressed (customers and staff) to what they were offering... I definitely did not buy anything there. Anyhow, in the parking lot by the valet service for Neiman Marcus, there were some vehicles belonging to the richest people of the area, that being a yellow Lamborghini, a red Ferrari, and a black Audi R8. Must be nice to be able to drive those.
Next Monday in the blog I'll post then, I am thinking of doing at least one thing that will be unique and will provide me a decent amount of material to write about, so that's good and it should be fun too.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Walmart Country Bumpkins, Purple Pills, & Fat Kids W/ Stringy Mullets
What an up and down week I had. Last Monday, I saw quite the amazing thing at Walmart; even for Walmart it was incredible. I went there to pick up a few items, which is what I did. All the registers were full so I decided to try and find one that had a short line. I did find one... and it was an older woman who, well, looked like she was from the backwoods of Lake County, Florida. I am just saying that as an observation. She also had TWO shopping cards jam-packed with items, and almost all of it was cheap random crap, from a mop to kids sandals, a pair of sunglasses and other miscellaneous items that I can't figure how they tie together, and who exactly all those items were for; how many people does she live with, I have no idea. I was fascinated to see how much all that crap cost when the most expensive item was a small vacuum cleaner. Turns out, it costs $631.19! Amazing. Even better, she paid all but 300 bucks of the bill with a credit card; the rest of it was paid with 3 one hundred dollar bills. Only at a Walmart.
Tuesday, I went with someone to Olive Garden as hey, they were offering their sometimes deal of a never-ending pasta bowl and I did take advantage of that. Wednesday was dull, so Thursday... apparently this day was “Treat Blair Like Crap And Disrespect Him For No Reason Day” and I did not get the memo and I had to figure it out on my own. I had free time so I returned to Walt Disney World. A humblebrag, that it is. I had to make sure that my new annual pass worked, as when I got it the previous week, my old pass was still active for a few days after that. Yeah, it does work.
I went to the Magic Kingdom. I went on a few rides and that was nice. Sure, I got annoyed by some of the people there, but that always happens at WDW. Having a park employee totally disrespect you, though... not cool. I'll spare you the long story and just say that I should have let that fat toad know how I felt about his asshole ways. At least for the most part I still had a decent time there. I left the park to go home but I stopped at one of the Hess gas stations they have on property. I went in to get a drink; they had a Coca Cola Freestyle machine so it was all the better. I got some other small items and I went up to pay. The individual they had at the cash register... not to be a jerk but it's no wonder he works at a place like a gas station! Problem is, he doesn't even have the intellect or math skills to realize when the amount I have to pay is obviously wrong, as it was in this case. I eventually showed him the error of my ways but this cretin also disrespected me and said, “Oh, the cash register is never wrong”, as if I was stupid for doubting what it said when he was the dumbsh*t that couldn't punch in correctly what I wanted to purchase. Maybe he should be digging ditches as that seems most suited for his brainpower.
Friday I did not do anything except have an odd dream where for reasons unknown for me the D12 song Purple Pills was heard in the dream (pretty strange) so onto Saturday, and things did not turn out as planned but aside from even more tools, it was a fine day. I went up to Sanford as it's a town north of Orlando I usually do not spend a lot of time in due to distance away from where I live. Someone I know was going to have an annual get-together at a German restaurant. The plans ended up changing at the last minute, but for more than understandable reasons and I'll leave it vague like that. I did go to a MovieStop in Sanford to get some used (and one new) DVD's/Blu-Rays. I walked around the Seminole Town Center Mall and I had dinner there via A&W. Also while I was there, I saw a fat teenage boy with an incredible stringy mullet! It was quite the sight.
After that I drove to the Altamonte Mall and stayed there for a short while before leaving and I stopped to get gas before I made it home. At the Altamonte Mall, though, I saw another example where I wonder why “the young people” are so damn stupid these days. It was three boys who looked to be about 13 or 14 and one boy who was afew years older and I presume he drove them to the mall. Anyhow, the boys all made loud animal noises! True story. I did give them dirty looks as it was well-deserved.
Sunday was a typical Sunday for me in that I stayed in and did nothing... although I saw something online that shocked even cynical me. Don't ask where I saw this but somewhere on the Internet I saw a teenage girl use the word “upsest” and I was completely befuddled. Then, looking at context clues, I figured out she meant “obsessed”. Upsest! That is incredible. I have to make clear that I do NOT know this girl, thank the heavens.
For the upcoming week, I do not have much planned at all. I am sure I'll stumble into some things worth talking about.
Tuesday, I went with someone to Olive Garden as hey, they were offering their sometimes deal of a never-ending pasta bowl and I did take advantage of that. Wednesday was dull, so Thursday... apparently this day was “Treat Blair Like Crap And Disrespect Him For No Reason Day” and I did not get the memo and I had to figure it out on my own. I had free time so I returned to Walt Disney World. A humblebrag, that it is. I had to make sure that my new annual pass worked, as when I got it the previous week, my old pass was still active for a few days after that. Yeah, it does work.
I went to the Magic Kingdom. I went on a few rides and that was nice. Sure, I got annoyed by some of the people there, but that always happens at WDW. Having a park employee totally disrespect you, though... not cool. I'll spare you the long story and just say that I should have let that fat toad know how I felt about his asshole ways. At least for the most part I still had a decent time there. I left the park to go home but I stopped at one of the Hess gas stations they have on property. I went in to get a drink; they had a Coca Cola Freestyle machine so it was all the better. I got some other small items and I went up to pay. The individual they had at the cash register... not to be a jerk but it's no wonder he works at a place like a gas station! Problem is, he doesn't even have the intellect or math skills to realize when the amount I have to pay is obviously wrong, as it was in this case. I eventually showed him the error of my ways but this cretin also disrespected me and said, “Oh, the cash register is never wrong”, as if I was stupid for doubting what it said when he was the dumbsh*t that couldn't punch in correctly what I wanted to purchase. Maybe he should be digging ditches as that seems most suited for his brainpower.
Friday I did not do anything except have an odd dream where for reasons unknown for me the D12 song Purple Pills was heard in the dream (pretty strange) so onto Saturday, and things did not turn out as planned but aside from even more tools, it was a fine day. I went up to Sanford as it's a town north of Orlando I usually do not spend a lot of time in due to distance away from where I live. Someone I know was going to have an annual get-together at a German restaurant. The plans ended up changing at the last minute, but for more than understandable reasons and I'll leave it vague like that. I did go to a MovieStop in Sanford to get some used (and one new) DVD's/Blu-Rays. I walked around the Seminole Town Center Mall and I had dinner there via A&W. Also while I was there, I saw a fat teenage boy with an incredible stringy mullet! It was quite the sight.
After that I drove to the Altamonte Mall and stayed there for a short while before leaving and I stopped to get gas before I made it home. At the Altamonte Mall, though, I saw another example where I wonder why “the young people” are so damn stupid these days. It was three boys who looked to be about 13 or 14 and one boy who was afew years older and I presume he drove them to the mall. Anyhow, the boys all made loud animal noises! True story. I did give them dirty looks as it was well-deserved.
Sunday was a typical Sunday for me in that I stayed in and did nothing... although I saw something online that shocked even cynical me. Don't ask where I saw this but somewhere on the Internet I saw a teenage girl use the word “upsest” and I was completely befuddled. Then, looking at context clues, I figured out she meant “obsessed”. Upsest! That is incredible. I have to make clear that I do NOT know this girl, thank the heavens.
For the upcoming week, I do not have much planned at all. I am sure I'll stumble into some things worth talking about.
Monday, August 19, 2013
The Blog Where I Went To Hulk Hogan's Stores & Paid $4.80 To See KISS Perform
There was one afternoon of Hulk Hogan related activities and that was when I was over in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, but I'll get to that in a bit, then explained how I saw a legendary band perform for less than 5 bucks. First, I'll talk about what I did last Monday; that was the day I went to Walt Disney World (heh heh heh) to renew my annual pass, to do some humblebragging. I went to the Animal Kingdom to have it done, as it's been too long since I was last there. I paid the money then I spent a few hours in a really hot place. At least it was not too crowded there and I got to go on rides and look at various exotic animals. Right before I left I found a small indoors spot (by Asia) which sells Minute Maid Soft Frozen treats; the one I had was Orangeade and it was awesome! It was like nectar from the Gods and it was so good, and it really hit the spot.
Tuesday I did nothing so I'll mention that on Wednesday I went and got a haircut, as I did need one. That wasn't different from the norm. I went to the nearby Target, where I got a shirt and a 20 ounce bottle of Coke.
Thursday, that's when the action began. I went to Tampa-St. Petersburg, and besides going to see the Tampa Bay Rays play against the Seattle Mariners, I went to two places that are Hulk Hogan themed; as The Hulkster lives in the area, that's why there are places named after him. I drove to Tampa to Hogan's Beach, which is a bar-restaurant literally right by the water (Old Tampa Bay), connected to a Best Western Hotel resort. I heard less than rave reviews about it but I. Then, I drove over to Hogan's Beach Shop, which is over at Clearwater Beach. The name says it all. The bar/restaurant was fine. It has a red/yellow motif-but of course-and I have no complaints about the burger and fries I had. I chose to drink a lemonade, in order to stay hydrated. There was memorabilia all over including a glorious painting of the cast of Santa With Muscles, a movie starring Hogan and I've heard it's mind-boggingly bad. I then through rainy weather (yes, in that part of Florida it's also true that when there's water on the ground, driver IQ's become even lower than usual) went to Hogan's Beach Shop. It's a small place which mainly sells t-shirts and it also has memorabilia hanging all over the place. I did get a yellow shirt; you've probably heard at least some of the bad things that has happened in the personal life of The Hulkster the past few years; he could use the money! I then drove to Tropicana Field and stopped for gas along the way.
I parked in a random spot I found where the price was fair and it was not far from the stadium at all. The guy who was running the deal, he asked if I needed tickets so I looked at what he had. It wasn't what I had in mind so I respectfully declined; he got all huffy and puffy about it and I was disappointed he got pissy about it when I was real nice in declining his offer. Figures.
In hindsight, maybe I should have given that dude some money. I decided to get an outfield ticket as I only sat in that area once before and it was a fine-enough time. This time... there were decent people around but there were also people I'd put in the Troglodyte category; from stupid parents and dumb yelling kids to the worst, which was two young douche A-holes who drank alcohol and they ended up acting like complete tools, and the type of people that were just rude jerks who loved yelling the most inane crap and they targeted a Seattle player in the outfield just because he was the nearest Seattle person in the outfield. Cretins! Besides their rudeness, I was appalled they would act this way when there were children around AND there was usually a security guard around but he apparently didn't care about some loudmouthed bozos ruining the experience for who knows how many people.
At least it was a fun game to watch as Tampa Bay kicked some ass and won 7-1 and there were some nice performances. But I would have preferred sitting in another section; in the future I should stick to the cheap upper deck tickets where the views are actually nice.
Friday, I was not expecting to do anything; I figured I would relax and take it easy. My plans pretty much changed at the last minute. Someone I know online (and have met in person a few times now) mentioned on Twitter that he discovered how a Friday night concert in Orlando at the big arena (the Amway Center) was offering FREE tickets via Ticketmaster and due to the band it piqued my interest. I looked it up and yes, they were “free”. There were the legendary Ticketmaster fees but even with those, it meant I got to see KISS perform for only 4 dollars and 80 cents! Amazing. The reason why there's a big concert on that night... the Arena Football League championship was being played the next afternoon in the same building. As KISS is far and above anyone else in history when it comes to licensing their image and name out for a buck, next season there will be an Arena Football League team named after the band. Really. It was nice being back in that nice arena as I've only been in it a few times before.
I am not someone who really goes to concerts in general, especially big ones. The last one of note was The Rolling Stones and that was in Tampa way back in October of 2005; that was a quality time but trust me, a ticket for that was way more than $4.80! Yes, I did pay for other things, such as parking, food & drink and the obligatory concert t-shirt. The shirt I picked was the wackiest one; the band has a new album entitled Monster; apparently, the title creature is a giant metal spider with purple eyes, as that's what was on the shirt, with a cityscape in the background. It is as awesome as it sounds so of course I had to get it. I did not see them right away but two of the people working at the shirt table... Toadies! Thankfully I did not have to interact with them.
Anyhow, even with the free tickets, it was not a sold out show. From where I sat in the upper deck, the floor and lower bowl was mostly filled but there were plenty of empty seats in the upper deck and I hardly had anyone around me. The opening act was three guys from London known as Leogun. They were a fine opening act for the half hour they played and the crowd seemed to enjoy them. There was about a half hour break then KISS came out.
Sure, it's only Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley now as for about the past 10 years Ace Frehley and Peter Criss were replaced by Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer; Eric and Tommy are fine musicians and all but it's not the same as having the original four together, you know. As they are pretty much an oldies act now (honestly, they first formed FORTY years ago; no kidding), aside from some material from their new album and the one from a few years ago, the rest of their setlist for the almost 2 hours they played was what you'd expect if you know what their most famous songs are throughout their history. They opened with Psycho Circus and their last song is their best-known one. They sounded good and of course the fans there loved the show. I had a good time for sure. As you'd expect with such an extravagant band, the stage was fancy, with a big videoscreen and a lot of lights and things exploding and pyro and ballyhoo. The big thing was part of the stage that had some lights and it sometimes lowered up and down as if it was a metal spider; part of it was also a platform that the band would sometimes be on. It was cool and it was great seeing them for less than 5 bucks.
After that, as I was already in downtown Orlando, why not go to Ghost Bar & Lounge? I stopped by the car on the way there so I could change into the KISS concert t-shirt; some people did note it and they briefly chatted with me about the band and the concert. Other than that, it was the typical time there, where I sat down and either looked at what they had on the TV's or was amused by what the drunk white people were doing. Of course there was my favorite thing, which was Drunk White People Dancing! That is always good for laughs, especially if the white person is pretty hammered. For you current WWE fans, there was an older gentleman in attendance who looked like what you'd imagine Bray Wyatt's dad to be, from his clothing to his face. I don't mean Mike Rotuna (i.e. IRS, who is legit Bray's dad), but rather he wore a flowery shirt and a similar style hat to Bray and he was also a husky dude, no pun intended for you hardcore wrestling fans.
My weekend was dull as I just stayed in and relaxed; appropriate after the Thursday and Friday I had. I did see the free UFC event on Saturday and that was some quality entertainment overall. So, I'll end this here and mention that for the blog I post a week from today, it most likely won't be quite like what I talked about now, but I do know of an event or two I'll be doing.
Tuesday I did nothing so I'll mention that on Wednesday I went and got a haircut, as I did need one. That wasn't different from the norm. I went to the nearby Target, where I got a shirt and a 20 ounce bottle of Coke.
Thursday, that's when the action began. I went to Tampa-St. Petersburg, and besides going to see the Tampa Bay Rays play against the Seattle Mariners, I went to two places that are Hulk Hogan themed; as The Hulkster lives in the area, that's why there are places named after him. I drove to Tampa to Hogan's Beach, which is a bar-restaurant literally right by the water (Old Tampa Bay), connected to a Best Western Hotel resort. I heard less than rave reviews about it but I. Then, I drove over to Hogan's Beach Shop, which is over at Clearwater Beach. The name says it all. The bar/restaurant was fine. It has a red/yellow motif-but of course-and I have no complaints about the burger and fries I had. I chose to drink a lemonade, in order to stay hydrated. There was memorabilia all over including a glorious painting of the cast of Santa With Muscles, a movie starring Hogan and I've heard it's mind-boggingly bad. I then through rainy weather (yes, in that part of Florida it's also true that when there's water on the ground, driver IQ's become even lower than usual) went to Hogan's Beach Shop. It's a small place which mainly sells t-shirts and it also has memorabilia hanging all over the place. I did get a yellow shirt; you've probably heard at least some of the bad things that has happened in the personal life of The Hulkster the past few years; he could use the money! I then drove to Tropicana Field and stopped for gas along the way.
I parked in a random spot I found where the price was fair and it was not far from the stadium at all. The guy who was running the deal, he asked if I needed tickets so I looked at what he had. It wasn't what I had in mind so I respectfully declined; he got all huffy and puffy about it and I was disappointed he got pissy about it when I was real nice in declining his offer. Figures.
In hindsight, maybe I should have given that dude some money. I decided to get an outfield ticket as I only sat in that area once before and it was a fine-enough time. This time... there were decent people around but there were also people I'd put in the Troglodyte category; from stupid parents and dumb yelling kids to the worst, which was two young douche A-holes who drank alcohol and they ended up acting like complete tools, and the type of people that were just rude jerks who loved yelling the most inane crap and they targeted a Seattle player in the outfield just because he was the nearest Seattle person in the outfield. Cretins! Besides their rudeness, I was appalled they would act this way when there were children around AND there was usually a security guard around but he apparently didn't care about some loudmouthed bozos ruining the experience for who knows how many people.
At least it was a fun game to watch as Tampa Bay kicked some ass and won 7-1 and there were some nice performances. But I would have preferred sitting in another section; in the future I should stick to the cheap upper deck tickets where the views are actually nice.
Friday, I was not expecting to do anything; I figured I would relax and take it easy. My plans pretty much changed at the last minute. Someone I know online (and have met in person a few times now) mentioned on Twitter that he discovered how a Friday night concert in Orlando at the big arena (the Amway Center) was offering FREE tickets via Ticketmaster and due to the band it piqued my interest. I looked it up and yes, they were “free”. There were the legendary Ticketmaster fees but even with those, it meant I got to see KISS perform for only 4 dollars and 80 cents! Amazing. The reason why there's a big concert on that night... the Arena Football League championship was being played the next afternoon in the same building. As KISS is far and above anyone else in history when it comes to licensing their image and name out for a buck, next season there will be an Arena Football League team named after the band. Really. It was nice being back in that nice arena as I've only been in it a few times before.
I am not someone who really goes to concerts in general, especially big ones. The last one of note was The Rolling Stones and that was in Tampa way back in October of 2005; that was a quality time but trust me, a ticket for that was way more than $4.80! Yes, I did pay for other things, such as parking, food & drink and the obligatory concert t-shirt. The shirt I picked was the wackiest one; the band has a new album entitled Monster; apparently, the title creature is a giant metal spider with purple eyes, as that's what was on the shirt, with a cityscape in the background. It is as awesome as it sounds so of course I had to get it. I did not see them right away but two of the people working at the shirt table... Toadies! Thankfully I did not have to interact with them.
Anyhow, even with the free tickets, it was not a sold out show. From where I sat in the upper deck, the floor and lower bowl was mostly filled but there were plenty of empty seats in the upper deck and I hardly had anyone around me. The opening act was three guys from London known as Leogun. They were a fine opening act for the half hour they played and the crowd seemed to enjoy them. There was about a half hour break then KISS came out.
Sure, it's only Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley now as for about the past 10 years Ace Frehley and Peter Criss were replaced by Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer; Eric and Tommy are fine musicians and all but it's not the same as having the original four together, you know. As they are pretty much an oldies act now (honestly, they first formed FORTY years ago; no kidding), aside from some material from their new album and the one from a few years ago, the rest of their setlist for the almost 2 hours they played was what you'd expect if you know what their most famous songs are throughout their history. They opened with Psycho Circus and their last song is their best-known one. They sounded good and of course the fans there loved the show. I had a good time for sure. As you'd expect with such an extravagant band, the stage was fancy, with a big videoscreen and a lot of lights and things exploding and pyro and ballyhoo. The big thing was part of the stage that had some lights and it sometimes lowered up and down as if it was a metal spider; part of it was also a platform that the band would sometimes be on. It was cool and it was great seeing them for less than 5 bucks.
After that, as I was already in downtown Orlando, why not go to Ghost Bar & Lounge? I stopped by the car on the way there so I could change into the KISS concert t-shirt; some people did note it and they briefly chatted with me about the band and the concert. Other than that, it was the typical time there, where I sat down and either looked at what they had on the TV's or was amused by what the drunk white people were doing. Of course there was my favorite thing, which was Drunk White People Dancing! That is always good for laughs, especially if the white person is pretty hammered. For you current WWE fans, there was an older gentleman in attendance who looked like what you'd imagine Bray Wyatt's dad to be, from his clothing to his face. I don't mean Mike Rotuna (i.e. IRS, who is legit Bray's dad), but rather he wore a flowery shirt and a similar style hat to Bray and he was also a husky dude, no pun intended for you hardcore wrestling fans.
My weekend was dull as I just stayed in and relaxed; appropriate after the Thursday and Friday I had. I did see the free UFC event on Saturday and that was some quality entertainment overall. So, I'll end this here and mention that for the blog I post a week from today, it most likely won't be quite like what I talked about now, but I do know of an event or two I'll be doing.
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