Monday, April 25, 2016

1999, Kiss, When Doves Cry, Purple Rain, Raspberry Beret & Let's Go Crazy

Yeah, I do think that Prince created many quality tunes, from the ones I listed above to other ones. RIP to him.

Here is what I have done since last Monday; on that Monday the 18th, I went with someone to a local restaurant. We decided upon Steak 'n Shake as we hadn't been there in awhile. It was an uneventful time there, and the food was good; the highlight was the Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip Shake; it did in fact taste as delicious as it sounds. Tuesday, I returned to the International Flower & Garden Festival to walk around, eat some random food & drink, and purchase random food & drink from various stores. The unexpected highlight of that wasn't the giant macaron (although that was pretty good) but rather the “Beijing-Style Candied Strawberries”. What a fool I have been for not trying it out sooner; it was a quartet of strawberries w/ a candy coating on a kebab and it was very good. The typical crowd was there for one of those festivals, meaning that some got rumbustious after consuming alcohol but I tried to ignore those loud people.

Wednesday I did not do anything so let me skip ahead to Thursday, which was a meh day overall (feeling tired, plenty of rude people, mainly on the road; I saw some incredibly bad driving); it wasn't really the Prince death, although that was pretty sad as it was unexpected and all. Anyway, I had to be in Orlando for something... I'll just say it was nothing bad or major. One surprising thing came when I returned to the Twin Peaks restaurant. A lady who has worked there for a long while and I had briefly chatted with before remarked the last time I was there that she noted how long it was since she saw me... as I left shortly after she clocked in, I figured I should return and this time she could wait on me, which she did. The food & drink were as good as they typically are. My order got messed up, and it wasn't her fault. I probably shouldn't go into details just in case but I'll say she was not happy about the snafu & went above what she had to do to make sure it got fixed and it was really appreciated by me.

Friday I did not do anything of note so let me talk about Saturday, where... I returned to Twin Peaks. I figured it was time to finally see another UFC PPV; that was the draw and not watching Jon Jones return. Between his personality and all the times he breaks the law, I do not care for him personally at all. The show as a whole was fine, but at least that's what I expected going in. It was nice to quench my thirst, have some delicious apple turnovers, be in that atmosphere, see a show that wasn't bad, and yes, that one bartender was there again. I have no idea when I will return there.

Sunday, nothing happened. I could mention some minor annoyances about the past week... I won't as I don't want to be too negative here. Plus, they are minor, although one of them unfortunately will likely cost money to fix and that never is a good thing. I will say that when I return around this time 7 days from now, I do not have much planned for the end of April... yet.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Baseball, Restaurant Returns, Anger & Radiooooo

Here's what I've done in the past week. Monday the 11th I returned to a familiar place; the last few times I was at a Buffalo Wild Wings (this was at more than one location) I had a bad experience... yet, for Christmas someone got me a giftcard from there and as I hadn't used it yet, I figured it was a good time to use it. Thankfully it was a quiet night there and there were no issues. I had the boneless wings and a cold beverage. The giftcard still has a few bucks left on it so I'll return there eventually. Tuesday, I did not do anything of note. Wednesday, I returned to the Orlando Intentional Airport in order to pick up a parent. On the way there I stopped at a Big Lots-I got a few random items-and then ate at Larry's Giant Subs as I rarely make it out to the southeastern part of Orlando. By the way, thank the heavens for the decision to remove those toll booths right by the exit on 528 to the Airport; it was dangerous if you have a Sunpass as after the toll is paid you had to move way to the right immediately in order to make the exit and it was just a stupid place to pay a toll.

I haven't really said much about it, but as an aside, last month and this month so far... there have been some fine moments but there also have been too many little moments that have tried my patience. It ranges from dealing with the stupidest people in person to traffic being even more horrific than usual. I've mentioned recently of how multiple people passed by me on 2 lane roads when there was a double yellow. On Thursday-which was another dull day aside from going to the local library for the first time in a few months-some lunatic used a turn lane while traffic was stopped at a light in order to get in front of most of the cars! It was another “young punk”. Friday-which I'll get to in a moment-I almost got side-swiped... twice. After the Friday trip to Tampa Bay, I likely won't be back in that area until the late summer and I am OK with the scenario.

Yes, Friday I was in Tampa Bay. Now, I could have done one of a few things this past weekend. For reasons I won't get into I decided to do things on that day and spend Saturday and Sunday at home without doing a single thing. I had the itch to see some live baseball so that's what I did as I saw the Tampa Bay Rays host the Chicago White Sox. I also stopped at some places on the way there and the way back home. I went to the Rocket Fizz in Tampa to see what it was like; it's just like the other two stores in the state and their selection wasn't too different so I likely won't go there again and I'll just stick to the ones in Lakeland and Winter Park. I ate dinner at Quaker Steak & Lube, a place I hadn't gone to in a few years. They make decent food so I was glad to make my return.

At Tropicana Field to see the game, as I expected there were plenty of White Sox fans around. I also expected a high quality pitching matchup and I was correct. Chicago pitcher Chris Sale pitched the entire time and the final score was only 1-0, with that run coming in the final inning. Yet I still found it to be an exciting game. From a random scalper I got a front row ticket... in the outfield. It was nice. What wasn't so nice was the loudmouth Sox fan a few rows behind me... or his equally annoying kid... or the awkwardness of a woman losing her cool and cutting a promo on that fan (his response was to laugh, which did not make her happy, but thankfully her friend calmed her down). Still, despite that, two players running into each other and both getting hurt and the really scary situation where an older woman was hit in the head by a foul ball-the last I heard her condition was “stable”, it was a nice enough Friday. However, I doubt I'll be back at a Rays game-or even in the area of Tampa-until the late summer. The traffic...

Like I said, I did not do anything Saturday and Sunday. So I'll mention two things. By a quirk, the Chicago Bears will play again in Tampa this upcoming season, this time on November the 13th. I will try my hardest to be there; pro football I am still “meh” on at best, but I'd like to see the Bears play in person once in my life. The second thing is that I heard about Radiooooo, a new site with the gimmick that you pick any decade from 1900 to today and the country and from there you can hear music from across the world the past 116 years and it's definitely nerdy... so it is something up my alley and I think it's very cool. Anyhow, I'll be back a week from today. My agenda is clear as of now.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Moonshot Premium Energy, Hardcore Henry, & Japanese Doc Brown

Here's a recap of what I've done in the past week. Monday the 4th I went out in the evening; I returned to Disney Springs and Splitsville (the last time I was in that restaurant, I experienced bad service; thankfully it was a different tune this time) and besides walking around there I had a brownie and an ice cold beverage as I sort of paid attention to the NCAA Championship basketball game between Villanova and North Carolina. It ended up having a great ending, that is for sure. Villanova won, by the way. Tuesday, I was at Target and that is where I got their special version of The Force Awakens Blu. I went there instead of some other places offering their versions not because I preferred that, but because it was most convenient for me.

Wednesday... sigh. I won't talk about all the instances where I was annoyed or frustrated with people. I'll just list a major example here, where I ordered food from Pizza Hut as I hadn't done so in awhile and I took advantage where they had some items for 5 dollars each and from there I got two items, a medium pizza and some garlic knots. Somehow the person taking my order had trouble understanding that simple order so it took some time-and me getting flustered-before it was straightened out. At least the pizza tasted good and the knots were fine. Thursday, I went to a new movie theatre that opened recently. It was another Epic Theatres, but this one has all fancy reclining chairs (really) and even though it's by Orlando International Airport I was still curious. 

Well, I don't plan on being back there anytime soon. Between various digital things working (including the computer screens by each auditorium that is supposed to list the film and the start time, almost all of them were on the startup screen of Windows with a message to upgrade to Windows 10!), the not so friendly layout of the place, and how some of the staff acted, and it was a major turn-off. As for Hardcore Henry, what an absurd bizarre over the top thing. I certainly was not bored; unfortunately, for much of the second act, all the camera shaking about stuff (it's a first person only movie filmed with a GoPro) made me feel nauseous for much of the second act. That was unfortunate.

Friday through Sunday I did do several things but they were inconsequential so I won't go into details, except for one thing in a minute. I'll just say that the weekend turned out fine for me. I will mention that from Amazon I ordered an energy drink 12 pack I randomly stumbled upon earlier in the year; it was Moonshot Premium Energy, out of the hipster haven of Austin, Texas. It has different flavors, such as Honey Peach and Coconut Pineapple. What I've had so far, it is good. Also good is Pepsi's 1893 soda, both cola and ginger. Now, the weird thing I saw yesterday when out in public is a Japanese man who between the hair and the outfit, I can best describe as “Japanese Doc Brown.” I am as befuddled as you, as I was just out in public and not at any sort of event involving cosplay, meaning that this person normally wore such clothing and had big hair. Oh, the sights I sometimes see in Florida. It made up for some of the outrageous drivers I saw yesterday, who went way above the speed limit and not so shockingly, most of their cars had giant dents and other remnants of previous crashes.

When I return a week from today, I have some ideas concerning activities to do.

Monday, April 4, 2016

Mountain Dew Black Label, The Return Of Mountain Dew: Vin Diesel & Wrestlemania

Monday, it was the last day that friend of one of my parents was down here (they flew back real early the next morning) so those two decided they wanted to go to the Longhorn Steakhouse, and that was fine by me. I had the chicken fingers and they were pretty darn good. Tuesday, it was a rainy day and I had to be out in order to get something for someone I know. I had to deal with the written concrete rule of “when it rains in Florida, everyone drives even worse” and I had to walk around in the rain, but I was still happy to help out that person. Wednesday, I went to Walmart to look for something; I got that along with some other items, including Mountain Dew Black Label. I had heard of that late last year and it finally was released nationally recently. It is a tasty beverage, thankfully.

Thursday, I went out and about; I was thinking of places I hadn't gone to in awhile and I realized I should make my return to Twin Peaks. I am sure some think I would only go there for the women who wear revealing outfits and that's nice and all... but they do make pretty tasty food and brew some of their own beers. After I got done there, I realize it shouldn't be so long before my next visit. On the way to the restaurant I stopped at a Barnes & Noble, where I used a giftcard I got for Christmas to get two miscellaneous books. Friday, I stayed in and relaxed; the same goes for Saturday. The only thing of note for those two days is that I saw parts of several Australian Football League games. I was happy that the new season has started as the last one ended in the fall. This was the second week; I wasn't able to see anything from the first week.

Sunday, that was an interesting day. I went to a Speedway gas station as I had heard-erroneously-that they sold Surge there but that is OK as I got several different beverages there, including Pepsi 1893 (both the flavors of “Cola” and “Ginger”; the gimmick is that it's all-natural) and in fountain form, the return of Mountain Dew: Pitch Black, which is a limited edition flavor of old. Because I am me I always called it Mountain Dew: Vin Diesel. When there was a Mountain Dew: Pitch Black 2 I called it Mountain Dew: The Chronicles of Riddick.

In the evening it was Wrestlemania, which I watched on the WWE Network. Honestly, I watch even less wrestling now than I have in the past few years, meaning that my watching is almost at zero. It's depressing considering how I used to be, and as a youth I was a gigantic fan. The Wrestlemanias of last year and two years ago got a lot of raves... honestly they were overrated to me. The show last night, it had some nice action but the wrong person usually won and it was WAY too long. The first match was at 5:45 PM on the pre-show and there were two more pre-show matches until 7, then the actual show was 7 until 11:45, which everyone said was a mistake. I thought it was still decent up to the ending of the Women's Championship 3 way match; after that, though, it took a nosedive and the show from that point was just bad. All that said, next year's Wrestlemania will be in Orlando and I DO plan on being there live at the show. Between that and all the independent pro wrestling shows that will be in the area the preceding two days, that will be a LONG weekend where plenty of cash is spent, but I'll worry about that around this time next year.

I'll be back a week from today and I do have some ideas in mind for the next seven days. You'll have to wait and see what those are.