MovieStop, Megacon, Mass Effect, Memorial Day & Other M Words

Here's what I've done since last Monday; on that Monday the 23rd I decided to go to a MovieStop. I've mentioned that joint a handful of times before and it's a place I like going to and randomly searching for random movies. Well, I heard earlier in the day that come July, all the stores will close down as they are going out of business for good. That makes me sad... even if every time I went there, annoying people were always around. That includes this night, by the way; in fact, right after a particularly awful pair of ladies left, the employees talked crap about them as they always cause issues! I got some random Blu discs. A few hours later I went and drove a parent to the airport up in Sanford as they had a red-eye flight. On the way back I stopped at a Denny's for a bite to eat.

Tuesday, I went to Chipotle for dinner then stopped at a Staples to get an Amazon giftcard. Wednesday, I went to a Texas Roadhouse for the first time in a long while for my “almost always” of a burger and fries... and an ice-cold beverage too. Thursday, that was a day of annoyance; like many people in Florida, for reasons unknown Bright House had all their services down, which meant that where I live there was no phone, cable or Internet. I was as annoyed as you could imagine. It was not fixed until 8:30 PM; I can't really complain considering that I don't use Comcast so I know it could always be worse. I have heard many different horror stories from many different people about that corporation and how they are awful all around so Bright House is fine in comparison. Besides, I had worse issues to come... and I don't mean the traffic on the road, even though it was really bad the last half of this month and more than once I wondered if a driver was legit impaired or not.

Friday, it was Megacon time. This was my third year going to that convention. It has always been what you'd expect from a comic book convention, meaning that comics are by far the most offered item there, all the costumes are great (even if many of the cosplay, I do not know the reference as I don't read comics or watch anime) and it's a lot of fun as there's plenty of unique sights & sounds & experiences. I did a LOT of walking on this day so I was absolutely exhausted; still, I had a pretty good time there. Several people I know were there, but I only saw and briefly talked to one of them. I was careful with my money so I only got some random food & drink and the one big purchase was a Magnum PI shirt, as that is a show from my distant past. I never go there in costume, as I am lame. Like I did in '14, I wore an XFL shirt there, as it's funny as it was such a failure and I am glad I got it for a few bucks at a Spencer's Gifts shortly after the XFL went defunct. Like in '14 the shirt got some compliments.

The costumes were largely what you'd expect from a comic book convention; the properties which recently got attention or will this summer were especially popular. A common sight is seeing people take pictures of cosplayers; thankfully they are always asked first for permission then they do a pose, so it's not a creepy voyeur thing. Still, I was glad they had up large signs this year warning people not to be creepy or gross about such things, and it was OK to not wanting to have your picture taken. I never did that thing myself, just because. Sometimes I thought about it, like on this day when I saw a girl who looked a lot like early 80's Carrie Fisher as Slave Girl Leia. What tickled my fancy was seeing a Third Reich Trump and a Communist Sanders; they held up signs to explain the joke and thankfully it wasn't over the top as that would have been in bad taste.

However, I did take a picture this year. I saw two lovely ladies dressed up as Mass Effect characters. As that videogame trilogy is awesome (even if the ending of the third wasn't great, to put it kindly; a new game is supposed to come out next year), I was happy to see that, as I rarely see that at the event. For the game's fans, I'll mention that they went as the female version of the game's lead Shepard and Miranda. Them loving the game is appealing enough... one of the two ladies I found to be highly attractive... I complimented them on their outfits and I took their picture. Overall, a quality Friday. They always have some interesting celebrity guests there and that was the case this year... everyone from Stan Lee and Jay & Silent Bob to some of the Karate Kids cast, Christopher Lloyd and some Star Trek people. I never get any autographs/pictures from them as it costs extra.

Onto the weekend... Saturday I went to Walmart to get a few items. A little later, I realized it was pretty warm at home... long story short, I discovered the air conditioner wasn't working! A neighbor came over and helped diagnose the problem. Well, it's not something that I can fix by any means and as it's a holiday weekend... hopefully it'll be fixed tomorrow. With the fans going and the windows open at night, it isn't that miserable. In the day, it hasn't been pleasant. Sunday night, to beat the heat I returned to good old Twin Peaks. When they treat me pretty nice there... and on this night I was treated nice again, which I appreciated. It was quiet there but I was OK with that as I had a tasty dinner and some beverages. It may be some time before I go back, but only because I have plenty of other places I can go to for the first time or visit after a long absence.

On the way back I stopped at a gas station to get some milk, and I also got some alcohol for the future. One item I got for immediate use was FOUR LOKO. I had that once before (after they took out the caffeine after the product got so much heat) and it did not taste good. Well, I can say that it still doesn't take good, but it was 24 ounces and 12% alcohol... I don't know if I'll ever have it again.  As for Memorial Day today, I'll likely go somewhere later to escape the sweatbox and get a bite to eat. Thankfully now I can sit outside and enjoy a not so hot breeze. When I return a week from today, hopefully things will go better and there are no more major calamities that happen.

Disney Springs Town Center, New Restaurants, Poutine & Summer Shandy

Here's a recap of what I've done since last Monday. On Monday the 16th I decided to return to Disney Springs in the evening to see the brand new Town Center area; as rain was predicted for all of this week (it only rained a few days, but I wish I knew that ahead of time) I decided to roll the dice and go down there despite the weather where I was. Well... at least I had an always stylish clear poncho in the vehicle, put in there by a parent who probably purchased it years ago. It kept my clothing dry, which is the most important thing. As for Town Center, it's a place where some ritzy stores operate, like Zara, Kate Spade and Sperry. So I mainly just walked around. At least it looks nice. As typical with me, I am most interested in the food & drink and one day I'll visit one or two of those spots. The place selling cupcakes literally had a line going out the door so instead I went to a stand and had poutine for the first time. It was the Italian kind, as gravy is not my thing. It actually was good.

Tuesday, I went to Wawa to get food and since they had 50 dollar giftcards from Amazon I figured I would get two of those so I wouldn't have to go elsewhere to make that purchase. What a mistake that was! You wouldn't believe the rigmarole over such a simple purchase. I guess they don't want to make as much money as they should as I was actually told that I could only get the two cards if I paid debit; with credit I could only get one. I wanted to ask WHY, but I did not want to argue or possibly make a scene so I just got the one giftcard. I know now to stick to places like Staples to get those cards.

Wednesday, I went to the local UPS store to ship something; on the way there I saw the remnants of a turtle that got ran over. The less said about that, the better. Thursday, I went with someone to a restaurant, and that happened to be the local Buffalo Wild Wings. That went fine. I had the limited edition wing sauce known as Summer Shandy... yes, after the tasty Leinenkugel beer. It was definitely mild on my boneless wings, but it did taste good. 

Friday, I returned to Disney Springs; this time it was sunny out and it was better for walking around and going to a new restaurant there, D-Luxe Burgers. The day as a whole was a “meh” experience, from the bad traffic to having to be around annoying people. The fact that the restaurant did not blow me away either did not help. My burger got burned to a crisp (it was another place where I got crap because apparently it's impossible for them to cook medium well... even though most joints can do that with no problem; believe it or not I've been told that BS excuse from an eatery about “it HAS to be either medium or well done”) and the fries were too hard and did not taste great. At least my chocolate shake was tasty but there are other places at Disney Springs I think are better and whether it's burgers or something else, I would prefer to eat at those eateries again, although one day I'll give this joint a second shot and maybe then I'll be more impressed. As for some of the people I encountered, they included a teenaged girl who loudly belched several times around her friend (yes, really; what a classy thing to do in public) and a guy with a long pleather trench coat that seemingly came in a time machine straight from 1996.

Saturday and Sunday I stayed in, which was an arrangement that I was satisfied with. When I return on Memorial Day, I do know of some activities I'll be participating in and hopefully there will be little of any nonsense that irritates me.

The One Time I Wondered Why A Car's Windshield Said, “I (Heart) White Girls”

True story, I ended up at the Altamonte Mall for a bit on Friday the 13th; on that day all I did that I'll mention here is that I was in Orlando for a few hours and the highlights there were getting food from Giraffas (that one Brazilian quick service place I had been to twice before) and before I went home I walked around the Altamonte Mall and for the first time in years I got an old school Orange Julius from the place known as Orange Julius-that was good-but the highlight of the day was that strange message I saw on the front windshield of a beat-up first generation Miata. I have a number of questions about this and I imagine some of them would have been answered had I known who the driver was, but I never got the chance.

To think that it wasn't even the oddest thing I saw this past week. Saturday night I returned to good old Twin Peaks. The one lady who I talked about the last two times I was there was not around, but that is OK as all the women there are pretty nice (honestly, they made a bigger deal out of me not getting my bread pudding quickly than I did; the concern was appreciated by me, though). I went there to see the UFC pay per view. This one was from a soccer stadium in Brazil so over 45,000 people were there and it was a nice lineup. Overall the show was pretty entertaining and my time there was uneventful; I could have done without some incredibly loud people there but I am used to such things. What completely caught me off guard was when I saw two young adult males walk in... dressed in SpongeBob SquarePants outfits! One dude was SpongeBob and the other was SpongeBob's friend Patrick. I have no explanation for this. If they would have been with someone and those dudes had lost a bet, then OK. But they were there by themselves and did not sit with anyone else. After awhile, they left. Were they just tools who thought that doing this would be funny? It's Florida, so perhaps.

To get back on the chronological kick, last Monday the 9th all I did was return to Winter Garden Village for the first time in awhile. I walked around and from Planet Smoothie, I got the Passion Fruit Pucker drink, which was pretty good. Tuesday, all I did was go to Walmart, and thankfully that was uneventful and the “typical Walmart crowd” wasn't thick as thieves and none of them were grossly irritating. Wednesday, I went with someone (a Sam's Club member) to Sam's Club and we got several random items in bulk (mainly food & drink) and after that we ate at a Denny's. I built my own Grand Slam Breakfast where I had pancakes, a biscuit, two sausage links and two strips of bacon; it was pretty tasty.

As I already talked about my Friday and Saturday, let me mention that I didn't do a darn thing on Sunday. I'll spare telling everyone about some of the really horrid traffic I experienced in the past week and instead mention that when I return next Monday, my schedule is pretty bare... but I know that'll change.

Orlando City SC, Camping World Stadium & The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant

Here's what I've done since last Monday. On that Monday the 2nd, I returned to Walt Disney World. This time it was Hollywood Studios. I walked around there and went on a few rides. I noted that the Star Tours ride-which has many different segments that can be played during each ride, thus making you want to ride more than once-now has a The Force Awakens segment with Finn. I ate at a place I haven't been to in years, The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant, where you sit in booths that look like 50's cars and the setting is a 50's drive-in and they play about a 45 minute loop of trailers to terrible old movies (I mean, stuff like Robot Monster or Plan Nine From Outer Space), cartoons, and newsreels. It's a good time. Their menu has changed a few times since they opened in 1991. I had my “almost always” of a burger and fries and they were good, along with the Oreo Shake I also got.

Tuesday and Wednesday I did not do anything (it rained quite a bit on Wednesday, making my decision to keep it cool rather easy) and Thursday, I went to Bob Evans w/ someone (that went fine, despite someone there coughing at least once a minute, which I quickly grew tired of) so let me skip ahead to Friday, which was a different sort of day for me. For the first time ever I went to something at the Citrus Bowl, which isn't even its name anymore; it's now Camping World Stadium, and I'll spare my thoughts about that corporate sponsorship, as that's pretty much required now for every stadium or arena of consequence. It was renovated a few years ago and I hear it's not as bad as it used to be, although you can still tell that it's a very old stadium. Anyway, I went and saw Orlando's Major League Soccer team-Orlando SC-play against the New York Red Bulls. I wish I could love soccer more but the whole flopping/faking injures/players screaming at the officials thing is something I really do not care for, and FIFA being so incredibly corrupt does not help either. Still, since they became an MSL team I have seen plenty of Orlando SC support, from shirts to bumper stickers. So, I figured it was time for me to give them a shot.

I parked and made the long walk to the stadium and back to the vehicle. This involved walking through some areas that weren't the nicest parts of Orlando and I would have preferred it walking with a group of people... but ultimately I had no issues with that. I did feel sad seeing some homeless people sitting there, sleeping or in one case, flail about as that man had obvious mental health issues. Onto a cheerier subject, there was a good-sized crowd, announced as over 30,000 people. Just outside the stadium was some food trucks and the highlight of what I ate there was a gourmet donut, and I was surprised the line for that was notably shorter than the other trucks selling food as the key lime donut I had was excellent.

As for the game itself, it was what I expected; the crowd yelled a lot at the Red Bulls and especially the referees and as they're sports fans, not all the screaming was warranted. There was plenty of flopping and faking injuries and as this was an aggressive game w/ a lot of fouls, it wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing. Yet I can't say I regret going there. It was nice to finally visit that stadium and it was after it was remodeled, as I heard words such as “toilet” and “dump” to describe how it used to be. Plus, the game experience was entertaining enough for me, even w/ all the negatives. I just don't know when I'll see my next Orlando SC Lions game. The women's team (Orlando Pride) I may see later this year, as this is their debut season.

The weekend I did not do a thing and I was fine with that. I did wish my mom a happy Mother's Day, as I always do. When I return a week from today, I only have a faint idea as to what I'll be doing, but I will stumble into an adventure or two.

Prince, Green Room, Rumchata & The Orlando Eye

Here's all the adventures I have experienced since last Monday. On Monday the 25th I returned to Universal Studios CityWalk for the first time in a few months. I walked around and saw that it was largely the same as before. I also went to their AMC Theatres to see Purple Rain. Yes, AMC (and Carmike Cinemas) wasted little time to put it in big cities all across the country for this past week. I had seen it before but that was a long time ago. The movie has its problematic moments for sure but despite that I still found it to be enjoyable, as the music and musical performances were so great. I saw it with the right crowd, also; it was among the best theatrical experiences. They were really into it, applauding often and reacting how they should throughout. Watching the movie while drinking a hard rootbeer float was nice too; Rumchata is pretty tasty, it turns out.

Tuesday and Wednesday I did not do anything; Thursday was definitely more interesting. I ended up in Sanford to pick up a parent from the airport but I did things before that. A few days beforehand I found on Groupon a 40% off coupon for the Orlando Eye so I figured it was finally time to go in that 400 feet tall fancy Ferris Wheel. That is what I did and the views were definitely nice. It is something to do once and maybe never again. I then went in the Sea Life Aquarium that is nearby. That was a pretty nice aquarium; the setup is nice and things are divided logically; it is family-friendly so I imagine my 3 year old nephews would dig seeing all those fish and other aquatic creatures; I know that I did. I will be back there sometime in the future. For dinner there were plenty of restaurants in the general area. I decided to eat dinner at the Sugar Factory, even though I figured I would feel like an old fart in there and well, I did. It's a wacky high-energy place where things are over the top whenever someone celebrates the birthday and there are smokin' goblet drinks. I had my “almost always” of a burger and fries (which were fine) and a shake, which was good. Before I ended up at the airport I stopped at a Cumberland Farms gas station to get food & drink for me and that parent and someone there was a dumbass who did not have high enough an IQ to realize that just about every gas station now requires you to pay inside or with a card before you can pump gas. Typical Florida...

Friday I did not do anything either, so let me skip ahead to Saturday. I had free time in the evening so I decided to return to Disney Springs; I went to the AMC Theatres and saw Green Room. It's a limited release deal. Director Jeremy Saulnier has two previous movies, Murder Party and Blue Ruin, which got a lot of independent buzz but to me the former was bad and the latter was only average. Then again I have odd movie opinions sometimes and I am one of the few people on Earth who didn't even like Mad Max: Fury Road, and I saw that twice on the big screen. Well, Green Room is better but I can only rate it as “fine”. It's about a punk band who end up stuck at a club in the middle of nowhere Oregon... and it's run by skinhead Neo-Nazi A-holes, one of them Patrick Stewart. It's one of those movies where the few violent moments you get, it's over the top graphic gore and on the gross side. I am not a big fan of that style but I had bigger issues with it, mainly the story and characters. At least I can say it's “fine”. Otherwise, my time there went about as expected, although it was even busier than I expected and parking was an issue.

Sunday, I did not do a darn thing so I'll mention now that I'll return a week from today and I don't have a lot on the agenda for the first week of May, at least not yet.