What an interesting past week I had. Monday the 22nd, I did not do a thing; Tuesday was more interesting. I went with someone to a Logan's Roadhouse for dinner. That place is just about to enter bankruptcy so we figured they could use some cash. The one located by Sam's Club that I had been to a few times before is one of the locations that closed due to their financial woes; I'll be going there less often than I used to only due to convenience's sake. My burger and fries were fine; the person I was with loved their half rack of ribs, and I am glad they felt that way.
Wednesday, what a day that was. I went to Tampa for an adventure. I went to a few new places. The Westfield Citrus Park mall is pretty nice. I ended up at the University Mall by the University of South Florida, and that wasn't so nice. The only reason I was there was to see something at the Studio Movie Grill. It has like 20 different locations all across the country. It is one of those places that tries to be upscale and serves you food as you're watching a film. Unfortunately, it is located in an odd spot and it was a real hassle just trying to figure out where to park so you're by the main entrance, as the mall gives little help there. Then, late at night in a dark lot, it wasn't easy even trying to figure out how to get back on the highway. So that was not a good start, although I blame it on the mall. A bartender in the fancy lounge area not serving me (for reasons unknown) and the place forcing you to make some assumptions you shouldn't have to make as things should be a lot clearer... I can blame that on the entity itself.
So, when Train to Busan (a South Korean action thriller about a fast zombie apocalypse happening throughout Korea and it ends up on a train) began I was already in a not so great mood; when several Troglodytes acted incredibly rude during the movie, that cemented in my mind how unlikely it'll be that I'll return to this place. In fact, a couple who acted the worst, I almost had a confrontation with them... and I am not the type who gets into confrontations. It is probably good for me that they left as soon as the end credits started; the guy honestly looked like he had about an 80 IQ and is probably the type who solves all his problems with his fists... to think that the parents who brought their two young kids to the show caused zero problems. The movie is great, worthy to be compared to the best that has come out from Korea in the past 20 or so years. Thankfully this wasn't graphic and explicit like some of the movies you get from there... you know, like I Saw the Devil or Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Little kids don't need to see that. Anyhow, after the film I briefly stopped at a random World of Beer in the area before driving back home.
Thursday and Friday, I decided to stay in and relax after the chaos of Wednesday. Saturday-even though I was dead tired due to not getting a great night's sleep-I went up to Sanford to attend a birthday party of someone I know. It's the annual late August tradition, that's what it has become; a bunch of people go up to a popular German restaurant to eat food and also a cold beverage or two. Sunday, I had to return to Sanford for yet another airport run. I wish that airplane would have come in on Saturday as it would have worked out perfectly for me but alas... I stopped at the World of Beer in Lake Mary to kill time. Leaving there and driving to the airport, a sedan flew by me... with most of its bumper sheered off but it was still hanging on by a thread and it was dragging on the ground. Right after that, a cop turned on his lights and went to pull him over. Unfortunately I had to turn off that road but it was clear the cop realized the obvious, which was that this dope was more than a little impaired. I wish I could have seen how they did such damage to their own car and end up being oblivious about it.
I'll be back on Labor Day; I do have some ideas of what I'll be talking about.
Monday, August 29, 2016
Monday, August 22, 2016
Hell Or High Water, Waffle House, Blood Father & Handball
Once again not the most exciting week for me, but alas. On Monday the 15th, I did do something in the evening. I returned to CityWalk at Universal Studios. Besides walking around there and noting that sometime soon the new (and long named) The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen will open-I will be real interested in checking that out-I saw a movie there. It was the only Orlando location for a film that most will see direct to video or on the streaming sites: Blood Father, starring Mel Gibson. It's a standard action movie about him trying to protect his teen daughter after she does some pretty bad things w/ some pretty bad people. While not revolutionary, it is fun, especially for old-school action fans. Note that me watching this is NOT an endorsement of Gibson's controversial actions or the beliefs he's stated in the past. After that, I got a snack from a Cinnabon, as I hadn't eaten anything from one of those in a real long time.
Tuesday I did not do anything so let me mention what I did on Wednesday: WAFFLE HOUSE. I hadn't been to one of those in at least a few years. I went with someone who hadn't been to one in a very long time, as in “over a decade.” The food is never great at a Waffle House but at least it's made quickly and it tastes fine. This was the case when we were there. Thursday was another boring day, so onto Friday; I was thinking of going out somewhere and seeing a movie, but due to circumstances beyond my control, that changed. It is OK as it was a change for the better, and I won't bore you with the specifics why. Instead I went to Winter Garden Village to pick up something I needed from Staples, purchased a tasty beverage from Planet Smoothie, then ate dinner at a Jersey Mike's Subs. Saturday was yet another day where I stayed in and relaxed. I did not care about Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz fighting each other back in March, am still baffled that so many idiot UFC fans DID care, and cared even less about those two having a rematch on this night, so no way was I going out to see that pay per view. Instead, I spent time doing what I mentioned the last time I wrote, which was stream various niche (at least in the United States) Olympic events; I am talking about such things as archery, field hockey and handball. I wish those sports were as popular here as they were elsewhere around the world, but alas... also as I said recently, while Rio was not the best hosts at least the sporting events were fun to watch and it was a nice diversion.
At least Sunday was more interesting. In the evening, I went to the Safeway grocery store to pick up a few items; as they had several things at a discount if you purchased a few of them... yeah, I was roped into getting more than expected, but it's OK. After that I went to the AMC at the Altamonte Mall, where I saw Hell or High Water, a crime drama set in West Texas and starring Chris Pine, Ben Foster, and Jeff Bridges. It's great. If you enjoy things like No Country for Old Men, then this is a must-see. I enjoyed seeing a mature drama instead of the usual garbage that plays theatrically in the summer. When I return a week from today, I actually have a few ideas about what I'll be discussing. I'll be out and about, both doing things for the first time and meeting people I haven't seen in far too long.
Tuesday I did not do anything so let me mention what I did on Wednesday: WAFFLE HOUSE. I hadn't been to one of those in at least a few years. I went with someone who hadn't been to one in a very long time, as in “over a decade.” The food is never great at a Waffle House but at least it's made quickly and it tastes fine. This was the case when we were there. Thursday was another boring day, so onto Friday; I was thinking of going out somewhere and seeing a movie, but due to circumstances beyond my control, that changed. It is OK as it was a change for the better, and I won't bore you with the specifics why. Instead I went to Winter Garden Village to pick up something I needed from Staples, purchased a tasty beverage from Planet Smoothie, then ate dinner at a Jersey Mike's Subs. Saturday was yet another day where I stayed in and relaxed. I did not care about Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz fighting each other back in March, am still baffled that so many idiot UFC fans DID care, and cared even less about those two having a rematch on this night, so no way was I going out to see that pay per view. Instead, I spent time doing what I mentioned the last time I wrote, which was stream various niche (at least in the United States) Olympic events; I am talking about such things as archery, field hockey and handball. I wish those sports were as popular here as they were elsewhere around the world, but alas... also as I said recently, while Rio was not the best hosts at least the sporting events were fun to watch and it was a nice diversion.
At least Sunday was more interesting. In the evening, I went to the Safeway grocery store to pick up a few items; as they had several things at a discount if you purchased a few of them... yeah, I was roped into getting more than expected, but it's OK. After that I went to the AMC at the Altamonte Mall, where I saw Hell or High Water, a crime drama set in West Texas and starring Chris Pine, Ben Foster, and Jeff Bridges. It's great. If you enjoy things like No Country for Old Men, then this is a must-see. I enjoyed seeing a mature drama instead of the usual garbage that plays theatrically in the summer. When I return a week from today, I actually have a few ideas about what I'll be discussing. I'll be out and about, both doing things for the first time and meeting people I haven't seen in far too long.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Crystal Pepsi, Operation Chromite, Applebee's & Soarin'
I thought about mentioning in the title how I got a spam e-mail a few days ago that advertised “Viagra Super Force”, but I did not want to give anyone who just glanced at the title the wrong idea... so that's why I am mentioning it here. I did not do anything on Monday the 8th so let me skip ahead to Tuesday. On that way I went with someone to an Applebee's; what is notable there is that this particular location just opened in town a matter of days ago. I'll excuse the less than great service on that. At least the food & drink were still pretty good. Wednesday, I went to Walt Disney World, EPCOT in particular. Not to brag but I renewed my annual pass. I also went on the new Soarin' ride, which now takes place all across the world, and an incredible thing happened.
I was waiting in line to get on the ride, and suddenly one of the people working there were asking if there were any single riders to fill one last spot. No one else did so I made it be known that I was a single rider. Thus, I got to cut in front of line. Apparently that made someone pretty angry. That dumbass probably didn't realize I could hear him, but I certainly did hear him call me a “motherf...”, well, you know, an MF'er! Really. I was more amused than offended. To get that upset over having to wait in line a little longer than I did... what a clown. Oh, and Soarin' is a real nice ride.
Thursday, I did not do anything, so onto Friday. I went to Disney Springs, the AMC Theatres there in particular. I went and saw an obscure movie I only discovered existed a few days beforehand. It's a South Korean movie called Operation Chromite, about the Battle of Inchon during the Korean War. Yes, I actually have seen the infamous early 80's bomb known as Inchon, which has the likes of Toshiro Mifune, Richard Roundtree, and Laurence Olivier as General Douglas MacArthur. This movie is thankfully better than that; in a supporting role as MacArthur was... Liam Neeson! Yeah, that was the reason why it even got any kind of release in the United States. I'd love to see more Korean movies on the big screen. Not all of them that I've seen I have loved (this includes some popular titles among film fans) I can say that from the lighter fare like The Host or The Good, the Bad, the Weird to rather explicit things like I Saw the Devil or The Man From Nowhere... they make some quality motion pictures which thankfully aren't cliché like what we get from homogenized Hollywood. After the movie, I ate at the T. Rex Cafe as I hadn't been there in a long while. The high price is the reason why I go there infrequently, as I think their food is quite good and the atmosphere is great. I then went into the new Uniqlo store; to think that Disney Springs now has two famous Japanese clothing stores on their property; earlier in the summer I went in the Superdry store; both are nice and offer cool clothing. I don't have any Superdry shirts but because they were cheap I got two from Uniqlo.
Saturday, I went to a gas station out in the boonies in the hope that they they had some Crystal Pepsi, and they did. Sure, it was a gas station which somehow ran out of gas (on a Saturday afternoon! The prices were the same as everywhere else) and the service was poor, but as I actually did have it back in the day and yet did not remember anything about its taste, I waited in line. Once I got home, I discovered that it's fine, I guess... it's not my favorite, though.
Sunday, I did nothing. I'll mention that in the past week I did see some of the Olympics on television. The coverage on the NBC Networks has not been good and between the incompetency and Olympians being robbed, Rio has not been made to look good which is a shame for the first South American Olympics. Yet, the actual action from the sporting events has been entertaining, and the online streaming is fine, when it works, that is. I have checked out more obscure things that way, like archery and field hockey, as when would I otherwise be able to see such things? When I come back a week from today, I have an idea or two as to what I'll be talking about.
I was waiting in line to get on the ride, and suddenly one of the people working there were asking if there were any single riders to fill one last spot. No one else did so I made it be known that I was a single rider. Thus, I got to cut in front of line. Apparently that made someone pretty angry. That dumbass probably didn't realize I could hear him, but I certainly did hear him call me a “motherf...”, well, you know, an MF'er! Really. I was more amused than offended. To get that upset over having to wait in line a little longer than I did... what a clown. Oh, and Soarin' is a real nice ride.
Thursday, I did not do anything, so onto Friday. I went to Disney Springs, the AMC Theatres there in particular. I went and saw an obscure movie I only discovered existed a few days beforehand. It's a South Korean movie called Operation Chromite, about the Battle of Inchon during the Korean War. Yes, I actually have seen the infamous early 80's bomb known as Inchon, which has the likes of Toshiro Mifune, Richard Roundtree, and Laurence Olivier as General Douglas MacArthur. This movie is thankfully better than that; in a supporting role as MacArthur was... Liam Neeson! Yeah, that was the reason why it even got any kind of release in the United States. I'd love to see more Korean movies on the big screen. Not all of them that I've seen I have loved (this includes some popular titles among film fans) I can say that from the lighter fare like The Host or The Good, the Bad, the Weird to rather explicit things like I Saw the Devil or The Man From Nowhere... they make some quality motion pictures which thankfully aren't cliché like what we get from homogenized Hollywood. After the movie, I ate at the T. Rex Cafe as I hadn't been there in a long while. The high price is the reason why I go there infrequently, as I think their food is quite good and the atmosphere is great. I then went into the new Uniqlo store; to think that Disney Springs now has two famous Japanese clothing stores on their property; earlier in the summer I went in the Superdry store; both are nice and offer cool clothing. I don't have any Superdry shirts but because they were cheap I got two from Uniqlo.
Saturday, I went to a gas station out in the boonies in the hope that they they had some Crystal Pepsi, and they did. Sure, it was a gas station which somehow ran out of gas (on a Saturday afternoon! The prices were the same as everywhere else) and the service was poor, but as I actually did have it back in the day and yet did not remember anything about its taste, I waited in line. Once I got home, I discovered that it's fine, I guess... it's not my favorite, though.
Sunday, I did nothing. I'll mention that in the past week I did see some of the Olympics on television. The coverage on the NBC Networks has not been good and between the incompetency and Olympians being robbed, Rio has not been made to look good which is a shame for the first South American Olympics. Yet, the actual action from the sporting events has been entertaining, and the online streaming is fine, when it works, that is. I have checked out more obscure things that way, like archery and field hockey, as when would I otherwise be able to see such things? When I come back a week from today, I have an idea or two as to what I'll be talking about.
Monday, August 8, 2016
The Olympics, Square 1 Burgers & Bar, And Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro
Here's what I've done since last Monday. On Monday the 1st I went to my bank; someone gave me a check and it needed to be deposited in my account; yes, a check in 2016. Recently I saw someone at a store use a check, as if it was still 1982 here. That was as exciting as my Monday and Tuesday got, so onto Wednesday. I decided to go to the Total Wine & More in Orlando proper and I got my share of darker beers, both porter and stout. I then went to the nearby Orlando Fashion Square Mall, a place I rarely go to due to location and it being smaller than the other malls in the area. I think there are plenty of people who feel the same way, as the place isn't doing as well as it used to. I likely won't be back there for a long while, as to be honest there isn't much there for me to do that I couldn't do at another mall. As for the beer, the one I'll mention is Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was very good.
As a random aside, I talked before about the Florida traffic this year and how this year is worse than it's ever been down here. Well, that's still true; 2016 Florida traffic is just as bad as 2016 has been for the world in general... meaning real bad. I haven't mentioned all of the issues I've had this year with that; I could go on and on with what I dealt with this past week, where some lunatic followed me for awhile before I got away from him, all because I let him know I thought his behavior behind the wheel to be awful, which he then immediately verified-or the other things that happened. I honk my horn at people-among other things-even though they probably are too dopey to realize why I am mad at them. I realize that someone could retaliate in a very serious way, but that has not happened, at least not yet. Even after being down here for 12 years plus now, I still once in awhile see incomprehensible things behind the wheel that I have no logical explanation for. At this point, staying in instead of going out seems like a swell idea in general as it means not always being aggravated behind the wheel. I'll just hope that this madness ceases soon.
Thursday, that was another interesting day. I went to Lakeland as I hadn't been down there in a long while. I ended up at an outdoor mall (one I've been to a good number of times now); I got some random sodas at Rocket Fizz and some random books at Books-A-Million. I then made a few mile drive to a restaurant known as Square 1 Burgers & Bar. It is a Central Florida only thing. Between their overuse of the word “awesome”, cheap small chandeliers hanging at the bar and some bench seating being covered in cowhide... I honestly don't know if they're being serious or sarcastic here. At least the food was tasty and the alcoholic cinnamon milkshake was the same. The last place I went to was nearby; I got a shake from PDQ and while not alcoholic it just happened to be a cinnamon milkshake made with Cinnamon Toast Crunch and sea salt caramel; really, and it was very good.
Friday through Sunday was nondescript. I did see parts of the Olympics on TV, even though Brazil did an atrocious job in setting them up, mainly because of sheer incompetence. The actual sporting action has been fine. NBC's coverage is not great, but honestly there's been way too many commercials with the Olympics for at least the past 20 years now and it's been a problem with television in general for probably longer than that. At least I can stream everything online for free if I wanted to. Sunday, I went to Burger King; I brought home food for me and someone else. Unlike what I typically experience at a Burger King in the area, there was no problem with the service, other customers, or anything else. I got the “5 for $4” deal and that was a very wise decision on my part. The small bacon cheeseburger, small drink, small fries, 4 chicken nuggets and chocolate chip cookies: a thumbs up I will give to it.
I'll be back next Monday; not a lot is on the agenda, at least as of yet.
As a random aside, I talked before about the Florida traffic this year and how this year is worse than it's ever been down here. Well, that's still true; 2016 Florida traffic is just as bad as 2016 has been for the world in general... meaning real bad. I haven't mentioned all of the issues I've had this year with that; I could go on and on with what I dealt with this past week, where some lunatic followed me for awhile before I got away from him, all because I let him know I thought his behavior behind the wheel to be awful, which he then immediately verified-or the other things that happened. I honk my horn at people-among other things-even though they probably are too dopey to realize why I am mad at them. I realize that someone could retaliate in a very serious way, but that has not happened, at least not yet. Even after being down here for 12 years plus now, I still once in awhile see incomprehensible things behind the wheel that I have no logical explanation for. At this point, staying in instead of going out seems like a swell idea in general as it means not always being aggravated behind the wheel. I'll just hope that this madness ceases soon.
Thursday, that was another interesting day. I went to Lakeland as I hadn't been down there in a long while. I ended up at an outdoor mall (one I've been to a good number of times now); I got some random sodas at Rocket Fizz and some random books at Books-A-Million. I then made a few mile drive to a restaurant known as Square 1 Burgers & Bar. It is a Central Florida only thing. Between their overuse of the word “awesome”, cheap small chandeliers hanging at the bar and some bench seating being covered in cowhide... I honestly don't know if they're being serious or sarcastic here. At least the food was tasty and the alcoholic cinnamon milkshake was the same. The last place I went to was nearby; I got a shake from PDQ and while not alcoholic it just happened to be a cinnamon milkshake made with Cinnamon Toast Crunch and sea salt caramel; really, and it was very good.
Friday through Sunday was nondescript. I did see parts of the Olympics on TV, even though Brazil did an atrocious job in setting them up, mainly because of sheer incompetence. The actual sporting action has been fine. NBC's coverage is not great, but honestly there's been way too many commercials with the Olympics for at least the past 20 years now and it's been a problem with television in general for probably longer than that. At least I can stream everything online for free if I wanted to. Sunday, I went to Burger King; I brought home food for me and someone else. Unlike what I typically experience at a Burger King in the area, there was no problem with the service, other customers, or anything else. I got the “5 for $4” deal and that was a very wise decision on my part. The small bacon cheeseburger, small drink, small fries, 4 chicken nuggets and chocolate chip cookies: a thumbs up I will give to it.
I'll be back next Monday; not a lot is on the agenda, at least as of yet.
Monday, August 1, 2016
The One Time I Had A Boring July
I wasn't planing on having a boring as heck July; that's just how it turned out. Monday through Thursday can be summed up rather quickly. Monday I went to Walmart and it was a standard trip there as I purchased a few items. Tuesday I did not do a thing. The same goes for Thursday. Wednesday, I went and not only dropped off some clothing at Goodwill, but I went to the local library as I hadn't been there in awhile. At least Friday was more interesting.
On that Friday night, Guns N' Roses performed in Orlando at the outdoor stadium I'll always know as the Citrus Bowl. While the thought did cross my mind to attend the concert, I'll be honest and say that for a variety of reasons, going to concerts is not my thing and I've only gone to several (I mean, less than a dozen) in my lifetime, including small time shows played by local bands in bars. Of course the cost was high and having to deal with meatheads there... as I literally saw part of this concert on YouTube, I am OK with my decision. To be honest, after the tour was announced and before it started, I wasn't even sure if it would be completed. Back in the day, the band (OK, mainly Axl) had a bad reputation for not starting on time, or doing a full concert. I am frankly astonished it has seemingly gone well so far with no issues, considering all the bad blood that broke up the band in the first place.
Anyhow, I did some other things instead. I went to Barnes & Noble; I am still miffed that the one which used to be only about a 15 minute drive away closed down; having to drive farther to go to one is lame to me. The only thing I got there was a random magazine. I then went to the nearby Noodles & Company. I had heard of the place before but never thought about going there until now. It did enter my mind after the story of how elsewhere at a location in Virginia, two employees refused to serve a police officer... then the employees got fired. By the way, don't expect me to talk about either politics or “Black Lives Matter vs. Blue Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter” debate, as I know better than to cause such controversy. After that, I stopped at a nearby World of Beer, where I had two porter beers. The one I'll mention as being real good is Terrapin Liquid Bliss; Terrapin typically makes good beer but Liquid Bliss is an apt name as it's a chocolate peanut butter porter and it's real good.
Saturday, I stayed in; there was a UFC PPV but it didn't seem like something I needed to see. Sunday, I went to Winter Garden Village; I walked around and ended up at Target. I got a few items there and that went fine. My time there wasn't good; I'll just say it was dumb customers, dumb employees, and a dispute over the price of an item that made me swear not to return to any Best Buy for a long while and that is fine with me, as there are plenty of other places to visit in order to purchase films... not to mention the great resource known as Amazon.
July did not end well but August should be better, even if I only have a rough idea of what I'll be doing the first week of this month.
On that Friday night, Guns N' Roses performed in Orlando at the outdoor stadium I'll always know as the Citrus Bowl. While the thought did cross my mind to attend the concert, I'll be honest and say that for a variety of reasons, going to concerts is not my thing and I've only gone to several (I mean, less than a dozen) in my lifetime, including small time shows played by local bands in bars. Of course the cost was high and having to deal with meatheads there... as I literally saw part of this concert on YouTube, I am OK with my decision. To be honest, after the tour was announced and before it started, I wasn't even sure if it would be completed. Back in the day, the band (OK, mainly Axl) had a bad reputation for not starting on time, or doing a full concert. I am frankly astonished it has seemingly gone well so far with no issues, considering all the bad blood that broke up the band in the first place.
Anyhow, I did some other things instead. I went to Barnes & Noble; I am still miffed that the one which used to be only about a 15 minute drive away closed down; having to drive farther to go to one is lame to me. The only thing I got there was a random magazine. I then went to the nearby Noodles & Company. I had heard of the place before but never thought about going there until now. It did enter my mind after the story of how elsewhere at a location in Virginia, two employees refused to serve a police officer... then the employees got fired. By the way, don't expect me to talk about either politics or “Black Lives Matter vs. Blue Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter” debate, as I know better than to cause such controversy. After that, I stopped at a nearby World of Beer, where I had two porter beers. The one I'll mention as being real good is Terrapin Liquid Bliss; Terrapin typically makes good beer but Liquid Bliss is an apt name as it's a chocolate peanut butter porter and it's real good.
Saturday, I stayed in; there was a UFC PPV but it didn't seem like something I needed to see. Sunday, I went to Winter Garden Village; I walked around and ended up at Target. I got a few items there and that went fine. My time there wasn't good; I'll just say it was dumb customers, dumb employees, and a dispute over the price of an item that made me swear not to return to any Best Buy for a long while and that is fine with me, as there are plenty of other places to visit in order to purchase films... not to mention the great resource known as Amazon.
July did not end well but August should be better, even if I only have a rough idea of what I'll be doing the first week of this month.
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