Here's what I've done in the past week. On Monday the 20th, I went with that parent and their friend to another restaurant. This time it was something different; it was the Macaroni Grill, which was a good call as they always make a tasty pizza. In the evening I watched Illinois State basketball play on ESPN. It was in the “lesser” NIT Tournament, even though ISU belonged in the NCAA Tournament, really. But, they did not help their cause when they lost by one point to UCF, of all teams. It was at ISU, so I wasn't at the game live. While there was a controversial call at the end, ISU had a big lead earlier so they blew it. I then saw the University of Illinois play in the NIT against Boise State. Illinois won, and thus the Fighting Illini played at the UCF Knights on Wednesday night.
Tuesday night was the last night that friend was in town, so we ended up eating at the local restaurant known as Oakwood Smokehouse & Grill. They make good food so I should go there more frequently than I do. Wednesday, I saw Illinois play at UCF. I actually had never been in the CFE Arena, which opened around 10 years ago. It's a nice-enough building for basketball. The building was pretty full and while there were some Illinois fans, the loud UCF fans drowned them out. The Illini tried to make a comeback after being down big early but the Knights still won 68-58.
I'll briefly note that I had another bad Florida traffic incident... it involved a guy who I thankfully was able to get around on a 2 lane rural road, but it was only after I passed them that I realized they were a drunk driver. Otherwise, 911 would have been talking to me ASAP. Yet another “fun” moment dealing with the atrocious traffic down here.
Anyhow, Friday was a lot more interesting than what I was expecting. At sort of the last minute, I decided it was the time to return to downtown Orlando. I hadn't been there at night since last June. Unfortunately that was the night of the Pulse nightclub shooting... you can probably understand how that's been stuck in my mind since then. But finally I returned. When I was in the area a month ago (during a late afternoon) I passed by a bar/club which I had never heard of before and it sounded so wacky, I knew I had to try it out soon. That's what I did, after I stopped by another random place for a bit. I went to a British-themed place known as the Underground Public House. It was a typical place and it was fine as I had one drink there.
Then, I went to the place that caught my eye a month ago. When you find out there's a bar/club which is Christmas themed every day of the year and it's named Frosty's Christmastime Lounge, it was a must visit for me. Thankfully, it was as entertaining as I had hoped. The expected decorations were all over the place, there was a fake fireplace on an LCD screen, there was even fake snow from time to time... a few of the televisions even played Christmas films. The first one was Office Christmas Party, which I had no interest in. But, after that it was Die Hard, which made me pretty happy. I watched the big basketball game on TV, which was Wisconsin against Florida. Florida won in an improbable manner in overtime; I spent more time there than expected but that's alright, as it was such a wacky and fun place. I'll definitely be back there sometime in the future.
Saturday and Sunday I did nothing. I was OK with that arrangement. I did watch some college basketball on TV. It reminds me, the last time I mentioned how at Twin Peaks there was a drunken oaf who asked me who I picked to win the big tournament. I am not an avid watcher but the team I picked was Gonzaga. It's not the most conventional of picks as they're a smaller time who had never made it to the final four teams. This jerk loudly laughed at me. Now, I feel like giving him the finger if I ever saw him again... then again he was probably too wasted to even remember the incident. Gonzaga made it to the Final Four, along with perennial contender North Carolina, Oregon (who hadn't made it that far since 1939) and South Carolina, whose presence here is a shock to everyone. This year the tournament is quite bizarre but I will at least gloat about Gonzaga.
When I return a week from today... a lot is in the air, I'll put it that way. I know I'll have something to talk about, for sure.
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