White Claw, Flippers, My Birthday Week & Forensic Files II

This week had even more ups and downs and due to circumstances beyond my control, not everything I had planned came to fruition. Still, my birthday was on Saturday so I can't be too upset about events in general. Plus, from Sunday the 16th through the wee hours of Sunday the 23rd, my parents had guests, which included a 10 month old baby; that was different from the norm. Monday, all I did was visit some spots in town, including Target. Tuesday had more action; first, I went to Walmart in order to pick up a toy for the 10 month old, which they thankfully did enjoy. Getting the toy from Walmart was a matter of convenience; as correctly predicted by me, their selection for infants was rather limited. After that I returned to Hurricane Grill & Wings as I hadn't been there for awhile. I had The Perfect Storm, which wasn't a high-powered liquid concoction... rather, it was firecracker shrimp (where were eh), but the mozzarella sticks, few pieces of boneless wings and fries w/ garlic & Parmesan were good. Once I got home, for the first time I tried WHITE CLAW; I got a can of it awhile ago. After drinking it... not awful, but not for me. I do know the reasons why many drink it-and that I am far from the first middle-aged man to consume the beverage-so I'll just stick with what I usually drink instead.

Wednesday, I could not think of any better place to visit so I returned to Disney Springs, where nothing of note happened; it was a popular location on this night. Thursday, I still had a giftcard from Zaxby's to use, so there is where I went. Nothing was done on Friday, so onto Saturday, when I turned thirty::coughcough:: years old. For various reasons it did not feel like my birthday yet I do not want to dwell on the negatives of 2020 and instead mention that I did have some alcohol at night, even if it was the Rose hard cider from Angry Orchard that someone I know bought long ago but for other reasons are unable to finish anytime soon. Plus, I went with several people to the local location of a Central Florida chain known as Flipper's Pizzeria; I've gotten food from there before way back in the day, but had never eaten in the restaurant itself. While the pizza I ordered wasn't exactly what I ordered, the food at least tasted fine and everyone enjoyed their meal. The other people chose the place, which was fine.

Sunday, I do not want to carp and complain about the day as I don't want this to be too negative. There were just traffic issues (as it has been all month long) and not everything went as expected. At least I had food at a Wawa then purchased several of the unique food & drink items available at World Market, such as Australian licorice and Italian wafer cookies. In the evening I viewed Forensic Files II on HLN. I can't explain why Headline News became HLN, or why they might as well be known as the Forensic Files Network as most of their programming is reruns of that. I viewed it at the time on what was known then as Court TV (which for most of the first decade of the 2000's was my favorite and most-watched network) before they completely changed to Tru TV and became unwatchable with “reality” television and loathsome prank shows. I laugh that they actually are calling Forensic Files II... if only I would have thought it worthy of the original. For me, it was just not the same, and just not good. I'll just skip II and when I want, revisit the original on HLN... or YouTube, which has most of the episodes.

Next Monday, who knows what I will be discussing.

Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hangry Bison, Horrid Traffic & Fantasy Island

Thankfully I have several interesting stories to tell about the preceding week, even if not all of them are positive. Monday, I had the free time to visit a few spots in Orlando & the suburbs, including some soda and taffy from Rocket Fizz; it wasn't the plan yet I ended up at a restaurant I herd about before but finally had the time & motivation to try on this day: the Hangry Bison. For certain it's my type of place: burgers & craft beer. Both were pretty good. Tuesday, I went to Walmart for a few items, and had a bad experience there. I know, that's what I get for going to Walmart... but as elaborated upon before, one reason I go there is to put money on giftcards so they can be used at the various gas stations found at some of their stores... that was my main reason on this evening, actually. Well, the woman checking everyone out in the line I was in, she was so incompetent that she struggled and needed assistance with most of the people paying for items... including me. I was royally unhappy, so I don't plan on visiting this location again anytime soon.

Wednesday, I ended up seeing Gretel & Hansel. Why not see a movie directed by the son of Anthony Perkins? There are mixed reviews but I heard some things which sounded appealing to me. Well, it was nice visually and aurally, which helped make up for the story being on the simplistic side. There are weird moments throughout, so the mixed reviews do make sense. Thursday, I had to make... another run to the airport! Someone was picked up in Sanford; on the way there I stopped at a KFC for a meal that was at least cheap, and I killed time somewhere else when I found out that the flight was delayed. Also on Thursday, the logical movie for me to see next was the 2013 flick Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters; that was a 180 from the previous night's film... that was over the top and campy, yet fine. Friday I did nothing, so onto Saturday...

Saturday, I had the time to see a film, and several factors led to me choosing something I heard was bad: Blumhouse's Fantasy Island. I haven't used the AMC A-List App as often in the past few months (for the most part) so I better get back to that. The movie was indeed poor, a gigantic mess. After that, I ate at a Wawa as it was the best option available for where I was at when it was time to stop & eat. I tried their new chicken strips; while not the worst I've ever had, I'll stick with their turkey sandwiches. Sunday, I went to Publix to purchase various items; on the way there I almost got sideswiped by a fool, was tailgated more than once, and had way too many dopey moments happen to me that I don't want to get into as it could go on for paragraphs. 

When I return in a week... who knows what I'll discuss.

City Works, XFL, Stryper, Creepy Men & The Oscars

Once again it wasn't the most eventful of weeks, although I still have a few things to discuss and it was nice to visit a restaurant new to me. Monday through Wednesday, not much at all occurred. I went to Burger King in order to use a giftcard I got over a year ago but never used... otherwise, I doubt people want to hear me carp again about how the Burger King restaurants nearest to me have all given me problems before. Thus, I'll mention that at an ungodly hour of the night I took someone to the airport in Sanford, which was as uneventful as expected. On the way back I stopped at a Denny's; I would have preferred if some weird dude did not stare at me and multiple people did not LOUDLY play videos on their phone... it was not my previous occasion at a Denny's, when some young adult woman was being a “sushi snob” to her guy friend and in general was hilariously blunt about most things.

After that, there are bits to mention before I briefly mention last night's Oscars. Friday I had the free time to make my return to Disney Springs, the first time I've been there in like 6 weeks. The day before, City Works Eatery & Pour House opened right by the NBA Experience. They have locations across the country but I did not know of them until they started building it. It has what I'll call “Disney Prices” yet the food was tasty and they have NINETY beers on tap. It's right across from the House of Blues, and I don't know what was more surprising to me: STRYPER playing that night, or there being a big crowd waiting to get in. Stryper is “the Christian metal band from the 80's” and their songs are fine examples of the genre. I did not even know they were still a thing.

Saturday, I went to Planet Smoothie to get a drink for me AND someone else... after that was a trip to the Publix grocery store. They were doing good business at the time; as I put the cart away after the bags were in the vehicle, I saw that some unintelligent person was backing up his car for no good reason and it took a prolonged horn honk for the tool to stop. That wasn't the only dumb thing he did, but I need to instead explain what happened in the store. I was in line and in front of me were several older men. One of them tried paying and as they were a member of the club that Publix offers, they also had to enter their phone number... only it didn't work. The cashier-who was maybe 18-mentioned this. This old men then asked, “Can I have your phone number?”... the silence was astoundingly uncomfortable! That issue was soon then resolved but I imagine that (especially in this day and age) she did not like hearing such a thing from a man that was part of a group of men who all looked old enough to be her father. I am not going to “cancel” those guys as “cancel culture” is not the best way to handle such things... but times are different now.

Anyhow, also during the weekend I saw parts of the XFL games; I still can't believe it came back 19 years later. I remember being at a pal's apartment during my college days at ISU, the debut game being on TV there. Soon after the league folded the first time, I got an XFL shirt from Spencer's Gifts for only a few bucks and when I've worn it to places like comic cons, it's received popular and positive buzz. Wearing that in 2020, I know it will get even more attention. I also had the Academy Awards on, although it was on mute... as I've done for years now. The results were overall better than last year and I was pleasantly surprised Parasite did so well. It was a movie seen three months ago, and it was discussed by me at the time. It does deserve all those awards, IMO.

Who knows what I'll discuss when I return on President's Day.

Coca Cola Energy, Gringos Locos, Zaghrouta & Super Bowl Olivia

The preceding week had its ups and downs; details won't be provided by me, except that nothing is wrong with me mentally or physically. I received news that at first could have been real but but at least for now, things are fine. More than once I did help someone out by going to the grocery store and getting items for them. One time I went to a Publix that opened just last year about 7 miles from me. It was nice so I should frequent that place more often. An item I picked up that beforehand was unknown to me was Coca Cola Energy; I've only had the Original so far and eventually I'll taste the former. Original is... fine.

I actually have to give a shoutout to those random Facebook ads that show random posts from random accounts. Sometimes I discover new things or hear news that way. For example, this was how I knew that Lucky's Market was going bankrupt; this makes me sad as I always enjoyed going there and Florida does not need less grocery store options. Another site which popped up does various lists, which has been the popular thing online as of late. A list contained local Florida chains and one was Gringos Locos, which I had never heard of before. As I wanted to do something out of the norm, I went to downtown Orlando and tried this establishment. It was a wise decision as I liked both the tacos and the chips & salsa I received. Eventually, one night will be spent in downtown Orlando as it's been ages since I've had one of those evenings. I am not so old that fun can't be had by me at such dens full of debauchery.

The last thing I have to discuss is Super Bowl LIV... or as I started calling it, Super Bowl Olivia. For the second year in a row I did not view the game and instead spent time at Walt Disney World. Unlike last year (where bogus calls in both conference championship games resulted in the wrong teams winning and the big game itself was apparently one of the worst in NFL history, making me glad not a second was viewed by me) I had no problem with either team in the Super Bowl, yet I couldn't be more apathetic and ambivalent about the National Football League so why waste my time with that. While I laugh that a coach twice in the past three SB snatched defeat from the jaws of victory w/ atrocious play calling in the 4th quarter, it's a nice story that both the Kansas City Chiefs won for the first time in 50 years and a great coach in Andy Reid finally winning his first Super Bowl. The halftime show, I should watch on YouTube eventually as I know it's received a mixed reception; I just know Shakira did a zaghrouta (the thing she did w/ her tongue) and I got to learn a new term. The commercials... reading a recap of them, most I will go out of my way to never see as they just sounded like atrocities and millions of dollars being flushed down the toilet.

Yet I do not want to sound miserable about Sunday, and not just because I spent it at a theme park I haven't visited in a few months; while I was at Epcot and the Magic Kingdom, I came across some miserable people! There are always gigantic grumps at WDW but they went a step above. Epcot I saw some nice paintings due to the Festival of the Arts and at the Magic Kingdom, I walked around and something new was what I saw while eating dinner at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe: the Happily Ever After show, where fireworks are set off as various images are projected on Cinderella Castle. The parks were popular yesterday, although it was that case last year. I did not even look up the score to the game until I was in the Epcot parking lot about to head home... this is as as a few times I overheard people give out the score.

Next Monday, who knows for certain how much I'll discuss or how many activities I'll be involved with.