Spangles, Reebok, Taco Bell Cantina & Turning 41

Thankfully I now will have been caught up with everything important that's either happened in the past few months & I've neglected to mention before or the few things I did in the past week, including my 41^st birthday on the 22^nd. What has happened in the world since then hasn't been great but I don't want to worry about such things.

Instead, I will first mention two details concerning my trip to Kansas, which somehow was two months ago already. One early afternoon I had lunch at a place I've known of since '09 yet never had the chance to eat at beforehand. Spangles is a Kansas chain that's comparable in Steak 'n Shake in terms of style but they lean even harder into the 50's nostalgia. They had good food so I was happy to finally give them a shot. While I was in Kansas it was while wearing new Reebok shoes. I needed something sturdy for winter out there so via one of the outlet malls in Orlando for only 30 bucks, those were purchased. I'm unsure what that says about my fashion sense... I'm also unsure what people say about my hair but recently I had my hair cut—yes it was much-needed.

Earlier in the month, one weeknight I was in downtown Orlando. No, it wasn't like my other times in the area way back when, as fun as those nights were. I walked around to see what was the same & what has changed, then I was going to eat at a specific spot... however, being in there a few minutes and not receiving any sort of service made my say “the hell with them” and it's only me being nice that is why I won't specifically mention which place it was. I needed food NOW so instead of spending time trying to find something more worthwhile, I went with what was close by and that was Taco Bell Cantina. Those unfamiliar, it's supposed to be a more upscale version of the chain. Of course, it is still TACO BELL FOOD meaning that it's not high in quality or taste; it's not like they offer better product just because the place looked fancier and was downtown.

A family friend was down here for a week and a half; that was why recently I was at restaurants like the Ramshackle Cafe or Gator Joe's. Well, in the past week I returned to two places w/ this friend and dad: the day of my birthday we were at 145 Degree Seafood Boil, a tasty local establishment in town I've mentioned a few times before. Afterwards we had dessert at Bruster's Real Ice Cream as it was within walking distance. The next night was the Saltgrass Steak House on I-Drive. We thankfully all enjoyed our meals and it was nice for them to see the Orlando Eye Ferris wheel along with the Orlando StarFlyer. No I've never been on the StarFlyer myself... it's a swing ride where you go around in a circle... at almost 450 feet in the air! On my own I had to be in Leesburg for something; afterwards I drove a little north to Lady Lake for dinner and at at a Huey Magoo's; there's another local chain mentioned by me a few times before. They have rather tasty chicken so there's another recommendation.

It won't be many weeks until I return. While nothing is planned for March quite yet, I'll try to be a little more exciting than I have been in recent months.

Ramshackle Cafe, Mount Dora, Winter Olympics & Clermont Brewing Company

To catch up on the other things I've done this year so far:

I've been doing fine overall even though at the moment I still feel a little melancholy. Earlier in the month there were two different people connected to people I know (only one of which I had chatted with personally before) who unexpectedly passed away. Both were a few years younger than me so there are quite a few people I feel badly for. Meanwhile, last week I saw someone driving an Audi R8 Spyder and besides admiring that supercar because it's stunning to look at, it was a vehicle that Mom loved so I wish I could tell her I saw one... also, what would she have thought of the Winter Olympics, and specifically the fiasco that was the women's figure skating competition-what happened there was just deplorable. Other than that they were enjoyable to watch, especially events like luge and bobsled.

On a happier note, I did support a local business and early in January went to Clermont Brewing Company for dinner for the first time. They have fine pizza in a nice rustic building. There have been some eateries I've returned to for the first time in awhile (like a Hooters on I-Drive, Everglazed Donuts at Disney Springs or Shake Shack) but the only other new one was just a few days ago, when in Leesburg I finally ate at Ramshackle Cafe. Someone I know loves eating there and I've driven past the place literally a few dozen times on Highway 27 yet I never stopped to try their food. It was good so one day I'll return there on my own. I ate there with two people I know and before that went to Mount Dora, a town I've never actually spent any time in before. That's something I regret so later in the year I need to wander around on my own. While in Mount Dora we walked around Palm Island Park, a lovely nature preserve where many critters can be seen w/ various species of birds & alligators being the highlight.

Other than that, not too many other highlights. Sure, an annual pass was renewed at Walt Disney World but nothing new was at the Magic Kingdom, although it WAS nice to experience some attractions for the first time in years, like the Hall of Presidents or Mickey's Philharmagic. Early in January was the Mecum Auto Auction in Kissimmee but again nothing new was there that was worth discussing. Thus, as I am posting this later than I wanted to (because reasons) I'll instead note that I'll return a week from today and note that besides talking about my 41^st birthday-which I can't believe is only two days away-I'll mention some things from December of last year that I neglected to mention beforehand.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Nightmare Alley, Scream, Death on the Nile, Blacklight & Licorice Pizza

Once again I waited too long to do another one of these so once again it will be a two-parter, the second part to be posted tomorrow. So far in 2022, there have been ups and downs, but overall I've been fine. Also, somehow I'll turn 41 (!) on Tuesday. For today, I'll mention the theatrical movies I've seen; this will be shorter than what I post tomorrow.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife I saw basically because someone late last year asked me about it... this is what I did so I could say on Facebook that the movie was fine. It goes in hard on the nostalgia for the first film so it doesn't exactly feel fresh yet overall it's still good as it was charming enough & has enough heart for me. A few days ago I revisited Ghostbusters II for the first time in literally decades because director Ivan Reitman passed away. That was also fine.

Nightmare Alley was something I enjoyed; in fact, I liked it as much as I did the original 1947 film noir. Both are based on an old book I've never read but the new version of course has stronger violence and more time spent at the carnival, which was fascinating to me as the old carnival world was fascinating.

Scream was good-while not really necessary at least it was the best in the franchise since the second one and wasn't quite so ham-fisted like the last one was. At this screening was a vocal person-you know, the type to yell out, “No, don't do it!” during certain scenes. That was actually fine with me to have such reactions when watching a slasher movie.

Blacklight was not too good. Most of these Liam Neeson Old Man Action movies are fine-sure, they're generic but they're fine. Blacklight wasn't that; it was just lousy and totally forgettable instead.

Death on the Nile was another movie I'll say was fine; the same goes for Murder on the Orient Express. I saw Murder theatrically so mainly for that reason I figured to do the same with its long-delayed sequel which was shelved for so long that several people in the cast got in real life trouble for their behavior;what Armie Hammer is accused of, yikes.

Licorice Pizza wasn't my favorite Paul Thomas Anderson movie (it's no There Will Be Blood or Boogie Nights) but it was still very good. For those that were baffled w/ the title like I was, it used to be a chain of record stores in Southern California-you see, records have the taste of black licorice (hopefully they taste better...) and are pizza pie shaped, so there you go. Beforehand, I was surprised also at the age difference between the two leads; except for the ending shot I can't complain about that relationship. It was a movie in the early 70's where they engage in various adventures; it was fun and of course the soundtrack was great.

I'll be back tomorrow with the other highlights of 2022 so far.