The Rise of Skywalker, Cure Bowl, Long-Awaited Returns & My Whirlwind Christmas Vacation

After a week break, I have now returned and will be back on my regular schedule... or as some might say, “back on my BS”. From the 16th to the early morning of the 22nd, it was a dull stretch of time as mainly, I got prepared for my customary Christmas vacation; this time my parents & I would DRIVE to Kansas then Illinois before heading back to Florida, where I currently am now. It wasn't my decision to schedule it out that way but that is not a complaint, as I'll describe in a bit. Let me mention two things before the vacation:

Friday afternoon was me at The Rise of Skywalker. I am sure I have mentioned this before but as a kid I loved (honestly, I still love) the original movies; the prequel movies were not great although in hindsight at least they don't have some of the nonsense that I hate about Hollywood movies in general as of late, The Force Awakens and Rogue One were fun, The Last Jedi I now realize is pretty bad and Solo was amazingly meh. I was hoping Skywalker would be just OK and it was... although Star Wars should be better than just OK. When I saw it, I thought it was fine overall as while the first 90 or so minutes I had big problems with (including one of the things I hated the most about The Last Jedi, which was bad humor that made it feel like it was NOT Star Wars in any way) yet after that it mostly got serious and there were some entertaining moments. As I thought more about the movie in the hours and days having seeing it, though... the flaws became overwhelming and the whole experience did not seem as fine as they made many mistakes throughout the new trilogy, not to mention the obvious fact that before they made The Force Awakens, there was no clue as to how this new movie would end, which is just amazing to me. Eh... at least the original movies are still out there, AND I have nice copies of them before Lucas made all those awful changes to them.

Saturday I went to the soccer stadium in Orlando where their Major League Soccer team plays-finally it got a corporate name and it's Exploria Stadium-to see a college football bowl game between Georgia Southern and Liberty. The former uses an option offense, which can be fun to watch. The game started off slow but eventually became fun and Liberty won 23-16; it did not matter to me who won as I have no issue w/ either team. Oh, and as I found a cheap ticket, my seat was in the end zone... front row! That was pretty neat and I can't complain about there being occasional rain as it never became a deluge and the temperature was in the 70's. Plus, Georgia Southern is the eagles so they have a real life bird as a mascot and at one point a handler brought it right up to people in the front row so it was neat to see it so close. It is known as the Cure Bowl as the proceeds go to cancer research so I was happy to support such a cause.

Sunday the 22nd, the vacation began. We ended up in Conway, Arkansas-lunch was had at a Raising Cane's in Mississippi and even that has become a tradition... if only they had a location in Florida-and we ate at a place we only found out about recently: Colton's Steak House & Grill, a small chain that has various locations in a few states. If our orders would have been correct it'd have been better but the food itself tasted fine. As for the time spent in Kansas then Illinois, it was nice visiting both siblings; I'd rather say too little rather than too much... it was nice seeing them and all my little nephews; both sisters were hospitable hosts. For those reading this that know at least one of them, everyone in the family is doing fine. Dinner one night in Kansas was at a Kobe's and it's always nice eating at one of those restaurants; in general the weather was nice and I can't complain that it was unseasonably warm in those locations. Now, my time in Illinois was the first time I was there in a full decade; there was no time for me to sight-see or even drive around my old hometown of Belvidere. At least I saw parts of State Street and I was amused by what was different vs. what was the same as when I still lived up there. 

One day featured lunch from Portillo's (of course, it is a Portillo's so it was busy) and dinner was had at the Olympic Tavern, a place I somehow had never been to before. Good food was had at both. Who knows when in the future I'll be back in Illinois, this time on my own. People I know have families of their own so they are busy with that but I'd still like to see some sights and discover more of what has changed from “back in my day.” Anyhow, all the time on the road featured plenty of rain, and if not that, either dark roads in the night or dreary overcast skies. There is the Midwestern weather I know and “love”. I am glad to be back home as it was an exhausting trip. Now, I can't believe 2020 is right around the corner either and while nothing is on the agenda as of yet, here's to hoping that '20 overall is better than '19.

MP3 Players, FLAC Files, Black Christmas & Santa on a Flatbed Truck

Once again this was not too terribly exciting a week. I imagine people don't want to hear about me visiting a few local stores so I'll just mention that when I was at Lucky's Market one evening, I had dinner there along with purchasing several items; it was a sandwich I had. Thus, I will talk about one ordeal instead of getting into specifics on Monday through Thursday. I ended up getting a pair of new MP3 players... one for me and one for my mother. You see, she has an ancient iPhone Touch a few generations old that I am surprised still works. Unfortunately, because the songs on there were mostly burned on iTunes on an old computer she does not use anymore... when I tried to help her out by adding some Christmas CD's to the iPod Touch that were physically bought in a store that I had to rip on iTunes on a new computer... it would not accept that music because Apple in general is pretty terrible and I have thought that way of iTunes and their other products for YEARS now, despite the protests of many.

For the most part, you have to buy MP3 players online so I made that purchase; I won't get into why I need a new one. You could spend a LOT of money on one of those but instead I picked one at random which had a low price and a nice set of features. It has 32 GB of store and can accept up to 128 GB of a microSD card... it can record from other sources via an AUX chord, and can play a variety of file types, including a few lossless types. Thus, I was able to add a variety of different files I have in other places along with burning some CD's in the FLAC format... while that MP3 player will be listened via devices that are not top of the line in quality, I will still take advantage of being able to use FLAC files as they are quite superior to MP3 files. For my mom, I had to use a program to extract the iPod Touch music to the computer and then add them to her MP3 player. I have no idea how long they'll last as they are random products from a random Chinese company but there's been no problem with them.

To be specific, the reason why my mom needs to use an MP3 player is for her car because the CD player does not work properly anymore. Unfortunately, because of Apple being terrible, if you hook up the player to the car via USB, the data appears on the entertainment system and it does work... except that the old iPod songs are are all in one file while the new music just added does display properly and is properly separated. After Christmas I will have to get a USB to AUX connector as their vehicle does not have an AUX connection but what a rigmarole this entire things has been, all due to a lousy company that many people love and I am happy not to love.

Anyhow... Friday evening I went to Winter Garden Village and that experience was not out of the ordinary, except... on the road right by WGV, going the other way was a police escort, and they were accompanying... a Santa Claus in his sled which was actually on a flatbed trailer being towed by a big pickup truck!? A parade was not happening; I presume it was going from or to a parade, but Santa was waving to drivers... hopefully that distraction did not cause any accidents on this night. Sunday, the Chicago Bears losing to their rival Green Bay Packers... I only saw a few highlights of what sounded like a miserable game; rather, I was at a very busy Disney Springs to see a movie. I've viewed the original Black Christmas (from 1974) before and that is very good; even now it is intense and full of suspense. The 2006 remake I understand is bad but it has to be better than the new 2019 version. It is very “woke” and “SJW” and “feminist”, which was not the problem. The awful story, the lack of any scares and it terribly delivering its message in the most ham-fisted heavy-handed manner... that was the problem. And the explanation for what's going on is SO preposterous that ruins any point the movie tried to make. Of course, something starring young adult women and the director/writers also being young women probably will work better for that audience... then again, maybe not as most people are ripping it to shreds and I imagine even young women will think it is poorly made & the message is laid on way too thick.

Oh, and I had to view it in the Dine-In section of the AMC. That is where you order then eat food while watching the film. I had only been there once before, and dessert was the only grub I had as it was late at night. I received what I ordered in maybe 5 minutes and tasted as “good” as something which either was heated in the microwave or was under heating lamps. This was unfortunate; the Cinepolis that does this gimmick and any Studio Movie Grill offer much better food. Anyhow, I actually won't post anything new here until likely the end of the very year, because... reasons. I'll explain it when I return in about two weeks or so. I will have plenty to discuss.

The One Time I Saw Two 80's Christmas Classics Theatrically

I'll be real here: in the preceding week I only had two interesting days of note. As I know people won't care too much to hear about me visiting local stores such as Lucky's Market or Walmart... or how I did not watch the Chicago Bears game. Instead, let me discuss last Friday and last Sunday. I also won't carp about the traffic I experienced in the past week, whether it be in town or the times I went into Orlando or the suburbs.

Friday, I went to the AMC at Disney Springs, where there was no issues with power outages and I viewed... National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Of course I've seen that a few times before but the last viewing was several years in Kansas while I was on a literal Christmas vacation and it was on a cable channel so it was a TV edit where some of the best lines of dialogue were taken out. Thankfully the movie is still very good, along with being very funny and having many unforgettable moments. Also while I was at Disney Springs, I had dinner at Splitsville, a place which does not have the cheapest food but at least it is very tasty; in addition, I just about laughed when I was in the Columbia Sportswear store & saw that they had special Star Wars jackets which are standard light jackets (I know as they had those elsewhere) w/ a symbol on them, and the price was TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS. I've had a fleece jacket from them for years and it's done the job admirably, but the cost of those Star Wars jackets are preposterous.

Sunday, I returned to Pointe Orlando. First, I ate at the B.B. King Blues Club, as I had only been there twice before, and that was years ago. Their food and drink are still good, thankfully. I had to leave before their house band starting playing-they were warming up as I had my dinner-and then I went to the nearby Regal Cinemas, which was the main attraction for the day. For the second time ever, I had a 4DX experience; that is a gimmick where the seats move around & there are various effects, such as water-which can be turned off by pressing a button on the seat-wind, scents, puffs of air, etc. The first time was It and last night was... Gremlins. Yes, during the evening they showed that 1984 film and while a few times the seats slowly moved for no real reason, otherwise it went about how you'd expect... the scene where Billy's mom fights against several gremlins was of course the wildest moment for effects. The movie is still wacky (after all, the title creatures watch Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs in a cinema, and they get drunk in a bar) yet it's fun and the on-screen magic is still magical 35 years later. The sequel I also enjoy, for entirely different reasons as that is rather weird.

When I return next Monday... who knows what I'll be discussing.

The Irishman, Thanksgiving, Flash Drives, Discount Stores & Knives Out

The preceding week was more low-key than expected; that still worked out fine for me as I was being old & sensible. Monday I did make the drive and see a special movie that is now on Netflix but wasn't at the time: The Irishman. I think that some Martin Scorsese movies are great and Goodfellas is one of my favorites in general, so I figured this was worth of seeing theatrically as I had the opportunity to. Thankfully, the movie was tremendous and I loved seeing Joe Pesci on the big screen again after all this time. Even the length of 3 ½ hours wasn't a negative for me. The drive back there and back was mostly fine... I did happen to find out that later in the week, there was a fatal two car accident on a rural road I had to use on Monday; I have no idea how it occurred at that intersection as I know it's in the middle of nowhere and visibility should not have been an issue. “Typical Florida” is what I'll say.

Tuesday through Thursday the only activity of note is Thanksgiving dinner, where it was had w/ my parents and my aunt (along with her little dog) stopped by; in addition, on her iPad she had a Skype chat w/ my cousin and I saw part of the conversation. It was a nice day and a nice meal; furthermore, the Bears won their Thanksgiving Day game... albeit, what little I paid attention to it, it was bowling shoe ugly and they barely beat a Detroit Lions team which had a neophyte quarterback,  at least when it comes to the NFL. As for Black Friday, I had to find something else to do as the auto show on Thanksgiving weekend got moved to September, as I mentioned (and attended) at the time. I had ideas... but decided to be conservative and help out my parents. Their printer needed ink so I went to Staples & made that purchase; I got myself a flash drive-I have a few-for personal use. I also purchased a few items at Big Lots & stopped at a Checkers for dinner as the last time I ate there was years ago.

Saturday I did nothing but Sunday was eventful. I finally went & saw Knives Out; due to my schedule it had to be at the same AMC (in Altamonte Springs) where I was unable to see an early screening of the movie due to a power outage. Why, that couldn't happen again, right? As for the movie, a few times I wasn't sure about it and it did subvert my expectations, but unlike w/ The Last Jedi it wasn't in dumb ways that made zero logical sense and completely broke the story. It was a movie I did enjoy and it was a relief that an afternoon wasn't wasted w/ this. After the movie ended, the restroom was visited, as customary... then the power went out. No, I am not joking around. Backup power came on after a few seconds so I could use the bathroom then leave without having to use my phone for light but if this has happened during the movie... “irate” would be an understatement. This time, when I say I won't be back there for a long while, I mean it; the actual reasons for this happening two weekends in a row is irrelevant.

After that I stopped at a Dollar General for a few more items, then stopped at a Dairy Queen as visits to there are also rare... it wasn't the best DQ I've ever visited but alas... when I return next Monday, I have a few plans on my agenda. 

Chronic Tacos, IT'SUGAR, More Power Outages & Handbooks for the Recently Deceased

Monday I did not do anything of note; Tuesday was different. I finally tried out a location in Dr. Phillips I had known of for awhile now: Chronic Tacos. It's from California (naturally) and the name does make me giggle. The food did thankfully taste fine; in the same shopping plaza was a Tropical Smoothie Cafe so I moseyed on over there and I realized it must be a company policy to not have enough employees on duty at one time. Except for that, it was nice to have a drink along with a snickderdoodle cookie. On the way back I stopped at a Trader Joe's as my last visit to one was months ago-naturally, the place hadn't changed one bit. While in there I saw a young lady with a purse... I wasn't able to compliment her on it but I imagine others have marked out over her “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” purse; it's a nice Beetlejuice reference.

Thursday, me and someone else went out for dinner and as they hadn't been to the new Sunset Walk area of Kissimmee, that is where they went. They also hadn't been to a Ford's Garage before so that was the location for dinner. That went fine, along with me stopping in an IT'SUGAR store for a few minutes to look around, note that some of their items could charitably be called “expensive”, and still purchase a few fairly-priced treats. Friday... it was why I did nothing during the weekend. No, Friday was not a disaster and in fact I had a nice dinner. It was just that my plans after that were changed due to circumstances beyond my control. I'll explain that in a bit.

Friday I had dinner at a Joe's Crab Shack; besides not having eaten there in months, it's been too long since I've had any shrimp, so that is what I did. No complaints with the meal, the drink or the mostly older music I heard while I was there. I then got on I-4 (where the traffic was far less heinous than I expected for an early Friday evening) and ended up at the AMC in Altamonte Springs, the site of my disastrous Joker screening experience. Now, I think it'll be awhile before I am there again. You see, I was gonna attend an early screening of Knives Out; yes, this is despite the director bearing at least some responsibility for The Last Jedi not feeling like a Star Wars movie... or being a good movie in general. The cast being tremendous was enough for me to give it a shot; unfortunately, when I got there I discovered the screening was outright canceled, due to a power outage! Thank goodness it was at an AMC so the A-List app was used and the only issue with me not seeing it last night is that sometime in the next few weeks I'll have to see the movie when I have free time and the inkling to check it out one day. Not that I was delighted with these circumstances, or how aggravating the traffic was driving back home and how I may have encountered an impaired driver or two.

As previously referred to, the weekend I did nothing. I saw nothing of the Chicago Bears game, where they barely (or maybe it should be bearly) beat a terrible New York Giants team. Thanksgiving, the entire nation-and me at times-will have to witness Chicago play against another bad squad in the Detroit Lions; I know for a fact that will be a contest which will NOT be aesthetically pleasing by any measure. When I return next Monday I'll mention that and other activities.

Midway, Pepsi Spire, Raspberry Magic, Walmart Drama & November Rain

The first event I'll mention is that real early Tuesday morning I had to make... yet another airport run. At least it was Orlando International so the drive wasn't as long, but even at that hour the airport is chaotic and everyone drives like they are clueless, in a variety of different ways. It was also foggy for part of the drive there and back. Tuesday night I streamed the 1976 movie Midway, w/ an all-star cast. That was a first time watch and it was entertaining. That was done because Wednesday night I saw the 2019 Midway, which wasn't as good yet because 2019 has been a terrible year for movies overall and the new Midway did not make me mad, I'll be kind and say it was fine. '76 is better overall and is focused on the commanders, while '19 is more about individual soldiers & their heroics.

The rest of the week wasn't that exciting, except for what happened on Friday night... which caused me to do nothing during the weekend except for one moment I'll mention at the end. Thus, I will mention a few random things first. The movie theatre I saw Midway at required a little bit of a drive and I hadn't been there in a few years. Well, it's completely remodeled and it does look nice, which I imagine you have to do in order to compete as a small independent chain. They had something I did not even know was a thing: Pepsi Spire. It's their version of Coca-Cola Freestyle; I wish it was in more locations as its main gimmick is adding a few different flavors to their regular sodas... thus that is how I was able to have a Mist Twist with cherry and vanilla. Before then I had a gas station dinner and it went about as “well” as expected... my error. Also, a few days this past week it rained, so it was appropriate that one time I heard November rain on the radio. The Orlando radio stations... all of them are terrible overall and their variety is quite limited in scope, so I try not to listen to them. The only thing of note is when one does a Friday night 90's deal as not only is it nostalgia, but the music sounds great compared to the Autotuned tripe we get now.

Anyhow... Friday night, things did not turn out well. I went to a Walmart (I know, some will say that this was my big mistake) to pick up a few items. I attempted to pay for it with a Walmart gift card I got the previous time I was in the store. I use the card to purchase items in the store and to fill up at their gas stations, whether it be Murphy USA or their proprietary branded gas. I say attempted as the woman at the cash register was dumb and couldn't get it to work despite multiple different attempts. I realized I have seen like 10 different ways that those cards have been scanned-including me having to swipe them at the credit card machine-but this clown couldn't have called over someone with a higher IQ to try and do it right. I couldn't raise a stink about it as people were behind me in line and I couldn't say with 100% accuracy the card actually had cash on it (it's Walmart so the cashier from the previous occasion might have screwed up putting money on it) so I just paid via credit card instead. Of course, I then went to the gas pumps to fill up... the card did have 100 bucks on it and that person was a blithering idiot. Figures.

Should people be surprised that I would be happy to stay in for the weekend to avoid the traffic and running into incompetents like that? The only thing I did was on Saturday, where I got dinner from Wawa; that went fine and I saw that the Freestyle machines had a limited edition “Raspberry Magic” flavor for Coca-Cola. I couldn't tell you how it differed from regular raspberry... at least it was decent and I'll have to try the Sprite Vanilla Frost. As for the Bears game against the LA Rams... it was not watched by me and that was the right decision as they lost 17-7 and I would have received more entertainment from watching paint dry for three hours straight.

Nothing's on the agenda for the upcoming week... yet.

Parasite, Earl of Sandwich, Cajun Food & Mountain Dew Merry Mash-Up

This week wasn't too terribly exciting overall, although it did have some moments. Monday I did nothing but Tuesday, that was a positive day. I was at Disney Springs (even with the weather turning into light rain) to see a movie and to have dinner. The movie was Parasite, from South Korea and director Bong Joon-ho; hardcore movie fans will know him for such things as Snowpiercer (which rubbed me the wrong way), The Host-which was pretty cool-and some pictures which I shamefully haven't seen yet, but he's been highly regarded for years now. Many other places before the United States got it so on certain sites and forums there has been plenty of hype for it. Finally, on this day I saw Parasite, and thought of it as tremendous. It's not entirely mainstream yet that is fine by my standards. It blends together a few different genres as a rich family and poor family are followed; the latter grifts the former because they are fed up with poverty, but of course things go wrong. It may be my movie of 2019, as a matter of fact. There are various movies from South Korea I've seen over the years and many were worthwhile, w/ some of them being great; this has to be the best one I've seen.

Dinner was had at Earl of Sandwich, as I hadn't been there in many months. That went fine and I got the amusement of seeing some people not understand the different way you order food there (the meal is ordered at one spot, and no matter if you order any sides or drinks at the second spot, that is where you pay for it all) despite a huge sign hanging up above the first spot explaining the process. Believe it or not, nothing interesting happened between Tuesday and Sunday, unless people want to hear about such things as trips to Walmart (I purchased the returning Mountain Dew Merry Mash-Up, which is a nice limited edition cranberry/pomegranate drink), idiots creeping along on rural roads, or getting a meal at Zaxby's. Thus, let me skip ahead to Sunday, where the Chicago Bears were not watched as I did not expect them to defeat the Detroit Lions and well... Chicago actually won, albeit barely defeating a Lions team that at the last minute had to start a mediocre backup quarterback.

Instead, I went to several different places, including the Mall at Millenia-where among other things, I saw a feral cat roaming the crowded parking lot-and Rocket Fizz in Winter Park, where I picked up both food & drink. In between that was a stop at a place new to me: Tibby's New Orleans Kitchen. A few days previous I chatted with someone I know from Louisiana & the conversation turned to food. It made me realize that Cajun food isn't in my wheelhouse so I should try one of those places. The Tibby's in Winter Park is not in the largest space yet while busy was not overly crowded and the theme was executed well, whether it was all the murals or the New Orleans soundtrack. I had the Shrimp Creole; even with me wanting a little more shrimp, I cannot grouse about the meal overall... or the giant goblet of Abita Beer I had. It is always nice for me to try out new experiences & discuss them here.

There may be no new experiences in the upcoming week... but I should have a little more to talk about.