My apologies for not doing one of these sooner when I’ve been thinking to for awhile now. The preceding month hasn’t been full of incident… or at least moments worthy of discussion here. I did visit a Noodles & Company restaurant; there was one prior experience, albeit many years ago. There’s no good reason for not returning—the macaroni and cheese I had was as fine as I remembered it being back then. Besides eating at a Bojangles that’s been open in Clermont since last year, an A&W restaurant one day (there’s only 3 in Florida now), and a Potbelly Sandwich Works just opened in Davenport-last year I ate at the location in Orlando; in a past life I ate at one of their locations in Illinois-there isn’t much for me to discuss.
Then again, do you blame me when it’s been HOT in Florida? It’s hot even by Florida in Summer standards. In addition, late July was the 5th (!) anniversary of Mom passing away; I made it through that day alright. Tomorrow I’ll finally discuss all the movies seen theatrically since June but for now, two big deaths then the one interesting night I had… attending an Orlando City SC soccer match for the first time in ages.
I never viewed Ozzy Osbourne’s “reality” show as it was never of interest to me; however, in terms of his music (whether with Black Sabbath or solo) there was no shortage of great music from him. While struggling w/ sobriety for years, I’m glad that despite some (alleged) bad moments from him, he lived to the age of 76; that is amazing considering the amount of drugs and alcohol he consumed for years. As for Hulk Hogan… what a complicated legacy.
Terry Bollea the man did and said various controversial things that won’t be repeated here. Hogan the wrestler, though… what a performer. The OOT personality, his charisma, the way he got fans into the match as the villain beat him up… there are fond memories of him in the ring throughout my childhood. I also won’t forget my buddies back in Illinois cheering him on back in the day, or the random sports bar I went to in Bloomington during my college days viewing WrestleMania 18 where he fought against The Rock and the crowd there went wild for him as well. I never saw him in person although I did visit his restaurants in the Tampa area & his beach shops. I saw him wrestle live twice: against Ric Flair and against Sid Vicious. I even saw Suburban Commando on the big screen as a kid. Thus, Hulk Hogan the character at the very least will be missed.
Finally: last month I went to see the Orlando City SC soccer club play live for the first time since 2018; I hadn’t been in their Inter & Co stadium since late 2019 when a college football game was played there. They tied w/ an inferior team (CF Montreal) 1-1 yet the stadium is still nice & so was the atmosphere; like in European matches, there’s a supporter section bangin’ the drum all day, waving banners, & chanting. It won’t be that many years before viewing any one of their matches live.
