Tales of Lucky's Market & Not Watching Substandard Football

This for sure won't be as exciting as the last few posts I have made; I was OK with having a low-key week. Monday through Wednesday was quite dull, unless you want me to go at length about getting a chocolate shake from the local Culver's. I did feel bad when I heard about what Hurricane Maria did to Puerto Rico; those poor people in the Caribbean had to deal with two giant storms almost back to back. Thursday was more interesting; I went to a few stores. My time in a random Big Lots and a Walmart went as expected, but I went to a store for the first time. It was a Lucky's Market, which is best described as a competitor to World Market... a lot of niche things, organic items, etc. As typical I got various food & drink items, including alcohol. Things were simplified for me when I saw they also had a cafe and a deli, so I was able to have a turkey sandwich with a beverage and not have to worry about where I was gonna go for dinner as I made my way home. A LM is going to open up a few miles away from me... in at least a year's time. The place I was at was in the eastern part of Orlando, near the UCF campus, so I will only be there once in a long while, unfortunately.

Friday and Saturday I did nothing; Sunday had something to talk about. That Bears game... I did not even go out to see it. No, it has nothing to do with the now white-hot controversy revolving around the NFL, the national anthem, kneeling, and sometimes not even coming out of the locker room for the anthem. I won't give my opinion on that topic as I know only trouble can come from me making a comment. I will say that if people want to boycott the NFL, it should be due to the game not being as fun to watch anymore, which is mainly due to the rule changes they've made in the 21st century; there's a long topic that I may talk about another time. It's a big part why I am meh about the National Football League. 

Anyhow, the Bears played against the Pittsburgh Steelers and I just presumed Pittsburgh would win because they were the better team. Well... Chicago got lucky and they won in overtime. Because of one play at the end of the first half, I am glad I did not watch the game in full. Pittsburgh attempted to kick a field goal; Chicago blocked it and a player tried running it the other way to the end zone, as that would have resulted in 7 points for the Bears. Well, this numnuts slowed down BEFORE the end zone so the ball was knocked out of his hands, and no 7 points. Chicago deserved to lose for a play that will go down in legend for being so bad.

I did do something in the evening, though. I returned to Disney Springs. I walked around and went in a few stores. I also ate at an old favorite, Splitsville. As I've said plenty of times before, I really enjoy their food. I saw parts of a few football games as I had dinner.

I'll end things here; I could remark how Florida traffic is as bad as it's ever been but I don't want to end things on a negative. Thus, I'll say that when I return next Monday, I should have more events to discuss.

It, Dartmouth, Irma Aftermath & Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship

Here's a recap of the past week. I did nothing on 9/11, which seems like the best thing to do. I'll take this time to mention that once I got out of the house and drove around after Irma, I saw all the damage that was done. Trees were knocked down, stop signs were bent at a 45 degree angle, debris was all over the road... I realized how fortunate it was that there was only one minor thing that happened to where I live. People I know in Florida, it took a few days for them to even get their power back; yes, it was that bad down here. Heck, when I went out on Saturday-more on that later-I saw a bunch of power trucks out in the field; yes, there were people who haven't had power for almost a week; I feel bad for them. I won't go into details but I do have nice neighbors and that is always a good thing.

Tuesday, I returned to Walt Disney World, as I needed to get out of the house and do something. I ended up at the International Food & Wine Festival; Disney started that early this year as they aren't doing so well in terms of making a profit. I had some random food & drink (all tasty) and as it was not busy there, I also went on a few rides. An estimated 6 million Floridians fled the state before Irma hit, and it took time for them to return home. The act who played a short half hour concert there a few times during this day... Starship, or as they are known now, “Starship Featuring Micky Thomas.” There's a long and sordid history, explaining the differences between Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship; to be brief, what I saw was the lead singer of Starship with random musicians who weren't in the band back when they were popular in the 80's. I did not hear their entire act; I imagine they played a Jefferson Starship song or two also, but what I listened to was Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, Somebody to Love, and much to my delight, the hilariously cheesy We Built This City.

Wednesday, I went to a place I hadn't gone to in a few years (because of reasons) a drive-in. Yes, some of those are still around. I saw It then Annabelle: Creation. It was very good; the original 1990 miniseries is good and Tim Curry was great; yet, it definitely had its cheesy moments. This new movie, I approve of what was done. Creation was fine; that was definitely better than the first Annabelle. Plenty of people were there; I imagine many did not have power so itwas something to do. Thursday I did nothing but Friday, I went with someone to the local Chili's; that went as expected.

Saturday, I went to a college football game. It won't be my only live game this year, although I'll decide later what the other ones will be. Driving there was when I saw all those people working for various electrical companies trying to restore power. I was also held up for a few minutes because there was a particularly bad multi-car wreck where one of the vehicles was absolutely destroyed... I hope the worst did not happen there. I drove to DeLand to watch Stetson play against Dartmouth; yes, an Ivy League football team, a pretty rare sight down here. I don't want to be too harsh on Stetson, as it took them longer than expected to get back home from their last game due to Irma, their campus didn't have power last week, and one of their players passed away at a practice a few weeks ago.

Yet, I still have to say that the Stetson Hatters are not a good team. The first part of the game was “bowling shoe ugly”, to borrow a phrase. Finally, points were scored... most of them by Dartmouth. They won 38-7. As I expected the game to not be that competitive, the result was not a surprise to me. That said, I don't regret going as once the sun was covered by clouds then it later set, the weather was nice and there was little trouble with the typical annoying sports fan. Sunday, I realized what a great decision I made in NOT driving to Tampa to attend the Tampa Bay Bucs game where they hosted the Chicago Bears. Yes, it happened again this year after they played last November, a game I did attend and the Bears were blown out. I did not expect this contest to be any different and guess what, I was right. Chicago lost 29-7 and looked pretty pitiful. Seeing the college game live was a better choice, and definitely the cheaper one too. Of course, as a pro wrestling fan I was not happy with the news that Bobby “The Brain” Heenan passed away, but he was in pretty bad health for awhile there so it was not a surprise.

When I return a week from today... nothing is on the agenda, yet.

The One Time I Survived Another Hurricane

I'll start this off right away by talking about Hurricane Irma and how things were where I live. That was the main thing on my mind the past few days and I was hoping for the best there. Sunday, while it was windy and rainy up to 6 PM, things were fine. I was able to see the Chicago Bears play against the Atlanta Falcons as the game was on locally. Atlanta should have won the Super Bowl in February so I did not expect the Bears to win. I figured it was one of two things based on the last season or two: Chicago would have been blown out or it would be surprisingly close and they would be inept at the end and lose it; the second thing happened and they suddenly were bumbling buffoons and Atlanta were lucky to escape with a win.

As for the storm, I was worried about the people I knew in Tampa as that was where the storm was predicted to go for much of the weekend. When Irma suddenly went north and was going to come much closer to me, that was a cause for concern. Yet, I once again got lucky. I am not bragging, as people I know had it worse than me. But there was minimal damage to where I live and that was a relief; other places weren't so lucky. Streets in Central Florida flooded, transformers blew up, trees were uprooted... there was even a sinkhole. Both in appearances and how it sounded, Irma was more than a little scary. I am glad it's all over with. Amazingly, the only time the power went out was around 8:30 PM, and that was only for like 5 minutes. Again, I am lucky.

Back to speaking chronologically, Monday the 4th was Labor Day and I did nothing of note. Tuesday was more interesting. I went to a location for the first time. I ended up in the giant retirement community known as The Villages. I went to a movie theatre; as more than 50,000 people live in The Villages alone, no surprise there are three different theatres, and all are different as The Villages have 3 different shopping areas that have themes. I was in Brownwood Paddock Square, which has a “early 19th century Florida ranch” motif. I went to the Barnstorm Theater which yes, had a barn theme both with the front facade and the inside itself. Being in a lobby with various farm/ranch equipment was definitely a unique experience. I am glad the auditoriums were fine too.

What I saw was Good Time, an independent film definitely for “the youth”. No shock that I was the only one there. Robert Pattison plays a scumbag in New York City who has to help get his mentally handicapped brother out of jail and has a real long night. The film was well-done so I was glad to see it on the big screen; as there is a retrowave 80's-sounding synthesizer score, it was nice to hear it in a big way too. On the way home, I stopped at the local Walmart, to put money on my Walmart gift card, which I also use for the Murphy USA gas station adjacent to Walmart. Already, the place was swamped with people, and there was a huge line just for two packages of bottled water per cart. I was surprised at how busy it was. In hindsight, I am glad those people took the threat of Irma seriously and got ready for it early and picked up provisions (I had plenty of bottled water already so I did not need any more) and filling my gas tank was a good idea too; I had only a few gallons left anyhow; by Thursday night, many stations in the area completely ran out of gasoline.

The rest of the time, it was me waiting for Irma to get here; I just wanted it to be over with. Wednesday I did nothing but Thursday I went to Winter Garden Village for a bit and Friday I got food from Arby's. That was it for highlights. When I return a week from today... at least things won't be as chaotic.

Houston Astros, Westshore Pizza, BoxLunch, & Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

Here are my activities since Monday the 28th. On that day, I did nothing until the evening, when I had to make another airport run. Even though most of that journey was in rainy weather, I did not mind. On the way there I stopped at a place I hadn't been to in months... the Friendly Confines in Winter Park. I had a beverage there and things went fine. Tuesday, I returned to the dentist; it was a simple teeth-cleaning so nothing to report there. Wednesday, that was definitely more interesting. I did not say it the last time, but I always did feel bad for what's going on in Texas. I mean, the next time I write, I hope I don't have to talk about how Hurricane Irma has done a number on Florida. Because of drama reasons, instead of the Houston Astros vs. Texas Rangers 3 game series moving from Houston to Arlington, the series instead was played at Tropicana Field, where the Tampa Bay Rays play. Houston wanted to switch this series and a later series; Texas said no so that's how those games ended up here. The Rangers had a reason for doing so but talk about a tone-deaf move and a PR nightmare as they still look like uncaring A-holes while that part of Texas just experienced a catastrophe.

Anyhow, Wednesday I did go to St. Petersburg to see the Houston vs. Texas game. The drive there and back... the traffic was even more brutal than usual, but let me try to be positive here, even when it comes to me almost running out of gas. I was at the mall in Brandon for a bit and I went into a new national chain store known as BoxLunch. I can't explain the name but it's run by the Hot Topic people so yes, it's geeky pop culture, just without the dark goth stuff. After I left there, I went to a local restaurant chain for the first time. I do not know how I came across Westshore Pizza, but the location I went to (in South Tampa) was a nice hole in the wall kind of place. They sell a lot more than just pizza; I decided on boneless wings and garlic knots. They were both tasty.

As for the game itself, Houston lost 8-1. It is easy to understand why those players had much more important things to be concerned about than them playing well in this contest. As all the money from the paying customers went to relief efforts in Texas, I was happy to attend and see some action. I was also happy that unlike in May, I did not sit by the most nauseating drunken ogres. There was general admission seating so you sat wherever you found an open seat in the lower level; I was behind home plate about halfway up so I can't complain.

Thursday I did nothing but Friday was definitely different from the norm. First, I went with both parents to a restaurant about an hour's drive north of us (the brutal traffic played a part in how long it took) in Weirsdale known as Eaton's Beach Sandbar & Grill. It was another hole in the wall kind of place, and they did have tasty food. A few hours later-in the midst of stormy rainy weather-I went into Altamonte Springs to see a movie at that AMC's Dolby Cinema, which I have praised before for being great. As nothing new had a wide release this weekend, it allowed for the 40th anniversary of Close Encounters of the Third Kind not only to be on regular theatre screens, but also Premium Large Format screens like Dolby Cinema, Cinemark XD, Regal's RPX, and the like. I've seen plenty of Spielberg movies before and I really like or love many of them, and yet this was something I had never seen before, despite seeing plenty of Spielberg as a kid. I heard some things which prevented me from seeing it until just now. 

Well, the print looked real nice; there's plenty of film grain, but it was supposed to as that was how it was back then. There were some moments, and parts of the ending were great in scope so I am glad I saw it on a huge screen, but overall I wasn't a fan of the movie. I know, most will vehemently disagree but it left me with a negative opinion overall. I was fine with the Francois Truffaut/Bob Balaban scenes, and the Melinda Dillon/toddler son stuff was OK with me too. I felt different when it came to seeing Richard Dreyfuss and his family. He was not very likable in the first scene, even before he sees the UFO; what a goofus that character was to begin with. After he becomes obsessed, it was not fun watching him and his annoying family. I wish I know why this was so popular back then and even now has many fans, as I'll never comprehend it.

My weekend was not too excited, but yesterday I did go to a part of department stores in town. At JC Penney I got a pair of shorts and at Belk I got another pair of shorts; I was able to throw away one pair that had become pretty ratty from years of near-constant use. When I return a week from today, hopefully I won't have to spend a lot of time talking about Irma, but who knows for certain.

Solar Eclipses, Wind River, Terminator 2: 3D, Bulk Nation & Cribbage

Here is what I've done since last Monday; on that Monday the 21^st, it was the much-ballyhooed solar eclipse and it would have been interesting to have seen the partial eclipse where I was... except that it was raining at the time. Eh, oh well; I did see total eclipses on TV so it's no biggie. I went out and ended up in Lake Mary. First, I went to Liam Fitzpatrick's Irish Restaurant, which is also a pub; I had my typical meal there and it was tasty. After that I walked to the nearby AmStar Cinemas 12; I only go there once in a blue moon as it's not close by me and getting there requires being on the infamous Interstate 4. They now have those fancy leather recliners retrofitted in, as more and more places are doing nowadays. It's fine but there are fine places closer by me. Oh, and I saw Wind River. As it was written and directed by the dude who wrote Sicario and Hell or High Water (both movies worth seeing) I was hoping I'd dig the film, and I did. If you have seen the two movies I just mentioned and enjoyed them, you will likely enjoy this too.

Tuesday and Wednesday I stayed in and chilled. As it unexpectedly was pouring rain late Wednesday afternoon into the early evening, that turned out to be a good decision on my part. Thursday, I ended up at Disney Springs again. I wasn't expecting to return so soon but it fit my schedule the best and it not being far away was a positive too. First, I returned to D-Luxe Burger for dinner; that went fine. After walking around for a bit, I went to the AMC Theatres; this is the only chain this upcoming week that you can see Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D. Of course I've watched the movie plenty of times in my life and maybe in 2008 or 2009 I got to see it on the big screen, in a beat-up legit film print. It was great watching it that way... a fight almost breaking out because one guy thought he HAD to say various lines of the film along with the character and some people stated how mad this made them... not so great although definitely memorable. Thankfully the audience experience was better this time and there were no issues. A decent amount of people showed up too, which was good. While the film did not need to be in 3D, at least it still looked tremendous and the movie is still incredible. For the record, it was the original theatrical cut that was shown, not the longer version that is also included on all the disk releases of the movie.

Friday, it was another rainy day, so I was happy to stay in. Saturday... no I did not watch “that one boxing fight”; I don't like the sport to begin with and when it's a farcical matchup between an MMA fighter with a tiresome persona and a woman-beating pile of feces... I have no idea why anyone would even be interested in such mismatch or think that the woman-beater wouldn't win in an incredibly boring fashion... or there being a typical clownshow result you only get in boxing. I thought all that beforehand so with how the fight turned out, “yawn” is my reaction. Not seeing a second of it was fine by me. For all I know, the bout was not “on the up and up” anyhow. I did other things instead...

Oh, onto my weekend in particular. Saturday I did go to a store for the first time: Bulk Nation. That central Florida chain opened in town recently. While some items are packaged traditionally, the gimmick is that the store buys many different things in bulk and you put however much you want into a plastic bag... and the cost is based on weight. I got a few items and it was an interesting place. Sunday was dull so let me state something that may be surprising: recently I decided to try out the card game known as cribbage. It may make me sound like “old lady” but at least it's not bridge... I've known of it for years and on a lark I gave it a shot. It's actually interesting and I don't mind playing it once in awhile; cribbage is easy to figure out and I use one of a few apps out there to play it on my phone.

There are other things I could say about the weekend, but I'll bite my tongue. At least Saturday and Sunday still turned out fine for me. When I return on Labor Day, I don't know what I'll be talking about... at least not yet.

The One Time I Had A Day I Don't Even Want To Talk About

Yeah, Saturday the 19th was not a good day for me. I don't even want to go into details. Don't worry, nothing major happened; as typical, it was several little things rolled into a giant ball of... well, feces. It did in fact involve me driving somewhere, and the resultant traffic. The only thing I'll mention about Saturday was me buying some minor items from two stores. I was happy to say at home Saturday night and watch Live PD, and I did nothing on Sunday.

Monday the 14th was the definition of "boring", but Tuesday I returned to Disney Springs. It was the same old same old there. At least I got some exercise from walking around and for only the second time ever, I got food from the poutine stand they have. As before I had the Italian version as the other versions just aren't for my tastes. Wednesday, I went with someone to the Sam's Club in the western part of Orlando. I hadn't been to a Sam's in months. Several items were purchased and that experience was the same as usual. On the way back, that was different. In the past we used to eat at a nearby Logan's Roadhouse. However, that chain isn't doing so well so that location (along with plenty of others across the country) closed down. I was looking at Google Maps to see what was now in the area. I spotted a local restaurant known as Bates New England Seafood & Steakhouse, which is right by the West Oaks Mall. I hadn't been to that mall in years as it practically became a dead mall, although I understand they are not quite on dire straights anymore so in the future I need to return there.

Bates has only been open for like 6 months and I am already not sure how much longer they'll last. For whatever reasons, plenty of businesses in the area don't do well, and usually leave. When me and the other person were there, it was not busy at all; even worse, on the front door there was a sign noting that (to paraphrase), because business was so bad during the lunch hours, they will now not be open for lunch for four days out of the week. A shame, as they have a decent variety of food, and it tasted fine. Thursday, I spent some time in Orlando then returned to the Altamonte area. I first walked around the Altamonte Mall then I got food from a Wingstop. I only go there once in a blue moon and it was time for me to return. Their food, also fine.

As I stayed in on Friday, I'll close this out by saying I hope the upcoming week is better for me.

The Lion King, Ellen's Energy Adventure & Psychedelic Tri-Foam

I had some interesting moments in the past week. Monday the 7th, in the early evening I returned to a place I hadn't been to in awhile, Winter Garden Village. I got a random item from Best Buy then as I had time to kill I went to the Old Navy next door. As they had a surplus of a green and blue plaid shirt, I decided to do them a solid by purchasing the shirt; I am that kind of guy. Finally, as somehow the back of my ride was covered with spots of mud, it was time to get some gas then use that gas station's car wash. As I was going somewhere relatively far the next day, it was a good idea to do this. That Speedway gas station car wash used a clear coat and psychedelic tri foam; when it rained the next day on my way to Tampa and back, I was able to see fine even when it rained. I am sure I will use that particular car wash again in the future.

I was in Tampa because I wanted to do something different, and I saw a pair of movies at AMC Veterans 24, where I hadn't been before. Before that I spent time at the Citrus Park Mall, where I had been at only one time before. It's a nice-enough place. I ate dinner at a Grimaldi's Pizza, which is thin-crust pizza. It tasted fine. I killed time at a Cold Stone Creamery before making it to Veterans. First, I saw The Lion King; yes. Some AMC locations will play older Disney animated movies (mainly from the 21st century) the rest of the year. The Lion King was something I saw on the big screen way back when it came out in the summer of 1994. I still think it's a great film, thankfully. After that, I watched a new Korean movie known as The Battleship Island. It's not a must-see like some movies from the country in the past two decades are (examples include I Saw The Devil, The Good The Bad The Weird and Train to Busan) yet I still enjoyed it for what it was... an embellished story based on the real life occupation of Korea by Japan during the last days of World War II. It thankfully was not a brutal watch like some Korean films are, although there are still gruesome moments and there is both violence & carnage. The small crowd was mostly Korean (naturally) and some of them were emotional during the final 10 minutes. Hopefully in the future I can see films like that more often theatrically. 

Wednesday, I went with someone to a restaurant we hadn't been to in awhile: Cracker Barrel. Our food was tasty. Thursday, I went to Walt Disney World (Epcot in particular) because I knew it was less busy than the other parks. I had to renew my annual pass. That went fine, and unlike usual, I only stayed in the front part of the park as I went on a few rides, including the about to be closed Ellen's Energy Adventure at the Universe of Energy. Way back when I was a kid that ride used to be a charmingly quaint thing involving an info dump about energy along with a dark ride aspect where you are back in the time of dinosaurs. They managed to keep that with a new ride in '96 involving Ellen DeGeneres having a dream where she's on Jeopardy and it's all about energy and she's against her college roommate, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, and Bill Nye the Science Guy helps her out. The whole thing is silly but at least it is educational and you get to sit for 45 minutes through the whole thing, which is nice in the summer. I hadn't been on it in at least a decade, and I have no idea how popular it has been in recent years. It will be replaced by a Guardians of the Galaxy ride. I'll miss the “good old days” when Epcot was high on the nerd scale with their Future World attractions but I realize that doesn't sell many tickets anymore.

Friday and Sunday I did nothing but Saturday I went to the local Publix to get their famed sandwiches for me and someone I know. I had no problem with the sandwiches but even on what was like a 5 mile round trip at most, there was problems with traffic and no shortage of clueless buffoons, people who I will presume possess low IQ's. It's a constant problem and Saturday wasn't the only time I had that issue by any means. Hopefully that will not be as bad in the upcoming week, where not a lot is planned... yet.