Turns out they all hated the NHL Hitz Pro. Sad because they REALLY enjoyed last year's and they played it all the time. I guess it just was failing on too many things for it to be any fun and tons of options were just missing from this version.
Today we're celebrating our anniversary so we have been hanging out just the two of us today. It's been nice. We didn't actually do anything per se, but it didn't matter, it's just been nice to hang out. We did however save a lizard. When went out earlier and as we're driving, we notice there's a lizard clinging to the windshield wiper arm. The poor thing wasn't doing too well and was actually pretty small. So we pulled over to a parking lot that had some trees and bushes (there's no such thing as "wilderness" along the highway, so it was that or let him fly off the car to splat into whoever was behind us) and I jumped out to try to pick him up. Problem was, like I said, the poor thing was tiny - it was about half the size of normal and I didn't want to squish him. So as I'm trying to corner him to get him gently, he jumps right onto my arm. I walk over to the bushes with him riding along and then just slightly nudge him and he jumps off onto the plant. Easy as pie. So, at least now he has a chance to survive. My Love joked that a bigger lizard would probably come along and eat him, but hey, I felt better for having at least tried to save the poor thing that just had the misfortune to end up on the car and stay on long enough (as we drove 55mph) down the highway.
After that, we went to Long John Silvers (the nearest is quite a ways away) and got some of their oh-so-yummy chicken planks which are like a total treat for me. He took me to a craft store and I drooled over stuff a bit and got a couple bead items. Then, we headed over to a new Ross to look for some black shorts (I need a pair) but didn't find any (like none. No shorts at all) but I found a cute Snoopy and Woodstock baby doll tee in a bright green and my Love thought it was too cute so I got that instead.
He got me a dozen BEAUTIFUL red roses that he had out for me when I got up. He also gave me the sweetest card. And just a little while ago we had some swiss cheese fondue and we've got beef and chicken to cook when we get hungry again for the main course. We're also going to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream that we had picked up like two weeks ago at Wal-Mart for like $5 but forgot to watch.
So while not a hyper-active action day, we still had a nice day just hanging out together just the two of us. We don't do that a lot so it was a nice change. He's so cool and I just love him. And I'm so happy we got to spend the day together. *smiles*
Oh, we had fun! :) Jef, my Love and I spent yesterday at Walt Disney World. We used the last two days of our Play 4 pass and just got him a one-day ticket. We managed to really hit just about everything because the park was blissfully empty. About 1/3 of the people we encountered the last time. Almost all the rides didn't have any waits - even normally busy ones. Almost none of them had the "fast pass" turned on either because there just wasn't a need for it. Some rides we walked right in, a handful we waited about 15 minutes, but most were only about 5 minutes. It was overcast most of the day and sprinkled on-and-off but it wasn't that hot (relatively!) and it wasn't so bright and glaring. I was really mad though because like six or so rides were "closed for refurbishing." Including my favorite, Big Thunder Mountain!! And what was really annoying was they didn't bother to make notice of that on their website, so it wasn't until we were there in the park that we found this out. I'm going to write them a letter because it's just crazy to have so many things closed at once like that!
Jef really had a good time. It was his first time ever at Disney and he was like a kid in a candy store. My Love and I are big Disney geeks as it is, but it was even more fun for us because it was neat taking someone to see new things. In total, he got to do these things: Alien Encounter Haunted Mansion Pirates of the Caribbean Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin It's a Small World The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Peter Pan's Flight Snow White's Scary Adventure Tomorrowland Transit Authority Tom Sawyer Island Disney World Railroad Cinderella's Golden Carrousel Mad Tea Party (Jef only...ugh spinning things bad) Tomorrowland Arcade (yes, we spent time playing video games at Disney World! *lol*)
We wanted to do: Big Thunder Mountain (closed) The Timekeeper (closed) Swiss Family Treehouse (closed) Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress (closed) Toontown (out of time) The Hall of Presidents (out of time)
The park closed EARLY - at only 7pm. :(
We also spent quite a bit of time in various stores and just wandering around, taking pics and letting him explore the park. We ate twice and we stayed a little after closing to finish shopping as well. He got a cool Mickey as a Pirate shirt and I got a different girl's baby-doll Pirates of the Caribbean shirt that looks like an old poster they used to use that advertised the ride. It's cool. In fact, I'm wearing it today. :) Overall it was a great day.
Today, the NHL Hitz Pro hockey game came out (it's the 2004 follow-up to the 2003 NHL Hitz) and everyone's coming ove to play it. Jef's already here and we need to run out to the store to get some soda before everyone arrives so I guess I'll close. Enjoy the pics! :)
Ok, I just updated my photo gallery with a couple pictures from the last Saturday when we went to the Fine Arts Museum. There's not a lot because my camera sucks at taking photos in focus and simply won't do it without a flash (*grumbles at the limitations of point and shoot cameras*), but I managed to salvage a few. When I emptied my memory card on my camera, I remembered about them, so I wanted to get them up before I forgot again. :)
Weather for Orlando, FL Thursday, 9/25 High: 87°F (Feels Like 94°F) Isolated T-Storms Wind: From the East at 8 mph Precip: 30 % Max. Humidity: 76 % UV Index: 7 High
Yup, sounds about right. I only hope this time it doesn't pour during the middle of the day for two hours like it did last time we were there! Oy! Park flooding and dangerous lighting strikes = bad.
Well, we have an early start tomorrow, so I need to get some stuff done. Get my memory card emptied, new batteries, put my stuff together, get the sunscreen out, etc. Planning makes perfect and I'm an old hand at this point to getting ready for a day at the Magic Kingdom! :)
Ah yes.... I came across this a couple weeks ago and forgot to post it. Then I saw Orb's entry and I wanted to show my support as well.
"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us." --Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
I can't believe I almost forgot. I wear a "I read banned books" button on my purse.
You can get one of your own here for all of a buck. I get a lot of compliments on it. :) Thank goodness there are still people who not only read, but realize how valuable our literature is and how we have not only a right, but an obligation to uphold our liberties - including our freedom of speech via the written word.
So go out and read a banned or challenged book this week and embrace your rights. Here's some for starters:
The following books were the most frequently challenged in 2002:
1. Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, for its focus on wizardry and magic.
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, for being sexually explicit, using offensive language and being unsuited to age group.
3. "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier (the "Most Challenged" book of 1998), for using offensive language and being unsuited to age group.
4. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, for sexual content, racism, offensive language, violence and being unsuited to age group.
5. "Taming the Star Runner" by S.E. Hinton, for offensive language.
6. "Captain Underpants" by Dav Pilkey, for insensitivity and being unsuited to age group, as well as encouraging children to disobey authority.
7. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, for racism, insensitivity and offensive language.
8. "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson, for offensive language, sexual content and Occult/Satanism.
9. "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred D. Taylor, for insensitivity, racism and offensive language.
10. "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George, for sexual content, offensive language, violence and being unsuited to age group.
This week is a bit of a rollarcoaster. Yesterday was five months since I had to put Kush to sleep. It's so weird...sometimes it feels like it was a couple days ago and sometimes I have a hard time remembering he was in my life at all. (which is tragic because he was a major part for 13 years). With Mika now though in the house, there's still a feline around - even if she's pretty much his exact opposite - so sometimes it blurs my memories a little and I sorta forget him.
Today is Equinox - ah, finally autumn. Well, technically. It won't be for at least another month before the weather here starts to cool down. So, while it's officially fall, we will still be suffering summer through the end of October.
*edit* Oh yeah! Wednesday is the season premiere of The West Wing. That's a good thing.
Thursday we're using the last day of our Play 4 Days pass at Disney World and we're taking my friend Jef with us. He's never been at all and it's so up his alley, we're sure to have fun. What stinks though is that the park is only open until 7pm Thursday night. Bah. It's not as big a deal for us who've been there many times, but for someone's who's never been there, you really want to ensure you have a long enough day to do everything.
Thursday - Saturday is our five year anniversary. We're broke though and don't have the money to do anything, which really stinks. Five years already.... wow.
Saturday is five months that we'd have Mika. Just another weird warping of time because it feels like she's been here longer then that.
Anyway, it's a weird week. Speaking felines I need to go let her out of the bathroom and feed her. She's gotten in this really bad habit of waking me up in the mornings to feed her. Used to be, she'd jump up on me and walk all over me. So my Love started closing the bedroom door when he left in the morning. Now, she sticks her paws under the door and pulls - so it goes BANG! BANG! BANG! until she wakes me. The last two days she's done this, I've picked her up and stuck her in the bathroom (with her litterbox) until I get up. I won't have her dictating when I feed her. She'll just have to get used to it or deal with the bathroom.
Full-blown, horrible migraine last night. Went to bed like 10pm and I don't know how I managed to wait that long. My Love was nice enough to go out and get me some more Migraine Ice so I could achieve sleep. I woke up about every 2 1/2 to 3 hours over the night but still, got a good amount of sleep. Until 7am when the fucking lawn guys came. SEVEN AM IN THE MORNING AND THEY ARE MOWING, EDGING, AND BLOWING THE GRASSES!!!! Do you have any idea how loud that is? So for the better part of an hour I'm trying to keep myself busy because I can't sleep with them doing it. They normally come at 9am which is bad enough, but seven am in the morning??! I'm so fucking pissed. Especially when it's the morning after having a migraine. I'm so nervous about doing any little wrong thing that makes it come back. Getting up and forcing myself to stay awake (because laying in bed with that going on will just make me more irritated) hours before I'm ready to be awake is one of those things. So help me if I get another migraine today because of these fuckers, I'm going to go ballistic.
My migraines keep getting worse. They're coming more frequently again and despite all the things I avoid to prevent triggering them. I still don't have anything at all to take as a painkiller - nothing over the counter works anymore (after like ten years of getting them) and I don't have insurance, so I don't have any of the $20 a pill prescriptions either. The only thing I can do is use one of the migraine ice pads on my head and hope it's enough to give me a chance to fall asleep. Though they say not to do that anymore; that each time you just sleep through a migraine rather then stop it, you leave yourself more open to getting them again in the future. Something about wearing down your already very limited resistance. It's weird, people who get migraines are already hypersensitive to things - MSG, Caffine intake, light, sound, etc - and rather then being able to build up an immunity, we lose the tiny amounts of immunity we have so that the next time we encounter a trigger, we're even more sensitive to it. It's terrible. Nowadays a lot of people who frequently get migraines are on daily medications to try to prevent them from starting to avoid this terrible cycle. In fact, my friend's mom gets them and she's just been put on an anti-seizure medication. They've recently linked the brain chemistry of those who suffer from epilepsy and those who suffer from migraines. And, in small daily doses, anti-seizure medication has been shown to prevent migraines as well. It's facinating and horrifying all at the same time. And I read up on everything I can get my hands on because migraines aren't something to fool around with.
Anyway, it seems to have [FINALLY] gotten a bit more quite - they've moved to the other side of the complex (only an hour later) so I'm going to try to lay down a little more. I can only hope my head stays ok when I get up again because I can tell I'm still tired but of course, I'm always worried about it coming back.
