Mom & Dad Go Gonzo Over PITAs and Fighting Games...or something.
Hello again, dear readers! Well, another month, another post. Glad to see Beard Boy is back out of my LJ pic *knocks on wood*.
Last month, and the first week of this one, my parents rented a house east of WDW near the Medieval Times, and since I spent most of my existing vacation last fall when Mom, Sis, and her kids came, I had to settle for spending most of my non-working time with them. Early on, I took them to the Orlando History Center to see the Jim Henson exhibit I talked about last post. We spent most of the afternoon there, seeing the exhibit and the rest of the center in general. Dad really likes museums.
Dad also really likes classic tractors and other heavy equipment. There was a big show going on down here while they were visiting. That day, we split up. Mom and two other visiting family friends who came for a few days went to the parks (the one and only time; by this point, they've seen much of it. Dad didn't go at all). That left Dad and I to go to the show. It was somewhere south of here in Polk county. It was a good thing Dad brought the GPS unit he got for Christmas, because I probably wouldn't be able to tell you how we got there, or back, if my life depended on it. What made it even more "exciting" was the fact that the unit had been set earlier by Mom to not use any freeways, so we got to drive through a maze of seemingly endless rural roads and rustic scenes! It's Dad's unit, but I wouldn't say he's the most adept at trying to figure out its settings. We drove through lots of back-country orange groves, complete with Mexicans by the van-load getting their big baskets out to harvest. We finally made it to the show, which was built very much like a state fairground, and could probably readily host one if necessary. After finding a place to park, we hopped a tractor-drawn trailer to the main gate, and from them on it was a day full of walking dusty streets and dodging the many personal scooters, ATVs, mini-tractors, and the occasional steam engine most people were using to get around. If you didn't have some kind of wheels, you didn't rank very high on the right-of-way hierarchy. It was almost like being in India or Vietnam. I also think the average age of the show-goers was over 60. Dad and I were younger than most of whatever crowds we walked past, and I could probably count on one hand the number of kids I saw. A medical helicopter even landed at one point in the wide open field nearby. It was a pretty hot day that day; Dad and I worried that most of the show-goers, the way they were gadding about, might start keeling over, and that the chopper should stick around for a few minutes just in case. Not to say it wasn't a good time. Dad liked seeing all the old tractors; they had a tractor parade that afternoon, a seemingly endless column of them driving the perimeter. The west side of the grounds was a small village of old, permanent buildings, possibly year-round residents, while the east side was dominated by RVs, people temporarily setting up camp and sometimes even selling or trading as well. Dad and I cooled off with some ice cream before making the trek around the grounds. There was also a central area where some huge steam engines were kept in buildings; a dirt strip for tractor pulling competitions; and a vacant dirt lot for demonstration of classic construction machines. Of note, there was one RV with a stockade set up around it selling the most random things past and present. What caught my eye were a surprising amount of authentic, WWII-era Nazi and SS insignia pins, and on a nearby table, a few cakes of joke soap in their original wrappers, the kind that turns your skin black when you rub it on. I won't repeat the brand names in polite company. We moved on before I ended up seeing any KKK memorabilia. Dad and I were more impressed to see this rusty skeleton of a tractor chugging along with a matching tiller behind. It was so decayed there was no telling for sure what make and model it was, at least to me, but the guy got it running and running pretty well! There was also another man who chugged back and forth in a mini steam locomotive with his co-pilot, a green parrot on his shoulder. By this time, we were pretty tired, especially Dad, and I was sneezing on the dust that covered our clothes and shoes, so we called it a day and made our way back, deciding ultimately to leave the GPS set to normal roads. We saw a wild pig and her two piglets on the way back, after earlier in the day over brunch I had told Dad I hadn't seen one live since moving to Florida. By the time we passed by again, the Mexicans had made good progress in picking the orange trees clean.
Mom & Dad talked about getting a house down here. They also made not-so-subtle suggestions that I should do the same. Even though it's a buyer's market, I don't know where to begin. I don't think I'm in good enough position to afford it at this point anyway; the last thing I need is to end up like everyone else losing their homes. And though I've been here almost 10 years now (can you believe it?), I'm still not 100% sure this is where I will sink my roots *permanently*. I'll have to be ready to go where the work is. Or I may end up here for the long haul. I really don't know. Anyway, maybe I'll mull it over more with them next time.
Not even one month after getting to meet Jane Henson, we had a visit from another Henson Co. personality, namely Dave Goelz, most famous for performing Gonzo. He visited as part of a treat for WDW's premium passholders that day, but we WDW cast members got to see the presentation first as a sort of dress rehearsal. Dave introduced several hilarious Muppet rarities and bloopers from the past, and Gonzo himself came out for a short Q&A session. After it was over, I was getting ready to leave, but I had brought my Henson family-signed book with me just in case, so I turned back to try for an autograph. I should've gone straight there. Dave was already getting mobbed, and the suits around him were already trying to shove him out the door to wherever he was supposed to go next. Naturally, the person in front of me had a mountain of books and got two pictures, and they hustled everyone else off after that. I had to settle for just saying "thank you" in passing to Dave. I'm still kicking myself for hesitating. Hopefully there'll be another shot in the future.
In recent work news, my current work weeks look like so: Sunday through Wednesday at PHD, with Thursday at FOLK, plus the DAK parade and something new (more on that in a second), leaving Friday and Saturday off. I just can't seem to shake FOLK. As I've said before, it's not that I hate it there; it's just not the same as it used to be, and I'd rather be at PHD. For what will be a full year, I'll have one day a week there, at least. I say "at least" because, four out of the last six weeks since this bid began, they've scheduled me on Saturdays at FOLK. I've been very clear in my preferencing that I'm not looking to be scheduled overtime; if I want it, I'll *ask* for it. Even if I *did* want it, I don't want FOLK, and I don't want it on Saturday! "QQ moar"? Suck it! Now, about the new thing. As if the day wasn't long enough, after we've done three or four FOLK shows, plus the 40-minute parade in the ever-growing heat as we approach summer, *now* we get to quickly throw on one more costume, going from one dork look to yet another dork look completely, get shuttled to the front of the park (if you don't miss the van), and gad about madly with Mickey and Co. for ten minutes. On the surface, it's one more fun thing for the guests to do on their way out as the park closes. Underneath, it's really just WDW going "let's wring every possible drop of work we can out of every person on this shift short of violating the labor contract while still paying them as few hours as possible". Sure, it makes good business sense. I just hope they aren't going to have the gall to ask why more people don't stick around, loyal to the company. The actual "show" itself, I can stomach, I guess. All the puppeteers usually have to do is carry the banner and stand around and look happy since most of us can't dance worth a shit. The worst part is having to pull the whole other costume for barely 10 minutes and all the extra pain-in-the-ass steps it adds to a normally tolerable day. I would actually trade shifts with people to get either the DAK parade or...we'll call this new thing PITA from now on, for Pain In The Ass...to get either the DAK parade or PITA off my schedule, even if I lost hours, just so I would only have to do one and not both. At least I didn't have to do PITA today. The DAK schedules are changing on an almost daily basis, so it'll be hard to predict which shifts have PITA and which don't.
In late-breaking video game geekery news, unexpectedly, my long awaited copy of King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match arrived today! I thought it was going to arrive via US Mail, so I was disappointed every day, including today, initially. Between trips to the laundry room, though, there was a knock on the door, and the UPS man gave me that telltale bubble-wrapped package! I could have easily missed him by mere minutes if things had gone differently; lucky, lucky me! For a classic PS2 era game, KOF98UM met all my expectations, even exceeded them. It's everything the buggy, sub-par KOF Orochi collection should have been; it's almost the last pre-99 KOF game you'll ever need, putting the most KOF characters ever in one game, all under one roof, everyone up to 98, including the awesome 96 Boss Team of Geese, Krasuer, and Mr. Big. If you like to play with your friends, and I assume most do, you're in luck, because KOF98UM has a dedicated VS mode instead of the awful "burst-in play only" feature that has plagued nearly every other SNK classic reissue. And are you a KOF music aficionado? Once again, you're in luck. Your first action when playing this game should be to go to the option screen and change the soundtrack option from Arcade to Arranged. All your favorites, the way you *like* to listen to them, are here, even some extra tracks from 96 and 95(!). I'm not sure where the latter tracks fit in the game, but I'm still happy they're there! Plenty of artwork that SNK usuallly includes on these things is icing on the cake. But there's also a challenge mode and hidden characters I'll need to unlock! I hope I can get a decent amount of work done on this before the Samurai Shodown Anthology comes to my door!
Today on YouTube's Greatest Hits, here's one of the rare films shown during last month's lecture with Jane Henson. This short shows Jim and his early Muppet crew demonstrating why he and his cohorts would be an excellent choice for advertising Wilson's Meats. In a time when the TV business, especially advertising, was a pretty serious game, Jim shows that he was truly the footstep of things to come.
OK! See you in another month.
Just kidding!...I hope.
Until next time!
Last month, and the first week of this one, my parents rented a house east of WDW near the Medieval Times, and since I spent most of my existing vacation last fall when Mom, Sis, and her kids came, I had to settle for spending most of my non-working time with them. Early on, I took them to the Orlando History Center to see the Jim Henson exhibit I talked about last post. We spent most of the afternoon there, seeing the exhibit and the rest of the center in general. Dad really likes museums.
Dad also really likes classic tractors and other heavy equipment. There was a big show going on down here while they were visiting. That day, we split up. Mom and two other visiting family friends who came for a few days went to the parks (the one and only time; by this point, they've seen much of it. Dad didn't go at all). That left Dad and I to go to the show. It was somewhere south of here in Polk county. It was a good thing Dad brought the GPS unit he got for Christmas, because I probably wouldn't be able to tell you how we got there, or back, if my life depended on it. What made it even more "exciting" was the fact that the unit had been set earlier by Mom to not use any freeways, so we got to drive through a maze of seemingly endless rural roads and rustic scenes! It's Dad's unit, but I wouldn't say he's the most adept at trying to figure out its settings. We drove through lots of back-country orange groves, complete with Mexicans by the van-load getting their big baskets out to harvest. We finally made it to the show, which was built very much like a state fairground, and could probably readily host one if necessary. After finding a place to park, we hopped a tractor-drawn trailer to the main gate, and from them on it was a day full of walking dusty streets and dodging the many personal scooters, ATVs, mini-tractors, and the occasional steam engine most people were using to get around. If you didn't have some kind of wheels, you didn't rank very high on the right-of-way hierarchy. It was almost like being in India or Vietnam. I also think the average age of the show-goers was over 60. Dad and I were younger than most of whatever crowds we walked past, and I could probably count on one hand the number of kids I saw. A medical helicopter even landed at one point in the wide open field nearby. It was a pretty hot day that day; Dad and I worried that most of the show-goers, the way they were gadding about, might start keeling over, and that the chopper should stick around for a few minutes just in case. Not to say it wasn't a good time. Dad liked seeing all the old tractors; they had a tractor parade that afternoon, a seemingly endless column of them driving the perimeter. The west side of the grounds was a small village of old, permanent buildings, possibly year-round residents, while the east side was dominated by RVs, people temporarily setting up camp and sometimes even selling or trading as well. Dad and I cooled off with some ice cream before making the trek around the grounds. There was also a central area where some huge steam engines were kept in buildings; a dirt strip for tractor pulling competitions; and a vacant dirt lot for demonstration of classic construction machines. Of note, there was one RV with a stockade set up around it selling the most random things past and present. What caught my eye were a surprising amount of authentic, WWII-era Nazi and SS insignia pins, and on a nearby table, a few cakes of joke soap in their original wrappers, the kind that turns your skin black when you rub it on. I won't repeat the brand names in polite company. We moved on before I ended up seeing any KKK memorabilia. Dad and I were more impressed to see this rusty skeleton of a tractor chugging along with a matching tiller behind. It was so decayed there was no telling for sure what make and model it was, at least to me, but the guy got it running and running pretty well! There was also another man who chugged back and forth in a mini steam locomotive with his co-pilot, a green parrot on his shoulder. By this time, we were pretty tired, especially Dad, and I was sneezing on the dust that covered our clothes and shoes, so we called it a day and made our way back, deciding ultimately to leave the GPS set to normal roads. We saw a wild pig and her two piglets on the way back, after earlier in the day over brunch I had told Dad I hadn't seen one live since moving to Florida. By the time we passed by again, the Mexicans had made good progress in picking the orange trees clean.
Mom & Dad talked about getting a house down here. They also made not-so-subtle suggestions that I should do the same. Even though it's a buyer's market, I don't know where to begin. I don't think I'm in good enough position to afford it at this point anyway; the last thing I need is to end up like everyone else losing their homes. And though I've been here almost 10 years now (can you believe it?), I'm still not 100% sure this is where I will sink my roots *permanently*. I'll have to be ready to go where the work is. Or I may end up here for the long haul. I really don't know. Anyway, maybe I'll mull it over more with them next time.
Not even one month after getting to meet Jane Henson, we had a visit from another Henson Co. personality, namely Dave Goelz, most famous for performing Gonzo. He visited as part of a treat for WDW's premium passholders that day, but we WDW cast members got to see the presentation first as a sort of dress rehearsal. Dave introduced several hilarious Muppet rarities and bloopers from the past, and Gonzo himself came out for a short Q&A session. After it was over, I was getting ready to leave, but I had brought my Henson family-signed book with me just in case, so I turned back to try for an autograph. I should've gone straight there. Dave was already getting mobbed, and the suits around him were already trying to shove him out the door to wherever he was supposed to go next. Naturally, the person in front of me had a mountain of books and got two pictures, and they hustled everyone else off after that. I had to settle for just saying "thank you" in passing to Dave. I'm still kicking myself for hesitating. Hopefully there'll be another shot in the future.
In recent work news, my current work weeks look like so: Sunday through Wednesday at PHD, with Thursday at FOLK, plus the DAK parade and something new (more on that in a second), leaving Friday and Saturday off. I just can't seem to shake FOLK. As I've said before, it's not that I hate it there; it's just not the same as it used to be, and I'd rather be at PHD. For what will be a full year, I'll have one day a week there, at least. I say "at least" because, four out of the last six weeks since this bid began, they've scheduled me on Saturdays at FOLK. I've been very clear in my preferencing that I'm not looking to be scheduled overtime; if I want it, I'll *ask* for it. Even if I *did* want it, I don't want FOLK, and I don't want it on Saturday! "QQ moar"? Suck it! Now, about the new thing. As if the day wasn't long enough, after we've done three or four FOLK shows, plus the 40-minute parade in the ever-growing heat as we approach summer, *now* we get to quickly throw on one more costume, going from one dork look to yet another dork look completely, get shuttled to the front of the park (if you don't miss the van), and gad about madly with Mickey and Co. for ten minutes. On the surface, it's one more fun thing for the guests to do on their way out as the park closes. Underneath, it's really just WDW going "let's wring every possible drop of work we can out of every person on this shift short of violating the labor contract while still paying them as few hours as possible". Sure, it makes good business sense. I just hope they aren't going to have the gall to ask why more people don't stick around, loyal to the company. The actual "show" itself, I can stomach, I guess. All the puppeteers usually have to do is carry the banner and stand around and look happy since most of us can't dance worth a shit. The worst part is having to pull the whole other costume for barely 10 minutes and all the extra pain-in-the-ass steps it adds to a normally tolerable day. I would actually trade shifts with people to get either the DAK parade or...we'll call this new thing PITA from now on, for Pain In The Ass...to get either the DAK parade or PITA off my schedule, even if I lost hours, just so I would only have to do one and not both. At least I didn't have to do PITA today. The DAK schedules are changing on an almost daily basis, so it'll be hard to predict which shifts have PITA and which don't.
In late-breaking video game geekery news, unexpectedly, my long awaited copy of King of Fighters '98: Ultimate Match arrived today! I thought it was going to arrive via US Mail, so I was disappointed every day, including today, initially. Between trips to the laundry room, though, there was a knock on the door, and the UPS man gave me that telltale bubble-wrapped package! I could have easily missed him by mere minutes if things had gone differently; lucky, lucky me! For a classic PS2 era game, KOF98UM met all my expectations, even exceeded them. It's everything the buggy, sub-par KOF Orochi collection should have been; it's almost the last pre-99 KOF game you'll ever need, putting the most KOF characters ever in one game, all under one roof, everyone up to 98, including the awesome 96 Boss Team of Geese, Krasuer, and Mr. Big. If you like to play with your friends, and I assume most do, you're in luck, because KOF98UM has a dedicated VS mode instead of the awful "burst-in play only" feature that has plagued nearly every other SNK classic reissue. And are you a KOF music aficionado? Once again, you're in luck. Your first action when playing this game should be to go to the option screen and change the soundtrack option from Arcade to Arranged. All your favorites, the way you *like* to listen to them, are here, even some extra tracks from 96 and 95(!). I'm not sure where the latter tracks fit in the game, but I'm still happy they're there! Plenty of artwork that SNK usuallly includes on these things is icing on the cake. But there's also a challenge mode and hidden characters I'll need to unlock! I hope I can get a decent amount of work done on this before the Samurai Shodown Anthology comes to my door!
Today on YouTube's Greatest Hits, here's one of the rare films shown during last month's lecture with Jane Henson. This short shows Jim and his early Muppet crew demonstrating why he and his cohorts would be an excellent choice for advertising Wilson's Meats. In a time when the TV business, especially advertising, was a pretty serious game, Jim shows that he was truly the footstep of things to come.
Click to viewOK! See you in another month.
Just kidding!...I hope.
Until next time!