How I Frittered Around Today

So last night, I wasn't able to log on because we had another minor thunderstorm, and East Texas Cable--true to form, as usual--crapped out all over Canton.  I called the cable company last night and this morning, only to get the same pre-recorded message about cable service (television and broadband internet) being down all over Canton and "we'll get it fixed as soon as possible" and blah blah blah.  


But even though the cable outtage lasted through this morning, the thunder and rain did not.  So Dad and I got to enjoy a bright and pleasant day when we went to the State Fair of Texas today.  


We paid through the nose for just about everything, of course.  Friggin' inflated fair/circus/carnival prices....


But at least the sights and sounds were free, the live chef shows were free, the food samples were free, the fifty-billion brochures that the legion of vendors handed out were free and the exercise and aching feet from walking a hundred miles of fairground were free, too.  


At the end of the day, we came home with a few souvenirs.  I kept the brochures and parking stub (and I might actually go see that Shen Yun performance--for $60-$200 a seat--if I can find a girlfriend by December 19th).  Dad picked up an $8 bag of salsa mix.  And I found my way back to the Down Under Enterprises store and bought myself a new hat!  


Even though the hats sold at Down Under are all Australian in style, a number of hats--including mine here--have bits of dead rattlesnake incorporated into the hats' designs, just for that extra Texan touch.  So my hat's sort of an East-meets-West amalgam with those two rattlesnake vertebrae hanging off the back and strips of belly skin with the rattles still attached, all Texan ribbons and bow on an Australian package.  Both nations (yes, remember that Texas was an independent republic for a number of years...) have a reputation for birthing hard men who kill dangerous animals with knives and whips and their bare hands, so that hat-forming union makes a degree of sense.  

Other than all the rattlesnake skin and bones, the hat's all leather with a flat brim for keeping the sun out of my eyes when I'm out throwing 50-pound bags of chicken feed and grass seed around.  It's a very good high-quality hat...and for $238.15, it had damn well better be a very good high-quality hat.


I make this hat look goooooooooooood.  

And to top the day off, our cable was working when we got back.

So how did you fritter away your day, y'all?  

I went grocery shopping.

That Shen Yun show looks really cool. Wish I could see it. Heck, I prob would have come if I lived there and you invited me

The hat's nice. A little... umm.... weird for me... but nice.

I appreciate the buy, at any rate. Sounded like you guys had a lot of fun. Good for you, you need something like that

Wraith wrote:

I went grocery shopping.

What are you cooking tonight?

Wraith wrote:

That Shen Yun show looks really cool. Wish I could see it. Heck, I prob would have come if I lived there and you invited me

Shen Yun!

Yeah, it does look pretty cool, doesn't it? I'd invite you if you lived in East Texas, too.

Wraith wrote:

The hat's nice. A little... umm.... weird for me... but nice.

Do not denounce the hat! The Gods of Australia will smite you!

Yeah, okay, the hat was actually made in the USA. But hey...Mick Dundee would strangle a croc to have a hat like this.

So what don't you like about it? Too much rattlesnake?

Wraith wrote:

I appreciate the buy, at any rate. Sounded like you guys had a lot of fun. Good for you, you need something like that

Hey, it got me out of the house for half a day. Then Dad and I got together and moved a refrigerator after I demonstrated how fat my broiler hen Fatty has gotten by picking her up, putting her on her back and sprinkling grass seed all over her belly. Three other chickens were eating grass seed right off of her and she was getting pretty annoyed, but even then she couldn't flip herself over.

I wonder if I can train a chicken to run on a treadmill.

Might be an idea.

The hat? Oh... probably the weird design. I like plain things. The diamond puts me off.

Tonight? I'm not cooking tonight. We treated ourselves and we're getting something - probably burgers - and eating it while we watch an advance screening of Resident Evil 4 in 3D.

Been looking forward to tonight for a month now. Bought my tickets back then too - discounted cos i'm a member, lol.

But i've got a whole week of goodies to look forward to lol. (I make a weekly menu plan. Helps with the shopping).

Resident Evil: Afterlife? I hope it's better than the second one was. As a once-avid player of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, I was very disappointed with how Resident Evil: Apocalypse turned out.

Yeah, I almost bought a plainer hat too. But I guess I liked the rattles too much. They shake-shake-shake when I turn my head.

I never tried a weekly meal plan; I'm more a day-by-day type of guy. It helps accommodate those random snacking moods.

And GD thinks I should grow a moustache. Not gonna happen, of course. My moustache hair is very coarse and sloppy-looking, and I look stupid, Mexican or both when I try to grow one out. I'd zap the follicles dead if I could find a good clinic around Canton to do it.

A beard would probably suit you better. Not a mustache tho... i agree with you on that one

Well... as for the movie.

Generally speaking, it was great. They did a good thing by actually making it the way James Cameron did and made the movie 3D from the beginning. They shot it with the right cameras and everything. There were definitely moments when I really did move. Backwards. And hit my head. LOL.

The movie itself was such a small plotline that at first you could be disappointed, but then you realise that if they had put more than that in... it would have been utterly dismal.

There was a little action - quite a lot, but in small bursts. There definitely wasn't enough zombie action for me though. It was all about human baddies this time. *sigh*

Almost no martial art action either - another let down.

There was KEWL music, the soundtrack is awesome (they did away with the themes in all three prior movies and made another one) and actually fit the movie. There were moments when you could tell it was definitely MADE for the movie (just like those awesome action movies in the eighties)

All in all - a very simplistic movie with good graphics, fantastic sound and a few good 'mood' bits in there. The fight with Clair and a big bad was actually pretty awesome.

The final boss fight... sucked. Unlike the games. They sucked for a different reason, lol.

Anyways.... can't see this movie working to full advantage in 2D... but then again, I only saw Avatar in 2D and I still thought it was great. People who saw the 3D said it sucked in 2D... go figure.

I liked the movie. Think it could have been more - but the movie industry is letting me down lately. They just don't make them like they used to anymore.


AND! What's with the short ATTENTION SPAN!!!

Seriously, i don't want to go spend my hard earned cash on a movie that's only an hour an a half long when I can go home and watch a series episode special for free that's two hours long. Or just an episode that's generally an hour long.


WTF!

Okay, rant over.

All in all. Good movie, i liked it.

Man...it's hard to imagine that I've had that hat for three years now. And aside from a frayed stitch and a half-broken-off rattlesnake rattle, the hat's about as good as the day I bought it. There's nothing like paying for quality.

Of course, I could have saved a few dollars if I had bought directly from Head'n Home. But that's the price you pay for your first foray into the exciting world of hats, I guess.

Has it really been three years?

.....

It would seem so. The date stamps don't lie.

And now, it has been six years since I purchased the Almighty Hat from the Texas State Fair.  The hat band finally decided to fall off some months ago, but that's okay because, coincidentally enough, I just took out a copperhead which would make a pretty snazzy replacement hat band.

But as the tale shows, I only managed to "harvest" the copperhead after he had bitten me to the tune of thousands -- possibly tens of thousands -- of dollars in medical bills.  And that would make this the most expensive hat band on the planet.  I'd better make it last.  

Why am I reviving this topic?  Because yesterday, I went to the State Fair of Texas again!

And a Cuban sandwich was devoured, and a World War I exhibit was discussed at length, and international flags were identified, and African acrobats were beheld with amusement, and stingrays were petted to my virgin wonder, and a sky tram was ridden through the heavens, and rum was imbibed with nachos and chicken-and-waffle fries.

More on that tomorrow, after I get home from the prison and figure out how to get a bunch of photos off my phone.  Stay tuned!