Starting The Month Out Amazingly

No, that isn't my cell phone, but I am sure it isn't too far off the mark. Today I went to Carrowinds, a theme park in North/South Carolina, with my family and while I was riding one of the coasters my phone fell out of my pocket and into the bubbling, boiling, water below. Well, it wasn't really bubbling or boiling... but it sounds a lot cooler that way so that's how I'm going to tell it. Anyway, I actually didn't even realize it had fallen out until the kid sitting next to me pointed it out as we were going back to the docking. The ride was called the NightHawk and it is a fairly standard coaster except for the fact that you go through the ride on your back. What hurts the most about the whole thing, however, was that I waited in line a little over an hour and a half just to ride this lackluster ride... oh, and lose my phone.

Ah well I suppose, it's just really annoying being without a phone after having one close to you for the previous seven or so years. It's amazing how much we rely on cell phones nowadays. I couldn't even check the time for the rest of the outing. Hopefully I will be able to get most of the numbers I had back, and my ring tones are saved on my computer, but all of my texts and pictures are gone for good. Sigh... I hope this isn't a precurser to worse events.

Weekend In Retrospect

This Doctor Who fan art was done by a friend of mine from deviantArt. (Btw the little thing next to the fake Doctor is a pull-string for all of those who don't get it.)

Not really too much to report on from this past weekend. My ancient Aunt came over from California to spend time with my mother so most of my "at home" time was spent tip-toeing around her and whatnot. The 4th of July was just any other day for me. I didn't spend it with anyone, unless of course you count the Silver Comet Trail as a person becuase in that case it and I would be considered the best of friends, and because my dad and brother were in Orlando at the time, we didn't even have a nice dinner. Well, unless you consider oriental style ramen a nice dinner. Mmm... oriental style ramen.

Anyways, my big plans for the weekend were supposed to take place on Saturday in the form of the Doctor Who season finale. This episode was to mark the ending of Russel T. Davies' position as head writer, and after what I saw in the finale I honestly can't wait for the switch. The episode before the finale left us with a huge cliffhanger ending that basically sent fans worldwide straight to the forums for speculation and whatnot. Well, when the episode finally aired, that cliffhanger was wrapped up in the first five minutes. Five minutes. It was like one of those "Boo! Just kidding..." kind of moments where the person says that they are kidding way too fast and it ruins the whole thing.

Continuing from that, the episode itself was written in what I can only describe as the "safest" way possible. Seriously, no risks were taken at all in this episode. Just tie a ribbon on it and ship it off to the crazy grandmother that you never really visit. Pretty much everyone in the cast, including all of the lame characters from the two spin-off series, got out "unscathed" from what was supposed to be a threat that, well, threatened the entirety of reality itself. Not a single cut or bruise was given to anyone. Moving along, everything in this episode was just too convenient to be convincing and at one point one of the characters actually looked right into the camera and smiled. I don't know if this was something that the editors missed or what, but that really only served to be the proverbial "pickle on the crap sandwich" that was this finale, as Dr. Elliot Reid so kindly puts it. We didn't even get the patented "What?!" ending that has marked the past two Tenth Doctor finales, which kind of killed me a little inside.

Anyways, I am glad Davies is gone, though I heard he would be writing the Christmas special this year (I hope it's just a rumor), because the show really needs a breath of fresh air. I mean, how many times are we going to see the Cybermen and the Daleks in this new series?! The old series has hordes of creatures that could be drawn upon and hopefully the new head writer will do just that.

Weekend In Retrospect

I'm not sure yet whether or not I will make this a regular thing, but I'll just continue with it for the time being.

Friday: A few friends and myself traveled across town to what used to be Stone Mountain Park, but had seemingly become some freakish mixture of a mall and a theme park. Seriously, what kind of park has a Starbucks? A freaking Starbucks! Who comes out to a mountain, lays down their blanket, and says, "You know what? I could totally go for a Mocha Frappuccino right about now." It's just pathetic. I remember when people just came out to throw around the old Frisbee, hike around in the woods, maybe take the lift up to the top of the mountain, and then watch the laser show when it got dark. From what I saw the new norm has become: drop the kids off at the huge play park, maybe take Grandma on a ride around the mountain in a train that now costs about $10 a person, buy two hot dogs and a single nacho (There is no way anyone can convince me that what my friend bought was a double as he only got one bag. How do they give you one fricking little bag and tell you to split it?!) for an outrageous $15 dollars, and then walk around the huge, air-conditioned, gift shop for a few hours. Oh, and then watch the laser show. I guess some things don't change. Oh wait, half the freaking show is a Chik-fil-a commercial! How long are they going to push the whole cow thing? Indiana Steer? Are you kidding?

The whole place has become completely tourised. I think they even built a Marriott Resort somewhere close to the mountain. I honestly believe when I go back in what is sure to be five to six years, they'll have carved out the inside of the mountain and turned it into an actual mall. At least then they would be completely out in the open with what their plans for the park are. After the laser show, we dropped off one of my friends back at his house and then went to Waffle House for dinner at like one a.m. After that I crashed at my friend's house as per usual during this summer break.

Saturday: Lazed around at my friend's house for most of the day, went out for lunch, and then saw Wall-E around five. After that my friend and his girlfriend went back to his house and waited while his dad cooked steak for dinner. It was a little redder than I was used to, but it was still great. Besides, my parents are insanely paranoid about such things. The slightest sign of pink means back to the grill. Anyhow, we hung out in my friend's room for the rest of the night, watched a movie, and then watched the latest episode of Dr. Who. (I can't wait for the finale this upcoming weekend!)

Sunday: Woke up early despite the fact that I had gone to bed at about four. Blogged about Wall-E and checked up on all of my usual sites since I had not been home since Friday afternoon. My friend's girlfriend came back over around eleven and laid in the bed with him because, unlike me, he likes sleeping for more than four hours. It was nice to see and all, seeing as I helped a little in getting them together in the first place, but it was kind of depressing too. The worst thing for lonely people are people who aren't, you know? Anyhow, I snatched The Sword of Shannara trilogy off of my friend's shelf when I got bored with my mindless web surfing, I must have gone to the same four or five sites about fifty times each, and began reading it. I read the Heritage series ,which comes after this trilogy, a few years ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I just never got around to reading this series because college destroys all desire for personal reading. After a while of reading I asked my friend if he could take me home as I finally felt I'd overstayed my welcome. I don't really remember anything after I got back home because it was about to rain so I couldn't go for my usual sixteen-plus mile bike ride that has become customary for slow summer Sundays.

Well that was fun. I just may continue doing this every week. At least until school starts because I am sure any weekend retrospectives written after that can be summed up as "Woke up around eleven, sat in front of the computer, went to dinner at six, played Smash Bros. Brawl until about four a.m., went to sleep, repeat." Sad but true folks. Sad but true.