The 3rd Advance Screaming Post

Wednesday was the employee-only night for Halloween Horror Nights 08. It’s crazy to think that I’ve been to three of these bad boys already. This one was definitely one of the most fun. George, Bruce, Rio, Greg and I went out for the ‘Advanced Screaming’ and had a great time. Some of the houses where a little dubious, but I know it was essentially a test night for a lot of the scare-actors and a fair few of the effects where not running until the full event starts this weekend. This year they had a focus on ‘scare zones’ much more than previous iterations, and the result works really well. Instead of the occasional characters wandering around between the haunted houses, there were five or six themed areas that where flooded with people waiting to scare you. They ranged from a crashed school bus filled with evil trick-or-treaters to chainsaw wielding guys in straight jackets.

My favorite area was themed after a twisted version of the Wizard of Oz. A creepy version of all of the main characters where wandering around in the fog while a wicked witch set fire too the rooftops. However the coolest part was defiantly the flying monkeys who swung from two of the soundstages across the path. It was very cool, and decidedly eerie. There was also a warped version of Alice in Wonderland and a few other classic fairy tales gone wrong. As always Bill and Ted where back for their Halloween Adventure show, which was pretty hilarious. The McCain and Obama parodies where pretty damn funny, as where some of the others the managed to fit in. There was a little too much Hellboy for my liking, considering I never saw it (did anyone!?) but the Speed Racer spoof more than made up for it.

The Mt. Dora Post

Yesterday I headed up to Mt. Dora to check out the Art Festival they hold up there every yeah. Bruce’s parents have a house just a few blocks from the downtown area, so Greg, Kathy and I headed there to hangout with the Godziks and their pugs before checking out the festival. Mt. Dora reminds me of a combination of New England and old town Leesburg. All the stores are definitely ‘mom-and-pop’ by nature and all the restaurants are unique and independent feeling. The art festival had the majority of the downtown area blocked off, with tents lining the streets and booths on every corner. Lots of artwork was on display, ranging from paintings and sculptures, to photographs and jewelry. I was hoping to scope out a canvas for my apartment, or at least snipe some ideas for something I could do myself, but unfortunately didn’t really find anything. The trip was far from a loss though as festival food was abundant, and anywhere you can get funnel cake is ok in my book. After checking it out (and getting baked in the sun- 89’ this weekend) we headed back to the house to chill before dinner. The kids where parking cars in the yard for $5 a pop and end up making over two hundred bucks between the three of them, off of suckers who came down to see the fair. Not a bad little business really. Ended up eating dinner at a Nordic restaurant, which was cool. Northing like a cold Moosehead and ‘Viking Burger’ to cap the day off. is a small lakeside town that reminds me of a mix between

The Shoot Straight Post

Sunday, I tagged along with Bruce and Greg to Shoot Straight, a gun range north of here. I’ve been wanting to go to a do some target shooting for a while and we had long talked of heading up there, but never got around to it, so I was pleased when I got the call. Grabbed some bullets from the always charming Wal-Mart gun counter from a decidedly depressed woman and headed up the Trail to meet up with the guys. Once we where there we signed in and got the gear we needed so we’d not go deaf and have targets to shoot at. Greg and Bruce both brought their own handguns, Bruce’s; a 9mm and Greg a 40 and 45 caliber. The first ones I had a go with where Greg’s, which was probably a mistake… The kickback on even a relatively small handgun was far greater than I had anticipated. Honestly I was rather scared at the apparently lack of control I had when discharging and pulling back on the trigger. After a few rounds with both his hand-cannons I stood out for a while, not really too desperate to get back to shooting. While the idea of target practice is very appealing to me, the odd feel of danger and harm that I get when holding a gun is unsettling, least it was initially. With something that requires the utmost of control, I felt like I didn’t have much, and that didn’t sit well with me. After a breather I had a go with Bruce’s much more manageable 9mm. And while I am far from a cracks hot, I was able to hit the target constantly and keep my shoots relatively grouped (if not too low and to the left). All in all a very interesting experience and one I’m glad I got to try. If I got back I’d be include to stick to the smaller rounds simply due to my inexperience and awkwardness with Greg’s beefier guns. It was cool for the guys to invite me along, and I appreciate them letting me try out their gear and practice. Afterwards we hit up Garibaldi’s for some Mexican food which hit the spot, and called it a night.