To The Disco Room!

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Yeah yeah, I don't blog anymore. Whatever. (Actually, this post is sort of proof that I do--just at a much slower pace.)

Anyway, Misty wanted a disco CD for the car--and I've toyed with the idea in the past, myself. I could never find any compilations that seemed even close to what I wanted, though. And doing it myself seemed like too much work. (Which, in fact, turned out to be correct.)

Nevertheless, I now present you with the perfect disco CD. (And, when I say "disco," I mean classic 70's disco cheese, no crossover new wave 'heart of glass' stuff here.)


Disco Inferno - The Trammps
Brick House - The Commodores

Dancing Queen - ABBA

Stayin’ Alive - The Bee Gees

Funky Town - Lipps Inc.

Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas

Ladies Night - Kool & The Gang

That’s The Way I Like It - KC & The Sunshine Band

Boogie Wonderland - Earth, Wind & Fire

Le Freak - Chic

Turn The Beat Around - Vicki Sue Robinson

Car Wash - Rose Royce

Shake Your Groove Thing - Peaches & Herb

We Are Family - Sister Sledge

Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry

Upside Down - Diana Ross

Y.M.C.A. - The Village People

You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate

Don’t Leave Me This Way - Thelma Houston

I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

Pick Up The Pieces - Average White Band

Last Dance - Donna Summer


There are 22 songs, because that's how many fit on a 80-minute CD. But feel free to post your, "What, no ______ by _______?" comments here.

(And yes, Michele, I know I'm gay. Thanks.)

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Permanent Tourist

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Now that the job search is over, I've been able to turn my attentions toward more pleasant things. Like posting photos over on Theme Park Review.

As you may have already been aware, I had a Smoky Mountain Adventures thread over there last year, in which I detailed all the crazy tourist attractions available in and around Pigeon Forge. That thread, by necessity, was ended when we moved to Orlando. But now I have a new one for Florida:

Erik & Smisty's Florida Oddventures

So far, I've posted photos from Walt Disney World, St. Augustine, and McDonald's. So you know it has to be good.

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Mare Tranquillitatis

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Hey everybody, I have a job!

I don't start for, like, two weeks--but still, at least I can relax a little bit now, mentally.

I applied at quite a few hotels, since I have so much recent experience with that (and I knew it would pay better). But what I really wanted to do was return to the parks (money be damned). Preferably, SeaWorld.

Anyway, it took a month, but they finally called me. Hooray!

This will be my second stint with the company. I worked in guest services at Discovery Cove about four years ago, before relocating to Tennessee. So it seems only appropriate to go back to work for them now that I live in Orlando again. It's a different actual job this time, though.

I am a "security ambassador."

No, I'm not really sure what it means, either. But as long as it doesn't involve food or toilets, I'm good.

So if you want to bring a bag into SeaWorld, look me up. I'll poke it with a stick for you.

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The Wizard of Boom

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Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. In Orlando. Still. I mean, I do live here. Still sort of feels like a vacation, though. A really sucky vacation where I have to look for a job all the time but can't find one. Which is why I haven't posted much. No, not because I'm so busy looking for work. But because I've always been less comfortable posting the negative things that are happening in my life. I'd prefer to just hold off until I have a job. And then I can post, "Hey everybody, I have a job!" That would be nice. But alas.

Not that I'm giving up or anything, mind you. In fact, right at the moment, at 11:00pm on a Sunday night, I'm writing this while killing time waiting to call a guy back about a job. That's how dedicated I am.

And in between, I'm trying to enjoy Orlando. Which really is a great town, outside of the complete lack of job openings. I'm going to Disney World, like, three time a week. (Hey, I'm unemployed and I have an annual pass.) Playing mini golf here and there. Visiting family (both mine and Misty's). And just generally trying not to think about my mounting bills while constantly adding to them. So that's fun.

Hopefully, my next post will be, "Hey, I got a job!" And it will be less than a month from now.

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My Valentine, Silly

Octopus's Garden

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So, the only real downside to moving to Orlando is that I now have to look for a job. (See, I already had a job where I was before. A nice job. An easy job. A relatively well-paying job.)

Anyway, today I had an interview for a front desk position at a hotel with 2,000 rooms. I had to take a shuttle from the parking garage to the lobby. There were at least eight employees working the desk. They said it was a slow day.

I have no idea if I'll get the job. But if I do, I'm pretty sure I could invite you to come visit and you'd never find me.

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So That's Where It's Got To

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Oh, hey, look, my blog.

So...I live in Orlando now. Yeah, sorry I didn't mention that earlier. Anyway, everything's cool so far, except that I don't have a job. But I do have a Walt Disney World annual pass--and, quite frankly, I think that's better anyway.

How are you?

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The 4:00am Fairy

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What’s that, loyal readers? You require an update, so as to remain current (or “up” as the kids now say) as to what is happening in the life of your hero, which is me?

Very well!

We are moving to Florida!

Wait, that’s not news.

Okay, well, we’re moving even earlier, now. My last day of work (at my current job, anyway) is January 30th. And we’re planning to leave Pigeon Forge on the morning of February 1st. (So if you’d like to stalk me, you can’t say I didn’t give you anything to go on.)

The drive from Pigeon Forge to Orlando (or vise-versa) is one I’ve made many times. But, this occasion, we plan on taking our sweet-assed time, and making a vacation out of the move itself.

Current planned stops include (but may not be limited to) The Mayfield Dairy in Athens, Tennessee, Rock City, The Georgia Aquarium and World of Coke in Atlanta, and the entire city of St. Augustine, Florida (which is where they invented Atlantis or something).

On a sad-but-related note, my Smoky Mountain Adventures thread over at Theme Park Review will, due to my lack of continuing to live here, be coming to an end very soon. But, hopefully, I’ll be able to make time in amongst all my moving-preparations to give it a properly glorious send off.

I’ll keep you posted. With my posts.

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Erik’s Incredible Movie Reviews: Moon

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Moon is the debut film of director Duncan Jones, who is the son of famed musician David Bowie.

I have to admit, that while I like many of Mr. Bowie’s songs, I was never what you might call a rabid fan. He was always more of a “greatest hits” type artist to me--although, to be fair, I never really did delve all that deeply into his back catalog. The one proper CD that I did buy was Earthling, which was a sort of foray into techno, and I did rather enjoy that--especially the single, “Little Wonder.”

But back to Moon. The story concerns an excitable moon-farming astronaut (Sam Rockwell) and his always-calm computer companion (voiced by Kevin Spacey). Yet, despite this science fiction premise, and the fact that David Bowie wrote many science fiction themed tunes, Duncan Jones chose to not use any of his father’s music in the film--not even “A Space Oddity.” Which, considering how much Moon evokes the film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” seems almost like a direct insult to his father.

It’s worth noting, too, that Mr. Bowie is also an accomplished actor, having played roles as disparate as a laid-back version of himself (in the movie “Zoolander”) to a clearly more evil version of himself (“The Sovereign”) on the TV show The Venture Brothers. Yet, despite this range, he does not even make so much as a cameo in Moon.

I suppose, to some degree, this is understandable. I never really got along with my dad either. But even he liked David Bowie.


Spoilers: Dude’s a clone.

Erik’s Rating: Pi

Who It Works Best For: People who liked 2010, but who nevertheless did not find it a particularly worthy sequel to 2001, in terms of scenic design and tone.

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My Minimalism Sense is Tingling!

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I’ve spent the last couple of years paring down, getting rid of “stuff,” and generally seeking to be able to carry everything I own in a backpack.

Of course, we now have car. So that means we can have more stuff. And when we move to Orlando, we’ll likely get an apartment, which means furniture. Which is all well and good, except that it’s freaking me out slightly.

My basic theory has been to have as little as possible so that I’d need to take care of as little as possible. And, also, things cost money. So, not buying things means having more money. And I like having money.

Still, moving back to Florida is what I want, and moving back to Florida seems to necessarily entail these things. So I need to get over it, I suppose. And besides, we already acquired a few things while we were in the house (like a TV), and those aren’t so bad.

Well, maybe we can at least find a really small apartment.

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March of the Mad Hares

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The original plan was to buy a car in April and move to Orlando at the end of May. That way, we could make a big amusement park trip out of the move, since all the parks would be open by then.

But, since we bought the car early--and we're quickly growing tired of the eFFing cold--we're now thinking of heading down at the beginning of March. The big amusement park trip will be lost, but at least we won't have to suffer through another car show here (the first one is in April).

There are some other trade-offs, as well. But I think we're just mentally done here. It's time to start wrapping things up and move on.

So there you go: March.

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