The Supeman

Holy Crappers! I'll just start off my post with that. I rode this monster today at Six Flags Fiesta Texas thanks to the good people of Toyota. It was a wild ride, but not as bad and scary as I thought it would be. My sister wanted to ride it and no one else would ride it with her, so I said I'd do it. Now mind you before this the only other ride I had been on was a merry go round. I went on this ride right after the one that starts off in the castle and gets you all wet, at least m denim skirt was soaked though. I tried to tuck under as much of my skirt as I could so that it wouldn't fly up into my face and show my chones to the world. I totally felt like the following scene from Armageddon:

Oscar: I'm great, I got that "excited/scared" feeling. Like 98% excited, 2% scared. Or maybe it's more. It could be, it could be 98% scared, 2% excited but that's what makes it so intense, it's so - confused. I can't really figure it out.
[to NASA tech strapping him in]
Oscar: Can you make mine really tight, cos I don't wanna fall out. I mean, almost to the point of cutting off circulation.

I made sure that cage like thing that comes over your body was really locked down. I even asked my sister who was sitting down next to me to test it. I kept thinking of all those shows, especially CSI, where something goes terribly wrong with the rides and the riders go plummeting to their deaths. My arms were totally swore after that day and I think it was because I never relaxed my grip. I don't know how those people ride with their arms over their heads. The back of my knees never left contact with the seat either, especially when it came to those loops where we were upside down.

I was also afraid that my shoes were going to slip off my feet because they were loose after they got all soaked in that first ride. I had already divested myself of my glasses, purse, headband, etc because I didn't want anything else flying off. I told my sister maybe that's why I wasn't as freaked as I could have been because without my glasses I'm pretty blind. My sister said she had to close her eyes at some points and I did hear a couple of people screaming.

I think I could ride it again, but I think I could start feeling about it the way I do about giving blood, I could do it, but I'd freak out every time before I do. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

And the Rocket...Lay There

I've seen this rocket a number of times on S.Flores. I don't know what the story is, but I've been trying to get a shot of it for a while now, this time I was able to get one that wasn't too blurry. It says Apollo something on the side, but that's all I can make out. It's right before the Stinson airfield and before Military Dr. If anyone knows anything about this, please drop me a line, cause I'm nosy and I want to know what the deal is.

Shine Down on Me

Waiting to get picked up I saw this sun burst through the clouds and over the Central Library garage. Now this is a misnomer, because the city runs the garage, it's just located by the Central Library, but I digress. I shot this in color too, but for once I wanted to go for the gray shades, especially to help the boundaries of the light and shadow stand out.

Moon Under San Pedro

This is what my nephews and nieces like to call a crazy moon...meaning that it's out in the morning when it should have the better sense to be down already. I got a shot of this on the way to work after dropping my nephews off at school. I liked the colors and the palm tree and the street sign all coming together into one.

The Bus Stops Here

A while ago I saw another DPer had taken a photo of a bus stop I think. It reminded me of the bus stops located all over downtown. This day I was waiting for the trolley by the Central Library and decided to capture a few shots. I took a few in color and some in B&W. As you can see from the shot I selected I liked the b&w better, I think especially in this instance it captures the detail better. The color of the bus stop is green. The trolley's in downtown are supposed to pass every 15 minutes and for the most part I think they do. I usually hop one to go into downtown proper, usually to visit RiverCenter Mall. I get a lot of my holiday shopping done this way over lunch, or when a book comes out that I just can't wait to get I go over lunch and pick it up at Brentano's.

The Yarn Barn

This little craft shop is located right by the roundabout on McCullough I think. They've got yarn galore along the back and all the little tools you need to work it. They also have books and pattern sheets and a group of people that usually hang in the middle of the store doing their thing. The people that work there are always eager to help anyone who walks in the door. I must admit that I have spent money here, more than once.

A Night at the Movies

We were going to the Quarry, but ended up going to River Center Mall. It was pretty busy even with the lateness of the hour. After we got out of the movies there was still plenty of people out and about in downtown. I got to take some night photography, a few of which came out halfway decent.

If you are wondering what movie we watched it was Resident Evil: Extinction. I like the Resident Evil series, they are not necessarily great cinema, but I like me my action movies and Milla kicks @$$. I thought it was okay, but like most movies lately they left it totally open for the next installment. I must admit that one of the reasons I watch these movies is because of their zombies. Ask the peeps that know me and they'll say I have some kind of zombie fixation, but I call it research for when the zombies rise.

THE Haircut

Today was a day that will go down in infamy—at least for me. I think I was more traumatized than this little boy was. His hair has never really been cut and he had long curly hair. People were always mistaking him for a girl although he was never dressed as one. This year was his first year in preschool and he started saying he wanted to get his hair cut so he could look like a boy, so off he went to get his hair cut. Pictures were taken of the before and after. A lady at the barbershop thought he was some celebrity because of the pictures. Another lady asked if his hair was so long because of a promeso (the answer was no). The man cutting the hair seemed more affected by what he was doing than the boy was—he even asked if he could take before and after photos with his cellphone camera. In the end it all went well...the boy did good and was unafraid, and is very happy with his haircut. He was even heard telling someone not to mess up his beautiful hair. :D

A Spill of Books

September 15 - October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month. This is part of a Hispanic Heritage Month display in the great big window of the Central Library. I must say that they've done a great job the last couple of years with their displays for this observance.

Avast Me Hearties!

Today was Talk Like a Pirate Day, celebrated internationally on the 19th of September. This was either the second or third year I've marked it. This year I wore my pirat-y shoes, some skull earrings, my Pirates Rule shirt, a sticker on my badge and button proclaiming what day it was. I saw a couple of other people observing this day also, and a couple of others who actually knew what it was we were observing.

From There to Nowhere

Today the view was of ropes coming from nowhere and leading to nowhere. I haven't had a chance to take much different kinds of photos since I've been really busy lately, so bear with me a bit. You can just barely see some different colored squares on the enchilada red walls. I'm not sure what they are doing, but I did see the workers kind of scraping away and dust coming off of those things, so something must be going on, but what I just don't know and haven't even had the wherewithal to ask.

Men at Work

There's some work being done to the exterior of the Central Library. I'm not sure what's being done, but they have the whole work area cordoned off with that caution do not cross tape and those pylons. You see the men on scaffolding, or sometimes they have this big craney-like machine that raises them up into position.

Sprint Ahead

Visited the Sprint store today. We had tried a USB wireless card a while ago because all we have for Internet connection where we live is dial up. When my brother was down in April he complained about our connection because he couldn't check his UFC stuff. Even with the wireless card, the connection is still not great, at one stick, but it's better than dial up. So here I was to make it permanent. I ended up paying almost $300 dollars after I walked out of the store, which I thought was a bit excessive, and my sister was sure was excessive, but that's the cost I pay for being able to surf at home and on the way home. :D

Big Sexy Hair

We were at Target this day shopping for Gods know what, but as always the Dollar aisle drew me. I got a whole bunch of stuff from there. I went looking for Bones season 2, but of course they were out. Then I did my usual meandering about. I was in and around the beauty aisle getting some shampoo when these huge canisters caught my eye. When I think about hairspray, which is what these are, I think of AquaNet. My sister used to use copious amounts of it as she got ready for school. She used to do her hair in front of our fan so as I lay sleeping in bed I'd wake to clouds of AquaNet choking the breath from me.

Back Rubs at Ruta Maya

We were at Ruta Maya's for our monthly Knit Nite. As you can see it's not all about knitting, although there was some of that going on. We were surfing the net, gabbing and eating and drinking of course. We've gathered many a time at Ruta Mayas, and when we do I always feel like I'm watching a scene from Friends at Central Perk. The food there is pretty good, I think I've had every one of their sandwiches, some of their salads, their quiche and even their breakfast. I've also had their scones and muffins. I've tried some of their wine which I didn't like, but then I have yet to find a wine that I like. I've also had two kinds of their Blue Sky soda's: the cola which I like and the green tea lime which I didn't. :D

Perched Up Top

This was the view outside the libary's window today. I'm not sure what's going on. Sometime in the past they were checking for leaks, maybe now they are fixing what they found.

Shades of Love

This is a store in north central San Antonio. The first time I saw it I thought it was a store for sunglasses or maybe window shades. Now granted I saw it from afar, of course all my coworkers made fun of me. I still see it when I go to eat at Taste of Asia/Pho Cong Ly. The Silver Gallery is also in the same shopping center, also Rome's Pizza. We went into Shades of Love when Sarah was getting married, and we also ate at Rome's Pizza for either Sarah's birthday, or some other occassion.

South Park Mall Sign

This is the South Park Mall sign. I think I've taken some photos of the one on the front of the mall fronting Military Drive. This is on what I consider the backside fronting the IH35. This is the only mall in the south side of San Antonio and we go there quite often. We hit the Mervyn's, the bookstore, Children's Place, Old Navy, Hot Topic, Torrids. They have a little place for the children to play right next to the Food Court. I was taking pictures of my nephews playing there one day and the security guard told me that I couldn't take pictures. I had never heard of this, but now I only take pics on the sly.