089 - It's like walking into your bedroom only someone else's stuff is there. And they repainted.

Yesterday, I was at the mall when I was greeted by Mickey Mouse! I thought it was nice that Mickey was around the mall, especially since the store that replaced Disney had opened the day before. And that escalator that would take me there! It has been broken for a long time now. Just like The Bay with its broken door that doesn't open, Bayshore is kinda slow at fixing things. And then I eventually made it up and saw the new, open-for-business Ricki's. Walking in, I felt like it was familiar, but not. The pillars, now plain white, the ceiling, now way low, the wall bays now squarely recessed into space-maximizing walls... and a huge company logo where the projected screen once displayed Hannah Montana music videos and The Little mermaid singalongs. I'll have to go in and tell them to enjoy the scent of Subway bread and horrible fat vat smell when KFC cleans out their reserves. Oh, and that the place is haunted.

And pictured above is a guy who was rapping beside me.

081 - Disney Day Four

On the first night, we checked out Downtown Disney, but only really went into a place to eat. Today, our first down day, we decided to take to the shops and, in a nutshell, spend a ridiculous amount of money. The stores here are crazy awesome! The World of Disney Store, the biggest character store in the world, is easily 20x the size of my store at home. If not more. And despite the heavy traffic, it was still very organized and neat looking. Imagine how many hours they get! And the stitch outside likes to spit on people. Not surprising...

Also, our store has been starting to get products made of recycled materials, reusable bags, organic cotton shirts, and the like. The same lines of product are here too. With cooler designs!

The candy store is amazing as well. I couldn't decide what to get because I wanted it all. Disney gummies are seriously the best ones I've had ever. If there are any pockets of space in my luggage (ha!), then I'm filling it with candy.

Another amazing store is the Holiday store - all Christmas 365 days a year. Unfortunately I dont' want to bring back anything breakable, so everything stayed there. But it's pretty cool. You could get a monorail set for the tree, instead of the more traditional train set. But It doesn't say "Por Favor Manténgase Alejado de las Puertas" (the monorail says to stand clear of the doors in english and spanish). If it did, I would seriously ship one home.

We had also checked out the Boardwalk, but sillily did so in the morning when it's pretty dead. Will have to scope out later at night - Jellyrolls, amirite?

I think this was also a swimming day. I can't remember, but I'm starting to get used to pools.

AND PINS. Stupid Pin Store.

040 - Maple Music is the Simon Wilcox to my Tulip Festival

I love Maple Music. For the uninitiated, is a little online music retailer - one that specializes, or at the very least exclusively distributes Canadian music. Arrogant Worms, Billy Talent, Jill Barber, Sarah Slean <3. On top of music, they also have some merch: hoodies, posters, autographs, and even concert tickets.

I also love how my spell check doesn't know the words Slean, merch, nor hoodies.

Anyway, I've made two orders with them so far, and they're just awesome! The prices are what I'd call reasonable, at least prices that would sway me to buy stuff if I were at HMV or something like that. I bought Simon Wilcox's newest, The Charm and the Strange and Kinnie Starr's Anything. A few years back, I bought Simon Wilcox's second cd, Smart Function, in part because the listening station had it and I was impressed (and in part because it'd give me something to see at Tulipfest). So a follow-up cd was a no brainer for me. Smart Function is a work of art. A slightly dark, highly-energized, low energy (if that makes sense) work of art. Kinnie Starr, I had heard a couple of tracks that I love (including the La Le La La that I had already purchased through iTunes), so I figure I'll like the rest.

Sorry for all those brackets.

Anyway, I bought the cds thinking they'd take a good week to arrive (as indicated by my shipping method). I got them two days later. W00t!

And so far, I'm loving the Simon Wilcox. It's actually pretty rare for me to buy a cd that I don't like, even if I haven't heard it before. Kinnie Starr is still in the shrink wrapping, but I guarantee that'll change soon. Funny story about Simon Wilcox - after I bought her cd a few years back, I saw her at the Tulip Festival. She was wonderful! I remember Vivi thinking all of her songs sounded the same. I digress! After she performed, she went to the signing tent. And I hadn't brought my cd jacket! I went in line anyway to meet her, and she was so nice, and enjoyed my little story of having bought her cd, but not having the jacket. I need to get it signed someday.

MyMusic.com is another Canadian music retailer, but they have all kinds of artists - it's CD Warehouse's online store (or at least they're affiliated somehow, I think). I haven't bought anything from it; while there's lots that separates it from Maple Music, I prefer Maple. Though the idea of having a Desert 5 list is pretty awesome.

So yes, the whole point of this entry: Maple Music, brackets bad - at least for those who buy music and read, respectively. But seriously, who buys music and reads these days?

I miss the concert series at the Tulip Festival.