[too much competition]

The Ralph's/ Kroger near my house is closing this weekend. I honestly am not all that surprised. The reason given that the store is closing is that it's a "underperforming" store. I suspect that there are other factors in play.

TBH, it's a big store crammed into a small one. Plus, it's cluttered! They put big displays in the middle of-and blocking-aisles.

I hope some of the people  who work at Ralph's are able to get jobs elsewhere-there's Frazier Farms, Smart and Final and Fresh And Easy(the competition of the subject line)
Ralph's is far from the only game around-but it is going to eliminate options for people in the area who only walk or take the bus.

Fortunately, I have a backup-I can go to the Vons on El Camino Real-slightly further from my house but they do have a good selection there so there's that. There are some things that I will miss about Ralph's though-their bakery was really good-their bread specifically.

If I don't want to take the bus, I can walk to the Walmart Marketside(a smaller footprint version of a Walmart store with  just groceries and the like). It's only a 10 minute walk from my house and I like to walk there, especially when the weather is nice(today would have been a perfect day to do it but I didn't)

[times(and things) change]

This should just be part of the Cruise Critic post Saturday but I decided to do it earlier.

Lovedamships, and its "sister" website, Lovedamships Review and-by extension Cruise Critic- are-more or less-dead. Lovedamships isn't updated regularly anymore, and Lovedamships  Review hasn't been updated for 2 plus years.

I think a lot of it has to do with the people at Lovedamships and Lovedamships Review realising that they were-at times-mean-spirited. I know I said some not-so-nice things on my Cruise Critic posts(boy did I ever!) but I've turned over a new leaf. I try not to name names if I can help it.

Unless Lovedamships starts going again, I see Lovedamships Review staying dead.

I want to point out some of the shit that goes on, but as I said,I 'm not naming names anymore.But if someone from Cruise Critic  saw something they had written quoted(but without their name)they would know it was them.

The reason that Lovedamships Review was so weird is it was people criticising things that were(IMO) petty.

Not everyone knows this, so here's some backstory:There is definitely a hierarchy at Cruise Critic.A sort of "speak when you're spoken to" sort of thing, you know? That sort of mentality is what has scared people off of cruising with Holland America.Add to that, all of the usual sticking points(dress code, smoking, etc.) and it's a tinderbox. If you dare to deviate and ask what they think is a stupid question.. gone.

Well, I mean you could stay-it's not  as if the people posting are in charge of who gets banned or not-but after having your ass handed to you, you won't want to stick around, trust me!

[weekend report]

Friday: Went to Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf. That was about the extent of my day. It was cooler and cloudy-appropriate weather for the day, I must say! I got a TON of trick-or-treaters-get this:I had 3 big bags of Costco candy and I got rid of all of it.

Saturday:The weather was inclement(rained on and off all day) so I stayed indoors for the most part.I did a couple of loads of laundry though.

Sunday: I went to the Laurence Welk Theater in Escondido with my mom and dad and my niece and nephews and saw a production of Oklahoma! It was really good-long-2 plus hours-but I loved it. Then we had a early dinner at In &Out Burger(the perfect end to the perfect day!)

[tastes great!]

I had a cup of French Roast coffee from Whole Foods recently-it had a lot of flavour going on:cocoa-ey, but with a sort of smoky finish. I wondered if that had anything to do with the fact I put agave(which I'd never tried before!) in it..it drew out the flavour, maybe?

Then, when I was visiting my brother we went to a restaraunt that served fried chicken with honey on top of it, and cheese grits. It was an amazingly delicious combo!

Also, Canes' chicken..their Canes sauce is *addictive*. And all it is is Mayo, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. My sister in law was worried I wouldn't like it, but I totally did!

Hoisin sauce is another favourite condiment of mine. It's a standard at Vietnamese restaraunts..I like to put it in Pho..gives it a pop of  flavour along with the wedge of lime. I love the salty/sweet  thing that Hoisin's got going!

I  have tried Ethiopian berbere spice a couple of times.. I love spicy food, but that..it just keeps going and going.

[how about..no]

I could do without the "those ugly(non-Holland America) ships are blocking our view"-type posts on the sailaway threads.People are entitled to their opinion but it just comes off as..searches for a word and settles on "bitchy".

See also: the  "Eat in your cabin or the Lido if you're not going to dress up for formal night" comments that always crop up in EVERY dress code thread.It's become *such* a thing that someone on a dress code thread basically said "and don't say "eat in your cabin".

If you ask me,it's demeaning.And more than a little offensive, too.

[S2 Ep1: Kaiseki]

*The first part of S2 is the textbook definition of "it got worse".

*The showdown in the kitchen is balls.to.the.wall.

*Murasaki reference!

*Will's memory palace-fly fishing--of course. But that damn Nightmare Stag shows up!

*Will is trying to block out Chilton(can't say I blame him-if I were Will,I would too! :P)There was a really good fic where Chilton was doing all sorts of unethical shit to Will.

*Will wants to talk to Hannibal..how about.. NO. Actually, how about HELL NO.

*Kade Purnell(Ugh..hoping that she gets called out bigtime in S3)

*The people soup-guh-ross!(right up there with the mushroom people, TBH)

*Hannidelia- their relationship is so interesting to me.She tells Hannibal "You are obsessed with Will Graham". No.Shit.

*Will sees Hanni's shadow as a deer's leg/hoof. Unsubtle and unsettling. And Will's inner voice sounds like Hannibal's. That damn gaslighting.And he does it to Will whilst he's in the mental hospital.Lovely.

*Hannibal at the BAU is the proverbial fox in the henhouse-at this point they don't suspect him. Hannibal gaslights Team Sassy Science, too.

*Alana takes Will's dogs back to his house-which I'm glad to see-they need to have that normalcy..but Winston goes back there on his own..He's  very sensitive..on a level with his owner.

*Alana hypnotises Will-Chilton listens in. Alana hypnotises Will-the light bar thing that Alana has is supposed to evoke the light beam Will sees when he recreates crimes. Alana turns into inky!Alana- freaky!

*Roland Umber gets abducted-that's a well-used trope but Hannibal manages to do it quite well.

*Bev goes to visit Will(without telling Jack first, who would *definitely* yell at her if she told him what she was going to do) and Will figures out that the people represent a colour palette.

*Will is eating salisbury steak(gotta love institutional food) when he remembers what happened to him. That is one of the hardest scenes to watch.Like ever.And this is Hannibal we're talking about!

*Will is in his happy place but gets interrupted by Jack. GDI jack, can't you let Will have his happy place? JFC.

*The mural victim is very..attached.(sorry, not sorry. Us Fannibals LOVE our puns.)

Quotable:

Will: I'm going to remember, Dr. Lecter. And when I do,there will be a reckoning.

Beverly:You're not a suspect. You're the new Will Graham

Will: You may not believe me now.. but you will.

[every day is halloween]

I've used that subject line every year. It's become something of a tradition, if you will.I love Halloween. It's so much different than when I was a kid, though.We'd go out for a long time and in a not very well lit area. I doubt my parents(if I was a kid now) would let me do that,

Looking at pictures of me as a kid, I can tell what year it was because of the costumes-my brother is Darth Vader? it's 1977.

My favourite Halloween candy(in no particular order)

Reese's peanut butter cups

Peanut M&M's

Milky Way

Twix

3 Musketeers