Tampa Bay on a Shoestring

  Nov 2022 Playlist 1 On  YouTube  

 Moved from prior blog posted Oct 16..   I love the theatre.. whether it be music or plays.  When I lived in Tulsa, I would go to productions in their theatre, as well.  Since moving back here, I had not been to the local theatres or seen the Florida Orchestra, and it was an amazing night.  The balcony ticket I got was just over 20 dollars, though in the future I want to sit in the box seats, as well.  I went by myself, but that just meant I could focus on the music... amazing. First of all.. the conductor was amazing.  I mean, I LOVED the music and will talk about it in a minute, but Michael Krajewski was entertaining, as well.  He told stories behind the pieces and other just humorous interjections, making it even funner. The music was from past Hollywood films, so you had some Wizard of Oz that was nice, some Disney pieces from Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast (which was better than the film as you could hear and see the music being made), as well as James Bond

 Moved from prior blog.. Before my experience at Mahaffey Theatre watching the orchestra, I walked a bit nearby. It’s called the Waterfront District.  Just south of the theatre is the Dali museum I need to check out.  Just North is the stadium the Rowdies play.  But, it you look east, you see the water of the Bay with the marina where ships are kept.  If you go up a little and out on the marina you can get great pics of the rocks by the water and the Pier just North of there.  Here’s my pics from that night with some incredible clouds, as well.

   I pulled together some songs from past playlists and more for a good Halloween Playlist.  I intend for this to be my last playlist this month.  Enjoy. YouTube link

Moved from prior blog...  As the initial post of my Entertainment tab on the blog, I want to review a movie I saw over the weekend... again, alone.  You don't have to go with others.  It was called Ask Me to Dance.  It hasn't got a lot of fanfare.  Indeed, I was the only one in the theater for it at night.  However, I greatly enjoyed it... Trailer Link I watched it on my AMC A-List that I have definitely not been using enough to make it worth having... costs 23 dollars a month, and you can watch up to 3 movies a week free for that.  But, they charge you 23 to CANCEL, as well.  Also, at least at this AMC, it has a bar, so I got a Sam Adams Octoberfest on the way into the theater. The movie is about two people that we follow, starting at the beginning of the movie, where they both just happen to be at a dance contest in a club.  He left, and she asked about him as he left, but she had just missed him.  This would continue to happen, throughout the movie, as he walks

Moved from post on prior blog Oct 10.. As promised I wanted to provide some pics of my activities around Tampa Bay, so you can be inspired to go out and find your own activities.  I should also note that I did them, alone.  You don't have to be with someone to go have fun. The first stop was at Waterworks by Armature Works.  In that park, they had booths setup for Your Tampa Markets "Octoberfest."  While there was no alcohol there, they had interesting booths of natural and health related things as well as some self proclaimed "hippie" items.  I got a necklace there. After that, I went to the Hyde Park Village Art Fair.  It was rather busy, but it had some amazing art. Finally, Sunday Morning, I ran in the Buccaneers Advent Health Breast Cancer awareness 5K run, Treasure Chests (think about the name.. ha). It was a fun time, and I am glad I am getting back into running.

Moved from prior blog in early Oct... Initially, my plan was for my activity page collection of posts to tell about things that was coming up in Tampa Bay, so those local could plan on them.  However, just a few hours of trying to weed out ones to post shows me that is a monumental task.  There is so much to do, here.  So, I will post pics of things I DID do as an example of what you could look for in your area, and I will lead off all my activity posts with three sources for you to look of things in your area. 1.  Facebook Events 2.  Meetup Events.  For Tampa, that is HERE . 3.  Local newspaper or magazine calendar pages of things coming up.  For Tampa, that is HERE .

I grew up poor.  I didn't realize it at the time, because it was that it was.  I thought everyone had to live that way to some degree, and I made the best of it and learned to have fun.  Life was different back then, too... culture was different.  My dad was a handyman/ carpenter, and he was respected and well used in his town; but, it was a small town and not much money there.  But, as I said, I learned to have fun with what I have. Today, our society is THINGS focused to a lot of degree.  If you don't have things, you are deemed less valuable or worthy.  I remember when I was punishing my oldest daughter once for how spoiled she had become with her things, and she said to her friend in front of me, "I think he is just jealous that he didn't have all that we have."  I just rolled my eyes and walked away.  Not just the young but a couple generations don't understand the need and joy of growing as a PERSON, instead of a customer for the tech industry.   Having