The better part of my day

[cmdr_zoom]

First, I had a good breakfast with friends (naudiz, sbloss, ninjakitten and her guy), and then we drove down to Roseburg, passing through Yoncalla, Oakland and Sutherlin (nostalgia trip for me and naudiz, as we both grew up in that area).

Roseburg has REALLY been built up in the intervening 20 years. -_-; You'd expect that, of course. Lots of "familiar" stores (from up here) have moved in. But the mall, the Roseburg Valley Mall, was still there amid all the new stores. And even better, the arcade was still there! Sort of. It's no longer "the Electric Palace" and it's now half "hobby store", selling cards and miniatures and stuff - actually a very similar lineup to the store in the Kaybee Toys space at the other end of the crossbar, which made us wonder if they were both owned by the same guys - but they also had honest to god arcade machines there, including DDR (which was really after my arcade time, even up here) and the old "planets and stuff" artwork on the inward-slanting upper walls, which made me so happy to see.

And the SEARS was still there too, and the Waldenbooks, and the Radio Shack... and the native wood decor... and heck, I doubt the bathrooms have had anything done to them. :/

So then we went into the main part of town as I knew it, past some familiar sights, and parked in front of an athletic club-and-deli that was once a department store, where I waited for the school bus in front of. (Didn't actually get to see Freemont Junior High Middle School except from a distance; maybe next trip.)

From there, we walked down a block to the store sbloss was there to see: another comics/game store, a really good one! Great selection, though most of it was poly-bagged. I was mightily impressed. Easily compares with Emerald City. I thought at first that it was originally a (general) book store that I remembered, but it turns out that was the store next door, now something else entirely, and that this store went in just about the same time I left. Ah well. *chuckle* But I did recognize the distinctive front window of the other toy-and-hobby store across the way (where I got modeling clay and some other things), which had become something else, and then closed.

About then we needed to start back for ninjakitten's sake, and we went up and drove through a DQ, and I pointed out the building (now a car parts store) that was a King's Table buffet where I learned, around age 8, what happens if your eyes are bigger than your stomach. In the parking lot, fortunately. :/ I learned that lesson well, though; hasn't happened since.

After driving back up to Eugene and dropping off ninjakitten, the three of us went out to lunch at Dos Amigos, a very nice Mexican place (and sports bar) I hadn't been to before. Now, at this point I've had a good pancake breakfast, and then (rather ill-advisedly) a lasagna that I'd left over at her place a couple of weeks ago, and heated up and brought with us because I didn't want to take a chance on it going off... it probably would have worked MUCH better if I'd left it there for one more day and had it tomorrow evening. Oh well. In this case, it just meant that I had to take some of my enchilada plate home in a box.

I've actually eaten unusually well these past couple of days, and might tomorrow too, but it's my birthday - right? And I'm typically fairly frugal...

Anyway, I got home, got on my bike and rode up the street to the bank to deposit my unemployment checks, rode back home... and that brings us up to the stairs and the ow. :/

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[gwyd.livejournal.com]

I hadn't realized. Happy Birthday!