The Empty

Yet another collection of random pictures taken while out on shopping adventures. I should mention that this is the last post I'm pre-posting from August, and the blogspot site might have updated, and our old Windows XP computer might not be able to make new posts. So if there's a delay seeing more posts, it's likely because we are in the process of getting a new computer or figuring out the new formats or whatever. Hopefully they will keep what they call the "Legacy" format available, and everything will be just like usual.

A couple weeks later and the Walmart that was closing is nearly empty. We've been in going-out-of-business stores before, and it's always an odd mix of hopeful bargain hunting and sadness.

I'm more upset about this one, because I came here quite often. There is a Target behind this building, so the shopping will still be possible, but there were things I always got here instead of Target.

This is only going to be amusing for a couple of people but let me explain. The phone game Fate: Grand Order, that we've been hooked on, summons heroic spirits of historical figures. Including... Boudica. Well, it turns out that her character in the game is infamously one of the worst ones, so to see a movie version of her being among the very few items left in this mostly empty Walmart was funny for us.

Another hilarious item left over in the Walmart but this one is more obviously funny because it looks like it's screaming sadness.

Even the McDonald's was wrecked. This was the McDonald's that always seemed to have stuff a lot longer than the other McDonald's in the area, like Shamrock Shakes and McRibs. I remember getting McRibs here months after all the other McDonald's stopped selling them.

I probably could have gotten away with walking back there, but it was dark and creepy. I guess we're not curious enough to risk it.

Those wrecked tables looks safe. Am I okay wandering around over here? The Walmart employees gave me weird looks when I came out of here. Hey, just taking pictures.

Nothing slowing down the nearby Target store with this new Lego set. Which we found amusing because of this character's name "Poppy Star" let's you know right away who she is. She's a... airplane pilot, right?

Poke Bowl made us laugh because it sounded like someone with an extreme southern accent trying to say "pokeball".

How did it take so long to get a home version of Plinko? But honestly, isn't the giant size of it like, a major part of it? I'm guessing that this tabletop version is not nearly as cool, but also... there goes the afternoon as you continuously drop chips down it.

Super Mario Monopoly earns bonus points for all of the super-deep references. They got New Donk City on here!

Look closely at this receipt to find the secret. It's got a coupon on it that gets you a free ice cream, which you redeem, and your new receipt has... a coupon for free ice cream. INFINITE ICE CREAM! I suppose you do have to take the survey every time, but I also wonder how many free ice creams you could actually get before they said.... mmmm no.

A few weeks later and we find what we are looking for at Ollie's. These old Star Trek cards from a game my friend used to play a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Oh, that's the wrong "Star-Thing"? This particular set has an Ultra Rare Spock from the Mirror Universe, who started the whole cliche look of evil goatee.

Knock-off The Walking Dead cook book, of course the type of thing to find at an Ollie's. The egg sandwich on the back cover will be funny to fans of the show because they made a big deal out of it in one episode.

How can there be Smurf Fairy Tales, with one Smurfette? It's actually okay because most fairy tales only have one princess in them anyway.

Can you consider this a "sleepover" if the two sisters are living together in the same castle? Or um, are they at the reindeer's house?

This tractor was the real-life version of building a Lego set and you have the wrong color pieces for some of it. Okay... so we don't have the front piece in yellow, we have a blue one though. Alright maybe if we make the back bumper blue, it will still look okay.

In the modern age of inclusion and nice-ness, how much longer until the Harry Potter merchandise stops using the derogatory term "muggles"? We prefer the term "Specially-Magic'd".

Wowzy-wow, that is some very rarely specific merchandise. The family car from the sitcom Home Improvement? Though honestly there is something plain old funny about the Jeep Jeepster. Did they seriously name a Jeep "Jeepster"?

Waiting at the stoplight across the street from this Walmart, we see the six-point logo and realize the top of it looks like a "W" and the bottom looks like an "M". Is that for "W"al"M"art? Mind Blown!

 I'll tell the full story: short version. My friend's sister was having a birthday and his nephew and her husband wanted to get her a Nintendo Switch, which are like, impossible to find these days. Well the nephew showed him pics of a yearly tradition of getting some Pokemon card packs (at the time share he was unable to visit this year... thanks, Covid) and in a quest to find Pokemon cards himself, led him to the far-away Walmart, which DID have Nintendo Switches in stock! So without the Pokemon card hunt, there's no way he would have traveled all the way out to find the Switch! Another friend pointed out that this Happy Birthday was years in the making because of the card tradition was not even spontaneous itself. Isn't fate crazy sometimes?