By Andrea Menzies
On a serious bike kick for Spring.
Category: Park Meetup News
-
2025 Magdalena Bay Show
By Andrea Menzies
One of my favorite friends Eugene who is Zorak303 on Instagram visited from out of town this weekend. We went to see Magdalena Bay at the National, and lines were wrapped around the block. Then we went to the famous taco restaurant Gwar Bar nearby, and talked about New Orleans in modern day. Eugene and I hung out after a Gwar show at House of Blues when I lived in New Orleans so history came full circle at that moment. I was really stressed out about going back to get a Master’s degree at night school, and so I was really happy to have a friend visit cheer me up. Here are some highlights from the show. My review is the band is great!
*Note I never go out in Richmond anymore because of the many non-stop horrible experiences I have had there and exclusively go out in Maryland. For Eugene I made the very rare exception.
Outside the National Eugene and Andrea. 
Huge lines at the National. 
Logo at the National. 
Bathrooms at the National. 
Amazing light show. 
More amazing show at the National. 
Even more lights at the show. 
What happened to make them put this sign up? 
The National looks great from outside, but like all Richmond it has horrible problems underneath the surface. What is up with the nightmare toilet? 
Fancy show walls. 
End of show super costumes. 
The crowd goes wild at the show end. 
The crowd goes even more wild for a David Bowie cover song. 
Gwar Bar has tacos and nachos that are amazing. In addition the band Gwar put funny costumes all over the walls from their music tours. Eugene and I hung out after a Gwar show when I lived in New Orleans. 
-
2025 New Bike Rack
By Andrea Menzies
I got a new bicycle rack this weekend for bike camping in DC. I have collected toy panda bears since I was a little kid, and at long last real ones are nearby at the Zoo. I’d better see them quickly before some weird political fight sends them away again for good. I also plan to bring one million gallons of anti mosquito lights, nets, and spray because yes I have camped in Virginia before and they have the “no see them” near-invisible breed of mosquito.
-
Reading Delay
By Andrea Menzies
This week’s podcast may be delayed as I am registering for night school to get certifications I need for more work hours in teaching jobs. My book recommendations may go from fun weekend fiction to University textbook commentary this month. Entertainment reading will take a backseat to night school class reading as I start new online classes. I have been working for years to get into the program so it should be interesting. In addition I needed many shots for COVID at Walgreens. I always reacted badly to shots in the past. After this hassle my posts will be on schedule once more.
-
Episode 9 Season 6 – Animal Stars
By Andrea Menzies
Welcome to the Podcast Return of “Frozen History 7 Book Reviews” on WordPress. The last episode was in 2024. This week marks the return of reviews with Episode 9 of Season 6 – Animal Stars.
The TikTok ban made me return to doing a podcast. If people don’t point out real information about politics, books, and jobs is happening on the Internet all webpages will get banned. It is like blaming Turkeys for Thanksgiving to say controversial thinking is the fault of webpages that have that thinking published.
This is the 4 star review of the book by Marty Becker fully titled Animal Stars Behind the Scenes with Your Favorite Animal Actors. My uncle Jim Brockett has an interview in this amazing book on page 236 called “Diamonds Are a Big Cat’s Best Friend” talking about his many movies including Evan Almighty. There were dark days before animal trainers were put on movie sets where animal abuse sometimes went into films. The American Humane Association documents their battle fighting against animal cruelty in the book. I think the book is great, and I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Please like and subscribe to my full review at FH7publishing.com or here at Frozen History 7 Publishing at WordPress.com for the full review blog.
#2025 Animal Rights, #2025 Animal Rights Politics in Film, 2025 Book Review
-
Resolution Update
By Andrea Menzies
Woot I got the 30 day streak badge on the Sunny Heath and Fitness app. You can use their equipment for extra points, or use it for free with other equipment you own already. It is thousands cheaper than Peleton. My mom and daughter ate dinner with me around Christmas time, and they made what seemed like one million cakes and pies. I am trying not to let the calories do what they want to do on my thighs. In addition this is my last post on social media for a while. The other day one of my students quoted a social media post I made back to me from weeks ago. I never try to add students to my accounts, and it is against school policy. A few of my student friends from High School and University are all I want to see viewing my posts. Unfortunately students have older friends, older family members, and make fake accounts for Internet stalking. Your life is pretty pathetic if stalking a single mom teacher online is the one way you can feel excitement in your life. So I am taking a break from social media on the Internet, as it seems nice educated student people never communicate with me on social media anymore and trolls, scammers, and haters have become the entire population of the Internet. I blame Internet phones greatly because when a $2000 desktop PC was the one way to go online nice and fun student people were 99% of the Internet. I couldn’t wait to open my e-mails to see all the party and concert invitations near campus that were not fake scams. Once prepaid Internet phones started to be sold next to pawn shops in strip malls the Internet was almost all trolls, con-artists, and porn spam overnight. Fitness apps are the only good thing left online, and my latest New Year’s Resolution is to only post family or fitness app related content if I ever post again. People who are depressed cannot get out of bed much less do many workouts, and I am showing off my positive view on life.
-
Info Thanks
By Andrea Menzies
Many thanks to my friends from New Orleans that sent me information about their safety this week. It is nice to know we still stay in contact over the years and are still friends. I used to live less than ten miles from the Quarter in an apartment by myself for years. It is strange New Orleans had ramming safety barriers, but skipped using them that night. Every concert I go to lately has guards, bag checks, and pat-downs. Some will not even allow normal sized purses. I thought they were paranoid, but that is the right amount of carefully watching customers in dark times.
-
Snow Armageddon
By Andrea Menzies
I am a teacher, and school has been cancelled for three days now by a Snow Armageddon. Below are some snow covered decorations looking pretty. It is a good thing I found some good fitness hobbies. I would be bouncing off the walls by now without them. My sleeping pillow loves the rest, but my wallet will hate this by the end of the month. Three credit cards gave me threats yesterday on the phone. Bills do not pay themselves these days, and this snow needs to let up to give me work.
-
Resolution Keeping
By Andrea Menzies
I’m keeping my New Year’s resolution of doing more types of fitness using the free Sunny Heath app. I lost 5 pounds in 7 days. Being obese fat increases 13 types of cancer’s risk a problem I don’t want. The videos are free, and you don’t have to buy their equipment. They will however show commercials for their equipment because that is their job. Hundreds of videos on yoga, kick boxing, Pilates, treadmills, magnetic bikes, and more are on their app and Sunny Heath and Fitness YouTube. The videos are by professional personal trainers. I just got a badge for doing 600 fitness workout minutes there. I give them a 5 star review because it is the best working affordable thing I have tried in years.
