Be Extraordinary

"Be Extraordinary"
Olympus E-P2 with M.Zuiko 14-42mm
1/80s, f/5.6, ISO 800, 14mm

Running weekend errands, I'd taken a detour down I-Drive to look at why the old Justice Aquatic Center had plywood over the diving pool windows. I'd seen those covered windows driving towards Sandlake on I-75.

My wife and exercised and swam at Justice many long years ago; my wife swam in the heated therapy pool for her arthritus (back when it was heated), and I excersised and swam in the main pool. Back then the windows had a sophisticated jalousie-style covering. Now, it looks like the smaller windows are simply covered in glass, with the larger ones covered in partially painted plywood. When I looked inside there was a fairly large swim meet taking place in both the main and diving pools, so it's not like Justice has gone out of business.

Later, as we drove out, I made the mistake of taking a rood across I-Drive that would have dumped me out on Universal. That took me past the Gooding's Supermarket, a Gooding's that looks to be closed down now. I drove around the parking lot and noticed there were several more closed businesses next to the former Gooding's. I should note that this is next to the spot where now-gutted-and-knocked-down Mercado once stood.

On the way out, sitting at the intersection of I-Drive and Sandlake, I looked up and saw the huge animatronic billboard hovering over the touristy consumer electronic store. At dusk, overcast, with the lighting from the stores and the billboard spilling out, and with Harry Potter glowering down over the landscape, the whole thing seemed captivating, in a kitschy, central-Florida sort of way.