Fortune Cookie Prophecy Part 2: The Surf Cincinnati Abandoned Miniature Golf Classic

- The "City of Destiny" that now occupies the site of what once was Surf Cincinnati.

The prophecy of a "delightful journey" laid out by the fortune cookie in Part 1 had so far come true when Gozer and I explored the remains of forgotten Lancaster Street earlier in the day. However, we weren't done yet, so would the fortune hold up? So far the day had been good, but there was still urban exploring to be done as the USS Rio Grande weaved in and out of slower traffic on I-75. The sun was steadily fading as we made a pit stop at my parent's house, where my golf clubs spend the winter. I was going to need two of them as the Star Trek nicknamed car rushed up a hill and began sliding across an icy parking lot that overlooked what had once been Surf Cincinnati. I knew that the former waterpark I swam at many times as a kid and explored in the early days of my urban exploration photography had been demolished, but this was the first time I had really seen the change. In place of a waterpark that once entertained thousands and became an abandoned playground for myself - was a church:

Fortune Cookie Prophecy Part 1: Lancaster St.

I didn't have much around my apartment for breakfast. Some Grippo's BBQ chips, frozen corn dogs, lemonade and two fortune cookies was about all there was. A small cookie made of flour, sugar, vanilla and oil with a message inside it seemed like a good thing to eat. I don't usually put any faith in the "fortunes" found within these takeout accompanying deserts, but since Gozer and I were about to go exploring, this one seemed like a good sign:

Monster Trucks at the Gardens

January might as well have been "Monster Truck Month" in Cincinnati. For three weekends straight, the Cincinnati market was saturated with three different touring circuits of over-sized pickup trucks that drive around and crush cars. Last week there as an event at the US Bank Arena downtown, next week there's one at the Bank of Kentucky Center on NKU's campus, but this week there were monster trucks at the best arena in town: the Cincinnati Gardens.

Third Time's a Charm - Forgotten Cincinnati Exhibition Returns

Not many "threequels" are successful. While the third installment of a series can be downright awful (see: Batman Forever, Superman 3, Mission Impossible 3, Jurassic Park 3, Shrek the Third, etc.), some can be really good (i.e. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade or D3: The Mighty Ducks). So at the end of this month, we hope to be on that list of successful third parts in a series. It's that time of year again: January. It's cold out, the Bengals aren't in the playoffs and baseball's not back yet. What does January mean for me and you the reader? FORGOTTEN CINCINNATI RETURNS

The "Glencoe Hole."

One of Cincinnati's abandoned icons - a complex of row houses and apartments in an entire neighborhood where the residents have left.

"They F**k it Up Every Year."

It's been awhile. I last updated QC/D on Nov. 26 (and even that was an advertisement at best) which means I didn't even touch this site in December. It's now 2011 so I should probably start things off right with some photographs and words/rants. I noticed a lot of blogs/websites were doing "lists" of the best moments of 2010. Not gonna lie, it was a good year. I could recap it all in list fashion, but it would probably just be a bunch of stories about Reds games, waffle house, beer and the occasional abandoned building. I will share two stories though: The story of where I've been and why nothing has been done on this website in over a month followed by the story of New Years Eve.

If you follow the site on Facebook, you may have remembered me saying I was gonna update it after finals week at school. If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed I was eerily silent, no longer making lame jokes and hurling insults at streetcar opposition. So what happened? Well admittedly, I was pretty busy during finals week, I had a lot to get done. When that was done, I really wanted to relax. I'd been exploring on the weekends and shooting lots of photos for school, myself and City Beat. I needed a break from the camera. After my last final I bought a six pack of Moerlin Northern Liberties IPA and turned on my Xbox 360. I never got the new Call of Duty and still play Modern Warfare 2, despite having the game for over a year I don't have much time logged on it and to be honest, I suck at it. However, since purchasing an Xbox in 2008, I never really play it. When I get time to play it, its a nice break from reality. Then that got interrupted by getting a new job. The job was complemented by holiday gatherings, one of which my roommates and I threw. The aftermath seen here: