Small Pleasures and Huge Frustrations

Most of today went well. I got the laundry done and did pilates while watching two Dora The Explorer episodes, a Joe Blues Clues, and a new episode of the rather odd-but-cute The Wonder Pets. The last-named involves a trio of bold and daring elementary school animals - Ming Ming the Chick, Tuck the Turtle, and a hamster whose name I can't remember - who dress in little costumes and go out on various adventures to save a baby animal in distress. Today, they helped their first fictional animal, a unicorn whose horn was stuck in a tree in a storybook. They also lent paws, wings, and flippers to one of the most popular animals of recent years - a baby penguin who looked like he'd just stepped out of Happy Feet

Dora's two episodes were as straightforward as can be - in the first, she and Boots traveled to the Monkey Bars so she could find out if she can climb them all the way. In the second, Dora and Boots are joined by Diego, as all three help a baby brontosaurus get back to his mother, and learn about other dinosaurs and their mommies.

Though the dinosaur episode was very cute (especially that baby bronto giving his mother the flower at the end!), I found myself preferring the earlier adventure. I can relate all too well to Dora's determination to cross the Monkey Bars. Even now, I have difficulty on monkey bars and am still a little afraid to cross very high ones. I could barely get past the second or third rung at Dora's age. I applaud her effort and determination!

(And a side note on the dinosaur episode - Diego seems to be a lot older in Dora the Explorer than he is in his own show. In Go Diego Go! he appears to be a year or two older than six-ish Dora; in the dinosaur show, he seemed more like eleven or twelve, complete with a much deeper voice.)

I did try TCM, but no interesting biographies today. One looked like one of those very old George Arliss vehicles from the early 30s, either Alexander Hamilton or Diserali; the other seemed to be about Christopher Columbus and, from what little I saw, was a poorly-scripted snore. (No good movie has EVER been made about Christopher Columbus.)

I did catch an old favorite on TV Land, though. I always got a kick out of The Munsters as a kid. How many TV shows can pull off being macabre and sorta sweet at the same time? Everyone freaks when they see Herman, but he's really the biggest doll around; he just happens to be a Frankenstein monster with the world's largest stitched-in heart. As with the Addams Family, it's the details that matter here - Grandpa sleeping upside-down, their kid being a vampire who sleeps with a wolfman doll and has what looks like a pet dragon who lives under the stairs, Herman working in a funeral home. To be honest, the show was, far more than the genuinely weird Addams Family, a sitcom with gently ghoulish trappings. Today's story almost seemed to come from the 50s - Lilly gets mad at Herman when he comes home late from an office party, and Gramps, the kid, and niece Marlyn have to get them back together.

I didn't work until 4PM, so I decided to use the extra time to bring out my winter clothes and sort things to donate to the thrift shop. A few of my drawstring and elastic waistband pants would be genuinely too big for me now. I could live with the rest. I also got rid of two sweaters with horizontal stripes (makes me look bigger) and a spring dress with too-busy print. Everything else but two heavy sweaters it is genuinely too early for were either put in the containers in the back room or in my dresser. I also got some story work in.

A few annoying customers at work, but I was only there for a few hours and it was mildly steady, nothing like last night.

I had problems with Netscape again tonight; that's why this post is so late. I'm working on downloading NetZero as I type this. Forget this messing around. If Netscape is going to give me trouble (this is the second time I had to cut a chat with Lauren short because they were being a pain), forget it. I can't even remember my darn screen name!