When Autumn Leaves Start To Fall

I was going to rake tomorrow, but since we're supposed to get massive storms tomorrow, I decided to get the yard done today. Leaf-pick up is this week. I got the whole front yard done in less than two hours, including the side path leading to my apartment. (I did it last week, so there wasn't really much to rake there, but still.)

After I finished the yard, I edited the last of the Bowery Boys story Lauren and I have been working on for the past few nights. Look for Bowery Boys Will Be Girls at the Basement Clubhouse later tonight!

I had just enough time after I finished the editing to have lunch, grab my stuff, and barely make it to work. This wasn't a day I could be late, either. We were surprisingly busy for a Tuesday. We must be having really good sales. It's the end of the month, and the weather, which had been cloudy, warm, and humid all morning, had just gotten even cloudier after I arrived at work. I heard reports of scattered sprinkling, but it hasn't out-and-out rained here yet, as far as I know.

Unfortunately, I discovered at work that I forgot to bring my keys with me. Good thing Miss Ellie got home ten minutes after I arrived and I was able to get the spare keys from her.

I had a leftover chicken thigh, steamed cauliflower with melted farm market cheddar cheese, and spinach salad for dinner while watching Sixteen Candles. Samantha Baker (Molly Ringwauld) is a fairly typical 80s high-schooler. She wishes the hot guy in school would notice her...and that goofy geek (Anthony Michael Hall) who rides the same bus would STOP noticing her. Her problems come to a head when her parents forget her sixteenth birthday, thanks to her sister getting married the next day. Her luck finally changes for the better when the Geek turns out to be a pretty good friend, and that guy might be more interested in her than she thinks...

This was my favorite John Hughes movie as a kid. I'm not as crazy about it today. A lot of Samantha's problems would have ended if she'd talked to her dad or someone in her family a lot sooner and not just assumed they'd remember her birthday. Ok, so forgetting it was rude. She could have helped.

And then there's Long Duck Dong, a variation on 80s Stereotype #15 - the goofy foreigner, in this case, the goofy Asian kid. The whole plot revolving around him and the huge girl he ends up going to the party with just has not dated well at all.

On the other hand, there's still some very sweet scenes here. I completely understand how Samantha feels when she tries to talk to the boy she has a crush on and ends up backing out. I'd probably do the same thing today, much less at her age. I had a lot of guy friends like "Farmer" Ted in high school and in college, and I'm glad he ended up being a really nice guy. I liked the scene where he and Jake, Sam's crush, talk after the party. It just seems natural.

But my favorite scene is still where Sam's dad comes in to apologize about forgetting her birthday and she spills her troubles to him. I don't know if I would have been able to do that with my dad at her age. She was lucky to have him.