March Goes Out Like a Lion

Brrr! The window next to my bed showed gloomy gray clouds and the tail end of last night's storm when I awoke this morning. The last half-hour of the American Top 40 warmed up things nicely. We covered the last week of March in 1981, as New Wave crested in the US. Among the most popular songs that week were Don McLean's version of "Crying," "Keep On Lovin' You" by REO Speedwagon, and that week's #1 hit, Blondie's pioneering rap/New Wave mix "Rapture."

I spent a pleasant hour or so afterwards having a spinach, mushroom, and Swiss cheese omelet for breakfast and watching the Disney movie The Aristocats. In this cross between 101 Dalmations and Lady and the Tramp with a feline bent, a pampered mother cat and her three feisty kittens live with a kindly older woman in Paris during early 20th century. Their wealthy owner wants to re-write her will to make the cats the main beneficiaries, which doesn't sit well with her loyal butler. The butler tries to get rid of the cats, but they end up lost in the French countryside instead. They're helped home by a dashing tomcat, a group of international alley cats with a penchant for that swinging new jazz sound, a mystery-loving mouse, and a trio of hilarious British geese.

One of Disney's lesser-known efforts of their "dark era" of the 70s and early 80s is also one of their cutest, not to mention of the few to be equally popular with girls and boys. The villainous butler isn't terribly frightening and the violence is mostly of the slapstick variety; other than a couple of mild drunk jokes, this is one of the best Disney movies to start off young kids with.

Made a short errand run around 10:30. Made it to the bank first to deposit my paycheck, then volunteered at the Oaklyn Library. It was mouse-quiet there; other than shelving some books, there wasn't much for me to do. Went up to WaWa after that for milk; also bought a too-sweet chai tea. It was still chilly and gloomy, and the fine, misty rain was picking up a bit.

I had planned on spending the rest of the afternoon at home. I had to curtail that a bit. There was a message on my answering machine from Angie, one of the managers at the Acme. Could I come in at 1 or 1:30? They were really busy. No, not at that point. It was 12:30 and I hadn't eaten lunch. I had leftovers while watching Here Comes Peter Cottontail instead.

I did finally get to work around 2PM. I was originally supposed to go in at 2:30; 2 makes more sense anyway, and I even got to relieve another cashier who thought she'd be shutting down with a line. It wasn't that bad when I came in, but we had on-and-off crowds for most of the afternoon as people dodged the last of the misty rain. Turns out that, for some reason, a lot of people had left work early as well; we were short-handed throughout the early part of the afternoon. Thankfully, the crowds had slowed enough by 7 that I was able to leave on my own, despite my relief being the kid who is always late coming from his second job.