A Long Way Down the Track

The day started sunny, bright, and beautiful. I had a lot of errands to run in the morning before I went to Atco in the afternoon. Started with grocery shopping and my paycheck. I was surprised and delighted to see that my paycheck was much higher than anticipated. I was also able to get most of what I needed groceries-wise. The only thing I forgot was mushrooms, and I can get them tomorrow. Otherwise, I needed a fruit restock, dried beans, and grabbed the cheapest chicken legs they had. They were having an awesome sale on the Lipton "pyramid bag" tea; got my favorite flavor, Vanilla Caramel. Bought coconut, chocolate chips, and mousse mix for baking.

Went straight home after that. I put everything away quickly, rounded up my packages, and headed out. Stopped at a quiet bank to deposit my paycheck first, then rode over to the Oaklyn Post Office. Much to my surprise, there was no one in the tiny building but the women behind the counters. This may be the first time since I moved here that I was able to send my Christmas packages and cards in less than five minutes.

(Oh, and Linda & James, Lauren, and Amanda...all of you have packages coming on Monday or early next week.)

Things did not go as well after that. I was able to pick up the PATCO train at Collingswood and the NJ Transit train at Lindelwauld with no problems...but after I got off at Atco, I had no idea where to go. I'd walked out without bringing the address or phone number with me, and my cell phone is so old, I couldn't look it up quickly. I thought I'd take a bus to the White Horse Pike, but the next one wasn't until 1:11. I didn't want to be late, so I thought I'd walk.

I'm going to make a very long story short. I made a wrong turn and ended up half-way down the road before I finally made it to the White Horse Pike...and then, I couldn't find the insurance company. I hiked for what seemed like miles but was probably only a mile or so. Atco turned out to be almost literally in the middle of nowhere, mainly a collection of medical and insurance offices, small local businesses and shopping centers, and basic franchise banks and drug stores. It was more than 40 minutes after I was supposed to have arrived when I finally asked first a construction office, then a post office for directions.

I got lucky at the post office and ran into Donna, one of the women managers at work. Turns out she lives near Atco and was dropping off her own packages. We looked up the address online, and I showed her the original e-mail the Chief Executive sent me. We finally came to the conclusion that the executive said he wanted people to join his sales team. I am not a salesperson. I don't want to sell things. I finally just agreed with Donna that it probably was a waste of time to even go to the interview, especially since it was past 2 by then and I was tired, hungry, and frustrated.

I asked Donna to drop me off at a pizzeria in the small shopping center I saw on my earlier hike. I hadn't eaten since breakfast! When I came in, all of the cooks and bus boys were gathered around the TV. I was shocked when I heard the news about the gunman who had killed 20 children in an elementary school in Connecticut.  God, that is just horrible. Why do people think they can do this, especially to kids? My heart goes out to everyone who was effected by this tragedy.

After all that, I just wanted to get home. I thought of waiting for a bus, but I was tired of standing. I walked back to the train terminal, making it well before the train arrived. The train to Lindenwauld was on time; the PATCO train to Collingswood actually left a few minutes early.

When I finally got in around 4:30, I put on White Christmas to get my mind off the tragic news and continued my Christmas baking with the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. In this smash hit musical from 1954, Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye play two old army buddies who fall for a pair of cute sister singers (Vera-Ellen and Rosemary Clooney). They follow them up to Vermont, where they hope to cozy up to the girls in the snowy mountains. Turns out it hasn't snowed in Vermont in weeks. The lack of precipitation is causing the inn belonging to their old general (Dean Jagger) to lose business. The two first bring the show they're currently starring in and producing up to the inn to draw business. Then Bob gets the great idea to cheer the General up by inviting their army buddies for a reminder of how much he meant to them, but Clooney thinks he has other ideas. Of course, everything clears up smoothly, just in time for the title to come true...

While I prefer the earlier "White Christmas" movie Holiday Inn (the movie the song was introduced in), this one has its moments, too. Irving Berlin provided some decent new music, including the Oscar-nominated "Counting Your Blessings" and the hilarious "Sisters." Some fairly odd numbers were created for his older ones as well. (Check out the bizarre color scheme on "Mandy.") The movie works best in the first half, where the couples are meeting each other and we're putting on a show. The romantic contrivances with Clooney and Crosby in the second half drag things down quite a bit.

Actually, my favorite number from this film is the first, and the one of the simplest and most touching musical numbers ever committed to celluloid  Bing sings "White Christmas" to an audience of soldiers while accompanied by nothing but a tinkling music box, while bombs go off in the distance. It's such a lovely moment, it's almost hard for the rest of the film to measure up to it.

Oh, and I e-mailed that executive when I got home and told him I wasn't interested in a sales job. Yes, I know I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth...but they never even called me. The only message on my phone when I got home was from a telemarketer. You'd think they would have wondered where I was. I don't regret the trip, though. I did get a good, long walk in, and I got to be outside on a gorgeous, sunny day.