When Good and Bad Fantasy Characters Get Together

I began the day with work. Once again, it was off and on busy, if a bit busier during rush hour. We had long lines more because we were short on help than actually being busy. Thankfully, there were no major problems, and I was in and out. Picked up shampoo on my way - Herbal Essences was on a good sale, and they had the curl formula again after it disappeared for a while.

It was such a lovely day, I went straight to Sonic for dinner. I wish I hadn't. I got there at 5:30, and they were very busy with rush hour travelers. I had to sit and listen to a family with three kids make a ton of noise. The little girl screamed that her brothers were picking on her. The mother screamed at them and sent the little girl crying to the car - you could still hear her in the car from across the patio. The mother screamed again when the waiter came out with their meals and wanted to be paid. She claimed she paid by card - it must not have gone through. She threw an absolute fit and demanded to see the manager. An apologetic young woman came with my meal at that point. I decided I wanted to save my eardrums and opted to eat at the wooden picnic table on the side of the Acme instead. Some guy was sitting there mumbling and talking to people who came out. He sounded a bit off, but if he was a nut, at least he was a quiet, polite nut.

Watched more of Once Upon a Time before and after work. I'm beginning to warm up a bit more to this show. The action has picked up a great deal, and I'm getting fond of quite a few of the characters, including thief-turned-sheriff Emma Swan, junk dealer Rumpelstiltskin, and an impossibly handsome and roguish Captain Hook. The multiple entwined plots are still a little complicated and soap-opera-ish for me, but some of the action set pieces are awesome - I loved the sequence in the giant's castle. I'll see what I can watch of the set this week...then dig around for the show from the beginning.

Oh, and American Girl just announced more historical retirements on their Facebook page. The relative failure of Marie Grace and Cecile must have put Mattel off the "Best Friend" line. Kit and Julie's "Best Friend" dolls Ruthie and Ivy are being archived, along with Marie Grace and Cecile. It's too bad. For one thing, they're removing two minority dolls, which is going to upset a lot of people who are calling for more minority characters in the historical line. Ivy's the only Asian historical character.

Marie-Grace and Cecile only debuted in 2011. They had myriad problems from the start - their interlaced stories didn't allow for much character development, their clothing was said to not be all that well-made, they were constantly on sale. This is a shame, because the dolls themselves are really beautiful, and I think AG could have done more with them if they'd expanded on their time period, made one character or the other the lead instead of having two leads, or given them better-made clothing that suited the dolls and their time.