Started out a hot, dry morning with more Bowery Boys. They're Feudin' Fools when Sach inherits a broken-down shack down south that turns out to be the former home of the rivals of the Smith clan. The Smiths aren't too fond of the Joneses...or anyone else....and will shoot any Jones they get their hand on, Sach included. Sach and Slip do their best to convince the hillbillies that they're anything but Jones. Things get really hot when bank robbers take refuge in their cabin and the Boys and Louie have to figure out how to get help, without getting shot by either the locals or the robbers!
I headed out for a long list of errands, volunteering, and appointments around 11. First on the list was the closest one, the Oaklyn Library. They're repairing the road outside the library, and have been on and off for weeks. Between that and the heat, the only people in the library besides me was the librarian and one other woman who was there for a chat. I organized DVDs, shelved some picture books, and left in about a half-hour.
I cut across Newton Lake Park to get to my next stop, the Haddon Township Library. The park wasn't busy, despite it being lunch time. I saw nobody, not even a jogger. The Library was much busier. A lot of people must have taken out DVDs during the rainy weekend. There weren't that many there, and I had absolutely no problems fitting everything in for once, even the "S" titles on the kids' DVD shelves. I did find a book of fairy tales featuring strong female characters on the sale rack and got my library card renewed. (Didn't take anything out - I won't have the time for much of anything this week.)
Went straight up to Haddonfield after leaving the Library. I cut through the condos by Haddon Township's community pool complex to get around some repairs on Crystal Lake Road. It took me out on West Park Drive, a couple of blocks from the pools. Wish I'd known about that shortcut last winter, when the ice was really packed on West Park Drive. Might have made my winter Haddonfield trips a little easier.
I didn't have much money, so I had a quick lunch at NickyB's Pizza around the corner and down the block from Mrs. Stahl's office. It was the tail end of the lunch hour, and they were still pretty busy. I ate a slice of cheese and a slice of mushroom in the corner while reading my new fairy tale book and listening to ESPN on their TV.
NickyB's is next-door to Haddonfield's City Hall. Cutting through the back of the City's Hall's parking lot took me right to the yard behind Mrs. Stahl's office. In fact, I was at least 20 minutes early. I read my new fairy tale book until she was ready.
Though we did discuss my busy month and all the traveling I've done, a lot of what we went into was my lack of acceptance of myself. I just don't feel like a real adult. Yes, I know I live alone and have a job and buy my own clothes and food. I also don't raise kids or have a normal job like most other adults my age have. I'm really kind of jealous of Rose there. No matter how long it took her to become a lawyer, she knew what she wanted to do and how to get it. I really have no idea.
A lot of it once again dates to childhood. Most kids who grow up in a beach town are expected to take jobs the moment they turn 14 and get their working papers. They're needed for the summer businesses. My sisters and I were babysitting as early as age 8, and we had friends who worked for their parents' small businesses under the counter for years before they turned 14. While Rose never had trouble getting a job as a waitress or in a candy store, I had a much harder time. I'd try in the winter, when it was too early to be hiring, or in the summer, when all the jobs were taken. I never seemed to time things right. I didn't have any friends to recommend me to work for their parents, either. By the time I was 14, Mom was a stay-at-home parent to take care of Keefe, and I didn't think I could handle working on a fishing boat with Dad.
The one summer job I ever got on my own was as a mother's helper to a yuppie woman and her very sweet son. She was nice enough and the kid was adorable, but she'd just separated from her husband. Her house was a mess, and she was never organized with anything. She didn't even pay me the last check she owed me. When I tried to call her back by the end of that summer, I was basically told she'd gotten back with her husband and no longer needed my services. After that, the few summer jobs I had were through an organization in Atlantic and Cape May Counties that found jobs for disabled or troubled teenagers.
I don't belong in the Acme job. I know that. I've known that for a decade. Trouble is, I don't know how to get a job I would be suited in, or even what jobs would work for me besides writing. I'm no good at going door to door and begging strangers look at my resume. What would I say? I don't know anyone who could recommend me to something that would work, either. I wish I did. No one I know is interested in the same kind of work I am. I keep hoping to meet people who could recommend me to an office somewhere, but I don't know where those people would be.
I don't accept myself because I never seemed to do anything acceptable. I've been put down and made fun of for what I am and what I enjoy since I was in kindergarten. The media doesn't help, either. I'm nothing like the single career women I've been seeing on TV since the 80s. (That's another reason I don't have cable. I can see the things I want to see...without being subjected to the stuff other people want everyone to see.) I don't know any other adults in Camden County who live the way I do.
She pretty much said keep doing what you're doing - go on trips, try to get out and enjoy yourself and feel better about being an introvert. I'm not going to have the time or money for any major traveling this week, but I may try for some museums in Philadelphia, the King of Prussia Mall, and Lancaster in late August and September.
My next couple of stops were fast ones. I took out money at the Haddonfield PNC. I got it inside at the desk, since their ATM machine didn't seem to be working. Bought contact lens solution at the Rite Aid on the border of Haddonfield and Westmont. Enjoyed a refreshing birch beer water ice at Primo's in Westmont. (For some reason, it tasted a little of cherry - perhaps the girl who scooped it was scooping cherry before I came in.) Was hoping to find a CD holder at the big Walgreens. I didn't, but I did get two cute flash drives on good sales. One was in the shape of a pencil. The other was in the shape of Lightning McQueen.
Went straight home after Walgreens. The digital sign at the Westmont Fire Station said it was 93 by quarter after 3. Not quite as bad as my last trip to Haddonfield, but not exactly chilly, either. I hit the bath as soon as I got in. That felt absolutely wonderful after running around all day. I listened to Bing Crosby and went over From Broadway to the Bowery, the book on the many versions of the Dead End Kids/East Side Kids/Bowery Boys that Lauren sent me for Christmas a few years ago.
Continued with Bing and watched Here Is My Heart as I threw together summer vegetables in the fridge and canned chicken for dinner. We trade costume drama for a romantic comedy with music as Bing, a rich singer, poses as a waiter to try to buy a dueling pistol off of the icy, sheltered Russian Princess Alexandra (Kitty Carlisle). Though he already has a girl waiting for him, he still can't help falling for the beautiful princess..even after she snubs him as a commoner.
While no great shakes in the plot department, this was otherwise surprisingly enjoyable. Carlisle, a year away from dealing with the Marx Brothers in Night at the Opera, handles her role as the snobbish royal lady quite well. Bing gets to sing two standards, "June In January" and "Love Is Around the Corner." Nothing you need to go out of your way for, but enjoyable enough if you're a fan of either of the leads or romantic comedy.
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