Radio Days

Ugh. I began another gray, gloomy day by cheering myself up with some Remember WENN as I ate breakfast. "A Girl Like Maple" takes us to the mid-third season. Maple LaMarsh briefly takes over hosting "Men In the Headlines," a prestigious news show, from Hilary. She falls head-over-heels for the handsome congressman she interviews, but he only hears her in a made-up cultured voice. Her real voice is a Brooklyn accent. Maple's afraid he won't like her if he knows who she really is, so she convinces Hilary take over her part - and accent - during the soap opera "The Hands of Time." Maple finally learns that it doesn't really matter what you sound like - what matters is you're ok with being yourself.

We move back a little in the third season for "A Star In Stripes Forever." Betty gives Mackie the station manager job temporarily while she's away for a few days. Mackie lets it go to his head and turns into "a little dictator"...until a gangster shows up with ties to Mackie's past. Mackie would do anything to avoid ending up in the Monongahela River. The others do their best to help.

Despite the weather, work was busy the entire day. People are starting to restock after spring break and the spring holidays. The day went by very quickly, with few problems. It quieted down enough by 6 PM that I was able to get off without a relief.

I didn't have much grocery shopping to do under any circumstances. I mostly needed fruit - apples, bananas, grapefruit. I saw a customer buy blood oranges for the first time this year. I love blood oranges. I bought three. Restocked peanut butter, blueberry preserves, frozen peas, cream of mushroom soup, and diced tomatoes. Thought I'd give the French Toast Crunch a shot. I had it a few times in the late 90's  - early 2000's, but not since it's been revived. The Toast Crunch variations were on sale for $2.00.

And this week's schedule is...no schedule. I'm on my surprise vacation, starting Sunday. I don't have too many plans, since I didn't know about this until three weeks ago. I'll be doing my biannual trip to the Deptford Mall on Monday. My birthday is Tuesday. I have counseling late in the day - maybe I'll have a nice lunch in Haddonfield and a slice of cake. Otherwise, I'll just be doing the usual chores and things around the apartment.

When I got home, I ate the turkey chili I tossed in the Crock Pot before work for dinner while continuing my WENN marathon. Jason Alexander appeared on the third season episode "Nothing Up My Sleeve" during the height of his fame in Seinfeld, another unusual 90's sitcom. His role here is about as far from that show as can be, though. He plays a charming mentalist who uses his abilities to con secrets out of women and get lots of free publicity. The others are worried that Hilary may be falling for the conniving magician. Hilary has a few tricks of her own to dish out...but as it happens, so does he.