August Heat

Started a hazy, humid morning with breakfast and "A Quack In the Quarks." Producer Steven Spielburg couldn't resist a few digs at his buddy George Lucas' Star Wars series in the second episode of Tiny Toon Adventures. Plucky brags about his non-existent athletic and academic prowess to a pair of duckling "foreign exchange students." He immediately regrets his lying when it turns out the new students are aliens who duck-nap Plucky to help stop an evil overlord from destroying their planet! Buster, Hampton, and Babs see him being taken by the aliens and go after him.

Laundry was the first thing on the schedule this morning. It really, really needed to be done. I had a huge load, including towels. Good thing the laundromat wasn't anywhere near as busy this morning as it was last Sunday. There were a few guys who were in and out, but I mainly just worked on notes and half-listened to Let's Make a Deal and The Price Is Right. I finally finished about half-way through the latter.

I went home, put everything away, then went right back out again. Did the Westmont Bagel Shop for lunch. It was 12:30 by the time I arrived. Surprisingly, they weren't that busy. I saw one older guy eating a sandwich and a couple of high schoolers having snacks. Most of the kids in this area won't be back to school until next week, so they're still pretty safe during lunch. I had an Egg Salad Club Wrap and fries while listening to the local news and continuing to work on my story notes.

Made a quick stop at Dollar Tree for sponges, both of the regular and the scrubbing variety. They were also surprisingly quiet, with no lines, for once. I was in and out fairly quickly.

Everyone must have gone to the library, probably trying to avoid the hazy heat. The Haddon Township Library was busy. I guess everyone was picking up movies to watch for the last week before the kids go back to school. Both the adult and kids' DVD shelves were overloaded. I couldn't begin to fit everything on the shelves. As soon as people took movies out, I'd be trying to fit in more. I finally gave up after a hour. I thought of taking a couple of cartoon sets out, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to return them. Next week is Labor Day. I may be lucky to get one day off.

Made a quick stop at the Westmont Acme on the way home. I was originally going to buy things for a pudding pie. I ultimately just ended up buying bread for lunch this week (it'll be too hot to make muffins) and an orange-mango sparkling water.

Headed home across Newton River Park. They were surprisingly dead for a summer's day. I saw one jogger and a group of Canadian geese. It must have been too hot for most people to be running around parks. Even the geese were sitting down. (The trucks working on the road alongside the park may have had something to do with it, too. All that algae on the river doesn't smell that great, either.)

Spent the rest of the afternoon finally finishing The Little Mer-Betty. Betty and Enid do rescue Scott from Ruth's grotto and get him up to Maple before Ruth can take his soul. While Betty, Scott, and Maple escape a raging storm in a small skiff, Ruth tries to trap them in a whirlpool. Hilary tricks Ruth into the whirlpool instead and gets her to give Scott his voice back. Mackie finally arrests Ruth; Hilary locks her in a dark, confined cave.

Meanwhile, the other three have made their way back to land. Betty restores Scott's voice. She's able to tell him she was the one who saved him; he's able to tell her he loves her. It seems their kiss earlier was enough to give Betty a partial soul. She'll be a human on land, a mermaid in the water.

The epilogue takes us back to the writer's room. Hilary comes in to get her script and apologizes for her behavior on "A Night on the Town." She enjoyed the attention and got carried away. Betty knows Hilary will probably get carried away again - it's how she is - but the next time, she wants some credit for helping.

Betty also finally tells Scott she doesn't feel appreciated enough. Scott admits that he, too, got carried away by the sponsor's delight in the show and how popular it was. He does appreciate Betty. He couldn't run the station without her. He offers to take her to dinner. They'll have to take the stairs, though. It seems the elevator is stuck....

I just posted this story at my writing blog tonight. I'll see if I can get it up at my Remember WENN fanfiction website after I finish this entry and Fanfiction.Net tomorrow.

Writer's Blog at the Riverside: The Little Mer-Betty

Incidentally, the next story I have planned is the long Remember WENN fantasy novel I've been working on for most of this month. Once again, Betty is daydreaming while writing a script. This time, she's been called on to create a sword-and-knights action show for a new drama. This is set in the late third or early fourth season, Betty's worried about the station, about the Jeff/Hilary/Pavla mess, and wishing she knew what to do about Scott and Victor (not to mention Doug). As usual, her own problems intrude on the story, which turns into the tale of a young woman who discovers her destiny while fighting the Shadow Realm and the evil King of Darkness...

My sister Rose called me while I was working on my story. She invited me to dinner at her house with her son Khai on Thursday evening at 6. Sure! I haven't seen them in a while. It turns out Rose just finished her job at the Camden City Hall and wants to celebrate the last week before Khai starts kindergarten.

She also gave me a mild scolding about how low my fiances have gotten this summer. I've been taking money out of savings to pay the rent...and I do still want to go visit Lauren in October. Why didn't I tell anyone when my hours got bad? Why did I take money out of my emergency savings? Why didn't I try to get a second job?

I understand her concern, but first of all, that would just make me crazy. I don't want to spend all my time running between two jobs I'd probably hate. I've loved this summer because I've been writing again and coming up with tons of story ideas. I don't want to lose that. I'd like to work up to selling it, but it'll be a slow process. I'm not a fast-moving kind of person.

Second, I'm just not good at the job-hunting thing. I don't know where to begin. I have no network of friends who can automatically give me leads to where the right jobs are. Even if I did, how would I talk to human resources? I have trouble dealing with authority figures. If I do get a second job, it'll be at home, based around things I actually want to do.

I finished the story so late, it was nearly 7 before finally made chicken-pepper stir-fry from the last of the leftover seasoned chicken fillets for dinner. Ran a quick cartoon while I ate. Firefly's Adventure (aka Rescue From Nightmare Castle) was the very first My Little Pony special in 1982. Unlike most girl-oriented 80's cartoons, this one embraced its dark side from the outset. The evil demon Tirek is abducting ponies to turn into dragons that'll pull his chariot. Fearless Pegasus pony Firefly convinces normal little girl Meghan to help her and her friends find the Rainbow of Light, the only object that'll put an end to Tirek's reign.

The home-made DVD went right into Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown as I did the dishes and cleaned up from dinner. Snoopy meets a beautiful French poodle and falls in love with her while acting as a watch dog for Peppermint Patty. (Much to the latter's annoyance.) While Charlie Brown reminds Snoopy that marriage is a big responsibility, the kids set up a huge wedding for the engaged pooch couple. Best beagle Spike has his own mishaps earning enough money for bus tickets.