I Need a Vacation

I spent most of a sunny morning and early afternoon continuing my fanfiction. Han drives the carriage through the Enchanted Woods to the Kingdom of Kashyakk. This is the home of the wild Wookie Stallions, wild horses that roam free in the grasslands and forests. The gypsy thief was more-or-less raised by the Stallions and the local bandits after his own parents abandoned him. He's hoping they can stay there, with Chewbacca's herd and his old friend Maz, until the Imperials lay off their search and Han can finish fixing the Falcon.

Ran the last few episodes of the second season of Sailor Moon while eating leftovers for lunch and getting ready for work. I noticed some really interesting parallels between Rini's storyline in the end of the series and The Force Awakens. Rini, like Ben, was seduced by a creepy, supposedly "wise" creature who was really using them for their own agenda. She was turned against her parents and friends and did try to kill them...and actually did kill one person (though he wasn't related). Both Ben and Rini are more-or-less brainwashed into believing their family doesn't love them, though I believe the effect was far more prolonged in Ben's case. Rini was, like Ben/Kylo, turned into a different person after she was brainwashed - she's even a different age. The fact that Sailor Moon was eventually able to get through to Rini leaves me hope that Ben will see the light eventually in a movie or two, though it'll probably be a far more tortured process. (And maybe serve time for patricide.)

It was an absolutely, positively gorgeous day when I headed to work. The cold of the weekend had been replaced by warm sun, a stiff breeze, and nice lower-60's temperatures. No wonder we were on-and-off steady for most of the evening, and just barely that. There were one or two annoying people, but most folks seemed to be in pretty good moods. It was short and painless, and my relief was right on time. I was in and out with no problems.

(Oh, and I got a lovely birthday card from Lauren today, a pretty spring-ish one with nice colors. She and her parents gave me a 20 dollar bill. Cool. That'll buy me tickets to Zootopia or Batman Vs. Superman on Thursday and a bag of popcorn.)

I was in a really good mood after work and writing went so well, so I went with a comedy as I ate dessert. The Great Muppet Caper is probably my favorite of the 80's Muppet films. Reporters Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo are off to London to investigate a jewel robbery. What they find is Miss Piggy, an aspiring model who works for the fashion designer whose gems were stolen (Diana Rigg) and her less-than-trustworthy brother (Charles Grodin). With the dubious help of the other Muppets, who live and work in the dilapidated Happiness Hotel, our fuzzy trio set out to discover who's behind the thefts...and break more fourth walls than previously thought possible. Not as iconic as Muppet Movie, but the plot is better, and there's some great gags, including Miss Piggy's water ballet sequence.

And as of tomorrow...I'm off work. My actual vacation doesn't begin until Wednesday. Still, a day off is a day off. It sounds like it's just as well. It's supposed to rain for part of tomorrow, anyway. I'll get the laundry done and work on writing.