Larger Than Life

Actually, I spent most of the morning reading The Hound of the Baskervilles and writing in my journal. When I did finally get out of bed, I put on my Bee Gees Greatest Hits album while making Banana Brown Sugar Pancakes. (Which came out quite nicely.) Some of my favorite Bee Gees songs came out in the later 70's - early 80's, when disco was just on the wane. Among the numbers I fondly recall dancing to with Rose during my early childhood are "Winds of Change," "Nights On Broadway," "Love You Inside Out," and "Spirits (Having Flown)."

Headed to work as soon as I finished breakfast, changed, and packed lunch. I was bagging today, and I was glad. It was too nice of a day to spend entirely indoors. I did get to round up carts for an hour, but they already had two other guys out doing the same thing, and they weren't eager to share duties. I spent the rest of the day doing returns (and was in the register for 20 minutes). There were no really major problems, and I was able to head out with no complaints.

It was such a lovely day, I rode home the long way down Nicholson Road. Though it was busy with Sunday traffic heading to the Shore, I still enjoyed the ride. The sky was a brilliant, hurts-your-eyes blue, the sun shown softly, and the wind was down to a gentle breeze. Once I got onto Manor Avenue, it was downright perfect. There were lots of people out and about - I dodged a ton of fellow bike riders, including a pack of kids on Nicholson and some pleasure riders near Audubon Park.

Spent the next few hours working on my story. Han and Leia have arrived at the Kingdom of the Clouds in the Bespin Mountains. It's an elegant, airy land of fine gingerbread mansions and lovely old cobblestone streets. Han's friend Lando Calrissian lives in the largest of the gingerbread Tudor estates on the end of the main road. He seems a bit antagonistic at first, but eventually welcomes them in. Leia, however, senses that all is not well under Cloud Village's glittering facade...and Cecil gets a similar idea when he accidentally runs into Imperial guards who knock him out and toss him in the dungeon.

Luke also senses the growing unease, even in Dagobah. He does end up leaving to help them. Yoda and the ghost of Sir Ben Kenobi are in despair...but as the ghost of Ben's former mentor reminds them, there is someone else who will defeat Vader...

I listened to the original cast album for My Favorite Year while making scrambled eggs with broccoli and mushrooms for dinner and Pineapple Muffins to take to work this week. This musical version of the 1982 comedy about a young writer who has to chaperon a drunk, once-beloved actor around New York before a big variety show is better in its comedy numbers than the dramatic ones, despite the presence of Tim Curry as the former swashbuckler. Andrea Martin also gets to have fun as the show's only female writer.