The Woman From Oaklyn

Began a cloudy, thickly humid day with work. It's the middle of the week and the middle of a month that, other than the 4th of July, doesn't have much going on. There were barely any carts to round up this morning. I ended up inside for most of the day.

I was doing returns when an old man in a plaid shirt asked me where the tomatoes and fruit were. I directed him to the produce department. Went back to doing my job until I strolled to the bakery department to give them some smashed dessert sponge cakes. He was there, looking for the tomatoes again. He demanded that I do his shopping and bring him cat food. I asked him what kind. He said "any kind, just bring cat food." I didn't see why he couldn't do it himself - his arms and legs weren't broken - but I grabbed a bag of the Acme's generic dry cat food anyway. When I returned to the produce department, he was gone.

Found him in one of the frozen food aisles, talking to a manager. I tried to hand him the cat food, but the bag broke, spilling hard bits all over! Not only was I embarrassed, but he called me an idiot! I was so upset.

(I later discovered I wasn't the only person he was rude to. The floral department manager said he'd tried to demand that she do his shopping, too. She couldn't. She had balloons to fill and organize. The customer service manager who helped me clean up the cat food mess also admitted he'd tried to get her to find things for him, then complained about me when she wouldn't do it.)

I spent the next two hours mopping up the many leaks around the freezers. There was a huge puddle in aisle 11 again. (Which is, ironically, the cleaning supplies aisle.) I had to remove the long pellet-filled bags that had absorbed all the water they were going to, replace them with dry ones, and mop up the mess.

First of all, I had no idea where the bags were. The manager who helped me with the cat food had to show me to the receiving docks, where they were drying on a rail. Second, cleaning up the previous ones was a lot harder than it looked. They were so sodden with sour water, they were hard to lift and dripped horribly when I did. By the time I got back to the receiving docks, it was showering. While the rain hopefully washed that sour smell off the bags, it meant I got wet.

I was never so happy to get home. Thankfully, the rain had taken a temporary leave of absence by 2 PM. I arrived sweaty but not soaked. As soon as I got in the door, I opted to take a rare mid-day shower to get all that dirty water and the sour smell from the leaks off.

Went into writing after my shower. I took out my frustrations over the customer at work in my story. Lando's ship is driven by a very pompous old retired admiral. He assumes Leia, who has changed into simpler clothing, is a servant and orders her to bring him his lunch while he's steering. Leia does what he asks, but the boat is riding over bouncy waves, and she spills his meal. He yells at her, telling her that she's incompetent and stupid. She counters by yelling that he's an ignorant jerk who should get his own meals. She's a princess, and she won't put up with his obnoxiousness.

Lando stops as close to the ship's graveyard as he dares. He tries to talk Leia out of it, but she's adamant. Han did her a favor by not turning her over to Jabba despite his orders. Now, she wants to do him a favor. She dives into the water and swims to Jabba's "palace," which is in an especially palatial ship on the bottom of the ocean. She's met by two mermen with shark's tails who are some of Jabba's guards, who bring her to the throne room.

 Broke around 5:30 for a quick dinner of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and cheddar cheese. After I ate, I finished the cleaning. I vacuumed, did the windows, and quickly dusted around all the objects in this apartment. (I reserve really heavy cleaning for the spring and the fall before Christmas.)

Ran The Man From U.N.C.L.E while I cleaned. It's the early 60's, and the height of the Cold War. Debonair CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavil) and dedicated KGB agent Illya Kurakin (Armie Hammer) are forced to work together when their countries discover that a criminal organization lead by nefarious Victoria Vincigurerra (Elizabeth Debicki) that has access to nuclear bombs that could destroy the balance of power in the world. Their only lead is Gaby (Alicia Vikander), the daughter of a missing German scientist. As the two men learn to put aside their differences and work together, they also begin to realize that Gaby isn't what she seems...and neither is their mission...

Ooh, I liked this one. This was really cute. Cavil, Hammer, and Vikander all played well off each other as the mysterious trio who are never quite sure if they can trust the other two. Hugh Grant plays against type as Gaby's nerdy boss, and Debicki makes a delicious villain. Like The Fugitive, I haven't seen the 60's show this is based after, so I really can't compare them. I suspect that the differences may be part of why this movie was a flop last summer.

If you like light crime caper films or light-hearted action movies (and are willing to take it on its own terms), this is a stylish treat that deserved far better than it got in the theaters.

Finished the night with more Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. "Falcon Flight," the Millennium Falcon's trip through the asteroid field, was a bit more complicated than the previous Original Trilogy flight rounds. You had to blow up asteroids...some while they were still moving! "Dagobah" was even harder. Some of the puzzles here were really complicated, and others involved that dreaded Jedi double jump that I still can't master.