Rainy Day Cartoons

Awoke to rain, which would continue on and off in some capacity all day. I forgot to do You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown last night, so I watched it while eating breakfast. The votes are in at the Peanuts' school. Charlie Brown has no chance of being elected for class president, but Linus might have a shot at winning...until he starts making speeches about the Great Pumpkin.

Spent the rest of the morning finishing out my story. Palpatine shoots his purple lightning at Leia. The flower's magic protects her and Chewie. He turns into an owl and takes off with Han before she can touch him with the flower. She uses the flower to open all the cages in the room and restore the animals' human form, including that of Prince Kes of the Kingdom of Yavin. The men all agree to help her reclaim her fiancee.

Down below, Luke is fighting Darth Vader, trying to convince him that Palpatine was the one who took his Padme from him. Leia restores his human form as well, turning him into the lost knight Sir Anakin Skywalker. Anakin finally helps Kes, Luke, and Wedge, another rescued youth, get the owl on the ground and Han away from him. Leia restores Han's human form, while Anakin gives Chewbacca an evil owl dinner.

Leia and Han return to her shop, but they remain friends with Prince Kes and his wife Shara. They eventually become the godparents of their son Poe. The Kingdom of Naboo is less quick to forgive Sir Anakin's part in the kidnapping and death of many young men. After his trial, he flees into the hills, never to be seen again. Wedge and Luke go back to Luke's hut in Tatoonie, replanting the flower for the next person who may need its magic.

Not too bad. The ending was a little rushed, because I'm eager to get to my next story! The next one will be a long one, a version of The Nutcracker done with the Force Awakens characters. I wanted to start this one a little earlier than I did last year. I'd actually like to be done with it before Christmas this time, or failing that, at least before January.

At any rate, here's The Girl and the Sorcerer at my writing blog, Archive of Our Own, and Fanfiction.Net.

The Girl and the Sorcerer at Archive of Our Own
The Girl and the Sorcerer at My Writing Blog
The Girl and the Sorcerer at Fanfiction,Net

Charlie showed up around quarter after noon to take out the air conditioners for the season. I've never had someone do that before. I usually just cover the one in the living room. The window in the living room at the end of the dining area looks so strange without an air conditioner sticking out. (I'm glad I won't have to cover it this year. That never really worked, anyway. The cover was too big, and the bungee cords that were holding it on would slip off.) Both machines are resting in my back room for the winter.

He also brought me a small printer he didn't need. I've been wanting to replace mine. It eats ink like it's chocolate, and I could never figure out how to work the wireless function. This one is older, but it's also smaller. I'm hoping it'll fit my needs better.

Ran Garfield's Thanksgiving while eating a quick lunch and getting ready for work. Garfield is looking forward to the biggest meal of the year...until Liz the Veterinarian puts him on a diet the day before the holiday. To make matters worse, Jon invites her over for Thanksgiving dinner. Jon's not the world's best cook on a normal day, and his attempt at turkey is...well, a real turkey. Good thing Grandma from the Christmas special knows how to make things right.

It was raining lightly when I headed to work. It picked up later in the afternoon. Good thing I spent most of the day scrubbing registers. I did end up rounding up carts for an hour around 3, but only because the bagger who was doing the carts was done for the day, and there wouldn't be another besides me until 5. Thankfully, it was never more than mildly steady the entire day.

The rain had slowed down a bit by the time I went home, allowing me to arrive damp but not soaked. The first thing I did when I got in, even before changing into dry clothes, was wash the window where the dining area air conditioner had been. It was disgusting. I doubt the whole window's been washed in over a decade. The three paper towels I used were black when I finished with them.

Between the window, cleaning the registers, and rounding up carts, I badly needed a shower. After I got out, I finished Garfield while eating an omelet with cheddar cheese, orange peppers, and mushrooms. Moved onto Lego Star Wars after I did the dishes. Completed "Invasion of Naboo," "Death Star Escape," and "Cloud City Trap," including the remaining pieces and True Jedi. (The "Disarm Stormtroopers" extra was a lifesaver on "Death Star Escape." Now I could build that mosaic without being constantly shot at.) Got True Jedi and the red brick on "Through the Jutland Wastes," but didn't get far enough to get more pieces.

Ended the night with She-Ra: Princess of Power. The female counterpart of He-Man debuted in 1985, as the male version was winding down. She-Ra is the magical identity of Princess Adora. She's the sister of Prince Adam/He-Man, who was stolen from her parents as a baby by the evil Hordak and taken to Etheria. Hordak and his Horde run Etheria with a heavy hand, turning anyone who disagrees with them into mindless slaves. She-Ra and the members of the Great Rebellion fight their evil rule.

The first five episodes of the series (which would eventually be strung into a movie, The Secret of the Sword) introduce the main characters and how Adam discovered his previously unknown sibling. I watched a few He-Man episodes again in the late 90's-early 2000's in college...and thought they were awful. The dialogue was laughable, the characters were annoying, and the animation was stiff as hell. I had no idea why we watched them as kids. Our parents were right - they were glorified commercials.

Now, almost 20 years later, I find the shoddiness to be campy and colorful rather than annoying. Yes, the dialogue is still terrible, and yes, the characters are stock tropes. The action and melodramatic twists and turns and just plain over-the-top-ness of it can be amusing as hell, and I always found She-Ra and her girls to be slightly more interesting than He-Man's collection of primary-colored biceps. Hopefully, the writing picks up a bit in the remaining series.