The Leaning Stacks of Fruit Cups

It was cloudy and cool when I climbed out of bed this morning. Got a quick start with breakfast and the soundtrack from Goldfinger (the latter to drown out Charlie's constant and obnoxious cursing outside). The Star Wars and Superman albums I listened to last week and on Tuesday put me in the mood to dig more largely orchestral soundtracks out of my collection. John Barry did the music for this one, including incorporating the famous "James Bond theme." I didn't know Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, one of the most popular British songwriters of the 1960's, did the lyrics for the much-loved theme song.

Work was on-and-off busy, and a bit of a pain. Someone keeps stacking heavy boxes of fruit cup 4-packs too high in aisle 5. Like most buildings in this area, the Audubon Acme is on a hill. Things are going to tilt, especially if they're stacked high. I'm glad me, the self-checkout cashier, and a manager found the mess early in the morning and got it cleaned up quickly. (And according to the self-checkout cashier and another bagger, this was the third time this week it happened. Hopefully, they got the hint this time. They're losing inventory.)

I got stuck in the registers for a little while around noon, covering for someone's break. Thankfully, I spent the rest of the day rounding up carts, gathering baskets, bagging, and helping old ladies get the flowers they wanted and take them to their cars. There were otherwise no major problems. I ducked out as quickly as I could when I was done.

Had an apple and a snack when I got home. Did another Sailor Moon episode after finishing out yesterday's. Chibi-Usa's friend Kyusuke is totally fearless when it comes to sports...except for the vaulting horse. An accident when he was younger left him afraid to go near it. Tough-minded Jun Jun helps him train for the upcoming sports meet by teaching him not to be afraid. Chibi-Usa also fears the vaulting horse. It takes the need to rescue her friend to show her and Kyusuke not to let fear get in the way of their dreams.

Worked on my story for the rest of the afternoon. Henry leads them to the junkyard where the Junk Pickers worked. The shack they have there turns out to be a laboratory and headquarters, with maps indicating their next move. Henry orders them to bring his engine, grabbing their maps and any papers he can find. The Falcon is kept in a hanger deep under the trash piles. They blast out just as Vader arrives.

The man with him knows what his plans are, though. Robert Fettman tells Vader that Henry's likely heading towards Bespin, the home of a friend of his. He also admits that he lost Luke and Rusty at the Regatta. No matter, says Vader. He knows how to lure the lad out of hiding...

Did a second season episode of Wonder Woman while turning the last of the leftover Tex Mex Bean Dip into Bean, Egg, and Cheese Wraps. "The Queen and the Thief" takes Diana and Steve to Palm Beach to protect jewels belonging to the female monarch of an unstable country. Wonder Woman has to stop a charming professional cat burglar from stealing the jewels from under the queen's nose.

Played Kirby's Epic Yarn for a half-hour or so after dinner. Got through a second "training" mini game. You had to take out 20 enemies in the same amount of time. Definitely not as easy as it sounds. It took me five or six tries to manage it. Tried Yin Yarn again, and still couldn't get those extra patches.

Gave up around 7:30 and put on The Road to Zanzibar instead. This time, Bing and Bob are traveling through Africa, with Bing coming up with increasingly outlandish stunts for Bob to perform. After one of those stunts burns down the carnival they were working for, they go on the lam. First an eccentric millionaire (Eric Blore) sells them a phony diamond mine, then Bing spend more money rescuing a beautiful girl from an auction. The girl (Dorothy Lamour) and her buddy (Una Merkel) hit them up for a ride into the Congo to marry Lamour off to a rich man. The boys chase her, then get mad when they find out they've been taken for fools. They run off again...and this time right in to a native tribe who think they're gods, then want Hope to wrestle a gorilla!

My only problem with this entry is the ending, which feels rushed and anti-climatic after Bing and Bob went native. Otherwise, this is one of the better movies in the series; the opening, with all the crazy stuff Bing gets Bob to do, is especially fun.