On the Dark Side

It was humid, cool, and gloomy when I rolled out of bed this morning. Cheered up the gloom with breakfast and one of my K-Tel collections, Pure Gold. I really want to find more of these. It's fun to hear a lot of great older songs that just don't show up on the radio anymore. According to Wikipedia, the company is still around today, mostly focusing on online distribution. Good. I'd love to look around for their albums from the 80's, and maybe dig up the Hooked On Classics series, too.

Didn't have a lot of time for writing before work. I did manage to get in that Chip has now gotten a job at Jasper Hutt's sleazy Desert Sun Palace Casino as a translator and Arturro as a waiter. It was hard to concentrate with someone or the other screaming curses at the dogs downstairs for making a mess. Sheesh, it's not their fault they're old.

I got so tired of the noise, I ended up walking to work a bit earlier than planned. I did get stuck as a cashier all day. The cashier they originally had scheduled was really a produce worker and was needed for his actual job. As it turned out, they probably could have lived without both of us. We were as dead for most of the afternoon as we have been for the last few days. The gloomy weather wasn't exactly encouraging. Plus, most kids are now back in school full-time. Their parents and grandparents no longer have to entertain them or feed them all day.

It did pick up by the time rush hour hit at four, but even that wasn't as bad as it could have been. The worst thing that happened all day was my register decided to slow down, and then freeze. At least it did it as I was finishing an order, and the order behind them was small. Everyone was in decent moods for a dark, damp afternoon, too.

It was starting to shower when I was walking to the Acme. It did rain harder later on. I heard the rain on the roof after I got in. By 5:30, it was just down to clouds and humidity.

I was half-way home when I encountered a neighbor and her children on Kendall Boulevard. I'd told her about the bike tire dying when I was really upset over it yesterday. She offered to loan me one she never used until I could get mine working again. It was nice of her, but the bike wasn't in the best of shape. The handlebars kept moving downward, and I could barely get on the high seat. Not to mention, the tires were deflating on this one, too. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I likely couldn't use it. I tried to ride it home, anyway.

Tried something different for dinner. The Acme's having a big frozen pizza sale. Between that and the tasty frozen pizzas I had at Lauren's house in July, I thought I'd pick one up for a quick meal. I was looking at the Stouffer's frozen French bread pizza when I realized I didn't need to buy one. All I needed was French bread. (Or Italian bread - the loaves of French bread were too long for one person.) I already had tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese at home. Topped them with farm market-fresh mushrooms. The rest of the loaf will be made into garlic bread to go with pasta and meatballs tomorrow.

Listened to Bruce Springsteen while I ate. Born In the USA was one of the most influential albums of my childhood. "The Boss" was a big deal down at the Shore, a real "Jersey Boy who made good" who never lost his gritty working-class appeal. I lost count of how many times we played this record. I'm surprised it wasn't completely worn out by the end of the 80's. For all the hits from this one - the driving title song, "I'm On Fire," "Dancing In the Dark," "Glory Days," "Cover Me," "My Hometown" - my favorite number has always been the raucous 50's style dance ditty "Workin' On the Highway."

And I'm glad I got in when I did. The rain's been on and off for the rest of the night. (It's off at press time.) It looks like it'll be showering for the next few days as the remnants of Hurricane Irma blow through here. I'll try inflating the tires on the other bike, but if that doesn't work, I'm probably going to just walk to the laundromat, work, and the Oaklyn Library and skip the Haddon Township Library this week. None of my books are due, and I took the DVDs out of the Oaklyn Library.