Thursday, November 30, 2017

Oaklyn on Parade

Started off a sunny morning with breakfast and The Backyardigans. Pablo is "Le Master of Disguise," a crafty little fellow who can quick-change into any role. Inspector Austin chases him onto the Orient Express. Now he has to find him, but with suspects like Cowboy Tyrone, Conductor Uniqua, and Circus Performer Tasha around, it won't be easy to root out the clever penguin!

Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon writing. Benjamin Solo, Leia Weston-Solo's son, is jealous of the attention and promotions his mother gives Poe. He accuses him of having skimmed off the company's books. BB is so upset that her brother was accused of being a thief, she bursts into the room to defend him. Leia isn't happy with her son, either. She finally tells Snoke they'll resume their discussions after Christmas and dismisses her lawyer Arnold Hux and her accountant David Mitaka before scolding her son for his outburst. She sends all of them downstairs while she gets paperwork done.

Broke for lunch and to get ready for work at 1. Watched another episode of Rick Steves' Europe while I ate leftovers and yogurt. Rick heads to Burgundy in France to make wine barrels, taste some of the best wines in Europe, check out some gorgeous countryside and several religious retreats and abbeys, and learn the proper way to eat snails.

Work was as quiet as it's been all week. In fact, it was really boring. I gathered baskets and what little trash there was, mopped the bathrooms, and shelved a few items, but I was mostly outside. It was once again a nice night for it, a little cooler than yesterday, but sunny and breezy.

As soon as I finished, I bought a soft pretzel and a Salted Caramel Pepsi for a snack, changed out of my work shirt, and rushed off to Oaklyn. The town's Christmas Parade and Tree-Lighting was tonight. In fact, I passed a line of fire trucks wrapped in colorful lights on Kendall as I headed into town.

I had thought of stopping and watching the parade on Kendall, but I really wanted to see the tree-lighting at City Hall, too. It was worth the ride. Much like at Halloween, kids ran around the parking lot, this time having pretend lightsaber duels with tubes that lit up in rainbow colors. The elementary school choir sang Christmas songs on the ramp up to the main City Hall building while their teacher accompanied them on his guitar. Girl Scouts gave out free cookies and hot chocolate. Someone dressed as a bear wearing overalls greeted kids on the sidewalk.

Thankfully, the parade was only about ten minutes late. While still smaller and less elaborate as the parades in Audubon and Collingswood, it was bigger than last year's. Not only were there more fire trucks from municipalities as far away as Bellmawr and Barrington, but they got more creative with their floats, too. One float had people dressed in Alvin and the Chipmunks costumes. Another did The Nightmare Before Christmas. There were two candy-themed trucks, one with with lights arranged to suggest the American flag, and another with a float that honored firefighters who had died in the line of duty.

After the main parade ended, we had another concert from the elementary schoolers, ending with "Jingle Bell Rock." (They seemed to be the most into "Feliz Navidad.") As soon as they finished, Santa Claus arrived with the Oaklyn fire trucks to help the town's Volunteer of the Year light the tree on the side lawn at City Hall.

While the families with kids poured into City Hall to have their pictures taken with Santa, I headed back towards town. Ended up having dinner at The Square Meal, a sandwich shop that specializes in fresh, healthy ingredients. I had a grilled cheddar cheese sandwich on sourdough bread with a yummy kale and cabbage salad. Watched quite a few people come in from the parade to pick up dinner, including the guy in the bear suit. Turns out the bear in overalls is The Square Meal's mascot, and he was their contribution to the parade.

Hit the shower as soon as I got home. When I finished, I went online and chatted with Lauren while watching Hidden Figures. Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer), and Katherine Goble (Taraji P. Henson) are African-American women who happen to be some of the most brilliant minds at NASA in the late 50's. Mary is determined to become an engineer, eventually fighting to take extra classes at an all-white high school in then-segregated Virginia. Dorothy pushes to become the supervisor of her group, with help from her generally sympathetic boss Al Harrison (Kevin Costner). Harrison also helps Katherine, whose brilliant mathematical equations become indispensable to the men launching John Glenn's shuttle, despite the arrival of a fancy IBM computer and the skepticism of her colleague Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons). Katherine's so vital to the group that when the computer calculates wrong and Glenn's reentry may be botched, it's to Katherine that Harrison turns.

I truly admire all of these women. I am absolutely terrible at math! Just the fact that Katherine could do all those elaborate equations in her head amazes me. They all went on to become successful engineers and mathematicians, too, working with NASA for many years. (Katherine now has a building at NASA named for her.) The scene where the soldier who had questioned Katherine's mathematical ability earlier in the film (Mahershala Ali) proposes to her in front of her family is one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. Spencer was Oscar-nominated as the oldest member of the group, who fights against everything from bathroom discrimination to even white women in the building treating her condescendingly. (It was nominated for Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay, too.)

A must-see for all aspiring young female scientists, mathematicians, and engineers, or for anyone who needs a shot of real-life girl power.

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