Rainy Day Blues

The rain was coming down in a steady shower this morning when I rolled out of bed. Ate Corn Meal Pancakes while listening to one of my Peter Pan children's records to combat the gloomy day. Their versions of Hansel & Gretel and Thumbelina are fairly close to the originals; Thumbelina even includes the sequence with the beetles that many versions often leave out. The third story is an original, Blinky the Lighthouse Ship. Blinky is so small, most of the big ships in the harbor ignore him. He feels lonely and unwanted, until a storm at sea makes him realize just how important he is.

Spent the rest of the morning writing. Leia spends a happy summer in the woods with Chewbacca, Luke, and the other animals. When fall comes, Luke tells her he's heading south to the fairies' home, hoping to find Han and Chewbacca there. Leia tells him she'll keep an eye out for both.

As it turns out, Leia has her own problems. She's not dressed for the winter, she can barely walk in the snow, and her food sources are gone. The tiny girl finally finds a home with a little pale yellow field mouse named Pelleaon, who offers her food and shelter for the winter...as long as she can amuse his friend...

Broke for lunch at 12:30, then rushed off to work. Work was quite busy when I arrived, with long lines. They slowed down even as the rain vanished. I took a look at the bathroom and did returns for most of the first half of my shift. By the time I had break, the rain was mostly gone...and so was my help. One bagger had called out. I was alone with the carts for a while.

When I was outside pulling carts, I accidentally got a little too close to a car pulling out. I didn't mean to! I let the driver go, then went on my way. I was bringing another row of carts back from the side of the building near Arby's when an angry woman stomped over to me. She snapped at me that I never seemed to be where I should be and that I should do my job! When I was, very obviously, doing my job even as she yelled. I can understand her being upset about the near-miss with the car. Ok, I should be more careful. But why would she say that I wasn't doing my job when I was doing exactly what the managers told me to do? I couldn't think of a reply. All I could do was say that I was sorry.

I was upset for the rest of my shift, and was still frustrated when I got home. I gave a couple of stuffed animals a hug, then put on Mousercise to cheer me up as I made a fried egg wrap with spinach, cheese, and mushrooms for dinner. A kids' exercise record may seem like a strange thing to listen to during meal times, but I really needed the nostalgia. My family had that record for years in the 80's.

Did a few rounds of Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga after dinner. I didn't really do very well with any of them. Probably did the best on "Escape from Echo Base," or at least got the most pieces. "Hoth Battle" and "Falcon Flight" were flying rounds, and I'm just not very good at those. I kept running into AT-ATs in the former and asteroids in the latter. Didn't get True Jedi anywhere.

Ended the night with the original 1959 cast of Once Upon a Time as I went online. Carol Burnett headlined this goofy satire of The Princess and the Pea. Burnett is Winifred, "Fred" for short. She claims she's "Shy," but she's really a boisterous girl from a swamp kingdom who swims moats and fights alligators. The prince (Joe Bova) is under the influence of his obnoxious, talkative mother Aggrivane. She won't let anyone else marry until he does...and she has no desire to let him marry. He falls head over heels for Fred after she's brought in by a local knight. The knight's lady is...expecting...and they need to get married soon. Fred does everything she can to pass the queen's absurd tests, including the one about putting a pea under a stack of mattresses.