Blown Away

I slept in and had just enough time for a quick breakfast before doing a little bit of writing. Obi-Wan and Anakin bring the twins downstairs to their cellar on their 17th birthday. Obi-Wan gives Luke a set of books of ancient magic; Anakin gives Leia his prized magical blue crystal sword. As the oldest still-living known Jedi, Obi-Wan anoints the twins Jedi Knights and tells them it's time to step up their training. Padme watches them, proud of her children, but worried that the revelation of their powers may attract Palpatine. The Queen's head adviser is an evil shape-shifter whose favored form is a crow, the better to keep an eye on his enemies.

Got so into writing, I didn't break 12:30...and I had to work at 1! Thankfully, despite the crazy wind, I arrived just in time. It was really busy when I arrived, and the carts were empty. Not only is it the beginning of the month, but when you could get out of the wind, the day was gorgeous, sunny and bright. Spent the first half of my shift helping the other baggers with carts, and the second doing returns.

For once, the trouble today had absolutely nothing to do with any human...and everything to do with Mother Nature. The wind had been so fierce on Friday, it blew the crimson plastic right off the giant "M" in the Acme sign on the front of the building! Today's howling gusts took off part of the A and the bottom half of the E. When we weren't dealing with the carts, the other baggers and I had to sweep up the smaller bits of plastic and gather the larger pieces and deposit them behind a less-used trash can so they wouldn't hurt anyone.

I ended up going home a bit earlier than I planned. I thought the schedule said 1 to 7 yesterday. I was only there from 1 to 5. That gave me the chance to buy pads at work and take a nice, long bath when I got home. I really needed that. I can't remember the last time I had a bath. I listened to one of my jazz CDs and went over a couple of self-help books.

Listened to my original Broadway cast LP for Camelot after I got out of the tub. This is the 1960 musical adaptation of The Once and Future King, with Richard Burton as Arthur, Julie Andrews as Guinevere, and Robert Goulet as Lancelot. I'm not really a big fan of this one, but once again, I had it on for the medieval atmosphere. It does have some good songs, including "I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight," "If Ever I Would Leave You," and "What Do the Simple Folk Do?" Other songs, including one for villain Mordred (Roddy McDowell), are dull, and Goulet sounds more like a lounge singer than anyone's idea of a virtuous knight. Still, if you're a fan of songwriters Lerner and Lowe (this was their big follow-up to My Fair Lady) or the cast, it's worth a hearing.

Spent the rest of the evening poking around online, occasionally checking out the Oscars win list. To be honest, only a few of the nominees besides The Last Jedi even remotely interest me. Considering last year was not a great one for animation, I don't think anyone really thought Coco was going to lose Animated Picture. I'm dying to see The Greatest Showman, The Post, and ultimate Best Picture winner The Shape of Water. I wasn't a big fan of the original Blade Runner...but so many people gave high marks to its sequel that I may have to check it out when it turns up on DVD. And I was a huge figure skating fan around the time the events of I, Tonya were taking place and remember them very well.