Life Is a Carnival

Began a cloudy, cool morning with breakfast and The Backyardigans. Tasha is a reporter looking for some "Front Page News" for her grouchy boss Pablo. She's also Super Snap, the speedy superhero. When a robot attacks Bigopolis, Super Snap ends up helping Bug Girl (Uniqua) and Bubble Man (Tyrone) take down this mechanical menace. She's too busy saving them to take the picture, to Pablo's chagrin...but when the robot demands "cheese," she's the only one who knows what it really wants.

Worked on writing for the rest of the morning. Leia tumbles down a mountain and finds herself in a cave. She's having a hard time focusing. Her mind keeps wandering to her failure to save Han and break the curse on Luke. Yoda tries to get her to feel the Force around her...including in the cave. She inches along in the darkness, trying to tune into the Force to guide her. A voice whispers into her ear, one that pushes her further along...

Broke for lunch at 1. Ran another Backyardigans episode while I ate.  "Cops and Robots" have intergalactic police officers Uniqua and Tyrone pursuing bad bots Tasha and Pablo. If they get into the Robot Factory, they'll turn all the robots bad!

 Headed to work shortly after the cartoon ended. Work was very busy for most of the afternoon. I got stuck in the register for a little while and never did finish doing returns, and it took me so long to do carts, my break was late. Spent the rest of the afternoon after break with the carts. By 4:30, the clouds had cleared, the sun was out, and despite the heavy winds, it had become a lovely day. It was too nice to go back inside!

When I got home, I had garlic-seasoned flounder fillets and green beans with almonds for dinner while watching The Muppet Show. Petula Clark appeared on the show towards the end of the second season. While she sings "The Girl from Ipanema" with an extremely tall Muppet monster, Kermit tries to shoo away a persistent moose who showed up in her dressing room.

Did some Wii Sports after dinner. Mostly focused on tennis tonight. I'm getting much better at hitting targets and balls...but I'm still having problems with aiming. The best I've done on the "Timing Your Swing" mini-game is five in a row. Lost the game I played because I had a hard time aiming right. Did better on bowling, my best ever, in fact.

Had even less luck with Lego Star Wars. Of the six bounty hunter missions I did tonight, I was only able to find Princess Leia in the Death Star. Couldn't find Chewbacca in Mos Eisley, Obi-Wan in the sandcrawler, or R2 on Count Dooku's ship. I'll try again next time.

Finished the night after a shower with The Last Waltz. This was the name of the final live concert of 60's-70's rock group The Band. The concert was bolstered by appearances by a star-studded line-up of classic rock, folk, and R&B favorites - Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, and Dr. John, among others. Martin Scorsese filmed the concerts and interviews with the group later. The incredible performances alone make this one of the great concert movies, despite complaints of the lack of focus on some members of the Band. Among the highlights - Waters' "Mannish Boy," The Band's "The Weight" and "Up on Cripple Creek," Young and Mitchell's "Helpless," and the two joining the Band for "Acadian Driftwood."

If you're any kind of fan of 60's-70's rock, folk, or blues, Scorsese, or any of the talent involved, this classic concert is an absolute must-see.