Night of the Warm Winter

I overslept this morning and had just enough time to write in my offline journal, eat breakfast, and call Uber for a quick ride to work. No trouble there. The one going to work arrived within 7 minutes. The one going home came in 4. There was no traffic either way, and I made it to work with no time to spare.

To be honest, I could have been infinitely late. We were quiet the entire morning. Most people are probably waiting for Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend to do their shopping. I was in and out with no trouble whatsoever. I even had the chance to grab more cough drops, a two-pack of snickerdoodle cookies on the bakery clearance rack, and a lunch pack with a turkey-pretzel roll slider, pretzel chips, and grapes. 

Changed when I got home, then had lunch while watching more Remember WENN. Betty Roberts is devastated when they learn that, though Jeff Singer survived the bombing of the building they were broadcasting from, Victor Comstock didn't. She drowns herself in writing scripts where nothing remotely bad happens to keep from thinking of why she never admitted her feelings for him. She even insists on "Radio Silence" every hour. It takes a frustrated Scott and a returning Jeff to remind the grieving woman that the best way to honor someone is to live your life. 

Hilary and Jeff are thrilled to be together again, and their baby-talk is starting to bleed onto the airwaves in "I Now Pronounce You Man and Wife...Again." Betty's about ready to throttle both of them, and the sponsor isn't much happier. They insist on getting re-married, but it doesn't go as well as they hoped. Meanwhile, we learn that Ceila got big movie role and has left the station for good (this is last time we see her, though she's mentioned a few times), and Scott recruits sweet organist Eugenia for his new late-night Agitato Alert program.

Oh, and the last of my Christmas presents to myself from Amazon arrived around this point as well. I used the kids' Amazon gift cards to get the soundtrack from Wicked: For Good on CD and the Mercedes Lackey Elemental Masters Sherlock Holmes story The Case of the Spellbound Child. The first two Sherlock Holmes Elemental Masters books are now the only ones I haven't read, mainly because I can't seem to find them anywhere. I might end up getting those online, too. 

Headed out to the Thomas Sharp School after the second episode ended. Good thing I got there slightly early, because we were swamped today. We had 28 pre-schoolers and kindergartners, and some of the older boys joined us on the playground as well. Even in the cafeteria during snack, when I was just reading kids who had finished eating a book about spiders, it was rowdy. 

The playground was a recipe for insanity. Despite the cloudy day, it was warm for January, in the mid-50's. I could understand why the kids took off their jackets. Many of them already wore heavy sweaters or thick long-sleeved dresses. They kept trying to take off their shoes or boots, too. It wasn't THAT warm! They kept throwing mulch and putting it on the slides when they know they're not supposed to and arguing over the swings. That game of tag got so wild, one of the teachers had to end it. And we even let them stay out a little longer than usual, due to the warm weather.

They weren't even able to calm down in the library. One of the teachers spread paper out on two tables, only for the older boys to rip it, press too hard on colored pencils I just sharpened, and draw death faces and scary figures that the little kids should not have been seeing. Other kids annoyed those who were reading or playing quietly. I was honestly not unhappy when I finally finished. 

Went straight home after that. Had dinner while watching Match Game Syndicated. The new-to-Buzzr episodes continue with the only week to feature game show host Tom Kennedy, during his tenure hosting Password Plus. It was also the second of two appearances for Gail Farrell, the only member of The Lawrence Welk Show brave enough to join the lunacy. Considering Tom Kennedy played really well and Gail Farrell wasn't bad, I wish they both had come back. McLean Stevenson had become the third regular by this point, too, taking over as resident sarcastic smart guy.

Finished the night with The Wild Wild West. "The Night of the Howling Light" takes James West to a remote lighthouse, where a mad scientist (Sam Wanamaker) attempts to condition him into assassinating a Native chief who is trying to gain peace for his people. Artemis Gordon knows there's something else going on here, especially when school-educated Native speaker Ahkeema (Scott Marlowe) pressures him into getting a response from President Grant on what will happen to his people.