Blackout On Friday the 13th

It was cloudy when I woke up this morning, but the sidewalks and streets were still a bit wet. It wasn't raining when I finished breakfast, so I rode to work. Of course, it started showering at a good clip half-way there, but I still only arrived damp.

Work was off-and-on steady for most of the morning. It picked up a little bit around noon, then died again. In addition to the nasty weather, it's the middle of the month, and there's nothing going on again until Memorial Day Weekend. 

I was on my last break and was just pulling out my pen to write down my schedule when suddenly, I couldn't see the pen, the schedule, or anything else. The entire store was plunged into darkness! For a few moments, everything was black and silent. Even our new TV system constantly running documentaries on food history in the employee's room blinked out. 

The lights flashed on after a minute or two, and then the TV about five minutes after that. It took everything up front longer to come back to life. Apparently, anyone who was there couldn't buy their orders because the computers went down, and many of the few customers we had left their orders behind because they wouldn't or couldn't wait. (I later found out that we weren't the only ones who lost power. I don't know what happened, but it went out in the entire area. It never rained again after this morning, and we never had any thunderstorms.)

I did take some customers...but by the time of my last hour, not only was it quiet, but we had plenty of help. We had full carts of returns before the lights went out, so I volunteered to put a dent in those. Got out with no trouble whatsoever. 

Oh, and I did get my schedule once the lights came back on. Not happy at all. Fewer hours, and my next day off isn't until Friday, though I do get Friday and Saturday off. I'm thinking of changing my availability to give me two regular days off. Apparently, some people have done it. I can't keep working 8 and 9 and 10 days in a row without a rest. 

Changed and put on Match Game '74 when I got home. These may have been some of the wildest episodes of the year! In the first, a besotted Kaye Stevens chased a handsome contestant when he lost and was being spun off and for some reason gives a very strange answer to "__ Fry." There's also the question about what anyone who kisses Brett today gets...and Brett isn't overly happy with the contestant's answer! Charles gives his own weird answer in the next show when he claims a fake medium will look into a cherry instead of a glass ball.

Had dinner while Match Game PM was on. This was the one with the very funny former Marine from the Bronx and the pretty lady with the long, elaborate braids. Gene was on the receiving end of a couple of jokes in the first question about what the waiter brought to someone's table when they ordered a ham sandwich. I'm surprised Brett's answer to a later question about what a baseball team was holding wasn't censored! 

Finished the night after a shower with spooky, schlocky fun on YouTube in honor of Friday the 13th. Mystery Science Theater 3000 frequently dipped into the cheesy horror genre...and they didn't come much cheesier than Bloodlust, a low-budget imitation of The Most Dangerous Game from 1961. Four teenagers (a young Robert Reed among them) find themselves stranded on a jungle island. The boys are hunted by a mad man who brings over convicts, shoots them, and stuffs them. For all the cheapness and bad dialogue, this does have a genuinely creepy atmosphere. It gets scarier in the second half, when the kids figure out what this hunting nut is up to. 

Spooks Run Wild is equally cheesy and cheap, even more atmospheric, and a lot more fun. The East Side Kids end up at a haunted house when one of them gets hurt. Another creepy gentleman (Bela Lugosi) takes them in and seems to have control over the injured one. The kids think he's "The Monster," the serial killer who has terrorized the area...but for once, Lugosi is no killer, and the real "Monster" is the last person anyone would suspect. 

Blackout on Manor Avenue

Cheered up a dreary day with breakfast and more Star Wars Rebels. Hera's "Secret Cargo" is Mon Mothma, a senator who had spoken vehemently against the Emperor. Ezra and the Gold Squadron have to defend her against the Empire's best, including their strong new TIE fighter.

Chopper is inadvertently a "Double Agent Droid" when an Imperial officer takes control of him and tries to use him to find the Rebel base. Wedge and Ezra don't believe that there's something wrong at first, but AP-5 knows better...and Hera knows she doesn't like people messing with her droid.

Ezra receives a message from the Holocrons that the "Twin Suns" mentioned earlier in the season are in Tatoonie...where Obi-Wan Kenobi is hiding. The others don't believe that he's still alive, leaving Ezra and Chopper to seek him alone. Maul's hot on their trail, but Tatoonie's other dangers may get to Ezra before he does.

I overslept this morning, giving me just enough time to make brownies before I left. I considered other recipes, but ultimately went with my favorite fudgy brownies from a low-fat cookbook I got in college. They use egg whites instead of eggs; I also use whole wheat flour with the regular and up the antioxidant quota with dark cocoa. Oh, yum. They came out perfectly, just rich and chewy enough.

It was just barely showering when I headed to work. In fact, I arrived only slightly wet. Work was on-and-off busy, not bad for a day between holidays and with lousy weather. I spent it inside, doing trash, checking the bathrooms, bagging, and shelving cold returns. There was plenty of help and no major problems. I even got to check out the Acme's new Eagles Super Bowl gear.

It was a little harder getting home. The rain started to pick up as I headed down the Black Horse Pike. By the time I rolled in, I was trying to dry off damp spots on my knees.

Spent the next few hours writing. Han and Leia introduce the girls to their adopted sons Poe, Finn, and Snap. Seeing that Rose and Kaydel show obvious interest in Finn and Snap, Rey agrees to retrieve Luke the Wizard and his magical artifacts if her sisters are allowed to court the princes and she can learn about magic from Luke.

The power had been flickering since I came home. It finally died all together around 6:30. I was upset at first, especially since I had no idea what had happened, or even who to call to find out. I don't pay the electrical for the apartment. Peering outside made me feel a little better. The whole neighborhood was dark, at least as far as I could see from the big window in the back room. There must have been a tree down on a wire. At least my laptop was fully charged, allow me to finish what I was doing.

For once, I was actually kind of glad the house was an older model. My stove and the water heater downstairs are gas. I was able to have dinner and take a warm shower. Even took the opportunity to defrost the freezer, which I've been meaning to do for a while.

I was messing around on my phone in bed when the power finally came back on. I moved into the back to chat with Lauren and finish out Rebels. It's "Zero Hour" in the two-part season finale as the newly-formed Rebel Alliance gathers to fight the Empire. Grand Admiral Thrawn catches wind of their plans, and after capturing their double agent Kallus, attacks their base. Hera and Zeb join the pilots, while Kanan tries to get the stubbornly neutral Bendu to join their cause. After a ship crashes into one of the Imperial star destroyers, Ezra's able to escape long enough to get help from Sabine and a few members of her family. They infiltrate the Rebel base and manage to rescue the others, including Kallus, thanks to an angry Bendu.

I have to admit, I've really grown fond of this show. What I like about Rebels is the family dynamic between the leads, with Hera and Kana as the parents, Ezra and Sabine as the kids, and Chopper and Zeb as cool older uncles. You won't find a group like this anywhere else in the Star Wars universe. This is also one of the few times that you actually get to see the leads physically grow and change - Ezra and Sabine are noticeably older and more mature this season than they were previously.

It's a shame that from what I've heard, the current season 4 will be its last. It's been really fun to watch this family and the Rebel Alliance grow up together. I will add that, as with previous seasons, a working knowledge of the Star Wars universe - at least the Prequel Trilogy, Clone Wars cartoons, Rogue One, and New Hope - is necessary to understand most of what goes on here.

If you're already a fan of either the Prequel Trilogy, Original Trilogy, Rogue One, or the Clone Wars series, jump right on this starship. If you're new to the Star Wars universe, you'll really need to check out the movies and/or Clone Wars before coming here.

Lazy Day

My day began in darkness. I awoke at 3:15AM to the sounds of nothing. There was no light at all, not even from the clock on the wooden crate I use for a bedstand. The air conditioner and fan weren't even running. I stumbled to the bathroom (my bladder woke me up in the first place), then stumbled to the front door and stuck my head out. It was freezing, especially compared to yesterday's heat! I pulled back in and switched the air conditioner off, then grabbed a flashlight. As I returned to bed, my alarm clock blinked back to life, and the fan started whirring again.

Today is the last day I can get away with doing more-or-less nothing. I watched The Muppet Movie, listened to Broadway cast albums with traveling or vacation themes (the 1953 Shirley Booth vehicle By The Beautiful Sea and the original 1949 Carol Channing Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), made muffins for Lauren's parents as a thank-you present, and worked on that Monkees fanfic.

I didn't even do much at work. We were dead for most of the day, thanks to hot but dry weather. They did ask me to stay later (I should have known a lot of the teenagers wouldn't want to work on the first gorgeous day we've had since before the Fourth), but I declined - I appreciated the offer, but I'm not supposed to be working on my knee at all, much less extra hours. They really need to start hiring more reliable people.