Monday, June 09, 2014

It's Vacation Time!

Today was my last day of work before vacation. I spent most of a cloudy, humid, damp morning working on Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies and running cartoons with a travel, vacation,  or June theme. Pontoffel Pock and His Magic Piano is one of the more bizarre Dr. Seuss animated specials from the 70s and 80s. The young man of the title just lost his job at a pickle factory and is facing a broke future in his family's decaying house. He wishes to get away from it all. A fairy grants him his wish and gives him a flying piano that can take him anywhere. His first trip to a remote German-esque mountain town doesn't go well. His second, to an Arabian city, ends with him in trouble with the city's ruler and in love with Eeffa Neefa, an "eye ball" dancer. Now he has to rescue his love and avoid the fairies, who want to take his magic piano back!

The Tiny Toons also have some rescuing to do in the first season episode "Around Europe In 30 Minutes." They're on a whirlwind trip through Europe and somehow end up in Buckingham Palace. Babs and Buster have to save Princess Diana and Prince Charles from a dastardly kidnapping plot, while Plucky and Hampton outrun a crazed chef who wants them on the royal menu!

Bugs Bunny's Busting Out All Over is a Chuck Jones-directed TV special, and one of the better Looney Tunes specials with all-new material. The first short has a young Elmer chasing young Bugs with his pop gun. The second thrusts Bugs into outer space, where Marvin the Martian wants to make him the plaything of his new pet - Hugo the Abominable Snowman! The third is a typical Wile E Coyote/Road Runner chase through the desert.

The 80s/90s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode "Camera Bugged" also involves a strange chase. An alien tourist has a video camera that captures a lot more than pretty pictures - it traps the real object inside! Now the Turtles have to save half the landmarks in Manhattan while keeping the camera out of the hands of Shredder, who wants to use it to get rid of them for good.

Strawberry Shortcake's trip to the big city doesn't go much better. In the 1981 special Strawberry Shortcake In Big Apple City, she's visiting the title metropolis to enter a bake-off. The Peculiar Purple Pie Man is the other finalist, and he'll do anything to insure that he's the big winner! Good thing Strawberry meets a lot of friends who turn out to be a big help, including long-time Strawberry Shortcake toy line regulars Orange Blossom and Lemon Meringue.

Work wasn't too bad. It was actually pretty quiet until rush hour, when it got so busy, a manager had to come in so I could get out on time. Actually, the worst of it was the head-front end manager, Angie, has been transferred to Voorhees. There was cake in the back room as a send-off. I'm going to miss her. She was always really understanding about my not being able to work too late and taking time off.

I had a little bit of grocery shopping to do after work. Lauren is addicted to Pepsi and always keeps a couple of bottles around my apartment when she visits. I got lucky and hit a sale on Pepsi six-packs for $2.20 each. The Acme was having a 25% off sale on their generic cereals. The generic Acme Cheerios cost $1.60 with my employee discount and the sale! I also needed milk and contact lens solution.

And now...I'm on vacation! Lauren isn't due until 7:40 tomorrow evening, but I have a lot that needs to be done before then, including counseling.

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