Monday, May 23, 2016

Starting With Sun, Ending With Rain

Began a humid and sunny day with an episode of Rick Steves' Europe. I couldn't have told you much about the Czech Republic, then Czechoslovakia, as a kid in the 80's. Most of the countries behind the Iron Curtain were "communist," and thus, bad...at least until the Berlin Wall fell. Despite its often tragic history, there is much beauty to be found in this area. I was actually watching this as inspiration for the next part of my story, which is set in a dark, gloomy Gothic castle. I found the lovely little towns, with their sprightly gypsy bands and smelly cheese, even more interesting.

Spent the rest of the morning (and about an hour or so later tonight, after dinner) working on my story. Han has asked Leia to marry him. She says yes, but they can neither hold their wedding, nor claim his inheritance in Corellia, until they help the others get rid of the Empire. Meanwhile, Lando fought Boba Fett, but the crafty bounty hunter escapes. (No, I am not feeding him to a Sarlacc monster here. That's just a waste of a character. He'll still be useful later.)

While the Rebels are preparing to strike, Vader meets with his master. All of the tax money has been collected and is ready to be used. Palaptine says it's part of a trap to capture the Rebels...and bring Leia and Luke to him. He wants to train Luke to be his apprentice and Leia to be a black sorceress.

Vader's beginning to understand how badly Palapatine's used him. For one thing, he wanted to be the one to train Luke and Leia, and he never planned on them replacing him. All he can think of are the memories of how he'd lost his beloved Padme...and how sad and ashamed she'd be of him now.

Ran some unusual Dr. Seuss cartoons while eating a quick lunch. Two of Seuss' most beloved characters collide in The Grinch Grinches the Cat In the Hat. When the cheery Cat gets on the Grinch's nerves one sunny day, the Grinch first messes with the light around him, then the sound. The Cat is determined to find out what makes the Grinch such a grouch and cure him of it, pronto!

The lesser-known Looney Tunes short "Horton Hatches the Egg" was the first appearance of a Dr. Seuss book on the big screen. Maisie the lazy bird leaves her nest in the care of kind-hearted Horton the Elephant. No matter what happens, from bad weather to hunters selling him to the circus, Horton will not leave that nest ever. "An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent."

Headed off to work as soon as the short ended. It remained sunny and warm, probably into the upper 70's, for most of the afternoon. I spent the first hour and most of the last hour rounding up carts. In between, I did returns, cleaned up a broken jar of gravy, and took customers.

The dark clouds finally rolled in around quarter of 6, as I was doing another cart-gathering round. I rushed as fast as I could to gather all the carts and get them on the patio. I still wasn't finished when I heard rumbles of thunder and one of the head managers sent me inside.

I made it in just in time. It was already starting to rain when I was doing the carts. By the time I was gathering baskets, the shower had become a wild monsoon, complete with thunder and lightning. It was still going strong when I got off of work. Thankfully, it was one of those fast-moving storms. I spent ten minutes watching the show. The moment it slowed down, I left

When I got home, I changed into dry clothes, then put on an episode of Fairie Tale Theatre as I made scrambled eggs with spinach, cheese, and mushrooms for dinner. "Hansel and Gretel" is one of the more straightforward retellings in the series. After they're abandoned by their parents, two children have to find their way home. They make it the first time, but the second time, the birds eat the bread crumbs Hansel dropped. Lost in the woods, the duo find a tasty gingerbread cottage. But the cottage belongs to a wicked witch...one who turns little boys and girls into gingerbread and eats them for her supper. This brother and sister pair have to think fast to save each other from becoming the witch's next meal.

And I got lucky. The rain ended as I arrived home...but there were still dark clouds on the horizon. It didn't start raining again until about an hour or so ago, and I haven't heard any thunder this time.

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