Monday, April 29, 2019

A Beautiful Sunny Day

Started off a sunny day with breakfast and episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show. This is one of six full TV shows Lauren dubbed for me about five years ago or so when I expressed interest in them. After running four sci-fi shows in a row during the daytime this winter and spring, I thought it was time for a change. Besides, I've barely touched those shows since I got them. Almost all of the shows Lauren sent me ran for anywhere from five to eight years. That's a lot of episodes to watch.

I decided to do one season of a show, then switch off, starting with Rob and Laura. I did three episodes of the first season in honor of Mary Tyler Moore after she passed away in January 2017, but hadn't gotten around to the rest until today. I have fond memories of watching this show on Nick at Nite during the early 90's, and I was glad she sent it along.

Started off with "Washington vs. the Bunny." Rob has been ordered by his morose boss Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon) to check out a new act for The Alan Brady Show, the variety program he writes for, in Washington DC. His son Richie happens to be appearing as a bunny singing the Cole Porter standard "You're the Top" in a play the same day. At first, he says no, but after a nightmare that has Laura controlling him, he agrees to go...and regrets it.

Richie gets his parents to tell him how they first got together in "Oh How We Met On That Night We Danced." Rob in fact met Laura when she was a USO dancer during World War II and he was hosting her show. He'd tried everything he could think of to get to know her, but she kept brushing him off. He finally gets onstage for a dance with her, but it doesn't go quite as well as he hoped.

Headed off to work shortly after the episode ended. Work was off-and-on steady, but I spent most of it in the back, organizing the clearance racks. One of the head managers wanted me to get as much of a cart filled with clearance aspirin and ibuprofen bottles onto the shelves as possible. I moved a lot of things around, helped by an older man buying all eight of the fire-starter logs that had been sitting on the bottom shelf. I wish I could have finished it, but I kept getting called to take back cold items, then they wanted me to go outside for the last hour. At least it was a nice day to be outside, breezy, sunny, and fairly warm. There were even people out filling some of the larger pot holes that had developed in the parking lot during the winter.

Grabbed tissues on my way out, then decided that the weather was nice enough to take the long way home down Nicholson Road. It was almost 3:30 by then. I ran into a lot of rush-hour traffic, especially around the Audubon Crossings entrance and on Nicholson. Everyone probably wanted to enjoy the pleasant weather and nice scenery. The leaves are almost full-grown now, pale green and delicate. Creamy white dogwood trees and deep purple irises bloom in gardens and yards. Kids laughed and chattered on their way home from school.

Worked on a few things when I got in. I tried writing a proposal. The trouble with trying to get writing jobs is, I have no idea how to explain my lack of experience beyond my blogs. I'm still nervous about selling myself. What do I say that sounds right?

Switched to working on my story around 5:30. I re-wrote yesterday's sequence to make it the walls moving in to crush the crystals before they go in the furnace. Leia tries to burn the walls enough to get them out, while Harris and Chewie hold the walls at bay and Luke calls Charlie and Rudy on the intercom to shut it down.

Broke for dinner at quarter of 7. Had leftovers while watching one more Dick Van Dyke episode. Buddy convinces Rob to take care of his German Shepard Larry while he's on vacation. The dog becomes "The Unwanted Houseguest" when Laura complains that she should have been consulted too, Richie is afraid of him, and the dog whimpers all night and won't sleep. Rob has to figure out how to get the dog to settle down without upsetting the rest of the household.

Ended the night with Lego Star Wars. Finished out Revenge of the Sith and did the first round of New Hope. The longest and most difficult of the three is "Ruin of the Jedi." There's a lot of puzzles to figure out here, many of which you can't do until later. I didn't get True Jedi or a lot of pieces.

Did better with the other two. The boss round "Darth Vader" involves a lot of jumping over and through bursts of lava that often obscure your vision. Thankfully, all but two pieces are pretty easy to find, and I got True Jedi despite losing a lot of studs hopping around in the lava field. Did better with "Secret Plans," the first Original Trilogy round. Princess Leia leads Captain Antilles to Artoo and Threepio, and they have to escape the ship with the help of Antilles and a Rebel soldier. Once again, there's a lot that can't be done in the regular mode, but I still managed to get more than half the pieces and True Jedi.

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