Sudden Summer Showers

Spent a cloudy, humid morning after breakfast by taking down the 4th of July decorations. Replaced the starburst patriotic ribbon on the front door with a sunflower-and-garden-themed wooden banner. Otherwise, I left the remaining summer decorations alone. I won't be changing those until September.

Watched Summer Rental while I worked. John Candy plays Jack Chester, an air traffic controller who is told to take a vacation after getting into trouble at work. His trip to Florida with his family doesn't begin well. They first settle in the wrong house, then discover that their actual house is a dilapidated hulk on a noisy party beach. On the first day, Jack gets on the wrong side of snotty local big shot Al Pellet (Richard Crenna), who turns out to be the new owner of their house. He'll throw them out if they can't come up with enough money for the rent for the rest of their stay. Jack has been taking boating lessons from crusty sailor Scully (Rip Torn) and recruits him and the men who work with him to turn his restaurant into a working boat and beat Pellet at a local regatta. Jack's wife Sandy (Karen Austin) and their children join him...and learn that the family that works together, kicks snob rear together.

Typical comedy of the time enlivened by decent performances by Candy, Crenna, and Torn. Nothing  you need to go out of your way for, but fun if you're a fan of Candy or enjoy the "slobs vs snobs" movies of the 70's and 80's.

Went out to run errands as soon as the movie ended. Started at the Oaklyn Library. There were a few people on on the computers, but they otherwise weren't that busy. I looked over the DVDs and shelved children's books that were left out in a bin. Left after about an hour.

I parked my bike next to the Acme, but walked behind it to the shopping center for lunch. Though the Vietnamese place had finally opened, they looked like more of a sit-down restaurant than I was in the mood for. I may try them for dinner sometime. Went two-doors down to Tu Se Bella's for a slice of mushroom, a slice of white broccoli, and a bottle of Orange Vanilla Coke.

The Acme wasn't busy when I arrived (though a co-worker I ran into claimed it had been earlier in the morning). I didn't really need much under any circumstances. The leftovers I got from Jodie yesterday and what I already had in my fridge should cover my dinners for a week or more. Just restocked ground turkey, breakfast cookies (Belvita this time), Fig Newtons, skim milk, peanut butter, Jello (pudding and gelatin), and cereal. Had a free coupon for shredded cheese from the online rewards program. Turkey Hill ice cream was also on a good sale; treated myself to their divine Southern Lemon Pie. I badly needed Liquid Plumber for the drain in my tub, which has been running slow for days.

My schedule for next week is...pretty much the same as this week. Earlier hours on Sunday, same days off. In good news, that will give me plenty of time to clean the apartment and start looking for social media platforms to push my writing on. It's still not enough hours, though, and this time I won't have the holiday to make up for it.

Put everything away quickly when I got home. Ran Garfield In the Rough as I got organized and poured the Liquid Plumber down the drain. Garfield would rather be eating raisins than going camping with Jon and Odie. He's ready to pack it in when it's announced that there's a panther loose in the area...but when those he loves are attacked, Garfield finds himself able to rise to the occasion.

Worked on writing for the rest of the afternoon. Chewie hurries over Luke to give him lots of good-bye kisses and nearly lands him on the floor. Harris isn't quite as affectionate, but he does make sure to say good-bye to his buddy. An alarm indicates that Vader and his Shadow Men are getting close. Harris prepares to leave, while Leia and Luke go to help evacuate the others.

(Incidentally, it had been hot, sunny, and killer humid for most of the day, but dark clouds started building as early as 3 PM. By the time I was half-way through writing, a small thunderstorm had moved in. It wasn't anywhere near as crazy as a few days ago and seems to have come and gone without doing much more than leaving the porch a bit wet.)

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Started putting a dent in those leftovers, then switched to finishing Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. After I finally found the remaining two compass points in Port Royal, I was able to build up that last barrel. That opened the door to the final round, based on the actual "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride from the theme parks. This involved finding random objects with Jack's compass and fighting three bosses you had in previous rounds. It wasn't hard at all. Finishing that gave you the last gold brick and 100 percent completion.

Mixed feelings on this one. On one hand, it was a lot of fun, and this was the first game I've completed in full since I did The Secret of Mana on the Super Nintendo sometime in the late 90's-early 2000's. I just wish it was a lot longer. It's neither as complicated, nor as long as the Lego Indiana Jones and Star Wars games. It's also filled with glitches (although thankfully, unlike the first Lego Indiana Jones, they don't get in the way of you completing the game).

In the end, I'm glad I bought it, but I'm also glad that I didn't pay more than 5 dollars for the Wii disc. If you're a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean, it's worth a look if you can find it for cheap.

Since I still had some time left, I returned to Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. Got all but one piece on "Invasion of Naboo" and all but two pieces on "Darth Maul." I think I'll stick with this one for a while and see if I can finally 100 percent finish it.

Ended the night with A Night at the Opera. My favorite Marx Brothers movie begins in Italy, where Mr. Driftwood (Groucho) is hoping to hire handsome but arrogant opera star Laspari (Walter Woof King) for Mrs. Claypool's (Margaret Dumont) new opera company. What he gets is a poor young singer named Baroni (Allan Jones) who loves the beautiful female star Rosa (Kitty Carlisle). Tomasso (Harpo) and Fiorello (Chico) manage to get him on the boat to New York, where they all proceed to stuff them and everyone in the boat into their tiny stateroom.. Even after they arrive, the cops are after them due to their being in the US illegally, and Gottlieb (Sig Ruman), the director of Mrs. Claypool's opera company, has his suspicions about Groucho. It'll take all the Brothers' know-how and cunning to evade Gottlieb and the Sargent (Robert Henderson O'Connor) and get these lovers on the stage where they belong.

This is by far the funniest movie the Marx Brothers ever did, with quips flying fast and furious. Other great sequences include Groucho and Chico's "party of the first part" routine in the beginning and end and the hilarious destruction of the Il Trovatore opera. If you're a fan of the Marxes or classic comedy, this one is a no-brainer.