Springtime In Winter

Kicked off the morning with breakfast and Buzzr. Three teen girl claimed to be a magician on To Tell the Truth. None of the panelists guessed number two...and the one in the fancy costume was the teen magic queen. Though she did drop an item when the girls introduced themselves, she easily moved through a series of fairly complex tricks to the tune of a cute version of "This Old Man." An unusual teen performer also turned up on What's My Line? Allen Ludden almost stumbled onto the boy's occupation as a unicyclist on the high wire. He even showed off a little of his act on a lower wire.

A manager called me over shortly after I arrived at work. Seems we'd been entered in a district-wide contest around the holidays to see who had the best-organized gift cards and the most out for sale...and we won. They gave me a 100 dollar Acme gift card for a job well-done. I could really use that. It'll pay for anything my food stamps don't for at least a month or more.

The rest of the day went pretty well, too. It got mildly steady around 11 AM-noon. Otherwise, we were dead. I did get outside with the carts and outside trash and recycling early-on, but ended up spending the majority of the day shelving loose items. I spent the last hour wiping down the bakery displays and cleaning all the icing and sprinkles off them.

I've been meaning to pick up new hair clips. The ones I've used for years are starting to break. I grabbed a couple of packs off the discontinued shelves, then treated myself to chocolate "everything" cookies (chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips and pretzel bits) and a grapefruit soda.

The weather was absolutely glorious today. It was more like mid-spring than mid-winter. It felt so nice, I took the long way home down Nicholson Road. Had to dodge a few cars, especially around the entrance to the mall and on Nicholson, but it was worth it. The sky was blue, the breeze was soft, and it had to be in the 60's.

Worked on writing when I got home. Two weeks pass. Every night, Bill asks Marcia to marry him at dinner, and every night, Marcia respectfully turns him down. Towards the end of those two weeks, Richard is trying to train Charles in swordsmanship in the garden. Charles is supposed to be one of the Legendary Princesses' champions, but he laments that he's hardly a typical warrior. Richard points out that there's more to being a warrior than fighting. Charles is about to argue when they hear the women talking...

Broke for dinner at 6. The beef strips and some of the vegetables Jodie gave me last night, along with two carrots and home-made vegetable stock, went into a pot for beef and vegetable soup. I think I should have added tomatoes - it might have really increased the flavor - but it still came out pretty well.

Watched Match Game while I ate. Future Charlie's Angel Kate Jackson and Avery Schriber of the wild hair and mustache joined Gene, Gary Burgoff, and the regulars for two goofy episodes in 1975. The young lady continued to win big in Sale of the Century. She killed the other contestants for most of the game, even after buying both instant sales and a chance at Instant Cash, then got 6,000 in the bonus round.

Finished the night after a shower with Armed and Dangerous on Crackle. John Candy and Eugene Levy headline this 1986 action-comedy as cop Frank Dooley and lawyer Norman Kane who join a security guard company after being fired. They're first forced to join a security officer's union, then get angry when a burglary occurs on their watch and the mistake is taken out of their pay. Frank tries to point out to the head of the union Michael Carlino (Robert Loggia) that they're making millions of dollars in dues and have no idea where it goes. When they're assigned to a junk yard, they find out from two other guards that they're not the only ones who have dealt with fishy robberies on the job. They and their friend Maggie (Meg Ryan), the daughter of the head of the company, go undercover to find out what Carlino and his cronies are really up to.

Fairy typical comedy of the time boasts decent performances by Candy as the eager cop and Levy as the nebbish lawyer and some nifty car chases, but not a whole lot else that stands out. Mildly amusing time-waster if you're a fan of car chases or either leading man.