Swashbuckling Holidays

Began a gloomy morning with a quick breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. "Daniel Fixes Trolley," or at least, his toy one, when the wheel pops off and his mother suggests he find a solution on his own. He has to figure out where he left his shoes when Katarina and Henrietta show up for an outing to the park, too. He becomes "Problem Solver Daniel" when he and Miss Elaina break a toy at school and Teacher Harriet encourages them to fix it together. 

Rushed out to work even before the episode ended. Work started out as a normal bagging day, but by noon, they'd pulled me to take customers. Apparently, a cashier called out. Then they had to pull two boys to sweep and check the bathrooms and gather carts. No idea what else got done, if anything. 

At least I got a few things done during my breaks. I did call three of the apartment buildings and texted one. No answers from anybody, which isn't surprising, given this is a holiday week. Mom called in the morning, but I figured it would be easier to talk to her at home. 

Called her after I got in, changed, and had a snack. She talked to Rose last night shortly after she got off with me. On one hand, she thought Rose was too harsh on me about the planner and told her to lay off about finding a job. I will, but a home comes first. Unlike Rose, whose (usual) job involves confrontation, she does understand about my difficulty with confronting people and talking on the phone. When I try to call someone or talk to someone in authority, I just...freeze. I can't do it. I don't know what to say. Even with Rose a lot of the time, I don't say anything because I'm not sure what to say, and I'm afraid what I do say will make things worse. 

Mom suggested I take online courses in business and communication. She took online courses a decade ago, and they helped her land the Ferry ticket-taking job. At the least, brush up on my computer skills. Actually...I already decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to look into online courses for library sciences. I'll check out those, too, after I find an apartment. 

And yes, another thing I need to do once I settle down is find a psychotherapist. Jodie and Rose were supposed to call someone Jodie knew three years ago, but it never happened. From now on, I'll do something like this myself. Rose said Craig had a list of names that might work. I'll see if I can get them from him on Thanksgiving. 

E-mailed another apartment building on Apartments.com and a room on Craigslist, then finally broke for dinner around quarter of 7. Made egg salad and steamed broccoli while watching Match Game '79.  Gene kicked off this episode by "auctioning" off Loni Anderson's bathing suit poster. We also get a question about how "Black Magic" is the name of a movie about __ being elected president. (Hint - Nipsey Russell was also on the panel that week.)

Match Game PM had contestant trouble. The male contestant was kind of strange - he gave Gene a very odd look when he asked him what breed his dogs were. The lady was livelier, but only slightly smarter. Richard was the only one who matched anyone. He didn't have as much luck with "__ Dream" in the Head-to-Head.

Switched to DVDs while cleaning up from dinner. The swashbuckler satire Jack of All Trades somehow managed to work a Thanksgiving episode, "One Two Three, Give Me Lady Liberty," into its second season. Napoleon is building a familiar statue with a crown and a torch to send the US as a token of friendship. He even convinces Emilia to model for the face. She and Jack discover there's something more sinister behind the tiny tyrant's seemingly sweet gesture. They first try to distract him with a big turkey dinner. When that doesn't work, Jack trots out another Thanksgiving tradition - football!

Finished the night on Amazon Prime with The Plymouth Adventure. Captain Christopher Jones (Spencer Tracy) isn't thrilled to be carrying a group of pious pilgrims and robust tradesmen on a long voyage to the New World. He looks down on them at first, but eventually falls for lovely Dorothy Bradford (Gene Tierney), the wife of minister William Bradford (Leo Genn) during the long and arduous trip across the Atlantic. Young carpenter John Alden (Van Johnson) has slightly more luck with pretty Priscilla Mullins, despite soldier Miles Standish (Noel Drayton) also being taken with her. 

Romantic melodrama wins points for adapting a time period not often depicted in films and for its excellent cast, especially Tracy and Tierney as the gruff sea captain and the pious minister's wife who truly believes there's good in his heart somewhere.