It was the same deal as when we went to the job fair at Rowan in late March, but at least the weather was better! Crazy hot, yes, in the mid-90's, and humid, but at least it was raining like it did that day. We were able to pick up one of those golf cart jitneys to the same auditorium where the last one was. I even got to sit up front.
I have to agree with the teenager that the job fair itself was really boring. While there were some businesses there that weren't on the list online, there were also many that didn't come, and there weren't anywhere near as many as in March. I saw Amazon, Goodwill, a church, a couple of local hospitals and health care services, and almost every branch of Gloucester County's government represented, but nothing that interested me.
No luck on the job front, but it wasn't a total waste of time. Karen and I talked to Gloucester County's Disabled Services. They can't do much to help me find a better job, but they apparently can help me find a better home. If I stay in South Jersey, I'm likely to end up in Burlington or Gloucester County anyway. They're less expensive than Camden County, with more condos and mobile home parks, but still close enough to Philadelphia to have easy access to health care and public transportation.
(I also ended up with a tote bag filled with information on local disability transportation, twenty pens, two balls, one of those pop-up things the kids love, sticks of hand sanitizer and stain remover, a small squishy orange cone that says "work space," three note pads, a pad with Post-It tabs, a key chain holder, two cloths printed with the map for the NJ Transit trains that I think are intended to be glasses wipers, three bottles of water - I drank one there - and two muffins and three mini Reeces Peanut Butter Cups for the movies later. Oh, and a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper I got out of a vending machine, also for later.)
Karen took us the long way back, through a lovely park with a unique and sprawling playground. I loved the huge dome-shaped monkey bars and cage-like merry go round. I thought the park was so lovely, I realized I haven't seen parks in other parts of Camden and Gloucester County. I'd love to check out a few of them and see what they offer.
After we dropped off the young lady at home, Karen dodged heavy traffic on the highway back to the White Horse Pike. She let me off at the AMC Cinemark Theater in Somerdale. I thought it seemed a bit out of her way, but she said she wanted to hit up their huge Dollar Tree anyway.
Since we got out earlier than planned, I opted for lunch at Applebee's next door to the theater. Given it was quarter of noon, they were quiet except for the Los Angeles Angels game on the TVs. I went with the grilled chicken version of their Ranch Bacon Chicken Wrap. Yum. Not bad. A bit salty, but the chicken was juicy, the bacon satisfyingly crunchy, and the fries nicely seasoned. Had it with a simple unsweetened iced tea.
Went straight to the theater after lunch and into Barbie. Got there just as the commercials began. My main interest here is Wonka, a retelling of Willy Wonka's origins that looks like a lot more fun than Tim Burton's creepier idea of his backstory. The commercial appeared to be a cross between the Harry Potter films, with their dark Victorian aesthetic, and the 1971 film, with a cute kid running around and it being a musical. It's actually one of two musicals coming out this Christmas I'm dying to see, the other being the far darker The Color Purple.
Once again, I won't go heavily into Barbie itself due to spoilers...but yes, I did enjoy it. I think most people were assuming it would just be a cute bit of fluff like the animated Barbie direct-to-video features. What they got was a delightfully subversive meta-commentary on the role of fashion dolls in society over the past 60 years, how men and women are treated differently, and how difficult it can be just to exist as a woman. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling were the perfect Barbie and Ken, America Ferrera was marvelous as a Mattel receptionist who inadvertently brings Barbie to the real California, and Will Farrell was a riot as Mattel's well-meaning but overzealous CEO. (I also appreciate that the CEOs were not ultimately played as bad guys and really did want to make the kids they sold toys to happy.)
However, the movie does lean very hard on its feminist message, particularly in the second half. If you don't agree with what it's saying, it's not going to be for you. If you're offended by it being based on a toy line, it's not for you, either. If you're with its girl-power vibe and don't mind its origins, you'll find a lot to love in this candy-colored tale of women who can be anything...including human.
Headed up the hill to WalMart after the movie ended. I couldn't find one of the things I wanted, which were those Sunbelt Granola Bars. I ended up with the Junkless low-sugar granola bars instead. I did find the Barbie movie soundtrack on LP. There were some terrific songs in that film, from the disco-esque jam "Dance Into the Night" to the Billie Ellish existentialist crisis "What Was I Made For?" It was a splurge at $26, but the 80's style synthesizer score in the movie seemed to require something low-fi. I also grabbed a new eraser for my dry-erase board, and one that was a lot nicer (and more suited to the board) than the cheap dollar store sponge I was using.
Saw Taco Bell "Freezes" - slushes made from their sodas - on an ad at their drive-through as I headed back down the hill. Thought that would be perfect to combat the murderously hot and humid weather. Grabbed the Baja Blast Freeze before going to wait for the bus. No trouble here. The bus arrived on time and hit no traffic getting back. I did get off further down than I planned, due to the stop bell not working. I wanted to get off at the dentist's office two blocks from my house, but I ended up at Dollar General.
Got organized when I went home, then went straight into writing. Joyce is surprised to meet the tiny blue people who are the residents of those mushroom homes. They closely resemble the characters in a comic from Belgium Joyce once saw Patti Deustch reading to her tiny son Max. The oldest, Papa Munchkin, greets her and tells her that she's their heroine, something she's surprised to hear. She's even more surprised when she sees what's under the shed...
Broke for dinner at quarter of 7. Finished the night with a shower and Miss Sadie Thompson. I go further into this adaptation of the short story and play Rain with Rita Hayworth and Jose Ferrer at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
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