Busy Day In the Spring

Began the morning with a quick breakfast and Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo on Tubi. "The Demon of the Dugout" has scared away the Japanese and American teams who are playing each other for the Baseball Diamond, a trophy that's topped with a real diamond. Daphne, Fred, and Velma try to figure out where the demon is coming from and what he's after, while Shaggy and the dogs sample sushi and other Japanese cuisine.

Called Uber around 10:30 after the cartoon ended. I wanted to hit the Cherry Hill Library for their tri-annual book sale. The one going there only took 4 minutes. Had a harder time getting a ride home, probably because it was the lunch rush hour by the time I left. They arrived in 11 minutes. Thankfully, the traffic wasn't that bad, even going home. I got there within 20 minutes.

The Cherry Hill Library is likely the largest library building in the area. Their book sale takes up most of the meeting rooms and main room on the basement floor. In fact, it was even bigger than the one I went to last July. Tables groaning with DVDs, audiobooks, CDs, and boxes of records greeted me as I got off the elevator. The children's and adult books took up two separate meeting rooms. The room with the children's books was too full for me to really explore that one, but I did make good finds everywhere else. I ultimately came up with: 

Two CDs, the four-disc Readers Digest set The Best Bands of All Time and the original cast recording of Into the Heights.

Three LPs, Paul Tripp reading a musical Snow White for Golden Records and a two-disc Perry Como set, Easy Listening.

Two DVDs, To Kill a Mockingbird and There's No Business Like Show Business (the latter will likely be reviewed for my musical blog either later this month or sometime next month).

Four books: 

A Bear Called Paddington - Michael Bond (the only thing I managed to fish out of the children's area)

Death by Dumpling - Vivien Chien (been wanting to try this series, but could never find the first book) (paperbacks)

Game of Cones - Cynthia Baxter (Haven't been able to find more of this series, either.)

Little Black Book - Katie Carlisle (hardbacks)

I was home long enough to grab a quick lunch before Karen picked me up for this week's job session. We mostly discussed the applications I've put in over the past few weeks and the three resumes I handed out at the job fair. There was just enough time to put in an application for a secretarial job at Marlton tax firm Marcum before I had to head off to my next appointment. Karen dropped me off, once I reminded her where the PNC in Collingswood is.

Things went less well at PNC. My financial advisor did the paperwork to open an account with Lincoln Financial for the money that's currently at John Hancock. I want my money in an account that's a lot less likely to jump up and down. It's back up to where it was three years ago. I want it to grow, not fall. Trouble is, he wanted to know more about how the taxes would work and how exactly they'd move the money into the account. He suggested I find a certified accountant and ask them. I've never needed an accountant. Why bother, when you can do your own taxes for far cheaper and have never had money to invest until the last two years? I'm going to have to ask around and see who the best person to ask would be.

It rained again while I was at PNC. The rain was long gone by the time I finished there, but it remained cloudy and cold. I still opted to walk home. Stopped at WaWa for a grape Propel and soft pretzel, then headed across Collingswood. Normally, I would have cut through Newton Lake Park, but as Karen pointed out earlier, a lot of it remained flooded from yesterday.

Soon as I got home, I vacuumed and dusted my rooms and the staircase while watching At the Circus. I go further into the Marx Brothers movie that introduced Groucho's hilarious number "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

At the Circus

After the movie ended, I applied to a job as a clerk typist with the Camden Housing Authority, then worked on writing. Kathleen is more than a little surprised when Mrs. Rowland claims Sir Kenneth, a wealthy and gentle recluse, will be returning home from his country estates. Kathleen assumed he went there for solitude, but Mrs. Rowland says she thinks he was having talks with Mother Nature herself about spring being late. It's also rumored that he may be bringing home a prospective bride, which disappoints Kathleen, who has a crush on him.

Watched Paw Patrol as I worked. "Pups Save Apollo" when Rubble falls asleep during a marathon of his favorite superhero show and dreams he and the others help Apollo the Wonder Pup rescue cute little bunnies from the Spider King, Ryder and the dogs have their own circus adventure when the "Pups Save the Hippos." The ringmaster has an act that involves a mother hippo and her babies dancing. They shake the floor so much, they knock over the trapeze. While the others fix it, Alex takes them out of their pen and tries to dance with them. Zuma is the only one left who can rescue them.

Switched to Match Game '91 during dinner. Soupy Sales made his second and last appearance on Match Game during this week. He was joined by Charles, Sally Struthers,  Jimmie Walker, Andi Methany, and sarcastic stand-up comic Pam Stone. Jimmie thankfully was a bit subdued compared to how he behaved in earlier Match Game runs; at least he didn't try to drum up the crowds for one his his goofy answers. 

Finished the night listening to three of my recent record acquisitions. The Great Race is a huge spoof of silent movie tropes from 1965, featuring Tony Curtis as the good guy in white and Natalie Wood as the intrepid female reporter who rides in the big car race with him. Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk have way too much fun as the bad guys in black who just can't win unfairly. Dorothy Provine turns up back in Roaring 20's vamp mode to sing the western number "He Shouldn't-a, Hadn't-a, Oughtn't-a Swang on Me!," and we get a choral rendition of the lovely hit ballad "The Sweetheart Tree."

Despite claiming to be a soundtrack recording of "the Childhood Productions Classic Motion Picture," the Paul Tripp Snow White and the Seven Dwarves actually sticks much closer to the Grimm story than the Disney version does. Decent songs aside, it's a bit dark for a kids' recording. The dwarves' numbers "Think Happy Thinkin's" and "Seven Little Men" were at least kind of cute.

Spectacular Ragtime by Waldo's Ragtime Orchestra is from 1983, but the songs it covers date back to between 1902 and 1922, during the height of the ragtime craze. There are two good vocal numbers, "Under the Bamboo Tree" and "What'cha Gonna Do When There Ain't No Jazz?", but it's mostly instrumental pieces. "Slow and Easy," the opener "Wild Cherries Rag," and "Trombone Francois" are especially good.