Dawn picked me up for my interview at 10 AM. We ended up at a clean, modern travel plaza on a service road outside of Cherry Hill. Yeah, the job was strictly stocking and handing the register. Absolutely not. I want out of retail, not to work in a slightly fancier version of it. It wasn't a total loss. I mentioned I work at the Audubon Acme to the lady who did the interview...and the face she made and her less-than-enthusiastic response was enough to make Dawn understand why I want to get out of there so badly.
After I got home, I dragged out the luggage and my backpack to see what I need for my vacation. Packed most of my clothes, my underwear, and the coloring book, crossword book, and pencil bag with crayons and pencils I keep for the train ride. Watched The Scooby Doo Show while I worked. The gang get involved in "The Ozark Witch Switch" when the Mystery Machine breaks down and they're invited to stay with the Hatfields in their cabin. Apparently, a witch who once threatened to turn the family into frogs over 200 years before has appeared and is making good on her promise. The kids try to figure out what she's really after.
Watched the first half of Super Password while getting organized and making a grocery list. Dick Gautier and Constance McCashin headline the "First and a Half Annual Tournament of Losers," contestants who failed to win the big money in their first appearances and returned for another go. The Super Password match here was especially exciting, coming down to the last possible second. After the girl got "tank" in on the very last second, she certainly deserved to move forward in the tournament!
Headed out during the next commercial break. My first stop was PNC Bank to get money for my own trip. I won't have the time tomorrow. The outside ATMs were busy, so I went inside. Got my money quickly and got out.
The Westmont Plaza was next on my list. Looked for humidifiers at Dollar Tree, but found nothing and moved on. Picked up travel-sized shaving lotion, body wash, and mouth wash at Target. Tried the Pumpkin Spice Frappucchino at Starbucks before they got overrun with teenagers on lunch break. Not bad. At least it did taste like pumpkin. Bought bagged caramelized mixed nuts, lemon raspberry dried mangoes (they were really good!), white-chocolate macadamia nut cookies on clearance, and Olipop and Poppi soda at Sprouts. Went back to Target when I couldn't find any cake mixes on the shelves for a decent price. Their boxes of yellow cake mix looked like Godzilla sat on them, so I went with vanilla.
Found a treat sitting on the steps when I got home. I saw the FedEx truck come down the road even as I went to run errands. Yes, that two-disc special edition Headquarters album I bought from Rhino almost two weeks ago finally arrived! It was supposed to come on Wednesday but apparently got stuck in North Jersey. When I saw on the tracking page this morning that it was in Barrington, I knew it would come today.
But first, I wanted to try a recipe I found in my Taste of Home Baking Book. They had a very simple peach crisp that only called for butter, peaches, cake mix, coconut, and pecans. I wanted some friends to try it and I didn't know if they liked nuts, so I left them out. The original recipe listed canned peaches...but perish the thought! I wouldn't insult my baked goods with canned fruit. I still had a bunch of peaches from the farm market and Acme, so I cut up those (including one with a bad spot). It came out of the oven looking like nothing had been done to it, other than the toasted coconut on top...but when I mixed it and tried it, it was delicious, like a peach dump cake.
Watched Blazing Saddles while the crisp was in the oven. Nefarious attorney general Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) tries to drive settlers out of the town of Rock Ridge when the railroad reroutes through them and he realizes the town will be worth millions. He encourages the Governor (Mel Brooks) to hire Bart (Cleavon Little) to be the town's sheriff. Bart being African-American doesn't sit well with pretty much anyone anywhere in the West but The Waco Kid (Gene Wilder), who draws so fast, no one can see him do it.
Hedley first sends his henchman Mongo (Alex Karras) to attack Bart, then Lily Von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn) to seduce him. Bart is so darn charming and such a nice guy, Mongo ends up becoming his friend, and Lily falls head-over-heels for him. Hedley still wants that land, but Bart is one step ahead of him. The West...and the Warners lot...aren't big enough for the two of them, even as Bart shows everyone that anyone can be a hero no matter what they look like.
One of Mel Brooks' best spoofs and one of the funniest movies of the 1970's, this one digs hard into western cliches and the treatment of African-Americans and others in action films. The title song was even nominated for an Oscar. If you love Brooks, westerns, or any of the cast, you'll want to whip out that bowl o'beans and make music with this one.
Worked on updating the inventory after that. Finished the C titles with a collection of the Ethel Merman and Dinah Shore Call Me Madam albums, the original Can-Can and Chicago with Gwen Verdon, A Chorus Line, City of Angels, Company, the full London stage version of Copacabana, and Crazy for You. I've had some of these for decades. Can-Can was a birthday gift to me from Mom in 1993 (along with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band). I bought Copacabana from Vibrations, the now-defunct music store in North Cape May, sometime in the late 90's. City of Angels and Chicago go so far back, I have no clue where they came from anymore.
Broke for dinner and Match Game '74. For some reason, Buzzr jumped way ahead to the end of the next year. By this point, Gary Burghoff had temporarily replaced Charles Nelson Reilly while he was directing a play in New York. He got to have his own fun, like when he took off his shirt after getting a question wrong, or when he shyly read a question about what he smells on Brett.
I was watching the show when, while admiring the red and blue translucent vinyl discs for Headquarters, I had a hard time putting them back in their sleeves and accidentally knocked over my Olipop Banana Cream soda all over my table, my chair, and the rug on the floor! I had to dump everything on the wood floor and wipe down whatever got spilled on. The place mats I use to prevent scratches ended up in the laundry basket.
Finished the night with Headquarters. This is the result of the infamous confrontation between Mike Nesmith and their original producer Don Kirchner to be allowed to play their own music...and sorry Don, but the guys were right. This album is a lot of fun, from the playful spoken-word goofiness of "Zilch" and "Band 6" to Micky's sweet "I'll Spend My Life With You" and two of Mike's best songs, "You Told Me" and "Sunny Girlfriend." There's two songs on there I'd never heard before, a decent Mike version of his own "The Girl That I Knew Somewhere" and a new one from Micky and Mike, "Gotta Give It Time." I'm not as fond of the version of "She Hangs Out" here, though, which is too slow and sappy for such a cute song.
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