Friday, November 01, 2024

Strawberry Girls

Began the morning with breakfast and the 2003 Strawberry Shortcake. Strawberry and her friends are scared out of their wits by a walk through a dark forest and the old house they see there. Honey Pie Pony's stories about "The Blueberry Beast" don't help matters. When the other kids run away, Strawberry finally decides to confront the "beast" herself...and learn that sometimes, an old house is an old house, and there's really nothing to be afraid of.

Called Uber after Strawberry ended. It was getting late, and I wanted to get to the Cherry Hill Mall quickly. The driver arrived within 7 minutes. There was no traffic anywhere, not even on Route 70. He pulled in at Nordstrom's front entrance 20 minutes later.

I mainly came here for their last job fair of the year. It was a major bust. Sun Newspapers was the only business that even remotely interested me, and they still only want salespeople. Everything else was health or police-related. They didn't have nearly the room that they usually did, too. Most of their space was taken up by the small but admittedly quite detailed Santa's Workshop Santa meet and greet area. 

Had slightly more luck elsewhere in the mall. Peeked in The Lego Store, Build-a-Bear, Miniso, and Rumi Life, but didn't buy anything. Got my nephew Khai's Christmas present at FYE, along with candy for Amanda and a double record collection of the lesser-known Beach Boys albums Sunflower and Surf's Up called the Feel Flows Sessions, the latter for only $15. Grabbed a Peanuts calendar for next year at Go! Calendars and Toys. Had a quick but tasty apple, cranberry, and blue cheese salad and half of a chicken salad sandwich from Saladworks in the food court for lunch.

After lunch, I took one more look at the job fair, but they were starting to shut down by then. Hiked up the stairs and over the foot bridge to the shopping center across the street instead. I wanted to do some grocery shopping at Target. They have the Made Good granola bars for cheaper than anyone else. I've seen a holiday-themed 12 pack of Kind water in apple cinnamon, peppermint bark, spiced pear, and citrus berry at the Acme, but I wasn't able to get it home. The one at Target had a 2-dollar off coupon. I'd call Uber. Also grabbed treat bags for the Mystery Bags next year and the record soundtrack for How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I've wanted it for years, but even used copies tend to be pricey. 

It was past 3 PM when I finally got out of Target. Contacted Uber...but saw the ridiculous prices just to get home from Target and walked down to Kohl's, which is closer to the entrance. The price was still a bit much, but not as bad. At least the driver only took 8 minutes to arrive. There was some traffic on Cuthbert Road coming off the Cooper River Bridge, but it was clear after that. 

Put on The Monkees at home while putting everything away. It's "Too Many Girls" when Davy becomes the target of a scheming stage mother (Reta Shaw) who is desperate for the diminutive Englishman to partner with her daughter Fern (Kelly Jean Peters). She reads tea leaves and makes her predictions come true...but the guys aren't about to let their friend and lead singer walk out on them. They join the amateur hour contest that Davy and Fern are performing in and sabotage their act.

"Son of a Gypsy" has dated less well today. Maria (Jeanne Arnold) and her colorful if stereotypical band of thieving gypsies are angry when the Monkees get a party gig at a mansion. They lure the four to the camp, then kidnap Peter to force them to help steal the priceless Maltese Vulture from the lady who hired them.

Took down the Halloween decorations and put up what I have for Thanksgiving next. I like Halloween more than I did when I was a kid, but it's never been my favorite holiday. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is one of my major favorites. I like how it's a relatively calm oasis of food, football, and giving between two of the biggest and busiest holidays of the year. Jodie gave me a teddy bear in a pilgrim woman's costume and three stuffed turkeys (one with dangling beaded legs) from Dad's collection. I bought the turkeys Plymouth and Mayflower when I was still collecting WebKinz. Most of my other Thanksgiving decorations came from yard sales and thrift shops. There's folksy wooden pilgrims that I put on either side of the TV, the smaller resin pilgrims that went on one of the book shelves in the bedroom, the cute stuffed pilgrim and Native girls who went on top of the shelf, turkey salt and pepper shakers, and a beautifully detailed turkey candle.

Watched Fosse while I worked. This is a live taping of the 1999 Broadway revue that revolved around Fosse's work. As you can imagine, most of these are instrumental dance numbers like "Rich Man's Frug" from Sweet Charity and "Sing, Sing, Sing," as used in his 1979 revue Dancin'. Though there is some sensational dancing, I'm kind of shocked this won Best Musical in 1999. It's a revue, not a traditional book musical. To give it credit, it does give you a sense of what the real man's work was like. Interviews with Ann Renniking and Ben Vereen on the DVD give you an even greater appreciation for this hard-working, hard-driving man. If you're a fan of Renniking, Vereen, or Fosse's work, you're going to want to dance on over and give this a shot.

Did a little bit of inventory work next. Added The Lion King, Little Mary Sunshine, The Little Mermaid, and Mack and Mabel. I found the Disney titles at a yard sale, but the other two go so far back, I bought them from Borders in the late 90's-early 2000's on dates with my then-boyfriend.

Got my schedule at this point. It's identical to this week, with slightly fewer hours on Wednesday and the same days off. Good. I'll be able to vote on Election Day without having to take off or hope I can get to the polls on time. I also put in for Thanksgiving off. I'm not working it again after the mess there last year. It's just not worth the extra money. 

Broke for dinner and Match Game '78 at 7:30. They skipped way ahead to the week with Debralee Scott and former baseball great Joe Gargiola. Joe got to witness the sight of Betty White "taking it all off," or at least parading around while taking off her vest and scarf for the crowd.

Finished the night online after a shower with Mystery Science Theater 3000. The Starfighters may be the most boring movie they ever did. It's supposed to discuss a group of fighter pilots in the Air Force, their relationship with girls from the near-by town, and their testing an experimental plane. That's...pretty much it. Absolutely nothing happens between repeated stock footage of the planes in the air and refueling. If this was an Air Force recruitment film, they goofed big-time. Top Gun would have a lot more fun with the same general idea over two decades later. 

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