Highway 70 Brew

Began the morning with breakfast and She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown. Peppermint Patty's competing in the regional skating competition, with Snoopy as her demanding coach. She thinks Marcie's going to make her a costume, but Marcie keeps trying to explain that she can't sew. Snoopy does that, too, and helps Patty clear a bunch of boys who want to play hockey off her usual skating pond. Snoopy's less useful at the competition when his cassette gets tangled, but that's where his old buddy Woodstock comes in.

Dawn picked me up for the Cherry Hill Mall Job Fair at around quarter of 10. There were already two other people with her, the same people who went to the Burlington County Job Fair last October. At least it didn't take long to get to the mall. Having been there many times, I directed Dawn to the parking lot across from the main entrance. The job fair is usually held in the main hall across from Nordstrom.

I only did slightly better this time than in November. New York Life wasn't looking for secretaries, but the lady at the booth was really nice. I left her my resume. The Sun Newspapers are finally looking for writers, but the lady there was grumpy, and they already have my resume. The one other non-government or health care company there, a solar company based in Louisiana, was only hiring salespeople. 

Dawn was just disappointed at how tiny it was. There weren't that many more booths than in November, and this time, they had plenty of space. She's been complaining about how much work companies expect their employees to do nowadays too, too much for one new hire. I didn't think any of us were going to get much more from it, and I wasn't ready to go home yet. She took the others back to her car, and I headed in the opposite direction towards JC Penney.

Spent the next hour or so going in and out of stores. Found nothing at Build-a-Bear. Was hoping to get a Flyers jersey at Fan Treasures or Champs Sports, but they're expensive. Maybe I'll get that online, too. Found a cute soft red checked nightgown with lace trim at JC Penney. It had some kind of gunk on the sleeves, but it'll wash off. Picked up two classic records at FYE: 

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew

Thought of doing lunch at the cafe in the back of Nordstrom, but they were expensive. I ended up at the Bistro at Cherry Hill. This small restaurant smack dab in the middle of the Macy's wing started life as the Cherry Hill Grill, the restaurant for the mall's Woolworth in the 60's. Nowadays, it sells salads, sandwiches, burgers, and pizza for hungry shoppers and office workers. I went with a turkey wrap and fries...and since they were out of the avocado for the turkey wrap and I still wanted it, the man behind the counter threw in my iced tea for free. (The turkey wrap was a bit dry, but it still tasted good.)

Bath and Body Works is across from the Bistro. I needed Chapstick. I only have one tube left. They were having a buy three, get one free on smaller beauty items at the front of the store. I bought three lip balms in Sweet Mint, Champagne Toast, and Strawberry Pound Cake and a lip scrub in Strawberry. 

Strolled around the Macy's wing after lunch, checking out Williams-Sonoma, the Squishables store, and Go! Calendars and Games. Went upstairs to the second floor for a look at Old Navy. Picked up a heavy pair of jeans for work that were listed as $19.99 on the clearance rack and came up $12.99. Grabbed a yummy pineapple coconut milkshake and a Diet Pepsi for later from Haagen Daas at the food court.

I was ready to pack it in by then and called Uber. I should have told the driver where, exactly, I wanted to be picked up. The Cherry Hill Mall is huge, and there's a lot of entrances. I went out through the main entrance I came out of, but no one ever saw me. The two trucks making deliveries to Season 52 and Urban Outfitters didn't help, either. When they finally canceled, I explored Urban Outfitters briefly to look at records before trying again. This time, I distinctly mentioned I was in front of Urban Outfitters' entrance. Got a bearded gentleman in two minutes. He chattered all the way back to Oaklyn (though he had a rather odd accent and I could only understand maybe ten words out of a hundred). 

At least the weather was nice for waiting. It remains sunny, but without the wild wind of earlier in the week. It's much warmer now, in the mid-40's. The little bit of snow we got last night was long gone by the time the gentleman drove over the frozen Cooper River and into Westmont. 

Listened to my new records when I got home. Highway 61 Revisited from 1965 was Bob Dylan's second album to use the more electric-oriented sound for his folk music. As depicted in the two movies on his life, it was hugely controversial in the mid-60's, but you can't argue with the results. Some of the best music Dylan ever wrote is on this album. I love the hit "Like a Rolling Stone," and there's also the title song, "Tombstone Blues," and "Ballad of a Thin Man."

Bitches Brew came out five years later and also featured a master of his genre experimenting with electronic instruments. If Bob Dylan fused folk and rock, then Miles Davis did equally amazing things fusing jazz and rock. Like Bob Dylan's experiments, this was highly controversial when it came out, but is now accepted as one of his best albums and the father of jazz-rock. Some of these songs can't be called anything but epic, notably the title number and "Sanctuary." The album cover alone, with its colorful surreal imagery, is worth buying this for.

Worked on the Seasonal inventory while these were on. Added the Radio City Music Hall Christmas soundtrack, A Broadway Christmas, Cabaret Noel, Jimmy Buffett's Christmas Island, and Harry Connick Jr.'s When My Heart Finds Christmas. The Broadway collections go back the furthest here. I have no idea where Cabaret Noel came from anymore, and I got Broadway Christmas from a thrift shop in the Villas in late 2005, just a few months before I moved. 

Oh, and I got my schedule at this point as well. Frankly, I'm glad they cut my hours way back. If there was any week it would be good to have four days off, next week would be it. The high on Tuesday will be 17. I only work on the weekends and four hours on Wednesday. I'll probably get some things done when it starts warming up a bit on Thursday and Friday, but I plan on spending Monday and Tuesday at home. 

Switched to Match Game Syndicated while eating dinner, then finished the night with Mystery Science Theater 3000. Jack Frost was the English dubbing of a Russian fairy tale movie from the 1950's. It seems to be a cross between "Beauty and the Beast," "Cinderella," "Mother Holle," and another Russian tale, "Baba Yaga." A handsome nobleman shows off for a pretty lass, not knowing she's being abused by her hateful stepmother and spoiled and egotistical stepsister. He's given the head of a bear by an elf in a mushroom hat until he does a good deed, then has to get around the old witch Baba Yaga and her moving house. She's abandoned in the woods and is rescued by Grandfather Frost, but is tricked by Baba Yaga's cat into touching his staff and freezing. Ivan has to finally repent - and learn that being kind is its own reward - in order for Grandfather Frost to restore her. 

Mike and the robots thought this was weird, but I find it oddly charming. I love fairy tale films, and while the dubbing was goofy and there's odd details like the elf in the mushroom hat, it's certainly far from bad. Apparently, like Three Wishes for Cinderella, it remains popular in Russia and the Czech countries as a holiday movie to this day. Once again, if you love fairy tales too, this is worth checking out with or without robot wisecracks.