Quiet Afternoon at the Library

Began the day with breakfast and the last of the new Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood episodes. "Daniel Does It His Way" when he tries to imitate Prince Wednesday's "bear prints" in the snow and can't keep his balance. His mother reminds him that it's just as much fun to do it in his own way. He and his father are frustrated when they try to make a bird face on their pancakes and keep losing the blueberry "eyes." They end up using other fruits. Katarina has her own frustrations when she realizes she can't read like O in "Katerina and O Go Skating." She can, however, tell the skating story in her own way. Likewise, O is only just learning how to skate. Katerina encourages him to try baby steps and do it his way.

Called Uber soon as the episode was done. It was past 12:30, so they took over 11 minutes to arrive. Once they came, there were no problems, no traffic on the road. They pulled in front of the Camden County Vogelson Branch Library - aka the Voorhees Library - in 20 minutes. 

I'd only been to the Voorhees Library once since they remodeled in 2021. It really did make a dramatic difference. The walls and floors were now dark ash wood rather than darker browns and blacks, and there were blond wavy wood partitions separating the children's and young adults sections from the first floor. Lots of DVD and CD racks, too. Their children section alone, announced by a long banner made to look like colorful blocks, was probably the size of the Haddon Township Library.

The fiction stacks are on the other side of the children's area. Boy, did I hit pay dirt here! They had mystery series I'd been after for ages in full or nearly full (including the first book in the Key West series) and tons of Mercedes Lackey. I ended up with from downstairs: 

The Fairy Godmother and Beauty and the Werewolf by Mercedes Lackey

Charms and Chocolate Chips by Bailey Cates

An Appetite For Murder by Lucy Burdette

The upstairs nonfiction area was so huge, I mainly ended up checking out their extensive collection of film, TV, and theater-related books. Looked over books on demolished New York theaters and lost movies, but I only ended up with a coffee-table book on stage and screen musicals, Musicals: The Definitive Illustrated History. 

Strolled two blocks down and past a sprawling apartment complex for the elderly and three large office buildings to "The Boulevard," the outdoor condo and shops buildings just outside of the largely abandoned Voorhees Town Center. Honestly, the Boulevard isn't doing so hot, either. At least, unlike the Town Center, which has been closed except for the Boscov's store since a fire in the food court last year, there are some open restaurants here. One of them is the very modern orange and ash wood-and-metal Crust n' Fire. A sweet young waitress brought me an absolutely delicious Thai Shrimp Wrap with cucumber, spring greens, shrimp, and almonds smothered in Asian ginger dressing. Sooo yummy! Perfect melding of sweet, tangy, crunchy, and slightly spicy. 

I figured it would be easier to pick up Uber at the library on the main road, rather than making them drive into the Boulevard, so I walked back there. The initial driver was supposed to have taken 16 minutes, but he canceled within barely seconds of taking the job. Thank heavens his replacement didn't even need three minutes to arrive. Considering it was past 4:30 and the height of rush hour, there was surprisingly little traffic going home. 

Did some job searching when I got home. Applied to administrative assistant jobs in Bellmawr and Delran. I'm slightly more interested in the one for Somerset Contractors in Bellmawr. To tell the truth, none of the office jobs really excite me all that much. What I want to do is write, but I don't think I'll ever really make money off that, and certainly not health insurance. For now, the secretarial work is at least closer to what I'm actually good at than being stuck in retail, which I loathe.

Let Match Game '73 run as I searched Indeed. The second episode of the night picked up with the best two weeks of the entire year. Bill Cullen made his debut the first week, along with the only rock star brave enough to try Match Game, "Mama" Cass Elliot. Too bad Cass passed away before she had the chance to return. She was not only a lot of fun and a good player, she was also a good sport. She endured a lot of weight jokes that week, including Richard Dawson threatening to let her flatten the entire first row if they got rowdy. McLean Stevenson appeared for the first time the next week. Broadway star Nancy Dussalt was such a delight in the fourth ingenue seat, I wish she'd come back during the 70's-80's run. (She wouldn't appear again until the Too Close for Comfort week on Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour.) 

Finished the night at Hulu and Disney Plus with episodes of MASH, which I haven't watched in a while. In honor of McLean, I did two second season episodes. "Dear Dad...Three" once again has Hawkeye writing to his father about the shenanigans at the 4077th. The surgeons find themselves trying to remove a live grenade from a soldier and teach another who worries about getting the right blood a lesson in prejudice. The attempt at a "monthly" meeting with all the officers (and Radar) isn't terribly productive. Hot Lips and Frank continue their affair. Hawkeye, Radar, and Trapper join Henry in watching his daughter's birthday party on a home movie, along with him and his wife goofing off. (I didn't know McLean had such skinny legs!)

"The Sniper" has everyone on edge and diving for cover. He disrupts Hawkeye's picnic with a pretty nurse (Terri Garr), Frank's attempts to shoot cans off a fence, and Henry and Radar taking showers. (We also get some of the first nudity on TV with glimpses of Gary Burgoff's bare rear as he dashes to the others at the main headquarters.) Between helping victims, Hawkeye and Frank try to insist to whomever is doing the shooting that they have no weapons and are friendly, while Henry and Radar call the real headquarters for more help.