Called Uber after the cartoon ended. To my surprise, it arrived in 2 minutes. In fact, I had no trouble with Uber at all today. The one going to Thomas Sharp came in 6 minutes and got me there early. No traffic anywhere.
I had been wondering why I was working Thursday and Friday. The head bagger did the sweeping and indoor chores. I gathered carts, but it was dead as can be this morning. There just weren't that many out there. The floral department manager eventually asked me to help her with flowers for graduations and Mother's Day instead. I put small graduation balloons on sticks in a display and cut lavender and sage green netting, fit it into flowered bags, and put potted hyacinths into the bags.
Wasn't up to much more than lunch at Applebee's. Enjoyed a juicy cheeseburger and nicely-seasoned fries while watching the Phillies play the Giants and giggling at a 2-year-old boy who kept bouncing up and down in the booth in front of me and grinning. Went back to the Acme to buy straws for drinking soda (the silicone kind you can clean) and pick up the Uber after I ate.
Got to the school in plenty of time. There were far fewer problems today than there have been lately. For one thing, we only had 22 kids all together, 7 at my table. For another, we had more than enough teachers around for once, including one of the heads of the program. I owe the Phillies for getting my group to calm down in the hall by the bathrooms. The custodians were listening to the game on their radio in their office, and the door was open. Some of the kids couldn't help stopping to listen, too. I told them to be quiet, or they might make the Phillies lose! (Which they didn't. Later research revealed that the Phillies barely beat the Giants 6 - 5.)
It also helped that we once again got them out to the playground relatively early. I had trouble keeping them off the swings until more kids went home. Two of them fibbed to me that the head teacher let them on when she hadn't. Once they did get on around 4:30, I had to argue with a few of them to get them to allow their friends who were going home to have a turn. On the other hand, they chased one of the teachers around, pretending she was that elusive Pink Tiger. It was hilarious to see them running all over. Those who didn't run or swing danced to "Pink Pony Club," the themes from Bluey and PJ Max, "Pup Pup Boogie" from Paw Patrol, "Try Everything" from Zootopia, and songs from Moana, Frozen, Encanto, and KPop Demon Hunters. By 5 PM, we were down to 2 little kids and 5 older ones, and I was allowed to leave early.
It was still a nice day at that point, too. It was so nice, I walked home. Though there were clouds on the horizon and it was windy, it was also mostly sunny at that point and fairly warm, in the mid-60's. I just crossed at Collings Avenue after a quick stop at Speedy Mart for a drink and a treat, passing the park and Dollar General on my way home.
(It didn't start raining until around 7-7:30. It's rained off and on for the rest of the evening, though I don't think it's raining now.)
Had dinner while watching Match Game '91. For some reason, they skipped way ahead to the week that featured the second of comedian Soupy Sales' two appearances on a version of Match Game. He may have been older, but he was just as goofy as ever, including when he ended up handling a $10,000 Head to Head. He was joined by Pam Stone, Charles, Jimmie Walker, and comedienne Andi Matheny.
Finished the night working on that Michael review while listening to some of my new music acquisitions. The K-Tel collection Gold Rush '79 Volume 2 lives up to its name with some of the biggest hits from that year. Side one alone features "Knock On Wood," "Shake Your Groove Thing," "An Everlasting Love," and "Disco Nights (Rock Freak)." The major hits on side 2 were "Don't Cry Out Loud" and "Every 1's a Winner."
The Color Purple debuted on Broadway in 2005, and though it was a huge hit that ran three years, it got mixed reviews from the critics. Fortunately, you can't see the overblown production the critics fussed about here, just the powerhouse performances from LaChanze as Celie, Elisabeth Winters as Shug, and Felicia P. Fields as Sofia. Some critics complained about the deemphasis of the relationship between Shug Avery and Celie (there would be similar grievances about the film version of the musical as well), but they do get the gorgeous ballad "What About Love?" LaChanze scores with "I'm Here" and the title song, while Winters gets the jazzy "Push Da Button." Yes, the story is fairly depressing, but the music and performances alone make this worth checking out for fans of the novel or those who like their musicals on the meatier side.
And speaking of musicals, here's that review of Michael, on the life of Michael Jackson, I promised yesterday.
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