Called Uber after the cartoon ended and I finished eating. I got an AMC Theaters gift card for my birthday. I wanted to use it to see Michael, but the only morning showings on a Wednesday were at the AMC Deptford 8. The driver going to Deptford arrived in 10 minutes. The one going home came in 8. No traffic, a bit surprised given there's supposed to be road work going on near the entrance to Deptford.
Got there just in time for the commercials. Most of the ones I saw today weren't nearly as interesting as the ones in front of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. I did see the previous Spider Man Marvel films in the theater, but in all honesty, I'm not that big of a fan. I might check out Spider Man: Brand New Day if I'm bored in late July. My sisters and I used to play the Mortal Kombat games when we could sneak them past Mom, but I'm not all that interested in seeing a movie version. Is God Is looks more like something I'd catch on streaming some afternoon or in the evening after Match Game. I'm not a horror fan, and I certainly see no reason to reboot the Scary Movie series. No interest in more Hunger Games, either. I never did get around to watching The Mandelorian, and I have no desire to jump back into the Star Wars fray, no matter how impossibly cute Grogu is.
As for Michael, I'll go further into the just-released biography of Michael Jackson tomorrow night on my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
Had a quick tuna salad wrap when I got home and watched Bluey. The girls are disappointed when they can't get toys from "The Claw," so their parents pretend to be claw machines. Chili gives them toys right away, but Bandit is harder to "work." He's hoping to teach the kids that life isn't fair...but they just end up tickling him until he gives them the unlimited bowls of ice cream block he put in his lap.
Went straight to the Thomas Sharp School after Bluey ended and got there right on time. We had 24 younger kids to start, 10 of them at my table. I'm kind of glad we went last going to the bathroom this time. There were still kids there when I brought them. I just had to wait for stragglers.
The head of the program circumvented the noise and insanity in the cafeteria by having the kids go out to the playground a half-hour early. It showered slightly when we came out and about a half-hour later, but nothing heavy or that would make anyone melt. The kids were pretty crazy when there were still a lot of them around. One boy got upset when his toy car went missing, then threw said car over the fence. I chatted with one of the older girls while the others called out to kids playing ball on the sidewalk. They were much happier when enough kids went home that they could swing safely without hitting anyone. The head teacher had just taken the remaining 4 kids to the blacktop to play ball games with the remaining 8 older kids when I went home.
Waited for Jessa outside for a half-hour before she finally picked me up. Perfect timing, too. We were on our way to Runnemede when it finally started showering harder. It was coming down at a pretty good clip when Jessa pulled up at the Philly Diner, a lavish chrome diner and sports bar. Jessa said she mainly wanted to go there for their frothy chicken lemon orzo soup, made with whipped eggs instead of cream. She got the soup and a bowl of Caesar salad big enough for the smallest kids in the after-school program to swim in. I had a tasty farmer's omelet - sausage, ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, and peppers - whole wheat toast, and home fries. I only ate half the home fries. I wanted to save room for a big slice of a decadent Reece's Peanut Butter Cup Cake with too-rich cream cheese peanut butter frosting. Jessa had a bowl of vanilla ice cream.
The last time we were in Runnemede, Jessa had wanted to check out Raintree Shopping in the shopping center next to the Acme, but they closed at 7. They still close at 7...but for some reason, they were open when we came. They're basically a smaller version of Ollie's or Ocean State Job Lots, overstocks and slightly used stuff for prices that, frankly, could have been cheaper. I did find two Care Bears I'd never heard of. I went with Friends Forever Bear, with her joined heart and swirly psychedelic colors. I'll dial her name down to the much simpler Groovy Bear. (I also saw an equally psychedelic Care Bear, Good Vibes Bear, who had a tummy symbol that resembled the logo of the Grateful Dead.) I don't think Jess got anything at Raintree, but she did get beaded flamingo fringe (she loves all things flamingo from growing up in Florida) at Dollar Tree. I got a 4th of July tinsel garland and a frame for the card one of the kids gave me on my birthday.
(Oh, and it continued to rain all through that trip, and during the ride home. It's showered hard, sometimes with thunder, off and on for the rest of the night.)
I finished the night with the second disc from The Essential Michael Jackson. Michael ends in 1988, conveniently before he started to be known more for his eccentric behavior than his music. It may have made his family feel better to stop there, but...those were the years I remember best. In fact, my favorite Jackson songs, "Smooth Criminal," "Black and White," "The Way You Make Me Feel," and "You are Not Alone" are all from later in his career, when he was somewhere between being a near-saint and a freak show.
I almost literally grew up with Jackson's music. Off the Wall debuted four months after I was born. Thriller was one of the first albums I remember listening to constantly, and it was one of the first records I bought after Dad gave me the record player/CD combo for my birthday in April 2006. I'm pretty sure we also had Off the Wall on record. I know my family owned Bad on cassette, because I listened to that a lot, too. Dangerous was one of the first CDs anyone in my family ever owned.
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