The Best of Both Worlds

Began the morning with breakfast and The Pirates of Dark Water. Ioz wants to be a real pirate again, so when he sees a seemingly empty ship with a vast treasure inside, he tries to steal it. He gets a lot more piracy than he bargained for when he's captured by "The Ghost Pirates" who run the ship and want to turn him into a ghost, too. Tula turned Ren into a ghost to save him while they both try to dodge Blarth.

Since it was cloudy and humid and I knew it was supposed to rain later, I called Uber. Alas, I called them too late. They took 16 minutes to arrive, and I was late getting to the Acme. Fortunately, I had no other problems with Uber today. The driver going to the Thomas Sharp School arrived in 10 minutes and got me there just in time. The one going home came in 9 minutes.

The Acme was even quieter today than it was yesterday. It barely got busy at noon. It's the middle of the week and the end of the month, and we're between holidays. The showers did finally start around 10:30, which means I got wet while pushing carts. Other than that and putting a few cold items away, there were no major problems, and I was in and out.

After I got changed, I had lunch at Tu Se Bella's at the Audubon Crossings Shopping Center in the back of the Acme. I had a slice of broccoli and shrimp pizza and a slice of Hawaiian (pineapple and ham) with a bottle of Diet Pepsi. They were only a little more busy, with two other people enjoying a late lunch and others getting take-out. After I ate, I walked back to the Acme. Considered getting a snack, but I just relaxed on a bench until it was time to call Uber.

The rain had begun to let up as I strolled down to Tu Se Bella's. By the time we took the kids out at 4 PM, it was long gone, and the sun was out (though it remained humid). Thank goodness. We had 25 kids, 9 of them at my table. Not only were they wild, running around so much in the cafeteria that 6 of them were held back for a timeout when the rest of us went outside, but we couldn't have taken them to the library if we wanted to. The library is being used for the older students' art show tomorrow and isn't available right now. They were even crazier outside, with the boys wrestling and kids begging to ride swings until they actually got on. Those who didn't race cars down the slides or wrestle or swing danced to "The Best of Both Worlds" from Hannah Montana, "Swipe and Scan (The Checkout Song)," the themes from Bluey and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and songs from Trolls and KPop Demon Hunters. 

There were still 6 kids when we finally took them inside to cool off. Not that they stayed there for very long. It was just too nice and sunny. They almost immediately trooped right back outside to play ball games with the remaining 8 older kids on the blacktop. I had to dissuade two boys from jumping in puddles and two more from trying to use masking tape to make a goal line to play soccer. (It would have never stuck to the blacktop.) There were 4 younger kids left when I called Uber, one leaving with his mother and older brother when I did.

Went straight into The Price Is Right when I got home. I got there in time for the Showcase Showdown. An older gentleman was the only one who didn't go over and made it to the Showcases. The less-expensive one was five different trips in Asia and Europe. The skit Showdown was a film noir spoof, with Johnny Olson as an extremely unlikely private eye searching for a trip to New York and Dian's comely body next to a new motorboat. The older man way, way overbid on the trips, which means the lady got her Big Apple vacation and fun on the water.

Continued into Match Game '74 as I ate dinner. These episodes finished out the week that introduced Scoey Mitchelll. In all honesty, despite him occasionally being charming and funny, Scoey was never the best player. I think he got maybe two answers right that week, though he seemed to do a little bit better as the week went on. He got a standing ovation and a handshake from Gene when he did finally get one right! 

Finished the night at YouTube with The Elusive Pimpernel. This is a relatively accurate British version of The Scarlet Pimpernel, with David Niven as a dashing Sir Percy Blakeny, Cyril Cusack as his main adversary, the French ambassador Chauvelain, and Margaret Leighton as Blakney's wife Marguerite. You'd never know that almost no one wanted to make this, including Niven and director Michael Powell. It's exquisite for a swashbuckler, with gorgeous costumes and stunning color in lovely pastel shades. Too bad they couldn't have left it as a musical. The stage show in 1997, despite having its own troubles, proved there is music to be mined from this story. It's probably not the best version of Pimpernel around, but it's still worth seeing if you're a fan of Niven or 50's swashbucklers, especially from England.