Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Rushing In the Rain

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. "Collossor Awakes" when Skeletor creates a ship that can turn people into stone...or bring stone to life. While Teela and Battle Cat protect Castle Greyskull and He-Man figures out how to reverse the spell, Skeletor animates a massive one-eyed stone creature to do his bidding and capture the castle.

It had looked cloudy since I got up this morning...and of course, the moment I left the house, it started showering. It didn't last long, disappearing even as I crossed the White Horse Pike to pick up the bus. The bus arrived on time, and I had no trouble getting off at the office next to Amy's Omelette House in Somerdale.

The former diner with the seaside decor (Amy's started at the North Jersey Shore town Long Branch) surprisingly wasn't that busy for 11:30 in the morning. I was able to eat my bacon and aptly-named Peanut Butter Bliss pancakes in peace. One of the "Lite Bites," this was two chocolate chip pancakes spread with peanut butter and topped with bananas, caramel, and more chocolate chips. Yum! Nice and fluffy and just the right size. 

Ate them quickly, then dashed out the door to the Cinemark. It remained cloudy, humid, and relatively cool as I headed down the White Horse Pike, but the rain held off. I rushed to the Dollar Tree next to the theater to pick up a small bag of popcorn and a Pepsi Zero. I saw wooden crates there for $10. I'd go back for that later. I'd never get away with hauling that around in a theater.

As it turned out, I was too late. I thought Moana was at 12:35. Nope, it was at 12:10. The next regular showing was 2:35. By the time I got in, they would have been a quarter of the way through the movie. Darn it. I'd have to come back.

Strolled up to Walmart on the hill overlooking the Cinemark shopping center instead. Found last year's Superman movie on DVD for $9.99. They're one of the only places around here I can find Junkless granola bars. Got the strawberry flavor. It's also the only place I've ever seen the Sprite + Tea in a 20 ounce Zero version. (Which was...ok. It tasted like Sprite Zero and bottled tea, anyway.)

Even when I headed back down the hill to the theater, I still had a half-hour left. I just bought my ticket, used the bathroom, found a bench, and watched all the summer camp pre-teens running around. I heard them arguing over whether to see Minions & Monsters or Moana. The boys all wanted the Minions and the girls all wanted Moana. (Considering the summer camp kids who did end up seeing Moana barely made a peep the entire time, I'm presuming the boys mostly won out.) Even with all that, I was still in the theater 15 minutes early.

There's still a lot of interesting family movies coming out late this year and early next year. Illumination's next big movie Not Alone, about two NASA workers who fall for each other and help really goofy aliens get home, looks really sweet (especially for them). Disney's Thanksgiving movie Hexed, about a young witch learning to use her powers, also looks really interesting. I'm far less interested in another Ice Age film. Didn't they exhaust that particular franchise over a decade ago? The Cat In the Hat in November could be really cute...or really annoying really fast. (At least it looks a heck of a lot better than the Mike Myers live-action film, starting with being in more appropriate animation.) Forgotten Island is coming out when I'll be on vacation with Lauren, and unless I can talk her into it, I'll probably have to wait for that one on streaming. I'm still not all that eager to see Paw Patrol on the big screen, especially since I haven't seen the other films on Paramount Plus yet. 

As for Moana, I'll go further into that on Thursday at my Musical Dreams blog.

The clouds were getting thicker and thicker by the second, and the wind was blowing fiercely. I went back to Dollar Tree, got a crate for my bulging holiday records, and went back to the movie theater. I initially called Uber, due to concerns about the weather...but the prices were so high, I hurried to Taco Bell at the White Horse Pike instead. 

I made it there just as the storm finally began. It was really coming down as I ate my (yummy) taco, my (spicy and so-so) quesadilla, and quickly drank sugar-free Gatorade. I was originally going to take the bus home, but the weather now made that impossible. There's no bus shelter at the Taco Bell stop. I just spent the money and called Uber. The driver arrived in 15 minutes and thankfully had no trouble getting me home despite the flooding alerts that popped up when we were going through Lawnside. (It must have been in Cherry Hill. I didn't see any flooding on the White Horse Pike.)

Organized my records and the bears sitting on the crates when I got home, then watched Match Game '75. Tonight finished up the week with William Shatner and Julie Harris. Early on, a young woman was so excited, her bouncing around supposedly put a crack in the floor! In a later show, a young woman with a wide, gleaming toothpaste smile was so pleased when she gave a sexually-charged answer, the panelists couldn't help joking about it. In the last episode, Fannie Flagg was enamored with a handsome young man who was perfectly happy being single.

Finished the night at Tubi with Jinx Money. Sach and Slip think they've found the answer to all their money woes when thousands of dollar turns up in a rolled-up newspaper on the street. To the guys' consternation, the original owner was a gangster who won the money at an illicit poker game and was killed before he could enjoy it. Every gangster who follows him and tries to get the dough from the Boys ends up dead, poisoned or stabbed by a man carrying an umbrella whom only Sach keeps seeing. Slip sets himself up as bait when one too many gamblers die on their doorstep, but for once, it's Sach who turns out to really be right about who's doing the killing. 

No comments: