Nautical Nonsense

After last night's monsoon, I was delighted to see the sunlight streaming through my window this morning. It was so chilly in my apartment, I was perfectly happy curled under my blue and tan comforter, surrounded by stuffed animals. There weren't even any puddles left on my porch...though there was a lot of sticks and debris.

I ran swashbuckler-themed cartoons and shorts in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day as I had breakfast. In the Looney Tunes favorite "Buccaneer Bunny," Yosemite Sam is a pirate who tries to bury his treasure in Bugs' rabbit  hole. When Bugs turns up with the loot, he attempts to keep him from revealing the location. Mickey Mouse contends with modern pirate Peg-Leg Pete and rescues damsel in distress Minnie in the rare Disney black-and-white adventure "Shanghaied." The Three Stooges find themselves back in the ages of pirates and fair damsels in fancy gowns. It may take more than their famous "Maharaja" skit to keep from ending up burned on the stake in "Three Little Pirates."

Headed to the gym as the Stooges were ending. Once again, it wasn't busy. There were a few people on treadmills, and only one other woman lifting weights. I watched the local news and CBS' Talk Philly while working up a good sweat on the elliptical machine. It was getting late at that point, so I made my leg weight machine workout quick.

Went straight home for lunch and The Pirates of Penzance. This is the 1983 film adaptation of the hit Broadway revival of one of Gilbert and Sullivan's most beloved light operas. Yes, this is a light opera, almost entirely sung, and it's filmed as something of a stage show...but the cast is having such a great time, you won't mind. Kevin Kline, Rex Smith, and Linda Rondstat reprise their stage roles as the Pirate King, Fredrick, and Mabel. Angela Landsbury comes on board as Fredrick's devoted nurse.

Work was surprisingly on-and-off busy for the middle of the week and month. It was still so busy when I left, a manager had to come in for me.

Arr, The Eagles an' The Phillies Plunder the Competition

Sorry. The Message Board at AGPlaythings really gets into "Talk Like a Pirate Day." ;)

Arr, mateys, last night gave me a whopper of a nautical headache. Shortly after I posted last night's entry, my Internet went down...for almost two hours. I was about ready to throw my modem out the window. I switched the wireless modem for my other, smaller one to see if that would improve reception. Not only did it not improve the reception, but when the Internet did come back up, I couldn't get on! Verizon wouldn't let me. They wanted me to reset my whole darn account...and then they wouldn't accept my old administration name and password! I had to call Tech Support to get them to let me on.

THAT had it's own problems. I couldn't understand Tech Support, thanks to her accent. She couldn't understand me, thanks to my spotty cell phone. She had to spell everything out. I finally just cut off the call after the Internet was up and running. It was rude of me, I know, but I was tired and it was late.

I awoke in the morning with a whopper of a headache and a nose that was stuffed up from allergies. Plus, I went to bed late last night and didn't sleep all that well. I had the last of the buckwheat pancakes and a plum for breakfast and talked to Mom

I'm not the only one who's tired. Mom's been working non-stop at Michael's for the past few weeks, and things will only be getting busier there. The holidays are coming, after all. Yesterday was no help. She wanted to take a nap, but ended up attending her neighborhood's annual block party instead. She was too tired to enjoy it.

I listened to Brunch With the Beatles while finishing breakfast. I enjoyed today's theme, "Songs from 1968." We heard cuts from The White Album and some singles from that time period. My favorite, though, was a really good rare Fats Domino recording of "Lady Madonna."

I was almost late to work. I worked at 12:15 today. I hate working on the quarter-hours. It always gets me mixed up. Work was fairly busy today, so at least it passed quickly. I was a mess, tired, cranky, and frustrated. A woman said I yelled at her son when I only asked him to give me the change he'd taken out of the cup on the change machine. It didn't sound like yelling to me, but I wasn't really paying attention.

It was a gorgeous day outside, sunny and a little bit warmer than yesterday, but not too bad. The moment I got home, I changed and went back outside for a walk and a stop at Uncle Ken's house to see how the game went.

As I mentioned in the title, the game went very well. In fact, all of them did. The Eagles beat the wayward Detroit Lions 35-32. Dad's beloved Dolphins beat up on Brett Farve and the Minnesota Vikings 14-10.

Baseball fans have a reason to give a good hearty pirate cheer, too. The Phillies continue their run for the playoffs with their seventh straight win, this one over the Washington Nationals.

I had ham and pepperoni noodle soup (Uncle Ken's own recipe) at his house and chatted with Dad, Jodie, and Jodie's son TJ, then went for a walk around the neighborhood. It was a great day for it...and the rest of Oaklyn agreed with me. I saw lots of people out and about, from teenagers slurping Icees to elderly couples strolling together. There were many people taking advantage of the nice evening weather to work on their lawns and water their gardens as well.

The internet was down when I came home from work, and it was still down when my walk was done. I worked on crocheting. (I'm hoping a new purse for Jessa will be a bit less complicated than a hat.) The Internet came back up in time to hear the second half of The Dress Circle. Their theme was "Everyone Sings Gershwin." We heard some really lovely material, including a fine Ella Fitzgerald "Our Love Is Hear To Stay"...and Ethel Merman's "I Got Rhythm" on that scary Ethel Merman disco album.