In the Heat of Spring

Began the morning with breakfast and The Pirates of Dark Water. The crew finds themselves in a "Break Up" when they arrive at Niddler's home island and discover his people are sold as slaves. Ren helps free them, but when they discover the pirate who stole the first treasure and the compass and the slaver are in cahoots, Ren stays behind to help Niddler and his people. Tula and Teron leave on the ship, convinced Ren and Niddler are lost. They were rescued and set out after them, only to be caught by Bloth on the open seas.

Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon doing the child care refresher course and the CPR course, both of which were required by Healthy Kids. Thankfully, the refresher course took about an hour. It was the CPR course, which was for adults and kids and was more thorough than the one I did in May, that took forever. I was still working on it when it was time to leave for the Thomas Sharp School. 

Listened to Anderson's Fairy Tales while I worked. This double-CD is a collection of some of Anderson's more fanciful stories. Thankfully, only "The Little Match Girl" is all that depressing, considering what some of his fairy tales can be like. Most of them are adventures like "The Traveling Companion" and "Little Claus and Big Claus," gentle moral tales like "The Ugly Duckling," or slightly more pointed ones like "The Swineherd." Brit Erica Johns provides the soothing narrations.

I hurried downstairs and called Uber soon as I ate a quick lunch. Thank heavens I was able to get a driver in 4 minutes! I arrived only slightly late, nothing like yesterday.

Good thing, too. We had 29 kids today, 9 of them at my table. At least my kids were really good. They weren't too bad in the bathrooms, and most of them came and got their backpacks from the library without being asked. (We started in the library, since the school band was rehearsing in the cafeteria.) Once again, they all wanted to go outside after snack time! 

And who wanted to miss a glorious 80-degree day? It was sunny, breezy, and ridiculously hot for March. Too hot. I kept having to take kids inside to get drinks, when they weren't chasing bubbles or each other or having "no shoes" parties. (We quickly put the kibosh on that one. Mulch was not meant for bare feet.) It was so nice, they were only just going back inside when I went to the other side of the school to wait for Jessa.

Jess finally arrived at 6. We had no idea what to do for dinner and just followed the traffic across Cherry Hill and Pennsauken until she suggested The Melting Pot in Maple Shade. It was a brilliant idea. This dark, modern wood-paneled restaurant specializes in all kinds of fondue. We decided the oil and meat variety would be too much and take too long to cook and settled for Classic Alpine cheese fondue and a dark chocolate fondue for dessert. Oh yuuumm! They made the cheese fondue right at the electric burners on the marble table top. We dipped cubed French bread, chunks of soft pretzels, and sliced vegetables into it. I ordered cubed sausage for some more protein. The dark chocolate fondue came with sliced bananas and strawberries, cubed pound cake, Rice Krispies Treats, and brownies, and bits of chocolate chip cookie bar. Jessa tossed in mini-churros, too. We chatted for so long, we where there almost a half-hour after we finished eating.

When I got home, I finally completed the CPR course, then finished the night listening to the last disc of the Broadway: The American Musical soundtrack. This one kicks off with songs from the huge European rock operas of the 80's and early 90's, including "Memory" from Cats, "Do You Hear the People Sing" from Les Miserables, "The Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera, and "The American Dream" from Miss Saigon. By the time Glenn Close was singing "With One Look" in the massive Sunset Boulevard, most audiences had started to look for a more homegrown and less bombastic sound. 

La Cage Aux Follies was the first musical with a happy gay couple at its center, and it's anthem "I Am What I Am" spoke for a significant portion of the musical's fan base...even as the AIDS crisis killed off many promising young talents. Smokey Joe's Cafe, Jelly's Last Jam, Movin' Out, and Mamma Mia! were jukebox musicals with infectious, nostalgic numbers like "On Broadway" and "Dancing Queen" getting audiences up and dancing. Hairspray and The Producers proved that smash hit musicals could come from films, with their big chorus numbers like "Good Morning Baltimore" and "I Wanna Be a Producer," while the rock shows Rent and The Boy from Oz introduced promising new talents. At the time the miniseries came out in 2004, the big thing on Broadway was Wicked...and unlike the other shows on this disc, it's still going strong, in New York and London, at press time. Elphaba's big first-act closer "Defying Gravity" is included here. 

Sweet Day In the Rain

Kicked off the morning with breakfast and Alice's Wonderland Bakery. Mother Rose's teas can heal any ailment, but she's "A Rose Between Two Thorns" when caring for the flowers after a damaging wind leaves her too tired to take care of her own bruised thorn. Alice and her friends deliver her teas, then teach her about the importance of self-care. Alice thinks there's a "Double Dinah" when her kitten suddenly seems to be everywhere while she's working on a surprise for the Cheshire Cat, but it turns out there's a more sensible explanation for why her cat seems to be in everything. 

Spent the next hour finishing out my training. Thankfully, neither the licensing tests nor the CPR course took that long. The online CPR course didn't even take 15 minutes. I might see if I can find a more hands-on course locally later in the summer for better training, but this will do for now. 

Worked on writing for the rest of the morning and early afternoon while a shower fell softly behind me. I decided to try something a bit controversial. I ran Once Upon a Time In the Land of WENN through an AI Chat, just to see what I'd get. Actually, I got a lot of great suggestions. As long as I don't let it write the whole thing for me, I think this might be useful. I'll go back over it tomorrow and take some of those ideas down.

Began the second season of Remember WENN while I worked. "Radio Silence" reveals that Victor died in the London bombings and Jeff was injured. Hilary grapples with balancing her delight in Jeff's return with her remorse about Victor's death. Betty takes her grieving even further. She sequesters herself in the writer's room, pounding out script after script where nothing bad happens and everyone is happy, and insists on a minute of silence every hour for Victor. It's a frustrated Scott Sherwood who reminds the heartbroken young woman that we can't honor anyone by drowning in despair. 

Hilary and Jeff are gladly saying "I Now Pronounce You Man and Wife Again"...and being nauseating about it on the air. The others, especially Betty and Scott, are starting to get sick of their baby talk. Meanwhile, Mr. Medwick and Scott devise their own late-night show and get organist Eugenia to host it, but it's leaving her too tired for her daytime organ duties. 

I forgot new episodes of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood just debuted. "Daniel and Max Visit the Farm" and learn to not only take care of the animals there, but take care of each other when the ducks overwhelm autistic Max. Prince Wednesday is delighted to introduce "Prince Wednesday's Pet," a cute guinea pig named CiCi, to Jodie. The kids learn how hard it can be to care for a pet...and how it can be even harder to watch a little one when Jodie's toddler brother Leo gets upset because CiCi is napping. 

The weather was still bad when I got off the computer, so I took Uber to the Thomas Sharp School again. No trouble either way. The one going there arrived in 7 minutes and there just in time. The one going home didn't even take 4 minutes. No traffic or trouble on the road.

Needless to say, the kids were inside the entire three hours. The weather was just too humid and rainy for running around playgrounds. They honestly behaved better than I figured they would. The only time they got really antsy or noisy was waiting in line for the bathroom. There were 35 kids today, more than double the amount we had yesterday. They also got pretty fidgety while one of the older elementary school kids read them a story...but in their defense, she read two and a half picture books, and The Lorax is pretty long and complicated for Dr. Seuss. The kids spent the rest of the afternoon happily playing with Mega Blox, giant Lego-type building toys. One sweet boy even gave me the picture he drew of Roberts Pool in Collingswood to "bring me joy." I will treasure it.

Once I got in, I had dinner and watched Song of Norway at YouTube. I go further into this kitschy operetta on the life of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Song of Norway

Finished the night while going over the AI chat and writing my review with some great memories. Tiffany's Hold an Old Friend's Hand was one of my favorite cassettes from 1989 through 1991. I rewound "All This Time" over and over, and even now, I nearly cried at how achingly familiar it was. "Radio Romance" was the other hit, but I preferred "It's the Lover (Not the Love)" and "I'll Be the Girl."

Likewise, I had at least three Mariah Carey cassettes I listened to frequently in the early and mid-90's, during the height of her initial success. If I wasn't listening to them, I hear #1s like "Vision of Love," "Dream Lover," and "I Don't Want to Cry" constantly on the radio. I thought "One Sweet Day" was impossibly romantic as a melodramatic 14-year-old and her "When You Believe" with Whitney Houston was beautiful (though I wouldn't see Prince of Egypt until I was an adult). 

Oh, and it's a good thing we didn't take the kids out, and I had no outside plans for today other than work. It's continued to rain off and on, sometimes heavily, for the rest of the night. 

Children Will Listen

Started the day off with breakfast...and I hadn't even finished when I called the NJCISS to figure out what was going on with the registry tabs for the training courses. It only took them a few minutes to fix it. I was on my way less than five minutes after talking to them.

The course was learning all the basics of caring for children in New Jersey - safety, health, when to report child abuse, how to handle infants. I didn't think I'd need to know the last-named - I was working in an elementary school - but it's nice to know. The course took so long, I was still doing it while eating lunch. In fact, I was only 90 percent done with it when I called Uber. I partially wanted to get there on time, and I partially wanted to figure out where Thomas Sharp Elementary is. It was the only school in Collingswood that I didn't have an inkling of where it was. The driver thankfully arrived in even less than the 9 minutes listed and got me there in less than 5.

Listened to See How It Feels while I worked. Apparently, this would be the only recording the Brubeck Lavender Trio made. I can't find a listing of any others. It's too bad. There's some good material here. "Central" and "Aqua" on the first side and the title number on the second were especially good. 

Thomas Sharp Elementary turned to be a small older brick building in West Collingswood. It took me a few minutes to figure out which door I was to go into. After that, I settled down right away to help with the kids and play dinosaurs with them. I won't go much further into it, but let's say I had a marvelous time. The kids were great. They were absolutely hilarious. I hadn't laughed so much in ages. They were all really good, too. One of the girls said they were in preschool, so some of them getting loud made sense. It's their ages. The head manager came by to help me with some paperwork that needed to be downloaded. Other than that, it was a very good first day. 

I was so happy, I treated myself to dinner at one of the few restaurants on the White Horse Pike open on a Monday. The White Horse Pub was surprisingly quiet for the dinner hour. Most people were at the bar, watching Shrek or the news. By the time I was digging into a delicious turkey and bacon wrap and sweet potato fries with syrup, they'd switched to the Cardinals-Phillies game. The Phillies were just up to bat in the 1st when I left. (Alas, I found out later the Phils lost to the Cards 3-2.)

Yeah, I ended up walking home. I wasn't in a hurry, and I did want to eat out. As the other teachers remarked, it was sunny, hot, and humid earlier in the day. There was, however, a nice breeze that kept it from getting too hot. By the time I was heading down the White Horse Pike to East Clinton, the sun was gone, the wind had picked up, and it was a bit cooler.

When I got home, I took a shower, then finished up the safety/child abuse course. Finished the night with fantasy and stunt game shows for kids on YouTube. Probably the top kids' stunt show is still Double Dare. It's not only been Nickelodeon's premiere game show since 1986, it's the basis behind the vast majority of their subsequent games. By 1988, they were popular enough to bring in the occasional celebrities to play with the kids, like Jeremy Miller of Growing Pains and Candace Cameron of Full House in the episode I have here.

I loved Fun House even more in some ways. It was pretty much the same idea as Double Dare with no daring and a final "stunt" that had the kids racing each other and grabbing rings on some strange vehicle. (They push each other on colorful beds in the episode I have here.) I still prefer the run through the Fun House to Double Dare's difficult Obstacle Course. With the Fun House, all but the slowest kids were guaranteed to come out with some cash or good prizes, as they do here.

Nickelodeon upped the ante in 1993, crossing goofy Double Dare stunts with the extreme sports popular in the 90's and a fantasy storyline to create one of their best-regarded game shows, Legends of the Hidden Temple. Six teams attempt to get across a "moat" (pool of water). The four with the fastest times will face the giant talking stone head Olmec, who relates a tale of some artifact lost in the Hidden Temple. The kids then head down "The Steps of Knowledge" as Olmec asks questions about the story. The two teams who make it play mini-games to see which one will run through the Hidden Temple and rescue that artifact! No wonder this was a three-year-hit for Nick and was so well-remembered, the CW would briefly revive it for adults in 2021. 

The Secrets of the Crypt Keeper's Haunted House traded fantasy for horror during its run on CBS Saturday mornings in 1996. The Crypt Keeper of Tales from the Crypt cackled and made catty remarks as two teams of kids dodged a giant skull shooting fireballs, grabbed letters to complete words in a room that's falling down, tried to pass basketballs in a wind tunnel, and ran along a corridor where floating objects would suddenly come into view and their partner would have to guess the phrase. Very weird, with its obvious early CGI, but the horror theme alone makes this unique. 

Fantasy shows came from other lands, too. The Canadian Splatalot was inspired by the stunt show Wipeout, but it had more in common with Knights and Warriors. Kids competed on three different courses to capture the crown and become the King or Queen. As in Knights, there were actors dressed in stock fantasy trope costumes spraying the kids with water or slime balls and trying to take them down. It was a lot of fun to watch the kids try to storm the castle, even if hosts Jason Agnew and Matt Chin get a little annoying after a while.

The British really loved their fantasy-themed game shows. Knightmare had three kids describing rooms in a castle to a fourth now wearing a helmet. They have to use their heads and work together to get their friend away from obstacles that include an ogre and a demanding older witch. It's slow-moving and the green screen tech is pretty obvious, but this was state-of-the-art when it debuted in 1987, including one of the first uses of virtual reality on a TV show.

The Scottish show The Raven took the medieval competition back outside. The mysterious title host leads six apprentices through three challenges based on knight tests. Every couple of weeks, one kid would be eliminated, until a young knight was declared the Ultimate Warrior! I can definitely see why this was a smash hit from 2002 to 2010 on the CBBC. It was so authentically medieval, romantic, and steeped in lore, it had three spin-offs that went further into its mythology. 

Live the ultimate kid fantasy of being a knight, an explorer, or a paranormal investigator with these imaginative games!

Knighmare (1987)

Double Dare (1988)

Fun House (1989)

Legends of the Hidden Temple (1993)

The Secrets of the Crypt Keeper's Haunted House (1996)

The Raven (2005)

Splatalot! (2012)

Adventures In Mutantland

Began a cold, sort-of-cloudy morning with shredded wheat, half a grapefruit, and It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. Linus keeps insisting that the Easter Beagle will come down and give presents to all the good little children. Sally's more skeptical. She's dealt with his pet theories before. Snoopy wants to buy Woodstock a birdhouse to keep the spring weather off of him. Peppermint Patty spends her spring holidays trying to teach Marcie to color eggs, with little success. Lucy tries to get presents off of Schroeder and makes sure that she'll win the Easter egg hunt. And Charles Schultz makes a few jabs at very early Christmas sales.

Work was on-and-off busy, especially in the morning. It wasn't quite as bad as the other day, and it did thin out a little as the afternoon went on. It picked up enough by 2 that I needed a manager to come in for me. My relief, one of the college boys, was late.

I went straight home. When I got in, I changed and spent the next few hours working on my final project for class. The question is, "if it wasn't impossible, what would you do?" You have to brainstorm ideas, then let them sit for a while. I did some stuff online, then did my brainstorming. I'll start the essay - it has to be at least 10 pages - Monday or Tuesday.

When I finished, I made leftovers for dinner, then baked a pineapple-coconut cake while watching X Men: Days of Future Past. In the far future, Sentinels, robots with mutant-like powers, are killing off human and mutant alike. Logan "Wolverine" Howlett (Hugh Jackman) jumps back in the past to 1973 to stop blue-skinned assassin Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing the inventor of the Sentinels, Boliver Trask (Peter Dinklage). He'll need help from Professor Xavier (James McAvoy), who's become a drunk since the last movie, and Erik "Magneto" Lensher (Micheal Fassbinder) who is in a top-secret security prison in the Pentagon. Logan has to bring the two together, or there may not be a future for any mutant.

I'm not normally the biggest sci-fi fan, but this one was rather interesting. I suspect it might help if you know the comics a little better. Tighter focus helps, although there's still a few characters (like some of the mutants seen in the opening, Storm, and the hilarious sprinter Quicksilver) I would like to have seen more of. If you're a fan of this series, jump in. Newcomers and casual fans may want to check out at least the first two movies before coming here to get a better idea of the characters.

Moved to Little Nemo: Adventures In Slumberland while I frosted my cake with Coconut Cool Whip Icing. The title character is also from a comic book, in this case one of the earliest hit comics, going all the way back to the early 1900's. Little Nemo dreams that he's in a fantastic world where dirigibles are practically flying palaces, pixies control the weather, and jolly King Morpheus rides a toy train and wants to make him his heir. Nemo's not entirely sure about this, despite making friends with his daughter. When he and the mischievous hobo Flip accidentally open the door to Nightmareland, the evil Nightmare King kidnaps King Morpheus. Now Nemo and his friends have to get into Slumberland to free the king and show that in dreams, anything really is possible.

This was another troubled production that goes back even further than Felix the Cat and Happily Ever After. Originally a Japanese-American co-production, animation began in the early 80's. There was so much infighting and fussing over what tone to take (the Americans wanted darkness; the Japanese, whimsy) that the movie wasn't completed until 1989, and wasn't released in the US until the early 90's. They never entirely solved that problem. The movie goes back and forth from goofy fantasy to frightening dark sequences. Some of the animation is really awesome, though, especially in the second half in Nightmareland.

This was released on Blu-Ray a few years ago with the original Japanese soundtrack and some of the footage cut from the US release restored. It's worth a look if you love fantasy or unusual animated films.

Changes In the Rain

It was cloudy and unusually warm and humid for this time of year when I started work. I have no idea why we were so busy...or why we had so many people call out. Warm temperatures aside, this was hardly the kind of day you'd want to spend on a blanket at the Jersey Shore. We were so short on help for a lot of the day, I ended up staying an hour. One man even complained loudly about it, yelling to everyone around him that we were horrible because we couldn't be bothered to hire help. (Uh, we did. It just didn't come in.)

I worked on writing for an hour when I finally got home. I also came to a conclusion while going over the websites for AG Collectors and AG Playthings. I think I've had quite enough of the American Girl fandom. While no one's ever said anything really mean to me, I'm tired of the complaining over sales, how the dolls and the time periods they represent should be depicted, what the clothes they wear and the things they hold are made of, and how one side of the fan base snipes at the other. I will continue to post on the Ever After High/Monster High message board I belong to, to read doll blogs and websites, to collect things for my dolls, and to post photos of them at my blog. I'm going to take a hiatus from American Girl message boards until the late August release of Josefina's new wardrobe and the 50's doll. We'll see how I feel then.

The assignment was to write a short story based around an event that changed you or someone who changed you, preferably set during a holiday. I had a hard time choosing an event! I finally based the story around Christmas 1990. We moved across town on New Year's Day 1991, and because of this, our Christmas was very simple. We only had a few presents, we had a small table-top tree strung with cranberry-popcorn ropes and a hand-made glitter-covered star, and we otherwise didn't decorate. Thankfully, the next time we moved, four years later, it was in the fall. My two subsequent moves on my own were in early February. They were all well away from any major holidays.

It also reminded me of how different we were from other families. I still don't know anyone else outside of the military who grew up moving from house to house because they couldn't afford the rent or Dad fought with the shady friend who owned the house. Even Lauren never lived in more than two or three houses her entire life.

We were supposed to let the writing "cool" for a while. I put on a Wonder Woman episode while having leftover chili for dinner and making Banana Spice Muffins. "Knockout" is one of the more interesting early second season episodes. Diana Prince finds herself dealing with a former LA cop-turned-terrorist who has kidnapped Steve. The terrorists are going to hijack a business conference for major companies in LA...if Wonder Woman doesn't stop them first!

Oh, and it's been raining on and off all day. Thankfully, it waited to start until well after I got to work, and took a break while I was on my way home. (In fact, the sun was trying to come out at that point.) It started up again later in the night, and has been off and on since. There's a possibility it'll mix with a little snow tomorrow. Once again, I doubt it'll stick...and if it does, it won't be around for more than a day or two.

Puddles, Puddles Everywhere

Started off a far nicer and sunnier day with spring-themed shorts. "Birds In the Spring" is just what the title implies, a Silly Symphony about a baby bird who falls out of the nest and has a close encounter with a snake and bees, among other creatures. "The Goddess of Spring" is a retelling of the myth of Persephone and Hades done as a full-blown mini opera (and a practice run for Snow White). Donald Duck may have "The Greener Yard," but as the little beetle who wants to make a snack of his flowers discovers, it holds many perils, including the bad-tempered duck himself.

I had another fairly early work day, but at least it was also a short work day, only four hours. It was busy the entire time. The beautiful day must have brought people out of the woodwork. I was thrilled when my relief, one of the college boys, showed up and I was able to get out on time.

After I got home, I messed around online and did classwork for an hour. I edited the essay, took a look at Writer's Market for a good magazine I'd send it to if I was so inclined (Adventure Cyclist), and posted it. The next assignment involves writing a fiction story about someone we admire. I have some ideas, but it's supposed to be a short story, and I could probably do it fairly quickly on Monday or Tuesday.

Besides, it was too nice to spend most of the rest of the evening indoors. I went for a nice walk down by the school around 4:30. It was as perfect a spring day as one could wish for. The snow was melting rapidly, creating puddles that were ankle-deep in some places. I wore my winter boots and did a lot of jumping and splashing. One puddle I jumped into was so deep, it sloshed into my left boot, making it very soggy. Both boots were soaked when I got home, but I had more fun than I've had in ages.

I wasn't the only one outside enjoying the day, either. Whole families were out riding bikes. Kids played catch or basketball. One toddler tried to run through the snow in her little pastel rubber boots. She was too cute, stomping around. Adults chatted on porches or in their front yards. Older kids hung around in front of Phillies Phatties, Studio LuLoo, and Common Grounds on West Clinton and chatted, their bikes temporarily abandoned against the storefronts.

When I got home, I put up the remaining Easter decorations, mainly cardboard hangings and posters. I ran out of tape earlier in the week. After I finished, I made leftover chicken for dinner with sauteed escarole, spinach, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes in lemon sauce.

Ran the very, very bizarre Felix the Cat: The Movie as I ate. Felix and finds himself and his Magic Bag of Tricks in the strange fantasy world of Oriana. The Duke of Zill is determined to have Oriana and its beautiful princess for himself. Meanwhile, Felix's 50's nemesis the Professor and his nephew Poindexter follow him, hoping to get gold and the Magic Bag of Tricks. The Duke has created an army of robotic cylinders that obey his every command. Felix and the others have to dodge the Duke's army and a strange circus in order to find the book that will save the land!

Hoooo boy. This is just about the strangest animated film I've ever seen that was intended for kids. Felix and his 20's by way of the 50's design do not fit in with 80's high fantasy and Transformers-esque technology. It feels like the animators had a movie about a princess in a fantasy world and a movie about Felix and threw them together for no reason. The ending in particular is rushed to the point of being non-existent.

To give the movie a little credit, there's a few things I do like. The creature designs are amazing. Some of the monsters seen in this movie are very detailed and creative. The backdrops are detailed and well-done, especially as they're traveling through Zill. And for all his lack of reason for hating his brother's daughter (it's never stated why he's banished), the Duke of Zill is very well-animated and looks like something from one of the better 80's boys cartoons. It may feel meandering, but at least up until the truncated finale, it is action-packed and fun to follow.

Like Happily Ever After last week, this is another movie that was started in the late 80's and not released until the early 90's. In fact, they made the mistake of releasing it at the same time as Beauty and the Beast. Needless to say, it was not a hit, and in fact is extremely hard to find today. (My copy is an imported DVD I found at a yard sale.) If you enjoy unique or unusual animation or are a huge Felix the Cat fan, I sort-of recommend this one despite all the strangeness. It's absolutely not for everyone, but it does have its fans, if you can handle the weirdness.

Spring With the Bowery Boys

Today was my early work shift. It was fairly quiet when I got in at 9, but it picked up around lunch time and stayed busy. The weather reports have been blaring snow. Oh please. Even if we do get snow, this isn't mid-February. The ground is still too warm and mushy for snow to stick. It'll probably stick to the ground for a little while, then melt the moment the sun comes out the next day. Not to mention, it's supposed to be in the 60's by next week.

I did get some good news early on. One of the managers told me I had a third vacation week I hadn't used. I had no idea. I got my second vacation week about five years ago, so yeah, I was probably due. I ended up taking it the week of my birthday, April 12th through 18th. I was originally going to hit the Deptford Mall before counseling on my birthday. I think I'll do the mall either the day before or the day after counseling and have a nice lunch in Haddonfield for my birthday instead. Otherwise, I'll be passing this vacation entirely at home, doing the usual chores and bike rides. Most of the money from this vacation will go towards my rent or my shared vacation with Lauren in mid-June.

As soon as I got home, I changed and went online. I wanted to finish out the bike essay, which I did. I'll let it stew tomorrow, then edit it, decide where I'd send it if I actually wanted to sell it, and post it.

I had a quick leftovers dinner, then headed outside for a walk to WaWa. It was a really gorgeous spring day. You'd never know we're supposed to get snow and rain tomorrow. The sky was still bright blue at 5:30, though I could see some clouds rolling in on the horizon. Kids were outside, playing catch or riding bikes. There was no wind, and the remaining sun felt warm. Buds are appearing on trees; new grass and the tips of flowers are popping out of the ground. I bought a Mint Cream Smoothie, along with eggs (which were cheaper at WaWa than they were at the Acme). Ooh, yum yum. Sweet and cool and just minty enough. And yes, you could taste the mint, unlike the Eggnog Smoothie that tasted like a vanilla milkshake.

When I got home, I finished out another Bowery Boys movie before hitting the shower. The Boys head west in Bowery Buckaroos, the first of two movies to spoof Monogram's regular genre. Their favorite ice cream shop owner, Louie, claims he's been framed for murder. The real killer, Black Jack, still runs the town Louie fled. He wants the map to a gold mine tattooed on Louie's back. The Boys draw a copy of the map on Sach's back and go out to Hangman's Hollow to hunt gold and trap Black Jack themselves. Meanwhile, their slick friend Gabe goes on ahead, posing as a gambler. He falls for smart and pretty cowgirl Katherine Briggs...who turns out to have her own connection to the gold.

My Spring Cleaning Day

Started the day with breakfast and more My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. "Rarity Takes Manehattan" to attend a huge fashion competition. She tries to be generous to everyone, but when she's a little too generous to a competitor who steals her ideas, she and the others end up learning a lesson in being kind without getting taken advantage of. "It's Not Easy Being Breezies," tiny pony fairy creatures who travel through Ponyville to their homeland once a year. When a group is separated from the rest of the heard, Fluttershy takes care of them. They don't want to leave, and Fluttershy isn't sure she wants them to, either. They're also wild creatures, and they know can't stay. Pinkie Pie discovers she might be a distant cousin of Applejack's in "Pinkie Apple Pie." Applejack and her family travel to visit an aunt who might know if Pinkie really is related...and to show Pinkie that they can be the perfect family for her.

I went into taking down the St. Patrick's Day decorations and putting up what I have for Easter as the cartoons continued. Easter is one of my favorite holidays; thanks to the things Mom cleared out of her collection two years ago, I have quite a few items, from a garland with miniature carrots and eggs hanging off it that went on the hutch to a couple of resin and porcelain rabbit statues, as well as the colorful quilted egg runner for the kitchen table Mom made at least 20 years ago. (I'm out of tape - the Easter paper decorations will have to wait for Friday or next week.)

It was sunny and bright when I headed out, but also colder and very windy, in the lower 40's. The sun felt nice and warm as I rode over to the Oaklyn Library for this week's session there. Two of the librarians were rearranging the adult DVD shelves. I just concentrated on organizing the kids' DVD's and books instead.

As I came up the hill to West Clinton Avenue's tiny "shopping district," I noticed that the coffee shop that had been rumored to open on the corner of Manor and West Clinton for years was finally ready. Common Grounds Coffee House was a large, friendly room with exposed brick on one wall and inspirational quotes from everyone from Bono to Winnie the Pooh to Albert Einstein on the other. A small display held quiche, muffins, and other baked goods. I had a 12 oz chai latte and a thick slice of bacon and scallion quiche. The quiche was delicious, with lots of cheese and bacon pieces. The chai latte was a little watery, but it was just sweet enough, with tons of foam on the top. I enjoyed my quiet lunch, listening to the two other women in the room chat.

Studio LuLoo is two doors down. They were having play time for local pre-school kids when I arrived. As they started to clear out the kids, I did the dishes. They had a ton again, mostly cups and silverware. They forgot to let the silverware soak again. It was disgusting, crusted with what I assume to be birthday cake. (Studio LuLoo is a popular local birthday party spot.) When I finished that and the kids were gone, I washed all the windows I could reach with a squeegee. The windows in the kids' playroom are mostly blocked or have posters for musical events taped on them, but I was able to get one window done and the doors.

When I got home, I did some classwork for a while.  I need to finish off that junk drawer essay, then look for a market I could conceivably sell it to if I was ready to. I don't know if I am, but at least I'll have some ideas.

I finished out Friendship Is Magic as I got ready for work. Friendship's fourth season ended with a blast from the past. Tirek, the nasty demon from the original My Little Pony special "Rescue From Nighmare Castle," makes his return in the two-part season finale "Twilight's Kingdom." Twilight is wondering what her role as a princess will be. When Tirek escapes and starts taking magic from ponies, she and the others realize that the items ponies have given them all season are more important than just tokens of friendship. They could be the keys to literally saving Equestria from Tirek's revived rampage.

I got a bit of a surprise at work. I wondered why I was working so late, and only for a few hours. I haven't worked at night in a while. Turns out, I wasn't up front at all. I joined several college kids in working on spring cleaning in the store. While they scrubbed around the bakery displays and the shelves of fruit, I scrubbed the displays of loose and bagged vegetables, organic produce, and bottles of fresh salad dressings and fancy juices like Naked. It took me the entire four hours. My fingers were frostbitten from the cold floor and refrigerated displays and my arm and elbow were beyond sore, but I did get it all done.

I do wish the manager who gave the orders was a little bit more helpful. He just said "go get cleaning supplies and do the displays." He didn't tell me where the supplies were. I had to ask the college kids. Nor did he say when we should go on break. I waited for someone to tell us, then just went on my own. I left five minutes early when there wasn't really anything else for me to do. (And it's probably just as well that I didn't do the registers tonight. As far as I could tell, the front end was quiet the entire evening. They barely needed two cashiers and self-checkout.)

Rain Is the Reason

It was gloomy and raining when I got up this morning. I tried to brighten the day with another Easter special as I ate breakfast. Yogi the Easter Bear starts in Jellystone National Park, on the morning of the Easter Jamboree. Yogi's not feeling smarter than the average bear after he eats all the goodies that were intended for the festival and gets himself and Ranger Smith into trouble. Hoping to make up for it and to avoid being sent to the Siberian Zoo, Yogi and Boo Boo set out to find the Easter Bunny himself. Two odd plastic-obsessed villains are also after the Easter Bunny - they want to eliminate him and make their plastic eggs the only things children get in their baskets. Yogi and Boo Boo have to find the Bunny and get him to Jellystone fast, before they all end up dipped in plastic!

It was still showering when I went to work. I wasn't going to call for a ride after Rose made such a fuss last week, so I just rode to work and got wet. We were busy all day again, and once again busy with cranky, crabby people stuck in very long lines. We were short on help, too - there were call-outs. And my relief was late. I was so glad I got out just barely on time.

It was raining again when I headed home, but not as heavily as it was in the morning. It's rained on and off for the rest of the evening. I went nowhere else. Spent the next hour or so doing classwork. Our next big assignment is to go through a junk drawer, pick one of three things, then write an essay around it. I didn't even need to pick three things. I chose the spare bike inner tube and got half-way through writing about my love of biking and how important it is to me when I decided to break for dinner. I'll finish tomorrow or Monday.

Had leftovers and made the Acme mix brownies while watching Happily Ever After. This odd sequel to the Disney Snow White was the last project by the TV animation studio Filmation. It does feel rather like "Snow White crossed with He-Man" at times. The wicked Maliss (Malcom McDowell) kidnaps the Prince to revenge his sister, the Evil Queen. Snow White (Irene Cara) gets help from the Dwarfelles, seven goofy little women who control nature, Mother Nature (Phyllis Diller) herself, and the Orko-like "Shadow Man" who follows them through the Land of Doom.

Happily Ever After was made in 1988 but not released until 1993...and it feels like it, from the cast (Sally Struthers, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Tracey Ullman, and Carol Channing play Dwarfelles) to the error-plagued animation, to the synthesizer score. Except for the rather nice song over the end credits, "Love Is the Reason," the music is dreadful. The owl and bat hench-animals are completely useless and feel more like they're there as filler, rather than as actual characters.

For all the problems, there's a reason this has become something of a cult favorite in the last few years. The Dwarfelles are hilarious. Maliss is actually a scary and competent villain, almost on a par with the original Evil Queen. Snow White is a little bit more proactive than she is in most versions of this story. Her relationship with "The Shadow Man" is rather sweet, especially if you figure out who he really is before the end.

While this is on DVD, it's apparently been edited to remove violence, damaging the continuity. If you can find the original on video or online, do so. This isn't a great film, but it's a surprisingly cute animated adventure, especially for girls.

The rain sounds like it's slowed down for now...what I can hear of it over the noise that's coming from the VFW. They have parties there from time to time, and this one is really insane, with music blasting so loud, I can hear it back hear. If I'm really lucky, they'll all get drunk and pass out before midnight.

Almost Spring

I spent the morning doing classwork. We had to read a passage from the opening of the book The Perfect Storm in the discussion area. The passage went over how the author got the idea for the story and interviewed people so he could realistically write about the storm in the title and how it impacted a small boat. The problem with that is, I'm too shy to interview people. I've had a hard time finding things that interest me. Nothing seems to hold me for very long, and if it does, it's nothing I could write a story about. The teacher suggested I list the genres I read reguarly. Well, there's children's fiction, historical fiction, cozy mysteries, occasional fantasy, adventure stories. I don't know if I could write anything but the children's books, though.

I ran Max & Ruby springtime episodes as I got ready for work. "Ruby's Easter Bonnet" is her entry for the Bunny Scouts Easter Bonnet Competition. She's dying to win and loads her hat with ribbons and flowers. Max thinks it could use a little something different....like his favorite frog. Max wants to lead "Max's Easter Parade," but Ruby and Louie are trying to color eggs. He finds a way for the eggs to join the parade! "Max and the Easter Bunny" has Max hiding the Bunny Scouts' eggs during their Easter day egg hunt.

Work was not fun. Despite a sunny, warmer day, there were a lot of cranky people out. The worst was this morning. An older woman first threw a fit when I tried to tell her she bought the wrong baby food for her WIC Checks. She claimed the stock boy told her what to get. Either he didn't know what he was talking about, or she misunderstood him. Then she got even angrier when she thought she was getting 50 dollars back, but only 20 showed up on the receipt. She very likely typed in 20 accidentally when she meant 50. Did she admit that? Of course not. She just kept right on ranting and raving and whining about how terrible I was and how mean I was and how I wouldn't listen to her. No, she was the one who refused to listen. The receipt clearly stated that she was supposed to get 20 dollars back, not 50.

I was so happy when a college student came in for me right on time. I bought a bag of Dark Chocolate Chex Mix (Chex Mix is on sale for a dollar) and rushed home. When I got in, I had leftovers while watching The Snow Queen. This 1957 Russian animated film is very different from the recent Disney version. This one pretty much sticks to the original story. Gerda (voice of Sandra Dee) goes after her dear friend Kai (Tommy Kirk) when he's whisked away by the Snow Queen to her land of of ice and blizzards. On her way, she befriends a princess and a prince and runs afoul of a young thief named Angel (Patty McCormick) who ultimately lets her go. Even the weather won't stop Gerda from finding the boy who means more than anything to her. This lush fairy tale feels like a Disney movie from the 30's and 40's (or even one from the 90's). It's recommended for anyone who loves fairy tales or wants to see a more accurate telling of this tale.

May the Farce Be With You

Started another sunny-but-cold day with "A Quack In the Quarks," the spoof of Star Wars from the early first season of Tiny Toon Adventures. Plucky brags to a pair of odd duck exchange students about his non-existent athletic and academic capabilities. He regrets his noisy boasting when the students turn out to be from another galaxy. They want Plucky to save their planet from the evil Duck Vader! Buster, Babs, and Hampton see him being duck-napped and go after him.

I did a homework assignment when I finished breakfast. Our first actual writing assignment to be turned in for the creativity course was to describe a color. I chose my very favorite color - orange-red, the color of the beautiful sunsets I see out my window and on bike rides every evening. We were supposed to use a thesaurus at least 10 times. I hope mine was ok - this wasn't easy. Even with a thesaurus, I had a hard time coming up with ideas that didn't sound too cliche.

Work was a lot busier than yesterday! Tomorrow is the beginning of the month. We're also supposed to get a lot of bad weather next week, starting tomorrow afternoon. For the most part, the weather is supposed to bring warm temperatures, rain, and a little snow. Between the weather and the beginning of the month people, a lot of folks were cranky, obnoxious, and just plain rude. One woman fussed because she didn't want her sponges touching anything, since they touch her skin (um...they can be washed) and gave me a hard time over the prices of said sponges. She held up a long line over nothing; a lot of the customers behind her said she was rude, too. I didn't have a relief, either. I had to shut down with another very long line and got out just on time.

After I made it home, I spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning. I made the bed, so I could vacuum under it. I shook out the rag rug in my bedroom and the strawberry-print welcome mat in the kitchen. I vacuumed the entire apartment, getting up as many of the little white ice melting pellets as I could. They were mostly around the entrance in the kitchen, but I found them as far back as my bedroom. Unloaded the full vacuum canister as well.

I ran the Phineas & Ferb Star Wars special as I worked on my chores, and later while having leftovers for dinner. Even Disney realized that they'd never get away with bringing the Star Wars characters to Phineas and Ferb's wacky world, as they did with the Marvel superhero spoof...so they brought Phineas and Ferb Fletcher and their crazy cast to the Star Wars universe. Sort of.

The story runs parallel to Star Wars: A New Hope. Phineas and Ferb are now kids on Tatoonie who find the plans for the Death Star and follow Luke Skywalker in the hope of bringing them to him, then to Obi-Wan. Isabella is the miniature Han Solo, the grouchy little girl smuggler who learns a lot about the importance of friendship and teamwork. Perry the Platypus is a Rebel agent. Candace, Buford, and Bajeel are extremely incompetent stormtroopers. And yes, Doofensmirtz is one of the least-likely Darth Vaders in the history of television.

Most of the other episodes were either spoofs like the Star Wars special, or revolved around a holiday. "Happy New Year!" has the younger kids celebrating with a party in a giant revolving disco ball. Meanwhile, Candace is trying to renounce telling on her brothers, but it isn't working well. Doofensmirtz wants to invent a ray to make everyone say their resolution is to make him leader...but you know how resolutions go...

"Tri-State Tales of Terror" is a genuinely spooky anthology of horror-based stories. Candace's is the scariest. The full moon makes her stuffed duck come to life and turn evil...or does he? Phineas and Ferb don't have an easier time when a grape stain on Perry suddenly creates insane purple platypus clones. Doofensmirtz learns to be careful what you wish for when a giant baby head gives him three wishes...and as usual, he muffs them all.

Poor Doof can't even teach right. "Doof 101" makes him teacher for his daughter Vanessa's chemistry class. She's not what you would call happy to see her crazy dad there. She's even less so when Doof's lesson on genes accidentally turns her ex-boyfriend into a mutating lizard-gorilla-thing and institutes a wild chase all over town.

"Steampunx" has fun with the recent popularity of steampunk and alternative universe histories. Mr. Fletcher finds a coin made during their town's World Fair in the early 1900's. He tells the boys the story of how a group of farm kids (Phineas and Ferb and their usual crew), inspired by the Fair, created a crazy steam machine to do their chores. This upsets their sister (Candace), who's been doing her chores the old-fashioned way and not getting nearly as far. Their pet swan finally uses the machine to fight his silent-movie-style adversary Von Doofensmirtz.

I finished the night with a short but much-needed bath. Ahhh. I felt nice and peaceful, laying back and reading The Happy Introvert from the Haddon Township Library. I also got cold fairly quickly. It may be just too chilly for a bath. I wasn't even in the full hour.

A Little Bit of Spring

I didn't get going today until almost 1 PM! Not a good thing, since there was a lot I wanted to do today. I started at the Oaklyn Library. They close at 2. There were a few people on the computer, but it was otherwise just me, the librarian, and CNN. I organized the kids' and adults' DVDs, along with the kids' board books and series books. I was out in less than a half-hour.

My next stop was Studio LuLoo's. They didn't have much going on, either. I tidied up the playroom, folded "I Like NJ" t-shirts, and washed a far smaller load of dishes than last week. I also got to meet the fairly young owner and her adorable toddler son Marvin, who came in toting a teddy bear almost bigger than him.

I bought Valentine's Day cards for Rose and her family and Dad and Jodie and a birthday card for Jessa a few weeks ago. I meant to deliver them on Valentine's Day, but that day got so crazy, I never got around to it. The driveway at Rose's house was empty; I settled for dropping their card in her mailbox.

Dad and Jodie were at home when I arrived. I was surprised to see Jodie. Turns out she quit her job. Her boss wasn't paying the regular employees and hadn't in months. They were only paying Jodie because she was hired through an agency, but they'd apparently cut her hours. Maybe it's just as well. Dad was feeling even worse. He just had surgery and could barely move or talk. I gave them their card and dropped Jessa's on her desk. Gave Dad a hug before moving on.

There was another box waiting for me when I got home. I decided to buy two more Ever After High dolls while I still had Amazon Prime. Dexter Charming was almost sold out at Amazon; Duchess Swan was a better price than she had been. Dexter is the sweet, geeky younger brother of Daring Charming who feels like he can't compete with his more "perfect" brother. Duchess Swan is the daughter of the Swan Queen in "Swan Lake." She knows her story has a tragic ending and would do anything to change it...including taking over other characters' stories.

Dexter came with almost as much goop on his hair as Poppy. Duchess only had a little on her ends. I washed both of them. Duchess shed like crazy! Not even Briar was as bad. After I finished, I took more pictures of Duchess posed to dance, Dexter alone, Dexter with his crush Raven Queen, and Dexter with my Effanbee Musketeer doll D'Artangan.

Here's the pictures from today and yesterday:

Ever After High Portraits

Watched quite a bit of Disney today, starting with Jake and the Neverland Pirates. John, Michael, Wendy, and Nana the Dog make their first appearances on the show in "Battle of the Book." Hook steals the book of the stories Wendy wrote so they could remember their adventures in the movie. Without the book, the kids (and Hook and his crew) can't remember Peter or Neverland! They have to go chasing after the book itself, then the pages of the book. When they realize the first page of the story is missing, they realize how important memory is, and how powerful a story can be. (And I loved how John seemed to have a little bit of a crush on Izzy - too cute.)

My other favorite episode also dealt with storytelling. "Pirate Genie Tales" is a bit of an oddity in this series. A pirate genie who seems to be friends with the kids tells them two Neverland versions of famous 1001 Arabian Knights stories. Cubby is Sing-Bad, a little fellow who is incredibly strong but can't carry a tune to save his life. He has to learn how to sing in a hurry when he needs to perform to unlock the cupboard that holds the magic that could save his friends. Scully the Parrot is Ali Baba, who learns a lesson about stealing and telling the truth when he snitches a pearl from a cave that belongs to a band of thieves to feed his starving friends. The thieves figure out who stole from him and come after him.

After Jake ended, I did some classwork online. Today's lesson mainly dealt with finding a comfortable office and a place where you can work. That's one thing I don't have any problem with. I do the majority of my work in my bedroom. My desk is right next to a window with a stunning view of the river and the park next-door. It's quiet here. Even when there's noisy parties at the VFW, I usually can't hear them.

The assignment is to find the Writer's Market and look up words and phrases associated with writing and publishing. Darn. I wasn't going to go back to either library this week. Maybe I could find them online.

Went for a short walk after I got offline. It was a gorgeous day today. Not only was it bright and sunny, with a nice, warm sun, but it got into the mid-30s for the first time in ages. It was still relatively warm when I headed out. I could hear a man and his children playing with their dog in the park. I went down to the landing on Goff Avenue. It was really gorgeous, with the rosy sunset sparkling on the frozen lake and the lights on the Ben Franklin Bridge just coming to life.

Switched to Sofia the First as I made leftovers for dinner. "The Curse of Princess Ivy" introduces the nastiest villain in this series yet. The title character is a jealous sorceress whose older sister inherited the kingdom, leaving her with nothing. When Amber steals Sofia's magical amulet and tries to call a princess with it, she ends up with manipulative Ivy. Ivy doesn't care about Amber. What she really wants is to steal all the color from the kingdom and take it over! The two girls have to first stop Ivy from destroying Sofia's amulet, then rescue their family and the entire kingdom before Ivy removes their memories all together. They get help from some friendly dragons and Rapunzel, who reminds Sofia that people can surprise you with their ability to sacrifice for others...even handsome, roguish thieves and slightly stuck-up big sisters.

Sunshine On a Slushy Day

I awoke to the sound of dripping. I could already see the snow on my porch slowly melting around 8 AM. I replaced it with the soundtrack from Flashdance and Springtime Chocolate Chip-Cinnamon Pancakes for breakfast. Flashdance is the tale of a woman who is a welder during the day and a taxi dancer at night. What she really wants is to audition to become a professional ballerina. It was a huge hit in 1983, but even as a child, the soap opera-ish plot bored me to tears. The music is still awesome, though. In addition to the Oscar-winning "What a Feeling!" and the hit "Maniac," other songs I love include "Seduce Me Tonight" and the touching ballad "Lady, Lady, Lady."

It was still cloudy when I headed to work, but the rain was long gone. The streets were a mess, especially on Manor. Sloppy slush clogged the roads. I had to walk while I was on Manor. Once I got to Kendall, things were a little less messy. The ramp into Oaklyn was so badly flooded, I had to cut around it, even though it was open. I just barely got there on time.

Work was steady all day. The lines did occasionally get long, but nothing like yesterday. We had plenty of help and no problems besides some cranky customers (and I was late going on break again). The sun coming out around 1 definitely helped. The college boy who was my relief was on time, and I was able to head out quickly.

As I'd suspected, the roads were much better when I got out at 3. Other than there was still a little slush on Manor, everything was wet but fine, even the Oaklyn ramp. The fact that the temperatures had rose into the 40's probably contributed. I had no trouble getting home.

I spent the next hour after I got in and changed on the computer. I did end up taking another online course. I'm hoping Writerrific: Creativity Training for Writers will help me learn to focus, develop story ideas, and stick to a story and actually finish it. The first assignment was to take a line and write anything based on it for five minutes. I did one on my troubled childhood and dislike of bullying and one on riding home on my bike.

Passed the next hour or so in the bath. Oh boy, did that feel good. I needed a good, long soak after how busy we were the past few days and that long walk home yesterday. I looked over my old Wilton Cake Decorating books, listened to my 80s soft rock CD's, and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Stuck to the 80s after I finished my bath. The big hit of Back to the Future was the Huey Lewis and the News song "The Power of Love." Though I do like that, my favorite numbers are the 50's rock. I can't hear "Earth Angel" and not think of the sequence in this movie with Marty's parents at the prom. "Roll With Me Henry" is fun, too.

I stuck with R&B and headed backwards in the 80's to 1980 and The Blues Brothers. I never understood what this movie was all about...but there is some truly awesome music. Aretha Franklin's "Think" is my personal favorite number. I also like "Shake a Tail Feather."

Tried something different after eating leftover Chinese Stir Fry for dinner. Most of the dessert recipes in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book are either too fattening or too complicated. An apple recipe in one of the inserts was simple enough to work for me. Apple-Nut Torte was really more of a baked pudding, and one of the easiest recipes in the book - just 4 eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, apples, and nuts. I cut the sugar from 1 1/2 a cup to 1 cup and replaced half the flour with whole wheat flour. I didn't have any nuts, so I used dried cranberries instead.

Oh, yum yum. It was still too sweet (I may cut the sugar further if I make this again), but otherwise, came out very well, moist and slightly tart and a little sticky.

(Oh, and the Oscars are running at press time. The only movie I saw that was nominated was The Grand Budapest Hotel, but it did richly deserve it's wins for Costume Design and Makeup and Hairstyling.)

All of the Quiet People

I started off the morning with breakfast and more black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons. Mickey and Minnie appear in a play about "Ye Olden Days." Mickey is a wandering minstrel who has to fight Prince Goofy for Minnie's hand in marriage. He doesn't have an easier time as "The Mail Pilot," carrying the mail through wind and snow and dodging mail-snatching Air Pirate Pete.

It was past 11:30 when I finally headed out to the Haddon Township Library for this week's volunteering session there. It was fairly busy with people using computers and taking out materials during their lunch hour. There actually wasn't that much to shelve. I put away and organized the kids' DVDs as best I could (they have got to clear out the Scooby Doo DVDs - I saw two more on the media librarian's desk!), then shelved the adult titles and pulled a few foreign movies that belonged in their own section.

For the first time in a while, I took out a pile of movies this week. Ended up with new discs for Veggietales, a Star Trek spoof called Veggies In Space: The Fennel Frontier and the 2009 Angelina Ballerina, the rather appropriate Spring Fling. For longer movies, I went with two recent ones, last year's Dreamworks Oscar nominee The Croods and Thor: The Dark World, and the second Daniel Craig James Bond film, Quantum of Silence.

Made a quick stop at Thriftway on my way home. A recipe in the American Girl-based cooking blog A Peek Into the Pantry featured grits...and I've craved them ever since I read it. Since I was there, I figured I might as well get a Mother's Day card and a whole wheat turkey wrap from their small but elegant cafe area, eliminating the need for extra trips to WaWa and Dollar Tree.

Went straight home after I finished at Thriftway. In addition to the movies, I also took out a couple of books. They had the two newest Garfield comic books, Garfield: Caution Wide Load and Garfield Souped Up - I grabbed both. Saw a book of updated vintage cake recipes that sounded interesting. But the most interesting of all was Quiet: The Power of Introverts In A World That Can't Stop Talking. Given I am an introvert, and a very shy, sensitive one, I had to take a look at that.

I ran both cartoon sets as I ate and cleaned up lunch. As mentioned, the newest Veggietales episode has fun with Star Trek in particular and sci-fi tropes in general. The crew of the S.S Applepies are good at their jobs, but not very good at sharing what they have, especially Captain Cuke (Larry the Cucumber) and his assistant Mr. Spork (Bob the Tomato). They're assigned to stop a pirate from stripping the energy from ships. The Captain and his crew are all ready to stop the pirate and keep the energy in their ship safe...until the pirate's sweet-natured nephew (Junior Asparagus) helps them understand what he's after, and why sharing is important.

I sort of have an on-and-off relationship with Veggietales. Some of their specials, like The Penniless Princess from a while back (which I have), are actually quite well-done and accurate. The trouble is, their bible messages can get preachy at times, and they don't always work well with the story being told (a problem in their Robin Hood adaptation). Thankfully, a creative story chock-full of sci-fi references (look for shout-outs to everything from Doctor Who to Star Wars to 2001:A Space Odyssey) and some fun songs keep the preachiness from getting out of hand. Well worth a look if you love science fiction and/or those Bible quote-spouting vegetables.

Angelina Ballerina twirled into the spotlight next as I made a simple dinner of grits and scrambled eggs with spinach and mushrooms. The title Spring Fling was a bit of a misnomer. One story was set at Halloween. Angelina, Polly, Vicki, and Alice are disappointed when their costumes don't arrive in time for trick or treating. They decide to use props and dance out their costumes instead - especially Polly, who learns grand leaps from the other girls so she can "fly" as a superheroine!

Another story sounded very much like what we went through this year. Angelina, Marco, Alice, and Gracie are stuck inside during a day in early spring that's still cold and snowy. To combat their cabin fever, the quartet do the most spring-y things they can think of - listening to Vivald's "Spring" from The Four Seasons, pretending to play baseball, eating lucky nuts from Iran, and coloring Easter eggs. The last activity makes such a mess that Mrs. Mouseling suggests one of the most "spring-y" activities of all - spring cleaning.

I spent the rest of the evening in the bath, listening to jazz and reading Quiet. I know I'm an introvert. I think I've known since I was a child. I work easier by myself, prefer to go out and explore alone, and don't handle social interaction well. It wasn't something the rest of the world accepted. I don't think a lot of people understood just how shy and sensitive I was...or that it was ok to be these things. I remember the school nurse questioning me in first or second grade because I was so freaked out watching the 1940s Disney short "Chicken Little," I got upset and wouldn't finish it. Nowadays, that wartime propaganda short is considered so disturbing, Disney put it in the "From the Vault" section on their Walt Disney Treasures DVD set On the Front Lines. In the mid-80s, the nurse simply couldn't understand why I was having the reactions I did, especially when the other kids didn't.

I have problems to this day. Part of the reason I gave up on traditional job searches were all of the jobs I kept coming up with wanted bright, chatty multi-taskers who could do everything and work well in a group. I'm quiet, reserved, and prefer to do one thing at a time and mostly on my own. I'm even beginning to wonder if I'd work well in an office setting. I don't do small talk, and I don't flatter. I'm hoping that the further I go into this, the more I'll be able to come up with what I would do well with.

Oh, and I finished that communications course tonight. I got an 86 on my final test...which means yes, I did pass. I mainly learned that I can communicate when I'm not communicating with hostile people, that my learning style is mostly visual (I see things around me), and I need to learn better stress management and try to relax while communicating.

Making a Budget

My original goal today was to make a budget and figure out how to get on with my goal-setting from there. Trouble is, as usual, I got too caught up with reading other things and didn't get to the budget until almost 1. I did get it done, though. I spent a lot of money on "other" stuff last month...but I also bought contacts, had my eye exam, and won three rare American Girl outfits on eBay that don't often show up for decent prices.  I don't normally spend more than $150-200 a month on "other" stuff, and I'd like to pare that down. I need to stop buying junk like DVDs or books unless I can find them cheaply used, really want them (like the Instant Replay set), or really, really need something.

I've been putting off e-mailing my teacher, too. I'm never going to complete my course in time. I don't care about a good or bad grade. I really need help getting started with my writing business, but I don't know whom to ask...or how to ask them. I'm not good with stuff like this. Not to mention, I spent $100 on this course, and while I did learn some things about marketing, that won't do me any good unless I have something to market. I can't make a website until I have something to sell on it...and I don't really know anything about editing beyond editing mine and Lauren's fanfiction. I have no idea whom to ask, either. I've seen two writing groups listed for this area. One is full and not accepting new members. The other only meets at 7PM every first Thursday of the month. Not only do I usually work then, but that's kind of late to be out on the bike, and I don't really know anyone to carpool with.

This happens to me a lot. I stare at a story, hoping to start it, but it just stays blank. I can't come up with the ideas. I hope to e-mail someone, but then I get nervous and talk myself out of it. Or I can't make myself sit down to write at all. I write in this blog every night and in my journal every day, but I can't bring myself to write a story or a website or edit our Bowery Boys fanfiction or do any of the things I need to do. I don't know what's wrong with me. Writers are supposed to write, not stare or put things off. There has to be something wrong.

This blog and the journal are easier to write. The journal is for working out my thoughts every morning. This blog is mainly to keep all of the people who worry about me abreast of the goings-on in my life. ;)

I had leftover chilli for lunch and ate it outside. It was even nicer than yesterday, breezy and warm but not quite as much as the day before. Perfect day for an outdoor meal.

Work was almost exactly the same as Monday - busy during rush hour, quiet otherwise. Once again, I spent an hour later in the evening returning carts, if only as an excuse to get outside and enjoy some fresh air and a better work out that I'd even get in a gym.

Letting Balance Flow

I was already awake when the radio went off this morning. After yesterday's bad news, I desperately wanted to get my mind onto something more pleasant. Sore ankle or no sore ankle, I needed yoga today.

Much to my surprise, there was a man teaching the class when I finally hurried into Yogawood. It was far smaller than usual, too. His name was Scott, and he was a slender, rather pleasant young fellow. His emphasis today was on twisting and standing poses, which was fine by me. I was in no mood to push myself after the busy week I had and hurting my foot last Saturday.

Went right to the Collingswood Library after class let out. There wasn't much going on there. I did shelve a small pile of DVDs and organize the DVD shelves, but there were no other DVDs coming in, and nothing upstairs to put away. I left early.

It was still gloomy and gray when I left. By the time I got home, the sun was out, the breeze was nice, and it was getting warmer. I had two much-desired packages waiting for me on the porch, too. My last two eBay wins had arrived!

The larger box contained something I've wanted for a while. There was always one Effanbee Storybook/International hard plastic doll who eluded me as a child. I had to have Cinderella. Not just any Cinderella, either. The 70s Cinderella of my childhood who wore a huge mountain of white lace over a pink underskirt, with a matching lace cape and a silver crown. (The 80s Effanbee Cinderella's dress was still pink, but not quite as lacy.) Unless I see something at a thrift shop or yard sale I really fall in love with, I intend for her to be my last collectible doll. She's now on top of the closets, being guarded by my Effanbee Musketeer doll.

I managed to pick up another rare American Girl outfit last week, this one for Samantha. Her Talent Show Dress was released in conjunction with the short story Samantha's Special Talent. When the story went out of print, so did the dress. It's the prettiest dress in her collection, and it's so historically accurate, it's based after a real children's dress from a museum. It's soft pink Duponi silk, with a stiff black-and-white lace ruffled collar and sleeves and a gathered front. She looks so lovely in it, it was worth the $38 I paid. (I've seen this dress go upwards to $70 or $80 alone on eBay, amazingly enough.)

I watched Sailor Moon for a while as I ate lunch, then went online to do some research. I liked the site Linda mentioned in the comments, but I couldn't decide whether an eCommerce site would be appropriate, or a less expensive plain old website. I'll take a better look at that tomorrow.

Work was, despite this being the beginning of the month, only busy during rush hour. I got incredibly lucky during the second half of my shift. We're in the midst of training new cashiers. While the newbies worked the cash registers and took customers, I proved to be one cashier too many. I spent the rest of the evening putting candy away.

Extremely Loud & Way Too Close

Started a sunny, fairly warm (and windless) day off with Brunch With the Beatles.  The animated film Yellow Submarine was in the spotlight today. The Beatles dove headfirst into their catalog and came up with a rather odd grab-bag of songs from all over the place - the title number, "With a Little Help From My Friends," and "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" from Sgt. Pepper, the film's title song, "All Together Now," "Blue Jay Way," "Baby You're a Rich Man," "Eleanor Rigby," and the only song written directly for the film, "Hey Bulldog."

Called Mom while the second half of the Beatles show was running. I am feeling a little bit better right now than I did last week. I think I just really needed to get some errands done. I'm also under a lot of stress right now, thanks to a lot of hours and all the remodeling going on at work.

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing classwork. The next part is going to be more complicated. My web site exists as an archive for mine and my friend Lauren's stories, not to sell anything. The assignment says to "evaluate your web site to see if it sells"...but it's not intended to sell. It's just a place to put stories so people can read them for free. I'm going to have to create a web site from scratch, and probably buy a domain name, too. I don't know if venture capital firms would be much  help for copywriting or freelance writing, but the autoresponders might. I don't even know how one would design a website for a copywriting or freelance writing business, which the class doesn't go into. I don't really know what I want to do for a business.

To be honest, I'm beginning to wonder if this was a bad idea. I'm not good at selling things, least of all myself. Not to mention, I really and truly do not have the experience required to be a copywriter or a freelance writer or any kind of writer. They require portfolios and editing experience, which I don't have. I haven't done any real writing in ages. And the final assignments require you to send press releases to TV and radio stations or magazines, ads to AOL or Yahoo, and find a business to partner with? I can't even decide what kind of business I want to do! I haven't done enough of the things I'm good at to be able to sell them.

Work didn't help me feel better. It was on-and-off busy through most of the night. They're still working on the back room, which means the employees are still eating in the cafe area and I still had to park my bike in the inventory area. I had some very rude people in the Express lane, including one older man who said he had hearing problems and shouted everything. He certainly didn't have problems giving me trouble. I just gave up talking to him all together and pointed to his payment. Another man criticized me for bagging too many cereal boxes in one bag. I was trying to make things easier on him! He could have been nicer about it. I don't know why I bother helping anyone at work half the time.

Balance and the Business Classes

Started a sunny, above-average-warm morning with a yoga class. Today, we worked on getting into lotus pose. Basically, you sit cross-legged and try to pull one ankle on top of the other. Needless to say, I'm not coordinated enough to pull that one off yet.

The Collingswood Library was my next stop. There was a nice little pile of DVDs to shelve. I organized the shelves as well - the kids' shelves really needed it. I also pulled a couple of titles that needed to be relabeled.

Headed out a bit earlier than usual and went straight home. I wanted to work on my class assignment after lunch. I finally decided that what I had was enough and sent it to the teacher. (I forgot and sent him the assignment for the other class as well - it's supposed to be self-directed. Oops.) He said it was fine, but I need to not attach it to an e-mail next time. (He never said how he wanted it sent.)

Work was pretty much the same as yesterday - steady during rush hour, quiet otherwise. The biggest problems occurred beyond the front end. First of all, they're now working on remodeling the other side of the break room, which means we have to eat in the cafe between the bakery and the deli, and I had to park my bike in the back of the loading dock. Second, apparently an older woman fell down somehow. I didn't see it, but I did see her with one of the managers. She seemed more dizzy than hurt.

Oh, and I got another outfit for Molly today. Her After-School Outfit was one of the line of play/work outfits and dresses released for the then-existing American Girls in 1991. Unfortunately, all of them had been retired by the time I started collecting again. The outfit consists of a blue and red plaid flannel shirt, navy corduroys, and navy ribbons for her braids. I got a Pre-Mattel version on eBay that came with all three, plus a hanger and a plastic garment bag. I absolutely adore it. I'm surprised Jessa didn't get it for Molly when she had her. Other than the pants Velcro on the side, it looks like something a perfectly normal kid would wear even now after-school or on the weekends. There's two buttons missing, and I really paid too much for it, but if you can find this outfit for a decent price used, it's very much worth it.

Cry for a Shadow

I slept in a bit this morning. Read The Secret Garden in bed while listening to the beginning of Brunch With the Beatles. George Harrison, whose birthday was in late February, was in the spotlight today. Along with the instrumental number that provided the title for this entry (the only song he wrote with John Lennon), we heard "Don't Bother Me," "Here Comes the Sun," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Savoy Truffle," "Something," and "Tax Man." His solo numbers included "My Sweet Lord" and two favorites of mine, "All Those Years Ago" and "I've Got My Mind Set On You."

I had a long chat with Mom this morning about my recent difficulties. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm cut out for doing anything at home. I lack discipline. I had trouble doing research in college, both online and in the regular library, because I'd end up reading what I felt like and not what I was supposed to be researching! I'd look at one thing, and one thing would lead to another thing, and pretty soon, an hour or two would disappear without any real work getting done.

And I'm just nervous about the whole thing. I've worked in a grocery store for ten years. The only thing I really want is to get very, very, very far away from that job and have a day job that's closer to what I want to do while I get my business started. Trouble is, that job provides a steady paycheck and health insurance. I'm chained to that job. I live alone; no one else is paying for me but me.

And then, there's my inability to focus. I haven't finished a story on my own in ages. Almost every story I've ever tried to write has ended prematurely, either because I couldn't figure out how to continue, or I just lost interest. How can I be a writer if I can't finish anything?

Mom and Rose are always insisting that I think logically. I'm not a logical person. I'm an emotional person. I have no idea how to really make a strategy, or where I should go next. I looked up life coaches last night, but most of them cost over $100 a session! That's why I didn't do it last year. I really want to find someone I can discuss my job search with, but not if it'll break the bank.

Taking one of Mom's suggestions to heart, I went outside after we got off to sweep the porch. We should be seeing the last of them by the end of this month. I want to get outside more, but I have so much going on right now. It's hard to fit everything in. I want to go for walks and work on classes and go to the gym and do yoga once a week and write and work at the Acme and keep up my usual schedule.

I also tried calling my friend Pattie. I've put it off longer than I should have. I really hate phone conversations, though. I don't mind talking to Mom once a week, but I'd rather chat with someone online or see them in person. Alas, her answering machine was full. I couldn't even leave a message.

I went to work after that. Work was very busy tonight. People were in somewhat better moods, but I wasn't. I feel empty at work. Like I'm a machine who just pushes people's food through the line and takes their money, and that's all I do. I'm a robot, and I do nothing else. Other than the usual empty feeling, everything went fine. There were no major problems, and I left on my own, since my relief was the college boy who is always late coming from his other job.

Oh, and I did hear from Pattie when I got  home. She's not able to get together this week, but she says we might try next week. She owns a massage business, and I really need to talk to someone who'll understand how it feels to try to be your own boss.

When You Need a Hand

Began a gorgeous, sunny, windy day with some reading and a fast errand and volunteering run. Hit the bank to deposit my paycheck, then walked down to the Oaklyn Library. They're separating the TV DVD sets, the nonfiction/documentary DVDs, and the adult fiction DVDs again. There's plenty of room for them on the other side of the shelf where the children's DVDs are. I pulled the remaining TV and documentary titles and organized everything. (I also suggested that the librarians find colored stickers or color-coded labels for the TV and nonfiction titles, like they did with the children's titles, to keep them from ending up in the wrong place.) I also worked on organizing the children's books.

When I got home, I had leftover Orange Chicken Stir Fry for lunch, then worked on my project for an hour. I didn't get very far. I just can't think of any businesses that would be online that I could list and make it sound creative. I have seen some on Entrepreneur Magazine's website, but I didn't want to sound like I was copying them.

Work was even worse. You'd think the nice day would put people in decent moods, but I was in the express lane and had a lot of annoying people in a hurry, or people who gave me one hundred orders on how to bag without lifting a finger to help themselves. And then there were the folks who threw a fit because the Marie Callender Coconut Cream Pie wasn't on sale for $2.99. (It was the small ones that were $2.99, but they though the sign said the big ones and wouldn't listen).

I don't want to go back to the Acme. That job is frustrating, stressful, and demeaning. The trouble is, I have no idea of how to find another day job...because I'm not going to be able to start a writing or editing business overnight, no matter how many classes I take. I debated looking for a job coach or a life coach last year. I gave up the idea because of the expense, but I may just bite the bullet and do it anyway. I've really hit a dead wall. I can't stand working as a cashier anymore, but I don't know where to go next, or how to get a day job I can handle better that'll still pay the rent...because whatever I've been doing for the past 10 years hasn't worked. I need help to decide what my next step should be, someone who knows what they're doing.