Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Fooled by a Feeling (1979)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
Chosen because next week is April Fool's Day.

1) Some believe that the practice of playing tricks on one another on April 1 dates back to the 14th century because it's mentioned in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Geoffrey Chaucer is considered one of England's greatest poets. From memory, quote a bit of poetry for us. (It doesn't have to be English, or great.) Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.

2) When Crazy Sam was a little girl, her mother would prank her on April Fool's Day by slipping a rubber worm or plastic spider in her lunch box. Did you/do you carry a lunchbox, either as a student or an adult? Not a lunch box. But I collect sturdy handled paper bags (like you get from the card shop, stationery store, gift shop, optometrist ...) to take my lunch to the office.  After a year of working from home and eating lunch at home, I've accumulated quite a collection!

3) In 1998, Burger King got into the April Fool's Day fun by promoting a special "Left Handed Whopper," supposedly perfectly designed for a leftie to hold. Describe your perfect burger. Medium well on a sesame seed bun. Cheese, ketchup and lettuce but no tomato. Pickle on the side. I also like Big Macs because of the special sauce.

4) In this week's song, Barbara Mandrell sings that she followed her heart into her lover's arms. Are you more often led by your heart or head? Heart, most definitely.

5) She knows now she was wrong for believing her man loved her. When did you recently admit you were wrong? Talking old movies with my friend Will, I maintained Ann Sheridan wasn't in The Man Who Came to Dinner. I swear I don't recall her at all. Turns out she had a very big role. Call me Wrongy McWrongerson.

She was even billed before the Man of the title

  

6) Barbara Mandrell recalls being able to read music before she could read words. Can you read sheet music? Nope.

7) Barbara had her own TV variety show in the 1980s and, in the 90s, acted on the daytime drama, Sunset Beach. The soap opera's producer, Aaron Spelling, was a huge fan of Barbara's and was thrilled to finally meet and work with her. Tell us about someone you really enjoyed working with, and why. My boss, Aaron, is great. He's more into being a leader than a supervisor. He makes me feel as though his first priority is getting me what I need to do my best.

8) In 1979, when this song was released, a top-of-the-line Sony Walkman sold for $150 (approx. $500 in today's dollars). Did you have a portable cassette player back in the day? Yes, and I listened to Barbara Mandrell sing this and "Crackers" ("You can eat crackers in my bed any time ...") through my Walkman headphones.

9) Random question: What's the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning? "I have to pee." Inelegant, yes, but true.

 

Glory amid the gripes

I've felt tired, unsettled and "off" all week. I think a lot of it has to do with the last week's work marathon. It was hard for me to handle a complex project in a truncated timeline in the isolation of home. Oh well, I've learned a lot about myself during covid, and one thing is that I'm not the complete loner I thought I was. I need the discipline and inspiration that comes from being with others.

I also think I eat way too much sugar and don't move anywhere near enough. This is not good for me. (Duh.) Two mass shootings in two weeks didn't help. Nor did the rollbacks of voting laws. So it's unAmerican to let citizens vote but completely American to let them buy AK47s. I feel bruised by how broken "the other guy" left this country and I worry about how long it will take President Biden to bring us back together.

Anyway, by Wednesday the Project from Hell* was with the client for review. I was trying to get back to some kind of schedule/normalcy and that included eating out of my refrigerator instead of carry out. I saw that there were staples I'd run out of (yogurt, hot dog buns) and decided to stop at the store after picking up my new glasses. As I trotted through the vestibule, I noticed a lot of packages had been delivered. But since I hadn't ordered anything, I didn't pay them any mind.

Upon my return, armed with my new glasses and my hot dog buns and my Chobani, I glanced at the packages again while waiting for the elevator. I mean, there's not much else to look at while waiting for the elevator. Anyway, a long florist box was addressed to me.

ME! SOMEBODY SENT ME FLOWERS!

They were from Snarkypants. My Snarkela. She had a feeling that I needed a lift and, since Snarky is a woman who always heeds those feelings, she sent me this big, beautiful alstroemeria bouquet.  

Three of us live here, and it's a tossup as to who was most excited when the flowers first entered our home. Reynaldo thought he'd just discovered the most colorful kitty salad bar ever. Connie was enthralled by having a shallow, narrow box to call her own. And I was doing my Grateful Dead twirl dance, "Snarky sent me flowers."

Don't worry, the flowers are now safe in my den

It's her new throne, and it's wonderful

I hope I can pay Snarky's kindness forward. I want to come through for someone when they need a lift, like she did for me. It was glorious.

 

*April edition. Unfortunately, the client seems happy with my work and may be back for more next month. They are based in Houston, which has been through an awful lot lately and left many of the executives without wifi and consequently cut days out of the March/April timeline. I am hopeful that May will be better. Fingers crossed.