So the other day I posted this newsflash:
Another great thing about working second shift: when the Wild game goes until 12:30 in the morning, that is not past my bedtime.
Since I have to be at work at two in the afternoon, I don't go to bed until two or three in the morning. I get up between eleven and noon and still have time to get ready at my leisure and maybe even run an errand. Or I can wake up, think about running an errand, and then decide to hit the snooze button instead. Thanks to behavior like that, I have been on my way to buy a tuning fork since 1991.
In 1991 (or maybe 1990, I know it was in the first year of having my driver's license) I left my house to go to the music warehouse just off the freeway to buy a tuning fork. I did something else instead. I don't remember what, but I'm guessing it involved watching Skid Row videos or going to Dairy Queen. For the next several weeks I kept mentioning that I needed to go to the music store. Then I started mentioning it maybe every couple of months, then it turned into remembering whenever I am heading west on the freeway. I never did get there.
Mr. Popular works at the warehouse, so if I ever choose to complete my errand I could get a tuning fork and visit for a while. But when my choice is errands versus staying in bed and enjoying the fact that my cat is sleeping next to my head the errands just aren't going to win. My cat snores and that is much funnier than going to the bank or the discount department store.
Point being, during the week I don't have to be anywhere in particular until two o'clock. Therefore, I am a little disgruntled over the one o'clock start time that Chubby Checker has scheduled for Sunday. Chubby Checker at one o'clock does not mean I can just roll out of bed at noon and put on my shoes and go to the mall.
I want to get to the mall by at least twelve-thirty so I can figure out where exactly he is going to be performing. I don't know Camp Snoopy very well. I only really go there to visit the arcade, and I haven't visited the arcade in about ten years because they got rid of their pinball machines. So I don't know where he will be located, but apparently there is a stage that often features Peanuts-themed shows. I would guess that Chubby Checker will be on that stage but I don't know where the stage is so I have to go early to check it out.
I am tempted to get there even earlier so I can creep around the mall and try to spy Chubby Checker doing some shopping. If I could get a picture of him in line at Orange Julius that would be the undisputed crown jewel of this site for years to come. LCG (who won't attend even though I told him I would buy him an ice cream cone) has offered me the use of his digital camera. Joejung also offered to bring his digital camera, but we forgot it last time so there is no guarantee we will remember tomorrow.
In the meantime I had been wondering if Chubby Checker was really only going to play two or three songs. Is it possible that on less than two weeks' notice he is able to come to Minnesota to sing two songs? I was wondering if I should check the Camp Snoopy site again to see if they finally had the info or if I should wait and be surprised. Last night I caved and checked the site.
Right there on the main page (which I will not link to because it has music) they are inviting me to join Chubby Checker at the pre-opening celebration. Don't think I won't! And when I visited the Twister Grand Opening page, it told me that Chubby Checker will be performing his infamous "The Twist and "Let's Twist Again" hits for Park guests. Why is park capitalized? Why are those hits labeled as infamous? That notorious Chubby Checker! And I'm not a park guest, not by a long shot. Or at least not until they get some pinball machines back in the arcade. I'm just someone who tried to go to a free Blondie concert and got sucked into following the career of Chubby Checker.
Oh, no. I just checked the Mall Of America site and they have also updated their calendar. Chubby Checker is going to sing two songs while surrounded by dancers doing "The Twist." Oh, no. Is he going to Twist with Snoopy? It also says he will be near the ride. Does that mean he won't get to use a proper stage? What if he is just on an incline and the dancers try to engage spectators in the Twist? CEB is thinking of going! He is much taller than I am! He could easily pick me up when I'm not looking and deposit me in the vicinity of the twisters. Note to self: do not turn back on CEB, not even for a second.
It says Chubby Checker will be welcoming guests. I hope they mean welcoming in the singing upbeat songs sense and not the crew of the Pacific Princess sense. What if he takes the inaugural ride on the new roller coaster? What then? Do I pony up the cash and get on the ride too? Do I send Joejung on the ride to take pictures of the back of Chubby Checker's head? Or maybe I'll just sit quietly on a bench and wonder why I ever went to that Blondie show in the first place.