I think I can, I think I can

You know, an hour ago I was in a great mood. There are lots of retail jobs and restaurant jobs up at the Forum (Norcross) and as big of a pain in the but as it might be, Emily's out there so I can make it an excuse to see her since I seem to not have any friends in Decatur anymore. I was going to go vote, take my mom her lunch, apply for some jobs, get my brother (yay for the last trip to Smyrna!), and get home and wait excitedly for Jeremy.

I pulled out of the driveway and my front right tire went flat.

Is there any particular reason that God, fate, karma, whoever's on duty today seems to hate me? Do they not pass memos around letting each other know that they've already screwed me the day before? I think they need to have that tube system checked out.

It's getting a lot harder to stay positive and I know I have to, so just say a little prayer and send happy thoughts to me... I could use them right now.

Since I am trying to make myself feel better, I bring you Bruno (Joanna's Bunny) and the Pumpkin Pi.

Happy Halloween!

It's my favorite holiday (next to New Years) today! It's also my little brother's birthday... it's scary, I remember going to the hospital hours after he was born and holding him and now he's 18! Yikes!

My family has always been in to Halloween; when my parents lived at the Highland Bakeries, they used to have huge costume parties that people got completely decked out for. My mom would stand at the door with baby Meg and greet people, and I would ask them to show me their belly button (as I had apparently just discovered mine). I'm fairly certain I was some form of kitty for the first few years of my life, then I was a witch, a gogo dancer, a 50's prom queen, a 20's lady (not a flapper), and various other things. Thankfully it seems as though I've grown out of my laryngitis on Halloween habit, that was rough to go trick-or-treating with. Who doesn't love a spooky holiday where you get to be so creative!

I've been really bored lately, but with only a few books to read it hasn't gotten better. I watch new shows on Netflix, and keep up with Valerie's blog (still want to steal Ana to come play with me!), but I'd really like to do some more scrapbooking. Sad thing is, it's all in Memphis! I'm hoping I caught Jeremy in time before he left and he can bring my drawers with him, because there's so much stuff in my scrapbooking bin that I need to get started and do maybe a page a day or something. I also need to get more card stock, just plain white, so that I can work on my AOII pledge scrapbook in what used to be my pledge binder.

Anyway, that's about all that's going on here, nothing entirely interesting. Jeremy's on his way down for the night, then we're off to Daytona Beach in the morning to get him moved in and clear out a space for the bike when Marc and Jan get there tomorrow afternoon. It's really exciting, but nerve wracking, too!

Off to Norcross (where the rich people still have money) to apply for jobs! Oh, and hopefully to vote!

Oh, and in the spirit of Halloween, I leave you Gwennie (Krystal's daughter) the Bumblebee!
All the way from Hiroshima, Japan!

Drove the Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry

I just realized half of these have had song titles, I just happen to always have a song stuck in my head.

Applied at 5th Earl Market today for a counter position-- not much, but still a job! Turns out that vindictive (insert your favorite derogatory terms or curses here) who was my manager at VS said that I was fired, even though I quit because they didn't want to let me take a break after I passed out on the sales floor with a 101 fever and then scheduled me for a day I told them I couldn't work to begin with.

Yeah, that's the story in a nutshell.

It means she flagged me as ineligible for rehire and that I can't get the job at BBW with Em. Otherwise known as the only job I could find. I'm kind of stuck in the doldrums (yeah, 5th grade throwbacks), I know I need to keep applying for jobs and keep on truckin' but it's just so hard when I've applied for over 75 jobs and there's no response to speak of.

Needless to say, today was exhausting mentally, so now I'm sitting here watching (more) HGTV and eating some ramen because I can't bring myself to actually cook. I'll have to get on it tomorrow, though, before some of it goes bad.

I'll leave you on a high note and a recipe for an amazing potato and leek soup! (original recipe, Emeril Lagasse, modified by me)

1lb russett potatoes (about four or five) diced
1lb leeks (about three decent sized leeks) sliced longways, rinsed, and then cut crosswise
1tbsp minced or dried garlic
2 pieces bacon (pref with black peppercorns on, if not, 1 tbsp rough ground black pepper)
2tbsp butter
5 cups chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream

in a large stock pot, melt down butter and put in chopped bacon. heat over low flame until the fat in the bacon has rendered. drop in chopped leeks and cook for about 5 minutes, until the leeks have wilted. pour in chicken stock, tomatoes, and garlic and let cook for about thirty minutes, or until potatoes are soft to fork. pour soup in portions in to a blender and blend to a slightly chunky consistency, then add in heavy cream to taste per portion. you can mix it all together again, and reheat easily.

Weekend Update

But not the funny SNL kind-- though I have to give Will Ferrell props for being the best George W. Bush impersonator ever; I don't care who you voted for it's true.

Jeremy came in Thursday night, stayed through this morning, which was really great. I'm sad I won't really see him much over the next nine months, but since the mechanic's school thing was in part my doing... I can't be too upset about it. We were hoping that I could stable pony him down to Daytona from Atlanta since he didn't have anyone to ride with, that way we could get some things straightened up and ready for his parents to bring some more stuff down, then I'd ride back up with them through Atlanta (as it's the best way to go between Memphis and Daytona Beach). Now, however, it looks like they're thinking about doing it all in two days (down one day, back the next) to be back for something on Sunday and I'm not sure I can handle that travel schedule! Jan and Marc amaze me with their marathon driving schedules sometimes, I'm not sure I could keep up!

As much as I'd love to go down and see the place, I'll probably be up the weekend before Thanksgiving so I guess that's not too much longer to wait. Hopefully (everyone cross their fingers, rub lucky rabbit feet, all that jazz) I'll land a job at Bath and Body Works with Emily, and work like every shift Kendra needs covered between now and whenever-- she said if HR approves it (long story involving my previous employment under a lying, cheating manager at Victoria's Secret) and I'll work Thanksgiving and Christmas week then I'm hired. That would be... so very nice. I'm going to hold off on calling back on the GA Dems job (which apparently would alienate me distinctly from some people...), because even though I'd be driving to Gwinett, I'd probably end up making more money. And if there are two long days in a row, I can just stay with Emily.

Anyway, again, it was great having Jeremy here. We went to Sage on Friday for dinner and it was AMAZING, and then to Emily's on Saturday for the Grand Illumination. It wasn't extremely grand, but it was a nice time and we got to watch Silver Bullet and Van Helsing. Everyone loves a good cheesy Halloween movie. We went out for several walks, since Decatur is walk-friendly, and hit up Dairy Queen a few times. Also got to finish out Burn Notice, Season 1, which is awesome.

Not sure what else to say, just hanging out watching Heroes now, and I'm ridiculously excited about Halloween Office on Thursday.

Ciao for now!

Oh, oh, I- I can't wait to see you again

That's right, I'm goin' Miley Cyrus on you. What then?

Yesterday ended up ok-- got all my books out of the car and my wicker toiletries drawers, so hopefully now nothing will get hot and explode in my car since it's mostly empty!

Tomorrow/today will be full, but more relaxed since I don't have to go to Smyrna and dodge the 18 wheelers on 285 (THE worst part about Atlanta driving!), I just have to try and get things a little organized so that we can squeeze Jeremy in, hopefully tonight when he gets in on the 9p!

I'm going to also need to make a birthday card for Melissa, my Indiana Rose Buddy, and send my little her surprise package. I keep getting confused on Facebook because one of our new girls has the exact same name as Jeremy's sister (well, her maiden name, actually), so even though I know Valerie Clark isn't Jeremy's sister it still makes me do a double take. Speaking of which, Analia is starting to take steps on her own now! She was such a sweet baby, and continues to be it seems, and Jeremy and I can't wait to see her again. She thinks he's the best thing since a fresh bottle, so I think maybe I'll get dad to take a picture of us to send to her and I'll take a super goofy one of him since that's what she likes most. I'll just have to preoccupy myself with Ana, 'cause I don't need one for a while yet...

Oh, and cooking. Definitely cooking. The fall social last night definitely re-energized me a bit, so now I think I can pick myself up and do what I oughtta. We have butternut squash, chicken, and potatoes and leeks that need something done with, so I'll be cleaning out the fridge and freezer and digging in.

Tomorrow, tomorrow!

Jeremy's coming tomorrow! This makes me extremely happy. I don't know what the next 9 months will be like... it's only been a couple weeks and I miss him a lot. Though, if I can't find a job here, I may move down before tourist season and get a job there.

The Artemis Fall Social is tonight, so I need to figure out what I'm going to wear-- it's chilly enough now I have to wear stockings which is a little irritating, if you ask me, but whatev. The endless Sweetwater/brats/pretzels is going to be delish, but I'm most excited about the IMAX. Volcanoes and 3D... does it get much better?

Today is bookshelf day. I have a small bookshelf that I dragged out of my car and need to drag the oooooodles of books out to cram on it until we get to the new place. I'm happy I get to keep my books, but they are SUCH a pain to move! We went and looked at a place last night, but the landlord never showed up, so who knows. There's a larger house that we're looking at, 4 bedrooms and 3 baths, which is a lot closer to MARTA than this one, but is more expensive and may be more to rent. The smaller one is still bigger than the place we have now, and while the neighborhood is nice, the houses immediately around and across from it are empty which is a little creepy. If I could find a job, then I would put in the extra $100 a month to get the one close to MARTA just because it would be so much more cost effective for me to take the bus to work and back than have to drive, and the same for mom. We're also pretty sure that by the time we move, Casey will be out of Ridgeview so there will be no driving to Smyrna!

Speaking of Smyrna, I should go get those books out of my car. It's killing my gas mileage to drive around with all of them in my trunk!

Workin' my way back to you, babe

I play 50's music in my head. No, really, on my way back from Memphis the radio didn't work, so I ended up singing "Don't Stop Believin", "Jesse's Girl", and various oldies including "Fill Me Up (Buttercup)" and "Stop (In The Name of Love)". It would appear that the oldies have a corner on the parenthetical song titles.

Today was low-key enough. Accidentally overslept; I'm still not used to having to wake up without light queues, so Jeremy's going to give me a wakeup call tomorrow since he gets up at 8a which is 9a my time. I got some stuff over to the storage unit today, but not nearly enough, and it's almost all the way full so we're gonna go over tomorrow and re-organize some things, and I'm going to ask her if she wants me to maybe get things set up for a yard sale this weekend and put up an ad on Craigslist to try and kick out as much crap as possible. She says she can donate it, but it'd be really nice if we could make a few dollars, especially since I can't find a job to save my life and we're trying to find a new place to live. I'm putting in more applications tomorrow, some for seasonal work, some for temp work, some for part time work. I really hope I get something. At this point, even $50 a week would at least help me pay down my phone bill and send a few bucks to the GI and Rhodes.

As for the future, Jeremy said that WyoTech indicated they would start trying to place them about three months prior to graduation, which means I'll have more than a few days of scrambling to find a job and find us a place to live. I'm really glad he's doing this, he sounds excited, and his roommate found them a 2 BR apartment close to campus that is totally reasonable, so maybe he'll be able to sleep at night now. If you have any suggestions on fairly temperate climates where people might be inclined to ride bikes year round, let me know-- we're starting our list of possible places so that both of us have a better chance of getting a job. I think we're aiming towards Austin or Atlanta areas, still, but you gotta go where the jobs are, right?

Keep your fingers crossed for me over the next few days-- I'm putting in at PierOne, Starbucks, Best Buy, several restaurants, Grassroots Campaigns (I applied for a job with them in Austin, but couldn't accept for financial reasons), and a couple of box office positions with theatres in Atlanta. I guess I should also get mom to print off a bagful of my resume; could get pricey since I'm so desperate I'm handing out the whole CV!

For now, though, I'll be thankful to be back in the real South. Inside the Perimeter, the real Atlanta, life is calm and happy. People might be in a bit of a hurry, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying a beautiful day, walking to work, or honking and waving to someone you know on the street. The weather is beautiful, and the people are nice-- if I get too bored, right up the street is the square with trees, picnic tables, and people I know. I know I sound a little bit like the Cheers theme song, but it's true. Big city feel, small town heart. It would be really nice if Jeremy could find a job around here-- I think he likes Decatur a lot, and since everything's pretty accessible through MARTA, he wouldn't have to deal with the traffic.

Here's to home, the place where you feel comfortable enough to take your shoes off and stay a while.

Farmer's Market Day!

This morning was the weekly trip to Your DeKalb Farmer's Market (YDFM) which always puts me in a better mood-- something about being in such a bustling place with people from all over the world is refreshing, reminds us all that we're not the only people here. That, and fresh produce and meat and seafood pleases me. There was nothing like the YDFM in Memphis or Southaven, so finding fresh, organic food was really difficult and expensive. The spices at YDFM are insanely cheap-- a few ounces of Tikki Masala (or any other Masala, for that matter) is about 79 cents, and a bag of more bay leaves than I'll probably use this winter is also under $1. I left the rest of my spices with Jeremy because spices are just so expensive everywhere else, and the stuff you get here is better and fresher anyway.

I stocked up on leeks, a pumpkin, squash, cornishons (French cornish pickles), Masala Chicken spice, bay leaves, milk, bananas, fresh baked bread, naan, and fresh catfish.

I think I'll make some potato and leek soup, some potato and squash soup, some Ziti alla Zucca (gratzi Mario Batali), and possibly do some sauteed squash with chicken next week. I'm extremely happy to be cooking again, and I wish everyone's schedules had worked out the last month or so that I was in Southaven, I would have loved to cook for Marc and Jan, and I'm sure it would have been nice for them to eat some healthy homemade food than getting tired of cooking and hitting up Texas Roadhouse. I think I could get tired of baked potatoes! It also would have been nice to do since it's looking less and less like I have employment options to send them money for rent...

I'm hoping cooking will take my mind off some of that-- I hate not working or going to school, having something to do with my days, because I feel a little useless and pointless. Not depressed, just... pointless, I think, is the best word. I'm going to re-vamp my CV again and send it out to like everyone I know in the hopes that they can find something. I'm also going to take mom's car tonight and run up to Pier One and try to get an application in for holiday work. I'm sure they have more than they need already, but I'll never know if I don't try!

That's all for today, I'm going to watch a movie and put up some clothes, and start putting things back in the car to go to storage first thing. If you have any more suggestions for the squash or pumpkin, feel free to leave them-- I love learning new recipes!

Watershed on Ponce

The Watershed on Ponce
4/5

The Watershed is a clean, neat looking restaurant in what I believe used to be a hardware store space. Headed by the Indigo Girls' Emily Saliers, they aim to serve simple food with rich flavors. I had never been before, but an old friend I hadn't seen in a while suggested we meet up for lunch. When I asked my mother what I should get, her response was simple, "Anything." I'd heard this about Watershed's food, with the exception of a one time spider-in-the-watercress sandwich. Laura (my friend) suggested the chicken salad sandwich, and upon seeing it was not only one of the less expensive things on the menu but a white truffle chicken salad sandwich, I went for it.

The chicken salad was fantastic-- well balanced flavors, a nice surprise with golden raisins instead of the currently popular mandarin oranges, and the bread was fresh and tasty. The portion was enormous, and well worth the $9. Had I not been so enamored I couldn't stop munching, I would have been able to make two meals out of it! I would give Watershed a 5/5 simply for that sandwich, but our service was less than exemplary. I used to hesitate to criticize service, but having been a waitress for six plus years I now feel as though I can do so comfortably. Our waitress really didn't seem to care about us, and while I can understand wanting to pay attention to the larger checks, you can get just as little tip off ignoring a small table as well as not garnering more business for the restaurant. We were there for nearly three hours, we hadn't seen each other in six years, and we saw her more often when she was trying to get us off the table that nobody was waiting for than when we were actually eating or requiring refills on our drinks. I ended up leaving her a little extra on the basis that we had taken up valuable table space, but it was grudgingly so since my half was only $12 and we had to ask for refills every time.

The only other complaint I have with Watershed is that they don't serve sweet tea-- they buy in to the Texas mentality that sweet tea is the same as unsweetened tea with sugar or sweet and low.

All in all, I would highly suggest the restaurant. The atmosphere is relaxed, but crisp, and surely the entire staff can't be as uncaring as our waitress was.

Edit: They apparently also have a habit of charging the wrong amount to credit cards, so I would suggest cash. I have to go talk to them tomorrow, and when I mentioned it to mom she said the same thing happened to her, but they are good about taking care of it.

Adam and Erin

I wish I knew where my card reader was-- Adam and Erin got married last night and it was so wonderful, and so very them. They had the ceremony and reception at the Moulin Rouge room at Paris on Ponce (antiques store, for those of you not from 'round here). Erin looked absolutely beautiful, and Adam as strangely adorable as ever; they really are perfect for each other, and I can't imagine two people who will be happier together. The food, of course, was amazing and Adam's brother Drew did all the cheesecakes-- I think there was a total of six or seven cakes, the "wedding cake" had a little pumpkin bride and groom, and I munched on a Saffron Spice cheesecake with homemade raspberry sauce. Tres magnifique.

It was also really beautiful the way that everyone was included in the ceremony-- Adam and Erin feel like all their friends are family, and family is extremely important. People were invited up to tell stories and make their own toasts, and the ceremony was done in the middle of the room and led directly in to the celebration (aka, reception). I hope that Jeremy won't mind doing something like that, I'd really like it. Plus, there are a lot of logistical upsides to it. Short ceremony means kids (and I) won't get antsy, being there already means that the entire thing doesn't have to pick up and move the entire thing somewhere else (which cuts costs), and we can do pictures while everyone else gets settled in with food and whatnot before toasts.

Everyone keeps asking why I'm having children there, and I happen to think children are loads of fun at wedding receptions. Apparently friends of mine up north have never had a good experience with children at a wedding, and the way I put it to Shelby is that we always understood that it was a privilage to be at an adult function and we better behave or we would be in deep crap, possibly for the rest of our lives. Also, it would be entirely rude to even tangentially ban children from the ceremony and reception given the number of people I know with children (in both the literal and colloquial senses). Most of the weddings I've been to start early evening and go to late evening, giving those with children an opportunity to come celebrate, and leave when they're ready, and those who might have earlier obligations to celebrate as well.

I'm dying for some sushi, but it'll have to wait for lunch Monday-- that's when Sushi Avenue does their amazing specials, lunch during the week. I'm excited, also, to maybe try a new lunch every week...

On that note, I'll write up my restaurant review and go try to find something to amuse myself until it's an appropriate hour to sleep.

Naan-- it cures all ills

In the midst of trying to figure out what on earth I'm going to do with my car since it apparently has an exhaust leak and I don't have my handy dandy boyfriend to fix it, nor do I have any money, I decided I needed Naan. There's a little Indo Pak groceries up the street and so I stopped in and picked up some frozen garlic naan, completely missing the fresh stuff until after I had gotten in the checkout line. It took a lot of maneuvering to get to the line, too. I'm sure a market in real India is much more chaotic, but for the tiny little grocery, there were too many carts, babies, and (yes) jackhammers for the space. No worries, though, I liked it there. The smells were great, the people completely unbothered by anything else-- it was nice. I also was reminded how much easier it'll be to cook different stuff now that I'm back in Atlanta than it ever was in Memphis. I did, however, forget my mole sauce and curry mix at Jeremy's.

It was a somewhat stressful day, apparently I'm psychic which is a bigger burden than I thought it might be, but things will settle soon enough. Mom and I are going to look at houses and apartments, and hopefully by this time next month I'll have my own room and our bathroom will be at least mildly more functional than this one. I do enjoy my bed, though. I have a daybed in the living room next to the windows that look out on to the street. The neighborhood is quiet, but since it's not a dead end like Westchester, there's still through traffic to watch. Loads more bikes than I remember from a few years ago, so hopefully that bodes well for possible mechanics jobs in Atlanta-- it would be nice if we don't have to go anywhere near Memphis again, we're both pretty sick of that city.

Anyway, I'm watching Jericho (which is awesome) and considering thawing out a chicken breast to cook up with some herbs de provance or something. Since it would appear my family's new version of dinner is cereal and whatever the heck my brother decides to dig up for himself. This will have to change.

Putterin' 'Puter

My dear friend Emily is having computer issues-- we figure that the answer is to just get a new computer, but I'll put it up in case anyone's a genius or Dell savant.

She's got an "ancient" Dell, I believe an Inspiron, and Windows XP Pro. It's been a little sluggish, so I suggested she install SP3, which Jeremy and I just installed with success. She said she'd never done SP2 because it had killed a lot of computers (HP) at Agnes Scott. She's been trying without success to install SP2 (after my assurances that Dells were made for Windows) for about a week now-- it'll get all the way done installing and then go "fail!"

Any thoughts?

5 Days Late...

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,	15
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,	20
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot

For everyone else who hates they even MADE those movies...

Rawk. These guys should be shot out of a cannon over the ocean. The actual directors, not the guy(s) who did the chuckletastic YouTube video.

Don't Vote

While I'm cynical about the way that the whole popular vote/electoral college thing works, don't be apathetic is the central message of the video. If you feel strongly about something, then let it be known. If we all stand up and say what we feel, then our representatives can't say they're doing the opposite "for our own good". If you are an American, make sure you vote. I don't care who you're voting for, though I certainly have my preferences, as long as you get up off your butt and do something about it. If you don't vote, I don't want to hear you complaining about anything that happens in the next four years.

Out on the Town

Group shot
Originally uploaded by SveglioBella

Me, Em, and Susie at the Little Black Dress Party from this past weekend.

All in a week's work

"You would be the one to wear a red dress to a little black dress party!" -Shelley

Went back to Atlanta this weekend to start moving back and had a fairly decent time. I had my substitute teacher orientation on Thursday, which went pretty well. The people were an interesting mix, to be sure. A couple of really rude women-- one a cranky old black lady and one a middle aged white New Jersey woman who thought she was right about EVERYTHING. With the Jersey lady, I kinda felt like I should be rolling my eyes as she griped about the Newark flight being late... There were a few other former teachers, pretty chill people, and then the three people I was sitting with I made friends with.

The first was Liz, who had taught Social Studies in, I think, Middle School for a long time and decided she wanted to change school systems because she and her husband moved to Decatur. She sat right next to me and even though she came off as your average nice, pleasant, generally funny kind of gal, she had a little bit of a wit to her, we made fun of all the training videos together. She was really interested in my Senior Paper topic, turns out she was an Econ major with history minor in college and had studied literature as a side-track (her college curriculum was a little different from what we're used to-- she was probably about 40-45 maybe) so we talked a lot about imperialism and society and the economics of imperialism. It kinda made my day :)

Next up was Victoria, who had moved down from Memphis about a year ago, where she taught and did her graduate work. She worked at one of the worse high schools in Memphis, Sheffield (from Google: "hated it. I think it is a terrible school. The teacher and staff doesn't care about any of their students and i think that is awful.") where 75% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. She's a social studies teacher, and she wants to work at Renfroe, our MS, but the principal wants everyone to be gifted certified... but won't pay for it. Yeah. Anyway, she was a lot of fun, we bonded over how awful Memphis is, and when we got to the part about fights in school, she turned to me and said, "In Memphis, it was just weave and press on nails all down the hallway!" Which, let's be honest, is probably true.

Wayne came in late, he'd taken MARTA and the shuttle from the High School pulled away with him running after it. He's a middle aged black man, his son just graduated from Emory and is going to grad school there, too, I think. He was a lot of fun, and we had a great discussion about racial and economic lines, especially in a city like Memphis where so much has happened. He thought the Rhodes BSA's stunt from a few years ago, calling the white lights on the Christmas tree racist, was utter crap-- most educated people do, regardless of race. They also agree that the colored lights on the tree is kinda tacky looking-- good for retail, not for the home. Anyway, he was really cool-- worked for HP, another computer company, and then Cingular --> AT&T and decided he was sick of the corporate world and he wanted to teach.

Friday was errands day, then Saturday was hangin' out with Emily and doing not much day. Went and had my hair cut at the Van Michael salon at the Forum and even though it made me want to cry to spend $60 on the haircut (with Coke and mini facial), it probably is one of the better haircuts I've had in a while. Granted she mostly just cleaned up what I'd done last week, but it does look pretty good. Then we went for nail time, I got a manicure and Em a pedi, and my French manicure is possibly the worst one I've ever had and I do my own nails usually... oh, well.

The Little Black Dress party was fun, there were horribly dressed people, good food (even if it was cold) and good company. I ran in to a friend from Rhodes, and then Em, Susie and I judged people the rest of the night which was actually a lot of fun. We also decided to go in to art thievery, it's a very lucrative business these days.

Sunday, I drove back, and here I am.

Lee R. Sizemore

Mr. Lee R. Sizemore, age 84, died on the morning of Sept. 13, 2008, at his home in Muscle Shoals. He succumbed to cancer after a brief illness.
Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Sunday, Sept 14, 2008, at Morrison Funeral Home, Tuscumbia. The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, 2008, at Morrison Funeral Home chapel, Tuscumbia.
Burial will follow in Glendale Cemebary, with the Rev. Bill Bedsole officiating.
Mr. Sizemore was a veteran of World War II, landing with the D-Day invasion force on Omaha Beach, Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. Following the invasion, Mr. Sizemore served with the famous "Red Ball Express," delivering munitions and supplies to Gen. Patton's armored division on their drive toward Berlin.
He and his beloved wife, Dorothy, raised their children in Muscle Shoals, and he subsequently retired from Reynolds Aluminum after 30 years as a security officer. In his retirement years, he enjoyed hunting, fishing, gardening and spending rich time with his many friends and family. His dedication to his family and friends is legendary, and he will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

Loooong Weekend

Last Wednesday, we left for Indiana for the Inaugural Indianapolis MotoGP (Grand Prix) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It effing rocked. The rest of the time, however... well, here's a brief timeline...

Wednesday: Travel Day
Drive up was good, leisurely. We dropped off my bid day CDs (which were a big hit) and cookies for the chapter, and sauntered on up. Lost our way a couple times, but then I discovered Google maps for the Blackberry which is FREAKING AWESOME and Jeremy and I were thoroughly amused for the rest of the trip.

Thursday: Pit Walk
Talk about fun. I've never been to a race of any kind, so it was a totally new experience. Pit walk involved looking at all the bikes in the pits while the mechanics and techs worked on them to get them ready for qualifying rounds the next day. There was also a stunt show going on which was loads of fun.

The Rossi team (Fiat Yamaha) revs up the bike













15 year old Aaron Colton smokes out his back tire at the stunt show with Christian Pfeiffer









Friday: Qualifying Day 1
Otherwise known as the day the stupid crackhead in the Hyundai ruined my week. On the way from Martinsville to Indy, some lady who was letting the whole world in front of her (since talking on her cell phone was more important than driving) slammed on the brakes to let someone in last minute to get on the highway. The roads were wet, but not soaking, so all the oil and crap was all over the place and when we had to slam on OUR brakes, the brakes locked, we skidded, and rear ended her. The Toyota was a 97, which of course is apparently the year BEFORE Toyota started getting good crash ratings, so the car was entirely totalled. To make matters better, the car was only liability. Awesome. Jeremy's sister in law came and picked us up, and we went home for the rest of the day. Later that afternoon, my mom called to tell me my brother and dad had gone up to Muscle Shoals because my grandfather had a stroke the night before and probably wouldn't make it through the night.

If you're ever in a wreck in Indy, don't let the police set up the wrecker service, they are running a massive scam. A total of less than 20 miles, 200 bucks. Ruh-diculous.















Saturday: Qualifying Day 2
Otherwise known as... Qualifying Day 2! My grandfather passed about 5a, but it's ok. He was really really sick at the end, he needed to be able to rest. The day was actually beautiful, nice breeze, sunshine, perfect for pictures. We walked around a bit to try and keep my joints loose (I strained all the muscles in my knees and thighs because of how I was sitting in the car), and watched all the qualifying rounds which was awesome. Ben Spies rocked the track out, finishing 5th in qualifying which put him behind Nicky Hayden and next to Casey Stoner for starting positions the next day. It was amazing to see the GP riders in person, not just on TV. Completely stunning the things they do with these bikes going as fast as they do! I'm going to be putting all the pictures up on my flickr page, so just check it out over the next couple days.

Sunday: Race Day
I didn't go to race day, there was only one extra ticket so Jeremy took his brother, which was probably for the best. That day, it poured down rain like nobody's business and the winds were gusting up to about 70mph and sustained around 45mph. They red flagged almost every race that day, cancelling the one that wasn't red flagged, including the GP race at 7 laps to go. Rossi led the pack after lap 12, when Hayden's lead fell, probably because he's not comfortable in wet conditions. Casey Stoner took 4th, and Spies took 6th. We think he would have done better, but apparently there was a problem with his visor so he couldn't see well enough to pass without causing some major issues. I watched on tv from home and stayed dry, and not windblown. Rossi says it's the worst weather he's ever raced in.

Monday: Travel Day... oh, wait
We were supposed to travel back today, but that didn't quite work out so much. I was waiting to hear from the shop about my car, then they called back with $2500 which would be a new freaking car just because Toyota couldn't build a sturdy front end. Panic attacks ensue. Start trying to find a salvage yard and the title for the car.

Tuesday: Sit and wait day...
Tuesday there wasn't much I could do. Mom was supposed to mail the title, so I just decided to forget about all of it. Jeremy and I drove around and went up to the Oliver vineyard in Bloomington which was actually a nice little winery. But, in tradition of the weekend being awful, when we went for the tasting, we discovered Jeremy's ID expired the day after the accident (which, by the way, was his birthday)! Went home, had burritos, watched the premire of House and the second episode of Fringe (which I think is awesome).

Wednesday: Actual travel day
Since Jeremy's license was expired, I had to drive the whole way back. Illinois is boring and you have to go exactly the speed limit or they give you a ticket, so it felt like I'd driven 5 hours after 2. We made it back safely, though, and cleaned up a bit before watching a movie and having some of the cider we brought back from the winery.


So now, I wait for the headlamp assembly for my Hyundai and try to get everything ready to leave Mississippi. I'll probably leave progressively because I want to see Jeremy a few more times before he starts school. Also, it'll just be easier than trying to shove everything in a car and go. I got a position as a substitute for the City Schools of Decatur, so the orientation is on Thursday next and I'll hopefully start getting calls after that. I'm excited, I love CSD, and it'll be fun to be back in my old school system for a while. Plus, I found out that CSD pays first year teachers with a bachelor's upwards of $38k and THAT my friends is almost incentive to talk Jeremy in to staying in Atlanta after he's done with school...

I'm Alpha born, I'm Alpha bred...

I'm sitting around today doing not much other than AOII stuff. Maybe it's dorky, but I do love my sorority very much and would do anything for my girls! So this time around, since I can't help out in house, I'm doing up some goodies. I'm making CDs for bid day bags, cookies for the girls post-philanthropy tomorrow night, and doing up the poem for Caroline's jersey. Wheeee! AOII Makes me Happy! I even did my whole AOII family tree, which is ENORMOUS by now and getting bigger all the time... I can't get the thing to upload properly, so I'll just post it in a few minutes.

In other news, I saw my grandfather this weekend. He's doing well enough, all things considered, just really really tired. I'm heartened by his spirit-- I didn't think it would wane, but seeing him insisting on doing all the things he normally does (or at least trying) is good to see. I also got to see my Uncle James, who is I think 93, and Uncle Hubert-- or was it Hershel? Geez, who knows. I think it was Hershel.

I was supposed to get much more done today than I actually did, like packing and cleaning, but I don't suppose it's any different from any other time I've thrown it all together quickly quickly. Tomorrow morning, we're leaving to head up to Indiana for the MotoGP race this weekend, about which I'm really excited. We're taking my car since Jeremy's is really loud, not that the Toyota is much better. Now that the panda is working again, I'm itching to drive that one instead. If I'd thought about it, I would have seen about renting one from Enterprise since they do a really great weekend rate. Maybe I still can... who knows.

Talked to Valerie and Analia tonight, all the way from Singapore. I feel so bad for poor Ana, she's a year old next week and teething in a part of the world not known for being cool. She does, however, still absolutely adore her Uncle Jeremy-- he came in and made faces at her for a minute or two and she smiled (and kinda looked a little stoned) and smiled for the first time in the half hour we'd had her on Skype, then he left and she got her serious look, and the second he came back in to view she just started grinnin' and laughing all over again! He's the magic trick when it comes to her, maybe I should just get a good picture of him being goofy and send it over!

Anyway, back to burning CDs, hitting Jeremy with a book, and packing for IN.

Ciao.

Hello, hello

I had been posting on LiveJournal, but I'm no longer interested in the format they have over there-- it's just easier to deal with Blogger to me. This is my personal blog, not my ramblings on about "important" stuff, but just what's going on. All my friends are scattered all over the place and this seemed like a better way to keep them updated.

Tomorrow I leave for Muscle Shoals, AL for a few days. My grandfather, who is 86, was diagnosed with leukemia last week and doesn't have more than probably a month left to live. It seems I know more people than not who have died of cancer. What are we doing to ourselves? I'll be sad when he goes, I love him very much, but he's lived a long life and done everything he wanted to do. The love of his life died about 10 years ago and he misses her a lot, so I think he's probably viewing this partially as a way to see her again. I hope when he does she's her old self, not affected by strokes like before she died.

I don't know if this will help with being in a rut or not. I'm out of school, I'm not working (which drives me NUTS because I have nothing to do), and I can't seem to find a job for the life of me. Hopefully, if nothing else, the DeKalb Co schools will hire me on as a substitute teacher. It won't include health insurance, but at least it'll include pay. I think I'm also driving Jeremy a little crazy. I sit at home all day alone, except when Jan (his mom) happens to be here, doing nothing and talking to nobody, while he spends all day at work, chaotic. When he gets home, I want someone to talk to and he wants to just close the door and have quiet. We're both getting tired of it, I think, because neither of us wants to impose on the other.

Anyway, that's all the wonderful stuff I have for now. Until later...