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.

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...