Technically, the equinox isn't til September 23rd.
The school district has erected little signs on the boulevard that look like ads for yard sales, but they read "School starts Sept. 4th" across the top and "Just Go!" in bold print in the center. I would have opted for "Resistance is Useless," myself, but I admire the straightforward plea they've chosen. They're not condescending to kids with that "School is Cool" tactic we got in the '80s. Honestly, tragic as the situation must be to warrant the school system feeling the need to actually
advertise, I find it intensely amusing.
And there you have it - Labor Day is nigh. Which means positively nothing for me since I've postponed grad school for another year. I suppose it's the end of free concerts and movies in the parks, and the opening of birthday season (I mailed three cards yesterday. For those family members with distant spring birthdays, I also felt the need to mail two packages and a letter. When I walk into the Post Office, the clerks look up and say, "Well look who's here! What are you having? The usual?"). I made the most of my first real summer in six years: went to Tulsa for a real Fourth of July, attended a fair, hung around the Tastee Freeze a little, swam in the lake, took punishing twelve mile bike rides, got caught in the rain, read a stack of books.
So I'm finished, and I'm fulfilled. But I am going to miss one thing very much: the ice cream truck that drives up my street every evening just after dark. I've never been a customer. But there may be no sweeter sound than "Cielito Lindo" playing on that truck's chimey chimer. Thanks, summer. It's been real.
Ren Faire
We went to the Ren Faire yesterday and it was actually a lot more fun than I expected,
again. I figured enormous women in chain mail bikinis would be accosting us in Monty Python voices, but the faire folk were classier than that (the visitors, not quite as much). We tried on corsets, gawked at shiny weapons, and caught Death talking on a cell phone.
Click here for photos.
Train in Vain (Stand by Me)
So, you've decided to catch a bus that's scheduled to get you to your job interview a half-hour early. Somehow, you don't get there until a half-hour
after the interview time. You do not get the job.
Dance class once a week is the only thing keeping you sane. But they've decided to shut down the blue line
all weekend for construction. You can't ride your bike across town in this heat and still have the energy to dance. You have to stay home.
Your morning bus is so crowded that you get walloped by the front door each time it closes, but there's no point in getting off and waiting in the snowstorm for the next bus, because it will be ten minutes late and just as crowded.
-- - --Anybody else sick of this? Ready to give up and buy a car, so you can enjoy the second most congested city roads in the country while losing hundreds of dollars in gas money and destroying the planet, all at the same time?
You might want to check out what pathetic plans are a-brewing in Springfield and consider contacting your elected officials about it. You can do it
right here by filling out a completely effortless online form.
Cos for the love of gawd, we deserve better than to spend two hours a day on the freeway like they do in Los Angeles. I've already escaped that miserable existence once. I don't plan on dealing with it a second time.
Movie Night at the Classhole
If anyone is interested in a Hitchcock double feature, we'll be watching "Strangers on a Train" and "Rope" this week. Let me know when you're available. (Monday and Tuesday are no good.) I'll provide beer and popcorn (regular and sweet).
There will also be a Degrassi marathon abrewing here at the Classhole in the next couple of weeks.* Not the realistic original series - we'll be watching wild'n'crazy season four of The Next Generation, in which Kevin Smith guest stars, Craig goes on a rampage, Emma gets VD, the outcast kid shoots some guys, and hilarity ensues! There is no substance on earth more addictive than Canadian teen angst.
Come on over. We are now air-conditioned.
*EDIT: This will most likely be our next theme party, Back to School. Prepare to wear plaid. (Please no creepy fetish outfits - unless they're hilarious.) Hogwarts colors also encouraged. Dignity is not a desirable thing here.
Lizard Trouble is Today's Running Theme
Comment on yesterday's debate, or post a weird news article? Debate? Or news article?
You all watched the debate for yourselves. Here's something else:
Crocodile survives tower plungeMOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- A crocodile survived a fall from the 12th floor of a Russian apartment block after making an escape bid through a window, emergency services said on Wednesday.
The crocodile lost one tooth in the fall but was otherwise unscathed, said a spokeswoman for the emergencies ministry in the Nizhny Novgorod region of central Russia.
"It seems the owner was not at home when the crocodile came out of the window," she said.
Diving out of the window has become a habit for the crocodile, called Khenar, with concerned neighbors saying it was the third time he had used that method to flee, Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported.
Emergency services put the crocodile in a local aquarium to recover from his fall. Within a few hours his concerned owner came to pick him up and the crocodile was last seen lying on the back seat of his owner's car.
China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate
What?
China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate.China.
Tells living Buddhas.
To obtain permission before they reincarnate.
Wenches get...stenches?
Hey, what did we learn today? Don't suggest a day trip to the Renaissance Faire as a joke, because your friends will take you up on the offer and you will have to go to the Renaissance Faire, no joke.
Gonna get me a roasted animal leg and a flagon of mead and so help me, don't talk to me in that goofy faux-Shakespearean lingo if you want to keep your teeth.
Renaissance Faire.
