paisleypiper's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- sketches from the weekend Sketches from the weekend At the charter school Friday morning, I went to a meeting at Quinn�s sister�s school. Jenna invited me to come talk about the spot for the urban core and different community resources I have encountered in my rounds learning the landscape�. She and her colleagues are starting a life skills program for their special education students. I am hoping that I can get the word out which will inspire a few university students to volunteer with students in their classes. I learned something that I had not thought of before. Many of these kids want to be doctors and lawyers just like so many other teens. How would someone help them understand that is not a possibility without damaging the hope that enables such an aspiration? After the meeting I visited with Jenna in her classroom. She has a warm smile and friendly voice. We walked through the halls a bit. Their school is a charter school and leases space from our State City school district in the building of what was once the premier high school in the city � back in the �50�s and 60�s. This school even offered Russian. I had known kids who went there in its more troubled times during the �80�s. So it was wild to see inside. To see the stack of orange and black polyester team shirts in a box in an empty office. I love to walk through the halls of empty schools. I am attracted to the empty halls of schools as a place for taking pictures. I think it is because of all of the human energy that lingers there�. After the school day is over. This morning, while walking with Quinn, I pointed out Jenna�s office. A small dinner party I have been becoming friends with a former high school teacher. But now that we have e-mailed and visited more, she is much more real to me than the memories I have of her from 15 years ago. I liked her a bunch then, but like her even more now. Despite being in a bad mood, she came over for dinner on Friday night. Had a glass of wine and we had a great evening. She met Quinn for the first time and looked around our house. We talked about all of those sorts of things that people talk about when they are getting acquainted. Quinn and I honored my promise to the friend that we would not go to too much trouble cooking and cleaning. So over she came with the boxes, kitchen cobwebs, and an easy dinner. And it was great. We picked up our junk in the living room and dining room--because our house is so small we tend to get stacks of junk�cleaned off the dining room table and cleaned the bathroom. The friend sat in what we call our swan chair and looked rather comfortable there holding a wine glass with a beautiful Shiraz that she brought over. She had a sophisticated style of holding her wine glass, of hanging out in the rounded, high back and arm wicker chair, talking and listening. Her face sort of lights up when she has a story to tell, which I like, because I think she is a natural story teller. I like her take on the world and the issues of the world � wise, witty, not too sugary. Thinking about cars more and more Two weeks ago Quinn and I were in this weird half-mall, half grouping of box stores. Parked just inside the door was this orange Saturn and I stopped and said �that is a nice looking car.� It isn�t what I would get if I could spend unlimited amounts of money on a car, of course, �. Yesterday while running errands, Quinn and I stopped by a car dealership to look at used cars because they were having a 0% interest �event.� I looked around and just didn�t see anything that was a five-speed, and for some reason, which no one including myself can understand, I do not want an automatic transmission. I keep thinking things go wrong with them and it costs a whole bunch. Probably my information is old and it has become some sort of bias. But I have been having a horrible time finding a used car that is a five-speed, that is not too old, and that doesn�t seem like it costs a ton. In conversations with the sales guy, all of these possibilities open up and that car at the mall is available at a price that is less than the used Hondas and Toyotas I have been considering. So I�ve been thinking about this. Quite a bit. Chance meetings Saturday night, Quinn and I went to get moo shoo chicken to think this over at the downtown Chinese restaurant. We are sort of set in our ways regarding our travel path for this restaurant. We drive north on one street and south on another. En route, I point out where the friend from Friday�s dinner works, and out she pulls from the parking garage. It took me a block or two recognize her from behind. We pulled up next to her and surprised her quite a bit. She had the greatest reaction when I said hi. So astounded and surprised, but in a friendly way. I love running in to people I know and like, even if it is just in traffic. It is so friendly. There is always a part of me that thinks that running into someone is an opportunity to do something unexpected. To change the course of the evening. And I always struggle with myself because I wonder whether anyone else really flies by the seat of their pants as much as me. Once Quinn and I hopped in the car on a little excursion for me to take pictures and ended up in Omaha shopping in junk stores. She loved that so much. And it is so me. But our car is so very old now that we are nervous taking it too far from home. I am hoping that when I get a car, I will take to a few more adventures. I believe whole-heartedly, that it is great to just do something on the spur of the moment. Because moments come and go, so do moods and sometimes something big just lands on one�s mind and changes everything. All of the sudden, the fluff movie and popcorn turns into a need for a serious drama and M&M�s. Competitive walkers This morning Quinn and I exported ourselves to one of the fine neighborhoods to the south to walk with the pipsqueak. We listen to music and walk at as fast a pace as we can. We got stuck behind this man with two small kids in a deluxe jogging stroller who would not leave us alone. He kept getting in front of us, then stopping, forcing us to go around him, then he would run and pass us, then we stop or slow way down, then we would run and pass him, etc. What a jerk. Finally I gave Quinn the signal to put it in a full run. The kind of running I have not done since I spent a year running out of my bad marriage. I used to run six miles a day, and I do not run like a girl, and neither does Quinn. Not that I am shape to run for long, but you better believe that I was not stopping until we rounded a corner. So after that we went back to walking the jerk caught up with us and rammed the cart right into Quinn and said �I�ve been jogging too.� Sometimes I just want to win over these turkeys. Sometimes I want to ask people what they are teaching their children about how to live on this earth. But instead I instigated a change in direction. A new path of avoidance. He thought he won his little game. So there, we did our human service for the day. Where has the day gone Today, a day of writing. I have been working on series of stories from my life that I think add up to a completed overture. If that makes any sense. I was noticing certain long-standing things in my life sort of getting tied in a big knot this summer and it seemed like a good exploration. So I have sat here all day, at my desk. Staring at my Milton textbook for class. Listening to music. Eating meals. Drinking water. Typing and typing and writing and thinking. The day has turned into the late afternoon and is almost the early evening. 4:30 p.m. - 2002-08-25 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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