Surprise!

I knew Ben & Tricia had to switch their tickets to the Saturday evening performance, but I forgot to ask if they were sitting in the same spot.

I didn't see them in their regular spot, so I assumed they were somewhere that was else--but still in the theatre.

As the evening wore on, I became convinced they weren't there, based on no hard evidence but my inabilitiy to spot them in a huge theatre.

Afterwards, I waited for them out front, and got far fewer "why didn't you have a solo" comments from passers-by than my ego would have liked (but my ego is an insatiable critter, so no amount would have been enough), and eventually decided they weren't there for real. I even checked my voice mail at home, in case there was a "We aren't there, in case you're wondering" message.

I went inside, and some person I don't know Pilsbury Dough Boyed me to get my attention, because Patrick and Alice asked him to.

Surprise! Patrick and Alice used Ben and Tricia's tickets, because Ben and Tricia needed to be somewhere that was else--the outside the theatre variety.

So hooray! Alice hadn't been to that theatre since she went to see a burlesque show there in 1971. She enjoyed herself immensely.

I mean last night, not in 1971.

Then we went to Ruby Tuesday and had a late dinner (I'm not about eating the afternoon before a show, and as my binge the night before meant I didn't wake up until Saturday afternoon, I didn't eat all day).

And now here I am writing blog entries while I wait for laundry to finish up.

Mega-exciting life.

However, Spring Break (which was this past week) has allowed me to make sure the Simply Sleep is non-addictive, and allowed me ot get 10- and 12-hour nights of sleep. Okay, early-morning-to-mid-afternoons sleep.

Monday begins the "downhill slide" to the end of the year. Two weeks, MAP tests, then the end of the year officially begins.

Hooray!

Ashley

Last night (meaning Friday night) at P.J., Jin asked me how to spell "Ashley". With his accent, both I and a co-worker thought he said "actually".

He said, "No, the name, 'Ashley'."

I laughed, because I'm a teacher, and you can ask any teacher how to spell the name "Ashley" and they'll let you know there's more than three ways to spell it--if not more than ten ways to spell it.

So Jin said, "For a man, how do you spell it?"

And then a discussion on whether or not a man can be named "Ashley" ensued, where I pointed out one of the main characters in Gone With the Wind was named "Ashley", and he was a guy.

Then, after I got off work tonight/this morning, I stopped by a nearby pharmacy to get stuff for this stupid toothache issue which is the new light of my life, and after spending forever looking for what I needed and getting a few other things I forgot I needed, I went to the register.

And who should show up there to ring me up but a guy named "Ashley".

Of course, I had to channel Patsy.

"Ashley, huh? Did you order pizza yesterday?" I asked. Unfortunately I have no children to be mortified by my behavior (and I wouldn't have had them with me out shopping at 12:50 in the morning even if I did have them), so it was not a true Patsy moment (not that she'd have her kids out shopping at 12:50 in the morning, either).

Of course, he looked kinda surprised, but admitted he did, in fact, order pizza yesterday. I gave an even shorter version of the conversation at work the day before in explanation as to how I suspected this about him, but without mentioning Gone With the Wind, which is unfortunate, because I now have this Patsy-like urge to go back and ask him if his mom was a fan of the movie--or maybe the book.

I walked out of the place thinking it was a very Patsy moment. And it was.

Weekend In Omaha

Okay, it was actually about 21 hours in Omaha, but it still counts.

Got to see Casey at his going-away shindig, as evidenced here:



Behold: The January 29th Club

My eyes are bugging out because I was telling Karen (who had my camera at that moment) how Cheryl bugged her eyes out when I complained that she had blinked in the previous picture. Karen, having no patience for the end of my narrative goings-on, snapped the picture in mid-story (and mid-demonstration).

My jacket looks awful. I should have it burned.

Anyway, Casey left yesterday. I'm going to give it a couple of days and call Karen to see what (if anything... I don't know how the military works, beyond the whole... okay, I don't know how the military works) she's heard from him.

Apparently he joined the Navy, not the Air Force. I wasn't sure whether I should feel better or worse about this. I've been told I should feel better about it--and if you have information to the contrary, keep it to yourself.

In the non-Weekend In Omaha section of the news, I haven't worked this week because I had to supervise two nights of 7th Grade Readers' Theatre performances.

About 70% of them spoke up this time, so it was more enjoyable than usual.

Okay, I'm off to bed. Hope everyone is having a great whatever it is you're having.

From Our "Circle Of Life" Department: Tommy Moore Is Dead

Tommy Moore died Sunday. I don't have any details other than what they had in the obit at hannibal.net.

It sorta broke my heart to hear about his death. Wade called tonight just as I was delivering a pizza, and as it was slightly before 7:00 I figured I'd wait until after 7:00 to call him back (and thus avoid using minutes), but by the time 7:00 arrived I was back at the store, and then I forgot to call him until I was on my way home.

He asked if I'd gotten his e-mail, and I hadn't, so he told me over the phone. And, again, it sorta broke my heart.

Don't get me wrong; Tommy and I weren't best buds or anything. But, in addition to attending Junior High and High School with him, we spent some time at Center Elementary together. We were two of... what, maybe 30? You spend seven years in a classroom with the same 30 kids or so, you feel as if you know them very well--even if that was--brace yourselves--28 years ago.

Tommy wasn't in our class from kindergarten on, however. He started going to Center in 5th grade, I think--maybe earlier. He was a big boy. He was as big as I thought I was.

He was the first person who ever told me what was obviously a complete and total insane lie where I thought, "That is obviously a complete and total insane lie." The lie had to do with Linda Carter having a wardrobe malfunction in an episode of Wonder Woman, and her subsequent running "offstage" while covering her nakedness.

The "offstage" part is what cued me in to the total-lie-ed-ness of his story. Any 5th-grader knows they don't have a "stage" in a television series. The "stage" is what they have in the gym.

I remember being totally taken aback, trying to figure out if it was my responsibility to say, "That's such a total crock! That didn't happen!" or if I should just say "Wow," and move on with my life. I chose the latter. Come to think of it, that was a very formative moment for me.

And the point of that story isn't to say, "What a liar-head that Tommy was," as we were in fifth grade at the time...

In high school--or maybe jr. high--Tommy went out for basketball. One of the coaches called him "Massive", and this kinda cruel nickname stuck. I, thinking I was as large as he, was never really comfortable using the name.

Now I'm left wondering how he felt about the nickname--both at the time and as an adult. Odd how you think of things you'd like to ask after it's too late to do so, isn't it? Or is that just run-of-the-mill human nature?

Tommy was a pretty nice guy in high school. I have vague memories of not-as-nice moments, but nothing abnormal for a adolescent male in the 1980s.

He was so excited about our 10-year reunion... I got in touch with him and he ran with the ideas we'd discussed on the phone. He'd lost a lot of weight and seemed to really have his life together. I'm thinking that reunion in 1995 is the last time I saw him. We had a night gathering at what used to be the Holiday Inn in Hannibal. We also had a picnic out at Mark Twain Lake. He organized the food was very much the in-control guy.

So, based on that reunion and the phone calls preparing for it, last I knew, he'd turned out to be a pretty great guy.

I'm trying to see if I can remember all of my classmates who have passed away since graduation... Brian Schoeneman passed away from the same thing that almost killed me about a week beforehand back in 2005. Chad Laird died several years back. I'm thinking that's it... at least the ones I know of.

How fun to be the age where you start keeping track of who from your childhood is now gone.

Anyway, Tommy's moved over to the "moved on" column. And it sorta breaks my heart.

Okay, Not ALL Bad

For instance: Joy Joy Joy!

David, Julie, and new arrival Tyson James.

I forgot to mention that in my update. I was too busy being down, and by the time I remembered I forgot to mention it, it was past my bedtime!

Nothing New To Report

By popular (okay, by Andy's) demand: an update.

Nothing new to report.

Which is actually to say there's lots to report, but it's all bad and sucky, and what's-the-point-esque. I was feeling all forward-motion-y in my life there for a while, and now I don't.

I had a whole thing I thought about posting about this horrible and non-humorous experience I had while delivering pizzas a few weeks back, but it was too upsetting/depressing/whatever to actually type about.

I also had this whole thing to type about my mama and the "n" word, as NYC or somewhere was going to outlaw use of the "n" word, but that was very backwards-looking and somewhat upsetting/depressing/whatever to write about.

I had a bowling tournament and a visit with my niece and great-niece in Omaha to type about, and while that wasn't upsetting (except for maybe the blizzard) or depressing (except for maybe the constant sense that my life is and forever shall be in a holding pattern), I hadn't had time to write about it.

There was that crazy weather from the end of February, but Mark Twain would just complain that everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Well, he would if he wasn't busy with the being dead and all.

And then there was this whole thing at school on Friday that was probably the most upsetting/depressing of all, because it demonstrates the problem I'm sensing at school right now, which makes me want to consider--at the very least--going to another school in the district... which is just stressful, because change causes stress, etc.

So, there's the update: things have changed, but, essentially, everything is the same.

Happy March, Everyone!