That pickle lady was crazy

mood: foreboding

I regret stopping this blog and never picking it back up again beyond a few check-ins, although it's certainly in my style.  There are so many really dramatic things that happened in my life that I didn't write about at the time and now seem distant.  I would love to be able to read about the deep, vivid emotion I felt at some real turning points in my life.  I didn't talk about the year-long affair that temporarily alienated my friends and ended with me marrying LD and gaining three stepchildren.  I didn't talk about the trips to Europe and just barely getting caught up in the Bastille Day terrorist attack.  I didn't talk about my ignominious and painful removal at Prestigius.  I didn't talk about my frustrating search for another job that left me feeling much less confident about my professional self than I had been.  I didn't talk (much) about the crazy, difficult first year teaching at Hanover.  I also miss out on some little moments that were hilarious or drama-filled at the time, like the insane, stranger-than-fiction monologue that my Las Vegas taxi driver inflicted on us, or the bizarre lady at the pickle shop in West Texas.  I can't remember many of the things that I didn't write about so I could have remembered them.  Also, I'm really old now.

So I think maybe I'll try to document this school year, my second at Hanover, in which I'm going to be teaching second grade for the first time in my life (I got voluntold last year to switch from kindergarten).  The first day for teachers is this Monday.  I'm really, really not looking forward to it.  As a young man, I loved my job.  I got antsy on weekends and sometimes even eagerly wanted holidays to end.  I really enjoyed my years teaching kindergarten at Prestigius.  Now, not so much.  Anyway, I've said all that before, I now realize, so I'll stop now.

Today was spent idling, driving around and just trying to relax and not think about work.  At one point, driving the car, tears actually sprung into my eyes, I felt so self-pitying and distressed about returning.  That's immature and entitled and pathetic, and I've said that before too.  

I got a Teachers Pay Teachers account today.  I don't know if that's even something people do any more, or if any kind of side income can be made from it.

LD and I took my mom out to a Greek restaurant for her 80th birthday.  I don't think I'd ever eaten spanakopita before, and it was delicious!  The lamb gyro was also good.  I got a taste of avgolemono, a creamy lemon soup which is also excellent.

74 and Zaftig wanted us to go down to Hangout where a cover band was playing.  I think the Friar might have been there, but in any case we didn't go.  I am still quite antisocial as a result of covid, and it's still 99 degrees at night here in August in Deviltown.  Friar and I haven't seen a lot of each other, as his going out is almost exclusively bar-related.