people watching, annual dinner
I shouldn't be let out of the house/office during the day...
I stopped in at Burgerville to pick up a salad for lunch. There were these two older teenage girls in very tight black jeans and tops who were, well, well-fed. They were eating cheeseburgers, fries, ice cream sundaes, diet sodas...and talking about how they are trying to loose weight. Um...right. Now, I'm not exactly the most svelte person on the planet, but this did strike me as a bit absurd.
Then there was the light at TV highway. It's a four lane expressway sort of arrangement and I was turning left across two lanes of traffic out of a neighborhood street at a light. There was an SUV coming from the other direction turning right, and a pedestrian in the crosswalk. The SUV and I were both waiting in our turn lanes until the pedestrian cleared the lanes we were going to be driving in. From my right (NOT a left turn lane), a pickup filled with yard maintenance equipment turned left in front of both me and the SUV almost hitting the pedestrian. I just about had a heart attack. I hadn't looked in my rear view mirror since easing up into the intersection so I didn't have any warning they were coming and they were moving pretty fast by the time they cut in front of me. Now I wish I'd taken down their license plate. Not that the police would have been able to do anything, but if it was being driven during business hours, the owner of the landscape company could have had their cage rattled a bit.
The young lady pumping gas at the station called me "dear". OMG - I'm old enough to be her mother. That's a first. "Ma'am", I'm used to!
Annual Dinner
My organization's annual dinner is tonight, so I blow dried my hair (don't die of shock, anyone, and yes, I'll have to wear a skirt). That really brings out the gray! When I cut if off and send it to Locks of Love this next time, I may have to keep it shorter and start coloring it. I've never colored my hair and I think it could be a lot of fun. I just don't want to do it myself and I am too lazy to go to the salon regularly enough to keep it up...maybe just some highlights????
I actually enjoy the annual dinners. Not the event itself but rather the people watching. Some churches buy whole tables. My favorite tables are the ones bought by the African American churches. Now those ladies know how to dress UP! The fabrics and colors and jewelry and makeup - that is some serious commitment to going out in style. One of the tribes that runs a casino on the coast usually buys a table too and they send 7-8 mostly men from the tribal council. They almost all have this great decorated long hair and awesome Native American jewelry. Then there are the protestants who have a whole range of styles from thrift shop to Nordies chic. And the Quakers - you can tell who they are because they do "come as you are". I'm not sure if you're a Quaker if you're allowed to have 'dress up' clothes!
For some reason I always have to sit with the First Christian Church table. This year, if I sit with them, I'm going to have to be very careful what I say - their pastor has just left the church after being discovered embezzling funds to cover his gambling addiction! My sense of the ironic tends to get away from me at the most inopportune moments at these events. Last year, they were talking about the "new" books of the bible (the apocrypha) as some absolute and astonishing revelation that there was historical evidence that the bible might have more than one translation. One of the wives asked me if I knew about any of this. I couldn't resist telling her that I had read most of those "new" books over 20 years ago when I was an undergrad. They may have asked to have another staff member at their table this year :-)
I stopped in at Burgerville to pick up a salad for lunch. There were these two older teenage girls in very tight black jeans and tops who were, well, well-fed. They were eating cheeseburgers, fries, ice cream sundaes, diet sodas...and talking about how they are trying to loose weight. Um...right. Now, I'm not exactly the most svelte person on the planet, but this did strike me as a bit absurd.
Then there was the light at TV highway. It's a four lane expressway sort of arrangement and I was turning left across two lanes of traffic out of a neighborhood street at a light. There was an SUV coming from the other direction turning right, and a pedestrian in the crosswalk. The SUV and I were both waiting in our turn lanes until the pedestrian cleared the lanes we were going to be driving in. From my right (NOT a left turn lane), a pickup filled with yard maintenance equipment turned left in front of both me and the SUV almost hitting the pedestrian. I just about had a heart attack. I hadn't looked in my rear view mirror since easing up into the intersection so I didn't have any warning they were coming and they were moving pretty fast by the time they cut in front of me. Now I wish I'd taken down their license plate. Not that the police would have been able to do anything, but if it was being driven during business hours, the owner of the landscape company could have had their cage rattled a bit.
The young lady pumping gas at the station called me "dear". OMG - I'm old enough to be her mother. That's a first. "Ma'am", I'm used to!
Annual Dinner
My organization's annual dinner is tonight, so I blow dried my hair (don't die of shock, anyone, and yes, I'll have to wear a skirt). That really brings out the gray! When I cut if off and send it to Locks of Love this next time, I may have to keep it shorter and start coloring it. I've never colored my hair and I think it could be a lot of fun. I just don't want to do it myself and I am too lazy to go to the salon regularly enough to keep it up...maybe just some highlights????
I actually enjoy the annual dinners. Not the event itself but rather the people watching. Some churches buy whole tables. My favorite tables are the ones bought by the African American churches. Now those ladies know how to dress UP! The fabrics and colors and jewelry and makeup - that is some serious commitment to going out in style. One of the tribes that runs a casino on the coast usually buys a table too and they send 7-8 mostly men from the tribal council. They almost all have this great decorated long hair and awesome Native American jewelry. Then there are the protestants who have a whole range of styles from thrift shop to Nordies chic. And the Quakers - you can tell who they are because they do "come as you are". I'm not sure if you're a Quaker if you're allowed to have 'dress up' clothes!
For some reason I always have to sit with the First Christian Church table. This year, if I sit with them, I'm going to have to be very careful what I say - their pastor has just left the church after being discovered embezzling funds to cover his gambling addiction! My sense of the ironic tends to get away from me at the most inopportune moments at these events. Last year, they were talking about the "new" books of the bible (the apocrypha) as some absolute and astonishing revelation that there was historical evidence that the bible might have more than one translation. One of the wives asked me if I knew about any of this. I couldn't resist telling her that I had read most of those "new" books over 20 years ago when I was an undergrad. They may have asked to have another staff member at their table this year :-)