An ordinary day

It was Tuesday. Just Tuesday — nothing too special. But nothing bad.

I went to the grade school to help out interviewing kids for Exchange City, the model city the fifth-graders live in for a day. They get write resumes, interview, get jobs, earn paychecks, pay taxes. It sounds like a good learning experience. So today they needed parents to come conduct interviews, so I played recruiter and met with six different kids. They were funny — when I asked one boy why he was the best candidate for the job of police officer, he said he didn't know if he'd be the best, but he'd be a good police officer (!) I give him credit for honesty. And one girl said she had no real knowledge of what a broadcaster would do, but she was willling to learn. I didn't, per Gary's suggestion, ask where they planned to be in five years, but I did ask them about their conflict resolution skills.

And yes, the Queen was there.

I came home, made Chex Mix. Mailed in my League of Women Voters membership. Assembled yet another IKEA bookcase — I am a whiz with the allen wrench. Took Sylvia to gymnastics, where I chatted with Sue, the mother of Sylvia's friend Julie. Sue is delightful — she's from Barbados, her husband works for an oil company. They've lived our life, traipsing all over the world, two or three years per place, never near family. I thought she was Scottish, and yes, they lived in Aberdeen. She is officially my best friend in Houston.

Went to the high school parent meeting — conveniently scheduled the same night as the middle school parent meeting. (However, in their wisdom, the ISD has scheduled a duplicate meeting for the middle school next week.) A typically ill-run meeting. The principal was fine, stayed on task, but we had to sit through a useless power point presentaton that consisted of what appeared to be those annoying inspirational posters — "Learn," "Love," "Live," "Dream" — to a sappy soundtrack. And then the assistant principal droned on for what felt like hours, saying nothing, losing everyone — she was nearly drowned out by the parents talking around me. They never did shut up, not through the presentations by every department of the school, where they each gave a meaningless rundown of their course offerings — totally general, no specifics, just a vague rah-rah account of what they will offer in order to make Cy Woods the greatest high school in the district, the city, the state, the country! By the time the athletic staff was introducing the defensive line coaches, I had about had it. Keep in mind that I stood this entire time, as the place was overcrowded. We were a full half hour behind schedule by the time it was time to break out into our four small groups. No one showed up for choir, we couldn't figure out where the miscellaneous clubs group was (even asked, and no one knew ...) so I went late to theater and left early. The school will be fine — the staff is enthusiastic and they appear to have a lot to offer. Even poorly run, the meeting gave me lots of enthusiasm to bring home to Alison.

Gary is on his way to Lafayette. I am going to curl up with my tape of Gilmore Girls. Tomorrow: oil change for the car. The excitement never ceases.