well, shit. it's almost november.
i just realized that today.
i love the smell of leaves in the air and the rustle of them on the ground. the ground is still warm but the air is cool. october is a nice month. fall is indeed a wonderful season but is guilty by association with winter--and as we all know, winter sucks. where did summer and fall go? i've been too busy to notice. at least with the coming of winter, there is promise of a GREAT january ahead, for "She" just might be coming back to the US for her phD, and i can't wait for that!
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finally, my name in
as usual, i was late. how ironic--i would be instilling good work habits (including punctuality) into these students, and i showed up late. as i came down the steps into the lecture hall with my notes and briefcase, i saw that mr. powers had already written my name on the chalkboard--
"BEN ********--MIDAS MUFFLER"
the cycle was complete.
i have transformed from the aimless Morrisville freshman who once sat through this class back in the fall of 1996 to the seemingly successful career-minded adult who has come back to speak. the class is Automotive Industry Awareness, and i am officially one of them.
this is actually the third year i've spoken to this class, but it was this time when it finally sunk in that i had now become what these kids see as an experienced authority figure. hell, i just called them KIDS, for christ's sake. KIDS. i'm now old enough to call them college kids. i've got them fooled--it's still just me. when i was in this class, i had a lot of respect for the speakers cuz they had accomplished enough in the industry to be recognized. actually, i think it was more like who is willing to show up regardless of accomplishment--kinda like i feel now. after all, it's still just me.
since enrollment in Automotive Technology has doubled in recent years, there are now three sessions instead of just one. so i would be speaking for an hour to the first 100 students, and then i'd do it all over again for the next class. it would also be audiotaped and videotaped. i kinda wished mr. powers had taped the second class since i had my shit together better than the first round. oh well. i guess i did alright--in between classes, he asked if i'd ever considered teaching. it was very cool to have one of my old professors ask me that. ironic, too, since yes, i had considered it in the past. i love to teach--it's just hard to find the right crowd. after subbing in high school for a while, i realized that college was the only place i could stand to teach, since high school is full of little pricks who need a serious ass kicking. and i'd also need to really master a subject first, and get a masters degree--not something that excites me much. that was kinda where it stopped, so i guess this annual trek back to morrisville will have to satisfy my urge to educate.
and i wasn't really too late--just late enough to walk in at exactly the time i was supposed to start. maybe if i'd driven the explorer instead of the scrambler i could have gotten there a few minutes sooner. but i had to drive the jeep since after all, morrisville was where the restoration started. it was a homecoming kinda thing.
mr. powers puts the finishing touches on the jeep's windshield frame back in may of 1998. why the suit & tie? cuz it was graduation day and he wanted that damn thing OUTTA THERE before summer. if you listen really hard, you can hear the bells ringing faintly in the background, indicating that we were supposed to be on the football field instead of in the body shop.
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that Some Beach.
that damn Blake Shelton stole MY name to MY future country bar--Benny's Barn & Grill. i came up with that name years ago and kept it to myself--and somehow he STOLE it.
at least the song is good. the "fun-in-the-sun-on-the-beach" idea is a cow that's pretty much been milked dry by kenny chesney--but blake pulls it off well. give it a listen if you haven't already. it's my new flavor of the month and it's been on repeat all evening.
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and now for benny's halloween theme:
demons: exorcised.
when dad first told me he was going to rent out the apartment again, my mind screamed, "no, not the apartment! that's the ex girlfriend's apartment!"
dun dun DUN.
but in the end, it was a good thing. for nearly 2 years, that little apartment on the farm that i shared with the ex has been a time capsule. even after the breakup we both had junk stored in there, and from time to time i'd have to go in & get something. upon entering, i would immediately be flooded with those bittersweet memories of past love. to this day, she and i are still good friends and all, but it's still hard to go in there. everything was just as we'd left it--right down to the meat in the freezer and hair on the floor from Ellie the Dog. half of me wanted it to stay that way for some stupid reason, and the other half of me wanted to burn every scrap of shit in there.
well now, i don't have to do that. the new tenant is a house cleaner by trade--and she's done a hell of a job washing away my past life and making that apartment something good again. as i gathered up the last of my belongings last sunday, i felt an huge weight coming off of my shoulders--no longer would this place be a relationship wasteland. it was someone else's apartment now. and even if i never live in there again, at least the place has been purged. demons exorcised. amen to that.
