good night and good luck

Thanks to the link provided by the GSoI, I typealyzed my blog to find out its Myers Briggs type and this was the result:

ISTP - The Mechanics

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

This is odd because my personal Myers Briggs is almost completely the opposite, as I am an ENTJ. Now, of course, these descriptions are so vague they could apply to anyone, any blog. Kinda like horoscopes.

In any case, I have deemed this a good opportunity to end Grace Notes, and look for a new blog home where I may reflect myself more truly.

Thank you, not-so-gentle readers. It's been fun.

AA support group

The love I have for American Apparel clothes puts me dangerously close to hipster territory, and jeopardizes my bank balance on a fairly regular basis. However, even for the sake of my reputation, not to mention my retirement account, I cannot stop.

A new and related addiction, spurred on by Karen, is the website. Careful though, americanapparel.net is NSFW. A Victoria's Secret catalogue looks G-rated compared to some of the product/model shots on AA. You can (and by "you," I mean, "I") spend hours reading the conflicting comments of both satisfied and unsatisfied customers. The same item could have a number of comments that claim the item will run small, followed by an equal number of comments that claim the item runs large. The worst is when a girl will leave a comment about how she's 5'8" and 100 pounds and will they please make it in an extra extra extra small. Barf. But, the comments are really funny and entertaining, too. People leave intriguing clues about their lifestyles and outlooks in these comments capsules, which are supposedly only about a t-shirt or a pair of leggings.

The other day, when examining a super discounted t-shirt dress with Cindy, I came across the following comment by AA customer, and my new hero, "kiwi":

I’m kinda bony with a buddha-belly (5'5'' and 125 lbs) so there were pros and cons...a medium is just a scoce small so I'm afraid I'll forget, stick it in the dryer, and end up with a toddler-sized shirt...It's very flattering from the front and back, makes me look curvaceous and even gives the illusion that my double a's are more like b's! But the side view is a little challenging - it's very tight on my rump, and doesn't flatter my poochy tummy much. So I suck in and hope that people will be so distracted by the front and back view the side won't matter :) I've worn it as a shirt or a dress...it does ride up a bit, though, kind of creating a ruched look in front, but making the dress a few inches shorter than it first appears...about four to six inches above the knee on me, I'm a 30 inseam. It looks like it won't last forever...cheapie fabric and iffy construction...but for 19 bucks, I bought a few extra. A cool idea! I just wish they had it in large so I didn't have to fret about the dryer, and made it a few inches longer so I wouldn't have to be the office slut.

fyi: road rules

Check out the rules of the road for peddlers according to the city of Memphis, posted below.

Bummer about the whole acrobatics (in red below) thing, huh? What, exactly, is the definition of "fancy bicycle riding?"

If you don't ride a bike, get one. Go here.

If you do ride a bike, be careful, get a helmet, get reflectors and lights. I realize I have not been the poster child for bike safety in the past, but if I can change, so can you.

Finally, when you're driving, please remember that "every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle."

Sharing's cool, y'all.


Memphis Municipal Code,
Title 11 Vehicles and Traffic, Chapter 11-24 Bicycles.

Sec. 11-24-1 Effect of regulations.
A. It is a misdemeanor for any person to do any act forbidden or fail to perform any act required in this chapter.
B. The parent of any child and the guardian of any ward shall not authorize or knowingly permit any such child or ward to violate any provisions of this chapter.
C. These regulations applicable to bicycles shall apply whenever a bicycle is operated upon any street or upon any path set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles subject to those exceptions stated herein. (Code 1985 § 21-196; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-1)

Sec. 11-24-2 Traffic laws apply to persons riding bicycles.
Every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this title, except as to special regulations in this title and except as to those provisions of this title which by their nature can have no application. (Code 1985 § 21-197; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-3)

Sec. 11-24-3 Removal or alteration of serial number.
A. It is unlawful for any person to wilfully or maliciously remove, destroy, mutilate or alter the serial number of any bicycle frame registered pursuant to this chapter.
B. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a representative of the traffic bureau of the division of police from stamping serial numbers on the frames of bicycles on which no serial number can be found, or on which such number is insufficient for identification purposes. (Code 1985 § 21-198; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-4)

Sec. 11-24-4 Equipment-Lights and reflectors.
A. Every bicycle, when in use during hours of darkness, shall be equipped with a forward-facing light upon the front which shall emit a white light visible from a distance of at least five hundred (500) feet, and with a rearward-facing red reflector upon the rear which shall be visible from one hundred (100) feet to six hundred (600) feet when directly in front of lawful lower beams of headlight or headlamps on a motor vehicle. A light emitting a red light visible from a distance of five hundred (500) feet to the rear may be used in addition to the red reflector.
B. All new bicycles purchased after July 1, 1975, shall, and all others should, also be equipped with a forward-facing white reflector, sideward-facing amber reflectors on the front and sideward-facing red reflectors on the rear; and amber reflectors on front and rear sides of each foot pedal.
C. Bicycles which are ridden in the streets are recommended to use safety visibility pennants. (Code 1985 § 21-199; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-5)

Sec. 11-24-5 Equipment-Brake.
Every bicycle, when operated upon streets in the city, shall be equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make the braked wheels skid on dry, level, clean pavement. Such brake shall be maintained in good working order at all times. (Code 1985 § 21-200; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-6)

Sec. 11-24-6 Equipment-Bell or other signal device.
No person shall operate a bicycle on any city street unless it is equipped with a bell or other device capable of giving a signal audible for a distance of at least one hundred (100) feet, except that a bicycle shall not be equipped with nor shall any person use upon a bicycle any siren or whistle. (Code 1985 § 21-201; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-7)

Sec. 11-24-7 Use of permanent seat required-Carrying excess persons forbidden.
A. A person propelling a bicycle shall not ride other than upon or astride a permanent and regular seat attached thereto.
B. No bicycle shall be used at any time to carry more persons than the number for which it has been equipped per person in terms of seats and handlebars, with the exception of properly installed child carriers with hand and foot protection. (Code 1985 § 21-202; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-8)

Sec. 11-24-8 Riding on roadways.
A. Every person operating a bicycle upon a roadway, excluding sidewalks, shall ride in the same direction as motor-driven traffic and shall ride as near to the right side of the roadway as practicable, exercising due care when passing a standing vehicle or one proceeding in the same direction.
B. No person shall operate a bicycle on any part of any roadway where official signs have been erected and are in place indicating the prohibition of such activity. (Code 1985 § 21-203; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-9)

Sec. 11-24-9 Obedience to traffic-control devices.
A. Any person operating a bicycle should dismount and walk his or her bicycle as a pedestrian across an intersection when traffic-control signals are in operation to regulate the flow of traffic.
B. Any person operating a bicycle shall obey the instructions of all official traffic-control devices applicable to vehicles, such as stop signs, unless otherwise directed by a police officer. (Code 1985 § 21-204; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-10)

Sec. 11-24-10 Riding on sidewalks.
A. Any person may operate a bicycle on a sidewalk except where official signs have been erected and are in place indicating the prohibition of such activity.
B. Whenever any person is riding a bicycle upon a sidewalk, such person shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian or operator of sidewalk-type vehicles, such as tricycles, and shall give an audible signal before overtaking and passing such pedestrian or operator. (Code 1985 § 21-205; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-11)

Sec. 11-24-11 Parking on sidewalks.
No person shall park a bicycle upon a street other than upon the roadway against the curb or upon the sidewalk in a rack to support the bicycle or against a building or at the curb, in such manner as to afford the least obstruction to pedestrian traffic. (Code 1985 § 21-206; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-12)

Sec. 11-24-12 To be ridden in single file.
Every person, when operating a bicycle upon the streets in the city, shall ride such bicycle in single file only and at no time shall bicycles be operated two or more abreast. (Code 1985 § 21-207; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-13)

Sec. 11-24-13 Clinging to moving vehicles.
It is unlawful for any person riding upon a bicycle to cling or attach himself or herself or his or her bicycle to any other moving vehicle upon a street in the city. (Code 1985 § 21-208; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-14)

Sec. 11-24-14 Towing other vehicles.
The operator of a bicycle shall not tow or draw any coaster, sled, person on roller skates, toy vehicles or other similar vehicle. (Code 1985 § 21-209; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-15)

Sec. 11-24-15 Racing and endurance contests.
No person operating a bicycle upon a street in the city shall participate in any race of speed or endurance, or contest with any vehicle unless such activity is authorized by the director of public works and is supervised. (Code 1985 § 21-210; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-16)

Sec. 11-24-16 Acrobatic and unicycle riding.
A. No person shall remove both hands from the handlebars or both feet from the pedals of a bicycle while riding on any roadway or sidewalk. Acrobatic or fancy bicycle riding in roadways or on sidewalks is prohibited. (Code 1985 § 21-211; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-17)

Sec. 11-24-17 Bicycle routes and bikeways.
A. Bicycle operation within the city, and on city streets, is encouraged to be made on city street routes which have been identified by official signs and/or markings for bicycling.
B. Wherever a usable path for bicycles has been provided adjacent to a roadway, bicycle riders shall use such path and shall not use the roadway. (Code 1985 § 21-212; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-18)

Sec. 11-24-18 Bicycle safety guide and bikeway map.
A. The city will make available to the public a bicycle safety guide citing the regulations pertaining to bicycle operation and handling in the city. When defined, a city bikeway map which will specify preferred and exclusive bikeway routes through the city will also be made available to the public.
B. All firms or persons engaged in the business of selling bicycles must provide, without charge, a copy of the “City of Memphis Bicycle Safety and Use Regulations” to the purchaser at the time of sale or delivery of the bicycle from and after the of July 1, 1975. (Code 1985 § 21-213; Ord. 2155 § 1, 5-20-75; Code 1967 § 10-19)

[sic]

Often, in a year end exam question, I will require my students to tell me the most important things they have learned over the past year. The wording of the question clearly delineates the criteria. This is an essay. Be precise and concise. Use evidence, including specific details.

Most students comply.

However, especially since I've taught high school, the odd student here and there will capitalize on an opportunity to kiss up. This always makes me grimace. And sometimes, sometimes, I smile. One lovely ninth grader made me smile today as I was grading the last exams I will (ever/indefinitely?) grade.

There is very little evidence. This essay has not been proofread as thoroughly as I would have liked. Specific skill sets are not referenced.

I gave her full credit.


wow, ms. K the year has been amazing! Even though its very early in the morning right now while I'm writing this I still mean everything I'm about to say. Ms. K, you are an amazing teacher, friend, colleague, anything. I know wherever you go, whatever you do you will shine & out-do everybody else you are sweet, witty, kind, considerate, u have amazing fashion sense, and an incredible teacher. I really hope you will come visit and watch me grow in my english skills as I go on in life ( or my soccer skills, haha.) I learned a lot of new literary terms, to be a better essay-writer, my vocabulary expanded since i had to read those books you assigned. I learned its never where you are, its who you are with :) you made this year incredible and I'm proud of you; whatever you want that to mean.
--I'll miss you! <3
xoxo chica!

partial punny paper potential

Tess and I are trying to write papers at R.P. Tracks. I have so many windows open all that can be seen of my file name is "operational anal...", as opposed to the full and much more boring name of "operational analysis." And this makes me daydream of the days when I get to write papers on diverging views of sexuality.

Also, am currently obsessed with Of Montreal after dancin-my-ass-off-crazy-good-live-show attended as part of subversive mini road trip to Hendrix College entitled Operation Freshman Year wherein I also camped in a stranger's yard.

The life. It continues to be the good.

if wishes were horses

I have never so clearly seen exercise as allegorical as I did last night when I tried bikram yoga, or "hot" yoga, for the first time. Holy crap, it kicked my ass. Two words that immediately come to mind when I reflect on this experience are "excruciating" and "exhilarating."

So here I am in a 100+ degree room, sad little me with my vaso vagal syncope and my hives, and it is do or die. You have to breathe. You have to stretch. You have to push. You have to avoid slipping in your own sweat. You have to be fierce. You have to want it.

In my past experiences with yoga, which I was quite serious about at the time, there was always room for a little relaxing, or for a giggle with a friend. You could half-ass a pose if you weren't feeling it. You could overdo it on the next one if you wanted to make it up to yourself. But when it's 105 degrees and it takes a moderate amount of effort just to breathe and keep from running out of the room, the effort you give each posture must be more deliberate.

I believe the hype that there are immense mental and physical health benefits to this. However, it will be worth it to continue just for the self-satisfaction and sweet parallelism this brings to mind.

You make a difficult decision. You watch your life fall apart. You put it back together in the most reasonable, honorable way you can sort out. It's excruciating and exhilarating. It takes a moderate amount of effort to breathe and keep from running out of the room.

In yoga, and within a transitory period in life, it takes massive energy to have small successes. But then when you listen to the instructor, and internalize her commentary when she says that you're already doing the work if you're trying, the end results matter much less. And through the sweat and tears, your realize you can start to have control again. Not control in the way you would tighten your fist around something, but control in the sense that you know what you want and you feel like you can have it.

Life is beautiful.

it's a choo choo train

When you google the lyrics to "C'mon Ride the Train" an Amtrak schedule is within the first couple results. I think that's funny.

Rode the Amtrak for the first time with Tess this weekend to Chicago and to South Bend, Indiana, to pick up the car she bought on ebay. What an amazing weekend. I love trains. I love hot conductors. I love adventures. And I love Tess.

Please go to Diana's blog. One, because she's hilarious. Two, because she wrote a blog specifically about our Valentine's Day, which I can unabashedly say was the best one I have ever celebrated. I love bad movies. I love Balderdash. I love Valentine's Day. And I love Diana.

Oh, love.

if a song could be president

Am absolutely APPALLED by the number of people who did not vote in the Tennessee primaries last Tuesday. Appalled. My generation sucks.

Saw Over the Rhine in Memphis last night. Fabulous. And good for me and my medical woes, it was a seated show so I didn't have to worry about a vaso vagal episode. Twas also an early show so I didn't stay up late, but I am so tired today. Can't get over the tired.

The semester looms ahead of me, with next week being particularly ominous. Big frustrating paper to do on economics of all things. Anyone want to give me ideas on outsourcing? Anyone want to kill Michael Friedman for me? At least I know Karen's dad is on my side.

Got biopsy results back from the dermatologist today. The rash of nearly two months has turned out to be plain old-fashioned hives, or urticaria, for those of you needing a more official name. This is good because I don't have a horrible skin disease. This is bad because I have no-the-fuck-idea what I am reacting to. And this could literally be anything. So I have to keep a journal of everything I eat/drink/touch and try to Sherlock Holmes it out. Does anyone have experience with hives? Any clues or suggestions?

Last week a recurring flat tire on my car turned out to be dry-rotted, so my car was out of commission while this was being fixed. On Sunday my mom hit some monstrosity in the road that was like, a mini, overturned pothole cover with major spikes. It wrecked her whole tire and shook her up really badly. Now today my dad is having trouble with his inexplicably low tires and has to take his car in to the shop. He drives for a living, too. For the grand finale, a wheel flew off my work bag today, and despite making my honors ninth grade boys class help me look in the school yard for it, a part is still missing from the wheel housing so I cannot fix it. This makes me think of the Budweiser commercial played during the Super Bowl wherein the caveman has invented the wheel and all of his buddies are using it wrong. "Wheel sucks" indeed.

Here is a picture of some manatees:



Manatees are awesome, in case you didn't know.

there will be blog

Was anyone else surprised that movie ended with Daniel Day Lewis sputtering about milkshakes in a bowling alley? Didn't see that one coming.

Have been thinking constantly of food today but am not actually hungry. Was confronted with the climax of this wee conflict when I walk into the teacher's lounge and an obscenely large apple crumb muffin leapt onto my face. The muffin won.

This time, instead of obscene comments, which I do normally cherish, I would like for you to help me learn something. Why, pray tell, do people choose to be hateful? Is this not a colossal waste of energy? Does it really make them feel better about themselves?

Lemme know. I will consider all theories, especially those that are backed with evidence. If said evidence is from film referenced in blog title, that's fun, too.

minutae

In my classroom today there was a leftover bowl full of tuna on top of the bookcase. Had to have been left there yesterday afternoon. Sweet.

And speaking of "sweet"-ness, apparently Lake Superior State University created a list of overly used words to be banned. Although initially I thought LSSU was a made-up school (it isn't), I enjoyed the list. Thanks, mom. However, I absolutely have no intention of limiting my use of the word, "webinar." I'd hardly be able to carry on a conversation without it.

Finally recovering from a horrible bout with contact dermatitis. Yeah, merry fucking Christmas, right? My best guess is that I was reacting to some Burt's Bees soap I recently switched to. After a week plus of itching, a very expensive trip to the local minor med, various experiments with lotions and creams, and a trip to the UT Student Health Center, I look like a human being again. My life feels a lot bigger now that 95% of it is not devoted to scratching myself.

My students thought that contact dermatitis had something to do with contact lenses. Which I actually thought was very cute. I missed them. I really did. And I missed being on a schedule. Too much time to think about shit and miss people over the holidays.

Been missing some people that vanished from my life without warning. I was so angry about it that I didn't have time to feel sad. Now, I am sad. I will recover though. If anyone is worth having in my life, he or she will come around. This sudden vanishing has been a great opportunity to realize who is there for me and truly loves me enough to stick it out through the hard times. It has also been a good time to make new friends. You all know who you are. Thank you. You amaze me.

Also, my poor laptop has been on the fritz for almost a week now. Once again, merry fucking Christmas. I have had the thing for five years, so I really shouldn't be complaining. My problem is the blind faith I tend to inadvertently invest in electronics. I never want anything new or fancy, and it is beyond my comprehension that my cell phone, tv, computer, or coffee grinder should ever need repair or replacement. I love them as they are. They should last forever, right? Fortunately, Matt, the supernice computer guy at work, is taking a look at my laptop this week and may be able to salvage it for a little while longer. God does love me after all.

After all of that, I am saying goodbye to merry fucking Christmas and embracing a new year.

In other big news, I cannot stop thinking of what cilantro flavored gum would taste like. Gross, huh?

Also, I can't remember the other thing.