Road Trip!

Yay, I'm heading home for a few days! I am getting a late start, but no worries as it is only a 5 1/2 hour drive. Now, it is time to round up the children.

I hope everyone has a good holiday. Stay safe.

Issa

Turn your clock back… about hundred thousands years…

It was 1984 and on a family outing driving through Quebec on the Radio was a song “Mimi on the Beach.” The artist was Jane Siberry and she stuck in my head… forever. I love her, I love her, I love her! I place her on the same pedestal as Kate Bush.

Recently, Jane changed her name to Issa. Her recording company, Sheba now sells her work by what she has coined “Self-determined” pricing. You may visit her site here.

What is truly amazing is she has let go of all her worldly possessions. This is something I have dreamed about doing for a very long time, but have not the courage. If I could just let go of even half of what she did it would be truly wonderful and a blessing.

I have included a short news video about her created by the CBC. She explains herself and she inspires me.

Back to the gym!

Due to the increasing waistline and funky mindset I have joined a gym. The fall semester has begun and my hours have changed back to my regular schedule, which is 1 – 10 PM. I now have the time to return to a gym. ☺

Tarboro Athletic Club

This place was hard to find. As you can tell from the photograph it does not stand out very well and in a way it looks kind of creepy. Destin and I call it the Speakeasy.

You see, the entrance is on the right. You knock on the door, speak the secret code and you will be let in by the strange pair of eyes staring back at you through a little window in the door. Hah! Actually it is a 24-hour gym. There is a keypad where you enter the code to get in.

I did not know what to expect when I went to sign up because I had to call a number on the outside of the building. The owner then drives over to meet you, let you in, shows you around and then you sign up. It’s actually nice inside. It has a loft like feeling and there is plenty of modern equipment, a racquetball court and a great collection of treadmills and stair steppers with which to lift my butt up from its sagging decline.

The best thing is the price. It’s $25 a month! This is better then what I would have to pay to use the facilities at university.

The owner is quite woofy in that muscular, bearish sort of way. Of course he is straight, married and has children. You see like Iran, there are no gay people in Tarboro. I am invisible. Hah! The problem is, they are all married and have children and then hit you up when their wives aren’t around. Sad, very sad.

Anyhow, I am excited about getting back into shape. I worked so hard last year to get back to a size 32 waist and now I am finding it too uncomfortable to squeeze into them. I shall begin my new routine tomorrow morning!

News to Me

Yikes! This is news to me. I better start making a syllabus.... and learn the subject matter. The Fall Semester begins tomorrow!

Someday

Asheville

I have not had much to say lately. Granted, I never do. Anyhow, things are going well, I guess though I am itching to get away somewhere. The problem is since I recently started a new job I don’t have any time to take off. For the first year of employment I only get 7 hours and 50 minutes of holiday time a month, so this doesn’t add up much. According to university rules an employee must maintain a minimum of 10 hours for emergencies and if you don’t you could be let go.

I would like to go home, but Savannah is 5 ½ hours away. It’s not quite possible on a weekend because it is practically a day of driving there and back, which does not leave much time for visiting. I would like to visit my friend Gloria in Arizona. She just moved there, but this is way too far for me to go. As well I would like to visit friends in New Jersey, but that too, is out of the question. Hell, I would like to visit my family and friends in the UK and Europe... and while I'm at it I wish to go on a world tour!

Labour Day is fast approaching and I have wanted to go to the mountains and visit friends in Asheville. The mountains are my element. I wish I could be living there again right now, but it is not where the Fates wish me to be. I made plans to go there, but I just found out even though it is a university holiday I have to come in for 4 hours that day. WTF?

It is a state holiday. The university is closed. Why is the library open 4 hours... and only 4 hours? As a socialist I find this very disturbing. It is Labour Day god damn it! So I resigned myself to the insanity and cancelled my trip, but there is the possibility I could arrange for a graduate assistant to cover these hours. We shall see.

I think I will visit Emma in Chapel Hill. I haven’t visited with her in awhile and she is the closest friend I have here in North Carolina. It’s not the mountains, but Chapel Hill... has hills. All my friends live all over the place. We are all so separated from one another and I have moved into exile.

Though it has been over a decade since I lived in Asheville, my heart is still partially there. Someday I will return and hopefully one day, perhaps I will live there again.