Fall in Oklahoma

I was lucky enough to make it home in time to enjoy two full weeks of beautiful fall colors and great 75 degree football weather before the first signs of winter kicked in.  All the sweetgums on my street uniformely turned a bright golden yellow and shed their leaves slowly so we could enjoy color both on the ground and in the trees.  Sunsets began to take on the pinks and purples of cold winter nights.

And what did all that mean?  Yardwork.  In reality I had four jobs in Norman, when I included the manual labor for my parents, and it paid the best of all of them, go figure.  I also became the household handyman, getting our double front door unstuck (with the help of a putty knife) and (temporarily) getting the Roomba to dock successfully on its own.

Our sweetgum.

The sweetgums on my street.

Sometimes it's a family effort.

Leaves bigger than my head!

Two days after I got back, Maj. Nidal Hasan opened fire at Ft. Hood in Texas, killing 13 people, one of whom had connections to Norman. He was buried on November 14th in my hometown.

Seasonal Work

I spent the first week home applying for temporary jobs. My first stop was a personnel agency to try to get fill-in secretary and receptionist jobs. They told me they would definitely place me if they could, but that the work was a little slow at the moment. My second stop was to sign up to be a substitute teacher for the Norman Public Schools, which only involved attending a 3 hour orientation class. My third stop was to apply for holiday mall jobs at Bath and Body Works and Barnes And Noble. Less than a week after I arrived back in Norman I got my first two receptionist jobs and an offer from Bath and Body Works within a few hours of each other.  At the beginning of my second week I got my third receptionist job, a more permanent assignment working 4 hrs per day for 3 weeks.  Substituting was scheduled to start during my third week back.

The first receptionist job was just for an afternoon while the regluar woman went to have a tooth removed, and my instructions that I received from the temp agency, no joke, were "When you pull into their parking lot you will be facing the side of the building. You will be facing a row of windows. The key is on the ledge of the last window (behind a holly bush). Go inside and answer the phone. At 5pm lock the door and put the key back on the window ledge.

The company manufactured materials for and contructed simple industrial warehouse buildings, and their office was located just off the Interstate about 15 min south of Norman. I had to sit at a desk and answer the phone if it rang and greet people who came in. During the four hours I was there the phone rang 5 times - one was the third sales rep calling for his messages (there weren't any), one was the receptionist's husband, one was a guy selling copier manuals, and two declined to leave messages - and only one person came in (to deliver flowers to the receptionist who wasn't there). I wasn't allowed to use the Internet on the computer so I played on my Iphone (thank god I had one) and kicked myself for not bringing a magazine. The office only had three employees besides the receptionist, and two of them, male sales reps, sat in a conference room and chatted for the entire afternoon, only half the time about work. These guys had absolutely no need for a secretary, and it was obvious that they only had one to make them feel like big shots.

The second receptionist job was way better, an 8 hour gig answering phones for a real estate company while the regular receptionist attended her grandmother's funeral. The people were very nice and friendly, the office was comfortable and inviting, and I got to do real work, making appointments for agents to show houses and calling the owners to confirm times and availability.  During down time I got to check news and email on the computer.

The third job was being a receptionist for a law firm, and once again was a very nice plush environment with really nice people, where I was allowed to use the internet and even got to wear a headset phone.  The regular receptionist had developed a lot of medical problems, and needed to take medication every day before 2pm, but the medication was so severe that it made her extremely drowsy, and she wasn't supposed to take it until she was physically lying in bed.  Hence why they needed a fill-in for the afternoons.

Friday Night Lights

My first Friday home in Norman was the day of the last football game of the season for my old high school, Norman High. I'd never actually been to a game as a spectator, EVER, because I had spent four years in the marching band and attended all the games as someone who was required to be there. (Although, to be fair, I enjoyed being there - I was even drum major my senior year.)

I recruited my good friend Jesse, who had been on the football team in high school, to go with me. It was his first time ever as a spectator, too, so we both paid for the $6 ticket for the first time in our lives, and headed to the 50 yard line, halfway up the stands. Norman was playing Lawton Ike, a sizable school in an unremarkable town, the 4th largest in the state, located in southwest Oklahoma. The town's economy is based almost exclusively on Ft. Sill, an army base located there that was established during hostilities with Indian tribes in 1869. Lawton is also the headquarters of the Comanche Indian Nation.

The game started off well enough, with both teams not doing much of anything, but during the second quarter Lawton scored a field goal and then a touchdown, putting Norman down 10-0. We watched the band perform the  halftime show, I said hello to my old band director, and then we left during the third quarter, not caring to watch the rest of the loss.

Pregame show.  Yay band!

More Pregame

Oh yes, football.

Jesse being upset about the score.

Fight on, Norman High, and to your school be true . . .

My old band, orchestra, and private lesson teacher.  Four years of intense clarinet study under his watchful eye.

And the halftime show.  You can tell I was way more interested in the marching band than the football game.

Back Home Again (in Oklahoma)

After my last day in Paris, I caught a taxi from Audreys house to the airport on a Tuesday morning. I'd spent the whole of the previous day walking around, and only about 30 min repacking my four bags, so after I checked in and was about to go through security I realized with a wave of panic that I had two jars of jam, one jar of mustard, and a fancy corkscrew still in my carrryon - all prohibited items. I'm a frequent flier and know the regulations, so there was no one to blame but myself, and nothing to be done, because I'd already checked two bags in and it cost $75 to check a third. I sent my carryons through the xray, and they found every one of my prohibited items. Feeling stupid, but with a much lighter bag, I slinked into the waiting area to pout and curse at myself.

The 8 hour overseas leg of the flight was uneventful and boring, and I had a three hour layover in Dulles before the three hour flight to Oklahoma City. As soon as I stepped into my first US airport in three months I began to see things I hadn't realized I'd missed while I was gone. CNN Live on the television, Dr. Pepper in the cooler, and Discover magazine on the newsstand all jumped out at me immediately. I'm slightly embarassed to admit that my first food back in the US was an Auntie Anne's pretezel dog, but it looked so good as I walked by that I couldn't resist.

When we boarded the flight to Oklahoma City I began to see signs of all the things I love about people from my state: passengers chatting to one another in the waiting area and on the plane, joking with the stewardesses, older men bantering mild flirtation that's more endearing than annoying, the captain welcoming us on board and sounding like he actually meant it.  When we landed, it felt good to be back.

Oklahoma comes from two Choctaw Indian words, Okla, meaning "people" and Humma, meaning "red", so literally means "Red Man." Its history is inextricably tied to Native American tribes and agriculture, and the town names reflect this heritage. Traditional names include Choctaw, Chickasha, Shawnee, Seminole, Wapanucka, Wewoka, Waurika, Wetumka, and Weleetka (one tribe really liked their Ws). Anglicized Indian names include Little Axe, Stillwater, Big Canyon, Sand Springs, Clear View, and White Bead. Then there are the town names that defy explanation, such as Needmore (need more what?), Village (you don't say), Romulus and its neighbor just down the road, Remus, and my personal favorite, Slaughterville.

My town, Norman, has a fairly boring ancestry, named after Abner E. Norman, a surveyor who took measurements in the area prior to the Land Run of 1889.

First sight of the U.S. as we descended below the clouds!

Final Day in Paris

Hotel de Ville

These are the final pictures from my last day walking around Paris.  It was a beautiful, sunny, blue sky day, but cold, and I had to walk quickly to stay warm.

These dogs even look French.

This is a recylcing bin.

This tree was incredible!

Notre Dame.

A section of the church called "The Treasury" was open for viewing so I had a look around.

The big chandelier from the center aisle at Notre Dame was down for cleaning and repair.

A service going on at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame at night.

Full moon!

Piano bar in the Latin Quarter.

London

(Do you know the Muffin Man, who lives on Drury Lane?)

I've been to London half a dozen times, so I've done most of and seen most of the famous things to do and see, but the one thing I'd never done was go to a musical or play in the West End. One of my days staying with Olivia I set off to London proper to scope out last minute day-of tickets to one or more shows. I had a mental short list of the productions I was interested in seeing, and when I came out of the metro the very first box office I saw was Shawshank Redemption, which had been near the top of my list. I headed straight in and was delighted to find out they offered an incredible day-of purchase price of L10, and for that price would give you the best seat they had left. For the matinee show at 5:30 I got 2nd row center, which was the best seat I'd ever had for any production anywhere in the world and at the cheapest price. Feeling pretty smug with myself I headed to the TKTS booth, which had been my original destination, to see the full line-up of shows that still had availability. Both New York and London provide these TKTS booths to sell tickets at half price (usually, sometimes only 30%) for whatever productions still have seats that day. I wanted a 3:00pm matinee and I wanted a musical to balance out the play I would see later on, but the pickings were slim. My choices came down to Dirty Dancing, Chicago, and Avenue Q (which I'd already seen in NY). The woman quoted me L45 for Dirty Dancing, which sounded expensive to me, so I told her thank you but that I would try at the box office myself. After a 20 minute dash and running in at least one circle, I found the theater and got a balcony seat for L27, a much more reasonable price. I still had 30 minutes before the show, so I grabbed a quick lunch and then found my seat.

I had high hopes for Dirty Dancing because the movie had such great songs and great dancing, and musicals are all about song and the dance. I've never been so disappointed with a musical in my life. It was downright terrible. The acting was flat, the leads didn't even sing any songs, and the dancing had only one routine that kept repeating during each song. It was like the choreographer had gone on holiday a week into rehearsals. I left early disgusted and tore over to Shawshank hoping this wasn't a pattern.

Luckily, Shawshank blew me away. It was one of the best productions I've ever seen, and I left the theater having been genuinely moved by the performance. I highly recommend it to anyone who saw and even remotely enjoyed the movie.