The only non-school related aspect to this post: Most of the places I’ve lived, the fridge door is weighted to close with only moderate pressure. I’m not used to having to close the fridge door all the way. Just give it a shove and it closes itself. My parents’ fridge isn’t that way at all. I’m not sure why. It’s been a struggle to remember to close it.

I drove by my old middle and high school the other day. The high school apparently built a free-standing basketball gymnasium. I wonder if the old one is still there. Probably. It makes me angry, though not for the waste or anything like that. Rather, they took away what was already very limited parking to build that thing. Grumble. Understandable in its own way. Despite being in the football-mad south, I went to a “basketball school.” We cycled through football coaches all the time because they would come in expecting to be a Big Deal only to find that they were the #2 behind our legendary basketball coach (who the new gym, as well as the street in front of the school, is named for). The high school’s current coach is the son of a Division I basketball coach who made The Tourney last year.

Back when I was in middle school, I would occasionally miss the bus. The intermediate school forced you out within a half-hour of the bell and Mom wouldn’t come and pick me up until Jeopardy was over. So I’d have to go to the library, which I remember as being a long walk. It’s like right next door. Long walk? No wonder I was so fat.

A part of me would like to go inside and tour the facilities of both schools. And my elementary school, now that I think about it. But security and all that prevents anyone who is not a parent or a student from so much as using the parking lot to turn around. When I was in high school, I wanted to go to West Oak Elementary’s Open House in order to see the school again. But they wouldn’t let anyone who wasn’t a parent in. What the hell? Are they worried that I would kidnap and sexually abuse a parent? I find John Walsh’s America to be extremely aggravating.

Though it requires illegal parking (in an empty lot), I stop by the Southern Tech University campus just about every time I come to town. At least there I’m not a threat to anybody. I also stop by the book store to see if there’s anything new that I want. The jerseys were on sale for every size except mine.

Southern Tech’s expansion is pretty impressive. They almost have a livable area where you don’t have to drive through Scarytown in every direction to go somewhere to eat or hang out.

They’ve redistricted the schools, so my elementary school and my high school aren’t mine anymore. Or rather wouldn’t be my children’s if I moved into town. The elementary school is an upgrade, though the high school isn’t (from five stars to four). Really, though, most of my friends who went to Mayne High were miserable. Most of those who went to Southfield were content. The new Eastfield school (which is somehow west of Westfield – a story for another day) is more like Southfield. Wealthy enough to avoid being unpleasant, but not so wealthy as to be aggravating.

Aggravating, it would seem, is my word for the day. I’ve also been fighting off a headache.