Going to Athens

Cathy and I are heading up to Athens tomorrow. I'm excited but at the same time kind of not. We are going to a huge celebration in honor of John Seawright, a most beloved human being (see here and here,) and a party afterwards. I am happy to see all the people who will be attending, and hope to see my crush there, but there's also the ick factor, also known as "What if Paul and Ugh are there?" I doubt they will be, honestly, but you never know. If there's free booze and the possibility of getting high, Paul just might show. I shouldn't let it bother me; like Cat says, if they are there I will just hold my head high and ignore them, knowing how far beneath me they are. But still, I don't want to have to LOOK AT THEM and have it ruin my day. But my crush will be there, and lots of other fabulous people, so fuck em.

Good things about going to Athens tomorrow:

Cathy

Athenians I love

John Seawright
KO
TStand
Bad things about going to Athens tomorrow:

Paul
Ugh
Okay, the good outweigh the bad. Just pray for me, people, that it turns out to be a drama-free visit, in the spirit of the sweetheart that was John Seawright.

Vacation, kids and ghosties

I've been so negligent of my blog. I guess that is good and bad: good in that I've been very busy, bad in that I'm getting lazy and out of the habit of writing. Not to mention the fact that nothing REALLY is going on in my life. There's no excitement, no love affairs, no heartbreak (well, let's face it, I'd rather have no love affair than a heavy affair and breakup. Or would I?), no breakthroughs in my work. The semester is winding down...thank God!...and I'm just in cruise mode for the next two weeks.

One exciting event is that last week was the kids' spring break and we took a trip to Chattanooga. Wait...let me back up... first we had several surprise gatherings. One at Deb and Tom's house, which was loads of fun (cookout, good conversation, relaxed evening outside,) and then several with Nick and Rosie's friends either here or elsewhere, so it felt like they were really on vacation, though we didn't leave town till Thursday.

Read House, haunted hotel, lobby

So, Thursday we took off for Chattanooga, our vacation-destination-when- we-can't-afford-a-vacation destination. It's always a fun time, and this visit Rosie and I were determined to see the ghost of room 311. I had researched the ghostly stuff in some detail this time, and I knew the room would more than likely be empty, as they don't assign it to people unless they request it. As soon as we arrived we wandered the halls, to see if we could find someone to let us in the room. Alas, there was no one around.


Oooo spooky. So we wandered around exploring the hotel. Here's some cool stuff we found:

Original elevator sign

Original phone booths

Service area staircase

Then, back in our room, where I took more pictures. And lo and behold: Orbs!


The next day we did the usual Chattanooga things, had a yummy dinner at the Blue Water Grill, then came back for more exploring. This is a fabulous old post office downtown:



And an art deco beauty, "The Times":


And then there's Roy's Grill, possibly in an old Krystal, apparently vacant, sadly:


Saturday we took off for Mom's, but not before MORE exploring, this time around the Chickamauga battlefield. Very beautiful but kind of too much to get to today. Tune in next time for "Ghosts on a Confederate Battlefield"...