Sardonyx

I've always wanted to be a writer. I've never actually said that I wanted to be a fiction writer, a reporter or even a poet. I've just always known that I wanted to somehow make a living by stringing words together. Except for the 2.5 years when I was working as a training director, I've managed to do just that so I've been pretty lucky.

My first experience as a published writer was in high school.

My friend Janine and I were both on the yearbook staff. I think in my four years I took my sophmore year off because I was petty and immature, but for three years I was on the yearbook staff. I could have joined the newspaper staff, but for whatever reason I thought it was lame.

I think that I was more attracted to the yearbook because for me it had more of a sense of permanence than our school newspaper.

Think about it: the yearbooks were over 200 pages long with nice hardcover bindings. Our newpaper was an over sized glossy that maybe topped out at 8 pages.

If I remember correctly, I didn't actually get to write until my senior year but I did get to select pictures for the yearbook and crop them to fit. Mayn, that was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth because I remember hand cropping pictures with rulers and pens and scissors. Now I'd guess everything is done on a MAC.

Anyway, I think maybe it was at my 10 year reunion that Janine reminded me why we were in yearbook all along.

She said to me, "Don't you remember, we came in for a yearbook meeting and B____ and all her little friends had picked photos with them in it so the yearbook was nothing but them?"

I said, "Huh, not really."

Then Janine said, "Yeah. We looked at them and thought 'OH! UH,UH!' and took out there pictures and added pictures of us and our friends!"

My response, "Hmn, I don't remember that, but it definitely sounds like something I would do."

At which point I thing we burst into giggles because it really was the bitchy kind of retaliation that I still enjoy! We probably even asked ourselves, "Who do they think they are?"

Honestly though I don't remember when that was, but I get the feeling it may have been our junior year because I just flipped through that yearbook and our class candids are really fairly balanced between the student council girls and everyone else.

It's crazy to me how much time we spent worrying about face time in the yearbook, but I like to think Janine and I had a fair and even-handed approach.

The truth is, a lot of those girls that were trying to be on every page are still heavily involved with my alma mater.

Heavily involved: like they work there as adults kind of heavily involved.

I guess you have to have some with that sort of dedication to keep the school and the tradition going, but some part of me wonders if those four years of high school were indeed the best times of their lives.

That's just sad.

US 127 Corridor Sale - Day 2

We are both tired, sunburned and sweaty.

Regardless, we had a wonderful day. It's pretty much just like your typical Saturday yard sale excursion only absolutely everyone in your neighborhood is having a yard sale. You drive along HWY 127 and there are some folks who have houses on the highway so there are a few tables set up in the yard.

Then you drive along and suddenly it's tent city:





What you're seeing is typically just the front row of "booths." Items range in price and style. Some people specialize in niche markets:



Buttons.



Buttons.



A table full of buttons.

One tent was nothing but sewing notions. She even had old sewing advertisements. I immediately thought of my friend Jen. Now, Jen is currently in Korea enjoying the wonders of Fabric Mart, but I know she would have loved this booth.

Steve was kept very busy with all of the old tools. Here are today's finds:



He showed a lot of restraint.

In all we traveled about 60 miles north of Chattanooga today. The traffic isn't bad at all. As a friend of mine put it "you're treasure might be right there" so you have to stop every few feet to check out the "booths."

Here are a few more shots of the "treasures" we found today.



This cute little guy that Steve and I are convinced is from The Land of Make Believe, but we can't confirm it.



This cool Therm-a-Chest metal cooler that you can see is already being put to good use.



This cool new vase that's going to look nice in our living room.



The glasses are for my brother: they are from Disney's 25th Anniversary.



Right now I'm really loving bangles.

It's been a really fun day, but tomorrow I'm going to have to take more pictures.

US 127 Corridor Sale - Day 1

It hasn't been too exciting, yet.

I got off of work at noon only to find that the gas company decided to choose today to move our gas meter. So, we didn't get on the road until 4pm. We made pretty good time though and arrived in Chattanooga at around 11pm EST.

We are really flying by the seat of our pants so we stopped at the TN Visitor's Center and picked up a coupon book. I was a little worried because we didn't have reservations anywhere, and I know there are a lot of people attending this masssive yard sale.

Those coupon books don't really give you a lot to choose from and some of the places in there I just didn't recognize. So, I picked a mid-range hotel that isn't outrageously expensive ($59.95/night), but also isn't so cheap I might get scabies from the mattress. It's not gorgeous, but having spent the better part of two years in hotel rooms you really can't distinguish one from the next.

I mentioned that we didn't have a plan, right? Thanks to Steve we have one now.

We booked this room again tomorrow night so we are going to wake up early and head north a few more hours. The idea is to work our way back down to Chattanooga and spend the night in the same room tomorrow night. Then Saturday morning we head back to Montgomery from Chattanooga and hit the southern end of the corridor sale.

This way we a.) guarantee having a place to stay Friday night and b.) have more room for all the junk we're going to buy during Friday's leg of the sale.

It's a simple plan, but genius in its simplicity.

Tomorrow night: Day 2 - In the Thick of It (with pictures)