Now it's Thursday and the last day I wrote about was Sunday; I lost a few somewhere along the way. The only item of significance in there is that on Tuesday morning, I met my new principal.I had made an appointment to see him at 10:00; I got to school around 9:00 and walked around to take my customary weekly pictures of the construction (there was no difference whatsoever from the previous week; September should be a barrel of laughs) and hang out with the Colleague for awhile. At 10, I went downstairs to the main office, where the new guy (I don't have a diary name for him yet, so for now I think it's New Guy) and the Psycho were standing in the principal's office door. She introduced me fast, I shook his hand, and she said merrily "We've got to go pick colors! We'll be back in 15 minutes!" He looked a little overwhelmed. I recognized her Manic Mode, which often requires a higher alert status than her about-to-stab-you-in-the-back mode, because it's so unpredictable.
I waited in the outer office for a while, chatting with the vice-principal and a couple of the secretaries. After about 40 minutes, I went back to the library. At 11:00, feeling like a schmuck whether I stayed or left, I went down to the office to tell them I was leaving. But the two of them had just gotten back (from selecting paint colors for walls that won't be finished until god-knows-when), so I had my meeting after all.
It's hard to come up with an evaluation of him, because the Psycho dominated every conversation. I asked him a question and she answered it. She raised issues that I had no intention of discussing with him this early, including the relocation of the library during construction. I did find out, however, that the room I'd hoped to go to is going to be renovated at the same time, so that's out. When New Guy understood that the library's going to be packed up and the books unavailable for several months, he was horrified. He even said, more than once, "But what will the kids do ... without books?" So he gets some points with me for that, for sure.
In general, he seemed pleasant. He was a bit of a low talker, but when I explained my hearing problem, he said he has one too, but hadn't worn his hearing aid that day. The Psycho felt the need to tell him that I was everybody's hero for the way I soldiered on when I had my brain tumor, but she is full of shit because she certainly never mentioned that to me before, and when I came back after my surgery and 10 weeks recuperation, no notice was taken at all. She's just showing off what she knows, if that makes any sense. She also told him that I was a Disney fanatic, especially Disney World, and it turns out that he is, too.
In other news, it's damn hot. I walked in the park yesterday, first time since the weekend, and it was somehow weird; as I walked along, it was as if I wasn't really there. I can't explain it any better than that. This morning I took the old car we've recently acquired to the garage, and they just called, all it needs is a new tailpipe. Other than that, it's a 14 year old car and anything could go at any time, which we know. But it's a free car, and there's just something in me (and i the Hubs) that says you just don't pass on a free car that works, even if it's old. And it's not as if it hasn't been in the family since it was new; I actually found a set of keys to it in my key drawer, since I used to borrow it from my father on occasion so I had my own keys. So I just got it insured, and I'm off to pick up the insurance card and then get it registered, and we're done. This will be our oldest car -- it's a 1991 -- but the one with the least mileage, 65212, I checked this morning. So it's practically new, since our other three (92, 95, 97) are all over 100,000 miles.
For my next trick, I'm going to take everything out of my closet and completely re-organize it, and the shoes under my bed, too. I have a vague sense of heading off on an expedition into deepest, darkest Africa. If I don't re-surface in a week, send Stanley.
