Receipting

Oh, my. That really was something.

Reba called after her last client had left and I swung by and picked her up (we rode together today), and then we beat it out to Grandmom’s house to pick up the kids, then on to the new school. [insert sound of little children saying “Hooray”]

Now, their new building was supposed to have been ready a year ago, but there were some, ahem, difficulties in getting it finished, the greatest of which was the collapse of a towering mountain of earth behind the new campus. Anyway, from all reports everything is ready to go to start up on the 6th.

Heh. Talk about positive spin.

We rolled up and the entrances to the drives, as well as some of the main drives themselves, were still gravel, while only a couple of the parking lots had been finished. Apparently just that morning, because they were still oozing oil. All the various subcontractors were fidgeting around all over the place trying to make 95% complete look more like 98%. I’m always hypercritical of stuff like this, mainly because I used to do field observations, but I was astonished at the poor quality of detail work. Paint on doors that looked like it was done by Jackson Pollock, gaps big enough between masonry and fixtures you could stick in your thumb, missing caulk, drywall that looked like it had been carefully beaten with a hammer around the edges—a right good mess. The bad thing is that once the kids start moving in, most of this stuff won’t ever get fixed right. Brand new, and it already looks three years old.

Anyway, the school is really two separate facilities on one campus, a kindergarten through 2nd grade primary school, and a 3rd through 5th grade intermediate school.

And registration was handled in opposing corners of the campus for each.

Which meant we got to stand in two different lines. Sure would be nice just to handle it all in one place, but what do I know. Luckily we have done this enough so that we had copies of our driver’s licenses and power bill already done and ready to go, so the only real wait was for the other folks to move it along.

We did Cat first, which took about thirty minutes or so. We then trekked around to the back of the campus underneath the still-being-assembled canopy, across the still-being-laid sod and still-being-installed sprinklers (because the sidewalks were still in their conceptual form), and across the small expanse of still-to-be-installed shrubbery, all the while as I glared angrily at the laborers who kept leering at Oldest. I am a man of quiet and level temper, but I would suggest that when I am perambulating with my family you at least have the common courtesy to be rather discrete in your pervy daydreaming. Blunt force head trauma always take so long to heal, you know.

Got the older two signed up a lot quicker (shorter line or more efficient setup, I’m not sure), and then we discovered that the Jefferson County school system is not giving itself due credit for being an educational innovator. How many other systems across our great land can boast of such diligence in adopting wonderful new verbified nouns! Today’s shining example was prominently taped above the tables where we went to pay our fees: “RECEIPTING”. Isn’t that a lovely word! And they even spelled it right! You know, just the other day I was thinking how great it would be if we could do away with that silly old “cashier” word.

So we monied the receipter and were duly receipted. Then it was back across the campus to our van, then I took the family and wife back home, and now I am back here at work, because I still have crap to do, because even though we have already been to the new school, we have to go back Monday AND Tuesday to meet teachers, so I have to get ahead just to stay not so far behind. Blech.

And when I get home today, I have to cut the stupid grass. It’s been three weeks now, and I can’t do it tomorrow because we have to drive to Tusca-derned-loosa to attend Reba’s dad’s company picnic. Why? I have no idea, I just go where I’m told. It promises, however, to be another one of those events that provides a rich vein of ore for mockery and invective, but I sure wish I could have figured out a way to sit at home and do it.

ANYway, all of you have a good weekend, and I’ll see you bright and early Monday morning with incredible tales of the ordinary and the everyday!
posted by Terry at 3:44:00 PM