… and that is to post a photo of your “I voted” sticker to Facebook. Congratulations to many of you who carried out your duty yesterday. Those who drafted the Constitution would be so proud.
Remember, you can vote at ANY Shelby County early voting location if you early vote. Got stuff to do after work and on the weekends? Vote on your lunch hour. Abundant Grace Fellowship Church at 1574 E. Shelby Drive will be getting a visit from me this week or next.
River Arts Fest continues today in the South Main district. Although the festival is only three days long, its impact is felt year round with a variety of arts programs in the schools.
Okay. I have a question. I understand the selling of beer tickets at festivals, to control underage drinking. But what is the point of selling food tickets? I cannot think of a good reason, other than knowing that some tickets will go unused, resulting in pure profit for the festival. It’s a hassle and River Arts Fest needs to stop it. I can’t think of another Downtown festival that makes its attendees jump through hoops to get something to eat.
I led off at Bardog yesterday. Throughout the day I type notes into Evernote on my phone so I know what I need to talk about in the next blog post. Here are two notes from yesterday:
“Suburbanites fresh market buy 1 get 1 free ahintuna”
“Mellow mushroom has PBR on tap. Thx. Bardog.”
So there you go. I hope that was useful information.
After a walk through River Arts Fest I stopped at my “home away from home on the south side,” Max’s Sports Bar. Max understands how to provide coasters for his customers.
I cringed as people put Miller Lites on these beautiful coasters.
While at Max’s, I noticed some cards on the bar and took a photo of one. YOGA!
Circuitous Succession gallery at 500 S. Second has started offering yoga classes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. They are offering 20% off your first purchase, and they also offer private lessons, monthly workshops, and yoga parties. Don’t forget that this gallery is also hosting perhaps the most important art exhibit in the South Main District this year Friday night, 2016 PBR Art Showcase Memphis. Suggestion for the gallery: If you can come up with an event that combines yoga and PBR, I would consider taking a yoga class for the first time since 2003.
I also scored a primo Thanksgiving invite while at Max’s. As many of you know, I work for the company that sanctions the card game bridge in North America. Our fall national tournament begins on Thanksgiving Day, so I have to be on call in case anything needs to be done with the website. Because of that, Thanksgiving invitations are much appreciated! Looking forward to English stuffing!
After that I headed north to the Blind Bear, where B-RAD was working a rare Saturday shift. He told me that one of my former students had been at his bar and said I was mean. I bet I know what class that student took.
In the spring of 1997 I taught two Tuesday-Thursday Concepts of Numbers classes. That is the easiest math class you could take for college credit at the time at the U of M. Three or four weeks into the class they had their first test. The afternoon class did well, averaging 81, a low B.
The morning class, however, averaged a 58. The day I handed their tests back, I pretty much went off on them. I told them they averaged an F on what was a relatively easy test. I told them that with a few exceptions, it was obvious that they did next to nothing to study or prepare for the test. I then told them that I was absolutely not curving the grades and it was time for many of them to decide if they were going to get serious about the class or go over to the admin building and drop it while they still had time. So yeah, I was mean. I also had no more test averages below the mid 70s from that class after that.
By the way, I was nice most of the time. There was one time I let my students talk me into moving the date of a test because many of them had tickets to a Grateful Dead concert. Three months later, Jerry Garcia passed away. I was glad they got to see the band one last time.
After it became clear that the Arkansas-Auburn game was something I did not want to watch, I got a Puu Puu Platter from Yao’s and took my “halftime” nap. I woke up about 1 and went back to the Blind Bear. My friend Katie Mac was sitting at the bar. I tapped her on the shoulder (or as some would say, I touched her in an extremely offensive manner three to four times. INAPPROPRIATE TOUCHING!) to say hello, and she scooted over to make room at the bar. Katie is the organizer of the Halloween costume contest at Sinners for Saints this coming Saturday. “Want to see the list of prizes and gift cards we’ve had donated for the costume contest?” she asked. I said sure and she handed me her phone.
I kept scrolling and scrolling and scrolling… I thought I would never get to the end of the list. If you end up being a winner in the costume contest at Sinners for Saints, you are going to SCORE on the prizes. “Practically every place I have mentioned on my blog this past year is on this list,” I thought. Still searching for a costume idea? Might want to consider going as one of our 2016 fallen rock icons, Prince or David Bowie. $200 CASH will be given to be best representation of one of those figures. The organizers are telling me tickets are selling at a faster pace than last year, and the event did sell out last year, so waiting until the day of to purchase tickets would probably be a mistake.
I didn’t make it to the opening of Big River Crossing yesterday, but a friend who is something of an expert in biking (he owns so many bikes that his car barely fits in the garage) said it was first class, all the way. The Harahan Bridge looks beautiful all lit up. So nice to have a view of it from my apartment!
My request for vacation on my birthday (Friday, November 18) has been approved, so I am going to try and organize another group outing to 25 cent martini lunch at Felicia Suzanne’s if anybody wants in.
Time to put on my “I ♥ Sunday School” shirt and walk over to D-RANKS with B-RAD at the Blind Bear. I am undecided whether I will go back to River Arts Fest for a second day. The food vendor choices seemed subpar compared to previous years; just the usual carnival fare plus a food truck or two. I do want to visit some of the artist vendors though, so I will probably go back. That’s it for now. I hope you enjoy your Sunday Fun Day as much as I plan to!
