Three Months Later...

Three months in brief, details to come:

1. School = good.

2. Bicycling to school? To damn dark and as a result, dangerous. No longer bicycling to school.

3. New apartment downtown!

Some have argued that I've been criminally negligent about this blog. Rather than post tasty little stories about the day to day experiences, my negligence has relegated my blogs to sweeping updates over many months which must, then, omit any interesting little details.

Schoolio

I'm not going to carry on about school very long, other than the fact that the kids are amusing, my job is interesting, my co-teacher rules and the other co-workers are all an incredible nice bunch. I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon this position. If I thought I could get away with it, I'd post the entertaining bits from my students papers that I've been stockpiling. Tara (co-teacher) and I shared many a laugh over the gross leaps and assumptions the students made in their papers. Sadly, though, I don't think I could get away with it.

Bike Abandonment

It goes without saying that I had a hard time hitting the saddle again after that crash. There were a couple things that happened that led to the decision to quit commuting by bike. I will only really dwell on the major issue, darkness. When I first started to commute, I would begin my route in darkness in south Saint Louis. Thankfully there were street lights wherever I needed them and they guided me safely until the sun came up around 6 am. I did not, however, take into consideration the gradual shortening of the days and I soon found myself navigating streets without street lights in total darkness. Wydown was manageable, save dodging the packs of stay-at-home wives that jog down the street toward Forest Park. Ladue Road however was terrifying. Even in the light, Ladue had its share of problems. The "pedestrian and bike only" shoulder that is reserved was commonly littered with sticks and pebbles, dangerous to anybody riding a roadbike. The solution was to then ride the white stripe, which I did knowing that morning commuters could see me in the wan light. Once it got dark though, I was doomed. I went out and spent an unacceptable amount of money on a super bright headlight and tail light only to give into my anxieties about riding in the morning. In short, I gave it up.

Fear not, however! I am now carpooling to school, effectively elimating one car from the highways each morning. Why don't more people do it? It's lovely.

The New, Not-So-Humble Abode

Interestingly enough, the new apartment has many fishbowl like qualities. Not as many as Glass House once had, but I do have a set of four 8 foot tall windows. The view from within? A derelict building. The massive kitchen makes up for that though.

Anyway, I'll write more later and I'll try to get some pictures up. Business calls!