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I had a friend in the Peace Corps named Carl. Except in most of the Zambian languages the r’s and l’s can be a bit of a problem, so his name came out more like Calr, or just Caaa. (You can also now see why I got a Tonga name so quickly, r and l being the only consonants in my name.) Anyway, Caaaa liked to sing a lot, and one of his favorite songs was the UT fight song. The kids would run after him yelling “Locky Top! Locky Top!” And soon Ba Caaa became Locky Top.
So why this sudden discussion of Mr. Locky Top? I’m nowhere near him, and I’m nowhere near good ol’ Locky Top either. Ah, but you see, I was last night. ;)
No, I did not take red eye to Tennessee and back (though I’m sure some people wouldn’t put it past me). No, no. I went to a Vandy alum happy hour with Mr. Trizzle! I don’t think I’d ever been so happy to see swooped over bangs, a giant Burberry hand bag or super-sized engagement ring bling.
I miss Nashville. Not nearly as much as I miss Africa or Milwaukee, but certainly more than I expected. I miss the weather. I miss the politeness and the Southern charm. I miss how nice people dressed. Heck, I even miss the food. Well, the stuff without pork in it anyway. I miss giant trucks and Hummers that might actually be used somewhere that requires a giant truck or Hummer. I miss being able to drive 20 minutes and be pretty much out in the middle of nowhere. I really miss my apartment. And I miss my school.
The happy hour was nice. I don’t usually enjoy happy hours, but this one was good. I even got a drink, with whiskey in it, seemed appropriate. Mr. Trizzle and I met some pretty cool people. A few people who just moved out here (like me!), and some who had been out here a number of years. Even one other person who, like Mr. Trizzle, was a Bay Area native! (Those are really rare, like spotted owls or dodo birds or something.) Apparently, there are events every month or so. I’m looking forward to the next one. I hope we get to see many of the same people again.
One thing’s for certain, Vandy certainly takes care of its own. Near or far, student or alum, Vandy is Vandy, and that means something.
2 comments:
This post reminded me that I needed to ask you about Nashville! There is a teeny-tiny chance we could move there! The company Dale works for opened a facility there to service the Nissan account and they can't find any qualified people for Dale's position. Or for any position apparently. Of course it would kill me to leave CA and it would probably mean early retirement for me as well. So people are polite and it doesn't snow...what else does it have going on?
Glad you are meeting some nice people and stuff.
Oh, no, it snows, like an inch, and the whole place shuts down! It took me half and hour to drive less than a mile once. People turned a 3 lane road into 1 lane. I turned down a (unplowed and unsalted) side street and was back home in five minutes.
It's small, smaller than Milwaukee, but not super duper small. There's a Trader Joes now (although it was held up at gun point this week). The Walmart's nice, good vietnamese food and ethiopian food, but not nearly the variety of things in LA. It's a good place. If you need info on certain parts of town, let me know. :)
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