Thursday, March 16, 2006

The break of spring

My favorite Starbucks has empty chairs. At the nail place, manicurists stand idly around the little TV in the back watching Bold & Beautiful. You want a mani-pedi, it'll only take 20 minutes instead of an hour because you'll get a separate technician for every hoof.

Along the Katy Trail, that wisteria-dripping ribbon of pavement cutting through Highland Park and Oak Lawn, the elbow-pumping exer-rexics in greek letters are missing, leaving more room for strollers of every kind, including the wheeled and the shod.

At Toulouse, the faux French cafe of the moment, no reservations needed for lunch. At Celebrity Cafe, where they usually fetch their big iced teas and tiny muffins (only $2.50 apiece), now only the grackles occupy the outside tables, fighting for crumbs.

At Tom Thumb grocers and Central Market, the truly handicapped are able to park in their designated spots without cursing the pony-stickered Porsche Cayennes who've trespassed "just for a minute--I'll be right back!"

It's Spring Break. They've gone away. And for a few more days we get to live in an Ashley-free zone.

13 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yet the Ashleys have filled the classes you've been paid to teach.... If all of SMU majored in the liberal arts, there would be no PR/Communications/Education majors. Admit it, the Ashleys have a reason for existing. I've got to have some way to fill a drunken weekend. Cheap sex with bimbos is as good as any other activity. As long as I don't have to talk to the little tramps, I'm OK with them in my classes.

5:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And, around the city's park/playground, the free city (not campus) parking is once again available to the families who use the park.

6:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Geez. The more I read this blog and the comments, the more disclined I am to going to SMU. @_@

I really must hurry up and plan some time to take the tour and meet students.

10:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Yet the Ashleys have filled the classes you've been paid to teach.... If all of SMU majored in the liberal arts, there would be no PR/Communications/Education majors."

Holy Crap... thank you for enlightening us lowly professors regarding our lack of appreciation. You are sooooo right, dear. Please address us in your scornful consumerist tones and we will be grateful for whatever crumbs you might drop in our direction. Thank you for helping us clean up our act.

5:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Online posters have a real problem with sarcasm...

9:40 AM  
Blogger Eddo said...

Ha ha - lovin' it.

5:54 PM  
Blogger Stephen said...

exer-rexics ... just last week I heard someone refer to themselves as an exercise bulemic. Interesting.

Nice rhythm to the post.

10:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I cringe every time I see someone using a handicap spot when they are obviously not handicapped. And I cringe everywhere it happens, not just on campus.

Hey highschoolkid07, definitely take the tour, but meet the students. Drop by Hughes-Trigg, hang out in Java City or the Rec Center for a while (more than 10 minutes) so you can really see what student life is like. A lot of the things the Phantom Prof say are true, but there are plenty of social circles where people are normal and Ashleys and Bradleys are more of a legend, or an exception. That's what I love about this campus. If you seek that circle, you will find it.

There are good things about this school. It doesn't take that much to find them.

11:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dolores is right...SMU is not all bad. For the most part I loved going to school there. The first semester I dealt with my fair share of Ashleys, but ended up with a GREAT group of true friends. While the blog is quite funny and I enjoy reading it, it makes SMU look like a bad place to be...and it isn't.

12:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Totally agreed. There are pros and cons to any University, and if the blog author wasnt still so bitter about loosing her job the blog could be more well rounded and realistic.

1:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, is this really how profs feel as soon as we all head home? I never knew we were so hated by university staff . . . thank God you got rid of us.

There are Ashleys and there are those who are trying to learn. I truly hope you don't take your resentment out on your students.

6:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hateful.
You can either go on hating the people that live around you or you could solve the problem and leave. It's simple. I'm not a fan of this area either. I plan on leaving as soon as I finish school. You're free, go. Why waste your time hating?

5:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We look forward to the departure of the 50K kiddies 4 times a year so we can go food shopping MUCH more easily. Hope you enjoyed your break.

10:15 AM  

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