lucky you

highland springs elementary. or is it high school? i'm not sure, but i pass it once every day. since my stalker hasn't been around in a few months (that i know of ... maybe he's just doing a better job) i've gotten brave enough to include the stretch of road that goes by the gas station where we first met in my afternoon commute. somehow i've convinced myself that this route is improving my gas mileage.

what is the deal with people on the same floor who talk to each other via speaker phone? cripe.
wow. that guy's fired up.

so, the sign at the entrance to the highland springs mystery school currently says, "SOL Testing." see? i've managed to weed out the northerners ... i know you ... you're snickering.

where i come from, SOL doesn't mean "standards of learning," and it doesn't require a test. SOL is more like the condition of showing up to the test without a pencil ... and no one will lend you one ... not even the teacher. i remember going to take the SAT (probably the first time because i wasn't nauseous), being corralled into a tiny, public erie school classroom, and seeing kids come in with pens. they didn't qualify just then as SOL because they could have cared less. the difference between them and the kids who were begging writing implements from other kids was fear.

as soon as the pen kids realized that they couldn't take the SAT with a purple pen and suffered that initial twinge of panic, they became SOL. you can't be totally SOL until you're conscious that you're SOL. other people might recognize you as SOL before you acknowledge it, but at that point, you're just "potentially SOL." it's doesn't take complete effect until you are fully aware of your situation.

why does virginia test for SOL? i guess down here it's harder to tell. there must be different SOL rules if you can't just know by looking at them which kids are potentially SOL and which kids aren't at any given moment. i blame their parents. if your kid is living in a constant, virtual SOL state, what kind of example are you setting? even if they're not, what kind of example is teaching them to appear to be SOL?

the only thing i can figure is that it's a blood test.