Almost done. One more down
My oral defense was today. PHEW.
Talk about stressful. I have actually been sick for about the last two weeks, guts made of grinders over this.
I was up at six, went to bed last night about midnight..still rereading the Toad.
Finished rereading it, found terrible edits..stressed out and we headed out to Martinsville about 9.
We met up with Hugh, and Wilson, our security guard tourguide who took us all around the track. I think that even Ken, who doesnt like NASCAR was impressed with Martinsville. Its such a beautiful track and it was such a gorgeous day out today.
We took the longest tour EVER. and it was stressing me the hell out. But then we got to go on up to the flagstand and I got to flip the caution light on and off. That was super exciting. I got to do it a couple of times, and since you all should know that secretly I'm like seven years old, it thrilled me to no end.
We went to Clarence's. A local food joint. Pretty decent. I drank a LOT of sweet tea today, and also had more hushpuppies at both lunch and dinner than i should have. oh well.
Made it on back to the track and Wilson introduced us to the maintenence guy, who showed us around his gig. Lots of fun, even more nervous though, since it was like 1:30 and I just wanted to get it started.
Then we did.
UGH.
I guess I did ok. There were some questions that I felt better about answering, and some that I think that I just rambled on about.
It was seriously three hours long. I cant even tell you most of what they asked me, not that you care... :) but I want to sit down and think about it. They have some great ideas for me to persue. Including starting a NASCAR summer camp for grown ups. Which would be so much fun.
Anyhow. I passed. hooray! Very braindead. So it feels very, well, i dont know. I think that I will feel better once the Toad is done. ha. My director said that I need to (NEED to) get a professional to edit it and make the lines line up. OK. ok. I get the point. Will hire someone right away. :) I hate formatting, so thats fine.
They liked their gifts of moonshine. So that was cool.
Made it back, after dinner at Clarences again. Twice in one day for the big C might have been a bit much, but it was still tasty.
Got back to Old Salem. John took Ken on a tour, I said my thank yous and adieus...and headed out to Bowman-Gray to watch the races.
Yes. I am that girl. I still love my subject. No matter how much I've tired of writing my thesis. Met some great people, as usual. Race fans are friends you haven't been introduced to yet. So I hung out with them.
The last race was a blast. Street Stocks, 99 was kicking ass and taking names. Especially the 12 who went right for Ramming Speed to go after him. They then had a dust up or two until the 12 couldnt do it anymore. The 99 then went for the, 44, I think, and proceeded to get in a car/fist fight with him. Very exciting. My car almost won the race, as the last lap was a shootout and the 27 Ford came roaring up to try to take the win. Not quite, but hot damn it was good racing.
This is my last night here in Old Salem. I am sad to not be coming back here. I will miss my little Scholars Loft. I will miss hearing the bell toll. I will miss having to leave through the gift shop and worry about the creepy basement.
You know, I started out my preservation journey here. Many many years ago. LIke maybe 2003?
This is the first place I came. I was going to go to UNC Greensboro. John, who is the VP of Preservation here at Old Salem offered me an internship. I didnt make it out here then. But look. Here I am now. It was a long full circle.I think its neat, in a way. I mean, I'm a long way from wanting to work on old buildings. I still do, but, shit. Ken is going to help me write a press release for this Toad, and we're going to start pushing a National Heritage Area based on stock car culture in the South.
Maybe this wont go anywhere. But tonight, at Bowman-Gray, one of the guys asked "So, you get to go to races for a living?" And my answer was "Not yet." So, maybe it will. Maybe I'll try and it will fail and I'll end up back where I started again.
If it does, hell, this whole thing was totally worth it. I've had a blast. I mean, I might be the expert in preserving race tracks. I dont think that anyone else cares. Yet.
.
Talk about stressful. I have actually been sick for about the last two weeks, guts made of grinders over this.
I was up at six, went to bed last night about midnight..still rereading the Toad.
Finished rereading it, found terrible edits..stressed out and we headed out to Martinsville about 9.
We met up with Hugh, and Wilson, our security guard tourguide who took us all around the track. I think that even Ken, who doesnt like NASCAR was impressed with Martinsville. Its such a beautiful track and it was such a gorgeous day out today.
We took the longest tour EVER. and it was stressing me the hell out. But then we got to go on up to the flagstand and I got to flip the caution light on and off. That was super exciting. I got to do it a couple of times, and since you all should know that secretly I'm like seven years old, it thrilled me to no end.
We went to Clarence's. A local food joint. Pretty decent. I drank a LOT of sweet tea today, and also had more hushpuppies at both lunch and dinner than i should have. oh well.
Made it on back to the track and Wilson introduced us to the maintenence guy, who showed us around his gig. Lots of fun, even more nervous though, since it was like 1:30 and I just wanted to get it started.
Then we did.
UGH.
I guess I did ok. There were some questions that I felt better about answering, and some that I think that I just rambled on about.
It was seriously three hours long. I cant even tell you most of what they asked me, not that you care... :) but I want to sit down and think about it. They have some great ideas for me to persue. Including starting a NASCAR summer camp for grown ups. Which would be so much fun.
Anyhow. I passed. hooray! Very braindead. So it feels very, well, i dont know. I think that I will feel better once the Toad is done. ha. My director said that I need to (NEED to) get a professional to edit it and make the lines line up. OK. ok. I get the point. Will hire someone right away. :) I hate formatting, so thats fine.
They liked their gifts of moonshine. So that was cool.
Made it back, after dinner at Clarences again. Twice in one day for the big C might have been a bit much, but it was still tasty.
Got back to Old Salem. John took Ken on a tour, I said my thank yous and adieus...and headed out to Bowman-Gray to watch the races.
Yes. I am that girl. I still love my subject. No matter how much I've tired of writing my thesis. Met some great people, as usual. Race fans are friends you haven't been introduced to yet. So I hung out with them.
The last race was a blast. Street Stocks, 99 was kicking ass and taking names. Especially the 12 who went right for Ramming Speed to go after him. They then had a dust up or two until the 12 couldnt do it anymore. The 99 then went for the, 44, I think, and proceeded to get in a car/fist fight with him. Very exciting. My car almost won the race, as the last lap was a shootout and the 27 Ford came roaring up to try to take the win. Not quite, but hot damn it was good racing.
This is my last night here in Old Salem. I am sad to not be coming back here. I will miss my little Scholars Loft. I will miss hearing the bell toll. I will miss having to leave through the gift shop and worry about the creepy basement.
You know, I started out my preservation journey here. Many many years ago. LIke maybe 2003?
This is the first place I came. I was going to go to UNC Greensboro. John, who is the VP of Preservation here at Old Salem offered me an internship. I didnt make it out here then. But look. Here I am now. It was a long full circle.I think its neat, in a way. I mean, I'm a long way from wanting to work on old buildings. I still do, but, shit. Ken is going to help me write a press release for this Toad, and we're going to start pushing a National Heritage Area based on stock car culture in the South.
Maybe this wont go anywhere. But tonight, at Bowman-Gray, one of the guys asked "So, you get to go to races for a living?" And my answer was "Not yet." So, maybe it will. Maybe I'll try and it will fail and I'll end up back where I started again.
If it does, hell, this whole thing was totally worth it. I've had a blast. I mean, I might be the expert in preserving race tracks. I dont think that anyone else cares. Yet.
.