Everything I say is fascinating.

Tales from the the Classroom

I guess I should come clean about where I have been for the last 5 weeks, because I know you have been wondering where has Lissa been? Well remember when I wrote this woe is me post? Well I have been at real estate school  which apparently is just a notch above used car salesmen school. For the past five weeks from 8am to 5pm I have been going to class to get my real estate license.  I haven't been to school since I graduated college and this isn't exactly the classroom environment I thought I would be stepping into next. Here is just a slight view of what happens at my school. My first day of class there was a guy with a mohawk from Scotland, and I guess even punk rockers need representation.  Last week the woman sitting next to me set the trashcan on fire with her burnt bag of popcorn, that smelt nice as you can imagine. A fight almost broke out when the guy in front of me started yelling at the guy behind me because he was talking during the 70s video that they were showing us for educational purposes. I seem to have made friends with the guy next to me whois a West Point graduate who also sees the craziness of the classroom.  We play the box game during the "lecture" and I use the term lecture very loosely.

As stated before this is my  third career since I graduated college and if I have it my way it's not going to be my last. Would you like to hear my plan? I thought so. Actually I have a plan A, B, C and D. So here it goes!

Plan A. I'm getting my real estate license and moving to Austin. (I should tell you that I love Austin mostly for its film and music festivals)  I will then save money like crazy to buy a house. 

Plan B.   Goes along with plan A and hopefully while I am in Austin I will get involved with the film festivals and I would love to produce my own indie films... perhaps start a production company. The thing with this is you have to volunteer first in order to in the door and well I need an income hence the real estate career.

Plan C. Also goes along with plan A. Since I am saving money like crazy to buy a house if I get the London fellowship that I am applying for (what you think I just gave up on that) I will need all the money I have saved to live in London. It is a paid fellowship but the pay is minimal and well I like to shop.

Plan D. Stick with Real Estate.

The Circle of Life... AND THEY SHOW IT!

Last night I went to the theater and saw The Lion King it was one of the best shows I have ever seen! Although with some certain twist that I was certainly not expecting like the flying sex scene in the second act but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I received three free tickets and called my fellow theater buffs, Lori and her sister Lisa, and we decided to go. I mean would you say no to free tickets to the lion king? I think not. So we headed out for a night on the town and a little bit of sophistication, I mean with the theater and all!

The lion king really is a sight to be seen and I do recommend you to see it if you have the chance. The colors and costumes are amazing. So vibrant and lifelike. And I'm not ashamed to admit it I sang along in my head to all the songs. But the real shocker came about in act 1 scene 9 (oh yes I KNOW the exact scene) when during one of the dance numbers all of a sudden it became the chipendale dancers. It started off very family friendly dancing hyenas and such and then all of a sudden night at the Roxbury! These men were dancing without shirts and they were very muscular. I turned to Lori and asked her if she had any one dollar bills. She said she was thinking the same thing so I know it wasn't just me! And then in the second act during the song can you feel the love tonight all of a sudden these people starting flying around in couples and were very suggestive. NOT TO MENTION THE GUY WHO HAD ONE BUTT CHEEK HANGING OUT OF HIS CLOTHING ON STAGE! Oh yes!  Well actually the man and his dancing partner were strategically clothed with flowers and leaves. It was very Adam and Eve. 
I just assume that they wanted to throw something into the play that was a little risqué so the parents would have fun too. As for me, my favorite part was the giraffes.

Livin' On The Edge

Awhile ago I started making a list of all the things I want to do in my life. Things such as visit Thailand, learn how to scuba dive, climb a mountain and live in another country for a year. I figure I'm not getting any younger so I might as well get started on that list instead of letting it accumulate dust. I think what made me want to write this list was I don't want to look back on my life and wish I had done all things I wanted to and just never got around to it. With that said yesterday I signed up for one of the things on my list...figure skating lessons. BY MYSELF!
I showed up for class and there were kids running around everywhere and I thought oh crap I accidentally signed up for the kids class. I had visions of the last time I went skiing with me going down a green with the little kids ski class zipping by me laughing their faces off at me.  As it turns out the adult classes are at the same time as the kids classes but thankfully we are split up into different groups.
Today was my first lesson and lets just be honest here, I think I might be Olympics material. Okay I'm not that good but I haven't fallen yet so that is a plus. Now I haven't ice skated since I was about 16 years old so needless to say I was a tad bit rusty. Now the other people in my class are mothers who decided to take classes while their kids are also taking classes so this is endless entertainment for me. Not that I am any more skilled then these women so really we are all in the same boat.
At the end of the classes I think there might be a recital if you are lucky I will have someone take pictures. Who knows I might even buy one of those outfits that the real skaters wear. Okay not really.

Business in The Front, Party in The Back

 

It's no secret that I have issues with my hair which is why I feel totally justified in writing this post. You know how you are with your friends and one of them pokes you and starts pointing at some guy’s ridiculous haircut? Or some woman's hideous hair color? Well at the King William Festival there was a plethora of bad hair, NAY A SMORGASBORD OF BAD HAIR. And of course the king of bad hair is the mullet it is the crème de la crème of bad hair styles. It takes such precision to get that look. And it’s not like the people don't know what hairstyle they have going on back there. I mean there are websites dedicated to the mullet. But at the festival these people wore it proudly and of course I had to photograph them! And I'm not going to lie it was difficult to capture these greats works of art. My friend Sarah would grab my arm and say in a hushed yet urgent tone, "HAIR! At three o'clock!" And  I'm not going to lie I never ever understand it when people say this, I end up twisting my head trying to see what the others are talking about and looking in the wrong direction and  being totally obvious. To which people will start shouting not your three o'clock my three o'clock! This is usually returned with a blank stare and then they finally just take me by the shoulders and point me in the direction that they are talking about. It is usually a messy scene that I end up objecting myself to more frequently then I would like to admit.
At this festival I captured some good mullets that were out in full force. For your viewing pleasure my friends.

I actually had more but they show the people's faces and in case they stumble upon this website you know i don't want to get sued or anything.

Fiesta Forever

Every year for two weeks the city of San Antonio has a big party to celebrate...umm I don't know exactly why we celebrate but any excuse to get together and have some drinks. The whole city gets all decked out with decorations and bands play all over the city, the universities get into it holding their own celebrations. It is altogether a good time to be had by all. The whole city actually gets a day off for the battle of flowers parade which is the longest parade in the united states and let me tell you it really does seem like the whole city comes out to see it. For miles people crowd the streets to get a look at the elaborate floats and to see the debutantes that are coming out this season.  San Antonio is a huge tourist city and during these two weeks it's like New Orleans mardi gras with people everywhere. My favorite part of this two week extravaganza is the king william fair. It is held in the historic part of San Antonio where there are booths of food and crafts and you are surrounded by these amazing houses that were restored to their original glory.

But the best part of this fair is the parade that they have to kick it off. To  categorize this parade it really should be called the parade that you can walk in because you didn't qualify to walk in the big parade. Last year I saw a guy dressed up as butter. Yes, butter. Lots of drag queens and just crazy outfits that I can't even begin to explain. But this guy is what you will usually see in this parade.

I also enjoyed this weekend so much because some of my friends came to San Antonio to see fiesta first hand. I also took them to the see the Alamo and some of them were riveted but couldn't believe how small it actually was in person.
 

After a tour of of the city we went back to my house and then got ready for the night that lay  ahead of us. In the spirit of fiesta we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and a little dancing. My friends Emily was whisked off her feet by this silver fox! Notice the comb over.

She was giving us the help me eyes but we decided to leave her up there and we all grabbed our cameras instead. WE ARE SUCH GOOD FRIENDS! After they got off the dance floor he walked her over to the table and he looked like he was going to collapse. I asked him how his heart was feeling. My friends looked at me like I couldn't believe you just said that! I was all what? He looked like he was about to pass out! Perhaps I might need a filter between my mind and my mouth... hmm something to think about.

It really was a great weekend and I'm glad they all came into town and the house seems so quiet now that they all left and I'm a little sad.

Here are some pictures I took from around the city.