For the record, what Dallas ISD considers a "convocation" is really just an oversized pep rally for teachers and staff.

It started yesterday. The t-shirts that the principal ordered came in late. That should have been a sign. He said we could wear jeans with the shirts. I figured I'd go home and get Mom to help me hem up the new jeans I bought (too long, but lightweight). We get a call around 7 that no jeans are allowed. Which is fine.

We were told to be at school early, because the chartered buses to take us to the American Airlines center (where the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Stars play) were leaving at 7:30 am. Attendance was mandatory.

However, the weather was really threatening to get nasty. Mom was obsessively watching the weather reports and started to freak. I've rarely driven in the dark; I've rarely driven in the rain. We were going to have both.

To avoid a huge fight with psychomom, I called Jolene and asked her for a ride in to school - trading off lunch (she drives, I buy lunch when we get back).

We all get on the buses and head downtown. We get there an hour before the convocation was supposed to start. Instead of stopping by all the tables and seeing what goodies are there, we go to find our seats. On the way up, I spent way too much money for a Coke and a soft pretzel, but I was hungry by then (I was up at 5am due to a wrong number on my cell phone, ate breakfast at 6).

Finally we found our school's seats... in the nosebleed section. Yeah. There was only one school seated behind us. Needless to say, I get a REALLY bad case of vertigo when I try to get to an empty chair.

The pep rally... er... convocation itself was pretty much a waste of time. The thing that seemed to excite the assembly the most was that the recently passed bond issue includes provisions to update the restrooms in every school building - that got the loudest cheer. The mayor spoke briefly. The superintendent talked about how his plan is going and what changes have been made. Our keynote speaker was... amusing. It was a 5th grader who wrote and performed a winning speech for a national Martin Luther King essay competition.

Then things got really interesting. We started to leave and started following our principal. He took the stairs. We followed. Somewhere along the line we lost him. So we found our really tall assistant principal and started following her. She was getting cell phone directions to where our buses were supposedly parked. There was one bus there, and it was full. So we had to find the other two buses. By that time, it's getting hot. Thankfully not 100+ degrees, but we're wearing black shirts and I'm overheating. It probably took us a good half hour before we finally got to the other buses. It's a good thing the bus was air conditioned, because I was feeling pretty sick by then. I think I fell asleep for a few minutes on the way back.

So right now, I'm dead tired. My legs are killing me. I'd go to bed, but I'm kind of hooked on 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', and tonight's the last part of a 3 parter.