Update City

Ok, ladies, here's the dealio.

After all that talk about Christmas in July, I was doing last minute shopping. Can you believe it? I was so hyped up about getting it done early like last year! The holidays have flown by this year and it is already 2011! OMG! 2011? Really? I start school tomorrow--if weather be willing. I want to start back from September and catch up.

September was basically uneventful. There, moving on.

October is always fun because of Halloween. I did not dress up this year. Mom and Clay came up just to take the girls trick-or-treating! Isn't that awesome? And so in the spirit of Halloween, I want to share a little creepy story. The story of the Haunted Toilet. I do not know the start of this haunting, but it began for me in the first week of school. It takes place in the women's bathroom in The Curry Building of Education at UNC-G. My first class is at 9:30 AM every Tuesday and Thursday. My third class of the day is at 3:30 PM, same days, same building---heck even same classroom and same professor. If you want to get technical, I even sit in the same row, sometimes the same seat. Everyday, before class and during, I go to the same bathroom and use the same stall. If you haven't noticed a theme here, let me help: Everything is the same......execpt....

THE TOILET

Thats right, you read it correctly, the toilet changes. At first, I don't realize this change, but it doesn't take me long to notice. The first few times I was haunted, I thought perhaps I had used a different stall earlier that day. Even though, I knew I had used the second stall. It felt comfortable---not the first and not the last. Right in the middle. The stall wasn't the problem, though. It was all about the toilet. Now, before I go any further, I want to explain that I am not crazy. I also want to drag out the suspense like a good writer. I tried to tell myself I was imagining things. I even convinced myself, at first, that I had used different stalls. And for a second (the first time) I even questioned whether or not I had used the same bathroom. I tried to use logic to rule out the obvious. In the first few weeks of class, the professor repeatedly mentioned how the building was jinxed (haunted/spooked) by the two men in huge portraits at the classroom doors (its an auditorium). Finally, one day after realizing I was not crazy, I walked to my seat and announced that something was up with the toilet to the professor. I even told other students. Then the haunting seemed to go away for a bit. At times it was not as bad, but still noticeable. Then towards the end of the semester it came back full force and then some. I was able to get pictures in the beginning. I know you're dying by now to know what is up with the haunted toilet. Ok, let me tell you......

It changed positions! The angle at which is was sitting in the morning was different in the afternoon. If I'm lying I'm dying. Last semester I was completely worked up about this. Like I typed, I TOOK PICTURES! This is not a joke. I repeat, this is not a joke. I still have yet to figure this out. Now, I have a class upstairs in the same building (this is 2 weeks later, girls, from beginning of post). There is a bathroom, of course, on this floor. I use it. The middle stall. The toilet is at an angle. I wonder if it is different in the morning? Back to haunted toilet: Yes, a different angle. By this I mean, 90 degrees AM, 45 PM (or 135 PM, however you want to calculate it). The point--or coordinate---of the matter is that the frigging toilet is haunted. Or the bathroom, or the building, or the stall----IDK, its freaking me out. I should not walk into a bathroom and eyeball toilets.

Let's face it, I have had an issue with bathrooms since Kindergarten. And during my early school years, my grandmother spoiled me with horror movies and I was scared to go potty by myself. I remember in Kindergarten, the bathroom was in a little hallway tucked between my class and the art/music room. I opened the door and there stood Colin, pants down wanker hanging out! It was like the seen out of a horror movie. He was just standing there staring, walking like a zombie because his pants were around his ankles. Then in the first grade, I had to use the bathroom during lunch. So I went into the girls Locker Room---although it was never used as a locker room because it was an elementary school by that time! While on the commode, I heard a little girl yelling my name. Ooh, I'm getting chill bumps. I had to go pull the curtain my window. I describe it as yelling because it was low and I thought my friend Della was calling my name at the lunch table. So, when I returned I asked her why she was calling my name. She wasn't. Creepy. Then onto third grade, where again, the bathrooms were in-between two classrooms. This is the year before Jenna and I "met." She was in the other class. The students switched teachers for math classes that year and she ended up in my math class. Jenna doesn't remember. I do because I thought she was weird for wearing low pony tails. She says she didn't, but yes she did. By the way this is the same year Billy Jean Letcher put Salli Morrison's earring in the electrical socket---during math!. Anyway, throughout the year both teachers would remind us of the "ghost" that haunted the 2 rooms---via the bathroom hallway. Well, sometimes I was at school late or early. I remember being in the classroom alone and thought I seen something or heard something. Or was just afraid of something. I know I didn't experience anything, I just remember being frightened. But that wasn't the crazy thing about that year and my bathroom haunting. Oh, no, it's much weirder. Hey, Jenna, do you remember that around the middle of the year we had to start signing a bathroom sheet before we used it? Let me tell you all why.....

Before I start this crazy story, let me say thank you to Elise for coming over and helping me clean my computer room! Since I know where my Senior Project is, I can just retell the story from there. I begin with: "The worst thing that happened to me in the third grade was a bathroom incident. One day I was real sick. Both bathrooms (boys and girls) were occupied....I waited until it was my turn. I knew that I was going to throw up soon. When I went to the bathroom I paused at the door. On every tiny tile from the door to behind the toilet were little terds. There was a little terd on every tiny tile! I ran out of there. [My teacher] had to get [the janitor assistant] to clean it up......Nobody knew who did it. So from then on we had to sign a bathroom sheet." Actually, I knew who did it, but I never told---well, I knew who was the last girl in the bathroom. OH WAIT! Apparently, I did experience the ghost! With further reading I discover: "The bathrooms were supposed to be haunted by a ghost. Well, not the bathrooms themselves, but thats how he traveled between our rooms. I went to get [my math teacher's] address off her board. I heard a noise and looked towards the bathrooms and a saw a shadow. I ran out of there in a flash!" I do apologize for my horrible story telling skills back then. WOW.

Now, continuing on. In the sixth grade there was yet another bathroom incident. I remember our class would have bathroom breaks. Ya see, we switched classes, but not as many. Seventh grade started the "every" class change. A lengthy bathroom break was needed to allow us some down time. And this how we sometimes spent it.... One day during bathroom break, someone decided we should play Bloody Mary. So, all the girls in my classroom were in there and off went the lights. We all turned around while saying BM 3 times. Lets rewind a bit: a bathroom stall door was being repaired so it was leaning against the wall at the end of the bathroom. Fast forward: all of a sudden someone started screaming, "I see red eyes, I see red eyes." Girls start screaming. It's pitch black because there are no windows (no light). I felt like a sardine. A few of us are yelling "turn on the lights!" It sounds so funny now, but it wasn't then. Apparently, a girl had seen glowing red eyes behind the door in the back. I thought BM was supposed to appear in the mirror. Well, BM wasn't done having fun yet. One day three boys came hauling ass out of the bathroom. Interesting History: there was an unfortunate girl who was so ugly that some boys gave her the nick name of Beetle Juice. Back to the point: well, they claimed they played the BM game and she appeared in the mirror. Then they had to yell Beetle Juice 3 times to make her disappear. They were a bit nicer to "Beetle Juice" for a little while after that!

Here I am, a grown woman, in my 30's, being tormented by a potty spook. What the fuck is really going on? I Googled bathroom ghosts, but I'm too chicken shit to read any!. Try if you dare........ mwuhahahahahah!

The Curry Building

Articles on an incident in the Curry Building: Bloody Burglary in Curry More on the bloody tale

PICTURES OF THE "TOILET"

1 2 3

Pictures 1 and 3 are the before photos. Picture number 2 is the after-noon shot. Note the cock-eyed position of the toilet. Its even more noticeable when one sits on it. In the AM you're looking at the door. In the PM you're looking at the corner of the door. My leg could touch the stall without much effort in the PM. I had to stand further back in pic 2 so I could get the entire toilet in the shot---because of the angle. This happened practically everyday!

Alright, moving on to November. Turkey Day was a feast. The only problem was my uncle, his fiancée, and her son and daughter-in-law did not show. I was a bit upset. Supposedly she couldn't make it to town and he was under the weather. I cooked a lot for a little bit of people! But, on the positive side, we did have Evie's Birthday Party! She was supposed to be a Turkey baby anyway, but she came 10 days early.

Christmas was a blessing---literally. My girls received so many gifts from other people that I felt so blessed that they were so blessed. Amazing. They did get a lot---so much that they forgot who gave what. Then my uncle's fiancée spilled the beans---without knowing it. She said that she wasn't feeling good---probably the flu---and didn't want to come over for Turkey day. She said "I told [your uncle] that he could go without me. I didn't mind. He should go... but he didn't want to go without me." My uncle just looked at her and reminded her that he wasn't feeling well either. She agreed, but I knew what game he had played! All turned out well. I even had leftover sauce. I made eggplant parmigiana that was delicious! I never liked my grandma's.

Eric gave me some jewelry. I gave him a skateboard. But best of all, it snowed all Christmas day and all Christmas night! I haven't seen that much snow in a while.

January is here. It opened up with bad weather! School is in and kicking my butt! Dance has the girls swirling and twirling again this semester.

Happy Birthday, Mom (a.k.a. Angie)! January 5th---the BIG %! You guys can figure the age out for yourselves. But I must add, unfortunately, that mom didn't end last year or start this one off too well. At the end of last year Clay's Aunt passed away and on my Mom's birthday..... Clay's nephew died in a car crash.

Well, that's it. I'm wrapping up. Please comment. Let me know what you think, how you feel. Until next time.....

Love Cassie