bIG FaT cORn sQuEEzIN PiG pARtY: 2005-07-10

Where the hell is Cheraw?

How am I doing nowadays? Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. I am very happy to be here in Greenville, very happy to have an apartments with working lights and air conditioning and cable tv and working telephones. We are so close to everything now- we're probably within 10 minutes' drive of 3 or 4 supermarkets, 3 or 4 pharmacies, 2 or 3 ice cream places. I can name 3 Thai restaurants within a 15 minute drive, and a Vietnamese place, and a couple of Greek places. Now, you Knoxvegans and Nashburgians are accustomed to having the world close by, but Chauntelle and I have forgotten what it's like. Stepping into a Publix or a Bi-Lo and actually finding what I'm looking for is a new and thrilling sensation, which, I know, is a sad fact to admit.

Downtown is great, of course. It probably takes us 15 minutes to get there, if that long. Main Street is beautiful, and the new Falls Park is pretty damn cool, too. Falls Park connects to the larger Cleveland Park, where the local zoo is located.

If we point our car north, we can be on a hiking trail or the Blue Ridge Parkway in less than an hour. We can be in Asheville or Columbia or Charlotte in less than 2 hours. The beach is less than 4 hours away.

And, of course, it takes just over 3 1/2 hours to get to Cheraw.

Cheraw? Where in the for unlawful common knowledge is Cheraw? Well, it's sort of northwest of Greenville, out in the far uncharted regions of SC. Out by the swamps and gators and toothless folk playing "Dueling Banjos" on improvised string instruments. In short, it's in a part of the state charitably described as "the middle of fucking nowhere". It also happenes to be where I will be spending most of the next 3 weeks.

See, the only permanent IDG employee at the Stanley Tools plant in Cheraw is out on medical leave, so a rotating cast of suckers has been filling in over the past few weeks. A guy named "Craig" was up next in the rotation, but he was promoted last week to his own site in Fountain Inn, so IDG, obviously desperate, asked me to go. Now, I've only had maybe 2 weeks worth of training, so, naturally, I'm a little worried. Luckily for me, this guy named Bill Dunn, who's been working at Cheraw for the past 2 weeks, will stay on next week to show me the ropes. But he will be leaving at the end of the week, and he won't be back until Thursday of the following week. And then he's leave again. So, I'll be running the show by myself 7/25- 7/28, and then again the first week or two in August. I must admit, the prospect of running an FPS site by myself intimidates me more than a little bit. Also, I don't actually know how long I'll be in Cheraw, which frustrates me.

So, to sum up. I'm happy about being in Greenville, frustrated that just as I'm beginning to grow used to our new apartment and new surroundings, I'll have to leave them for an unknown number of weeks, and just basically scared and feeling like I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.

But-

I will be coming back to Greenville on weekends, or Chauntelle may come up, so we won't be apart for weeks like we were last month. Also, even though Cheraw is apparently the armpit of South Carolina, it is close to the beach, and only 45 minutes from Blenheim, where I can get spicy hot ginger ale.

Also, if I do this thing in Cheraw, and do it well, it will be good for me. If I go to Cheraw at the beginning of my 4th week with IDG, and do the best I can, I will (hopefully) be seen as a team player who is valuable to keep around. Of course, if I screw it up, they'll toss me out in the swamp with the gators and toothless players of string instruments.