Small Talk: We'll Be Right Back

[ShutUpLutz]

mojoween, sorry for your loss. I went looking for speech Joe Biden gave to a group of military families about losing a loved one and how devastating it is, and found it. It;s about 20 minutes and the audio is a little wonky but I think it might help you. he talks about how it may not seem like it now, or tomorrow, but it does get better. 

Little by little, that agony fades. It never goes away entirely and there are going to be moments where something, a picture, an en-mail, maybe even an article of clothing will bring that agony roaring back to life. 

And that's okay. It's okay to have that 20 minute crying jag in the middle of the supermarket because you happened to look in the ice cream freezer and see that box of Friendly's watermelon ice cream and next thing you know you're sobbing into a strangers shoulder as they're hugging you.

And that's okay. (not that this ever happened to me, not in the Rockshire Giant in Rockville, MD, no siree.)

Anyway, here's a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwZ6UfXm410

[ShutUpLutz]

On 10/9/2018 at 6:04 PM, bilgistic said:

I know that, having seen my share of penises. But...how long was this penis for there to be noticeable curvature?! (Yes, I'm grossed out that we're talking about a kid.) I mean...even if an adult penis is a show-er rather than a grow-er, we're still talking about an average six inches. It's not like it's making a hard right angle. I dated a guy that had a right curvature but it wasn't noticeable unless he was erect. He was fairly well-endowed. Somehow his friends knew about it, but I don't know if he told them or they saw it, which...I have many questions that I should've asked back then.

I'm just really confused as to why 1) this kid was naked long enough for multiple boys to evaluate his penis, and 2) multiple boys spent time evaluating and discussing his penis.

I guess it goes without saying that I don't understand the behavior of males.

The thing about teenage boys and teenage boys dongs is that they, the dongs tend to have a life of their own. Normally a guy would have to think of or see a naked or semi naked lady/girl/woman in order for his dong to...what's the best word to use...ah here it is: 'stir'. You guys out there know what I mean. 

But when you're a teenager your dong can stir for ANY  reason or no reason. Even shifting in your seat during English class can leave you with a raging boner that unfortunately WILL be visible unless you hide it with a book or notebook, except that would have you looking like a jackass since you carry all that stuff in your bookbag between classes. So you end up waiting until all the other kids have left class and then sort of shuffle out and hug the wall and end up late to Horticulture but it;s cool because the teacher is a semi-burned out hippie who is shall we say, less than strict when it comes to taking attendance and in fact it turns out he is MORE reasonably concerned about growing the pot that he has hidden away not all that well in the greenhouse on the roof of the school

[ShutUpLutz]

So I'll post this and wait for walnutqueen. 

Look, I'm not going to try and diagnose you over the internet (although actually I kind of am), but don't you think you're whole watching nature and animal rescue shows where animals are being killed by other animals like in say Big Cat Diary or being rescued from abusive environments and owners who mistreat them like Animal Cops Houston, but not being able to actually watch the animals being killed  and rescued is a sign of "something?" 

By no means am I meaning to imply or infer that you are batshit crazy, I lived two doors down from batshit crazy, and some of it was enjoyable, much of it was not. Anyway, sorry for the digression.

Do you watch the parts on Animal cops where the animals get rehabilitated at the shelter? I'm trying to get a clearer picture. 

[walnutqueen]

1 hour ago, ShutUpLutz said:

So I'll post this and wait for walnutqueen. 

Look, I'm not going to try and diagnose you over the internet (although actually I kind of am), but don't you think you're whole watching nature and animal rescue shows where animals are being killed by other animals like in say Big Cat Diary or being rescued from abusive environments and owners who mistreat them like Animal Cops Houston, but not being able to actually watch the animals being killed  and rescued is a sign of "something?" 

By no means am I meaning to imply or infer that you are batshit crazy, I lived two doors down from batshit crazy, and some of it was enjoyable, much of it was not. Anyway, sorry for the digression.

Do you watch the parts on Animal cops where the animals get rehabilitated at the shelter? I'm trying to get a clearer picture. 

Let. It. Go.

[peacheslatour]

11 hours ago, ShutUpLutz said:

The thing about teenage boys and teenage boys dongs is that they, the dongs tend to have a life of their own. Normally a guy would have to think of or see a naked or semi naked lady/girl/woman in order for his dong to...what's the best word to use...ah here it is: 'stir'. You guys out there know what I mean. 

But when you're a teenager your dong can stir for ANY  reason or no reason. Even shifting in your seat during English class can leave you with a raging boner that unfortunately WILL be visible unless you hide it with a book or notebook, except that would have you looking like a jackass since you carry all that stuff in your bookbag between classes. So you end up waiting until all the other kids have left class and then sort of shuffle out and hug the wall and end up late to Horticulture but it;s cool because the teacher is a semi-burned out hippie who is shall we say, less than strict when it comes to taking attendance and in fact it turns out he is MORE reasonably concerned about growing the pot that he has hidden away not all that well in the greenhouse on the roof of the school

Well, that was oddly specific Mr. Johnson. Let's meet after school to talk terms, shall we?

[ShutUpLutz]

8 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Well, that was oddly specific Mr. Johnson. Let's meet after school to talk terms, shall we?

Don't tease. ;D

Now sure, you're right, that IS an oddly specific memory to share with the rest of the class, as it were. But of course, there has to be something more, right? Some twist or some hideously shameful thing that is actually intertwined with this "getting a boner merely by shifting in your seat in English class in high school. "

Actually no, at least not shameful for me. But recall that bit about the horticulture teacher and marijuana? There was something shameful that occurred, although one of the people involved didn't really seem to feel what would be seen by many as an appropriate level of shame. Now the part about the boner was embarrassing for me, but at the time no one noticed.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

But recall that bit about the horticulture teacher and marijuana? 

That is what I was referencing.

[walnutqueen]

On 10/9/2018 at 3:04 PM, bilgistic said:

I know that, having seen my share of penises. But...how long was this penis for there to be noticeable curvature?! (Yes, I'm grossed out that we're talking about a kid.) I mean...even if an adult penis is a show-er rather than a grow-er, we're still talking about an average six inches. It's not like it's making a hard right angle

You've not spent much time on a nude beach, have you?  I can say, with all honesty, that I have seen many thousands of penii, and they come in all shapes, sizes and curvatures.  And colors (lest I forget the male stripper named "Patches", who had an interesting case of vitiligo).  They're just not that fascinating to me, but the odd one has been a source of mild intrigue (e.g. "the whacker, who walked along the beach slapping his abnormally l-o-n-g penis up against his torso/chest with each step he took, poor dear).  Just like women's breasts, before they became artificially inflated, every one is unique and "special".   Boys' private parts, just like girls' are not OK to talk or think about, unless you're their benign Mum or caregiver.  :-)

Glad I don't hang out with other naturists anymore - I'd hate to witness all the epilliatory and botoxy plasticity that has seemingly taken hold of the younger generations.

[Brattinella]

I used to spend time on the Red White and Blue Beach and saw plenty of penii.  Most of them were old and VERY tanned, but always interesting to see.

[walnutqueen]

18 minutes ago, Brattinella said:

I used to spend time on the Red White and Blue Beach and saw plenty of penii.  Most of them were old and VERY tanned, but always interesting to see.

I'm sure you mean "interesting" in a purely scientific way ... :-D

[ShutUpLutz]

4 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

That is what I was referencing.

So, before I get into this, you should know I'm probably gonna ramble on a bit with some digressions which have no point and probably don't belong here, but it will be mostly maybe kind of  worth it in the end. Possibly. OR WILL IT?

But c'mon it's not like there's anything good on tv (don't you DARE mention Walking Dead, that show is garbage. Whatshisface* is FINALLY getting killed off after fucking over everyone else's lives for eight seasons, are you kidding me?! It took EIGHT seasons to get to that point??!) 

See what I mean about digressions? But hey, this is part of my style and y'all LOVED my story about heat exhaustion and that had rambling in it; or maybe you liked it because of the enormous suffering I went through. OK, so maybe not enormous, but I suffered. But c'mon, settle in with a drink and your pet dog/cat/lizard/squirrel/skunk/tarantula on your lap. (Winks) "I'll make you famous."

Also, before you go and call bullshit on "There's no way you could remember exactly what was said in that classroom more than 25 years later." Oh contrare. 8 years of acting lessons and theater classes made me great at remembering dialogue and conversations, but did jack for my actual acting skills.

I went to one of the best schools in the ENTIRE COUNTRY, I'm talking Top 100, we even have the stupid plaque displayed semi-prominently, at least it was until they remodeled the place. When I entered 9th grade I was involved in what the youths today call, what is it, oh yeah 'beef ' or 'drama' with another kid, who I had been friends with in eighth grade but had a falling out with. Actually the beef involved not just one kid but a group/gang of kids who hung around together. Many of these kids turned out to be in many of the same classes with me, which made for a not very pleasant time, to the extent I eventually said "Fuck this," and started skipping the last  half of the school day, hanging out in the bathroom and hallways. Eventually I got hauled in to the office and got yelled at by the vice principal for not coming to a teacher or him and saying something. The end result was that some of the kids got suspended and I got my schedule switched around and so I ended up in horticulture which was taught by Mr. Sanderson. This was a class that was normally taken by upperclassmen and was known as a 'rocks for jocks' kind of deal and yes there were a bunch of football/basketball players in the class. But they were actually pretty cool, as many of them lived in my neighborhood and after they found out my situation several of them took me under their protection, kind of like My Bodyguard and told the bullies to knock it the fuck off, which eventually involved a fight of sorts which I was not involved in beyond watching.

ANYWAY, I ended up taking the class again when I was a junior because it was easy and I was allowed to. (I should probably add here that my grades in high school were NOT what one could call stellar, when we got our class rank beginning of senior year I was 504 out of 517. HELLO STATE SAFETY SCHOOL!!!!

So, Mr. Sanderson looked sorta but not really like John Denver, same hairstyle, slightly blonder hair, glasses, but Mr. Sanderson favored polo shirts. He was slightly befuddled and kind of sort of didn't have control of his classes, but it wasn't any REALLY out of control shit, if you wanted to talk he'd ask you to go to the back of the classroom. The horticulture class always had a section on drugs and it was only slightly suspicious that that was the exact time when our idiot principal Dr. Coles would show up and hang around for those two weeks. But the class was pretty fun. Mr. Sanderson had a Japanese guy come in for three weeks and teach us about bonsai and meditation and centering yourself and that was something I've held on to and kept at. We also did the landscaping around the school and the junior high school up the hill FOR FREE I might add.

Another thing we did was every person in the class had to grow a plant over the course of the semester. Which is a good idea because it teaches you about caring for and taking care of another living thing and what you're gonna have to do when civilization collapses and we all have to go back to being hunter gatherers and eat squirrel food for the rest of our lives. Boy is THAT going to suck.

I mentioned earlier that there were a good number of jocks in the class, but there were also a fair number of metalheads and burnouts. Which is fine, you couldn't take more than one shop class per semester. One of the metalheads in class my junior year was a guy named Mark Humphries, who coincidentally had been in the gang of kids bullying me. But that was off in the fog. Mark had long orange hair, sorta like Dave Mustaine, but fuller. Mark also wore various heavy metal concert T-shirts EVERY day. 

Quiet Riot? Check.

Twisted Sister? Check.

Dio? Check.

Motley Crue? Check.

Iron Maiden? Are you kidding he had 4 different Maiden shirts.

Van Halen? Check.

Dokken? Check.

Scorpions? Check?

**Rush? Check.

And a dark blue denim jacket covered with patches from metal bands all over the back. It was known among the students that Mark in addition to being a metalhead was a pretty heavy druggie. he and another guy Rob Sooey, had gotten backstage at a Motley Crue concert and talked gleefully and often about snorting cocaine out of a big pile, not even 'railing it,' just slamming their face into the pile. Which, sure. I'd estimate that while Mark was in high school, and yes he did graduate, he was probably high/stoned 75% of the time. I'm talking all day, which again, that was his choice.

So we had to grow a plant during the semester and it was some outrageously huge part of your total grade, like 75%, but seriously, it was literally impossible to fuck it up and get less then that, unless you somehow set fire to the greenhouse. 

Or you do what Mark did.

Which was grow pot. (Waits for collective "Well DUH!!!!!!" from those reading this.)

Actually Mark grew two plants that semester, one pot and one that wasn't. He was really good at keeping the pot plant hidden in the greenhouse, at least at first, and honestly it wasn't that hard to hide something there, Mr. Sanderson often didn't go up there for a week at a time. So it's near the end of May, and time for Mr. Sanderson to evaluate and grade everyone's plants (and give everyone that automatic A which covers 75% of your grade.) Normally Mr. Sanderson would have us fill out a worksheet and call us into the office to talk about our plant, what we did right and wrong. He was actually a pretty good botanist.

But not this time. This time he sat at the big lab table at the front of the class, (y'all have an idea what I mean by lab table, right? 'Cause I have no desire to go into any sort of description, oh I know, remember the classroom scenes from Breaking Bad, when Walter was teaching chemistry? That's the kind of table I'm not describing.)

Mr. Sanderson went into the office and brought out two plants, one of which was very obviously marijuana, and the other.....was not. he said, "Mark, can you come up here?" Mark came up and stood next to him, looking at the plants. "Mark, what was the assignment for this?" Mr. Sanderson waved his hand at the plants.

"We were like, supposed to grow a plant."

"Correct."

"Which is what I did."

(Keep in mind that the entire class has stopped dicking around/flirting/talking and is watching this whole thing play out.)

"Yes, you did Mark, and you did a very good job, but...it's just, Mark," Mr. Sanderson waved his hand at the marijuana plant and gave one of those full body exasperated sighs that was a weird combination of an 8th grade girls sighs, minus the full body eye roll and the "You have really disappointed not just me but your MOTHER," sighs that your dad gave when when you totaled your mom's car for the second time in less than 2 years.

"Mark, you grew marijuana."

"Whatta you mean, I did what you told us. You told us to choose a plant to grow and I did."

I forgot to mention that we had a choice of what type of plant to grow, and no marijuana was NOT one of the choices.

"Mark, you know marijuana is illegal. You KNOW this. You were here when we did the drug unit. This is a problem Mark."

"What do you mean, I just did what you told us to do. I grew a plant, in fact I grew two plants so I should get extra credit."

Earlier I noted that Mark was a druggie, but in spite of/because of? that he did graduate, but that doesn't mean he was what one would call smart. Wiley maybe, but not wiley enough not to get caught growing pot in the school greenhouse.

"What, Mark, how can I possibly give you extra credit? Do you have any idea how much trouble this could be? How much trouble you are in? How much trouble I could be in? How much trouble the school could be in? I could lose my job. I could get arrested. You could get arrested. Do you want to get arrested Mark? Do you want me to get arrested? Do you want me to lose my job Mark?"

Unfortunately Mark took just a little TOO much time answering, you know that amount of time where everyone and their dead great-great-great-great-great-great-great step uncle can tell that whatever you say after this pause that is just a little TOO long is going to be:

A) An absolute lie.

B) Complete bullshit.

C) A AND B.

If you're saying to yourself, "Wait a minute A and B are the EXACT SAME THING?! WHAT KIND OF SCAM ARE YOU RUNNING HERE, I WAS TOLD THERE WOULD BE FRESH BAKED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES WITH NO NUTS. PROMISES WERE MADE", then you've forgotten what teenagers are like in high school or what they used to be like.

Mark said, "No I don't want any of that. I don't see what the big deal is, I just did what you said to do."

Now, I can sort of see Mark's point. He had gone above and beyond and grown two plants so his thing about getting extra credit wasn't exactly wrong. It WAS dumb and there was no way it was gonna happen. But it wasn't exactly wrong.

But this was also a time when this was a big deal. Three years before when I was in 9th grade, a senior girl from our school had killed herself and 10 other kids from three different high schools in an atrocity of a car wreck. and guess what they found in her system?

Pot? Check.

Cocaine? check.

Crack? Check.

LSD? Check.

Angel dust? Check.

Mescaline? Check.

So our school was on a strict "We don't fuck around when it comes to drugs." The police would have drug sniffing dogs come through the school and check out lockers 4 or 5 times a year. If you were caught, you were expelled, not just from our high school, but from the county system.

Anyhoodle, back to the classroom.

"Mark, what are we going to do about this? I can't have this Mark, the school can't have this kind of thing going on, students growing pot in school Mark."

"Well, didn't I do a good job, it's not like they aren't healthy?"

Mr. Sanderson looked at both plants. "That's true Mark. They are very healthy."

"And how do you even know I grew that?" Mark pointed at the pot plant.

EXCELLENT question. Just how did you know, Mr. Smarty McSmarty Pants Detective/Teacher that this particular pot plant belonged to Mark Humphries and not someone ELSE in the class? Hmmmm?

Mr. Sanderson lifted and turned the plant. "Because you wrote your name is on the cannister Mark."

Je Accuse!!!!

Not quite caught red handed but way more than enough for Mark to get expelled that very day.

Mark didn't say anything but looked around at the entire class staring at him with a kind of "Why are y'all just sitting there, come rescue me!" look on his face.

Mr. Sanderson sighed again and ran his hand through his hair and over his face. "Mark, look, you did do a good job, an excellent job on this assignment. And you're a decent kid, you come to class on time, you don't talk, you pay attention, I just don't understand why you would do this." That last sentence made just about everyone else in class roll their eyes, but remember,he was a addle minded. "I don't want you to get expelled or arrested Mark, but I have to punish you. You agree that you did something wrong here, don't you Mark?"

"Sure I guess."

"Good." There was about 30 seconds of silence while Mr. Sanderson mulled over what he should do. "Okay, I'll tell you what Mark, I'm going to give you an F for growing the pot plant and a 70 for growing the other plant. And we can talk about you doing some other things so that you don't fail, because I don't want you to fail the class, okay? Do you understand, Mark?"

Mark said, "Yeah. But I have a question."

"What is it Mark?"

"Can I have that? I mean, I grew it and all." Mark pointed at the pot plant.

Mr. Sanderson picked up the pot plant. "No Mark, I'm going to smoke it."

 

So how AWESOME was that story? How badly did it fail to meet your expectations? Would you care to read about the student who raped their way through our drama department and then became a kinda big star*** in Hollywood? Or how about when I nearly failed gym and thus  eighth grade for the second time due to picking my nose and eating it and an abusive gym teacher? How can you NOT want to read about those?

 

*Rick Grimes.

**Okay, so technically Rush isn't/wasn't a metal band, but they did appear in Circus kind of regularly and the metalheads at my school sure as fuck thought they were metal as they wore their Rush t-shirts all the goddamned time.

***I shan't name the actor in this post but they are on a show which is currently airing and which does have a forum here on the board. that narrows it down not even the teeniest bit.

[walnutqueen]

Crickets.  I just love the sound of crickets.  

I could listen to them all night long; and often do.

[LoneHaranguer]

On 10/21/2018 at 3:32 AM, ShutUpLutz said:

But when you're a teenager your dong can stir for ANY  reason or no reason. Even shifting in your seat during English class can leave you with a raging boner that unfortunately WILL be visible unless you hide it with a book or notebook, except that would have you looking like a jackass since you carry all that stuff in your bookbag between classes.

Why haven't schools switched to ebooks, so that the students can carry around a tablet (and maybe a notebook) instead of a bookbag? It would also satisfy parents who don't like how much weight their kids have to lug around.

[Browncoat]

Some school systems can't afford tablets for all the students, and all the students can't afford tablets for themselves. 

[Prevailing Wind]

Refurbished Kindles don't cost all that much. It'd be cheaper than buying textbooks.

[LoneHaranguer]

17 hours ago, Browncoat said:

Some school systems can't afford tablets for all the students, and all the students can't afford tablets for themselves. 

I live in a poor area, and I don't know the last time I've seen a school-age kid in public without a tablet or smartphone, but the schools could loan out tablets to just those who need something, which is what they do for band instruments. The schools would have to be prepared to scrub them of porn and other non-academic content upon return.

[Browncoat]

The school where I went to high school 40 years ago (and which was dilapidated back then) can't afford to fix the roof.  School systems like that aren't likely to be able to buy loaner tablets for all the kids.  It would be nice if they could, but sometimes things like that are just not possible, and kids limp along with old textbooks.

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎1‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 11:17 PM, Silver Raven said:

I was a computer operator, and every month we had to run a monthly personnel program which required inputting thousands of punch cards.  Invariably, one or more of the cards would reject and we had to stop the input until the person responsible for maintaining the cards could come and punch a new card.  Then the program put out punch card paychecks which had to be set EXACTLY into the punch card output device, or every single one of the hundreds of checks would be invalid.  And there was a very strict maintenance of the paycheck cards, so if we screwed up, the person who maintained the program had to deal with reporting bad cards and we would have to re-punch them.

Heh. That reminds me of the old days when we printed license for Fire Marshal, we would print them on track paper and then take the track paper to a special printer with the Fire Marshal's signature stamp under lock and key and run the paper thru  the printer for his signature. The paper was numbered with some sort of design on it and the sheet numbers were documented and misprints were shredded after their numbers were recorded. Yes, if you messed up at any step you had to start over.

On ‎1‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 1:52 PM, friendperidot said:

phew, what a relief, there's another show I don't have to watch! I haven't a clue who Cress Williams is, lol. Was Living Single the one about the locker room and the wait staff at an upscale restaurant?

You're thinking of Making A Living.

 

On ‎5‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 6:24 AM, Browncoat said:

Warfarin = rat poison, and it is VERY effective.  They don’t sell it for rats and mice anymore because it’s so dangerous.

How do they pay for it?

[funky-rat]

15 minutes ago, Ubiquitous said:

You're thinking of Making A Living.

Do you mean "It's A Living"?  That had waitresses working at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.  It was network for a season or two, and then went syndicated.  Ann Jillian was on it at one time.

[smittykins]

IIRC, it was It's A Living at first, and changed to Making A Living sometime later. 

[Jaded]

23 minutes ago, smittykins said:

IIRC, it was It's A Living at first, and changed to Making A Living sometime later. 

When it was on ABC it was called It's A Living and changed to Making A Living for the second season as an attempt to retool. When it was brought back for syndication a couple years later it went back to being called It's A Living.

The Making A Living opening is the 2nd one in this video.

Edited October 24, 2018 by Jaded

[friendperidot]

thanks everyone for the answers about the show, It's A Living/Making A Living. I once asked on FB if anyone knew what some lyrics are, I got answers, and one of my friends said, that was an easy one, you could have googled the part of the lyric you knew. I replied, yes I could have, but it brings my friends so much joy to tell me things I don't know, so why should I deprive them of that pleasure?

[LoneHaranguer]

3 hours ago, Browncoat said:

The school where I went to high school 40 years ago (and which was dilapidated back then) can't afford to fix the roof.  School systems like that aren't likely to be able to buy loaner tablets for all the kids.  It would be nice if they could, but sometimes things like that are just not possible, and kids limp along with old textbooks.

Sounds like the school would be a good candidate for the free iPads Apple has been giving to students and teachers under their ConnectED program. Is Bill Gates still donating stuff to schools? There are also tech grants from other sources, but I think they tend to spread out their donations more, so it'd  probably have to be done a grade or two at a time.

[funky-rat]

Weird.  I don't ever recall it being called "Making A Living".  I looked, and apparently it was just for one season.

[ShutUpLutz]

On 10/24/2018 at 7:21 PM, LoneHaranguer said:

Sounds like the school would be a good candidate for the free iPads Apple has been giving to students and teachers under their ConnectED program. Is Bill Gates still donating stuff to schools? There are also tech grants from other sources, but I think they tend to spread out their donations more, so it'd  probably have to be done a grade or two at a time.

Screw giving the kids tablets, FIX THE GODDAMN BUILDING.

On 10/23/2018 at 8:25 PM, LoneHaranguer said:

Why haven't schools switched to ebooks, so that the students can carry around a tablet (and maybe a notebook) instead of a bookbag? It would also satisfy parents who don't like how much weight their kids have to lug around.

Give me a break. That's why you have a locker, to put some of your books in. And please, it's not like these kids are dragging 40 lbs of books around. Christ, this really is a nation of whiny weak crybabies now. And since no kid is allowed to walk to school anymore because of gazzilliones of child molesters lurking in every bush and around every goddamn corner every kid either takes the bus and their parents wait with them at the bus stop or they get driven to school by the parents so they don't have this enormous weight of tons and tons and tons and tons of books on their backs for more than a minute at most.

[LoneHaranguer]

23 hours ago, ShutUpLutz said:

Give me a break. That's why you have a locker, to put some of your books in. And please, it's not like these kids are dragging 40 lbs of books around. Christ, this really is a nation of whiny weak crybabies now. And since no kid is allowed to walk to school anymore because of gazzilliones of child molesters lurking in every bush and around every goddamn corner every kid either takes the bus and their parents wait with them at the bus stop or they get driven to school by the parents so they don't have this enormous weight of tons and tons and tons and tons of books on their backs for more than a minute at most.

It's even worse than that. Buses not only pick up and drop off students at their homes, on drop-offs they'll wait there, blocking traffic, until the student goes inside. Not all schools have lockers anymore. Not sure why; none of the reasons I've seen have been very convincing.

[friendperidot]

In the city I live in, the only public school kids that get picked up by a bus in front of their home are the special ed students, for the others, this city is laid out in one square mile grids, and in my neighborhood, on the poor side of town, there are only about 4 bus stops for the jr high and high school kids. There are 2 elementary schools in this square mile, so most kids can walk to one or the other. And I don't know about how many books they carry, this isn't the most educational trending neighborhood in the city. Many parents here don't really give a crap if their kids go to school or carry books or do homework. When I was a foster parent to my nieces, I had them in elementary schools out of this neighborhood so they could get a better education. But then, it was taken out of my hands and they had to go live with their convicted child molester father and he didn't care if they went to school or not, and they didn't have to worry about child molesters on every corner, there was one in the living room. I'm not bitter or angry or anything. But neither got a high school diploma, one did get a GED, the other hasn't bothered. And the cycle has gone on.

[janie jones]

On 10/28/2018 at 9:37 AM, ShutUpLutz said:

Screw giving the kids tablets, FIX THE GODDAMN BUILDING.

Yeah, all the technology in the world is not going to erase a poor learning environment with poor facilities.

[LoneHaranguer]

14 hours ago, friendperidot said:

In the city I live in, the only public school kids that get picked up by a bus in front of their home are the special ed students, for the others, this city is laid out in one square mile grids, and in my neighborhood, on the poor side of town, there are only about 4 bus stops for the jr high and high school kids. There are 2 elementary schools in this square mile, so most kids can walk to one or the other.

Around here, the answer to failing schools was to let parents pick where to have their kids go (the grass is always greener...), and when it was considered unsafe for kids to wait at bus stops, the busing became door-to-door.

24 minutes ago, janie jones said:

Yeah, all the technology in the world is not going to erase a poor learning environment with poor facilities.

But poor facilities don't matter if you can get good teachers.

[Maximoose]

On 10/29/2018 at 10:58 AM, LoneHaranguer said:

 Not all schools have lockers anymore. Not sure why; none of the reasons I've seen have been very convincing.

True story; I forgot my locker combination literally EVERY year I used them, even had a year or two where my textbooks and such were still in them after book turn in at the end of the year!

 

But that was well over 15 years ago, back when air conditioning was a rare treat reserved for offices, and running up 1-2 flights of stairs between classes were commonplace. 

(Then again, the school I went to doesn't technically exist anymore, due to them forcefully merging with a nearby town that didn't want to, all for a better football team.)

[Silver Raven]

My 90-year-old mother was in Paradise, California visiting family just six weeks ago.  I hate to think what would have happened if the fires broke out then and we were 90 miles apart.  I have three cousins who live there, one right next door to the hospital.  She said the trees on both sides of the street were on fire as she escaped, but it took her almost two hours to drive five miles.  None of my cousins knows what condition their houses are in, and they haven't been able to get up to the area to see.

One cousin is staying with a friend, another cousin is couch surfing with his wife.  And the third cousin is staying at Ronald McDonald House in Sacramento because her daughter had a baby about three months ago who was born with only a partially functioning heart.  He's still on life support, but they were able to hold him for the first time today.

[Annber03]

Oh, geez. That's awful about the baby. I don't know what kinds of things they might be able to do to help with something like that, but I hope they're able to do whatever they can for him. 

Sorry to hear about your relatives being affected by the fires, too. Sending good thoughts and wishes to all three of your cousins and their families. 

[Browncoat]

How scary, @Silver Raven!  Glad your cousins are okay.

[Sequoia]

Sending prayers and positive thoughts your way.

[friendperidot]

Boy and pig story follow up from favorite commercials. I ride taxis a lot because I can't really walk long distances and I have no car. I suppose in the downtown area and in the large hotels, you can walk outside and catch a cab, but in the neighborhoods, you have to call for one. I ride with the same 3 or 4 drivers most of the time and I've developed a couple of favorites. One of my favorite drivers, Jim, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this year, the prognosis isn't good. 

Jim grew up in Tulsa and north of here on his grandparent's farm, mostly cattle and pigs. He got attached to a pig when the pig was born, runt of the litter. His grandfather told him he wouldn't send him to the processing plant and they would keep him as a pet. He named her Lucy, she followed him everywhere, up and down steps, slept with him, got in the bathtub with him, she had her own little swimming pool outside for washing off after rolling in the grass. He loved Lucy. One day when he was at school and his grandfather was away from the farm, Lucy was in the pen with the other pigs and the truck from the processing plant came, his grandmother was distracted and didn't pay attention and Lucy was taken away. His grandfather called the plant but it was too late. I'm telling the story so Jim's Lucy will live on.

[Annber03]

Ohhhhh, no, poor little Lucy :(. How heartbreaking. 

Sorry to hear about Jim falling ill, too. 

[Prevailing Wind]

From the Irritaing/Outrage thread, re the discussion of unruly kids in public: I used to work in a department store's travel agency. We were in a storefront next door to the department store & didn't have a copier, so if I needed to make photocopies, I had to go next door, walk through the store & go upstairs to the office to use their copier. I walked in one day and a woman (a mom) was pawing through the table of men's socks. In the middle of the main aisle, her two male crotchfruit were running in circles, slapping at each other. I stood there, watching, for  number of moments, looking over to the mom to see if she'd notice a problem. Nope. So I spoke with my outside voice to the boys, "You HAVE to do that right here!?" They immediately stopped, stared at me, and then ran & hid behind their mom. I felt good. My job here is done.

[chessiegal]

When I retired and started going to the grocery store during the day, I realized I was shopping with a different demographic, old foggies like me or SAHMs. Whoever came up with the idea of those small "customer in training" shopping carts should be tarred and feathered.

[Browncoat]

"Crotchfruit."  Heh.

I once said to two of them, "Didn't your mother teach you to behave any better than that?"  not realizing their mother could hear me.  She corralled them right quick after that.

[Silver Raven]

9 hours ago, chessiegal said:

When I retired and started going to the grocery store during the day, I realized I was shopping with a different demographic, old foggies like me or SAHMs. Whoever came up with the idea of those small "customer in training" shopping carts should be tarred and feathered.

But it's the old fogies (like me) who like to park their carts in the middle of the aisles so you can't get around them.

[smittykins]

On 11/16/2018 at 4:05 PM, Annber03 said:

Ohhhhh, no, poor little Lucy :(. How heartbreaking. 

Sorry to hear about Jim falling ill, too. 

Several years ago, a driver with our county bus system developed pancreatic cancer, and after surgery and chemo was able to return to work part time.(I haven’t taken the bus in awhile, so I don’t know his current situation).

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 12:37 AM, AntiBeeSpray said:

This new ad by KFC made me go 'What?!' and lol at the same time.

 

I tried it yesterday and for fast food, it was pretty good.

 

On ‎10‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 4:02 PM, funky-rat said:

Do you mean "It's A Living"?  That had waitresses working at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles.  It was network for a season or two, and then went syndicated.  Ann Jillian was on it at one time.

Yeah, that's the show! I must have forgotten about the title changes and I remember Ann Jillian was a big deal for some reason (she had breast cancer?). Looking at the six (!) seasons of opening credits, I didn't realize there were so many cast changes!

[mojoween]

Santa was at PetSmart so of course Mookie Wilson and I had to go.  

He was thrilled.

[ABay]

Mookie has an impressive stink eye. Sleep lightly, @mojoween.

Edited December 8, 2018 by ABay

[peacheslatour]

"I WILL kill you in your sleep and poop in your shoes."

[crazycatlady58]

That is definitely an" I will get you for this "look.

[Jaded]

Santa and Mookie seem to be sharing the same facial expression. The Santa has a beard to cover some of it though.

[Bastet]

It's been nice knowin' ya, @mojoween.

[janie jones]

Santa looks like Matt Damon.

[peacheslatour]

31 minutes ago, janie jones said:

Santa looks like Matt Damon.

"I always thought it would be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody."