You Just Don't Know...Do Ya?

I don't know, perhaps, I am stupid just to expect people to know stuff....That old assume.....Make an ass out of you and me concept.

Yesterday morning I made a comment about Emma Stone going parking with her boyfriend, that I later took down because I had two people write me and ask...." What's "parking."

Younger readers, I do have a few. I thought at first they were " teasing" the old Govteach.

Alas, they were not.

I've been out of the "bidness" for almost a decade now, and well, I don't really understand the teenage mind like I once did....

Parking, well, it was at least in the 1970s was a social interaction in which a couple, generally a boy and girl found a dark lonely spot generally off in the woods of rural Orange County as I remember to " swap spit."

Sort of a science experiment if you will....

In those days, most vehicles had bench seats, even pick-up trucks, a seat that went from one side of the vehicle's door to the other side's door. In the front and back seats, making these " science experiments" easier to conduct.

Some of these even resulted in reproduction occurring, as birth control was not readily available as it is today.

In the 70s, to find a prophylactic, you would either have to go to the one gas station in town with a machine ( Billups, whose slogan was...." Fill-up with Billups, your Friend.") to buy a questionable at best condom out of the machine in the dirtiest bathroom in North America. ( Who knows what quality or how long it had been in that machine, plus, they were made of " sheep skin." The prophylactic made of a lamb intestine, used in 18th Century Scotland originally.   )

Or you'd have to ask your local pharmacist for one, because they were kept in a drawer a behind the counter...The same druggist who sat down the pew with you at the Baptist church on Sunday's.....

And in those days, doctor's wouldn't just write prescriptions for birth control pills. Generally, it was a gynecologist who wrote those for girls who were getting married in a month or so.....

So, a lot of us, when we parked it only went so far. Even in college. ( Gotta complete that degree man...)

You've got to remember in those days, you got a girl pregnant, you had to get married. Or if the boy disappeared, the girl would disappear for 9 months, often under the guise of living with a sick family member or visiting grandma for a year, when in truth, they were in the Edna Gladney Home for Unwed Mother's in Fort Worth......Adopted out the child....

And it wasn't just guys who "ran outta gas" ( a euphemism for parking for you uneducated.) I've been with girls who have suggested places or  heck, I was even with a girl who was driving who " ran outta gas."

I was down FM 1135 coming back down it from Bridge City and looked over, and saw a side road and said to myself, " I've been down that dirt road a couple of times before." 

Anyway, history lesson this morning for you youth.

I am guessing the world as changed....Or perhaps it hasn't.....Them kids are coming from someplace....

F*ck You And.....

I read this is morning and I well, just no more.....Just No More.

Just Fuck You and the Clap Dripping Mule You Ride in on....

The fat man can't take much more. No not me.

I am talking about Santa.

The fat man in the red suit who brings you gifts as a child, breaking in like a "thief in the night." But instead leaves you stuff you've been wanting for a year, only to discover the bubble wrap it came in is more fun....

For years and years he's been abused.

For a while the Evangelical community in the 1980s called him "evil" because he was an elf, and elves were "demonic."

Coca-Cola for years has used him to sell their product.

Barbour Jackets this year is using the "Fat Man" as a way to sell their jackets....Like Santa wears a green wax jacket.

This year, there is a movement to make the " Fat Man" gender neutral.

Santa is not a 'he' nor is he a 'she'.....Santa should go on a diet, wear more modern clothes and have tattoos. 


27% of people think he should " upgrade." Be using Amazon Prime....An iPhone, and stop abusing those reindeer and get a "flying car."

Come on man, I know Santa changes throughout the ages, but slight changes. Not dramatic.

The old Victorian Santa of my youth,well, that's Santa.

You can tell you kids whatever you want about Santa....They 're your kids....Hell, maybe you don't have Santa at your house, and that's okay by me. The " mystery" was gone with our child at about age...5....He figured stuff out quick....

But leave most people's St. Nick alone.

Besides, us " Big Boys" need some heroes in the "Fat Boy" realm...

TPC

Or old Neches Butane as it was called for years and years.

We all know it is our Bread and Butter in this area. We all know that it is risky working at these plants\refineries.

But it is a Catch 22 situation. It pays many of you a comfortable living. The taxes received pay for fire department, law enforcement, and keeps our schools open. If it were for the kids of these plant workers, I wouldn't have had kids to teach. I probably would have wound up in the Dallas. Or Northeast Texas teaching.

That said, it is scary when 3 cities, 50,000 people have been evacuated due to a plant explosion.

Questions arise.

What steps will be taken to avoid this occurring again? Can anything really be done?

Will TPC reopen ever again?

Will PNG Schools be able to open anytime soon? Or will classes being moved ?

With all the claims from damage, will TPC their insurance provider wind up going bankrupt?

Lots of questions, lots of concerns this morning.

Former Students in the News

The media has been awash in recent days of Buna ISD alumni making " missteps in their lives."

Serious missteps.

And for the most part,  these people were likeable individuals, when they were students of mine in school.

I then take a look at the social media and there are posts concerning them, that we need to be praying for, and thinking about them. And their families.

Yes, we should, but in reality, it was them who caused pain not only for their families, but the many victims they left in their wake.

You may not know, and while I am no longer in contact with many of my ex-students, I want to see you do well.

This next comment may seem heartless and cold, but I can't find myself praying for them at this time.

I'm sure I will have at some point have to explain my action, or as in this case, inaction to my creator.

You see, I have a prayer list a mile long. ( Yeah, I know, I cuss, I take a "nip," I get "off the rails" ... I am not perfect.)

But I still get up and pray every morning at about 4am. ( You'd be amazed at in-tune with God you can get at that hour.)

- I have a dear friend, whom I love as a brother, who needs a heart transplant.

- I have another friend who needs a new liver.

- I have at least two in the hospital right now and the doctors can't figure out what is wrong.

- I have a number of you expecting a third, a second, a first , a fourth child, and  some are worried about the pregnancy, some are scared to death of becoming a new parent.

- I have people who are out of work, and I pray they find a job that makes them feel fulfilled.

- I am praying for teachers this week that they make it through the day....the day before a holiday is like " herding cats."

- I pray for my former students in law enforcement, that they make it home safely every day.

This is just a partial list.

They need my prayers....Badly....

I am sure at some point, I will change, but right now, those who have inflicted self-wounds, and serious wounds to others, well,  I'm just having a hard time being sympathetic.

Oh Kerry, This Has to End....

I somewhat....Somewhat, I get this from W.E. " Bill" Thomas ( My dad)....And he'd approve, but hell, he made it look so damn easy, but in truth, he put a good deal of effort into it.

And my brother, well, he's as bad as I am.....Perhaps worse. ( All those damn Allen Edmonds shoes)

When I went through my 3 separate interview process for the Buna ISD to hire me, I will never forget going by my parent's house afterwards, wearing a nice blue blazer, khaki slacks, UCL tie, penny loafers, and my father saying to me, " You showed up looking like that and they hired you anyway?"

I grew up in a fop's house......It's hard to keep up with a dandy's dandy.....Beau Brummel had nothing on him.

Look up Brummel...he spent 2-3 hours a day tying his cravat( his tie).... 

It's 36 days until Christmas and already I am thinking about what I am wearing for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

I have been looking at what I have in the closet and trying to decide what I am going to wear.

Yesterday, it was, maybe if I get a vest to go with my navy blue suit, wear my pocket watch and chain, pin-dot bow tie, I could go Edwardian England AKA Churchill-ian....Then I decided to price Homburg hats like Churchill always wore( I am of an age I can perhaps pull-off a Homburg).....I'm not willing to pay what they want for one. For a hat I might wear once...I'll check Village Hat later and check what they might have on prices today, but their hats are somewhat inferior after a few wearings.....A Catch 22 situation...

Then this morning, I got to thinking, perhaps it will not be "warm" for Christmas and I could "tweed" up and wear the tartan tie from that collection I have? Flat cap, or the Fedora hat.....I found a pair of Tommy Hilfiger woolen trousers in a nice brown herringbone I forgot I had.....

This is just for Christmas Eve.....

Christmas Day, well, a little less formal, but still coat and tie......

Maybe I should just chuck it this year, wear a nice OCBD shirt, blue jeans and Tony Llamas? That's what everyone else will wear, even to church services....I'll be better dressed than the minister, and I remember the day when the clergy set the standard.

Naaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh....I'm going to try and "out-dress" you every day.....

And You Know Buna ISD Would Do This in a Heartbeat

Maybe they have already and I just, well, missed it. I leave the country and miss things, and to be honest, I don't give a good shit what's going on back home ( Unless the Compound is about to flood, like it did when we were in Thurso.)

But, I digress.....Again....

I was sent a PM by some from the area, ex-student, who will remain nameless.

It seems the Como-Pickton ISD will be holding classes in New Testament  and Old Testament  in the future. The board approved 7-0.

Now, the ISD is in Hopkins County, near where my Mom's people are from, I even had a great-aunt who was the June Burke/Tandy Boyd of the old Pickton ISD before the two schools consolidated.  She taught high school English and was like every other English teacher in America. ( Why is that? My HS English teacher was like this when dinosaurs roamed the earth.)

So, I know what the ISD is like.....Pretty much every smaller school district in East Texas.

And if I was there, they'd look at my transcript( Lamar used to offer Bible classes as electives, I took 12 hours, the max because they were easy for me.....It's where I first came in contact with the Episcopal Church at the old Canterbury Club....The Episcopal Priest was teaching the Four Gospels Course.) And then I went to a theological seminary.

Like a bullseye on my back...

It'd be a fucking nightmare.

How would I handle the conflicts in the Bible between predestination and free-will?

How would I handle the Song of Solomon? It's pretty racy stuff?

How would I handle the fact the Bible says the earth is only 6000 years old? ( I believe it is millions upon millions)

How would I tell them Baptists the "Water into wine" was actually real wine, not Welch's Grape Juice?

How would I handle the Book of Leviticus and the prohibition against pork, lobster, and shrimp? ( I could see me eating a piece of bacon that day in class.)

How would I breach the concept of Hell? ( You know, I have Mormon friends whose concept and teaching on Hell is closer to my own belief than I care to admit....)

How would I explain that "East of the Suez, there's no Ten Commandments " as Kipling wrote?( Ten Suggestions as some of you believe)

How would I handle that entire "End of Time" and "Rapture" discussion? ( Rapture is a 19th Century concept, there is no "Rapture" in the Bible.)

I literally could see me getting fired for this.....Or if I was at the end of my career, pulling up and retiring at Christmas break.

Then again, I could make it soooooo hard, no one would take the class....

Now, I want to Sit in the Bathtub and Drink Whisky

Or sing" Starman "by David Bowie.

I laughed, I cried, I killed all of 10 hours. ( I did take breaks.)

Season 3 of "The Crown" is in the books at the Compound.

Maybe it is just me, but it was my favorite season so far.

Perhaps it is because I remember many of the events that occurred. ( Long time Anglophile, even in my youth. )

Helena Bonham Carter is a jewel.  Plays Princess Marget to a "T." They could not have picked a better "older" Princess.

You'll feel sorry for Prince Charles. The boy just doesn't "Get" being a royal. And in truth, I really don't either.

Jason Watkins hits Prime Minister Harold Wilson. I remember him in high school Wilson looking and acting just as Watkins plays him.

Olivia Coleman, who plays Queen Elizabeth II? Does a good job, so much so, I REALLY don't care for the Queen of England at this point. 

10 episodes. About 59 minutes each.....

My favorite? Episode 4, in which we learn about the life of the queen's husband, Prince Phillip's Mother.....Hint, she's a Greek Orthodox Nun.....

Oh, and I've got to try it, in one scene, Prince Charles' favorite uncle, Lord Mountbatten is seen in a bathtub , drinking what looks like " scotch" from the color....He's doing so, while his Black Lab dog sit by the tub.....

Now, I need to try it....