Ugly Messages.....GQ/Esquire....Hoodlums.... Yeah, I Hate Teachers Too....So, I am Gay?

 The app on the computer decided we needed to listen to Manchester hoodlums this morning. Oasis, The Verve......I don't know, Manchester is not one of my favor British cities. I need to click on the app and list what I want to listen to this morning....And all of a sudden it plays " Blue Oyster Cult." 

No, I was somewhat surprised at the numbers the blog received on yesterday's blog.  Normally the first few weeks after school lets out for summer, readership on the blog is " Dead Time" not many hits, but yesterday proved otherwise. It is somewhat surprising....

I got a couple of ugly messages from Buna ISD apologists yesterday. Making all sort of excusing for the hiring practices of the school district.  Trouble is they are on the teat of the district. I would defend as the Chinese would say, " My Rice Bowl" too. 

Again, I receive so much mail, especially lately, I have a hard time answering like I should. 

Some folks just write to vent, and that is okay. I read what you say and understand. I get aggravated too.  

-I received a message a couple of days ago from a ex-student upset about how she was treated subbing at  school..... How mean the teachers were....

Come on, school is just like any other workplace. 

Most of these people you don't want to see during the Summer Break, or any other time. There are dynamics in a school that most of you don't or won't understand unless you are actually employed by a school district. 

Yeah, you like the kids, and it is SUPPOSED to be why you are there, but still, it is a job. A way to pay the mortgage.  And psychologically you have to treat it that way. 

I have a theory on teachers, and I will not disclose it for fear of insulting about 3/4th of my readers. Maybe one day. 

 - I went down the rabbit hole of GQ and Esquire magazines, both published by the same company. At one time I subscribed to both.....And this morning, I read both the American and the UK versions.

Other than a story of the " Full English Breakfast" it was nothing but slop.  ( Full English- fried egg, bacon, sausage, potato patties( hash brown) mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans, Black Pudding, some form of bread....In Scotland, haggis, in Northern Ireland White Pudding( No fooling, White Pudding and haggis done right are almost religious experiences.).....In the UK I have one for breakfast, every morning. Get that bad cholesterol level up.)

No suits described in the American version, and barely discussed in the British version.....It is mostly was watches, and how to dress sloppy like the celebrities. One article was on " How to Wear a Baseball Cap." Do, I need to be told how to wear a ball-cap?   I've been wearing one for 68 years. 

- Finally,two different people  unhappy with me wrote and called me " Gay." 

Yes, I have gay friends, but I am not gay.  

That said, I saw the latest Sperry Topsider boat shoes video ad...I swear the male in the commercial was wearing rouge. 

I've been rocking Sperry's since I was in seminary. So 45+ years.  

I don't know, I get called all sort of things in a backlash to the blog.  

Just another day of writing the blog....

-Thanks for reading, and as always, all information is read and researched. As always. it will remain confidential.  

 

What the Cornbread #@^& is This Position Buna ISD?????

 Warning- I swear badly in this one....I will try and use the Northern Irish pronunciation on certain words.....You know....Me people.... 

 I am trying to get to heaven Buna Independent School District. I really am. 

But you pull this shit......I got angry just reading about the job. 

What the cornbread feck does a Buna ISD need a " Dean of Students" for? 

Do you really need another damn administrator?  

This is something like rich a "Prep School"  in Houston, like Cathedral High School, or Strake Jesuit would have, and part of that is to get their kids into Harvard or the University of Chicago......Stanford......Carnegie Mellon.....

Buna High ain't a prep school, yeah, when the Govteach was there I taught like it was it was a college preparatory class, but I am a not a normal teacher. I had such a poor background for college, well," Dammit to Hell Lamar Gene" I was not going to let that happen to y'all.  

And I did it with with a SE Texas flair, after all, I am one of you, even though I don't admit it....Often....Go to England, and I turn up my East Texas accent. It is a conversation starter.  

Everything I read about the position just reeks of more micromanagement..... The more people you hire, the more people you seem to need.....

Buna, you are the smallest high school in your football district..... 

I don't know, if I had the position, I think I would walk around campus just to pat teachers on the back and tell them" You're doing a hell of a job." At this point, just getting people to teach school in 2026 is difficult as it is....

Stick my head in the history, government, and see if they needed some help with the lesson. ( I am afraid I might take over the lecture........So, I can't stay long....)   

But, is Buna ISD raking in so much feckin' tax money that we can just spend on whatever looks cool? Feckin' sounds good? 

Y'all need to get control of y'all's damn school...I am tempted to take the money I was offered to run a campaign....Go full Donald Segretti ( Look him up) in the campaign......(Okay Kerry, we're trying to stay out of Hell here.......)

I don't know man........ Maybe I need to stop.

Thank you Jesus I am on SSRIs.... 

 

 

 

Well, I Have Gone Soft.......I Was Never a Fan....But......

 I have never been a fan of Jane Austen. No, do not care for Mansfield Park, or Pride of Prejudice. Not a  romantic 'comedy' fan of the British Regency Era. 

Then again, Mansfield Park is pretty dark.  

No, we have gotten hooked watching That Other Bennet Girl on Britbox. 

A 10 episode show, again, a play off of Austen's Pride of Prejudice about the less attractive sister in the family. There were 5 sisters total in the Bennet family, no boys. 

Of course, the show is all speculation and they probably consulted some Austen scholar and had them sign off on what Jane Austen may have actually wanted, if she had written such a book. 

Yeah, another let's make stuff up....

That said, the show is pretty good. I am even hooked watching. 

As I said, takes place in the Regency Era.

The Regency Period 1795-1837, was the time period that George III was at his craziness. ( He needed lithium) 

Yes, same King George during the American Revolution. 

Parliament declared George III unable to rule and appointed his heir, George, The Prince of Wales to appointed to fulfill royal duties.  

Historically, for an Anglophile like myself,  this is a fascinating time period. 

Not not my favorite, as I love to read/study about Tudor-Stuart England, Victorian-Edwardian England and recently, pre-Norman 1066AD invasion England, the old Anglo-Saxons. 

It was the time of Beau Brummel. AKA George Brummel, was a man who was the first dandy/fop of the time we would understand. Example Brummel would spend an hour a day just tying his tie.( caveat) Spent most of his £30,000 which was big money for this time, mostly on clothes.  The men in the TV show all dress like Brummel. 

It was the time of the "Wicked Brothers" All of the royal Princes were seen as either deviants, or cretins.

It is the time of Percy Shelly the Romantic poet, and his wife, Mary Shelly, who wrote Frankenstein.  It was the time of Lord Byron, another poet, and you need at one time in your life read his biography, or at least watch the 4 part series on Byron on YouTube by historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. Hell, I need to write a blog on Byron. Holland and Sandbrook call their show The Rest is History. 

But back to the show.......It is the Number 1 rated show on Britbox right now and a new episode drops every week, and we are at 6 out of 10 being released at the moment.  And I am not an Austen fan, nor a romance novel, Hallmark TV movie person, but so far, have enjoyed the show. 

If you have the app, I suggest you give it a look. I myself am surprised at how much I have enjoyed the program.  

 

Okay Buna, I Can't. I Just Cannot......I Wish I Could, But, No, Just No....

 I have already written a blog this morning on a totally different subject.......Probably will publish it later today.It is a bit different......This time of year, I can branch out on my subjects. 

And I have an orange cat laying on a table half-asleep while I write, acting like he is paying attention. I think he's hoping for me to play a little more Jimi Hendrix. The other day " Fire" was playing by Hendrix, he looked at me like, " Man that's pretty cool." ( My old friend Jo Griffith would be proud of me this morning, I am playing the old British rock band Trapeze this morning. Their song Black Cloud was a standard back in the old days 107.9 FM KWIC, which was the local Rock Station long before KIOC Bigdog 106 even was a thought.) 

I have been approached by a couple of people who are seriously looking at running for Buna ISD Board of Trustees ( School Board) in the coming election in November.  

Both wanted help in running for the office. 

Now both have asked me how to run a campaign, not that I sort of know what is going on in one.....Sorta.....Not an expert. 

One even offered money for me to help......

I do not think either understands how hard it is to run for office. You got to be to every festival, every fish fry, church fund raiser, ballgames, etc.....Got to get name recognition. 

Shaking hands and kissing babies is literal " Retail Politics" especially at the local level.  

The German term Realpolitik,  a political philosophy and approach to statecraft that dictates actions based on practical, concrete power and national interest, rather than on moral, ideological, or ethical premises....And believe it or not it works even on the local school board level. And local politicians often do not understand how to conduct political philosophy for their area. They think they do, but they generally do not.   

I strong suggest you student about Otto Von Bismark's usage of Realpolitik and read Machiavelli's  The Prince before you enter politics.  Hardcore? Yes, but sometimes you need to understand how to run things. 

Trouble is, I am going to tell you something you do not want to hear......And it may make you mad.  

And let's say you get elected to the board.....

What happens the first 6 months you are in office you step right into the biggest pile of manure? Do you want me to give you a pass because I advised you in a campaign? You know good and well, I can't....As a matter of fact because I helped I will be more inclined to go hard at you.  

Can I help you if you get bogged down and get discouraged? Maybe. 

But, there are only a couple of people in America I would help in a campaign at this point in my life.   My brother and a possible reader of this blog, and I think the later has gotten it out of their system.  

No, not looking to get involved in local politics again, at least not in SE Texas.  

 

 

 

 

$250 and Up? And I Jump the Rails....

 I know I write on the economy from time to time on here...........

I read the other day that the average date in America now costs right at $250. 

Over time, trying to wine and dine a young lady, well, I am so dad-gum cheap, the durn Scotsman comes out in me. ( Scottish are notorious cheap people.)  I would still be a single person today if I had to spend that much on a date, and over time, well, no, just no....

I'd just get a dog and now, a cat. ( Who would have thought I would now have another orange male cat?)

I say this, and the woman I am married to is cheaper than me.....Again, one of those foreordained deals. 

But $250 a date.....Nope.... 

I know inflation has hit everything, and I am waiting for it to really get bad this summer. I keep saying I am going to write a detailed blog on oil and why it is going to jump up in price this summer. In a very quick economic nutshell, the oil reserves are being released right now to keep the price of fuel manageable. 

When the reserve runs out, prices are going to jump up. 

I am expecting this in a June-July time frame.  I seriously look for a situation with oil and gasoline/diesel to happen like we had in the 1970s. Gas shortages, gas stations running totally out. you waiting in a long line to get gas. 

I'm going off in the weeds. Watch AI folks, see if they are centralizing all of these AI Centers in an attempt to control our liquid assets, in other words, your money.  What time, what location, and on what product. I can see you not being able to do things like buy books with certain titles. Control travel, want to go to England, they can stop you from buying tickets. If you are in the wrong place, they'll stop it. 

This will be an extension of what we already have in a digital system on money.  Already, I most of you get paid with direct deposit, pay bills online, etc.....I know I still like using the old 17th Century( for Europe, earlier for China,,,,,) technology of paper money and often use it because, in my mind, I can see where it is being spent and how...And the damn government can't see what I am buying....

But cash will be a thing of the past. I can see it gone in my life. Certainly in your life, at least most of my former students reading this blog.  

Remember this when you think this will not occur. 

" Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely."  

- Lord Acton

Should remind you of something else....... Think about it.......We'll talk about this later if you do not know what I am alluding to....

If you really want me to go all conspiratorial in a blog on AI, let me know. And the thing is, my " children" both of them are way off in the AI world, both with master's degrees basically in AI. But still, I have alternative ideas.....And it scares me to death.  

 

You Never Know, And Upset About Pappadeaux's?

"No one is so brave that he is undisturbed by something unexpected-"

-Julius Caesar  

Once again, I am somewhat shocked by the number of people reading the blog. Yesterday's blog was just a vent for me. Saturday was somewhat bad in travel, in the pouring weather, in several other things including getting behind  multiple accidents, , and my venting about how sloppy people now dress, and apparently can't find soap and water, well, it struck a chord with a number of readers. The number of " hits" was shockingly large. 

And again, I thank you for reading. 

Then.....

There were a few people upset about my " judging" as one put it, your dress, " Like you're Little Lord Fauntleroy."  They had written it as "Your" and "Fateroy."

Sorry, like I don't make mistakes here on a regular basis......Again, I hate to proofread. Too much like grading papers and I am retired. 

Again, there are people who just look for stuff to gripe about concerning the blog, and well, I am to the point, if I do not receive some sort of blow-back, well, I need to try harder.  

 

 

Biggest D*mn Mess.....And You SETX People, We Got to Do Better.....

" No good Deed goes unpunished. "

I am reminded of the Dutch Anabaptist Dirk Willems who in 1569,  had escaped from jail, and turned around to save the guard who was chasing after him and had fallen through the ice. Helping the guard allowed others to capture Willems, who was later executed for being an Anabaptist. ( You Baptists need to do a little history on your ancestors...Read some of the works of the church history professors at SWBTS.)  

I hate going to Houston. 

Let me repeat. I hate going to Houston. 

We got stuck traveling to Houston on I-10 for 3 hours behind wrecks. 

3 hours.  

Stopped, could not move, in-between the concrete barriers.  

Might not have been so bad, but about an hour in, I needed to pee like a racehorse. 

We finally, got moving, and stopped at the Stuckey's at Hwy 365. We'd not even left Jefferson County. After we " Checked Out the Facilities" we received a phone call from Deb's brother in Houston and he tells us, not to come, it is flooding over here. It was already late and there were more wrecks we had to navigate before we even got to Houston.....

We came on back down 365 to Nome, and drove down Hwy 90 to Major Drive and decided,  let's eat at Pappadeaux's.   

I was surprised at the number of people eating raw oysters. 

It's not a month that has " R" in it. 

Then again, I taught with a man who when he was at university did some research on the mollusks and I never eat raw oysters or any raw shellfish anymore.  And I used to eat them like I had sense....

Then, I was somewhat shocked at how trashy people dress now. I was not dressed up, as we had planned to change when we got to Houston, but good night above, SE Texas, we can do better. Especially you men. You ain't at home pulling a transmission in the backyard. 

I know.....I know......I am from here. I should be used to it by now, but, I still am not.....