Watching the kids watch Arthur... yes that's as exciting as it sounds, which is not very much. Todays' episode is about a bully, now besides a bully -not- wanting to fight, he has a heart to heart with Arthur about always winning at things. Now here's where this gets me, see I had a few bullies in highschool and multiple similar conversations, but never with a bully.
The closest I ever came to it was talking to a near psycho killer about his girlfriend and how he didn't want to mess it up with her. I remember trying to tell him to simply -not- be a prick and maybe stop telling everyone how bad she was during sex.
The idea of having to tell people to "be nice" is odd... to me being nice was a sort of given, even if it was selfish. If I wanted to go to the store, I asked nicely, I got to go. Movies, candy, toys, games... hell everything I wanted if I was polite I got, strange. Mainly because around that time in my life I tried getting dates... which never worked when I was polite, ask nicely and you got rejected.
The annoying part was by then I wasn't good at being rude. I watched guys like said bully walk through hot, beautiful, exotic, and various other versions of females... only to have the very qualities they were attracted to him by, repel them later. Women, you confuse me to this day.
By the way, his response to my advice to be nice to his girlfriend (sweet girl, currently a model) was "Nah..."
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Pop Quiz, the Subject: Your Life.
Remember in school when they said "we're preparing you for real life" and we all thought they were simply just trying to get us to shut up for nine minutes so they could look over our terrible test scores. Well they were, but that didn't make it any less true.
As I fill out applications for new employment... which is about as much fun as fighting flaming ninjas, I've come to realize that certain schooling actually does pertain to real life. For example; the pop quiz. Suddenly, you need to know things you haven't thought about for years, like the phone number of that store you worked at when you were 17, or the name of your ever changing supervisor at the museum, the one who liked you.
Add in the names of three people you worked with who you could count on to not pull the "he was drunk, all the time" fun that your friends would. Then find three friends who seem respectable, all the while remembering when they leapt off of opposing sides of a rocky river to try and high-five in mid air... yep, we'll just put down mom.
Some of the other fun things that come in to play:
Dealing with people you hate, but have to pretend to like. (Teachers, jocks, bosses)
Getting up on a Saturday, after working all week, to do chores.
Homework, you thought you were done.
Realizing that while -you- found this to be a hilarious representation of a tragic event that brings a lighter feeling to the mood, it's actually a tad insensitive.
Realizing that lying is better than saying "Your opinion was founded on your own ignorance."
"I'm sorry" literally means "I didn't mean to get caught/in trouble."
Riding the bus sucked.
Owning a car was cool until you arrive at a gas station/mechanic shop/red light/construction zone.*
People who annoy you but tell the boss he's great will go further, and lord it over you.
There's other things, but I've lost my point at this... well point.
*Living in New Hampshire, construction is part of our lives.
Seasons in NH: Winter, still Winter, Road Construction, and Pre-winter.
As I fill out applications for new employment... which is about as much fun as fighting flaming ninjas, I've come to realize that certain schooling actually does pertain to real life. For example; the pop quiz. Suddenly, you need to know things you haven't thought about for years, like the phone number of that store you worked at when you were 17, or the name of your ever changing supervisor at the museum, the one who liked you.
Add in the names of three people you worked with who you could count on to not pull the "he was drunk, all the time" fun that your friends would. Then find three friends who seem respectable, all the while remembering when they leapt off of opposing sides of a rocky river to try and high-five in mid air... yep, we'll just put down mom.
Some of the other fun things that come in to play:
Dealing with people you hate, but have to pretend to like. (Teachers, jocks, bosses)
Getting up on a Saturday, after working all week, to do chores.
Homework, you thought you were done.
Realizing that while -you- found this to be a hilarious representation of a tragic event that brings a lighter feeling to the mood, it's actually a tad insensitive.
Realizing that lying is better than saying "Your opinion was founded on your own ignorance."
"I'm sorry" literally means "I didn't mean to get caught/in trouble."
Riding the bus sucked.
Owning a car was cool until you arrive at a gas station/mechanic shop/red light/construction zone.*
People who annoy you but tell the boss he's great will go further, and lord it over you.
There's other things, but I've lost my point at this... well point.
*Living in New Hampshire, construction is part of our lives.
Seasons in NH: Winter, still Winter, Road Construction, and Pre-winter.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Kids and general stupid-ness.
Dom, the little boy staying with us, just tried to tackle me. While he gets an A for effort, he tried to tackle by holding his arms out wide and diving for my knee... for those of you playing at home, your arms are there to do the grabbing, so you don't smash your nose like poor Dom.
This sparkled a thought in my brain, I don't think I was that dumb as a child. Don't get my wrong, I was plenty dumb, hence why I've got brains now, I got my education first hand. Or, occasionally second, you see as children my friends and I did really, really... incredibly stupid things, and then we learned.
It was almost scientific, Timmy holds this end of the rope, Joe the other, and we see what happens when we ride a bicycle through the middle. Cousin John stacks the trash barrels like building blocks into a pyramid and we ride a bicycle through them. This all done while we watch on and take notes. Timmy and Joe are fine, though they were confused as to why they were hugging for a while, and we learned that bicycles do not go fast enough to break through before the top barrels come down.
What I'm trying to say is that we did stupid things and learned, no protective watchful environments, we took lumps and have limps and scars that come with great stories.
Take the recent upset I heard of, kids acting out video games and killing each other. I'll use two examples: One being the kids who shoot up their schools, the other being the two kids who killed each other thinking they could "rez" the other.
Now, see, in essence, basically, these kids are a bit stupid, then again so are the people who use these as examples for anti-video game laws.
The first kids likely got their idea to kill people based on the treatment given to them by the people they killed, I've heard the stories that "no one ever harmed them" but those were the same stories given to the teachers when we complained about people pushing us around in high-school. "It's all in good fun. Just ignore it. It's your fault too." Things we all heard. Well, while I fought back, I'm a trained fighter, and what is the favorite response from someone who isn't a trained fighter as to how they can beat one? Use a gun.
If you played video games, you'd know that in every shooting game there is a sword, which is more overpowered than any gun.
As for the other two, one shot the other and then tried to cast a rezzing spell, the parents blamed World of Warcraft. Hell, I blame the parents, -my- parents assured me that I cannot cast magic spells. Then again, I was also smart enough to realize that I, personally, had not ever cast a magic spell, therefore would have gone through testing minor ones before trying a big one. (see above topic about testing things). This wasn't a tragety, more like natural selection. Some of you may be going "But Tom, you amazing manbeast you, what would you say if this was your kid?" One: I'd ask my wife if she cheated on me with a moron. Two: It's an easy question to ask, albeit a lame one. Ask yourself this: would -your- kid be stupid enough to let someone shoot him and then attempt a spell they saw in a video game? No you say? Didn't think so.
As for my own self, I learned first hand that cartoons and videogames were not real at a young age, like most children I know. We played that the fort we built was on fire, and I said "you know what would be awesome? If we all got out, but you were left behind, and while we go 'oh he's dead!' you kick the door down, flatten me like on TV and we're all happy!"
After a near concussion, and a mouthful of dirt and grass later, I knew TV lied, so did all the other kids, my parents, and the guests my parents had for the next three months.
Moral of the story: kids are stupid, and the only cure is to get it out of your system before you're old enough to add alcohol.
This sparkled a thought in my brain, I don't think I was that dumb as a child. Don't get my wrong, I was plenty dumb, hence why I've got brains now, I got my education first hand. Or, occasionally second, you see as children my friends and I did really, really... incredibly stupid things, and then we learned.
It was almost scientific, Timmy holds this end of the rope, Joe the other, and we see what happens when we ride a bicycle through the middle. Cousin John stacks the trash barrels like building blocks into a pyramid and we ride a bicycle through them. This all done while we watch on and take notes. Timmy and Joe are fine, though they were confused as to why they were hugging for a while, and we learned that bicycles do not go fast enough to break through before the top barrels come down.
What I'm trying to say is that we did stupid things and learned, no protective watchful environments, we took lumps and have limps and scars that come with great stories.
Take the recent upset I heard of, kids acting out video games and killing each other. I'll use two examples: One being the kids who shoot up their schools, the other being the two kids who killed each other thinking they could "rez" the other.
Now, see, in essence, basically, these kids are a bit stupid, then again so are the people who use these as examples for anti-video game laws.
The first kids likely got their idea to kill people based on the treatment given to them by the people they killed, I've heard the stories that "no one ever harmed them" but those were the same stories given to the teachers when we complained about people pushing us around in high-school. "It's all in good fun. Just ignore it. It's your fault too." Things we all heard. Well, while I fought back, I'm a trained fighter, and what is the favorite response from someone who isn't a trained fighter as to how they can beat one? Use a gun.
If you played video games, you'd know that in every shooting game there is a sword, which is more overpowered than any gun.
As for the other two, one shot the other and then tried to cast a rezzing spell, the parents blamed World of Warcraft. Hell, I blame the parents, -my- parents assured me that I cannot cast magic spells. Then again, I was also smart enough to realize that I, personally, had not ever cast a magic spell, therefore would have gone through testing minor ones before trying a big one. (see above topic about testing things). This wasn't a tragety, more like natural selection. Some of you may be going "But Tom, you amazing manbeast you, what would you say if this was your kid?" One: I'd ask my wife if she cheated on me with a moron. Two: It's an easy question to ask, albeit a lame one. Ask yourself this: would -your- kid be stupid enough to let someone shoot him and then attempt a spell they saw in a video game? No you say? Didn't think so.
As for my own self, I learned first hand that cartoons and videogames were not real at a young age, like most children I know. We played that the fort we built was on fire, and I said "you know what would be awesome? If we all got out, but you were left behind, and while we go 'oh he's dead!' you kick the door down, flatten me like on TV and we're all happy!"
After a near concussion, and a mouthful of dirt and grass later, I knew TV lied, so did all the other kids, my parents, and the guests my parents had for the next three months.
Moral of the story: kids are stupid, and the only cure is to get it out of your system before you're old enough to add alcohol.
Early Morning Post:
Planing for my next book, slightly different style than the last, bit of a strange feel to it. Hoping to be one of those stories that simply doesn't make sense when you try to explain it to your friends, and at worst makes you sound nuts. So I'm actually going to try to explain it many, many times, since explaining my stories is my weakness... yes, I have one, and it wasn't breasts.
Planing for my next book, slightly different style than the last, bit of a strange feel to it. Hoping to be one of those stories that simply doesn't make sense when you try to explain it to your friends, and at worst makes you sound nuts. So I'm actually going to try to explain it many, many times, since explaining my stories is my weakness... yes, I have one, and it wasn't breasts.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Pirates of The Caribbean five?
So, my laptop is -still- being serviced to get the E key fixed... can you imagine the horror of trying to write a book with the E key broken? Half the sentences can't be written. Maddening...
My friend does the computer work, he's got a nice little shop in Nashua, problem is it's further than I like to drive on a daily basis, though not as far as I -do- drive. While I was there we spoke of many things, from Saxon shield styles to fencing to sailing down to the Caribbean for a six month trek as pirates to take part in this islands great pirate festival. There's a potential to make a serious amount of money, and have the adventure of a lifetime?
Am I afraid? Not really. Am I going? Not sure... See I have this woman I'm supposed to be with, the whole "marriage" thing, and she would have to come with me, it's a bit of a journey for her.
She's a brave one, (hell she's marrying me!) but her problem is that she's got a real job, while I simply get by on my good looks and luck. So our problem is such: can she risk a six month absence? Probably not... but... would you pass this up? Could you? The chance to literally -be- the adventuring sailor in dangerous seas with a sword at your hip and a gleam in your eye?
I've got a year to figure it out... a good long year.
My friend does the computer work, he's got a nice little shop in Nashua, problem is it's further than I like to drive on a daily basis, though not as far as I -do- drive. While I was there we spoke of many things, from Saxon shield styles to fencing to sailing down to the Caribbean for a six month trek as pirates to take part in this islands great pirate festival. There's a potential to make a serious amount of money, and have the adventure of a lifetime?
Am I afraid? Not really. Am I going? Not sure... See I have this woman I'm supposed to be with, the whole "marriage" thing, and she would have to come with me, it's a bit of a journey for her.
She's a brave one, (hell she's marrying me!) but her problem is that she's got a real job, while I simply get by on my good looks and luck. So our problem is such: can she risk a six month absence? Probably not... but... would you pass this up? Could you? The chance to literally -be- the adventuring sailor in dangerous seas with a sword at your hip and a gleam in your eye?
I've got a year to figure it out... a good long year.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Snow Day
Something I learned way back in high school... snow days are by far the most wonderful event of winter. There you are, sitting in your house, you haven't done nearly enough homework... and tomorrow you've got the presentation you were planning on starting... well tonight.
Then that news commercial comes on "high chance of snow, more at 11pm!" and, like the compulsive madman gambler you are, you manage to tear yourself away from video games/books/fights with ninjas, long enough to watch the news for once. Snow is coming, and you're banking on enough to close schools. Granted I live up north where it better be a foot of heavy wet snow, or else dammit get on the bus Mr. Hart and don't try to make the other children cry every time we go down a hill.
So you wake up, morning time, whole of the world is like an over-filled snowglobe, your world is perfect. Not only is there no school, but you get to go out and play in stuff that normally you'd be angry if you had to walk through... perspective is everything.
You play like a five year old, sledding, hot cocoa, even snowball fights that end with someone complaining they should have brought gloves. All is right in the world. That homework? I'll get on it tonight... it's a snow day.
Fast forwarding to the point, when you make your living by driving and a bad snowstorm hits, yeah... it's a snow day.
Then that news commercial comes on "high chance of snow, more at 11pm!" and, like the compulsive madman gambler you are, you manage to tear yourself away from video games/books/fights with ninjas, long enough to watch the news for once. Snow is coming, and you're banking on enough to close schools. Granted I live up north where it better be a foot of heavy wet snow, or else dammit get on the bus Mr. Hart and don't try to make the other children cry every time we go down a hill.
So you wake up, morning time, whole of the world is like an over-filled snowglobe, your world is perfect. Not only is there no school, but you get to go out and play in stuff that normally you'd be angry if you had to walk through... perspective is everything.
You play like a five year old, sledding, hot cocoa, even snowball fights that end with someone complaining they should have brought gloves. All is right in the world. That homework? I'll get on it tonight... it's a snow day.
Fast forwarding to the point, when you make your living by driving and a bad snowstorm hits, yeah... it's a snow day.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Well... something or other...
As the title would suggest, I don't post much because I haven't gotten around to it... I'm working on it, possibly. That or I'm the most cleverly designed internet spybot since Chuck Norris.
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