Pop Quiz, Part Deux

Your elderly, reclusive, lonely neighbor who has the reputation for being a terrible driver (manifested by the dents and scrapes on the sides of her car as well as the duct tape holding her bumper together) drives onto my lawn within inches of hitting my house and takes out part of a bush. The only reason the entire bush wasn't pronounced dead at the scene was because my wife got her attention and was able to stop her.

I will give her a little leeway because her driveway is very long and narrow and probably pretty hard to navigate when you are old and a terrible driver. However, on another occasion she attempted a similar stunt and backed up into my grill and almost took out my back porch. If I were to show you the crime scene you'd understand that for this to happen she would have had to make a 90 degree turn immediately while backing up. Thankfully, my grill did not sustain any injuries.

I'm convinced that someday she's going to hit my house. It's going to happen. It's inevitable. I'm not so much worried about that as the possibility that she might back over a small child or hurt herself somehow.

What do you do? Call the police and inform them that this lady, whom they probably already know about and have had contact with, is a serious danger or do I call her and talk to her personally and tell her she shouldn't be driving?

Proverbs 15:1

A gentle response turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath.

I've recently realized the reason why God allowed Solomon to write these words and included them in the Bible. By the way, if you haven't read "Pop Quiz, Part Deux", do it.

I had two instances this week where I was extremely angry. One was a situation (Part Deux) and the other was a message board conversation. In each situation, I could have responded very unfavorably. I could have reined blows of unkind words but made some enemies in the process. One thing I've learned is that enemies could cause you much grief, especially if one is your neighbor.

So, I bit my tongue and responded with gentle words and everything worked out great. I hate to think what might have happened had I responded with harsh words.

Pop Quiz, Hot Shot

Scenario: Guy (just an acquaintance) walks into the doorway of your office standing there looking at you expecting to either ask a question or start a conversation (you have no idea which). However, you're on the phone in the middle of a conversation with a close personal friend. Do you:

A) tell your phone-friend to "please hold" and see what the doorway-friend has to say. Once you acknowledge him he starts into a conversation that could take several minutes regardless of the fact that you are already engaged in conversation with another person.

B) snub your doorway-friend by continuing your conversation with your phone-friend and merely giving the guy in the doorway the obligatory head nod of recognition indicating your intent to not disrupt the phone conversation.

It's really a gamble. In scenario A, you don't know what you're getting into by allowing the other guy to interrupt you. You risk being rude to the guy on the phone. In scenario B, you risk being rude to the guy in the doorway but you have know idea what his intentions are.

In the words of Keanu Reeves in Speed, "What do you do?"

Good News/Bad News

The bad news: I just paid $600 to replace a bad compressor for my van's air conditioner.
The good news: I don't have to travel 1,500 miles in next week's vacation hot and sticky.

The good news: Stephanie and I are celebrating eight years of marriage today.
The good news: I'm married to a wonderful person...
The bad news: ...my wife isn't. :)
The good news: I think I'm learning how to be a better husband to my wife.
The bad news: It shouldn't have taken me this long.

The good news: I will be able to get local channels through DirecTV this month.
The bad news: In order to accommodate more channels I need to get a larger TV. :)

Artist Refuses to Speak for 29 Years

An aspiring German painter refused to speak for 29 years until his father's death because of paternal opposition to his chosen career.

Last year his father died, after which Herpel gradually began talking again. The public response was remarkable.

"Before people walked around with angry faces when they saw me. Now that I'm talking again, they're really happy," he said.

This little tidbit of news further confirms a theory I have: the weight of a person's words is measured in light of the totality of what he says. Let me ‘splain. If a man has $1,000,000, one single dollar is not that significant. Conversely, if a man only has $40, one single dollar is worth a lot more to that man.

My idea is this: my words are more valuable the more I keep my mouth shut. This is why you'll most likely find me not saying too much when I'm around people. It's not that I don't have anything to say, I just choose my words carefully (most of the time).

Fortune Cookie Propaganda

The message inside my fortune cookie after tonight's Chinese take-out:

Good work, good life, good
love, good-bye oppression

I bet the poor guy who wrote this one got executed.

My Psycho-Social Wresling Match

Part of my quest for Subliminal Man involves a tag-team wrestling match between my creativity and being extroverted vs. by logic and being introverted. It's been like one of those matches with Hulk Hogan where he gets the crap beat out of him until you think he's going to fall flat on his face. But wait! Hulk suddenly starts to shake, his eyes glaze just a bit, and a rush of adrenaline pulls him out of his a$$-whoopin' as he begins to pummel his foe. Of course, we never saw that one coming… every time.

So, my creativity and somewhat outgoing personality are starting to emerge after years of being slapped around. The frustrating thing about it is the thought of friends I didn't make and fun times I didn't have. For some reason, the following lyrics (from one of the greatest songs in the world) seem appropriate (although not in context at all):

Love, I don't like to see so much pain
so much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away
I get so tired of working so hard for out survival
I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive
And all my instincts, they return
and the grand facade, so soon will burn
without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside

Scared to death

My son is 5 and is entering Kindergarten in the fall. This rite of passage in the life of my son, which should be a happy event, scares the crap out of me.

What is it? What's the problem? Unqualified teachers? Lack of funding by the government? Poor quality of education? Although there might be deficiencies in these areas to some extent, my problem is not primarily with these things.

The reason I'm scared for my child to go to school in the fall is the fact that we, as a society, have progressively failed in the raising of our children and the way we interact with others. I haven't been too impressed with the attitudes of many kids and teens I've seen lately. I feel I have a right to evaluate because I was a youth pastor for three years and was able to visit the local schools regularly and saw some of these things first hand. I've seen an extreme lack of respect for their peers and especially those in authority over them (teachers, parents, other adults), hate, selfishness, laziness, deceit, lack of discipline etc. I realize that not every kid is like this but this is an epidemic that is growing.

What's the cause for these problems with our children and teens? Now, realize that I'm not a sociologist or anyone with initials behind my name that qualifies me to deliver an educated discourse in this area. However, I am concerned parent and an educated person in this society with thoughts and opinions. The cause of the problems in our children and teens is the previous generations. It's our fault. They've seen us hate and so they hate even more. They've seen our deceit and selfishness so they will be all the more selfish and deceitful.

"What you do in moderation, your children will do in excess."

I guess what I need to do is raise my children right and teach them how to love and properly interact with other kids... and give them karate lessons.

Blast from the past

There's nothing worse than looking at old home videos.

Also, there's nothing better than looking at old home videos.