A Moveable Feast

Since I have never done so, I decided that it would be appropriate for me to write an entry from my hometown of Fallbrook. See, my brother's in-laws recently sold their home on Balboa Island and decided to move to Fallbrook, where they purchased a rather nice house. I honestly never thought I'd spend another Thanksgiving here in Fallbrook but...here I am. I am sitting at the computer down in their basement (where I am sleeping tonight). I think that everybody else has gone to sleep...I just wanted to write something before I went to bed.

I like it down here. In Fallbrook, I mean...not the basement. (Although, don't get me wrong, the basement is quite nice. It's a little cold, but that's to be expected). Every once in a while I get fed up with living in Los Angeles and think that maybe, just maybe, I might like to return home. I'm never sure if it is simply a sense of nostalgia that occasionally draws me back here or if I would actually be more happy here. Occasionally, I entertain thoughts of being That Guy Who Returns to Teach at His Old High School. But the thing is...I'm fairly certain that things would not be as I expected them to be. There's an old adage of which I am sure we are all familiar: You can't go home again.

If you try to go home again, in an effort to recapture that carefree feeling of your youth, you'll no doubt find that things have changed. Nothing will be as you expect, and you could up disappointing yourself in the end.

Thanksgiving was great, as always. My brother, Erich; his wife, Jaime; and little Emelia were here, along with several members of Jaime's extended family. Alyson and Sawyer spent this Thanksgiving with their mother...I guess she and my brother alternate years for holidays. At the moment, I am still quite stuffed. I managed to eat a slice of pie about an hour ago, but I don't think I could eat anything else. I don't know if it has anything to do with getting older but it seems as if, each year, I eat less and less on Thanksgiving. I didn't even go back for seconds today.

Well, over the next two days I hope to visit several different friends in this area. Shane and Erika, whom I haven't seen since they left for Europe in June. As a matter of fact...I haven't seen anybody from down here since June. I also will be seeing Tisra Fadely at some point, who is visiting here from Nashville. But, for now, I am simply going to go to sleep and let my dreams be shaped by the inevitable indigestion that is certain to strike.

Assbreath, My Old Nemesis...

Over the last week and a half there have been many things about which I was intending to write. I was going to write about how, at a party in Pasadena this past Saturday night, I met the Most Beautiful Girl in The World who possesses a radiant personality and has eyes the color of heaven itself. And then I was going to write about how I obsessed over her for the next 24 hours or so, only to discover that she has a Very Serious Boyfriend. The sound of my heart breaking could be heard for miles.

I was also intending to write about how, last Thursday, I ran into my old nemesis from Spring semester, the dreaded Assbreath himself. I was leaving Kennedy High School for the day, after having signed out at the attendance office. And then I saw him- waddling toward me on his fat little legs, each of which is probably thicker than both of my legs combined. I panicked and thought that if I just avoided eye contact maybe he wouldn't recognize me...maybe he would pass on by, like the Angel of Death had passed over the Israelites. I should have been so lucky...

No... instead he stopped to talk to me in that odd-sounding voice that had so grated on my nerves during every session of my Methods class last semester. He was wearing a poorly tailored suit that clung tightly to his body, which was sweating profusely from his short walk from the parking lot to the attendance office. His tie either was too small, or was simply tied incorrectly, as it stopped about two inches above his belly button. After closer scrutiny, I discovered that it was, in fact, a too short clip-on.

And then, I smelled it. It was faint at first...but the longer I stood talking to him, the more pungent the air surrounding us became. Even though I was standing nearly four feet away from him, everytime he opened his mouth, I cringed as a gaseous cloud assaulted my senses. The conversation lasted nearly ten minutes, in spite of my continued efforts to extract myself from the situation. I kept doing that turning-as-if-to-leave thing, only to be presented with another question or comment. Finally I pulled the glance-at-my-watch-look-surprised-and-say-I-have-to-go move. That one works every time.

Well, the semester is now drawing to a close. However, my student teaching assignment won't be complete until the end of January. But, after December 9, I will no longer have to worry about doing loads and loads of classwork and will be able to focus solely on the student teaching.

I'd also like to point out that today is my dear niece's birthday. Alyson Marie Stahl, who is probably my favorite kid in the whole world, turns eleven today. I really can't believe that she's eleven now. She was born at the beginning of my senior year of high school, and now she is in the fifth grade. Next year she'll be in junior fricking high school. I can't believe it. Junior fricking high school.

Where does the time go?

A Weekend Deserving of a Sequel

On Friday afternoon, after coming home from Kennedy High School, I decided to finally watch The Matrix Reloaded, which I had never seen. I really had never had much interest in seeing it, for a wide variety of reasons. I kind of just didn't see the point. There are some movies for which sequels are good things. Indiana Jones lends itself well to sequels because it's another chapter in the story of an adventurer whom we all wish we could be, to a certain extent.

Then there are some sequels that should never have been made. Into that category, I place movies such as Terminator 3. Terminator 2 wrapped everything up nicely. John and Sarah Connor managed to save the world from annihilation and, in the end, John ended up losing the only true friend he had ever had. The last scene in that film, when the Terminator is being lowered into the molten metal, always brings a tear to my eye. He's just a machine...and yet he learned the value of friendship...he knows now why we cry. (Damn, I'm choking myself up just writing about it.) But, that wasn't enough for them. They had to go and follow it up with some piece of trash with a very poor storyline that relies solely on explosions and an extremely hot female Terminator.

Finally, there are sequels that could have been good. They could have added something to the original story and thereby enhanced the universe in which the story takes place. Movies in this category include such films as the Star Wars prequels and, of course, The Matrix sequels.

The first Matrix presents us with an interesting question. What is the Matrix? The viewer is left wondering up until the moment that Neo takes the red pill...and even after that there is some lingering confusion.

In The Matrix Reloaded, however, the mystery is gone. We are no longer longer faced with the question of what is real and what is not. Instead, we are simply faced with visual spectacles which, while certainly impressive, are not very thoughtful. The story revolves around a prophecy, the portrayal of Neo-as-Messiah, and the defense of an underground city. Again, the mystery is gone and has been replaced with explosions and special effects. While I was entertained, I was also unimpressed. The Matrix Reloaded pales in comparison to the first. I can only imagine that the third installment will be more of the same.

After watching this movie, I headed over Ryan Cox's house to hang out with several people. Shane Ross was there (without his extremely hot girlfriend of whom I am insanely jealous. Not that I want to date HER mind you...just someone LIKE her) as well as Commie Seth, and a host of other people, most of whom I did not know. We watched The Italian Job (another pointless movie that is only worth watching because of the eye candy provided by Charlize Theron), ate pizza, watched Ringu, ate pizza and so on.

Saturday night found me attending a shindig in Manhattan Beach at the home of John Antolos. He and his roommate just moved into a new apartment there and had their house warming party last night. I arrived at about 8:00 and was greeted by a roomful of people I did not know. (With the exception of John, they were all strangers to me.) Finally, at around 10:00, Angelica Ochoa and Mischal Diasanta showed up (along with Mischal's friend, Ling, whom I spent a great deal of time hitting on...in all fairness to me, I was slightly inebriated as there were really strong martinis being served at the party. When I say really strong I mean they might as well have been Jungle Juice...which I'm sure many of you recall from your college years.)

I arrived home at about 3:00 in the morning and went straight to bed. I spent most of the day just recovering from last night's shenanigans...completely ignoring the monstrous amounts of school work that I have to do. In fact, I am still ignoring it...after I finish writing this, I'll have to stop ignoring it and get started.

Just Blaine Stupid

Could somebody please explain to me what the hell is up with David Blaine? I mean, he locks himself in a transparent box suspended over the Thames and starves himself for 44 days and now he says that for his next stunt he plans to jump from a helicopter at 110ft into a river, without a parachute. This guy used to be just a semi-entertaining street magician who pestered folks on the streets of New York...and now he's evolved into a pathetic attention whore.

Oooh, look at me, I'm standing on a flag pole.

Oooh, look at me, I'm being frozen in a block of ice.

Oooh, look at me, I'm starving myself for no apparent reason.

I wish he would just go away. Not that I'm hoping that his plunge goes awry or anything...that would be mean of me. But I really would like him to just shut-up. Is anybody really impressed with his shenanigans? I certainly am not.

At any rate...this coming Monday, I am scheduled to officially take over my class at Kennedy High School for the remainder of the semester. I'm a little apprehensive about it, of course. The class I am taking over is, at this point, not doing too well. More than half of them are failing...they've got quite a bit of slack to pick up before the end of January.

I really wish my first student teaching assignment had been a subject other than government. The material is really not that interesting, and the kids are battling senioritis. So it's two strikes against me. My master teacher is really good, though, so I'm sure he'll help me get through it.

I've been pondering another question. Let's say I get through this student teaching and the credential program and all that and it turns out that, hey, I really hate this. Then what? Would all this time have been wasted? I'm not saying I'm going to hate it...I'm just kind of wondering what I would do then.

I guess I'd just have to lock myself in a box over the Thames for 44 days.

A Moment on the Soap Box

So, it seems as if Cincinatti Reds outfielder Dernell Stenson has been shot and possibly dragged to death behind a truck in Arizona. I don't think it's that much of a leap to assume that this killing was racially motivated...particularly considering how closely it mirrors the killing of James Byrd in Jasper, Texas, five years ago.

Try as I might, I don't understand the mentality of somebody who would so cruelly murder somebody solely because of their race. I know that sounds particularly naive, but it really does amaze me.

A couple months ago I saw a short documentary on a busing program that had been set up in Boston in the 1970s. In this movie, seemingly respectable members of the white middle class are seen throwing rocks at buses carrying black children to school. Throngs of these white middle class folks stood in front of their local high school screaming angrily that they did not want "n-ggers" attending school with their children. (I edited that word only because I don't want to take the chance that people might find my site by searching for it.)

Frankly, if I had stood outside of a high school and shouted those things thirty years ago and saw myself in a documentary today, I would never want to show my face again. The pure ignorance that was displayed in their objections is truly disgusting.

Some might try to use the excuse that it was a different era...and while that might be true, that doesn't make it any more or less wrong. Morality is static...it doesn't change with the times, as much as some might want it to. Racism is bred of fear and ignorance...and I'd say the majority of it is ignorance.

These days, people soften their rhetoric. While very few people would be caught dead standing in front of a high school holding a sign which reads "N-gger go home," much of the sentiment still remains. People cover it up by saying things such as, "I don't want my child in school with those people" in their cleverly crafted letters to school administrators. As the diversity of our country increases, those people encompasses a larger group. Even though they attempt to say it a little nicer these days, the sentiment is the same. And those who don't want their children attending school with those people are simply ignorant fools...and I make no apologies for saying that.

Obviously, not everybody who harbors a secret prejudice is going to end up killing a man and dragging him behind their vehicle. For many, their prejudice sits just below the surface, manifesting only in their minds. In extreme cases, it can lead to violence such as this.

Ok...this ends my rant. I didn't really intend to go off on this...I just read the article about the killing and got really worked up about it. I don't know...it's just sad that somebody would torture somebody to death in such a manner. Even if the killing was not racially motivated...it's just sad.

On a lighter note, today is my nephew Sawyer's birthday. He's eight years old. For those of you who knew him when he was like two years old, let me tell you that he has grown up quite a bit. He's also extremely smart these days...he almost ended up at a magnet school this year, but because of the scheduling problems related to it, he was unable to go. No matter...his brilliance will be released upon the world someday. Just you wait...