Month: May 2014

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Checked Out: Week 19

I just realized not just that I read a lot of series books, but that there are also a plethora of series books out there, more so than it seems like there were back in the day. We’ve come a long way from Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew. I even recall reading the massive horde … Continue reading Checked Out: Week 19

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Games & Rhetoric

Student at teachers deskI always did well in school because I knew how to play the games, and because I bought into the rhetoric. I mean, teachers are still people, right? And they want the same type of accolades everyone else does. So, it was easy to be that good kid. You know the one, the one who the other students call the teacher’s pet, the one who sits near the front of the class and likes to answer questions.

Well, I’ll tell you a secret. I didn’t like to answer questions, but when the teacher knew she could use me to “bail her out” when no one else would admit to knowing an answer, that can certainly come back into her mind come time to grade a test, or an essay, or a research project.

Now, that’s not to say I’m not book smart, because I am, but you know as well as I do that it’s not always the smartest people who get ahead. It’s most times the people who can see advantageous situations and put themselves smack dab in the middle of them. In school, that was me. Straight A’s throughout elementary and middle school, and mostly A’s (when I felt like it) in high school. I had a pleasant attitude. More teachers were nice to me than students, and the work itself was easy.

Maybe in the end that was the biggest problem, though. If I had ever had to actually work hard for grades maybe I would have appreciated the exercise of education more after the fact. As it was, I was able to play the games, to get the grades, and to be pleased with myself, but only because I bought into the rhetoric that schools sell, the rhetoric that says school is an important building block for life.

Yet, when looking at it objectively, there are so many people who didn’t even graduate from high school who are doing fantastic things in life, who are healthy, happy, and successful by most yardsticks’ lengths. And don’t even get me started on the number of people who have gone on to higher education only to find out that the job market is saturated with people who already have the same degree they are so proud of obtaining. Continue reading “Games & Rhetoric”

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All Those Dates

I’m the overtly sentimental type, and my wife… isn’t. I’m the person who remembers every single “first,” like the first time we had dinner together, our first trip as a couple, the first kiss we shared, and even our very first “I love you”‘s. She would be lucky to tell you the date of the … Continue reading All Those Dates

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Should We Talk About the Weather?

th“Do you think it’s going to rain today?”
“Yeah, it definitely looks like rain.”

That’s a conversation I’ve had about a million times, and usually it’s with people who are associates. Not friends. You know why? Because with my friends we talk about real subjects, like love, war, and who we think is going to win American Idol this year. The weather is relatively boring unless something like a flood, a tornado, or an earthquake hits. Then we debate over who should have shown up with relief efforts and when. But only then.

Usually talk about the weather is just space filler, what you say when you don’t know what to say. Like on a first date, or on a break at work, or when stuck in an elevator with men wearing Brooks Brothers suits. It is the absolute last resort, and the problem is that everybody knows it. So when you adroitly bring up an impending rain storm be aware of the rolling eyes or what I call the “dead stare.” That’s when they’re nodding along but looking through you while you talk. It’s usually followed by “Sure,” no matter what it is you just said.

Do you blame them for spacing out? Talking about the weather is usually as dull as dishwater. But it accomplishes its purpose most of the time, to fill in the space. Continue reading “Should We Talk About the Weather?”

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Possession

“See, I know that you may be just a little bit jealous of me. ‘Cause you’re blind if you can’t see that his love is all in me.” ~The Boy is Mine (Monica & Brandy)

cheaterAm I the only one who wonders about people who cheat and are then found out? I mean, I hear about it all the time through social media, from the celebrities down to some of my Facebook friends who seem hell bent on letting everyone know their personal business. And most times I read or hear about it there’s this theme of anger towards the “other” person, with a protective bent towards the one who actually did the cheating.

As you can see, even in songs, it seems to work out that way. Yes, you know he cheated, but you still want him, and you’ll fight the other girl in order to make sure he stays in your bed. But why? What is it about these guys that makes you want them so much, so badly that you’ll either overlook what he did, or think that even if he does come back to you that he’ll stop straying? What happens to self-respect in the whole scenario?

It’s called love, or possession, whichever one floats your boat. If it’s love then it’s decidedly one-way, and if it’s possession it might go from one to the other and back again because possession is addictive. It’s like a drug, and once it gets under your skin it’s so difficult to scratch and claw it back out. And it hurts like hell, too, because possession hardly ever exists without a fight in the first place. We fight for what we think we deserve, but once we get it we take it for granted. It happens all too often.

And that’s why people cheat, too, isn’t it? Continue reading “Possession”