Congratulations graduates of 2006. It has been a fun two years with you. I'll miss you!

Here's a poem that reminds me of graduation:

Roses are red,
Violets are blue
Why won't they turn the stinking volume up on the
microphones for the band and music at Graduation?


I wrote it myself. Pretty sweet, huh.

Just saw the most interesting thing - or sad and embarassing, I should say, that is a total indictment on the whole redneck white-trash sub-culture of America.

I live next door to Carl Junction High SChool. Today was their graduation ceremony, and right after the ceremony, in the big field that doubles as a parking lot during big school events, a massive fight broke out between two yokels who obviously had been there to see their cousin/brother/sister/dad (whatever, their family trees obviously don't branch), just beating the tar out of each other next to a Mercedes Benz. Nice.

A large man tried to break it up, but was then assaulted by two people who were yelling for him to back the $#$#$ up, because they should "Settle it." Right.

Turns out these people were one of the boys' PARENTS.

Then a couple of other morons came running up and threw a couple of punches before FINALLY the cops showed up and the crowd dispersed.

So much for higher education.

Well I got a major surprise in class yesterday during third block! Brooke Crismas, Heather Loyd, and Erin Jameson got a new podium for me made by Brooke's dad, who is a woodworker.

Check it out! I am very proud of it, and was left totally speechless when they brought it in to replace my totally HOOPTY podium.

You know, every now and then I go through my usual "Why am I doing this?" routine, and this....this helps to validate what I do.

Thank you girls, and I'll miss you in class.

Last night I put our cat Sydney outside when I got home from the golf tournament. I forgot to bring him inside before the storms started. At 5:30 am I got up to make Audrey a bottle when I happened to glance out the back door. There was Sydney, standing on his back two legs, pawing at the glass as though he were on fire escaping a pack of wild wolves. I opened the door and he practically fell inside, mewling like crazy and sprinting to his room to eat and drink.

As soon as I stopped laughing at his pitiful state, I felt bad.

Heh heh.

There is nothing more relaxing than stepping in your daughter's room to watch her sleep before heading to bed yourself.


I love her.

The TRUTH shall set you free.

This year's senior speeches had the theme "The Search for Truth."

The end result: A whole lot of truth and tears (even from me.)

More later. Have to make a bottle.

Just saw United 93. Extremely powerful film, and honestly, I'm not ready to review it yet. I am ready to comment that I had a great time with the seniors viewing this film- we had 27 people show up to eat at Cafe Del Rio on North Rangeline before the flick, and we had, at last count, 63 of the over 70 seniors at the 7:25 showing at the Hollywood Northstar 15 in Joplin. A special thanks to them for giving us $5.00 tickets instead of the usual $7.75. Helps in a tight budget time!

However, there were a couple of snafus. First, the manager had to come in and tell the kids to quit throwing popcorn. It was only a few doing it, but even after the manager left, they continued to do so until my wife told them to respect the manager's wishes. I take my movie watching very seriously, as I used to manage a theater and nothing is worse than dealing with complaints from angry customers about kids or people behaving rudely. So only a few idiots were being loud and obnoxious. A lot of that has to do with the environment- here they are, school kids, outside of school, where normal rules don't apply. And I have to remember that a lot of the kids in question simply have NO IDEA how to behave in public. Their parents didn't teach them, and probably have never really TAKEN them into public. Not to excuse stupidity, but maybe to enlighten a little bit.

I'm not going to spoil the end of the movie- you all know the plane crashes and everyone dies, but the ending leaves you pretty much breathless. It is extremely intense. The theater was silent, no one said a word.

That was until several morons from my group did their "slow clap" routine ripped out of NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE. Real mature, losers. Several of the other seniors were rightfully embarassed by the behavior.

However, rather than chalking it up to a sheer case of just being a butthead, I think it partially has more to do with the inability of some people to show feelings or vulnerability in any way. These kids who did the "slow clap" are also the same ones who frequently bash and make fun of the kids who, in their senior presentations, lost their composure and cried. Showing feelings in front of your friends is simply unacceptable in their barren little world. It is something they will grow out of- I remember I was in the same boat. If you feel something, ANYTHING, you get emotional, and in order to hide those emotions you automatically strike out with something sarcastic or witty, all in the name of deflecting the attention from your discomfort.

So despite the actions of a few morons, it was a great success, and once the movie actually rolled everyone was very quiet.

I'll review the movie later when I've had a chance to process it. Later, peeps.