Sir Patrick Stewart was a guest on The Late Show recently. I forgot who he said he learned his morning routine from, but he’s been doing it for a long while. Basically, the very first thing he does each morning is read for half and hour. I tried it a few times, and a few times I fell right back asleep.
In the Prince Harry book I’m reading, he states the fanciest placed he stayed, and he’s been to a lot of fancy places, was a two-floor suite in Las Vegas.
The Classic Learning Test, founded in 2015, is used primarily by private schools and home-schooling families and is rooted in the classical education model, which focuses on the “centrality of the Western tradition.”
The charter school my kids attend uses focuses upon classical education. In all honesty, it feels like a private Christian school.
A few of Texas’ most veteran lawmakers may have seen their part-time legislative compensation skyrocket from $7,200 to nearly $150,000 annually, thanks to a law passed quietly at the end of the 2021 legislative session.
The clip, published by TMZ on Wednesday, shows Mouzer and Jammerbund sleeping close to an open flame when Mouzer suddenly screams out in pain. Hot coal popped from the fire and landed on the tip of Mouzer’s penis.
Posted inPersonal|Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Tuesday, February 21, 2023
One of my readers gave me a really good laugh when he wrote, “I bet you a wind chime.” There’s nothing like uniquely personalized humor to make you feel appreciated.
BoyGeeding’s escape room birthday party went well and I was thankful me and the ex were able to keep things civil. It’s still very awkward being around her. I get it, she’s happier divorced and feels more complete. I’d just like to have a conversation about it and why at the start did you ask for full custody of the kids.
I attended several of the sessions of my church’s men’s retreat over the weekend. They held it at Camp Copass, where I spent two or three years volunteering at when I was in my late teens. One volunteer during those days would incessantly tell us how he met his wife at the camp, that it was in the cafeteria near the sugar bowl, and “it was sweet.” It was nice seeing how much the camp grounds have improved since my time there. It was also nice just walking around and letting the memories flood in.
At the start of the retreat, we gave the guest speaker a chance to get to know us by going around the room and introducing ourselves and saying why we came. I just simply said my name and that I’ve been regularly attending our church for about 16 years and this was my first ever men’s retreat. The entire room welcomed me by clapping. That was heart warming.
As nice as many things were about the men’s retreat, I left disappointed. See, Camp Copass is a Baptist encampment. And, one reason I left the Baptist church was that it was getting too political, that if you weren’t a conservative, they would question your salvation. I prefer being able to grow and worship in a church that’s not condemning or judgemental, one that is free of politics. For the most part, my current church has been that, but the guest speaker reminded me of the tail end of my Baptist days when I just couldn’t take it any longer. For instance, he griped about woke culture. That was tolerable. What wasn’t tolerable was hearing an old white dude gripe to a room full of old white dudes about how white culture is under attack. Here’s an example of our small group discussion questions:
“Why does the imposition of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in schools, businesses, and organizations seem not to be having the desired effect wherever it is imposed? Do you believe that the cause of White Supremacy is being protected by those who object to DEI?”
Uh, can we get back to Jesus please, and leave the law and political land minds behind? How about something regarding grace, acceptance, serving others? You know, retreat stuff.
I came to the men’s retreat to escape the worries of the divisive outside world and bond with men I normally wouldn’t have time to. There’s probably a reason why there wasn’t one minority at our retreat. Would a minority male feel welcomed or comfortable having to discuss this type of question? What about one who was discriminated against?
As usual, as with a lot of conservatives, they will gripe about something like DEI but offer no alternative or any way to fix it.
There’s a time and a place for these discussions. A retreat isn’t one of them. It felt like an attempt at exclusion instead of inclusion.
Progress isn’t always linerar.
According to a new Stanford study, the average penis is larger than it was 30 years ago.
The family of an 11-year-old boy from Winter Park said he died after a twisted ankle and potential scratch eventually spiraled out of control. Jesse Brown got Strep-A, which then turned into something worse, eventually killing him.
“We become not a melting pot, but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.” Jimmy Carter
Posted inPersonal|Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for February 20, 2023
It’s going to be a busy weekend for me, and that rarely happens. I’ve been a member of my church for something like 15-years, but have never taken part in the annual men’s retreat. This year, the retreat is close. As a matter of fact, it’s at Camp Copass in Denton, a camped I worked at for two summers. However, I will not be able to fully immerse myself because BoyGeeding has a birthday party planned at an escape room in Grapevine Mills Mall on Saturday afternoon. All of this travel from Lewisville to Denton, to Grapevine, and back to Denton is going to be challenging for my short range electric car. If I’m lucky, a full charge will get me 72 miles. Basically, I divide that number in half, and that tells me how far I can go and return without a charge. I can recharge fully in four hours, or eight hours, using a regular wall outlet. I love my car. It was perfect for when I was married and had another vehicle, but it’s tough as a single father. Rent and child support takes up 58% of my income, so it would be hard to fit in a car payment. So, for now, I just try to make do. I just hope the battery doesn’t degrade too much. I’d like to keep the car long enough to give it to one of the kids when they turn of driving age. Even if the max range is only 25-35 miles by that time, that’s plenty to get them to school and back.
Regarding the last bullet point, I had to look up the correct usage of “make do.” I initially went with “make due.”
My landlord came over yesterday for a mandatory bi-annual inspection. I was told I’m the modal tannate.
I get a real kick out of celebrities telling Elvis stories. This clip includes Liza Minnelli telling a story about the time she was in the same room as Alice Cooper, Chubby Checker, and Linda Lovelace when Elvis entered the room doing karate.
A supervisor at work complimented me on my writing. I should have shown her some comments the grammar Nazis have left me.
Graceland got its name after Civil War publisher and owner of the Memphis Daily Appeal S.C. Toof named it after his daughter, Grace. Elvis named one of his airplanes the Lisa Marie. I wonder if he got the idea from how his estate got its name.
Squirrels Mike and Colby are enjoying the treats BoyGeeding and I lay out for them. He named them after our old neighbors when there was a GeedingManor.
There’s a Civil War museum in Fort Worth that sometimes makes the news for their perception of the war. One of my kids will go there on a field trip sponsored by their conservative charter school.
It’s interesting when a divorced mother who never grants the father any extra time with the kids suddenly grants him an opportunity to host them for a night. I’m told that means the mother must have plans, plans that require privacy.
It’s touching that Bruce Willis’ current wife and ex-wife are banding together to care for him. I’ll admit, I’m a bit jealous that he’s able to maintain such a relationship.
A Denver city councilperson who uses a wheelchair said he was humiliated and dismayed after an election debate on Monday evening was held in a venue without wheelchair access, forcing him to crawl onto the stage while in full view of the crowd.
He said he had had no choice but to participate in the debate. Had he refused, according to The Denver Post, he would have had to forfeit roughly $125,000 in campaign financing.
Today is BoyGeeding’s 11th birthday. He says he doesn’t really enjoy his birthday anymore because of what happened during his ninth birthday. There are some things a son is only comfortable sharing with his dad, and he can’t bring himself to talk to his mother about how it all went down. You may recall that my ex ran off with the kids and then, for four straight nights, prevented me from contacting our children. She only relented on our son’s ninth birthday, and only allotted him a five-minute speakerphone call with me. My boy retold that story, but this time mentioned how weird the call was, talking to his dad for only five minutes after four nights of no contact.
I remember my former MIL texting me that if that call went well, then I might be able to talk to them more later that evening. I complied with their demands, but that second call never happened. Nothing but empty promises from then on out.
One thing I miss doing is talking joyfully, reminiscing about BoyGeeding’s birth to his mother. It sucks to have memories and no one to share them with.
This makes me happy as a short-range electric car owner, and should have been done years ago – Tesla will open charging network to other EVs – The company will make at least 7,500 chargers nationwide available by the end of next year.
So, people with social anxiety feel anxious sharing information about themselves because they feel like they’ll be judged harshly for it (presumably because they judge their own behavior harshly), so they hide under a layer of rehearsal. Meanwhile, on the other side, participants felt that the people with social anxiety were being disingenuous and thus were less likable.
Last month, Louisiana became the first state to require an ID from residents to access pornography online. Since then, seven states have rushed to follow in Louisiana’s footsteps. According to a tracker from Free Speech Coalition, Florida, Kansas, South Dakota, and West Virginia introduced similar laws, and laws in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Virginia are seemingly closest to passing.
Posted inPersonal|Comments Off on Bag of Randomness for Thursday, February 16, 2023
