On An Unrelated Note

Apologies, dear readers (if there are any of you), for my somewhat extended absence from this blog. I make no excuses; I have been feeling lazy (more than usual), uninspired (more than usual), and I've been losing my train of thought (surprise, also more than usual). I don't know what the deal is, and I don't usually talk about what's going on in my daily or personal life here. I don't intend for it to be that kind of blog, at least generally speaking. That said, I've got a few things for this one, none of which pertain to each other. Mostly, they're just assorted ruminations whilst I try to get my head on straight.

Have you ever seen Ken Broo? He's the sports guy on channel 5 (in Cincinnati). Dude, that guy is creepy-looking! Just saying...

In the category of things that are in the news and shouldn't be: the girl on the damn box of raisins. What is it, SunMaid, something like that? Why is it news that the company changed its image by updating her appearance? Oh, right, I've got it! It isn't news! That's exactly why it's in the news! Yeah, we have the shittiest media ever in this country.

Also in the category of things that are in the news and shouldn't be: the Salahis. You know, the people who gate-crashed the White House during a party. That should have been news, yes, but only for about a day, and maybe a follow-up a few days later with the head of the Secret Service or whatever. But I've been hearing about this seemingly every day for something like three weeks now. That's overkill, folks.

In the category of things on TV that I actually like: surprise, it's the Food Network! That actually shouldn't be a surprise, since I love food. Seriously! Iron Chef and Chopped are super entertaining. Almost makes me want to learn to cook. Almost.

In the category of things that happen unexpectedly: today, I happened to run into an old teacher of mine from way back in elementary school, Mrs. Sebastian. Great freaking teacher, she ran the section for advanced kids, so she knew both Jesse and myself well. She had such an outside-the-box approach to teaching, and I give her massive amounts of credit for the appreciation I have had for learning ever since. The encounter got me thinking about what a difficult thing it is to be a great teacher, and how unappreciated the efforts often go. I made sure to let Mrs. Sebastian know that I, for one, was appreciative of all that she had contributed to her classrooms. On that note, I implore you, kind reader, to go and track down some teacher or professor you've had who really made a difference in your life, one who helped to make you a better and smarter person, and thank them. They deserve it, and it'll probably be the nicest thing they've heard all year. Teachers have such a thankless job, being stuck somewhere in the black hole between doing their best to teach their students the things that really matter, while trying to balance this with the ridiculous teach-to-the-test approach that the schools in this country have adopted. It's not a pleasant place to be, and too few can manage to do both in an effective way. So please, let one of them know that their efforts are not in vain.

And finally, in the category of things that piss me off: Christmas lights. Fuck Christmas lights. If you put up Christmas lights, congratulations, you are the victim of a conspiracy perpetrated by the light bulb manufacturers and the electric companies. Don't you know that these people invented Christmas lights and urged you to out-do your neighbors by putting them up sometime around Labor Day in order to line the pockets of the executives at Duke Energy and the like? Seriously, the lights are obnoxious and ugly and they waste electricity in the name of vanity (excuse me while I suppress a combination laugh/snort of disgust). Turn them off.

Thank you, that is all for now.