J0nny Ling0

Ok TSRTS. It's really really good it didn't come to blows for us too...

And yeah Johniam, I know you are right. But I am just so bummed that it came to that, my own flesh and blood. I do hope he ends up seeing it the way Song Remains The Same sees it...

What is "LP"?

Mothers Day turned out to be Hell for my wife. The 8th of May was also my birthday. My eighteen year old son, who had been to his senior prom the night before, partied somewhere afterword up on the mountainside at a bonfire, had been dumped by his date at the prom. He paid her ticket to the dance (sixty bucks per couple), took her to dinner at a nice place, and the moment they walked into the dance after presenting the sixty bucks, his date promptly dumped him and ran off with her ex boyfriend. He seethed as he watched them slow dance, she in a gown and corsage, ex-beau in a rent-a-tux. It seemed to have been planned out. Major slap in the face. But he found a gal pal who had come single to the prom, spent the evening with her, did the photo shoot, and etc. But even though he had been nominated for "Prom King", he left to the after party before the selection and subsequent crowning of King and Queen. He called at 2:00 p.m. the next day, knowing it was my birthday, and Mothers Day. He was groggy, and no doubt had a "hard night" at the after party. Probably drowned his sorrows in beer or whatever. I went and got him at his friends house, and it seemed as if we were heading into a nice 48th birthday and Mothers Day party with, me, the Missus, and the three boys. After we got home, a girl called here, and wanted to come over. We were preparing for my birthday dinner and Mothers Day dinner (steaks on the grill), and so, we said; "Sure she can come over, but unlike last time she was here (she is a girl of very loose morals), you may not go into your bedroom with her and shut your door. It's a lousy example for the "little boys" (little brothers), and we're spending time together today. You had your big but unfortunate night out last night, but now we're going to at least hang together for a while. "Avalon" is welcome, but this is what we're doing...." To this he flipped out, said "we were ridiculous!" and declared that as an eighteen year old, he could do what he wanted to do! My wife, shocked that he would be so rude on Mothers Day and on my birthday told him that since we don't even see him around here very much anymore, the least he can do is mind his mouth and go by our rules while he is under this roof! It got worse. My wife feeling as if she were being treated ungratefully (we had given him money for the prom the night before), layed into him about how her mother never even allowed her to have a boy in her bedroom when she was a teenager, and that at the very least he could grant her this wish on Mother's Day! It got worse. I told them both to drop it, that the girl could come over for dinner, but that she would have to act like a normal guest and that you, "Keanu", would have to act like a normal "host of your guest", join the family, and we could all have a nice time etc. He did not like that. It escalated. He went to his room and slammed the door. Mom (my wife) went to his room and pleaded for him to calm down, but he would not. Yelling and screaming. Me in the kitchen trying not to blow.. On hearing this escalating argument, I finally went in with the intention of just settling things down. But angry teenager son would have none of it. Mama gets so ****** that she says; "Then you can just leave you ungrateful little whelp!" "Fine!" screams he, as he try to charge through the door and right through me. At this point I am not going to let him get away with "running away" like he was in the process of trying to do. So, I block his exit. He raises his fists as if to punch me, so I grab his wrists in a vice grip and tell him that he's going no where! And throw him on his bed. He is 5'9" tall, and 175 pounds and is no little child. He is jumps up and lunges at me to try and take me down. But I grab him and put him in a wrestling hold and tie him up good (with the wrestling hold, not a rope) while he rages, and while I yell; "We're not going to do this!" We're not going to fight! We don't do it this way in this family! We-are-going-to-talk" as I calmed down, and as he finally collapsed with his struggling, and I released my hold, and he had relented, spent, the steam and the rage gone from him. But he was sobbing, and tears streamed from my eyes... And then we talked. It was a good talk. It seemed as if he understood how he had pushed his Mom's buttons. I told him that I clearly understood the hurt that he went through the night before, but that it was not an excuse to treat his Mom the way he did. He seemed to understand all of that. We hugged, it was much better, he said he was sorry. I said I was sorry for putting the "man handle" on him, but that I didn't want him storming off and screaming out the front door to "who knows where". He said he accepted that. I told him that he could take the Honda mini bike to go across the river and see Avalon if he wanted before dinner, and he said "ok". I felt "hollow", and still do, some. He came back in about twenty minutes because her family was just sitting down to Mothers Day dinner... I went outside and put the steaks on but slipped into the motor home and a had a good belt of bourbon. Dinner was quiet at first, but it loosened up, and we all slipped into "let's pretend it didn't happen mode", and really we ended up having a really nice evening, although the dark cloud still hung heavily nearby. The little boys told my wife; "Happy Mothers Day" numerous times, and "Happy Birthday" to me numerous times as well, as if to say we're sorry that your day was ruined. They were pretty obvious about it, but that's ok... "Keanu" gave me a big hug before bedtime, and an even longer hug to his teary eyed Mom.. Damn it's hard being a parent. I wish I were a better Dad, but I feel like a complete and total failure...

Do any of you Trekkies own any Spock ears?

Long Gone- Agreed. JL

Gawd, you guys really are funny! (hope I'm not invading your space....) Touche' NiKa. And I think I just got rid of that tagline. I don't like it at the end of something I just said. Seems to take away from what could have been some "brilliant" comment, and I need all the help I can get! :)-->

Well, if I had been your kid, hard as it would be, you'd probably have loved me too. And I was a major handfull! :)-->

Speaking of "old Jenks", he used to say the words "Crested Butte", like this "Crestabutte". And also speaking of Tommy Jenks, I went to a fellowship at his condo in Virginia back in 90 after we'd been kicked out. His son referred to him as "Father", and as we walked in the door, there was Arlene playing away at an organ in the living room smiling like the church lady. It was very surreal now that I look back on it. But to be fair, they were kind and wonderful, and Tom had lost his judgemental attitude. We even talked about that for awhile. He still wouldn't swear much. He used the term "blue beans" in exchange for the word ..... For instance; "I couldn't give blue beans what anyone thought of me right now!" I remember looking at him quizzically and asking with a grin and saying " Blue Beans?" And sheepishly he replied; "Well yeah, blue beans. You know as in, I couldn't give an s-h-i-t?" And we both laughed! "Okrafest" Fellowsipper? Wow. Up here in Southeast Alaska, in one of the villages known as "Kake", we have a Dog Salmon Festival: http://www.alaskaonline.org/travelplanner/southeast/kake.php

Why yes Trefor! I have it safely squirreled away! How could I have missed my opportunity like that? I must have smoked too much dope in high school! And MJ, those squirrels sound like they were wicked bunch. You should write a screenplay like the movie "Willard". Maybe you could call it "Squillard"? Moohoohaha! Mooohooohahaha! Mmmoooohhhoooohahahahaha!

I agree with Raf and WW. If it went down the way the kid said it did, then the school officials were being unreasonable. But if it went down the way the school staffers said, then the kid was being unreasonable. By the sound of it, especially with the Mom's call back and the content thereof, I would guess that the kid was being an arrogant hot head, and using the situation to garner attention. I have an eighteen year old son who has done the exact same thing in different situations. He could handle things calmly with teachers, but is incredibly manipulative, and gets all hot with them for no reason so he can get the other students riled up and in his corner in an "us against them scenario". It's very common amongst utes. And, I am one of those parents who do not say; "My child would never do that!" I take it as it comes, as honestly as I can. Kids do stuff like this. And so really OodaFog, it's nice to take a "motherly", protective approach, but I am willing to bet that in a state like Georgia, home to Fort Benning, and where are some 17,000 families whose loved ones are serving overseas, which is no doubt common knowledge and of special concern amongst school faculty, most teachers would be very sensitive to a student talking on the phone to his or her Mom had they known that that Mom was calling from the war zone...

Oh yeah, that really was funny. And thanks for this thread, for I was finally inspired to take the time to write that one down. I have a little archive of short stories that have happened to me and my family which I want the kids to have when we grown ups are dead and gone. And now that one is safely written down...

Listen, If people here at the Grease Spot Cafe were saying, "Alcoholism is okay, there is nothing wrong with it, God doesn't say that it is wrong, alcohol addiction is a perfectly okay lifestyle so quit being so judgemental, it's not my bag, but it's perfectly okay for those who choose it", then I would say that there would be an argument against such sentiments. People would supply story after story about the destructiveness of alcoholism, and they would supply scripture verses that are not supportive of drunkeness. Yet the majority of us, accepting that alcoholism is bad and dangerous, would also agree that it is right to love and treat alcoholics with respect. But we would also agree that alcoholics are doing something that is wrong and not healthy. The fact is, very few people, if any, take a stand FOR alcohol addiction. If they did, ther WOULD BE So, your argument here doesn't hold much water. You may take another tack on this, but this tack is weak.

Speaking of squirrels, I have a funny story. While living in my old neighborhood briefly, but a block from our family home and during the TWI upheaval of 87/88, the funniest thing happened. I think maybe God supplied the incident as "comic relief" due to the stress of The Times... We had a dog named Mr. Starbuck Von Der Weg, one of the German Shorthairs out of Dr. Wierwilles' "TJ". As you may know, "Von Der Weg" means "Of The Way" in German. He was a fine fellow, my dog, and he has since "gone under" back in the year 2000. He was a faithful friend and true companion. I'll always remember him and miss him. :(--> Starbuck was only a year and a half old, lean and strong, and a fierce hunter. Very intense dog, always on the watch, yet a true teddy bear and was very affectionate as well. He'd climb right into your lap to be loved if you let him. At any rate, we had been renting this house from an old highschool friend of mine. As a matter of fact, this was the same house whose yard had a maple tree under which I smoked my first cigarrette back in 7th grade in '69 while waiting for the bus. Anyway.... -->, This house had a fire place, and since fall was coming on and the crispness was in the air, I decided to build a fire in it. As the burning paper began to catch the kindling on fire, a great billow of smoke came out and chased us out of the house. When I got outside, I could see that the chimney at the top had sticks and leaves in it. "Damn squirrels!" I thought. And sure enough when I climbed up there (after putting the fire out), there was a huge squirrel's nest clogging the chimney. And as I dismantled it, I was amazed by the little buggers's inginuity. The deeper I dug to get the nest out, the bigger and bigger the material got. At first it was nice soft oak leaves, but as I dug in, it was small sticks, bigger sticks, and finally it was a branch wider than the chimney that the damned squirrell had somehow stuffed and wedged between either side of the chimney, making a foundation for his "building". Pretty cool, I thought, isn't God amazing? But I still dismantled his home, and that was the end of that. Or so I thought... I built my fire, the kids roasted marshmallows, and life was great. But that following Saturday morning we awoke to a great racket. The first thing we heard was a sort of "poof" sound (kinda like when Wile E. Coyotee hits the canyon floor after falling off a cliff) and then a scrambling of tiny clawed feet. Then we heard the scratching and clawing of Mr Starbucks' feet as he scrambled around the oak hardwood floor trying to get traction, followed by his loud barking and growling. And then the kids (ages 3 and 5) joined in with squeals and shouting. Daughter squealing, 3 year old son shouting. The wife and I sat bolt upright thinking; "WTF!?" And then my brain unfogged as I realized the situation at hand. "It's that damned Squirrel!" I foggily concluded. So I jumped out of bed, threw on my sweatpants and ran to the livingroom to join in the melee, with my young wife in tow. And there it was. The squirrel, who had come home after a "hard night on the town" (or whatever it is squirrels do at night), had apparently leaped into his warm and comfy home, only to find it gone, and fell all the way to the bottom of the fireplace into a pile of soot and ashes. And as soon as he had scrambled around in there for a bit, getting completely covered in soot, he leaped into the living room only to be confronted by the Grandson of "TJ" in all of his canine glory, ready to finally get to chomp and devour one of these smart a$$ed squirrels who had consistently eluded and scolded him since we had moved to the land of massive oak trees, new smells, and and the elusive but ever present black squirrels! The damned squirrel, seeing the damned dawg, leaped onto our nice new beige couch (newlyweds, don't pick light colored furniture) tracked soot all over it before climbing up the curtain and running along the curtain rod in the direction of the fireplace mantle. My wife was then squealing; Oh my God! The Couch! It's a squirrel! Catch the daog! Kids get away! What about rabies?! Quit screaming! Starbuck you idiot! Get off that F***ing couch!" But I'm yellin "Get him Starbuck get him! Keanu open that front door! Yeah Starbuck get off that damned couch you moron! " Kids squealing, dog barking, wife squealing as the damned squirrel leaped from the curtain rod to the fireplace mantle. Total and complete and delightful chaos! The damned squirrel, upon landing on the mantle, proceeded to race toward one end, knocking off the framed picture of VPW and the Board of Trustees, a brass SIT ornament, and all kinds of other stuff while the Dog headed him off and sent the him back toward the other end where I was. The squirrel, seeing that he couldn't jump off of either end without running into resistance, decided that the now opened door looked pretty good. So, he stopped at mid mantle, and leaped through the air toward freedom. However, he realized in mid flight that my wife was standing right there, frozen in fear and realizing that she was about to be hit in the chest by a scrambling and airborne squirrel! She screamed bloody murder! The kids screamed out "Mom! Mom!" But it's too late. The flying black blur hits her square in the breast, runs down her leg and scrambling and scratching, sprinted for the door. "Cujo" the dog, ever alert, also scrambled, scratched, and slipped, as he tried to gain traction on the hardwood floor. The damned squirrel made it to the door, gained traction, and raced up the trunk of my "smoking tree" (it was a Raleigh cigarrette by the way), and climbed as far up as he could to try and get away from what turned out to be the worst morning of his entire life! Mr Starbuck was at the bottom of the tree by this time, barking furiously, and the kids and I were rolling with laughter on the dirtied couch, while my wife, not so amused, stood there in her pajamas as if she had been violated in the worst of ways. Finally she broke into a grin, and we all laughed and laughed as we thought of that "damned squirrel" and how all he wanted was to jump in bed and get a little "shut eye". Poor guy.. Meanwhile, we could hear that little bugger at the top of my smoking tree scolding a frustrated Mr. Starbuck, outwitted again by one of the black little beasties..

The black squirrels raided the strawberries as much as the the gray ones did. She just put up with it because yes, she liked 'em. She doesn't have the strawberry patch anymore, and now it seems that she enjoys the cottontailed bunnies that have populated the neighborhood as well. It's really quite idyllic back at the old family home. In the early morning, the bunnies hop about, and the black and gray squirrels scamper around making evreything kinda dreamy in the dewy morn. Mom is enjoying her sunset years immensely, although she misses my Dad, and recently my big brother who passed away..

CM I had to go and look at your profile. All this time I thought you were a woman, and I thought to myself, damn, this woman cusses like a trooper! But when I looked at your profile, I saw that you are a guy, and so, that explains it a little bit. I'm not sure I see the reason for your f word rant however...

Yeah Mr. H, it's called "getting a mess of squirrels..." And, up here in Alaska, hardly anybody hunts them because our Northern Red Squirrel is a little tiny feller. No more than eight inches from nose to the beginning of his tail... Now back in Maryland where my dear mother still lives in the family home by herself at age 84, there are gray squirrels everywhere. But thanks to my mother who has always been against segregation, we have an abundance of black squirrels within a five block area, with the "epicenter" being my old home sweet home. This neighborhodd, btw, is in the heart of the DC Metropolitan area, where there is nothin but miles and miles of suburbia. Nice and pretty homes amongst old oaks, weeping willows, tulip poplars and maples and such in the hilly area just north of DC, but definitely suburbia. Ya see, my Mom, when we were younguns, got tired of how the damned squirrels were raiding her strawberry patch. And so, she used my live trap (a "Havahart"), and began to catch 'em and transport them four miles away so they wouldn't come back. She'd brush a little paint on their tails so she could see if her plan was workin. And so, it was working quite well with no "recitivism" from the offending scoundrels, at least not in our neighborhood. But the one thing that she did which contributed to the "squirrel integration" was that whenever she caught a black squirrel, she would release it back into our yard, and the "blacks" were here to stay. And to this day, whenever I visit my family home in Kensington, Maryland, three out of five squirrels that I see in my old neighborhood are black. Kinda cool huh? I guess we'll have to call it a successful experiment in "bussin..." I sure love my Mom... P.S. Mr Ham- If you really want to see em get greedy, give 'em som crunchy peanut butter spread on a piece of bread. They are fiends for it. They will really "love you then..."

Why do you want him to wear a kilt Trefor? For I hear that a true kilt wearer has nothing on beneath than that which he was born with.. :)-->

Excathedra, are you a New Yorker? I hadda bunch of friends in The Way from there. George C*mella, Tony Cr*sera, Linus Math*s, Cathy McEv*y, Kathy M*cIntyre, Todd Byrn*s, Ir*s Tate, Carol Sap*o, Glen and Louise Abr*mson, Vinnie Rocc*salvo, to name a few... Those New Yorkers have always been a funny bunch to me. So many of them were so sarcastic to me in the Corps that I thought that they hated me. But really, it was "just them" and their "dryness" or whatever it is called. I finally got used to it and liked it...

Thank you OoDafog -->

This just in! "Long-haired heartthrob Bo Bice (search) of Helena, Ala.; birthday boy Anthony Fedorov of Trevose, Pa.; Vonzell Solomon of Fort Myers, Fla.; and Carrie Underwood of Checotah, Okla., remain in the American Idol competition". CHECOTAH, Oklahoma? Fellowshipper, isn't that somewhere near your neck of the woods? And so this means that an American Idol some how has infiltrated your spiritual sphere of influence? How could this be? You need to check into this infestation , no doubt the work of some local seed boy! Thou needs to take this idol and cast it down! As well as smoke out the insidious influences of Seed that are undoubtedly behind this by using your eyes behind your ears and your ears behind your eyes!

So Trefor, just what exactly is RADA? Is that an acronym for something? Enlighten me please... And Galen, I can certainly see that in real life, but if the Next Generation bunch decided that the Captain of the Enterprise would have a very French sounding French name, then why the proper or RADa British accent?

Yeah, "Jean Luc Picard", a decidedly French name, but with a very nice, what is it Tref, a Scottish accent?

Oh no OoDaFog, No problem. And I think you sound reasonable in that respect too. I guess the problem here is that since this discussion was opened up as a "What do you think about this?" kinda thread, without the stipulation of "no Christian doctrine on the subject allowed in this discussion", it only stands to reason that there are going to be opinions contrary to those of others, and that the biblical view point concerning the lifestyle is going to come up. There are those of us who believe that the bible clearly labels homosexuality as sin, and that even though it is always right to "walk in love to them who are without", it is wrong to "put a stamp of approval" on something that the Almighty has said He does not in approve of. That to change ones opinion of a biblical edict from "wrong to right" because of Love is not right I believe that I can (and have taught) my kids that "gay is not ok", but they should also love everybody, and "live peaceably with all men (and women) as much as lieth in them" as the Scripture tells us to. For my son to have punched that kid was not really right according to Romans 12: last verse: "Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good" But in his surprise, shock, and confusion, he lashed out. He is but a "ute". On the way to school this morning after I wrote that other post, he also informed me that the "kiss on his neck" turned into a bite which hurt him alot! And so I guess I don't blame him for lashing out, but would Jesus have done that? From what we see in the Word, the answer would have to be "no", he would not have lashed out. But he did tell the woman taken in the very act of adultery; ..."neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more". He forgave her, loved her, but also corrected her with doctrine. And so, I guess this thread will go on and on.. But OoDaFog, if I met your daughter, I would be kind, respectful and loving, and so would my son, because this is the way we have chosen to walk in the way that we believe that the Bible teaches...

Long Gone My eighteen year old son is a "band queer". But he's not homosexual. That's just the term that non musician kids in the high school call kids that are in band, orchestra, or concert choir. "Band Queers", kinda funny, to me anyway. I guess I was a band queer back in the day also... But amongst his music crowd, there are significantly more homo kids (girls and boys) than in let's say the jock crowd. Not as many as seem to be involved in DDF (Drama Debate Forensics), but more so than in the jock set. And so, he is around gay kids and he treats them respectfully, although he does not agree with them and their lifestyle. In answer to your questions of "would you allow such and such to occur?", I would say that I would answer in the affirmative to all of them. When it comes to "would I allow him to stay in a hotel room with a gay roomate? Well, I can tell you that if my son knew that a potential roomate was gay, he would prefer not to stay in the same hotel room with him. For two reasons. He would not want the stigma of being teased by fellow school mates for "having been in a private room with a fag", as would surely follow, had said scenario occurred, and he would be uncomfortable getting naked to get in the shower if he knew that a gay kid might look at him as an object of desire. You know, the same way that you girls might feel disrobing around men who are not your intimate one. Unless of course you are into that kinda thing He is kind to his fellow students who are gay, but he did smack one square in the face one night at a dance. They were all dancing to "Whip It" by Devo, and having a blast making fun of "punk music and slam dancing", and were slam dancing up a storm, making fun of the "Eighties Set".. During this song, this gay guy who had been telling others in school just how "cute" my son is (and I'll tell you Ashton Kutcher's got nothin on my son!), grabbed my son, pulled him to him, and started kissing him on the neck! So, when he figured out that it was this gay guy who had been talking about him for the previous weeks, he flat smacked him with a left hook and sent the gay guy to the floor. So, no, I don't think he'd even want to room with a gay guy. He remains respectful as long as the local gay kids treat him respectfully. But after last weeks "Day of Silence Out Of Respect For Fellow Gay Student Day", where a lot of the gay girls gave him the finger for playing his guitar in the hallway (you can read about that in perhaps my first post on this thread), his desire to remain respectful has waned...