This of course comes from the famous South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein.  However, the latter part refers to boys and their shorts (or pants).  It would seem that the older or darker the kids are, the lower the shorts.  There have been many times I have had to tell them to pull the shorts up.  Of course, just like runners in the hall continue when the teacher is out of sight, the shorts will come back down as well- I’m realistic.  But I tell ’em anyway.  I recall one black student who had his pants down past his buttocks.  He had to have a belt buckled tightly or they would have finished the journey down unhindered.  I have had another student tell me it was okay to wear his shorts so low because he was black.  But of course it isn’t just black students, but as I said older students like to do this as well, as I witness in eighth grade especially and some of the high school leaders in church.  In fact, during the camp meeting a few weeks ago the camp (and high school) director flatly said the shorts stay up or he will give them a rope to hold them up.

I have gotten softer on this lately and will usually tell them if they want to wear them low, they have to compensate with a long shirt.  Basically, as long as I can’t see what color their underwear is I’m happy.  The problem is when they sit.  The amount the shirt covers is a lot less than when they are standing, so I constantly have to say thing like, “I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to know you are wearing red plaid underwear.”  They usually take the hint and pull them up.

This fashion I am told started in prisons, where guys would show they are “available,” if you know what I mean.  How this got out of the prisons and to our youth I have no idea, but sadly it shows why black boys tend to do it more as they are vastly over-represented (by demographics) in jail.  It can’t be comfortable.  I certainly know how uncomfortable it feels when I forget to put on a belt and my pants are just a bit loose.  I suppose they do it for the same reason adolescents do most thing adults don’t like- because the adults don’t like it (“heh, heh- I have to live in the old man’s house following his rules, so I’ll get him back by doing stuff he hates!”).

Then there are the younger boys.  Usually there is no problem with them, but today I ran into the opposite case.  I was in a very low LD class today and one of the students had his shorts pulled up as high as possible.  This is often seen on more, ah, senior men (covering up the tire- I have been tempted to do the same, which I resist by picturing what I would look like to others if I did!) but not so much on kids.  Perhaps part of what made it look odd was that the shirt was tucked in, another rare occurence among our youth.  In any event, I didn’t say anything as no one had a problem with it and at least the shorts pulled in this direction didn’t reveal what was underneath.

Another trend I’ve noticed is age affects the size or length of clothing as well.  With the girls the clothes get smaller (see this picture for an example that is sort of an analogue to this topic- it shows undergarments by year, but the outerwear by age follows the same trend…) and with the boys the shorts get longer.  Girls seem to want to reveal more as they get older (and they wonder why teenage sex is a problem) while the boys want to reveal less.  I think this was true in the eighties too.  Some I know didn’t wear shorts at all no matter the heat.  My brother was one of them.

Well, I think I will stop here.  Some of you are already wondering about me, a guy, writing about something like this.  Yes, I’m done.  Definitely done.

I recently discovered a website totally devoted to one of my favorite television series from my youth. The Bionic Woman was a dynamite spin-off from the successful Six Million Dollar Man. Lindsay Wagner starred as Jaime Sommers, a former tennis pro who after a nearly fatal skydiving accident was endowed with bionic limbs (two legs, right arm, and right ear) that not only allowed her to function normally but gave her great speed, the ability to lift enormous amounts of weight, leap great distances, and hear sounds from a five mile radius (don’t quote me on that). The character was introduced on a two-part episode of the Six Million Dollar Man as the childhood sweetheart of Steve Austin, the bionic man (played by Lee Majors). In her debut episode, Jaime was killed as a result of a brain clot precipitated by her body’s rejection of the bionics. However, fan response was so great that the character was revived and eventually given her own series.

Jamie (as well as her male counterpart) was an agent for the Office of Scientific Investigation (O.S.I.). She had the cover of a junior high school teacher. Each week, she was assigned to battle spies, international terrorists, or evil robots called Fembots. On occasion the bionic woman and bionic man would have crossover episodes. On a few occasions, the duo would come face to face with Sasquatch, the mythical Bigfoot. In the final season of The Bionic Woman, Jaime became the guardian of Maxmillian, the bionic dog.

Cheesy, definitely by today’s standards; however, I much prefer the adventures of the ORIGINAL bionic woman to the failed “updated” version from last season that lasted all of 5-6 episodes. The writers strike may have been the final nail in the coffin, but it seriously lacked the heart that both previous series had.

You can either relive or introduce yourself to classic episodes of The Bionic Woman at the Official Bionic Woman website. You just have to love the cool bionic sound effects. On a personal note, my family took a trip to California in 1978 and visited Universal Studios where many of the set pieces for the series were on display. My brothers and I were locked in a jail and bent the steel bars of the cell, escaped, and flipped over a van. Jaime Sommers… not a bad name for a very attractive character.

I’ve only been blogging for a little while, but I’ve been reading blogs for longer than they’ve been called blogs. While I won’t say I created the internet, I’ve been on it since for a very long time. So now I’m asking the question what makes an interesting Blog? Of course, since this is my blog, I’m going to answer that question too. At least in my opinion. 😉

The first thing that draws my attention to a blog is the person who writes it. I don’t hop from blog site to blog site looking for blogs to read. My personal preference, but to each their own. The second is content. Here I will do searches and sometimes find blogs that fit my search. If they have good content, I will read them. Are they accurate if it is an informational blog? Funny if a humorous blog? Clever, fun, easy to read, catches the eye, interesting. All these play a role in the content of the blog. Finally, blog personality. How does the person writing the blog ‘sound’? Do they seem like a person I could get along with, or get in an argument with (I like a good argument every now and again)? Does the blogger seem real?

That’s it one paragraph on what makes a good blog for me. And I have found them. Check my blog links, they are some good ones. Unfortunately, one of my favorite blogs is no longer in existence. My nephew wrote a blog years ago, but for some reason gave it up. Some of the most interesting reading I’ve ever seen, from a person I only thought I knew. His blog was everything a good blog should be.

While reading the newspaper the other day, I read on the front page in the little box beside the banner about an airline that charges passengers by the pound in order to fly. Not the weight of your baggage, but by the passengers body mass as well. The masterminds behind the rather humorously named Derri-Air (a play on the French term derriere or bottom, bumb, rump, behind, I think you get the point). Apparently the owners are environmentally-conscious fellows who want to find a way to offset the amount of carbon emissions released by airplanes. For every pound of emissions released by Derri-Air aircraft, they will plant plant trees.

However, the geniuses also want passengers to do their part. Because it takes more fuel and energy to transport a corpulent passenger from point A to point B, the airline charges less for customers who weigh less. For instance, a flight from from Philadelphia to Los Angeles will cost a traveler $2.25/lb.  You will be treated like royalty as their are no class divisions only the best service and amenities are provided by the finest attendants one could wish.

You can read more about Dick Derrie and his mission “to offer passengers the finest luxury experience in all the world’s skies and the freedom to enjoy it with a clear conscience” by clicking here

Ok… so the name was not intended as a play on words, but was named for the creator. I just found the name catchy. Dick Derrie must be proud and the “butt” of many jokes….. sorry, I had to.

After getting to watch week #2 of the new Mole season UNINTERRUPTED by kids since they’re with Grandma this week (can’t put a price on that by the way, it’s funny how simple pleasures like watching a favorite tv show uninterrupted can feel really nice :)), I am going to change my mole guess from Clay to Kristen.  I don’t really have a good reason why; she was just acting kind of moley.  And her way of sabotaging the task could have been to get that chain to keep falling off the bike, cuz that was unfortunate.  Clay had like, one comment during the whole episode, and I just don’t think they would shove the mole into the backround like that.  And I have to add that I just knew this week was going to be the end of Liz somehow.  Chris thinks the mole is Paul, going with his first week’s guess.  I guess what I will do is give everybody a point for every week they guess the mole correctly at the end once we find out who it is.  Do you have a guess this week, Jamiahsh?  I got your comment on my other mole post, and I will repost it here:

After watching the first 2 episodes. It is definitely NOT BOBBY. Trying way too hard to draw attention to himself with his ‘overexertion. It could be Alex… unless he really did leave his journal behind by mistake.
 

Interesting comment.  We too, think that Bobby is drawing way too much attention to himself to be the mole.  He’s just coming across as a lazy jerk, and it’s not fun to watch.  I will go with Chris’ theory on him – he is trying to throw off other players by acting like the mole.  I see Alex as the guy who wins everyting – there’s always one of those on every reality show – and I don’t think he’s the mole.  I don’t know whether or not he left his journal laying around on purpose.  He could have done so or he could have left it accidently and just tried to cover it up with the explanation of trying to throw others off.  But anyway, another good episode, and here is where we stand on mole guesses:

Lisa – Clay, Kristen

Chris – Paul, Paul

Jamiahsh – Clay, ?

I don’t remember my dreams very often, but when I do they are always a little on the strange side. My latest dream (last night) was no exception. The exception was, is that it stayed with me all day. Usually I forget them by the time I drive to work. This one is still strong in my memory.

Started with me being in an apartment, instead of my house. That in and of itself isn’t too strange, but I it was supposed to be an apartment building I lived in before. I’ve only lived in two, and this wasn’t either of them. Anyway I was entering an apartment that wasn’t mine. It was by mistake. I was trying to enter the apartment I had the last time I lived there. The lady living in the apartment wondered what I was doing, and I explained I just had a brain freeze and jumped back 20+ years. She laughed and dropped the bag of stuff she was carrying. As I helped pick up the stuff, she gave me a quick peck on the cheek. Strange, but it seemed important at the time.

Jump some indistinct time period, I find that some other lady in the apartment building is planning to murder me. I didn’t know why or how, but I was able to listen in to the entire conversation without anyone knowing. Going out the the garage to contact the authorities, I’m shoved into a big black van. I’m assuming these are the guys that will do me in. No, they’re a rock band that live in another apartment. They needed me to run their lights and sound for their gig. The first lady met is going to be their lead singer. Now the van drives off and is pursued by a red corvette.

The band and lady turn out to be some sort of government agents. They push me behind some crates, open the back doors of the van and start shooting at the Corvette. The guys in the corvette shoot back. We are going quickly down a highway that looks a lot like I95 in Florida?? Where did that swamp come from?

Van doors close and the FBI guys are again a band. I run lights and sound for the gig and head back home. I meet the lady who was setting up my murder and she wants to go out on the town. Thinking nothing of this I go, followed by the FBI guys again.

Then I wake up, only I’m still in my dream. I go to the apartment of the first lady, really thinking that she would be interested in the dream, only to discover that she lives with the second lady and they are plotting to kill me. I run out the door, only to run into the van full of FBI guys. The wild chase begins again… Then the alarm rings.

Yep, time to get up and go to work.

Today while preparing to watch the latest in what seems like daily thunderstorms, I was watching a taped broadcast of the National Spelling Bee. One of the funniest moments of any bee I have ever seen was in the 9th round. Sameer Mishra from West Lafayette, Indiana was given the word numnah. The 13 year-old eight grader mispronounced the word and said “numnut.” Not only did I start to laugh, the entire television audience cracked up and stopped the whole thing for 30 seconds. Upon reflection, the young man quickly recovered and a light bulb seemed to come on. OH…. Numnah!!! And he proceeded to correctly spell the word and eventually become crowned National Spelling Bee Champion with the word guerdon. (and if you would like the definition, language of origin, etc. I am not giving them to you> I would hate to spoil a good game of Balderdash).

My own association with the Bee began in the 5th grade. I was runner-up to a 6th grade girl. We battled each other through (I believe 8 rounds) before I unfortunately misspelled illegible. I do remember my class giving me a surprise party a few days after the bee.

My six grade year, I did not fare as well. I incorrectly spelled pajamas. I knew as soon as I said “g” and not “j.” In hindsight, if I had just slid that last sound to an “a” instead of “e”.

I do not remember my seventh grade experience. However, I was finally victorious my 8th grade year and progressed to our county bee. I do not remember where I finished there, either.

In last year’s competition, an eighth grader from my local junior high school made it to the National Bee where he made it just beyond the first written round. Pretty impressive considering our small community had previously never sent a speller to Washington, DC to compete.

watch?v=VjzrNWPul9E

This is a time of transitions.  Of course, as you know this is the time school days transition to long vacation time for the kids.  They will be transitioning to the next grade, moreso of course these days than yesteryear.  Once upon a time schools believed that holding back a child who wasn’t ready for the next grade was the right thing to do.  Parents had to fight the schools to keep their children from this fate.  Nowadays, schools have done a 180 and advance just about anyone believing it does more harm than good to hold that child back.  This means that a child can do pretty much whatever he or she wants during the year without fear of having to repeat the grade.  Parents who actually believe they might help their child by holding him/her back now must fight for this end instead.  Is being held back such a bad thing?  I don’t know- I just know things have really changed in schooling.

Okay, I have gone way off topic now, so where was I?  Ah yes, transitions.  I am transitioning from working to looking for work.  I will be looking in to a state job possibly, among other things.  I mean, besides teaching- there are state jobs in just about every field.  There are also transitions in my church as of late.  One of the teaching pastors left a couple of months ago after only a short time at my church to head up another college.  The new singles group got started a couple of weeks ago.  Most kids moved up a grade starting this week (the rest will change over at the end of August).  And, there have been some staff rotations.  The pastor that had written the curriculum for at least 4th/5th grade, probably the younger grades too, had transitioned to another church campus running both from there, but now he’s back and they hired another one to take over at the other campus so now each is dedicated to one campus.  However, as duties have changed now a different pastor who previously did mostly the younger grades has officially taken over 4th and 5th grades as well, meaning he is responsible to get out the emails about the weekend to the leaders, such as what we should be doing, who will be teaching, new rules, etc…  Yes, with the transitions come new rules.  Just a slight change, but since he didn’t get an email out being new to this and all- he didn’t let us know until Saturday night.  One of us two leaders (yes, only two of us this service) had to take over last minute.  Since I work two services, I agreed I would teach Sunday morning so she taught Saturday night.  The third service was actually worked out between a couple of the leaders phoning each other when they didn’t get an email I found out later, so Sunday went quite smoothly.

This was the first time for the former third-graders, now fourth-graders, so things were completely new to them.  They are used to having a drama (which I was part of, of course) but now they have a game time instead.  Worship is also different- they have to provide all the singing.  Prior to this, they sang to recorded children’s songs, with the leader providing motions to do.  Now the leader is more like the leader tin the main worship service, providing the music via guitar and possibly other instruments depending on who is there.  Well, this was how it worked Sunday.  We had no worship leader on Saturday night.  High school students are a big part of this ministry and we just don’t have any serving on Saturday nights (they often provide the music as well as lead).  We have had an adult doing worship Saturday nights, but he wasn’t there this time for some reason.  I hope he didn’t transition out, or if so that a replacement takes over quickly.

Anyway, also new to the new kids are small groups divided up by gender.  Girls with female leaders, boys with male.  The leaders could of course be high-school age, adults, or somewhere in between which is why I don’t say “women” or “men.”  Well, one thing that hasn’t changed is my Monday night small group, and I have to do my homework for it, so- later.

Friday June 13th sees the return of The Incredible Hulk to the big screen. While I do remember the television series that ran on CBS from 1978-1981, I found the original 2003 big screen adaptation to be lacking in some areas while being way too overblown in others. As a youngster, I fondly remember Dr. Banner becoming enraged and transforming into the green giant who was not always so jolly. He would smash buildings, overturn cars, hurl bad guys around like dolls.

As I grew older and saw reruns that pop up from time to time (this week a marathon of episodes is running on the SciFi Channel), I noticed from the first episode a somewhat Jekyll/Hyde saga. Following the death of his wife in a horrible automobile accident, Dr. David Banner (Bill Bixby) began experimenting with gamma radiation in an attempt to unlock the hidden strength that lies within everyone. Dr. Banner accidentally is exposed to lethal amounts of radiation. In times of rage, Banner transforms into a 7′ behemoth who is capable of flipping cars, smashing holes in walls, uprooting trees, etc. As many would suspect, the monster is seriously misunderstood as he is more of a hero than an evil monster. After his tantrums are over, the Hulk (Lou Ferrigno) changes back into the mild-mannered scientist who is endlessly seeking a cure for the transformation. Complicating matters is Mr. McGee, an investigative reporter who pursues Banner. The end of each episode features Dr. Banner either hitching a ride or hopping a bus to travel from city to city. So, I guess we can call it a Jekyll/Hyde meets the Fugitive.  Following the series cancellation, there were three reunion made-for-tv movies (The Return of, The Trial of, and The Death of the Incredible Hulk).

Now, the problem I had with the big screen movie was the fact that the producers wanted to do too much. Overblowing everything with the magic of CGI and forsaking anything resembling a plot. I remember the big promotion during Super Bowl XXXVIII and the first theatrical trailer showing The Hulk. If I remember correctly, reaction the next day was horrible and only could get better, right? WRONG!!!! I was never a huge fan of the comics…. indeed my main background with the character was from the series. I hated the look of the creature; it was abundantly clear that he was indeed an overblown computer generated image.

From what I gather from previews for The Incredible Hulk, the character battles a creation known as The Abomination who is every bit as big and powerful as the green one. I’m kind of torn on this one. Will it be as unmemorable as the original movie or will it redeem the series?
Incredible Hulk tickets on sale now!

The Incredible Hulk – The Television Series Ultimate Collection

For the past four days, I have been helping out my friend Amie while she babysits while her mom is down in Texas. You see, Cheryl (Amie’s mom) went down to Texas to help her daughter-in-law, Angel, and Angel’s son, Aidien, move up here, while Zac (Amie’s brother) is over seas. The problem, what was going to be a two week thing has turned into being a whole month! Apparently Angel called and said she couldn’t deal with it, it was all too much to handle on her own and she needed Cheryl down there as soon a possible. Yes, I understand that her husband is going over to Afganistan, and her son is a premie, but is it really necassary for Cheryl to be there a whole month while Amie is up here doing Cheryl’s job and not getting paid for it? Amie was supposed to go down and help Angel for the summer, and get paid, so she would have some money for college in the fall, but that was changed, and now she’s helping her mom for nothing! Amie’s not too happy about it, and to tell the truth, neither am I! Amie is working so hard with these kids and is going to have five children at a time some days. I am staying with Amie and helping her this month, so she doesn’t go crazy. There are days that I will be going back to my house to do some chores around the house, but a lot of the time, I will be over with Amie, because a month is too long for her to have to do this for free. Yesterday, Amie went to her friend’s graduation party while I watched the kids, so hopefully she will be able to do that occassionaly, because I get to leave when I feel like I need to, or should so I can do things at my house, and spend some time with Tony. So I am hoping to do the same for her: let her spend time with her boyfriend and other friends. She will need breaks and I want to be there when she does.

Once Angel gets up here, she and Aidien will be staying with Amie and her family. The problem is that Aidien has to stay downstairs because of his oxygen and other stuff, so Angel has to sleep down there too, but there isn’t really anywhere for her to sleep. Cheryl stays on the couch so she can get up when the kids start to arrive. And another thing, with all the stuff for the kids that Cheryl babysits, there really isn’t room for all the stuff Aidien needs either. Amie isn’t very happy with what is going on, but she really can’t do much, since Angel is family and it’s her mom who is letting them stay. Plus, with the way things are between Angel and myself, it will make things a little difficult for Amie, I think. Angel isn’t very thrilled with me, though I really haven’t figured out why. I have asked Amie about it, and she really doesn’t know either. I have tried to patch things up, to help Amie, but Angel keeps pushing my attempts away, so it’s really up to her, if things are going to get better between us while she’s here.

On a lighter note, Amie has kittens in her garage. There are five cute little kittens and Amie has named them all. There is George because he’s verycurious, Cotton because she’s so fluffy and soft, Jet because she just takes off, Juno and Telula just because Amie liked those names.