Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Nobody cares about us

Hi, dad.
whosh...whosh... My son was making his morning call while walking to class at the U of Arizona.  Whosh... whosh ... his iPhone was picking up wind noise...whosh, whosh.
Hi, son.  I can barely hear you.  Hold the phone closer.
Ok.
Where you going?
To class.
Did you have breakfast?
Yes.
What'd you have?
A brioche with egg and cheese.  It sucked.  I threw away the brioche and just ate the egg.
Best to stick with plain bacon and eggs at Denny's, son, ... or pancakes.
The pancakes suck.  They hardly give you any syrup.
Buy some more... we can afford it.
The syrup's cold... yuck.
Then go to the Bear Down Cafe.
All the big football players go there.  They intimidate me.
Those guys will be figuring out how to lose weight soon, son.  You're actually just the right size for an Navy SEAL or Army Ranger:  6 foot, 170 pounds.  That's a good life weight.  Football players are weenies compared to SEAL and Rangers.  I doubt most of the guys in the NFL could pass the BUDS qualifier test without dropping a lot of weight and doing LSD training.
LSD?
Yeah,  long slow distances.  Swimming and running.
BUDS?  Do you have to pass a drinking test to be a SEAL?
Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL "school."
Marines become SEALS.
Not often, son, the Marines special ops troops are Force Recon... like your teacher.
Who?
Your middle school teacher.
Oh, yeah. I remember the day he told us "Why can't you people do this! My five-year-old son can do this!"  A black girl shouted:  "Your son goes to a private school where they care about him. Nobody cares about us."
That was awful for her to say that, son.  The teachers really do care about you... even if they are the Few .. But Proud.
I know that, dad.   She was just jerking his chain.  She comes from a happy family and her dad works at the school, too.  He jerked our chain first.
Really... son.  I know you and most of the kids at your school.  You people can do any work he asks you to... when you want to.
Whosh... whosh.


Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Fuego


I was mulling the newspaper's recent police shootings story in the context of Bayesian comparisons, when my Latin Love popped into the room, said "I'm off to the store," and kissed me on the cheek.

Bang:  my ears started ringing.

What's your diagnosis?
1.  Combat induced PTSD
2.  Tinnitis
3. True love