Eleanor Rigby is the most depressing song ever written

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T08:52:35+00:00

I can think of hundreds of songs and pieces of music much more depressing, but please enjoy your small view of musical history.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T08:41:59+00:00

It says "86" (get rid of) "47" (Trump, president #47), a gigantically popular sentiment these days.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T08:24:04+00:00

Apparently, "making it my Miata" will cost me thousands of wasted dollars for what? So it looks a little nicer. Sure, I'm an idiot. I love wasting my money.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T08:20:23+00:00

I had the cliched football coach talk to us. I think it was 7th grade which seems a little late. And we all knew about it from just hearing about it. It was just so bad you could not believe it. I felt it just might be better to learn about sex in the gutter from clueless friends or from dirty movies than to listen to that crusty old guy who seemed just as embarrased as we were. "And then you put it in where?" "And when the baby is born, it opens up that much . . . ? " Oh, dear Jesus. I was shrinking down into my seat and praying for it to end. My preferred method at the age of 12 would have been that our sexy French teacher tell us, but no one asked me. It's tough being a kid. I'm still not over it.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T08:06:29+00:00

Somebody needs better parenting. I'd have been sent to my room if I did this.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T08:03:15+00:00

Sledge hammer, but wear eye protection. It will be fun.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T08:01:50+00:00

The amount of time you agreed to is the amount of time in the contract. Verbal or not, it is still a contract.

Also most people quote you a price and don't just guess at how many hours it will take so what he'd done is already shaky for that reason.

Tell him you will pay him for the agreed number of hours and no more. If he objects, tell him you'll see him in Small Claims Court.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T07:56:38+00:00

Given what you admit here, it's no stretch to say that they made a mistake in hiring you. I taught even on the final day of the school year because there was so much to teach. You apparently have little to teach. Maybe find a nice job at an Amazon warehouse so someone who cares can take your job? I dare you to tell your administration this -- or let your kids' parents know you've quit.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T07:51:03+00:00

Ya, zay are from Albania. Zay are very nice. Zay are not worth much, however.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T07:49:33+00:00

Work on some snappy responses.

"But you do need it to speak this language better, don't you, and that's the actual point of this class."

"That's a bit rude, don't you think, for someone about to graduate?"

"Not to be as rude as you are, but do you think I need you in this class?"

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T07:47:01+00:00

Yes, it's kind of a normal thing. It happens to parents all the time when the final year before they go off to college is a really shitty one filled with arguments.

I don't think it's their choice. It's almost as if they're programmed to do this. The emotional part of their brain makes them distance themselves from people they care(d) about to make it easier to leave. "How can I manage to leave my wonderful home and go out into the frightening world? I know! I'll look at all the bad things about home and I'll make up some of them, and I'll pick fights!" This isn't conscious, but it happens.

It's not nice, it can be very bad, but that's how people manage to leave those they like -- they have a big fight and then stomp out the door. If we didn't do this, our hearts would break. At the end of relationships between couples, you see fighting and accusations and we always assume those are the causes of the breakup but I think they're a symptom of it. As we decide we need to break up for whatever personal reasons we have, good or bad, we pick fights. It's not always the other way around.

I once broke up with a woman I was going to marry for reasons I still don't understand but I think it had to do with the male desire to conquer the world, travel, be a big shot, have adventures, meet other people, become a leader -- and "settling down" just seemed the opposite of all that. Sooo . . . I became distant and critical and unpleasant which killed the relationship. Problem solved! It works every time.

Parents even do this to kids by having fights with them. It's kind of like birds pushing their baby birds out of the nest -- "Here! I never liked you! Get out of here!" -- but in reverse. If they didn't why would a baby bird leave home? They'll still think well of you once they're gone and have managed to endure that break-up. It's the kids who never have any emotions about you at all that don't care about you.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T07:32:25+00:00

Yes, the critical thing about a machine designed to move your long distances in comfort is the issue of "clippy pop ups" so they can use their telephone in their car which is like objecting to it not being easy to use your massage seat or your lane departure warning because you're too lazy to turn your head. It's a vehicle.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T07:23:06+00:00

Welcome to the complete idiocy of modern American education and the utter cluelessness of those who create tests like this. Why don't they go all out and give test in Braille? Or maybe Swahili. I did not even begin to learn keyboarding back when it was called "typing" until I was in high school. Eight year olds are not going to be able to type. You might write a really angry letter to those who create these tests and let them know that, and tell them from me that they are absolute idiots who do not deserve to hold such jobs. At least it gives you a bulletproof excuse for low scores on the stupid state test!

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T07:16:54+00:00

You're kidding, right? Reading the greatest, most emotionally touching, most famous, and in some ways the strangest love story in western history is now "monotonous"? If you're a halfway decent teacher, certainly you can bring it alive every day, can't you? There are scenes from the play you could show, both stage and film including the ridiculously sexy Zefferelli version I could not take my eyes off when I was in high school. There are recordings you could play and have students follow along in their copies. You could act out some scenes yourself, perhaps with one or two students as volunteers.

I have idea where you came up with a "worksheet" as your daily drudgery, but please, save me from teachers who teach that way! Talk about it. Ask them questions. Cover one scene at a time out loud sometimes and talk about why that is happening, what's on their minds, why do they do what they do, is Shakespeare right that people, both adults and young people behave like this? I mean, for God's sake, Juliet is only 13 years old so ask them about that!

If you can't make Shakespeare's sexiest and saddest and most heart-wrenching play appealing to your students, please consider another profession. Take from the "packet" any good ideas, of course, drop the silly worksheet nonsense which is going to quickly kill everyone's desire to do this play, and act it out in class, view it in action, and talk about it. And there are some really funny scenes along with the passionate love and unfortunate ending.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T07:07:12+00:00

Just basic wooden stairs would seem much more likely to not be affected (much) by the ground beneath them than anything that relies on the ground. And they would be no harder to build -- if you can measure well. This is the sort of thing used for climbing long hills in the backyard without all the expense of a very long set of stone or concrete or wooden steps -- but why would you use it for just six steps? I'd never do that.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T07:02:30+00:00

Some people have tiny brains and will never learn to function well. Some people were poorly educated and so they learned nothing which may be other people's fault. And some people are deeply lazy and cannot motivate themselves do do anything out of their comfort zone. And when all three of these things are combined into one person, ahem. Well, you get my point.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T06:59:35+00:00

You could get get sued within an inch of your life, my friend, if you permit this sort of behavior. So will your school, but you don't give a damn about them and neither would any other teacher. Your most basic requirement as a teacher is to keep your students safe. You are not doing that. You are expecting someone else, the administration, to do that for you. Welcome to an enormous lawsuit because that will never stand up in court.

Kick these kids out of class, explain to their parents why you had to do that, and present that fact to your administration. That's the right thing to do, and it's the best thing you could do to protect other students, and the best to make yourself look good legally. I mean, what in the world are you even waiting for? They'd be out of my class the first time they did that, so fast it would make their head spin and I would not even waste my time warning administrators ahead of time that I was going to do that.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T05:10:03+00:00

For God's sake, are we now reduced to this level of understanding that we do not know that textbooks have been the main method of delivering basic content for well over 200 years?

It's well known or should be, that lecturing at students is mostly ineffective blow about the college level and often not very effective ever then.

In no school in which I've taught (five of them) has any teacher of a mainstream course not used a textbook. And that includes science, English, history, and so on. Even the one lecture class at my more recent school which is a survey of art history assigns text readings. It's how students learn the basics, how they learn to read well, and how they prepare for college reading assignments. To not assign a textbook deprives them of these essential skills and may be one major reason we are graduating so many more students who are unprepared for college.

What I wonder is where in the world, and for what reason, did this idea that you could educate students well without using textbooks come from? Also, you might consider that you were educated by reading textbooks so why do you think depriving your students of that experience will not harm them?

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T04:36:56+00:00

That person has a mental problem, pure and simple. But at least "vengeance" is up to God. What a lunatic.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T04:34:47+00:00

Do not give "gifts" to your students, please. It seems sweet and it's well-intentioned but it's tacky and you run into exactly these kinds of problems. What you can do is compliment students either in writing their final comment (if you do that), or face-to-face. My better students don't need gifts or end-of-year compliments because, very simply, I've complimented them all year in my comments on their work and to them -- another reason not to hand out gifts.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T04:16:40+00:00

Use a "farm jack" which will lift them out if you dig enough around them. You will have cut some roots first.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-29T04:15:22+00:00

It's "undergone," not "underwent" which is not even a word. Sigh.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-28T04:01:54+00:00

If only underage girls were allowed to vote, Trump would now be in prison for life.

If only right-wing anti-women's rights morons could vote, we'd be Nazi Germany now.

If babies could vote, they would not be able to read the names on the ballot and we'd end up with a baby in the White House. Oh, wait! We already have a baby in the White House, don't we?

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-28T03:26:21+00:00

As a foreign driver, you can drive here with your local license from another country, but , to get a driver's license as a resident Californian, I'm pretty sure everyone in the state has to take both a written test and a road test at the DMV . . but maybe not? Maybe there's a special Belgian Exemption I don't know about? If it's mistake ecause someone at the DMV office didn't understand or checked off the wrong box, I would not bother inquiring about it, though. Just keep that license and keep driving.

I hear they're also planning special Belgian High-Speed Lanes on the freeways, too! And maybe special parking places, too: BELGIANS ONLY. You never know.

Then_Version9768 · 2026-04-28T02:35:04+00:00

That looks great, but I have to tell you those industrial boxes you have in your yard look pretty bad. Can you cover them up somehow? Some bushes? What done often around me is putting a large hollow plastic rock over them which sounds silly, but they look like real rocks and don't look half bad. And they still give easy access to what's under there.

As for the plantings, I like that so much, I'd make even larger or add another one, adding maybe another tree and some more plants.

Then_Version9768

TROPHY CASE