Overheard Downtown

"You old coot! You got me stoned, took advantage, and pummeled my ass!"

South High Supremacists

There’s an article in the paper today about South High School – the school turns 50 this year. They have little snippets from some alumni, including good ol’ Herb Benham himself (class of 1972.) One of the people they interviewed that graduated in 1986 commented on how strange it was being a black student at a school whose “mascots are representations of the Southern Confederacy.” I never thought about it like that before, but I have to admit that’s pretty messed up.

I wonder whose bright idea it was to name South’s mascot the rebels. There are pictures taken in the 60’s that show the band actually waving confederate flags! I’m surprised they haven’t changed it after all these years. I mean, they changed the name of the Thompson mascot from Tyrolean to Timber wolves just because no one knew what a Tyrolean was.

You’d think they’d change the South High Rebels because they DO know what they are.

South High Supremacists

There’s an article in the paper today about South High School – the school turns 50 this year. They have little snippets from some alumni, including good ol’ Herb Benham himself (class of 1972.) One of the people they interviewed that graduated in 1986 commented on how strange it was being a black student at a school whose “mascots are representations of the Southern Confederacy.” I never thought about it like that before, but I have to admit that’s pretty messed up.

I wonder whose bright idea it was to name South’s mascot the rebels. There are pictures taken in the 60’s that show the band actually waving confederate flags! I’m surprised they haven’t changed it after all these years. I mean, they changed the name of the Thompson mascot from Tyrolean to Timber wolves just because no one knew what a Tyrolean was.

You’d think they’d change the South High Rebels because they DO know what they are.

Speaking of Steroids....

The feds cracked down on steroid dealers recently following the largest investigation of its kind. Over a hundred people were arrested, including two men from Bakersfield. Su-prise, su-prise!

The genius you see above is one of the dudes arrested. Doesn’t he just ooze intelligence?

Look! I'm Posting! I'm Posting!

Thanks to Stephen P for the email encouraging me not to give up on my blog just because I fell in love. I will do my best.

There’s an article in the paper today about Parker Chamberlin. He killed his mother back in 2001 at the age of 15. That was quite a shocking and terribly sad story. Seemingly out of the blue Parker, known to be a quiet, nice kid, walked several miles in the middle of the night, stabbed his mother to death, and then walked back to his friend’s house. Crazy. It’s kind of spooky to think I nice kid could just snap like that.

There was some talk back then about him being on steroids, but I guess they never presented the evidence at his trial. Now Parker has a new attorney and they’re asking for a new trial. Now he claims the “steroids forced him to kill his mother.” Forced him? I can see how they may have caused him to get crazy, but really, can any medication really force someone to kill?

If so, those are some pretty darn strong drugs.

T-Mania!

Oscar and I almost went to see Plain White T’s last night. Their love song “Hey There Dehlilah” is one of our favorites to slow dance to. (That and a whole bunch of Billy Joel songs.) We thought about going, but the show was a free concert in the Wal-Mart parking lot and a) I hate Wal-Mart and b) free means there’s going to be a jillion people there. I was right. Apparently the crowd of nearly 3,500 people got a little rowdy. People were pushing, and shoving, and smashing into each other. One girl hyperventilated. Clearly it doesn't take much to excite Bakersfieldians.

I am soo glad we didn’t go.

Awwwwww! Splat!

Hanging around with Oscar again has brought back a lot of old memories. One of his favorites is the one where I ran over an Asian kid. I didn’t really run him over, but Oscar likes to tell it that way.

I had picked Oscar up on my way to school the way I did every single day, and I was on my way to pick up my best friend Flo, the way I did every single day. I was headed north on New Stine looking to turn right on Sea Star Lane when I noticed a kid on a moped. He wasn’t going very fast and I was (as usual) so I figured I had enough time to pass him and turn onto the street. I was wrong. As I tried to turn right his little moped suddenly speed up and he smacked right into my car. According to Oscar his face hit the passenger side window and then just slid down. Oscar began to laugh hysterically.

“You just hit that kid!” he sputtered.

“I did not!” I cried, tears erupting as I pulled the car over.

“YES YOU DID!” he laughed.

“Stop laughing” I screamed, hysterical now.

I looked back and saw the poor kid lying in the gutter, his little moped upside down, wheels still spinning. I was mortified. Oscar could not stop laughing.

I got out of the car and talked to the boy. I don’t remember his name and his English was fairly limited, but I gave him my insurance information etc, and he assured me he was alright. He looked a little banged up, but nothing serious. While Oscar rolled around, still laughing, the kid hoped on his moped and took off for school. I was still in tears when I picked Flo just a few minutes later.

By the time I was in second period Geometry, I had calmed down some what. I just had to stay away from Oscar who kept going “Awwww! Splat!” every time I looked at him. Then all of the sudden the door opened and two police officers walked inside. “Uh, yeah, we’re looking for Bake Town. Is Bake town here?” I nearly passed out. Yes, I of all people had to suffer the indignity of being hauled out of class by the police. Oh the shame!

Turns out that Asian kid’s arm was hurt pretty badly. It also turns that if you leave the scene of an injury accident you can find yourself in some pretty big trouble. Luckily I was a cute little girl and I was able to blubber my way out of any serious charges.

And that, my friends, is one of the stories Oscar most likes to tell from our time in high school.

An Actual Conversation

Him - "I like beavers. I do. They’re the only animals that have jobs. They get up and go to work everyday."

Me - "I like how you can skank to Carole King."

I Confess

I can no longer hide. I can no longer avoid what is really going on around here. I can no longer pretend like I just suddenly lost interest in my blog, the one place I could always find comfort over the years. I have to confess…I met a man. No better way to make your mind go blank and your jaw hang slack, huh? Not for me anyway.

The thing is this is not just any man. He is one of my best friends. I met him in 1980 at Thompson Jr. High. He would act silly to get my attention, and I would laugh and pat on him, but I never agreed to ‘go with him.’ By the time high school started I was picking him up everyday and delivering back home. While at school he would follow me from class to class carrying my books. (Who does that in the 80’s??) He hated all my boyfriends and would complain, but he still tolerated me talking to him about them. By our junior year I had begun to look at him differently. We went to the Winter Formal together and a few other dates, but I was worried about losing him as a friend, so I cut it short off with the “Just Friends” speech. Every year he would sign my yearbook and tell me how much he loved me. I just laughed and said, “Oh Oscar!”

As we got older we stayed in touch at first. He came to my wedding and to visit me when my son was born. We tried to stay friends, but every so often he would look at me and say, “I love you,” so I began to pull away. Even my friends would tell me, ‘Oscar really does love you, do you know that?’ and I had to admit I did. It just made me sad. We were both married and struggling. There were many dark days ahead for both of us, and I began to avoid him when I saw him. I couldn’t face him anymore.

I would see him sometimes, walking down the street near my house and it would break my heart. I wanted to stop him and take him for a ride just like we did in high school, but something always stopped me. Things went on like that for over three years. Then, two weeks ago everything changed.

I went to the Nile to see The English Beat with a group of friends. It crossed my mind that Oscar might be there, but I was having too much fun to think about it. I was in the middle of dancing to the first song when Oscar suddenly appeared from the crowd and headed straight for me. He looked great. I have never been so happy to see him. He walked right up to me and grabbed me into a great big hug. Right then everything changed.

Oscar told me later that several friends had called him at work telling him to get down to the show. He resisted at first, then found someone to cover his shift and walked down to the Nile. He was escorted in the backdoor by friends and fans shaking his hands shouting, “Yeah! Oscar’s here!” He said he felt like a rock star. Then his best friend appeared before him and said, “She’s here.” Oscar said he didn’t hear anything after that, he just made a bee line for me. The rest is history.

Well, not all the rest. It’s only been two weeks. We’ll see what happens now, but it’s looking promising. I think my lack of blogging might be a good indicator of how distracted I am. Either he is with me, or I am sitting at work staring at my computer trying to remember how to do my job. Today seems to be a good day. At bit of the fog has lifted. Oscar chastised me yesterday when he learned I hadn’t been blogging. I do feel badly. I just haven’t been able to think of anything else, and I didn’t really want to write about Oscar because I know my brother is going to read this, and I don’t know! How weird is that? Oh well, I guess there’s just no avoiding it.

I am smitten and my mind has turned to jelly. Toast anyone?

I Don't See Nothing

The supervisor in charge of the deputies who beat the holy living hell out of an inmate is suing the county. Randall Holtz was fired in connection with the death of James Moore in 2005. Three others are facing murder charges after it was determined that the beating Moore took was definitely not within departmental policy. Killing prisoners is bad - especially when they’re restrained and defenseless. It just doesn’t look good. Holtz maintains that he didn’t noticed the deputies kicking, punching, pepper spraying, and beating Moore.

He was busy doing his job…which is what again? Oh yeah, to SUPERVISE

There's No Dodging a Bullet Around Here.

Here’s one story I neglected to comment on last month although I meant to. Twenty four year old Jesus Sarabia was shot to death on August 27^th by 11 peace officers. Collectively they fired off over a hundred rounds. Sarabia was struck 34 times before the hail of bullets came to an end. According to the news today, all 11 officers were cleared in the shooting.

I have no doubt that Sarabia was a bad guy. Good guys don’t run from police and brandish a weapon. But, still… over a hundred shots? Good lord. He must have looked like a bloody lump of Swiss cheese. It’s all very cartoonish. I have no problem with policemen shooting suspects holding weapons. I wouldn’t like that much either. But you’d think after, oh say, a dozen bullets or so, you can pretty much bet that dude isn’t getting up.

Any more than that is just waste of bullets.

Walk The Highway

For those of you who like to chastise me for being mean or bitter when I make fun of people, get your typing fingers ready, cuz I’m about to poop all over what really is a very sweet gesture. According to the paper today, local resident Nathan Staker plans to walk to Anaheim to ask the woman he loves to marry him. The journey is meant to prove his undying love for his paramour. To me it just proves he’s desperate and broke.

Staker acknowledges he doesn’t have the money to drive to Anaheim due to the fact he was recently laid off. (Ooo – he’s a catch!) He doesn’t have money for a ring either. He does, however, have a back pack full of beef jerky and spare pair of socks. Apparently Staker got the idea to walk to Anaheim after his girlfriend told him, “My future husband should do things others wouldn’t do.” Hmmm. That leaves the door kinda wide open don’t you think? Maybe there’s good reason the others don’t do those things.

Whatever her she meant, Staker took it to mean he should walk 135 miles along the highway (which is illegal) to propose to his girlfriend because, according to him, “She is the most smartest and beautiful girl I ever met.”

I just hope she’s smarter than he is.

Slowly working my way back in

I don’t think I’ve ever been this lackadaisical with my blog before. First I was vacation, then I was just taking a break, then I was too busy, and now I’m just too distracted with other things going on in my life. I guess I’m not very good at multi-tasking. I haven’t even been paying attention to the news if you can believe it. However, one headline did catch my attention this morning, “Man accused of attacking two pit bulls with knife.”

Obviously the man must have felt some ill will towards the animals, but I mean really – trying to stab two pit bulls? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. The funny thing is, the man accused of stabbing the dogs is a 61 year old man. Which tells me, if he’s anything like my father; the dogs were barking, he couldn’t sleep, and he lost his mind.

Makes more sense now.

Comments

Sorry! I was distracted by a Sombrero.

Bed of nails? What about a bed of nail? Lay down on that you tricky bastard!!

It's daylight... we should go to bed.... It's nearly noon we should go to bed...

I like your pinkness. Though I don't care for the color.

I want a Viking funeral. With a side salad.

There's nothing fun about a one inch candy bar.

You're not that short. You're just not that tall!

(Looking at an old high school year book) Caferteria staff? Who gives a sh**?