Here is a thought I came across from the great Mark Twain. I think it an appropriate quote having now passed my 58th birthday and only two down before “getting on up there.” At least so it seems.
“Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.”
Well said.
Today is my 58th birthday. Since I had to work today. I thought I’d take the day off from eight feet deep.
There is some division among folks as to what constitutes old. I am two years off from 60. Mercy me. I feel like 60 right now, whatever that feels like. I traverse between feeling physically old and emotionally young. Somewhere between the two, perhaps, is somewhere. But just where that somewhere might be I don’t know.
In the meantime, screw it. I have to think enough as it is, so why should I waste my time with pondering the imponderables?
That’s a big 10-4 on that 10-10 aqui!
The eagerly-awaited season premiere of “Cops” — that is, eagerly awaited here in Beaumont, Texas — may just as easily been renamed “Ads.” You know, as in: “Ad boys, ad boys what’cha gonna do, what’cha gonna do when you bore us blue … ”
Spike TV’s long-running live police show, part-docudrama and part “reality” series, previewed last night with two of our local officers featured in what the Cops Website said was a 3-minute, 26-second, segment. Really? Because it seemed shorter than that. Maybe it was because the show was basically one long foot chase punctuated by TV commercial, after TV commercial, after TV commercial, etc., before the next short segment featured another department and its officers in some similar police situation.
I don’t know the officers who were on the segment last evening. At least, I don’t recall the officers. The fresh faces kind of all look the same to be truthful. I’m sure some folks said that about my fire academy classmates and me after we began riding those big red trucks. The only difference was that hair, at least some hair, was in vogue back in the day. The hairless dome look is popular these days, especially among the male police population. Not that I am complaining. I have the same look. The two policemen were engaging enough and didn’t smack the perp with a flashlight or Taze him once the “actor” was in custody.
Now I admit that I liked the opening scene for the Beaumont segment which starts with a shot of downtown from a view looking over the Neches River. The scene pans along the river and includes the 17-story Edison Plaza building, which if nothing else, will catch your eye when passing through town on Interstate 10.
The substance of the Beaumont Police segment was actually pretty tame all things considered. Actually, the city has enough mischief happening that might fill an hour-long program without the pesky commercials. Just in the last 24 hours, for instance, there were five people shot in three separate incidents. Luckily, at least according to media reports, none of the victims suffered “life-threatening” gunshot wounds. I have staked out way too many police scenes, and hardly does such a scene possess the minutes of action necessary for sustaining a docudrama such as Cops. For instance, the time when the police stopped me while walking to a local bar and then threatened to arrest me for walking on the wrong side of the road exhibited no real drama except for that which was going on inside my brain. I can sometimes lose my cool, I am told this stems from depression, and the results isn’t always pretty. Fortunately, I have always maintained my cool when faced with a situation that might result in that dreaded clanking of steel doors behind me.
I hope more scenes from our fair city are highlighted on Cops. It is nice to see familiar spots on TV even if they are populated by criminals. For my TV consumption, that is about the only way I would watch the show except perhaps adding sheer boredom as a reason. The problem with Cops is you’ve seen it all before. That is why it was finally dropped by Fox TV and now maintains a much lower presence beyond syndication. I mean, how many times can you watch some methed-up pendejo with his shirt off and his drawers showing?
And finally, commercials. I know a show must have commercials to survive. There is no doubt about this. But I would bet many, many viewers other than myself “go off” when six or seven ads are piggy-backed and the substance results in a top-heavy commercials-to-program ratio.
So I say good job to the Beaumont officers in the starring role on Cops. They didn’t embarrass out community nor themselves. And everyone made it home that day. Well, I don’t know about the fleet-footed perpetrator. But something tells me he didn’t spend a lot of time in the Jefferson County Correctional Facility.
Here I am burned out from the week, waiting for the local TV news. I don’t know why. But one thing I do know. I am not smoking cigarettes, or anything else, for that matter.
This is my 13th anniversary of a smoke-free existence. I am not here to preach nor to teach. Folks smoking don’t bother me. I decided that when I quit smoking I wouldn’t be one of those “holier than thou” ex-smokers. And I haven’t been, as far as I know. Yes, a lot of people together smoking can get to me, but if it bothers me I can always get up and leave. I’ve seen such silly behavior of ex-smokers.
No miracles really came about from my smoking cessations. Well, maybe the ability to better enjoy the smell or taste of food. I see how some people get fat from quitting. That isn’t why I got fat. It’s really too complicated to explain. I’ve also smelled bad things much easier than when I was smoking.
It was funny how, when I worked as a firefighter, my co-workers and I would all pull out a cig after extinguishing a fire. Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette.
But I tell you this: if cigarettes didn’t have the great number of negative effects, I’d pull one out and light one up right away. If you couldn’t discern five or six different flavors when you eat a really great meal, I’d sure as shootin’ smoke one just afterwards for a post-meal cig.
Yeah, yeah, cigarettes will give you all kinds of diseases. So will life. My best friend died of cancer at the age of 43. It was from anal cancer. He smoked every now and then, but not nearly for the years I did. He didn’t, as far as I know, stick a cigarette up his butt either.
So why am I not preaching to you about how cigarettes are so bad? If you smoke, and you don’t know that already, then you are pretty much an idiot. That’s why.
I
The Texas Department are on the hunt for those who violate school bus safety laws. Troopers are “urging drivers to obey state law by not passing any school bus that is stopped and operating a visual signal – either flashing red lights or a stop sign. In addition, Texas Highway Patrol troopers will be enhancing their efforts to catch those drivers who break the law,” according to a DPS Press Release.
“The moment when students are entering or exiting the bus is one of the most dangerous times of a student’s trip; and drivers who pass a stopped school bus create a potentially deadly situation,” said DPS Director Steven McCraw.
Director McCraw couldn’t be more right, except the dangers to students aren’t just drivers who pass stopped buses with its warning lights flashing.
A Southeast Texas school bus driver was arrested by DPS troopers after she wrecked a bus in which the children had fortunately departed, according to KJAS radio in Jasper, Texas.
The 47-year-old driver was taken to a local hospital where a blood sample was taken. The radio station, quoting a DPS official, said troopers were suspicious that Kirbyville school district employee Angel Shepherd Tharp was drunk on alcoholic beverages and perhaps intoxicated on other substances. She allegedly drove her bus into a ditch after dropping off the kids on her route. Tharp was charged with DUI and released in lieu of $1,000 bond, the radio station said.
A statement released by Richard Hazlewood, Kirbyville school district superintendent and described on his school Web profile as ” … a virtual superman of organization, inspiring all those who work with him,” said the school bus driver had been ” … relieved of her duties.” Does that mean she was fired? Placed on leave with pay? Suspended without pay? Well, perhaps the superintendent can organize his thoughts when he gives his school board a report on the incident. And hopefully, they will leave the kryptonite at home.
Kirbyville is about 110 miles northeast of Houston.
