Anything Goes - April 1, 2014

Greetings...

Well, it appears that I am not the only one who feels that technology is causing problems in our society. I did not get one response that disagreed with me and that, in itself is a miracle! Many brought up a fact that I neglected to address and that is the fact that schools are/will be discontinuing the teaching of cursive writing. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard and will only add to the "dumbing down" of our society...

Cursive writing, in the past, has been something that was admired when done properly, as almost an art form. Look at old letters and manuscripts that are found hundreds of years ago and you will immediately notice the beautiful scrolling letters and words that glide across the pages. Will the only letter taught be a big 'ole X to teach them their signature? Do you realize how that will impact the economy? How you say? Handwriting experts will be out of a job and won't be able to feed their families, and given the way things are going, they will be supporting their kids a lot longer than they thought!

On the other hand, one profession will probably flourish. Identity thieves! How hard will it be to duplicate an X on a signature??? Sheesh!

I never thought I would say this but...I'm glad I'm old and have learned as much as I have by people older than me!!!

OK, sorry for the "rant" carryover...

On second thought, maybe I'm not. After writing last week's column, something "popped" into my head about an experience I had last Summer with a group of "kids" that left me shaking my head in disbelief. Here goes...

One of the most popular shows on TV is "The Big Bang Theory". I don't really watch it, but have seen a few shows and as amusing as it is, I wonder if many truly realize just how accurate it is in the portrayal of today's highly intelligent young adults...

After graduating from the University of Arizona, our youngest and his girlfriend spent a month with us before they moved to Boise, Idaho. He got a great, high paying job in his field. All of our kids are very smart, but this one, to put it in perspective, holds an electrical engineering and computer engineering degree, with a minor in astro-physics. He had a meltdown one day because he got ONE "B" in five years of college! He took five years to cram all the "brain stuff" in...

He's rather quiet and sometimes when I try to engage him in conversation, he stares at me like I'm planning on having him water-boarded! It used to puzzle/creep me out, but I got used to it and realized, he's "normal" among his peers. Not my idea of "normal" mind you...

Anyhoo, before leaving for Boise, he, his girlfriend, and three of his friends decided to drive to California for a few days for some fun. I learned afterwards that their "fun" consisted of visiting a library, chasing some food truck around L.A.,getting lost, and driving all over the place because the driver was too stubborn to listen to the others, or in true man fashion, ask for directions...

The background on the three friends is this... Two of them are 27 years old and hold aerospace engineering degrees, (yes, REAL rocket scientists), the other one holds some kind of science and physics degree, is 26, and then of course, our engineer kid, who is 25...

The three came to my house to pick up my son and his girlfriend. They walked in and stood in the kitchen, I was sitting at the counter. They said NOTHING, and after a minute or two, I said "Hi there"and introduced myself because my kid sure didn't do it. They all stood there and muttered what I think was "hello". I looked at my son's girlfriend and she had a smirk on her face because she already knew they were all weird as heck!

OK, I can usually engage anyone in conversation, so I take a deep breath and try to start some kind of banter. Blank stares and silence. If a signer for the deaf had been in my home, they would have automatically tried to help out! I was about to give up when one of them starts talking, (nah, not to me), about the trip and mentions the route they were going to take, I quickly spoke up and informed him that he would be adding hours to their trip by taking that route and would be better off going a different way, explaining the route. I kid you not, he turns his head towards me and GLARES at me like I had insulted the Sultan of Brunei and says, "I don't think you would know the route we will take"!!!

Really bud? Well bucko, I don't think you know, or have ever had sex, but I can at this point, guarantee you're going to fail miserably at that too!!! GRRRRR

He was the MOST condescending !@#$%& I have ever met and you could see my son and his girlfriend holding their breath waiting for me to "let him have it"...

Nah, I didn't. As this is going on, the other rocket scientist is over by my cabinets staring at them, then running his fingers up and down them. By now I am sure I'm in a new, improved Twilight Zone episode! Out of the blue, he says, "You have nice cabinets, "good wood".

Please God, make this stopppppppppp...It turns out this one hasn't been able to find a job in his field and is currently working in his father's cabinet shop. I guess the space station doesn't need a rocket scientist who can also refinish their cabinets...

The third one, I couldn't tell you a thing about because I never heard his voice! They stayed roughly 20 minutes, but I gotta tell ya, time literally stood still and when the clock started up again, I was 10 years older!!!

I said good-bye...NUTHIN'

I said nice meeting you, (even though it wasn't)...NUTHIN'

I wanted to say... Don't let the door hit you in the a**.

So, there ya go, I had more brain power in my kitchen than I ever could imagine and yet, in my opinion, they were the DUMBEST group of arrogant, socially misfit "kids" I have ever met. My son is the only one with a girlfriend and he's the youngest of the group...

And their trip to California? My son and his girlfriend said it was a horrible experience and as predicted by me, "Dimwit Driver" went over 100 miles out of his way and got lost. Wonder if he can find Earth on a map!

If the cast of Big Bang Theory ever decides to leave the show, I have four that would fit right in!!!

And...As much as I would like to say the above story is an April Fool's joke, I'm sad to say...it isn't!

X (My new signature)

:-)

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