"How will it end?" "IN FIRE."

   I was attempting (based on prior success) to grill our pizzas, since the oven is still unreliable.

   The grill caught fire.

    This wasn't no pansy-ass "oh a little grease on the bottom is burning". This was "THE INTERIOR IS A SEA OF FLAME, BARELY RESTRAINED BY THE DOUBLE-WALLED STEEL COOKIE-SHEETS ABOVE!!!"

   This was "I CAN BARELY GET NEAR IT TO TURN IT OFF!"

   This was "The paint BELOW THE GRILL is ON FIRE!"

   I got the pizza itself out before it was destroyed, but the inferno continued to grow WITH THE GAS OFF.

   It finally burned out just before I was going to go for the fire extinguisher in my car.

   It MELTED part of the knobs on the FRONT of the grill. The igniter is gone. I think the tubes below MELTED.

   All these things are lost, like tears in flame. Time to fry.

   Actually,  time to get a new grill.

Fighting City Hall...

... or at least school administration.

I have finally had it up to HERE with the choices given by the schools for summer reading, so I just sent this:

I've ignored this for the past few years, but I am finally driven to demand:

Why is it that EVERY reading list chosen for children, including the current list for my 10th-grader Chris, seems CALCULATED to drive kids away from actually LIKING reading? Selecting things ranging from bittersweet down to "commit suicide after reading, it's happier that way"? I would have hoped we'd have gotten away from that since I was a kid and had marvelous (note that this is extreme sarcasm) material such as "Lord of the Flies" shoved down my throat. Had I not already cultivated a love of books long before I entered school, I would give even odds that school would have solidified a long-standing hatred of the printed word.

Really, children don't need to be fed on a diet of "realistically grim" material. Upbeat, cheerful, and optimistic books not only are easier to read, they help cultivate a similar attitude in the kids. And most importantly, an attitude that maybe books aren't to be dreaded as assignments.

At least offer some choices that HIT the bright side of the spectrum, rather than the brightest one being something peeking out of a closet at dusk.

I don't expect to CHANGE things, but I feel somewhat better in having finally SAID something.