skybytch

Which is classic ADD behavior. Medication would make it possible to excel at things that he DOESN'T want to do.

He's self-medicating with weed already. If he's anything like the ADD folks I know (including myself), you can take away the car, the tv, the money for college... if the weed makes living with his ADD mind and the consequences of his ADD related actions (or inactions) easier to deal with it, he'll continue to self-medicate regardless. If his vision was less than 20/20, would you be against him wearing glasses? Medication for ADD is no different. It allows the brain to focus on the stupid boring stuff when it needs to focus on the stupid boring stuff. Being able to focus on the stupid boring stuff makes success in school easier; success leads to not needing to numb the pain of screwing up yet again with weed or alcohol.

Ever have him tested for ADD?

Eh, that's way too much effort. I just say "honey, my reserve is out of date" and somehow, it magically gets repacked. Having a master rigger significant other? Priceless

Any idea how much it costs to defend yourself in a lawsuit, even if it never gets to court?

6:0:0 Six miles of hiking over two days of car camping. Showed up at the dz hoping to make the sunset load this afternoon but then we decided not to. It was almost a perfect weekend.

Yeah, right . . . He's never smacked anyone who didn't like being smacked. Better?

I guess that's where we disagree then. I think that making it through college should be on your own merit; if you don't do the work you don't get a degree, if you don't keep the grades up you don't continue to get financial aid, etc. But getting into college in the first place... that should be easy. I don't think I've suggested that any school (or business or whatever) lower their standards for anybody.

It does matter to me. I don't think it's right that some people have to work harder to not get as far, especially when it's not their fault (sorry folks, nobody chooses to be born into poverty or to attend substandard schools with violence issues...). Don't you want things to be easier for your kid than they were for you? Why not apply that desire to other people's kids too? Or are we so selfish that we really, honestly don't give a shit that what our society calls success appears completely out of reach to a large percentage of our population... as long as we get ours?

Some of us elderly folks enjoy having a slackline set up at the dz.

Now wait just a minute. A few weeks ago you were insisting that we don't change! WTF? Do we change or don't we? Ya can't have it both ways.

Yeah. I know. Too bad too, this used to be a useful forum...

That's constructive. And rather instructive as well - it's these type of comments that encourage people to do stupid shit. Like downsizing 80-odd sq feet and changing planforms at the same time. But at least he won't look like a homo when shit happens and he reacts just like he did under that 210. He might be bloody, but he won't look like a homo. Oh yeah, and before you say it was a joke and I should chill out... this ain't the fucking bonfire.

As long as you fly it conservatively I'm sure you'll be just fine. After all, Luigi has landed it what, 20 times now, and there's only been one person who's gone in just from line twists on something that small, right? How hard can it be?

The biggest pro is there's lots of outdoor recreation - the Sierras and the Pacific Ocean are each about 2 hours drive away and there are lots of things to do in the valley too. Traffic is not as bad as it is in the Bay Area (or Phoenix, for that matter), other than the Friday and Sunday evening rushes to/from the mountains and the standard city traffic in town. Overall the weather is good; not too hot, not too cold, not too wet, it doesn't snow here. Cons include the typical city stuff - crime in some areas, downtown blight. But depending on where you live and work you may not notice or care. Right now you can find newer 3 bedroom tract homes in "good" neighborhoods for under $300k, and older 2-3 bedroom homes in not as good neighborhoods for under $125k. Definitely a buyers market. Some "better" areas include Roseville, Folsom, Natomas and Elk Grove. You don't want to live in South Sacramento. Lodi and Davis are the closest dz's; both are within a half hour or so of downtown Sac (which is closer depends on where you live). Byron is an hour or two away but well worth at least an occasional trip, as is Skydive Lake Tahoe (2 to 2 1/2 hour drive). Lots of really good freefliers and a growing larger RW scene around NorCal.

No, but one of the two media stations that were there claim "about 100" people showed up. They suck anyway, they didn't put me on TV.

I agree. But it's only in the past year that you've noticed it; it's been going on much longer than that. The shiny happy people have mostly found other things to do. He who hath the loudest keyboard wins.

Bullshit. Having to take an extra semester or two in community college because the basic education you got sucked is not a matter of perception, it's a matter of reality. It's a matter of skin color because those who seem to get the crappiest basic educations also seem to be those whose skin is not white. Once again, it's not about special treatment or "handicaps." It's about acknowledging that these hurdles exist and about working to remove them. Not by hiring someone because they are black, female, or Martian, but by removing as many obstacles as possible from the road to achievement so that anyone willing to work for it has a reasonably equal chance of making it.

Absolutely. I don't have to go to work. All I have to do is go to class and study. She has to go to work, go to class and study. Not to mention take care of a kid or three. What she's dealing with is why I didn't go to school when I was a single parent. To make her life more difficult, she probably didn't have the quality of education that I had (not that it was all that good) so she's probably had to take more remedial classes, which delay the achieving of her goal by yet another semester or three... I'm not making her up either. I've talked to several of her in a few of my classes. None of them gave the impression that they were at all resentful about the hurdles they've had to jump, only that they are happy to have the chance to go to school and achieve their dreams. Not expecting the oppressor to reform is implicit agreement with the oppression, isn't it?

That's very possible. And it did have an air of preaching to the choir to it. That might explain why there were three CHP officers and three Sac PD officers on horseback very near the speechifying. They had nothing to do, this was very peaceful other than the "no more war" yells.

You can't deny that most inner city schools do not provide the same quality of education that suburban schools do. If a lower quality education is not a disadvantage to someone who wants to succeed in other than the blue collar or criminal worlds then I must be confused on the meaning of the word. We don't all start from the same starting line. Lots of people have to jump a hurdle or two to even get to where you started from. Denying the fact that these hurdles exist is close minded and a good example of how racism/sexism/classism has been institutionalized. You forgot High Middle To Upper Class. White Hetero American Middle to Upper Class Advancement Movement. WHAMUCHAM. Eh, you already have one. It's called the United States of America.

You and I are white. We have a lot of choices that many women of color do not have. For myself, I agree with you that resentment is not healthy, nor does it accomplish anything positive. But I have to wonder, if I were a 40 year old black single mother working 40 hours a week and trying to go to school full time, would I be able to not resent someone who has it easier? Someone like that has to work two or three times as hard to accomplish her goal as I am having to work to accomplish mine. I don't know... I think it'd be awfully hard to not be resentful in that position.

So I went to a rally at the California state capital today. It was an interesting experience. There were only about 50 people there, which is kind of sad when you consider the size of the Sacramento metro area. As I expected they were mostly old hippy types, but there were a few younger faces and a few non-white faces, including a locally well known Latino activist. My only complaint would be with one speaker who let her passion lead her into name calling. Worth my time I think, even if I wasn't going to get a few points in a Cultural Geography class for attending.

Disagree. The decision to let go of resentment is easy. What's hard is living it when the very things that caused the resentment in the first place continue on a daily basis.

But will your neck ever be ready for a camera on your head?