YES, I KNOW it's been too long. Believe me, I appreciate all the nice notes people send me asking me such interesting inquires as,"When are ya gonna post again? We miss your pointed diatribes and your goofy funniness! We don't know anything about movies or anything unless you tell us what to think!" Well, fear not, gentle reader, for your humble narrator has returned, and is dying to let all know what the hell is up with me and mine. So, let's roll!

 

As promised: pix of your host emoting crazily as Satan singing "Good Ol' Days" from Damn Yankees:

 

And here are Bridgette and myself trading lines in "Find Your Grail" from Spamalot: 

 

All in all, a great time.

 

Christmas remains a couple of days off and we're enjoying staying home. We've got one party to go to tomorrow night and we'll be having a very small soiree here at home with locals. Only problem: the weather promises to be unseasonably warm, with the dreaded Santa Anas blowing through LA, so we're looking at possible 80+ degrees on Xmas day.  I'm sorry, but even speaking as a California boy, this just sucks. Plus, my sinuses always react badly to Santa Anas.

 

Work is proceeding along pretty well. I'm catching on slowly to all the things we're supposed to be doing, particularly the mountains of paperwork. Some things fall through the cracks, to my consternation, but the other teachers teachers tell me not to worry, things always do, and especially for first year teachers. (One thing I really like about teaching in an English-as-a-second-language school: the parents all refer to me as "Maestro." Can you imagine? Makes me think I should start wearing tails and carrying around a conductor's baton.) I'm being moved out of my bungalow on the south forty over the break, however, and this could be good--except that I'm being moved into a very small room that used to be the boys bathroom. Now, unless there's some male version of Moaning Myrtle floating about haunting the joint,  I suppose it should still be okay. At least it'll have a phone.

 

As the year 2005 winds to a close, some interesting headlines are being made as we speak.

So hmm! Seems my former employer, the National Security Agency (where I worked for 14 months while in the USAF in 1980-81), has been used to listen in on domestic communications without a court order or congressional approval, an activity that is completely against its charter. Bush makes it sound like he let loose the dogs of SigInt that were apparently chomping at the bit to tap Yank phonelines, but it was he that ordered the shift in focus. An ugly and highly illegal manuever, for which he should be run out on a rail. And then the man has the utter temerity to chastise senators in Congress who voted against renewal of the Patriot Act!

 

The hysteria against the percieved  "war against Christmas" is once again being pumped up big time by FoxNews and other right wing organs. So lemme get this straight: Who exactly is rallying against the practice of Christmas? Religionists want to make sure that the series of pagan symbols and rituals that have evolved (gasp!) into the modern Christmas stay that way?  Do they also approve of the crass commercialization of the holiday? Seems to me that that's the boogeyman the right needs to target. But please---enough making up enemies!