Wheel of Misfortune

Wheel of Misfortune

A cranky opinion for

CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY

The following is the opinion of a cranky old man with little or no expertise on the topic opined.  Other opinions are welcome, they will be ignored, but they are welcome and please, no name calling.  That means you, you big stupid head!

A Washington State teacher was recently disciplined for bullying her students.  She also has to attend “sensitivity training.”

Sensitivity Training always sounds to me like “learning to think the way we damn well tell you to think.”  Anyway, that’s just me.

Here is what this horrible teacher did.  When a student misbehaved, chewed gum, talked out of order, texted or other such minor classroom stuff, they had the choice of lunch detention, or to spin the “Wheel of Misfortune.”

The news article where I read about this monster did not elaborate all the punishment items on the Wheel, but the one that caused the stir was a student was made to stand by a wall while everyone bombarded her with Koosh balls.  Oh the Humanity!

Apparently in this case the student claimed she did not know she had a choice, and she was humiliated and embarrassed by the punishment. 

Parents were in an uproar.

Have you ever been hit by a koosh ball?  It is kind of like having a soap bubble pop on your nose.

Well the Wheel of Misfortune is no more, and this teacher is being conditioned to be more sensitive.  I suspect part of the conditioning is to remove all sense of humor.  If the teacher has any thoughts of creative thinking, they will be erased,

“You will do as you are told, you will be boring, you will not have fun in your class!”

If I was still in school, I think the Wheel of Misfortune would have been a terrific change from the old fashioned hard ass disciplinarians we grew to dislike so much. 

This teacher sounds like a fun person.  School should be fun once and awhile.  School shouldn’t always be boring.  Too bad, some people don’t like different, to them  school needs to be boring and painful. 

School used to put me to sleep.  I would have responded positively to a teacher who had the imagination and creativity to discipline with the Wheel of Misfortune.  But we can’t have that.  We need teachers to march in lock step.  We need students that are herded like sheep.

Anyone who disagrees, anyone who wants to try different things, anyone who wants to keep students on their toes and to maybe actually enjoy class…well we need to send them for sensitivity training.

The Zombie Apocalypse is coming.  Sensitivity training for those who have a little creativity and a sense of fun is the first step.

The preceding was the opinion of a cranky old man and not necessarily that of management…Mrs. Cranky.

PROUD PAPA

PROUD PAPA

I’m watching a pro-football game and there is a fumble and a big pileup of players fighting to recover the ball.  It reminds me of a game way back to my eighth grade football team.

What goes on in one of those fumble recovery scrambles?  In an eighth grade junior high game blankety blank years ago, I was playing defensive back.  The runner on the other team fumbled and along with about nine other players he leaped upon the loose pigskin.  I watched from just outside the pile-on as the ref slowly eliminated players from the pile in an attempt to determine who had rightfully recovered the ball.

As players were stripped from the pile, I got on my knees, wriggled into the pile reached in and managed to get both hands on the ball which was being securely held by the original runner.  As players were pulled from the pile I was able to slowly inch my hands further onto the ball and ultimately pull it away.

When all the players in the pile were finally pulled away, a young Cranky was firmly in control of the ball and credited despite the protestations of the other team with recovering the fumble.

When my son, Matt, was playing Pop Warner football at age ten, I told him the story of my thievery.

On game three of his season the opposing team fumbled the ball and a huge pileup  ensued.  I watched as Matt snuck his way up to the pile, stealthily got to his knees and slowly inched his way in while the ref was pulling players away.  After several minutes he managed to squirm his way to the middle, grab the ball and wrench it away from the rightful holder.  When all players were pulled off, Matt stood up with the ball and was credited with the recovery.

I was so proud to think “That’s my boy!”

Too Many Shoes?

Too Many Shoes?

Too many shoes?  Not for Mrs. Cranky, no way.  There are never enough shoes for Mrs. Cranky.  What is it with women and shoes?

Mrs. C is not really a girly girl.  She does not like makeup; she is not fond of frilly clothes. 

She does like her shoes.

Last week we were cleaning out and reorganizing our closet.  Reorganizing does not mean throwing anything away, it just means putting things in different places.  The first order of business was to pull out all her shoes.  It was my job to separate them and lay them out in the hall for inspection.

Open toed or summer shoes on the right, closed toed or winter shoes on the left.

Summer shoes on right Winter on the left

 

The picture would indicate that Mrs. C has many more winter shoes than summer shoes.  That would be incorrect.  Mrs. C stores many of her shoes in her car.  Don’t ask, I don’t know.  Most of her summer shoes are still in the car.

Oh, that’s not all the shoes.  There are shoes in boxes in the closet that we did not even open.  Mrs. C says she knows what they are…I doubt it.  I suspect they have never been worn.

What to wear, what to wear?

At least if we get invited to go out, or if she buys a new dress, she has a pair of shoes that will be appropriate.

Hahahahaha…I hear you ladies and I was only joking.  Of course if there is a wedding coming up or some such event, Mrs. Cranky will be at the mall looking for just the right shoe.

I have a pair of sneakers, a pair of boat shoes, a pair of golf shoes and two pairs of dress shoes one brown and one black.  I have not bought a new pair of shoes in three years.

I don’t get it, why do women need so many shoes?

I do have to say, when Mrs. C puts on a new pair of 5” heal platform shoes that makes her walk in that special way, my pulse does race a bit.