Wussification of America - Real?

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/search-missing-florida-teens-perry-cohen-austin-stephanos-called-off/ These boys were not wusses.

That would have been me and one of my brothers when we were kids. We sailed Hobbie-cats and Sunfish off the coast of PR in waves like the picture of those two kids: It was fun. There were lots of sharks and jellyfish in the water and we had "Adventures". I have fond memories.

I did lose one brother at 14 when he was driving a bare VW Bug chassis down a country road and ran into another car while trying to "Yump". So, yeah, I know about consequences.

My wife would freak if I had ever let my daughter go in water with more than a ripple on the surface and a lifeguard station on the beach. So, yeah, from where I came from, the world has changed.

spitfirebill wrote:

Woody wrote: I brought a Bowie knife into fourth grade for show and tell.

I brought 2 shotguns!

We would take shotguns to HS golf practice with us and shoot trap with the coach after practice......and this was circa '04-5.

In reply to StainlessWings:

yep. you've probably seen me around in a crazy looking straw hat from time to time.

And I'm going to say you both are crazy if you go into teaching today. I taught school for 28 years. I loved the first 24 and then the stuff this thread is about started happening around 1990. So I didn't even stick around for a full retirement of 30 years.

oh don't get me wrong. I was talking PURELY about the financial implication of 'being paid crap.'

i know, especially in pre-high school, all the really messed up things that make a teacher's life hard. Especially parents who are uninvolved, unrealistic, entitled, egotistical, or any combination of the above about their child's performance.

madmallard wrote: In reply to StainlessWings: yep. you've probably seen me around in a crazy looking straw hat from time to time.

Unfortunately, I've not been to AWA in 5 years or so- my parents used to live in Fayetteville so I would make an extra-long weekend out of going down and seeing them for a few days and then going to the con, but once they moved to TX I stopped going (though it is one of the cons I miss the most because it is (or at least was) essentially THE convention for AMVers. I attended & staffed Ota up until a few years ago when it just stopped being fun despite all my friends being there (tech staff at Ota can't do jack in terms of actual TECH because of the union rules...). I was one of the original tech staffers at Boston and have run the largest event room there for the last 5 years or so- about the only thing that will keep me from going there would be having a kid.

that would have been right before we lost Quu.

You should come back if you get the chance. the main events has moved to one of the exhibit halls.

NOHOME wrote:

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/search-missing-florida-teens-perry-cohen-austin-stephanos-called-off/ These boys were not wusses.

That would have been me and one of my brothers when we were kids. We sailed Hobbie-cats and Sunfish off the coast of PR in waves like the picture of those two kids: It was fun. There were lots of sharks and jellyfish in the water and we had "Adventures". I have fond memories. I did lose one brother at 14 when he was driving a bare VW Bug chassis down a country road and ran into another car while trying to "Yump". So, yeah, I know about consequences. My wife would freak if I had ever let my daughter go in water with more than a ripple on the surface and a lifeguard station on the beach. So, yeah, from where I came from, the world has changed.

Come to think of it, a girl I know graduated from high school in the late 1970's, then took a break from school to live on the beach in Puerto Rico. She stayed there, by herself, for probably 2 years; she actually lived off of fruit etc and occasionally went to a nearby town for odds and ends. She got to know the locals and said she had zero problem with them, nobody bothered her at all. She slept on the beach, in bad weather she'd make a lean to out of palm fronds. She came back 20 pounds lighter and much more calm/cool/collected, then went back to school. Her mother was okay with it, her dad had died when she was very young. I'm not sure most parents now would be comfortable with that kind of a vacation.

madmallard wrote: that would have been right before we lost Quu. You should come back if you get the chance. the main events has moved to one of the exhibit halls.

It was- the last AWA I was at was the last time I saw him (in the VAT unsurprisingly, though he was only there for a short while). I was sitting on the stage in the main concert hall at Otakon that Sunday morning when I found out about his passing from Debra's Facebook post- just thinking back to that moment makes my heart sink. He and I went to the same High School (in Germany...) but only knew each other very little until we became friends through the AMV community.

Unfortunately with work and SWMBO completely not interested in anime and thus likewise having no interest in going to a con with me I doubt I'll make it to any besides AniBo anytime soon. It doesn't help at all that I rarely even watch anything any more, haven't edited anything since my AWA Pro 2008 entries, and solidly do NOT want to be the creepy old guy at the cons (it's way different when I'm staff). I've been trying to help SWMBO out with editing together some footage from her company's recent show and have been swearing at FCP-X while trying to get it to do things I could have done and been finished with in Premiere 6.5 in no time flat.

Curmudgeon wrote:

NOHOME wrote:

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/search-missing-florida-teens-perry-cohen-austin-stephanos-called-off/ These boys were not wusses.

That would have been me and one of my brothers when we were kids. We sailed Hobbie-cats and Sunfish off the coast of PR in waves like the picture of those two kids: It was fun. There were lots of sharks and jellyfish in the water and we had "Adventures". I have fond memories. I did lose one brother at 14 when he was driving a bare VW Bug chassis down a country road and ran into another car while trying to "Yump". So, yeah, I know about consequences. My wife would freak if I had ever let my daughter go in water with more than a ripple on the surface and a lifeguard station on the beach. So, yeah, from where I came from, the world has changed.

Come to think of it, a girl I know graduated from high school in the late 1970's, then took a break from school to live on the beach in Puerto Rico. She stayed there, by herself, for probably 2 years; she actually lived off of fruit etc and occasionally went to a nearby town for odds and ends. She got to know the locals and said she had zero problem with them, nobody bothered her at all. She slept on the beach, in bad weather she'd make a lean to out of palm fronds. She came back 20 pounds lighter and much more calm/cool/collected, then went back to school. Her mother was okay with it, her dad had died when she was very young. I'm not sure most parents now would be comfortable with that kind of a vacation.

She must of been a ballsy/smart person. The PR I grew up in was a bit rougher than that and not all that kind to women. That said, a young lady would not have much trouble finding a sugar daddy to host her for a while.

Regardless... if she pulled that off, she certainly would come back with a sense of self confidence that says "I know I can get through whatever life tosses my way and come out the other end". Most people never get that.