Cell Phone Drama

Do you ever feel like there's too much drama in life? This last week has been drama filled and I'm soooo DONE with it. I can't really post about any of it, but let me just share one tidbit I've discovered in the last week....

Texting is of the DEVIL!

Teens will text things to each other that they would NEVER say to each other in person. They will text each other horrible, mean and catty things because they don't have to see the other person's face when the message comes through. Teens will text things that are suggestive and inappropriate because they aren't really "with" that person and it all seems so harmless and silly. I've been appalled at some of the texting activity I've been privy to this week. Are we raising a whole generation of kids who won't know how to communicate with each other when they are in their 20's? They also won't know how to spell or type correctly either... another pet peeve I have with texting.

How do we get this under control before we have a whole generation of adults who are absolutely socially inept and clueless? Your thoughts????

Eric's Adventures in Teenage Driving

Well I guess it has been awhile since I have last posted a blog entry because today after church Christy busted open the Blog-Bottle (i.e. Journal Jar) and handed me the first slip of paper that touched her hand. It read, "Tell about how, when, and where you learned to drive."

This could turn into a rather sorted tail, and not so much for my driving exploits, but more for the automotive magnificence that I had at my disposal. First, when I was about 14 years old and the actual event of driving a car was soon to be within reach, my dreams of driving were filled with memories of slamming down the gas pedal of a turquoise green 1969 Plymouth Fury III. This was not only an automotive wonder, but a car of substantial power for its time (some came equipped with a 330 HP engine). This classic "Land Yacht" had the classic body-bag truck that every mobster is looking for, but in our case, it meant tons of room for groceries; however, not enough room for all 7 kids.

Even though seat belt wearing was not even enforced back then, this car was sold to a prison jail guard after a mechanical breakdown made it essentially worthless. So I never even drove this car, but thought it would probably be fun, especially after being in the car with my older brother, Jeff, when he turned a couple brodies (donuts) on a softball field. I also remember my mom cracking the century mark in this car (100 mph, baby!) in the middle of the Nevada desert. This was her carefully calculated attempt to shorten the trip to Utah while my dad was asleep. As soon as Dad nodded out, she slammed down on the accelerator and off we went, no seatbelts and all!

This in turn meant that my driving skills would be developed and honed in either a Titian Red and White Cloud 1970 VW Bus or a Green 1973 Chevrolet Beauville Sportvan (years could be off by 1 or 2). Back then (circa 1985-6), neither was an appealing option when some of my friends had new VW Cabriolets and BMWs. The "Bus" had only 57 HP, so hard to say it was fun, but I do remember it being a chick magnet. I think we blew out the engine on that thing about 5-6 times. It happened so often that my dad could basically take out the engine and put a new one in and have it running on a Saturday. The Beauville was the ultimate "Thunder Bus". It don't think there was anything cool about this vehicle, other than its nearly impervious body armor. I remember the hood being extremely heavy and almost every window in that thing would nearly fall out when the doors were shut. The "Hooptie" did also have some monster power and it was rather easy to get a "scratch" with this van without even trying. One time my dad got a ticket pulling out of the DMV parking lot for laying some Michelin rubber down while trying to avoid on-coming traffic. His citation, "Abupt start on a public street". The "BMW" (Big Mormon Wagon) was also the classic caravaner to stake dances as a teenager and post-seminary transporter (I think the record was 22 passengers from seminary to Armijo High School (Alma Mater of Pat Morita of Karate Kid, Happy Days, and Down & Derby fame; "Wax on, Wax off").

Well, once Jeff graduated from high school, a car dilemna begin as he needed a car to get to work and I need a car to get to early morning seminary and then school. Money was tight with our large family and I was unemployed, so my dad made a peace offering, "Find a car under $500 and we will get it, if it runs." So I scoured the paper and found a 1977 Honda Civic CVCC for sale. It ran (and burned oil), but we picked it up and the pimpin' began. First, I installed a stereo system, complete with 7 Channel graphic equilizer. Then, we spray painted all the rust white (luckily, the car was white also) and then performed a couple apolstorery acutriments. I think almost all of the remaining five kids learned how to drive in this car. Historically speaking, this car yielded about as high ROI (Return on Investment) as a car could have (5 kids driver trained (almost typed potty), cheap transportation, the choke is a turbo trick (long story), and Elise 85 mph traffic weaving NASCAR display). Not too much more you could get out of a car with "12's" (12" wheeled car, you know just like the 22's that kids ride around with today).

Well, I could go on and on, but that pretty much takes care of the teenage years. Post mission years, brought the first car I owned by myself. The 1981 Honda Accord LX. The car below is an exact replica (very hard to find this model these days, but then again not too many people are looking!). Certainly, this tale could have been much different had my dad taken up an offer to get a Citroen for FREE. That would have been a cool teenager car, but it would have been hard to get parts and it probably would have been broken more than working. But hey, that's how it goes sometimes.

Heaven Help Us

When I was 13 years and 11 months old, there was this dance at school. It was a big deal and everyone I knew was going... except me. My parents stood by our church policy of not going to dances before age 14. If the dance had been the night before my birthday, I'm pretty sure my dad would still have said "NO". I remember having heated discussions with him about going to this dance... which says a lot... my dad and I rarely ever had heated discussions about anything! I begged and pleaded, but he still said, "NO." I didn't have a special guy that I wanted to dance with, I just wanted to go to the dance and hang out with my friends.

Fast forward to tonight... I put everyone to bed and I'm hearing muted sounds coming from Taylor's room. He always plays his ipod to go to sleep, so at first I was thinking it was just his music, but it sounded different... so I investigated... okay, okay... I eavesdropped! I put my ear to the door and heard him talking, but in his 13 year old "mumble" language, I couldn't understand a word... so I did the next best thing... I opened the door. Sure enough, he's on the cell phone, laying on his bed in the dark, playing his ipod (for cover, maybe???)

Taylor: "What?!?" he says.

Me: "Dude, it's 9:30... get of the phone and go to bed!"

Taylor: in hushed tones, "Gotta go... mumble... mumble... bye." click.

Me: Give me the cell phone.....

Taylor: What??!!??

Me: If I catch you on the phone this late on a school night again, you're going to be in big trouble!

I left, leaving the cell phone on the nightstand.

I'm pretty sure... no, I'm positive.... he was talking to a girl from school. Guys don't gab on the phone... they text... but no "talking" per se... I thought I was ready for him to get "into girls"... but here's the thing... I'm NOT! Eric and I have already taken the liberty of "snooping" through his yearbook and a girl from school (who I will call "J.C.") took up an entire page. Very suspicious. Taylor hasn't told me who this girl is, but he doesn't need to... We are pretty savvy snoopers around here.

Here's the dilemma... only 5 more days of school left! Then what will my excuse be to get him off the phone??? I'm seriously thinking about imposing a 9:00 p.m. cell phone "curfew"... something like he'll have to give me the phone at night and I'll give it back to him in the morning... what do you think? Help, people, please... I don't want to screw this up! Taylor is a great kid with a very strong conscious... I don't' think he'll push any boundaries, but it scares the "you know what" out of me anyway!

And Dad, if I haven't thanked you before for sticking to your guns... I'm thanking you now! At least I will be able to say, "My parents did the same thing to me and I survived it just fine!"