The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
An important part of my life is my family, so stories about the family go here.
So, this is my first post in a very long time. A lot has happened since that last post in October of 2020. That one was about local candidates and my recommendations. The intervening years was just too turbulent for me, and I know my posts would be mostly rants and filled with gloom and doom. We still face a lot of the problems coming out of the past couple of years, and I’m sure I’ll be ranting a lot, but it is time to get back into the game.
Read moreWell, Christmas 2010 has come and gone. Nothing left to do but pack up the decorations. I’d have to rate it as a pretty good Christmas. I think I managed to stick to a fairly tight budget, and despite a few arguments with Lay, we wound up with everyone getting something they really enjoyed. I got my shopping and gift wrapping done well ahead of time this year. The decorations were up right after Thanksgiving, and the Christmas Cards went out just after that, so I never felt rushed or hectic.
Read morePictures of Lay’s family over for the Labor Day weekend. We had loads of fun swimming, and making giant bubbles out of a soap solution. Bubbles are a favorite thing with the nieces, and giant bubbles just secured my place as favorite uncle for a while longer.
Read moreI know it will shock you to learn that the National Organization for Marriage is running a radio ad to, among other things, raise money, with a complete stream of lies. So, are you off the floor yet (I know you fell over when you heard). So, many thanks to Matt from stop8.org who took the time to analyze their ad, statement by statement to point out the lies. I guess that old “baring false witness” thing isn’t important if your fighting teh gayz. I mean some sins are worse than others, so if you have to commit one fight one, it’s must be OK, because they’re all Christian.
Read moreThat’s right folks. The good christian people at Focus on the Family don’t want schools to have effective anti-bullying campaigns because they want to be sure their kids can continue to beat up kids who are or are perceived to be gay. Oh they try to dress it up in nice words saying they want safe schools for everyone, but if you go around and tell kids it’s not OK to beat up the gay kids, then you’re teaching them that being gay is OK.
Read moreThis past weekend was rather busy around this household. The biggest event was Sunday when we had our niece’s 4th birthday party here at the house. Saturday night we attended the Una Voce Florida Men’s Chorale concert. The concert title was “Harmonia Mundi” or music of the world. After the concert, we went over and picked up the nephews to spend the night. Whew! As soon as everyone left Sunday and all the trash was stashed, I sat down in my favorite chair, and was out light like a light for about two hours.
Read morePhotos of my two annual guests who are sticking around this year for a bit longer than usual. Also a link to the photo gallery of the State Fair photos.
Read moreSome of you will know that Lay’s been through a two and one-half year experience trying to get naturalized. Of course he had permanent status, and has lived here since he was 2 years old. In fact, he’s never been back ot Laos. So it was past time to go ahead and get this over with, but little did we know what an ordeal it would be. Then, I came away from the Naturalization Ceremony profoundly concerned about the complete lack of competence in how even the ceremony was conducted.
Read moreEveryone is writing about where they were 40 years ago today when Armstrong and Aldrin first set foot on the moon, so I thought I should also chime in. It was certainly one of those defining moments. I was at White Lake, NC with family and friends.
Read moreWe had a big birthday party here Sunday afternoon as Dala, Lay’s niece turns three years old. She loves to swim and always throws a fit when it’s time to go home. She learned to jump off the side of the pool, and doggy paddle around with her little tube.
Read moreIf you’re a regular visitor (or you receive the digest email) I suppose you have noticed a decided lack of activity here lately. I have to tell you, I’ve just been tired. I think that’s the best way to describe what’s been going on in my life lately. It’s not that feeling of “being sick and tired of being sick and tired,” but more a general malaise that came over me during the last months. I didn’t send out Christmas cards this year, and didn’t even decorate the house. I came into the season with a good deal of the shopping done, and combined with some upcoming time off, I was actually looking forward to the holiday, but somewhere along the way, I just sort of lost that holiday spirit. I’m working on a comeback.
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