It's worse than we thought

[BillM]

Are y'all perhaps speaking of the Late Unpleasantness Between the States, suh? I may be the descendant of Confederates, but I am first and foremost a Devout Smartass.

Also, you don't have to say "Damn Yankee." The "damn" is redundant.

I was quoting the young man who addressed me so. And my reply was to inquire if he was interested in going swimming in the bayou. We may be cousins. I'm Devout Smartass, too. On both sides of the family.

Funny thing in my life. Maternal grandmother was born in California, as was I. I met my first wife in Wichita Falls, Tx, and she was from New York City. A week before we got married, they were talking about family, and determined that we were distant cousins. My great grandmother's family was run out of Vienna, MO, in the late 1850's because they were Abolitionists. Members of their own family told them to leave or die. They figured California was far enough. She had visited her cousins in Vienna just a few years before we met. She was definitely a Yankee.

Bill

 

[John6185]

These days? I graduated from high school in SoCal in 1973. About 50 of the other graduates in my class had F-averages. They got a diploma too. Not a certificate of attendance, a diploma. My GPA was not too good, I got a 1.78 GPA due to flunking every class but one my Freshman year of high school. Attitude problems. I needed a good kick in the... C-average sophomore year, B-average junior year, and A-average senior year. Still not too bright, like the guy said "but I got better!"

You still could got o college and graduate with the best of them! People your age have done it and even older folks. But saying that, a college education may not be worth the trouble, especially when one can go to Vo0Tech and develop a good blue collar trade and make more more money.

 

[BillM]

You still could got o college and graduate with the best of them! People your age have done it and even older folks. But saying that, a college education may not be worth the trouble, especially when one can go to Vo0Tech and develop a good blue collar trade and make more more money.

I did. I've got over 300 semester hours of college credits. Two associates, degrees, and was only 6 hours from earning a second associates when I retired from the USAF. Got the actual second degree here at Rose State before going to OU for their TE+ teacher education program. Bachelors degree in Social Studies Secondary Education. About half a masters in special education. And Francis Tuttle tells me they're mailing my certificate from the Precision Manual Machining course I just completed there May 10th. I'm retired again, and drawing social security, and building a home machine shop. If I work, I'll work for me. I worked as a teacher in the OKC metro for almost 3 years, after going to school for it for 10 years. Developed obstructive sleep apnea in 2008, crashed and burned my teaching career, and went back to mechanicing in 2014, with some odd jobs in between. And the week after I got a raise to $21.78/hour, Covid-19 crashed my last mechanicing job. All desktop machines, and several of them need refurbishment, but I'm a decent mechanic, and have the tools to make parts if I can't buy them. I started the machining thing with a Harbor Freight Mini-lathe. Recently traded it in on a couple of Unimat micro-lathes. I've made a faceplate, ER20 chuck, and a couple of milling tables for the Unimats. There are advantages to a lathe you can pick up one-handed.

Bill