Silvan wrote:
99% of you don't have a clue what this is about, but here's a link anyway.

http://tinyurl.com/9a6hz

My Rosegarden (music application for Linux) book is published, and available
from Amazon.co.uk. (Supposed to be available from Amazon.com too, but it's
not there yet.)

The book and Rosegarden itself are what I've been doing since I wandered off
a bit back. I haven't really done anything creative or interesting in my
shop since the Pinewood Derby. It was dismal, dank and rainy for a long
time, and then it got -- HOT --. I'm more or less just biding my time
until fall. I don't even have the energy to get out there and try to
improve the ventilation or something to get it less hot. (HOT means 100 is
a typical day, and I've seen 120. Urf. It's impossible to work when
you're pouring corrosive sweat all over every cast iron surface in a room
full of cast iron surfaces. Not to mention swelling up the wood fibers.)

Probably the most noteworthy thing that a majority of you Wreckers will
appreciate is that I've had a falling out with the BSA. My son bridged
over from Webelos II, and everything was all go go yeeha whoop-t-dee, let's
be Boy Scouts, for about six weeks. He hated every second of it, starting
after about the third meeting.

The older Scouts were constantly picking on him, shoving him around,
delighting in his girlish squeals when they would do something he felt
might cause an injury to his recently-healed dislocated elbow, and the
other adult leaders and older boy leaders were just looking the other way,
and/or the aggressors were just really good at doing their thing when no
one was looking. I can buy either story, or a combination. It happens.
Jock dad tells his son not to beat up wuss kid in public, but secretly
delights in being able to live vicariously through his wee lad and sock the
hell out of that little wuss kid. Bullies are also extremely adept at
presenting one face to authority figures, and a completely different face
to bully-ees.

I could rant about it for hours, bitching about juice and politics and
hypocrisy, but the bottom line is that I was unable to be at any of these
meetings, and there was no way anybody else was going to look after my son.
He was going to have to stand up for himself, and he wouldn't. He just
hasn't reached that breaking point yet. Someday he will stand up and kick
somebody in the nuts and put an end to this crap once and for all, but
until then he's bully fodder. I just couldn't see driving across town and
back twice to keep submitting him to that kind of crap. He's going to have
to deal with it in school, but why volunteer for an extra helping after
hours?

On the bright side, the other reason he kind of lost interest in Scout stuff
was because he found himself a little miniature sized wimminz to hang out
with. I didn't have this close of a relationship with a girl until I was
getting close to buy beer, and here the little pre-teen Casanova has scored
himself a gen-u-ine girlfriend before he even reached middle school. They
go bowling together, see movies, go to parks, and delight in each other's
company in stuff (chaperoned and chauffeured and financed by one set of
parents or the other, obviously) and they both seem really happy. They're
both bully fodder, see.

It seems like an OK deal to me. I'd trade hanging out with a bunch of boys
for a good woman any day of the week.

Well, that's about it in a nutshell, unless I find time to cry about how
close to the brink my poor termite-infested shop is. I went digging
underneath, and there ain't no underneath there anymore. The sub-structure
stuff everything else sits on it nothing but paint and knots. Sigh.

I'm going to try to hold out for a couple three more years, and I think it
will probably make it. If it's still standing now, it will keep levitating
awhile longer. When I get some bills paid down and gain some breathing
room, I think I'm going to suck it up, spend the difference, and put up a
decent steel building. Eat THAT you *******s.

Feel free to go buy a copy of my book, even though you have no idea what
it's about. I don't mind a bit.

Oh, and BTW, Dave, I haven't heard from you in a good while now.

G'day Silvan,
My heart realy does go out to you and your boy. I can't abide bullies.
I'm not to old to remember being bullied myself at school, always being
the smallest and youngest in the class. It took until 8th year for me to
snap and all I wanted to do was kill the *******, well him and his mates
never bullied me again. My young bloke is autistic, although, high
functioning. The poor little bugger is constantly being picked on
because he is a bit different and maybe because he is smarter then most
other kids.
Anyhow, hang in there and get out to the shed and get rid of some
frustration, it saves dogs
All the best to you and your
John