Despite whatever you may have envisioned after reading yesterday's blog, fear not, I'm still committed to carrying on as a teacher. I will not, in all likelihood, be doing so as a Special Ed teacher. At least not full time. Nothing of any real note in all of that. Of primary note were the cases in which this happens; namely, if it can happen, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of the University of Michigan, and more upwardly mobile types of all ethnic genre than probably anywhere else in the known universe, it can happen anywhere. Of particular note is a 7-year-old Japanese boy, whom I will call "Satu," not his real name, as they say, but it really doesn't matter. The bigger issue is, that his mother and father are native Japanese, and the father is, by report of the classroom regulars, an extremely intelligent man. And Satu is self-abusive, only partially sighted, and, as I found out, prone to habitual pinching of anyone he can get his fingers on. Once again, the message is clear; be thankful for what you have, because there is no telling what God, (whomever He may be to you,) is gonna hand you next.
With that thought, there is only the rain, the coming of spring, and perhaps a few new-model cars one could possibly hope for. (that one, of course, being myself.) Pontiac is reportedly set to rekindle it's 1960s perfomance glory, with yet another Australian import, both like and unlike the recently-departed Pontiac GTO (in it's very latest iteration.) I can't really understand why the newest Goat didn't catch on here in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, with 400 horses and a price hovering round about thirty-grand, it offered probably more bang for the buck, performance-wise, than anything else in recent memory. Given the opportunity, I assure you, I would most definitely have one. Perhaps I will someday, if the right example shows itself. The GTO is based on an Aussie item from General Motors called the Holden Monaro; the new four-door that's supposedly on it's way for '08 is called the G8 (why the h*ll can't car companies be as creative about naming vehicles as the once were?! Now instead of the Pontiac Grand Prix, one of the most glorious vehicle names ever, I think, we get the G8, which sounds like it should be coming from Apple. But instead, from Apple, we get the iPod, the iPhone, and presumably next, iRadio, iTV, a whole friggin' iUniverse. Can we stop, please?) and is based on a rear-wheel-drive sedan called the Holden Commodore VE (now, *there's* a name for ya! All except the VE part, which is the designation for the hot-rod version. I don't get that. VE standing for what, Velocity Edition? Better, I suppose than the still-born Cadillac slated to replace the STS and DTS, and was going to be named the STD. That's a joke, folks; put down the pen, even GM isn't THAT stupid.) Speaking of stupid, for the first time in quite some time, General Motors seems to GET it. It's product line doesn't look or behave like something fished out of a German or Japanese toilet. There really IS life in the General's headquarters at Detroit's Renaissance Center. Maybe that was all THEY needed as a company; a headquarters building with the right name attached. One they didn't have to think up for themselves. Nah, I've said enough now. But believe me, I think it's marvelous. Chrysler, on the other hand, seems to be doing some fishing of their own, and not in a good way. Perhaps it would be a good thing if Daimler-Benz dumped them and someone else, (hopefully not German,) took over. The only notable Jeep of late is the new Wrangler, worthwhile to many chiefly by virtue of its now being available with four doors. The Jeep Compass/Dodge Caliber siblings are crap, at least visually. And the latest Grand Cherokee lost it's way in the latest iteration. More rants later.