Jump to content

Sweetnsourpoke

Full Members
  • Posts

    416
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Sweetnsourpoke

  1. Since teaching English in Japan came up in conversation, I'll throw in a funny story. I taught English in Tokyo as a young man. Had no clue how to teach, they just hand you a book and tell you to get with it. I should point out, the three things we were never allowed to discuss in the classroom were sex, drugs and World War II. Rock-n-roll was fine. Just no sex, drugs and war. My highest-level class during my first month of employment was a pack of 8 housewives in their 40's. At that point in my life, I considered them all quite old. However, they spoke at a pretty advanced level and could carry on decent conversations. It was an enjoyable group. One day, we were working on hypothetical questions/second conditionals. The conversation steered towards bad habits such as smoking, chewing fingernails, etc. I asked the group.... '"Ladies, if there was one thing you wish you could stop doing right now, what would it be?" The class thought about it very quietly for a moment. Finally, one lady had an answer. "You know, I really wish......I could stop.....masturbating." Total silence. I didn't know what to say. Without even thinking, I asked "Oh, really? Why?" "Oh, it's just so troublesome. I started when I was in junior high school. Every month, my back hurts. I get cramping.......'. I immediately realized her mistake. "Oh, no. You mean menstruating. You wish you could stop menstruating." "Ah, yes. Menstruating. That's right. I wish I could stop." Now several hands shoot up and one student asks....."Sumimasen, what is 'masturbating'?" Now I'm extremely embarrassed with where this is going. I quickly answer...."Ah, sex....one person." One student then realized the Japanese translation. "Ah, masu o kaku!" and they all broke out in laughter. Another student asked for the spelling. Reluctantly, I spelled it on the board. As I turn around to carry on with class, my British supervisor walks in to check on my lesson. You couldn't have timed it better. To say she had a look of horror on her face would be an understatement. Another student, in front of my supervisor, then asked me to explain menstruation. How do you answer this question to a group of women? Now my boss is mystified. How did a lesson on second conditionals turn into a lecture on masturbation? I simply asked the original student to explain it in Japanese. Again, they got a good laugh mainly due to my discomfort at the situation. I was convinced now that I was getting the boot. Fortunately, that didn't happen and I wasn't deported.
  2. Have only seen the trailer but, having worked in a Japanese office in Tokyo for a lot of my thirties, the scene of the guy yelling 'gaijin' is ridiculous. Can't see that actually happening. My co-workers treated me extremely well.
  3. Boomtown is a great read. Yeah, I mainly just go downtown for Thunder basketball and the Bricktown Comedy Club. They pull in pretty solid acts. Margaret Cho, Kevin Nealon, Dave Attell, etc. Great addition to that area.
  4. Holy crap. I live in Oklahoma City and I haven't done any of that stuff (aside from the park). Let us know how it goes.
  5. Was at the game. I swear there was a ten-minute span in the second period where the Isles were stuck on 8 shots. Could not get one legit shot on goal. Two-minute power play....no shot on net.....gave up a short-hander. Ridiculous. How that team won four games in row is a mystery.
  6. I check these threads mainly to see if I have family members posting on surlyhorns.
  7. Just renewed the passport. Did NOT pay for expedited service. Just regular service. Mailed paperwork March 8. They started processing March 22. Received new passport April 2. Pretty dang fast.
  8. - An incredible amount of material - An entire week to prepare - Jarrod Carmichael as guest host to play Will Smith And the writers at SNL will still crank out a below-average opening skit about the slap heard around the world
  9. Ken Holland should be canned for not improving their goaltending at the deadline.
  10. I actually saw that MASH episode with the rape statement this evening. Interesting timing. I'm on a Slap Shot group on Facebook. Pretty funny private group which obviously celebrates the greatness of the Paul Newman classic. Most of the posts initiate loads of quotes from the movie. However, directly quoting several lines from the film have actually gotten a few members suspended for 30 days. Clearly some of that script would get edited out in the modern day.
  11. Interesting take. I thought the ending was pretty much the entire movie in a nutshell. It spoke volumes. Here's my take.... At the end of the film, the daughter is sitting on the porch and says (and I'm paraphrasing) "Man, Oklahoma looks exactly the same as it always did. Nothing has changed'. The camera does a tight shot of Damon and he responds 'No, it looks very different to me'. The movie was really about taking this white guy from Oklahoma out of his comfort zone and then seeing that change he encounters along the way. If you remember the day the daughter got a day pass from prison and spends the day at the flat, the French woman asks why she came to France. The daughter responds by saying she pretty much just wanted to get out of Oklahoma, as far as she could go. That seems logical considering she's young, a lesbian and most likely on the liberal/more adventurous side. She probably is not particularly keen on her conservative hometown and finds it pretty much the same despite being gone 6 + years. Matt Damon, however, is the complete opposite. He's a 100% Oklahoma guy, football fan, construction/oil rig worker, high school dropout with a criminal past. He most likely would have never visited France had his daughter not been there. He was totally out of his element and it forced him to reexamine certain aspects of his life. For example, one thing I noticed is that he was working construction in France. How did he get that job? Remember when the man was looking at photographs and said the French were having the same issues with Africans that the Americans were having with Mexicans? And the French woman refused to continue because he was racist? Damon didn't care because 'I work with guys like that back in Oklahoma'. Now what's interesting is that a few months later, Damon has the labor job. There's no way he had a proper working visa. He didn't have an EU passport, he wasn't married and he had a record. Very little chance he would get legal paperwork for a construction job. So now HE'S the Mexican......doesn't speak the language, is working a low paying gig, and is doing so under the table. This is one way he is forced to reexamine the world around him. I don't know, I thought the film was pretty deep. Matt Damon nailed the role.
  12. Have you looked around the arena lately? Christ, it's like a Tulsa Oilers home game in there. The Golden State crowd was great (lots of kids cheering for Curry) but the following game against Toronto was abysmal. You'd think there was 4 feet of snow outside. You should really visit with some regular folks in Oklahoma City. It's like a cult when it comes to conservative political allegiance. I know at least a dozen families that have cancelled season tickets due to politics. Bizarro world.
  13. You're probably right. I've just never seen a pro sports market quite like this.
  14. I've hit about 9 Thunder home games this season and the attendance has been horrendous. I'm not exaggerating when I say there are nights where we only have 6 or 7,000 in the seats. You can pay $10 for a ticket on stubhub and sit pretty much anywhere. I've noticed the three things that have impacted the attendance: rebuild, organization's support of BLM, and the earlier requirement to have vaccines and masks at games. The vast number of politically conservative people in this community that openly want this organization to fail and/or relocate and leave Oklahoma City is pretty astounding. I hear it quite a bit from the 'Go Woke/Go Broke' crowd. They actually want the NBA to leave town. Do you think behind closed doors that the NBA is regretting putting a team in Oklahoma City? I don't think you'd be seeing these politically related issues in Seattle.
  15. Fun game in person. It occurred to me that the Stars haven't been handing out game programs this year. When did they kill this tradition?
  16. You're touching on a very interesting topic that hits close to home unfortunately. I lived in Asia for 18 years and repatriated about 7 years ago in my mid-forties. From a professional standpoint, moving back to the States (when I did) was one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. I worked for a software company and law firm during that time abroad and never found anything close to that after returning to the States. I'm actually in the process of exploring job opportunities overseas as we speak. Would have moved earlier had it not been for Covid. One thing I highly recommend, make sure you have a solid plan and good leads before assuming you'll hit the ground running upon your return. I know this is a no-brainer but it's really true after a certain age. I think the longer you're overseas, the more you'll miss the ex-pat life after you return. The American Midwest gets pretty boring fast especially if you're starting over and meeting new people. A very different pace of life here.
  17. Looks like I spoke too soon. It was announced today they are postponing the 45th reunion due to current events around the world. They moved the dog one block away from Central Park just around the corner. By the way, the business in the background was the location of Gilda's Cut 'n Curl where Francine Dunlop worked as a hairdresser. If you visit Johnstown, there's Slap Shot history all over the place.
  18. By the way, the Slap Shot 45th Anniversary Reunion with be the weekend of March 18-19 in Johnstown, PA. Quite a few of the actors - as well as the Hansons - will be there. Steve Carlson is still up in the air as he's still recovering from cancer treatment.
  19. I visited Johnstown in November and took quite a few 'then and now' photos. Holy ground.
  20. Guess we'll just have to take their word for it on the replay.
  21. Is it really? Went to a game out in LA a few years ago that happened to be Pride Night. Didn't even know they had such a thing in the NHL. Ended up being a really fun night. Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family were there to drop the puck. Will Ferrell kissed a guy on kiss cam.
  22. What's the overall consensus at this point from Stars fans on Jamie Benn? I'm not a Stars fan so can't say I follow him as closely. His numbers have been way down the last few years. Is a 20-goal season ever in his future? Cripes, he has 11 assists in mid-February. Trade deadline is March 21st. Is this guy untradable? Not gonna happen but would Dallas ever move him? Pavelski was one of the best signings you guys have had in ages. Love that guy.
  23. I'm still trying to get used to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Somehow team owners are offered decent alternatives and choose the cheesiest one.
  24. Dang.......40 Days - $1,382,800. Serious earnings. When I lived in Japan, my roommate was/is a writer and one of the smartest guys I've ever known. He tried out for Jeopardy and it made it to the Tournament of Champions before losing to Ken Jennings. I think he won somewhere around $125,000. He told me he got slammed three times on the taxes. He had to pay US Fed taxes, California taxes and Japanese income taxes. Ouch.
×
×
  • Create New...