a poor idiot from watts

i'm pretty sure this was a racist encounter. i'm not positive, probably because i'm a rich smart girl from boston, immune to these things. but it went a little something like this:

skip is at the dentist, wearing his uniform because it's the middle of a work day. first off, the dentist begins complaining about having to go to his son's wedding in a week. skip mentions our anniversary is coming up in a week. the dentist replies,

"what idiot gets married in december?"

awkward silence. the dentist then says, "SO! i see you're in the army. did you grow up poor?"

awkward silence again. only momentarily, though, as skip explains to doctor dingaling that no, actually, he didn't. both of his parents had decent jobs, and they did well, especially considering he grew up in los angeles.

"oh! los angeles?" asks dr. d. "what part? watts?"

at this point, skip realizes he should bite his tongue...figuratively, of course, since the dentist's hands are in his mouth. although this is the very reason he is biting his tongue. something about facing off with the guy holding the tools and anesthesia seems questionable.

but who says stuff like that? i'm beginning to wonder if the guy has a white hood to go along with that white coat he's wearing. in less than 3 breaths, the man implied my husband was an idiot, poor, and from the "city most likely to riot" in california. what's with the stereotyping? i think i'll send him a christmas card this year, complete with his very own noose ornament to hang on his tree.

DOMINO!

we like to play a game at night before we go to bed. sometimes it's rummy, or scrabble, or "hurry and do some laundry so the kids have clean underwear for school." you know, the typical games for grownups. last night it was dominoes. i'm new to the domino world and i learned a lot of things.

1. apparently, the object is NOT to line them all up in an interesting formation and then knock one down to observe a brilliant chain reaction.

2. contrary to what i learned in many boyz-in-the-hood-esque movies, you don't have to smoke chronic while you play.

3. also, contrary to what i learned in said movie genres, it's a bad idea to throw down your winning domino and yell "DOMINO, *#@!#"

4. scoring is done by one posessing secret cult knowledge, or a basic understanding of korean charicature:



5. there is a lot of strategy involved. my strategy is to match one number to another. apprently this makes me a bad player.


6. my husband is highly amused by the phrase, "huh? i don't get it."


7. sometimes, a well-meaning husband may not understand that by playing at the highest skill level possible, he is not actually teaching his wife in-depth strategies. he is confusing her while running up a really high score for him.


8. although, according to the scoresheet, he may not be running up a really high score. he may actually be writing a thesis in korean.


9. sometimes, a crafty wife can play stupid long enough to actually get good at a game. watch out, b.


10. there is a whole separate language for this game. and contrary to the approach i was amusing myself with, it's not ebonics.


so. all in all, a fun experience. i didn't win, but i did learn several new things. the best part is how much fun we have together. i can sacrifice an occasional win for a fun-filled shellacking.

it's SMACKDOWN time.

*before i start today's lunatic rant, i just wanted to say thanks for all the email i got regarding the previous post. i have a lot of really deep thinking to do, and some "back to basics" gospel workouts. if i ever get there, i'll invite you all to my kumbayah party.

so. the other day my kindergartener asked if he could borrow my tweezers to pull out his unibrow. upon further probing, i discovered a 6th grader on the bus had been teasing him about it. he said this had been happening for about a week. so i called the bus department, and the man (named DICK, no kidding) assured me he'd look into it. i asked him to get back to me and let me know the results. he said he didn't understand what i was talking about. i said, i would like to know how the child was approached, what was said, and what the results of the conversation were. dick said, "um. oh. i guess i could call you back." i said, "that would be fantastic dick."

so dick called me this morning. he said, "we spoke to the 6th grader, and he said your son was throwing pasta at him." i said, "on friday, keola made a noodle necklace at school. he brought it home, it broke, the 6th grdaer was teasing him, so he threw a noodle at him. i'm not trying to justify my son's actions, he did get in trouble for throwing the noodle. but what was done about the teasing incidents?"
dick said, "well, the 6th grader said he only threw the noodle back because your son threw it at him first. " i said, "dick. you and i spoke last wednesday. the noodle throwing incident took place on friday. the teasing was happening before the noodle was thrown."

dick (i'm really enjoying calling him by his name) said, "well apparently your son isn't too afraid of this other boy if he's throwing pasta at him. and the other boy said he only threw back in self-defense." to which i replied, "so, dick. are you telling me pasta throwing trumps bullying in bus house rules?" "no, ma'am. nothing trumps bullying." at this point, i almost want to laugh, but i'm so annoyed with his complacency and idiocy, i just can't. but i'm laughing now. so i said to dick, "i would like to know what is going to be done to prevent this 6th grader from continuing to tease my kindergartener. in spite of his pasta throwing, he is still much smaller than the 6th grader and i would like to prevent this from escalating."

dick said, "well, your son should sit in the front of the bus and report any teasing to the bus driver immediately." i said, "is anyone going to speak to the 6th grader again and address the real issue here? what is going to be done to protect my child from being teased?" dick replied, "it's our job to protect every child on the bus. your son was throwing pasta at another child. we have an equal responsibility to both children." i said, "dick. are you kidding me? you have done nothing to protect my child. you have fully sided with the 6th grader because he had pasta thrown at him. he has taken no responsibility for his actions. what is going to be done about that?" and dick said, "well, i guess we could look into that again, and if the 6th grader needs to be written up, that's what we would do. but we can't just kick him off the bus."

at this point i could see that dick was clearly not the person i needed to be speaking with to address this issue. i told him that i had made a written note of his complacent response, of his preference towards punishing kindergarten pasta throwing over 6th grade bullying, and that i would then take it up with higher authorities.

so consider this the written note, and if you'll excuse me, i'm off to talk to the 6th grade and kindergarten principals.