Consequences

The Bush Administration is providing $167 million for abstinence-only 'sex ed' programmes.

The text is ... well, it's beyond words. Educating your child about what goes on in the adult world is being called "corruptive terrorism" (don't they bandy that word around an awful lot now?), and there's this story about a knight that didn't want his princess anymore because she suggested a way of killing a dragon that wouldn't involve his being potentially roasted. And how, in relationships where sex is involved, there's a greater risk of suicide if you break up. $167 million for a pastor's sermon.

Kids are going to do the sex thing anyway. Kids are kids, and teenagers are in the whole experimental / hormonal phase, for the most part. If you demonise sex in the classroom, kids are going to wonder what the hell's the big deal and go out and try it, much like with drugs.

You know, I see kids, and teens in particular, getting ruder and more out of control pretty much every day (I love public transport). And I sometimes wonder if we could get them to stop behaving like total fucking juveniles if we just stopped treating them like juveniles at an early age. If we could accept that kids are human beings who have their own minds and can make their own choices, and that those choices have consequences, and fully inform them of the possible consequences of their choices, maybe they'd stop behaving like total spazmoids. After all, there'll be no Mummy and Daddy to bail you out in the real world. Educate the little shits and let them take the consequences of being idiots if they're going to be.

Counting My Blessings

On a more personal note, I'm having a "Things To Look Forward To" fest at the minute. I think I need one, because in general, things are coming ever so close to complete suckery.

1) Payday is coming. Payday is Monday, in fact. I will have money. This will be good.

2) Following on from 1), shopping excursion. I need new shoes (I'm thinking a pair of hiking or work boots), I need a new nightshirt (because the one I've been wearing nearly non-stop for the past two years is, oddly enough, full of holes) and I need new memory for the Frankenbox. dodgyhoodoo seems more irritated than I am about the fact that Sims 2 and Sims 2 Body Shop either take forever to load on the Frankenbox or just don't load at all, but that doesn't mean that I'm not a little peeved about it. Probably my own fault, considering the sheer amount of downloaded custom content.

3) Also following from 1), we have decided that we are going back to Benihana on Monday night. This is a) a much-delayed reward for once again having finished NaNoWriMo, b) a much-delayed reward for finishing the Affils stuff and c) an early birthday thing.

4) 6th - 10th Feb inclusive: WEEK OFF. A whole week just for me. No Christmas-related faff, no commitments. Just me and a week's worth of lie-ins, writing and Sims 2 architecture. So, if you're counting from the weekend, it's just 16 days away and counting.

5) My birthday. I don't figure I'll be getting much in the way of fuss or celebration, though. My birthdays have been pretty low-key affairs for the last few years, mostly spent with my mother or a friend or two (2002: Fellowship with the parental units. 2003: Montreal trip with Mum. 2004: When Harry Met Sally with cholten99 courtesy corone, who popped in to say hi at intermission. 2005: stayed home with cholten99, ordered in Chinese and watched Kai Doh Maru). Besides, I don't have enough of a social circle at the minute for big gatherings. Still, it's an occasion and I'm turning 29, which I'm sure my mother will remind me is a year away from 30 in an attempt to get me to show some panic about my age (it isn't going to work).

6) General gaming faff. Most people go for the social, and that's nice, but I really go for the stories (Eshu all the way, me).

Oh yeah. Changeling-related conversation last night. That was fun. dodgyhoodoo bashed his head on the desk a lot at one point, moaning all the while. He sees Mage plot. Hee.

Well, that's a brief distraction from the suck. Now back to the work-and-faff suck. And probably more coffee. It feels necessary.