"I sometimes get called a redneck.  But I grew up in the ghetto so that says

a lot about me."--8th grade student

The mind of a 13 year old...

From an actual 8th grader's response paper, regarding culture:

"Culture is cool because its fun to learn about different peoples, religion

and other things like language.  And I thank the Chinese for Panda Express."

The Elderly...

This morning, on my way to work, I nearly t-boned an elderly woman in a shiny new Cadillac. Apparently, she didn't see my big-headlights on-landcruiser-lifted-suv coming towards her and decided to make her move right out into the intersection. I was able to swerve while applying the brakes with every bit of "oh crap!" gumption I had. She stopped and with my adrenaline pumping, she held out her hands like, "what?" I shook my head and moved on.

I am not against the elderly driving, but it seems they are much like teenagers in the sense that they are painfully unaware of what is going on around them, much to the dismay of joggers, shopping carts, and the rest of the motorized world.

My grandfather experienced the same thing...he had the police called on him in his Cadillac, as they thought he was drunk. Needless to say, he lost his drivers license shortly thereafter.

My friendly Mood-ism for the day: If your elderly grandparent is driving, and you know they shouldn't be, please do us all a favor, and politely 'lose' their car keys and drivers license.