Sing with me

Things turned out to be as bad as I thought they would be. I was hoping for better, but not expecting it.

Still trying to be optimistic, I have this song on my mind.

Crüxshadows - Eye of the Storm

the trials you now are facing
they are not greater than your will
for there is nothing under heaven
you cannot overcome
see the door that lies before you
and know- this too shall pass
the confrontation of your fears
in strength drawn from the past
where the silent voices whisper
find the course- that is your own
and however great the obstacle
you will never be alone

for I have watched the path of angels
and I have heard the heavens roar
There is strife within the tempest
but calm in the eye of the storm.

in fragments of an instant
the chaos has returned
and all that was left to sentiment (emptiness)
beneath the banner burned
and as that voice was slow receded
into echoes, memory
my doubts were re-ignited
and fear awakened from its sleep

I believe in what I fight for
and I have paid for it with pain
i am here because my contributions
may help turn this fate away
and all who stood by and did nothing
who are they to Criticize?
the sacrifices of others-
our blood has bought their lives...

This is the moment of truth
at the point of no return-
place faith in your convictions
when boundaries begin to blur

There is no love untouched by hate
no unity without discord
there is no courage without fear
there is no peace without a war
there is no wisdom without regret
no admiration without scorn
there is strife within the tempest-
but calm in the eye of the storm...

The pages of our history
are written by the hand
with eyes and ears and prejudice
too far removed- to understand
and so the heroes of the ages past
are stripped of honesty-
and love
to make them seem less noble
and hide what we can become

this is the moment of truth
at the point of no return
place faith in your convictions
as the boundaries begin to blur

There is no love untouched by hate
no unity without discord
there is no courage without fear
there is no peace without a war
there is no wisdom without regret
no admiration without scorn
there is strife within the tempest-
and calm in the eye of the storm...

There is no love untouched by hatred
no unity without discord
there is no courage without fear
there is no peace without a war
there is no wisdom without regret
no admiration without scorn
there is strife within the tempest-
but calm in the eye of the storm...

if you find the courage within you
to face the path ahead
it matters not the outcome
if what you will gain instead
is a heart deepened in the knowing
that experience carves the soul
and the very thing that empties you
shall surely make you whole

where the silent voices whisper
find the course that is your own
and however great the obstacle
you will never be alone
for I have watched the path of angels
and I have heard the heavens roar
there is strife within the tempest
but calm in the eye of the storm

So things are not turning out like I planned

Or even like I had hoped. Things happen. Stuff happens. Life happens.

I've got some issues going on. Some that I care not to talk publicly about, but still issues.

I'm depressed, annoyed, generally unhappy at the moment but still optimistic. Trying to make it all work out.

So I'm stuck at my parents' house

Waiting on the bus. What kinds of a worthless bus system runs every hour?

I need to go, I need to get out of here. I love my mom but my dad can be difficult do deal with. Couple that with the fact that this place stinks. Literally. My dad had a major bladder control problem and pisses everywhere. I came over here after work to help my mom with some things. Did some cleaning for her too. It's a little better, but still smells. My father makes life so difficult for my mom. He won't acknowledge the fact that he needs help and should really be in a nursing home until this bladder issue is cleared up and he can walk better. I really wish he would also treat my mom better. She doesn't deserve all the crap he has put her through.

Every time I come here I am reminded of at least a few of the many reasons why I moved out.

I know what you're thinking....

....Here comes Old Gregg, he's a scaley man-fish.


WARNING:This vid disturbed me, you have been warned. Warning aside it was quite funny.

Easy now fuzzy little man-peach.


I got the funk right here.


We got the funk.


I'm to going to make an Old Gregg costume for Halloween. Would be a good DragonCon costume too.

I'm thinking about selling my Escort...

...And getting one of these.




It's a Sachs MadAss. What's really appealing to me is that it looks like a mountain bike with a motor strapped to it.

Riding my bike to work is time consuming and tiring. Taking the bus is just time consuming. I have to catch a bus at 6pm and my shift doesn't start until 11pm.

I have an idea

So of course I want opinions on it.

On my days off from the hotel I work as a substitute school teacher. I'm also working toward getting a degree in secondary education with a mathematics emphasis so I can teach full time. The degree in electronics engineering that I have just isn't good enough. I love teaching. It's just so amazing to see someone understand something, see them learn some thing new, see the lights come on as I refer to it. I do find it to be my calling in life.

I currently live in a bad neighborhood. I'm only here because the rent is cheap. The one good thing about the community I live in is that there is a neighborhood association and they are working make this a better place to live for every one. I thought of something I can do for the community. With the large number of children here that are attending public schools, I think it would be a benefit to offer low cost tutoring services. It gives me an opportunity to do that which I most enjoy doing as well as give back to the community. I will admit there is the ulterior motive of putting some cash in my pocket, but some of that is going to go toward supplies. Though I might be inclined to help the financially worst of families for gratis. I'd at least like to be able to use them for a reference when the time comes for me to teach full time.

I'm good friends with the head of the neighborhood association and I think he might just be able to help me get the word out.

Your thoughts? ideas? Criticism?

Here comes the rain again.

Song of the day it seems.



I need to learn this one on my violin.

Dropping of school choice causing problems in Pinellas

Good job Pinellas County, get rid of the best thing you had going.

PINELLAS COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- Thousands of students started school Wednesday in Pinellas County, but not everyone went to class because some parents are saying the schools are too far away.

Last year when the Pinellas County School District dropped school choice many thought it would help students attend schools closer to their homes, but some parents are saying thing have only gotten worse.

Parent Heather Riggs says she's furious about the school her 9-year-old son, Justin, has been assigned to.

"The day before school they leave a message: 'we apologize there's no classes available for him in any of those schools,'" Riggs said.

Riggs recently moved into a new home in Largo and says she put in a request for her son to attend a school in their neighborhood, but instead the district assigned him to a school 14 miles away in St. Pete Beach.

"Well let's see, I'm a single mother, the gas prices, um I have a vehicle, and I can't afford the gas prices but what if I didn't have a vehicle," Riggs said.

More Information

• Education Resources
• E-mail TV Reporter Summer Smith

Riggs isn't the only frustrated parent. Terry Drekler says his son's school is more than 10 miles away from their home.

"Bus transportation isn't going to be ready for 10 days, so I'm going to have to drive him to school back and forth to school for 10 days so I'm not happy about that," Drexler said.

A spokeswoman for the school district says there simply isn't enough room for all the requests. She says this year only students entering kindergarten, 6th grade and 9th grade are guaranteed close to home schools. And former school choice students have been grandfathered in.

The school district is also dealing with the class size amendment rule, so students are being placed in the closest schools with seats available.

Twelfth grade student Jessica Piatt says this is not in her best interest either. She and dozens of others plan to fight until they get a change.

"I've been going to school with high academics so I can excel, " Piatt said. "So going to a "C" school is not going to help me."

The spokeswoman for the school district says they'll take an enrollment count after 10 school days to see where they stand. Then, if there's room the district can go back at look at requests.

Parents need a choice in where their children are educated not just send them where ever the county tells them. If anything, this is a strong argument for vouchers.

Life sucks without a car

Normally I would not complain, but not having a running vehicle does put a damper on one's fun.

Streetcar Charlie's in Ybor City is having a drag contest this Sunday. The prize is a paid booking, they are looking for a new cast member. A paid booking would be awesome, but I really just want to be back on stage.

And I have no means of getting there.

Chocolate chip and macadamia nut pancakes

Are yummy. Easy to make too, just add the chips and nuts to your favorite pancake batter.

I've got 7 bags of macadamia nuts and chocolate chips. Was part of a food package I received from a good friend and co-worker's church. I know I say bad things about the church from time to time, but the sense of community and charity that comes from the church is a very good thing. And I'm most likely going to donate some of my time or money when I can.

I also have a box full of canned kale greens that I can't eat. If anyone wants, let me know. Nothing wrong with them, they are just in a pork broth.

I think I'm going to convert to Christianity

So I can get away with things like what this guy did and have a whole congregation behind me. My girlfriend alerted me to this today, apparently he's a janitor where she works.

Bristol pastor, Christian radio station employee charged with indecent exposure

Published 07/30/2007 By Kacie Dingus Breeding

A Christian radio station employee and Bristol pastor has been charged with indecent exposure as well as DUI and violation of the open container law.

WZAP-AM 690's owner, Al Morris has issued a brief statement Monday afternoon saying, "As many of you are aware Tommy Tester, an employee of WZAP was recently arrested in Washington County, Tenn.

"The allegations, as reported by the news media, are serious and are in no way condoned or accepted by the ownership and management of WZAP.

"We do not know all the details and facts concerning the arrest; but for the time being Tommy has been relieved of his responsibilities at the station until such facts surrounding the case are determined.

"We pray that this matter can be quickly resolved.

In the meantime, we ask you to pray for Tommy and for WZAP."

The Johnson City Press reported Saturday that Thomas Dale Tester, 58, of 17426 Hobbs Road, reportedly faces charges of driving under the influence, indecent exposure and violation of the open container law.

Morris said Monday in a phone interview that Tester, known to listeners as "Tommy Tester," is also pastor of Gospel Baptist Church on Reedy Creek Road. "So far, they (members of the congregation) have rallied behind Tommy," Morris said.

Morris, who was on vacation when he first heard about the allegations and read the details in the Johnson City Press, added, "It's the biggest shock of my life."

Having since read the two police reports over and over again, Morris spoke of his desire to wait until all the facts are revealed in court before condemning Tester, "I know what the police report has told me and I know what Tommy has told me--Tommy has denied all of it."

Morris said his staff, the station's listeners and members of Tester's congregation were all shocked about Johnson City police officers' allegations.

When he talked to Tester, "He said they (Johnson City police) scared him--he was scared to death and didn't know what he'd said or what he'd admitted or anything else," Morris said.

According to the Johnson City Press article, Tester allegedly pulled up in a blue 2007 Toyota Camry and offered to give Johnson City police officers oral sex when they arrived at 308 S. Belmont Street to investigate a report of indecent exposure.

Tester, allegedly wearing a skirt, reportedly got out of his car at the Belmont Car Wash and urinated in a wash bay in public view with children present.

A search of Tester’s vehicle reportedly revealed a half-empty pint-sized bottle of vodka and an empty bottle of Oxycodone in the passenger floorboard. Morris said Tester had told him about the painkiller prescription, which he'd said was prescribed due to previous back surgeries.

According to reports, Tester also allegedly admitted to police that he had been drinking and failed all field sobriety tests.

Morris said he'd relieved Tester of his duties at the station pending the outcome of the case.

Tester was released on bond from the Washington County Detention Center Friday afternoon and is scheduled to appear in Sessions Court on Tuesday.

An updated article says he barely got a slap on the wrist. "24 hours in jail, 24 hours of litter pickup, probation for a year and an $800 fine." For drunk driving, drugs, urinating in public, exposing himself to a child and offering a cop oral sex. And his congregation rallied behind him.

Really, where do I sign up?

Stupid in America

I found this posted on Bureaucratic Daycare. I've got a discussion going on there with Dani and I must say that I'm a bit weirded out at the fact that I'm finding myself agreeing in some ways with a fundamentalist. It's on my mind once again as I am looking on subfinder for an available opening. I could stand to make a quick and easy $70 today and I'm off from the hotel. I'm not certified to teach yet, but I love to teach. The best the school board can offer me is substitute teaching. I look at it this way, I get to work at different schools and see what they are really like. I also get to learn more about teaching kids. I get introduced to faculty as well. Helps me hone my skills and decide who I want to work for. And I get paid for it!

But I have to say, as much as I love teaching, as much as I am for public schooling, the school system needs an overhaul.

I invite you to watch the video, it's 40 minutes long, but worth it.


Fist thing I want to bring up is the money. They say the more money the better. Some years ago, I read A Different Kind of Teacher by John Taylor Gatto. One thing that was brought up in that book in regards to money is that public schools spend more money educating kids than what it costs to send kids to a private school. Pretty accurate I'd say. I looked up a few private schools in the area and some of them offer tuition for less than the $10K/student (or more! they need more!) mentioned in the video. And where does the money go? Not to me, I only make $70/day. Even if I was full time, that's only $35K/year. When I was on my long term job last year, I had 140 students. That's $1,400,000! Wait, they had 5 other classes so $233,333.33. Still a pretty insane amount of money.

How about this - attach the money to the kids. Just like the video says. Voucher programs as they are called here. I guess I'm a bad public school teacher. I like vouchers. I support vouchers. Why do public school teachers hate vouchers? Because they suck. And because they know they will always have an income. Think of it this way, they know they will always have "customers." Therefore it doesn't matter how bad they do, they will always have a job. They can get away with doing an absolute shit job and not care. It's nearly impossible for a teacher to get fired for incompetence. About the only thing they can get fired for is doing something that puts them in jail. Parents need a choice as to where to send their kids. If there are vouchers, if there is a choice, there will be competition. Think about it. I'm typing this on a Dell laptop thats running Ubuntu Linux. I have the choice to do that just as well as you have the choice to read it on a different PC or Mac. And you have a choice in operating systems too! Either a PC or Mac can run linux, you are not stuck with Windows or Mac OS. Know what else? You have a choice in what internet service brings it to your home. If one isn't fitting your needs, you can choose one that does. A parent should be able to do the same thing with their child's education. And while I am aware there are options like private schools and home schooling, the parent is still paying the same taxes. Attach the tax money to the child, give the parents a choice. If the parent chooses to home school, give them the money. However, I think there should be a limit, if a parent wants to send their kid to the most expensive in private schools (like a boarding school) they can pay the difference. That's exactly how I see it. Under a voucher program a good teacher will always have students.

Let me go on to say I hate unions. I have never worked for a union. I will never work for a union. My attitude toward any job is that if it is not fitting my needs, I will find one that does. So far this has worked very well for me. Unions did serve a purpose at one time when there were no such thing as benefits. Not the case any more. I look a strikers as spoiled crybabies. They would be sticking it to their boss a lot harder if they find a better job and quit. One thing I will not do as a teacher is join a teacher's union. those are the worst. They are only in it for themselves. No one else. They want to protect the bad teachers. They want to protect their status quo. It's working great for them. Good teachers don't need unions.

Along with the vouchers, there needs to be an evaluation system in place. If the teacher isn't meeting the standards, or is behaving badly, fire them. Simply put, just like any other job. Really want to improve things, drop the bottom 10%. It worked for GE. It works for every other business. Reward the best, fire the worst. A good teacher will always have a job.

The lottery thing at the end made me angry. No parent should have to do that. I think if that was offered to me, I'd have to slug somebody. Seriously.

By the way, South Carolina schools are improving. Look at their contestant for Miss Teen USA -

New cruiser redux

I was able to replace my Torax class and this time able to outfit it. Here's a few combat shots.




These screen shots really don't do the game's graphics justice.

I feel honored

On the AngelSpit Forum, Zoog was having fun with the censor filter. As we get a lot of porn spam on the forum (which I delete on a regular basis), he was taking commonly occurring words and assigning board members (mostly moderators) names to them. He assigned my name to "anal."

So Persephone66 = anal.

Or you could say I'm synonymous with anal.

Or maybe I'm just anal.

My mother will be so proud.

Here's a link to the thread.

Some different hotel advice

Normally I offer advice for traveling and how not to make hotel employees want to eviscerate you in front of your children. This time I'm going to offer up advice to people who work in sales and marketing and those who plan events.

Right now in Tampa there is an event known as FetishCon. For the completely clueless, this would be a convention for people that are into the fetish scene/lifestyle (bondage, domination, sadism, masochism, etc.). I would be there right now if I didn't have to work. Possibly in my black and red vinyl corset ans matching skirt, or in my schoolgirl outfit. I'll stop digressing. At the same time, there is also a Women of Faith convention also in Tampa. I've had several of the ladies from the Women of Faith convention come to my hotel looking for a room because they were staying at the hotel that is hosting FetishCon. Unfortunately all the hotels in downtown are booked solid with one large group or another. There's 3 large groups occupying the hotel I work at tonight, Women of Faith being one of them.

So what can we learn from this? While I understand that large groups of any kind tend to bring in a great deal of money, conflicting groups make for unhappy guests. Having a group that is there blatantly for the purpose of sin and debauchery (and proud of it) staying at the same hotel as a religious group is bound to make some conflict. People that set up the group booking contracts should take this sort of thing into consideration. Think about it, what if a large group of fundamentalist Christian zealots were having a convention the same weekend as a GLBT pride convention? Could you see that madness that would ensue if they were all staying at the same hotel? Yeah that's a bit of an extreme but I think you get my point. What ultimately ends up happening is that a hotel winds up with unhappy guests and a loss of business from guests cutting their stay short and staying somewhere else. This also makes groups consider no longer using said hotel for their events.

So plan events accordingly. Find out what other events are going on at the same time if possible. If you are a sales/marketing type person at a hotel, it might be smart to warn groups if a potentially conflicting group has already booked the same date. This makes for happy guests and happy people that have to deal with the guests.

I think too much, this is why I never get anywhere in life.