Tuesday ramblings...

Ancient graffit from Pompeii

Suspirium puellarum Celadus thraex.
Celadus the Thracier makes the girls moan! (C.I.L. IV, 4397; in the barracks of the gladiators)

Myrtis bene felas.
Myrtis, you do great blow jobs.

Arphocras hic cum Drauca bene futuit denario. Here Harpocras has had a good fuck with Drauca for a denarius.
(C.I.L. IV, 2193; in the brothel)

As usual, I did the morning walk thing at 5- frigging-a.m and I came across all this graffiti. It’s sad how moronic some people can be but then graffiti goes back to the cave dwellers so it appears morons will be with us always tagging something to leave their mark as some sort of obscure history that they existed. I think there are some truly talented street painters. These taggers aren’t. Really talented street people channel their artwork appropriately so it has meaning and clarity to all that view it. When I was in New York, many moons ago, I took in Hell’s Kitchen and the great artwork done on the walls by talented artists. Do they still have that there?

Anyway, back to the scribblings in suburbia. The ones I saw were clearly done by teenagers – most likely boys. It was stuff like “Neeley sucks” and stuff about the size of someone’s penis or their body weight or their religion. To my understanding ‘raghead’ isn’t a religion or a person. But then school bullies aren’t smart, in or out of the classroom and they need to have their arses kicked into the land of reality. We cannot allow these little twirps to intimidate others or they will grown up to be big twirps trying on the same thing. Bullies suck.

Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke -- Benjamin Disraeli

I was the editor of my high school magazine. To be honest I only did it because it got me out of Wednesday afternoon sport and I rarely turned up for the editing gig as I tended to pick up a shift at McDonalds during this time. The things is I used to turn up quickly – direct people to do this or that then nick off. It still amuses me that no one ever questioned what I was doing or why I should be editor but they didn’t. On one of the afternoons I did not get a McDonalds shift, I turned up to do the editor thing and I sat and read some of the stuff that was going into the magazine. I was appalled. This stuff had been checked by a teacher – who in my opinion as a then 17 year old - was a wanker. That opinion still stands today. He was going to allow nasty comments about certain senior students from other students in the mag because he thought they were funny. How were they funny? They drew attention to their physical features or their less than satisfactory achievements. I vetoed it straight away. This lead to a session in the principal’s office.

Now, the principal was a good bloke. He and I had both started at the school on the same day and he listened to my reasons behind why I thought this was not funny and how it would hurt feelings. He agreed and the teacher was not happy. Yes, he tried to make my life miserable after that but he failed badly as I was not about to listen to his sly, backhanded opinions on me. I am grateful my parents gave me the strength to stand up for what I believe in even from a young age. Teachers have a lot of power. Many use it for good. Others are just wankers.

In the many schools I went to, I only met 2 good teachers. All the others really did not give a rat’s arse but these two teachers stood out. Both because they went out of their way to help me - one with math and the other with geography. I still suck at maths unless there are dollar signs involved and as for geography, when I was 19 and started travelling overseas and I saw the places my geography teacher had been talking about and I got what he was saying.

So what has this got to do with graffiti? Maybe it’s all about education. Maybe it’s about opinions. Maybe it’s about being human enough to pull your head in and accept differences. Maybe it’s about writing stupid things on walls as you don’t have the balls to face someone. Who knows? Maybe it’s just me rambling on. What’s your opinion – on graffiti or rambling?

Marriage Mart by Kelly Kirch is released today at Resplendence Publishing. We have all been waiting for it eagerly. Click on the cover or race over to at www.ResplendencePublishing.com

Having resurrected his family from near ruin, Marcus Lord Rochester will protect their assets and their reputation at all costs. So when his sister is drawn into a rash adventure, he cannot overlook the scandal that is certain to ensue.

Lady Ester Richmond enjoys the freedom of running her father’s country estate, uninhibited by the irrational whims of a husband. But Lady Ester is betrothed against her will and her father is determined to see her wed. So with the help of Marcus’ sister, Ester masquerades as a young lord to expose her betrothed’s secrets and thwart the engagement.

Butting heads, Ester and Marcus discover a mounting passion for each other that cannot be ignored even in the shadow of danger and deception.

Rewind

I re-watched a really good movie last night. It’s called “I Know Where I’m Going” and it’s black and white. What year was it made in? 1945. How can that be any good you say? All romance movies did not start in the 1980’s. This movie was way before my time but what I like about it is the quintessential essence of true romance. You have a strong minded heroine and a quiet, strong hero that goes out of his way to convince her she needs him in her life. Take a look at the old movies. Some of them are classics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Know_Where_I'm_Going!

Remember to check out Anny on www.annycook.blogspot.com and Kelly on www.kkirch.blogpsot.com.

www.freewebs.com/amarindajones/
Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?