Thursday, April 03, 2008

Allow Me To Vent

Tonight was bowling night. Crappy night but I maintained my average (206). I was meeting a friend afterwards but had about an hour and a half to kill, so I went to a Denny's near his crib and had a light meal, coffee and a few chapters of "Louise de la Valliere" by Dumas.

Now Denny's is a place where those who party go to get a meal late. You see them there at all hours. Heck, back in the day, it's where I went. So you know there's always some sit-down place to go where you've got a pretty good idea of what you'll get food quality-wise. But here's my question:

What's with all the losers who bring small children out so late? Now, this was only 9:30 PM, but when I left an hour later, they were still there. This one couple in particular got to me. The tramp, I mean, "woman", was the type that is not the hottest babe on the block, but the somewhat Goth look with the piercing in the middle of her lower lip didn't appeal to me personally. I put her older daughter at about 9 or 10 at the most, but definitely a kid of school age, though the younger one might not be in school yet. Hard to say. Her beau, with whom she swapped spit several times as if it was a cheap motel, had the current look, shaved head, noticable stubble, way too many tats. No doubt on the fast track to upper management. The kids, who appear to likely have had different fathers (though the smaller might have been his for all I know), seemed fairly well behaved, though the older one spoke loudly while seated two tables removed. At those ages, our kids were in bed by this time of night.

I just don't get it. Just why must these losers go out when those kids need to be asleep to be alert during class? I'm more than pleased that they decided not to kill the kids pre-birth. But jeez-Louise! have a little common sense! Eat a freakin' bag of chips if you're hungry! Try cooking! It just rankles me to no end the way kids are treated by some people. I've no reason to suspect they are otherwise abusive, but this sort of crap is abusive enough. Where's the structure? Good gosh it just pisses me off!

OK. I'm done now. Thank you.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

206 average?! Wow, nice work.

Re. the diners: Don't you think they were just home schoolers who didn't have to get up early?

Les said...

It could have been worse. Those kids could have been at home, doing their homework, and getting tucked into bed by gay parents. I'm just sayin'...

Marshal Art said...

Good thinkin' Les! Didn't occur to me! Wisenheimer.

Doc said...

Perhaps they were from out of town from a blue state that doesn't have spring break coinciding with Easter.

Dude!I believe you have officially reached "grumpy old man status" To wit:
1. You are not only complaining about the younger generation, but also their kids
2. You used the term "tramp" and "beau"
3. You talked about "back in the day"
4. "Louise de la Valliere" by Dumas? Please!
I think you should put the Buick in the left lane at 35 (with the turn signal on) and have the early bird at Denny's next time.

Seriously, though, I get what you mean. Mrs. Doc often sends me out after I get the kids in bed, at 9:30, for inane objects (like a light bulb that just has to be changed, now)- forcing me to go to Wal-Mart- or as I call it after 10PM- the International Bazaar and Drug Emporium. It is amazing the number of elementary school age kids I see out with the families shopping as if it was Saturday at the mall. I'm sure they get cranky, but I think their parents give them Reece's Pieces and Frappacino's to keep them quiet. Sadly, this appears to occur across all socio-economic demographics.

BB-Idaho said...

Gotta be a circadian rhythem thing:
I've seen parents with little kids at 5:30 AM in the cafe. Some of these kids are rousted out at 4AM and dropped off at sitters when a single mom leaves for her first job and picked up at 8PM when she gets off from her second.

Mark said...

A comedian (I don't remember which one) Once said, "People don't just decided to go to Denny's. They just end up there."

Erudite Redneck said...

Whoa, re: "It could have been worse. Those kids could have been at home, doing their homework, and getting tucked into bed by gay parents. I'm just sayin'..."


Sure -- surely! -- this here Les person doesn't really think that having a committed gay set of parents is better than having no parents at all, or, horrors (and I mean this), living as wards of the state??

That's one of the things that started to turn my own view, actually. I started thinking of the kids first, and not the parents, and not my own damn self, when I thought about gays as parents. I mean, it's not like homosexuality can rub off on them -- although I do acknowledge that acceptance of homosexuality as one of the many aspects of the human condition CAN rub off on 'em.

Not that that's a bad thing.

Marshal Art said...

"Not that that's a bad thing."

Of course it is. It's the most serious form of abuse to influence a child to believe wrong is right.

Erudite Redneck said...

Oh, yeah. It's wrong for two people to make the sacrifices it takes to take on an orphan and raise him or hr as a biological son or daughter. It's wrong for people who love each other to want to share that love with another. It's wrong?

You're wrong.

Oh, wait. Are you talking about plumbing again?

If you ever want to talk about homosexuality and what business it is of we heteros, lets.

Erudite Redneck said...

Oh, and if you have kids, and yer teaching them that bigotry is right, then you just condemned yourself.

Marshal Art said...

No, ER, I don't teach my kids that bigotry is right. What a silly suggestion. But I do teach them that right and wrong is not determined by our own desires, but by God's Will. I also teach them that there is only one scenario by which two people can enjoy sex for enjoyment's sake, and that is within a marriage between two people of the opposite sex. I teach them that no other scenario is allowed by anything the Bible teaches and that to suggest there is requires a re-writing of Scripture or a very loose and self-serving interpretation. I teach them that they may encounter a variety of teachings that cramp their style, but that God's Will takes precedence over theirs. I teach them that two people who truly love each other do not engage in practices God has prohibited, no matter how committed they think they might be.