Posts by urbanbison70

Thanks, I'll give her a call 🙂

Hey there.
I’m locked out of my secondary account. I created it specifically for one thread because some people from another forum recognize me by that handle, but it’s been sitting idle for a while. Now I can't remember the password—I'm positive I'm typing it right, but the system keeps rejecting it. To make matters worse, I have no clue which email address I used to set the profile up when I first registered 🙂 😢

Can anyone actually help me out with this? 😢

The username is kindarella78

I’m obsessed with Kinder surprise toys 😉. I’ve been collecting them for years and my stash is honestly pretty impressive—take a look at my album here: 🙂

Right now, they've got those "Funny Students" figures out in the eggs
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Hit me up if you have anything to trade. I'm still hunting for numbers 2, 3, and 6 😉

Can someone change my username to urbanbison70? 🙂

Yeah. Get in touch with hollowtrucker77.

Austin Chavez5 said:Man, honestly, I’d love to just ban using the internet for book reports, but then again, half the time my kid is drowning in extracurriculars and homework and doesn't have time to actually finish the book, or the local library is totally out of copies. Sometimes the internet is just a necessary evil, you know?

Exactly. Between all those pointless obligations, they barely have time to get through the actual reading.

I don't remember for certain, but I have this nagging feeling we didn't cover that until 4th grade, back when we were still reading those old schoolbooks like
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They’re teaching them about Bahrain in 5th grade now. Luckily, my daughter is a total walking encyclopedia, so she just pointed out exactly where to find that tiny little speck on the map. 🤣

Kate Cox2 said:To be perfectly honest, my memory of elementary school is a bit hazy, but I vividly recall that the required reading list was an absolute nightmare... the stuff kids are expected to read nowadays—or, more likely, just download a summary of from the internet—seems like complete nonsense to me.

Back during the war, I was roughly in sixth grade—we had been relocated to England for a few months and were attending schools over there... they actually moved me straight into eighth grade without even checking what I knew first! I suppose they had some idea of how rigorous our American schooling used to be...🤷
And even then, I was absolutely floored by the sheer nonsense those little English kids were being taught...😲
I truly, sincerely hope that our education system and the level of knowledge our children possess don't descend to that point.🤦

What "nightmare" reading lists?

My first big book was *The Apprenticeship* in 4th grade, and I loved it—read it maybe ten times. Then came *The Train in the Snow*, *The Heroes of Palmyra Avenue*, *Fear on Linden Street*, *The Blue Gull Gang*... all perfect classics.

I don't know what kids are assigned these days, but the people writing books for American schools—God knows what kind of education those people actually had—what they write is appalling. These poems and short stories are so mindless that an adult has to read them five times just to grasp the point, then another five times just to answer the stupid questions. It’s like the author's goal is to write the dumbest story possible... it's tragic.🙄

A few days ago, my niece calls me to ask where Bahrain is located. Try finding it on a map and see what kind of nonsense they're burdening kids with nowadays.😲

Looks like we’re that generation then.

Jonathan Adams2 said:Give me one single example of something your niece is learning in first grade that you never had to learn.div>

I remember back in my day, we did it letter by letter in first grade. We’d write a single letter a billion times in our notebooks... everyone remembers those endless drills of writing "Isaac" and "Ann." But I distinctly remember my niece was writing full sentences from day one—just copying them from the book—before she even knew her letters because nobody taught her the basics before school started. She was just being a kid, playing, totally uninterested. They skipped the letter drills and went straight to sentences, plus some cursive later on. We never did that.

And honestly, the point isn't us arguing over who had it better. It's that today's parents are sitting down and doing homework with their kids (which, if you ask me, isn't right, but they have to given the curriculum). When we were growing up 20 or 25 years ago, nobody helped us; we were on our own. My mom never even asked what my homework was. Now, parents are fully involved and totally in sync with everything happening at school... I joke with my sister that based on how much her kid is learning, she could probably apply for Wheel of Fortune in a few years. 🤣

Also, btw, I've noticed that for kids today, English is the biggest struggle (way more than math). That tells me the entire approach to teaching reading and writing is fundamentally broken. Back in my time, nobody struggled with English; you didn't even really "study" it, it just happened. If there was ever a struggle, it was math. 🤷

Sure, easy to say when you don't have kids in elementary school. I don't have any myself, but I have a niece, so I see how it works. ☕

...I already know that once my kid hits four, I’ll be at home teaching them to read and write just to make sure they're actually ready for kindergarten 🤣

edit:quoting lavica

Kimberly Nguyen said:

I don't even know where to begin with this absolute disaster of a situation. Honestly, I’m sitting here staring at my screen, just fuming, trying to make sense of how things have spiraled this far. It feels like every time I turn around, there's some new layer of incompetence or sheer stupidity being shoved in my face. I mean, seriously? Is anyone actually in charge over there? It reminds me of that time back in Chicago when I was dealing with the DMV—just endless lines, zero communication, and people acting like they’ve never seen a computer before. That same feeling of "is this a joke?" is exactly what I'm getting right now. It's exhausting. You try to follow the rules, you try to be reasonable, and then someone comes along and flips the table just because they can. And don't even get me started on what Kimberly Nguyen was saying earlier. I read the thread, and frankly, her take was completely off base. It's like people aren't even looking at the facts anymore; they're just reacting to the noise. It’s frustrating, it’s loud, and it’s completely unproductive. I shouldn't have to explain why this matters, but apparently, in this day and age, common sense has become a luxury. I'm just done. Just... done. kaže:
I mean, seriously? You clearly didn't spend any time actually using a calculator back in elementary school, did you? Because let me tell you, that’s exactly what kids are doing these days. It's a completely different world now.

I honestly don't even have the words for this... I’m just going to say one thing: grow up. Seriously.

I don't know about you all, but I am absolutely losing my mind over this weather. It’s just... relentless. One minute you’re stepping out of your front door in Chicago thinking you might actually get a decent breeze, and the next, the sun is beating down on you like it has some kind of personal vendetta. It’s oppressive! Honestly, it feels less like a "beautiful summer day" and more like being trapped inside a giant convection oven. I was trying to walk down to the corner bodega earlier—just a quick trip, right?—and by the time I reached the end of the block, I was practically melting into the sidewalk. My skin felt like it was simmering. And don't even get me started on the humidity. It’s that thick, heavy air that makes you feel like you're breathing through a wet towel. You can't escape it. You turn on the AC, and the power grid starts groaning under the pressure. It’s exhausting. Just utterly exhausting. Is anyone else feeling this, or am I just losing my grip? kaže:
It’s just pure, unadulterated logic... or the complete lack thereof! I’ve got my dad’s book, my own, and my brother’s, too. We’re looking at them right now, and get this: the covers are completely different colors. Totally different aesthetics. But the actual content? Every single word, every comma, every damn thing inside is identical to the last. It makes absolutely no sense! 😁

I honestly have no idea how anyone could claim this is accurate... It’s just complete nonsense.
If we actually end up moving and my kid has to switch schools mid-year, I’m going to lose it. Just thinking about the sheer logistics is giving me a headache. It’s not just the packing and the driving—it’s the school supplies. I’d have to go out and hunt down an entirely new set of textbooks because every district uses different publishers. One school follows one curriculum, another follows something else entirely... it's a nightmare. I’ll be spending a fortune just replacing books that were perfectly fine for the old school!

I don't even know where to begin with this mess. It’s just one thing after another lately, isn't it? I was sitting there yesterday—just trying to have my coffee, minding my own business—and I saw the news, and honestly, my blood started boiling all over again. It’s the same old story, different day. You think you’ve seen the peak of incompetence, and then, boom, someone pulls a stunt that makes you question if anyone in this entire country actually has a functioning brain cell left! It’s exhausting. Truly. I find myself venting to anyone who will listen, but people just look at me like I’m the crazy one for actually caring about the standards we used to hold ourselves to. We used to have some semblance of order, some respect for how things were supposed to run, but now? It’s a free-for-all. It’s chaos masquerading as progress. And don't even get me started on the way they handle these specific regulations—it’s like they’re intentionally trying to make life difficult for everyone just for the sake of it. It's maddening! I've spent half my morning just pacing around my living room, fuming about it. How much longer are we supposed to just sit here and take this? kaže:
I honestly cannot wrap my head around it. I’m sitting here looking at what they’re teaching kids these days, and I am just completely lost. It feels like the curriculum has ballooned into this massive, unmanageable monster compared to when we were growing up. Back then, things actually made sense. You learned the fundamentals, you mastered them, and you moved on. Now? It’s just an endless, bloated mountain of information that seems designed to overwhelm rather than educate. It’s exhausting just thinking about it.

I honestly can't wrap my head around it. I don't recall anything even remotely like this back when I was in grade school. Seriously, where did all this extra weight come from? Back then, I didn't have two textbooks plus two workbooks for a single subject like English. And don't even get me started on Math—we had one book per semester, and even those weren't exactly thin little paperbacks! Now, it feels like kids are being lugged around under the weight of an entire library just to make it through a Tuesday. It’s just absurd.
It’s absolutely ridiculous. They’ve gone and downgraded the language curriculum to a first-grade level... can you believe that? It used to be introduced in fourth grade, actually giving kids enough cognitive development to handle it, but now? Now they’re just treating them like toddlers. It’s a complete joke. I remember back when I was in school—we actually had to work for it, we had to build a foundation before being thrown into the deep end. But this? This is just stripping away the rigor. It's lazy, it's short-sighted, and frankly, it’s an insult to the intelligence of American students. We're setting them up for failure before they even hit middle school!

I’ve got a teacher in my own family, and even she’s telling me that the curriculum has ballooned compared to what it was even just a decade ago. It’s relentless. The sheer volume of material they’re shoving down kids' throats these days is insane. And don't even get me started on the expectations—it’s not enough to just show up and listen anymore. They're demanding this constant, high-level engagement that feels totally exhausting. My son, for instance, is perpetually stuck hunched over his laptop, grinding away on these massive PowerPoint presentations for every single assignment. It’s like being a junior marketing exec at an agency in Chicago instead of just being a student. Honestly, it feels like the bar keeps moving higher every year, and I'm not sure anyone actually knows where the ceiling is supposed to be.

Let’s get one thing straight here—and I mean really get it through our heads: I have absolutely zero issue with teachers or professors who are tough. You want to be strict? Fine. You want to demand excellence and push your students to the limit? Go for it. Honestly, if you're going to be that demanding, you better be prepared to actually deliver. You can't just set the bar through the stratosphere and then leave everyone hanging without the tools to reach it. If you're going to be a hard-ass, you need to provide the resources, the guidance, and the actual substance to back up those high expectations. It's about fairness, plain and simple. Don't give me that half-baked rigor where you expect us to climb Everest but forget to hand us any oxygen. Give us the work, give us the knowledge, and then—and only then—do I care how hard you make us work for it. 👍 And that’s exactly how they go about judging people—based on nothing but their own arbitrary standards! It’s always the same pattern, isn't it? They set these ridiculous benchmarks, completely out of touch with reality, and then they have the audacity to pass judgment like they're some kind of supreme authority. It drives me absolutely insane. I remember back when I was working at a firm in Chicago, dealing with middle management types who thought they could dictate every single move we made based on these flawed, nonsensical metrics... it was infuriating, and frankly, it's just as pathetic now as it was then. They don't actually look at the substance; they just follow their little checklists and call it "evaluation." It's a joke. A total sham!
It’s the same old story, isn't it? A total farce. I’ve always believed that if you put in the hours, actually hit the books, and grind through the work, you should see the payoff. Simple as that. Hard work deserves a reward. But lately? It feels like the whole system is rigged against anyone with an actual work ethic. On the flip side, you’ve got those people—and I know exactly who I'm talking about—who wouldn't lift a finger if their life depended on it. They don't study, they don't show up, and they certainly don't try. Yet, somehow, these slackers always seem to get "rewarded" too. It’s infuriating. You watch people coast by on pure luck or connections while the rest of us are breaking our backs, and it just makes my blood boil. Where is the justice in that?
Let’s be real for a second—it is objectively harder to make a living today than it was even fifteen or twenty years ago. I’m not just being cynical; I’m looking at the facts. Back then, you could walk into a decent entry-level job, pull a standard forty-hour week, and actually feel like you were getting ahead. You weren't constantly staring at your bank account wondering if a single trip to Target or a grocery run at Publix was going to put you in the red for the month. Everything has shifted. The cost of living in most decent American cities has absolutely skyrocketed, while wages have basically stayed stuck in the mud by comparison. It feels like the goalposts aren't just moving; they've been hauled off the field entirely. I remember talking to my old mentor back in the day—he had this steady career, built a house, supported a family, all on a predictable salary. Now? You see kids graduating from top universities with mountains of student debt, only to find out that the "dream job" pays barely enough to cover rent in a cramped apartment in Austin or Chicago. It's exhausting. It’s a constant, uphill grind that just wasn't this intense two decades ago.

It's not just harder—it's damn near impossible today🤣

I completely disagree with Dobrica. Today’s elementary school curriculum is insane; it's way too much for these kids. Back when I was in grades 1 through 4, I never actually sat down to "study"—I just did my homework. Real studying didn't kick in until 5th grade, and even then, not really. It wasn't until high school and college that things got serious. My mom never sat me down to tutor me; I did everything on my own. Meanwhile, my sister spends all day drilling my niece since she was in 1st grade. My niece isn't any less intelligent than I was; the curriculum is just brutal. And it's not just her—it's happening to all kids, some more than others. My niece is in 5th grade now and it's supposedly "easier," but she's still studying all day long. It’s not normal for a 5th grader to have to grind like this. Every one of my sister's friends is constantly tutoring their kids. Honestly, looking at some of the facts in a 5th-grade history textbook left me speechless. I didn't even see half of that stuff until I was sitting for a national history exam in law school.

... basically, my takeaway is this: if a kid hasn't learned to read before kindergarten, they're going to struggle to keep up in 1st grade. That was the case in my niece's class. If the parents had already taught them to read, they didn't have to help much. But if the kids went in unable to read, the parents were stuck sitting at the kitchen table with them every single night after school. Bottom line? It’s not fair. I couldn't read before school either, and I learned it in class. That's the teacher's job. The current curriculum is too fast, too heavy, and packed with too many facts. Parents, take note: if your child can't read yet, you're going to be doing a lot of extra work at home. 😁 ☕

Thanks, ladies. I had the same feeling—it seemed way overpriced, but I honestly didn't have any idea what cake prices usually look like
The restaurant we booked is pretty high-end and the menu is pricier than most places, which explains the cake cost. Still, for just 20 people, it feels like overkill. We’re going to go with a different option instead.

Seriously, what's the damage for a wedding cake? My venue is quoting me roughly $267 for a setup meant for about 20 guests. Is that overkill? 🤷

Angela Wright said:Check this out, here is more info on leiomyosarcoma.
It's an incredibly rare kind of soft tissue sarcoma.

Thanks a lot for the link.

Hi everyone. I’m new to this thread, so I want to wish you all the best with your treatments. Both of my parents battled cancer—my mom had breast cancer and my dad had abdominal cancer. Mom had surgery in late '99, went through a cycle of 6 rounds of chemo and 36 radiation sessions, and was clear for 8 or 9 years with regular checkups. Dad got sick in June 2006; he went straight into surgery, took 11 rounds of chemo plus an unknown amount of radiation, and unfortunately passed away in the summer of 2007.
Does anyone here know anything about leiomyosarcoma (abdominal)? That’s what my dad fought, and I can’t find much useful info online. According to his doctors, it’s one of the worst kinds—extremely rare, too. Right after surgery, the prognosis was grim, maybe 2–3 months to live. We fought alongside him, though, and he managed to hang on for just over a year. When they first found the tumor in his abdomen, it was about 23 cm. They managed to surgically remove about 85% of it, then tried to wipe out the rest with chemo. But even the strongest drugs couldn't touch it; that remaining 15% just started growing uncontrollably, and there was nothing left to do.
I still struggle with the thought of how long that thing was sitting inside him before we caught it. Does anyone have experience with this specific type of cancer or know anything about it?