My first concert at Starplex.

I guess the name has changed to "Smirnoff Vodka Ampitheater". It's not Starplex anymore.

But I have never been there before. Some of you more "cool" people will probably scoff and say, "OMG!!! You've never been to Smirnoff??? Chaaaaaa...... OMG!!!! like, have you lived in a hole or WHAT???"

Yes, I have lived in Dallas /Fort Worth all my life except for 2.5 years when I lived in the Rockies.

...and I have never been to MOST of the attractions and venues of DFW.

First of all, I can't honestly say that I have ever liked any one band or singer so much that I would be moved to go out and pay to hear them live in poor acoustics when their music still sounds better in my car with the windows rolled up.

I have never acted like a silly teenager (even when I was one) and have never been enamored by famous people or any of that.

I can't relate.

In fact, I have only been to ONE really large concert before tonight, and that was more of a grand performance with synthesizers and costumes and scenery and a lead singer who was quite a poof (but an excellent singer).


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Ed has a distant cousin that he didn't grow up with but kind of "discovered" through a string of coincident events in the past. This fellow, named David LaBruyere, plays the bass guitar. He has played this instrument in various bands and now he plays with a fellow named Mayer.

So last night we went to concert put on by this singer named John Mayer. I learned of this singer recently, although I have unknowingly heard his music on the radio for quite some time.

Ed told me who he was about 6 months ago and I made a connection and was able to put a face to a name with the songs that always make me change the station in haste.

But I have to give this Mayer guy credit. He puts on a good show. The majority of people know these songs by Mayer: "Your Body is a Wonderland" and "Waiting for the World to Change" and "Daughters". I had never heard any songs other than these, and this led me to loath this guy's music. Unfortunately, these songs, although popular with the masses, aren't a good indicator of his music. These songs are sappy, uncreative and repetitive in their lyrics and very "Pop" hit in style. Not to mention his weird raspy and nasal voice that reminds me of that icky "Cotton" commercial song from the eighties..."The touch, the feel, the fabric of your life. The touch, the feel of cotton the magic of your life."--- how I hated that jingle. Well John Mayer's voice sounds like that guy on the commercial.

But I digress.

Ed's cousin David emailed Ed and told him that he was coming into Dallas with Mayer and that they should meet after the concert and have a beer. (Ed doesn't drink beer; but that is beside the point).

besides......I drink beer!

So David reserved two tickets for us and they were pretty much FRONT and CENTER. We were close enough to the stage to see all details and right in the middle so we didn't have to look at an angle or crane our necks at all. But we weren't too close and that was good.

We also got an"After Show Pass" which is what the band members give to friends and allows you access to the band after the show.

This is how the after show pass works. The person who gives you the pass, (in our case, David the bass player), has his name on the pass and that person will come and fetch you as you wait by a little door on the sidelines. We waited for a while and then David Ryan Harris (guitar) walked by and Ed yelled at him and Ed said, "hey go tell David we are here tonight!" So, he did.

In the dressing room, the guys were in a hurry-- packing up for the long haul to Houston that night (it was already midnight). I had a beer and Ed had a water and we talked a bit... before the people came and said the bus was leaving.

There were only a hand-full, (maybe 6 people), with after show passes and then about an equal number with VIP passes. So there weren't a lot of non-band people back in the dressing room area but they were all in and out, back and forth and it was a bit chaotic.

Before we went to the dressing rooms, there was a really cute teenage girl standing outside the gates with us. She didn't have a pass but had a story. She told the security guards that while she was in the hospital having her leg amputated after a bad accident earlier this year, her mother played her the John Mayer CD over and over. She wanted to talk to John and tell him how his music helped her forget her troubles and get his autograph. The security guards who were consistently chasing girls without passes away from the area, didn't chase her away. One of the guards went back to the dressing room to tell John she was out there and her story. The guard came back out and told the girl that John wouldn't sign her CD and he wouldn't see her either. The guard made a comment about how he had no respect for someone who would let in a bunch of hot chicks but not sign that one-legged girl's CD.

That was the only drama while we waited outside. There were a few college aged girls who chased down the people leaving JM's dressing room and got their after show passes from them, stuck them on their chest (the passes were stickers that you wore) and thought that that would get them in. But the passes don't work that way. Since the band gives out the stickers, they know who has them. So the band guys will ask for you. They weren't going to ask for those girls... but still the girls hung around, hoping and waiting.

I kinda wished I was John Mayer fan. The whole thing would have been exciting then.

Before we walked over after the show, we tried to get Ed's daugher (who was there with her mother in another section) to take my pass. But she didn't want to go back there. It was a shame, because she proabably would have really liked it (even though JM had made himself scarce.)

Teacher Competency

Fox4 News here in Dallas did an expose' on the failure rate of teachers on their professional competency exams.
It was pretty bad.
There are evidently some teachers in Dallas who have failed the exam for principal something like 40-50 times.

It's incredible.

Then Fox 4 posted links and spreadsheets so that you can look up your child's teacher to see whether or not they passed their tests.

However, no parent will be able to find mine unless they know my maiden name. So it will look to them like I am not on the list at all. (some will assume that means I never took the tests)

But I took the tests alright!

My personal opinion is a bit slanted, because I never studied for ANY of my teacher examinations. I just took them cold-turkey.
WHY?
I assumed that since I had a DEGREE in the field of science (specifically biology) that it HAD to be easy to take a test in that subject.....and I was right.
After studying a subject for 5 collegiate years and a few years in high school.... DUH!

I took the Professional Development test my first year of teaching. That is the only one I was worried about because the test gives you scenarios and situations, and after teaching in a classroom for a year, I could pretty much justify every answer A through D. LOL!!!!

The biology exam was a cinch. I was one of the first people finished with it and wondered if I should take the time to go back over the test.... but my head was pounding from lack of caffeine and I decided I would rather go to Burger King. So I turned it in without going over it and left all my peers behind. Turned out I didn't score as high as I thought I should... I got a 94 on the biology section and only a 90 on the professional development section.














Two years later, I was forced to take the science composite test in order to teach Physical Science. So I did. I took the test in the spring my second year to teach out of my certification (Physical Science). I didn't study at all. The night before another teacher said there were several equilibrium constant questions on the chemistry portion of the test... so I grabbed my old college chemistry study guide and looked over a few problems on my way to the test.
(I wouldn't call that studying)

(if you can't read it, it says that for the professional development test I made a 90% and the biology certification (secondary) I made a 94%)

I was the first person done with the test.

I scored highest in chemistry, which most of you who know me --- know that it is my most LOATHED subject.

I have attached my score reports here in an attempt to separate myself from the failing teachers..... A vindication of sorts.

(Chemistry = 98%, Earth Science = 71%, Physical Science = 96%, Biology = 89%, Physics = 89%)
Okay, my scores weren't that great (except for chemistry!!!)
The Earth Science score was in the basement.... a 71. BUT I have never taken any sort of earth science in my life to this day..... not in jr. high, not in high school, not in college.... SO THERE! A 71 isn't so bad is it?


So.... don't lump me in with the ones who can't pass the tests.

And don't generalize that teachers are incompetent.


Thank you, that is all.