Monday, 19 June 2006

Love 'em, but dang it if they don't do STUPID things!!!!

Okay, so the Major General Music does like kids. He enjoyed field placements not only for Mr. DeBoer & Mrs. Wehrmeyer being awesome, but those kids were great too. Part of being a teacher is enjoying the students, and the Major General Music does, which is why he's willing to help with elementary Sunday School. But they do STUPID things sometimes!

So the Major General Music was working one of the messiest jobs he's had all summer-working with masonry paint. No, it's not as bad as oil-based paint because it doesn't require horrible chemicals to remove from brushes and other surfaces. It's water-based (yay!). But it is a MESS. It comes in big, awful, heavy bags just like cement and has to be mixed with a paddle in a bucket with water. The resort didn't have the proper paint mixing paddle, so the Major General Music was forced to mix it with a board and to constantly pour the stuff between buckets to keep it as well constituted as possible, which only worked so well. And when it dries, the powder comes off in a very fine dust, which sticks very nicely to one's hands.

So he slathered on close to five gallons of this stuff all over the bricks around the resort. Among the places targeted were around the back and the front of the store and also that wall behind the hostas, which were carefully guarded from the nasty paint.

Cabin #2 also received paint on the newly-laid foundation. The Major General Music was shy while working on this-there were folks staying in #13 and they were staring at him, which has him worried. Yes, that's right, the Major General Music is VERY shy around the resort guests. He does solitary work, is quiet, and tends to mostly interact with the other staff. Besides, what's so interesting about a guy in a gray shirt covered with paint spots, long blue shorts also covered with paint spots, horrible tennis shoes, glasses, and a blue bandana to keep the hair out of his face? It must have been those two big buckets. Anyway, the Major General Music went about his job and finally worked on the side closest to these people. Among this crew of guests from #13 was a kid probably no more than 8 to 10 years old. Apparently the Major General Music fascinated this kid because he watched him with great interest the entire time. Nothing to worry about there.

But when the Major General Music went around the corner to do some more painting on the front, he heard the mother yell at the boy. "Don't touch that, he just painted there!" The Major General Music simply shook his head in amazement. The concept of wet paint isn't rocket science. If it sticks to the bricks, it probably can stick to you, too. But this kid thought he should touch it anyway. The Major General Music almost encouraged him to from around the corner. Yeah, he's a dreadful person sometimes in addition to being shy at work.

For those and other reasons, Jordan says "I hate kids." The Major General Music doesn't, but good grief, they can do dumb things sometimes. For that, he thinks this kid almost deserved to touch the icky masonry paint. The little guy wouldn't do it ever again.