America.....

I have been living abroad for 17 years. I love it. I actually feel a sense of freedom from the things I grew up around. When I was 16 years old police officers cut me off while I was walking my dog with police cars. I think there were 4 cars that blocked my path. It was terrifying. They drew their guns inches from my face. At that moment my brain played back words that my mother taught me. Listen and obey EVERY command they give you. When you speak use proper English, not ghetto slang littered with curse words. I did all of those things. I was not hurt by the cops.

It seems that things have gotten worse. Being black means that by default I am on the radar when cops are near. When I was in my first year of university I was with two friends. One was white the other was Asian. The officer who was white, patrolling a predominately white area kept eyeballing me. He would not take his eyes off of me. While asking us what we were doing it was evident that he was talking me. This was a little over 20 years ago. Again, my mother's words were replayed in my head. The cop looking amazed that the black kid was actually in a nice college and left us alone. 

Today people seem to react violently or aggressively towards the police. I think this might be due to people becoming fed up with the treatment they suffer over and over again. We need to change police culture. It is interesting to note that while blacks suffer more in terms of population ratio. Whites suffer a lot too because...there are more whites. Police shoot more whites than blacks every year. I think it should be noted that the media wants to divide people. It creates drama, tension and brings out the worse in people. This, in turn, creates revenue. More people click on the article. More people pay attention to the sensationalized news.

I think the bottom line in America comes down to three areas that need addressing. One police culture needs to change, gun availability, and the public needs to treat law enforcement officers with respect. You see a cop there should not be a shiver of fear down your spine or a feeling of rage due to some past negative interaction.

I am want to stay away from America for some time. It is better for my boys, and for me.

/tata

A new member of the family!

Well it has happened. After so many years Yogita and I adopted a dog. The boys love the little rascal. Goerge is doing a very good job cleaning up after him. Jeyo follows him around making sure that he doesn't get into trouble. 

We think that he is mostly Labrador mixed with some other breed.  It is nice having a dog again. Brings back some very nice memories. We decided to name him Oskar after my first dog.

Tomorrow night we will head up to Seoul, we want to have some fun doing what we did 18 years ago. The next morning we will pick up a couple of study books for George. he will be taking a test in a couple years maybe sooner. Why not get him cramming now!

Ok my students are. I really love Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Fridays too!

/tata

Programming why not?

I have started to learn more and more about programming. In my case, I am learning python. Many experienced programmers have suggested that I start with python, and eventually learn java. So I am taking it slow. I will be reading many books and playing some simple coding games. Eventually, I will take a college course. I can see that being able to code, or debug is going to be a hot field. In addition, it is something that I could possibly do from home.

In life, there are no easy jobs. Even if you have no job and you need to make a living...that is hell. Way back when I used to work at a convenience store I thought "this is easy!".  Wow, I was totally wrong! You have to maintain stocks, check the fridges every hour and record the temp, remember do drop everything and help a customer. Clean clean clean clean, that never stops.

When I was a science tutor wow what a challenge. I found myself not only helping students with difficult chapters in the text but also listening to their problems. Many would come just to get things off of their chest.

Teaching English in South Korea has been quite a rollercoaster ride. Working 10 hour days, driving 50kms a day just for work. Teaching all ages and realizing that each age group requires a different approach.

Likewise, when I think of learning a new skill such as coding, I know this will not be an easy road. However, I have always been fascinated by how computers work. I learned about hardware. Hardware cannot be fully understood until you understand how programs make use of hardware. I want to learn what all those strange numbers and symbols mean. So I will start off by reading some books and playing some simple coding games. I will move on from there to working on practice exercises.

So here we go!

/tata