And I, to this day, can't kinda turn that off. That's just the way it is. Hey. What's up? What is new and exciting? Speaking of exciting, I was in Walmart Friday night because, you know, that's how I party. And I saw an old friend many, many, many moons ago. I was the editor. Well, first, I was a writer. We'll talk about this. For the student newsletter at Stark State College. And I've done an episode about this person before. That is James Blackstock, better known as Jim. He was my
favorite teacher, and that's the problem. I just gave the, I just I just let the cat out of the bag. I'm in Walmart, and I see Amber. Haven't seen her really since we graduated, I think. I might I actually videotaped her wedding back in the day when you would put your camcorder on your shoulder, hand seen her. And she's like, hey. And I'm like, hey. I remember you. And she's like, did you hear coach died?
And the last time I saw Jim Blackstock was at his retirement party, and he was amazed that so many people showed up. And I'm like, dude, you're Jim Blackstock. You won, like, teacher of the year 8000000 times. And he really helped get me through school. I remember he taught tech report writing. Now tech report writing and he even said this. He goes, look, this is the most boring class we probably teach at this school because tech report writing is like if we're doing a tech report for opening
a jar of peanut butter. It would be like grasping the jar with your right hand and, with your left hand turning the lid counterclockwise. Like, you had to write stuff so that, like, a monkey could do it. And so he would come in. He'd be like, hey. What's going on? What's new and exciting? And he would just blow off, like, the first 10 minutes. And we'd all be laughing and having a good old time. And he just said, yeah, we're gonna do this, and then
we'll have to do the boring stuff. So we're trying to have some fun at the beginning of this. And that's really it influenced my teaching style that, hey, you can actually have fun at school. That and I've said this before. My niece, Emily, one time, she was all of 3, and there's nothing more beautiful than the belly laugh of a 3 year old. And I said, Emily, what are you doing? And she said, Roger Rabbit is teaching me reading. And I was, like, she doesn't even know that she's learning. She's
playing a game and having fun. And she was spooky smart, still is spooky smart. But that's when I was like, if you can get people to have fun while they learn, it doesn't seem so much like school. And so Blackstock and I had the same warped sense of humor. And every time there was a class that he was teaching that was in my field and in some cases, even if they weren't, I would take
it. That's how much I loved having him as a teacher. And I think the first class I had him was some sort of techniques of writing or something like that. And there was one I don't even know what the assignment was. I think I've told you about this before where I wrote a piece, I guess, you could say. And the idea was this is back in the early nineties probably. And there was a rumor going around that if you ate enough wheat bread, you would get high. Now for the record,
this is not true. But, nonetheless, back then, it was like, wait. What is that for okay. And so I wrote this article on what what would the you know, those commercials you see on TV, like, this is your brain on drugs, that kind of thing. I took every cliche you could think of and applied it to wheat bread. Like, I went from homeboy to home pride, you know, all this stuff. I got busted, getting money out of my grandma's purse. And she said, what are you doing? I'm like, grandma, I'm trying to
get some butter top. Don't you know it's good stuff? And, it was very weird, and yet, you know, Blackstock saw it, and he stopped me after class. He's like, hey, man. I just wanna let you know I laughed a lot at this. This was funny. Have you ever thought of of writing? We we would love to have, like, a column from you in the the newsletter. And I was like, what would I write about? He goes, I don't know. We'll figure it out. He goes, maybe you'll have your review movies. He's like, but I
I love your style, and this is good stuff. And so I'm driving home from Walmart, and I'm thinking about Blackstock. And I'm like, man, we had some good times together. And I was trying to figure out, like, when did I meet him? What what really stuck out? What was that first time? What's that first meeting? And I think that was it wasn't that was the first time I met him, but that was the time that I look back now and go, was this dude the linchpin? Because he really
said, this is funny. I like this. You should do more of this kinda thing. And that led me to believe. I'm like, wait. Because later the next year, it was funny. He comes to me. He goes, hey. Great job last year with the newsletter and the articles. He goes, I'd really like to see you be the editor of the newsletter. And I'm like, dude, I I am so awful. I'm like, you bleed all over every paper I hand you with my grammar. He's like, no. No. No. I'll I'll handle that stuff. He's like, I
just need somebody to run the office. And I'm like, well, okay. And he's like, oh, that's great because everybody else graduated. You are you are the newsletter at this point. And so that was funny. And he always had me laughing.
But I I looked back and I was like, that this is good. That led to me being the editor of the newsletter, which then, actually, at one point, I was writing articles, and I was literally biting the hand that feeds because the nursing program at the college would allow so many nursing students in, but there were only so many placements. And so these poor nurses would end up taking unwanted classes, unneeded classes just waiting for it was like a bad game
of musical chairs. And I just remember I would come in when I was just writing articles, and I would hand him 1. And we would both just start laughing until we almost, like, peed ourselves. And we'd be laughing and laughing and laughing. He's like, oh, man. He's like, yeah. We can't print this. So that was always funny. My favorite was we we decided to do an April fools joke because I don't know what date we published, but it it turned out it was gonna be on April 1st.
And at the time, they had just banned cigarettes on the campus. You couldn't smoke anywhere unless it was outside or whatever. But you couldn't smoke in the cafeteria and all that other stuff. So smoking was banned. And so one of the articles was, not only had they banned cigarettes, they had banned candy cigarettes. And then the line that that got him is we had, like, the community calendar. So it was like, you know, the blah,
the glee club will meet and blah blah, yada yada. And then on Wednesday, the gay Nazis for Christ will meet. And I just love the phrase gay Nazis for Christ because it's just a bunch of words you never see next to each other. And he saw that and just howled. And because number 1, we were right next door to, like, sister Mary Teresa, whatever her name was. And, he just laughed because, again, it was just so wrong. And, again, he was like,
Yeah. We can't print that. And I think we changed it to gay Nazis for Elvis or something like that. But it was funny. And, of course, during that time, my mom died. And it was one of those things where I would go to his office, and he would get me laughing and and kinda make it through. And so the last time I saw him was at his retirement party. And, again, he was freaking out there there were that many people there. And I just thought, don't do
your Jim Blackstock. What what do you of course, there are this many people here. And at this point, luckily, I always wonder, like, how I haven't seen Amber in, like, 20 years at least, if not 30. And I just happened to be at Walmart, happened to see her, and she lets me know on a Friday night that his memorial service is on Monday. And I was like, thank you. Because I really it was it was not like, I wonder if I'll go. It's like, no. I'm going.
And even though I didn't know anybody there besides his wife, and so I'm at his truly his his retirement party, as in retirement from the planet. And what was interesting is I just picked up the bulletin, you know, and it says at the bottom of the page, it's got a picture of him, and he was 76. And it says, don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. And, apparently, doctor Seuss said that. But then I opened it up, and he's got 4 kids, and they are chips
off the old block. And like the procession, it says the service will commence when the family enters. They might proceed, or they might just show up in a conga line to form a human pyramid. You never know with these clowns. And then later, it says, music, only scars in heaven from casting crowns. We invite you to sing along softly if you'd like, very softly if you can't carry a tune. And then towards the end, the benediction, Brett will close our time together and
dismiss us. You can leave before the family, but that's rude, and it will be noted. And so I get there. I find a seat. We sit down, and I'm assuming it's his oldest son, but I don't know. One of his sons, he had 4, gets in. He's like, hey. For those of you that knew my dad, you know he loved baseball. Like, just and he and his sons had visited every Major League Baseball Park in the United States. He
loved baseball. He also loved music. And so they said, so to start off today's celebration of life, we're gonna start off by doing the wave. We're gonna say hi to dad by standing up. You know what the wave is. You stand up. You lift your arms up. And he goes, we're gonna pass it from the right to the left, and then left will then pass it back to the right. And you're sitting there thinking, are we gonna do the wave at a funeral? Like, no. Just like, okay. The guy's like, alright. Here we go.
Remember, we're starting on the right side. 321. And everybody stood up and did the wave. And then they passed it back. And I instantly felt like this is where I'm supposed to be. I felt like he was there because that was just wacky, kinda wrong, and yet kind of fun. And so his his wife got up and spoke, and then his, kids got up and spoke, his grandkids got up and spoke, and then they opened up the floor. And it looked like nobody was gonna get up, and they'd left a lot of time. They'd
said, hey. Kinda keep it short if you can. And I was like, well, somebody's gotta be first, and you never leave an open mic with a podcaster in the room. And so I got up, and it was kind of interesting because everything else was about family. And I just got up, and I said, Jim Blackstock was the best teacher I ever had. Hands down, no contest. Don't even think about it. And then I shared the things about tech report writing and
things I've said here. And so it was interesting because you had all these different perspectives from his brother-in-law got up and spoke. Because once I got up and spoke, other people did. And, you know, there's always got to be that one person to to break the ice. And what was interesting is everybody did the same thing. You would get up, you would tell a story, and explain how you ended up laughing. And then somebody else would get up, and they would share a
story. So on one hand, you're sitting there, and we're all laughing. And then that laughter would make you feel good. But then if you didn't watch yourself, you'd be like, I'm not gonna get any more of that, and it made you feel bad. And then somebody else would get up and make you feel good because it was a funny story. So it was kind of this roller coaster. But in the end,
I was was so happy that I was there. But it it really as I listened to it, how especially from, like, his not sister-in-law, when you your your daughter-in-law. Right? The people that married his children, and they just said, he embraced us. Like, you never felt like an outsider with him, and he made everyone comfortable. And once you are comfortable, it was easy to make people laugh. And I just thought
about that. I'm like, you know, I kinda complain a lot. You know? Have my opinions, and I'm not too shy about sharing them. But I wanna do that. I wanna embrace people and make them feel welcome, get them comfortable so I can make them laugh. And I I don't know. It's just one of those things where I still have the bulletin here in front of me, and I kinda wake up in the morning, and I'm like, okay. How can I make people feel comfortable?
How can I help them to kinda forget whatever crappy thing is going on in their life, their stress, or whatever? And then how can I make them laugh or something or at least smile, something like that? But I gotta tell you, I have never been to a more fun funeral in my life. And that was the other thing. It's kinda weird. He was 76, and that's only 17 years older than I am. That's weird. That's like because I realize as as we if I look at 2024 and subtract 17 from it, right, that's something
2,007. Right? Yeah. And I'm like, 2007 wasn't that long ago. Not really. And so I'm like, well, holy and I and I I wanna live to be, like, 90, but you don't get a whole lot of say in that. Now Jim had Alzheimer's. He'd been kinda sliding away for 7 years, and that sucks. I've lived through that. That's no fun. But all of a sudden, when you see stuff like this, it reminds you
that I am not immortal. I am going to eventually, And then you wonder how is how's are you gonna be lucky like my grandpa and bowl on Thursday and dry die on Monday or whatever it was, something like that? And I think about, you know, I'm the baby of the family, so I'm gonna end up burying all my brothers and sisters if everything goes according to plan. That makes me cry just thinking
about it. It's the the bonus of being the baby as you get away with murder when you're growing up, but then you get to yeah. Holy cow. And that's one of the reasons why I'm a bit of a a workaholic. When my my mom, my grandma, and my uncle died in the span of a few months, that's when I first realized, oh, wait a minute. I've only got, you know, a very short time on this planet. I gotta get to work. And I, to this day, can't kinda turn that off. That's just the way it is. And when
stuff like this happens, I'm like, I gotta get going. I gotta get going. But on the other hand, the more stuff I put into action, I end up moving, you know, a 100 peanuts a half an inch, where if I just focused on 1 peanut, I could move it a mile. But that's not my style. Sounds like I'm rapping now. But it was just I I keep I'm I'm glad I have this because that bottom line again, don't cry because it's over.
Smile because it happened. And the thing that was cool is he started attending church, and he found the lord later in life. So for me, it's not goodbye. It's a see you later and, still my favorite teacher. And if you ever see me present or teach or anything like that, I am really a cheap knockoff of Jim Blackstock. I'll miss you, buddy, but I will see you later. And in the meantime, hopefully, it's gonna get better.