A Good Thing

Arthru C. Clarke once said, ~New ideas pass through three periods: 1.) It can be done. 2.) It probably can be done, but its not worthing doing. 3.) I knew it was a good idea all along.~ Now as you may or may not know, working in the asylum ideas pop in our heads on a semi-daily basis to where we can be considered creative or out of our minds due to when we say these four words out loud which are I have a plan. However, its the kids of the asylum that are out of their minds when they have ideas/suggestions that either inlvolve the rules, the asylum itself, or the stagg who work their such as myself. Let me tell you something, a person can either laugh, be concerned, or be very afraid at what "my kids" come up with.

For the most part, I'm the type of person who's not a stickler for the rules, but when it comes to the safety and well being of "my kids" they will be enforced. It can really be a frustating situation indeed when the rules one enforces don't necessarily fly with them and suggestions are made to change those rules. Rules they don't like abiding by then we suggest that he, she, or they shouldn't come back or go somewhere else if you don't like the rules. I've basically said in the past, that you're considered #1 in a child's list of favorite counselors unless you say or do something they don't like due to the rules, which has happened to me over the past 9 years. Let me tell you something, If I had a penny for everytime a child asked me to bend/change the rules just for them, I would be a very rich man.

Fred G. Smalley Youth Center aka The Insane Asylum hasn't really changed that much on the outside in the past 9 years but on the inside changes have been made over the years. Many of these changes have been suggested by not only staff but by kids as well who are without a doubt have a say in their house, so to speak, which they hang out in before and after school. If compared to it would like an extreme makeover: home edition type change in which a new floor for the gym, new games as well as game systems such as XBOX, PS2, Gamecube, etc, sound resistant barriers added to the game room ceiling to greatly reduce noise, and finally new furniture that truly needed to be updated with the times.

When it comes to suggestions/ideas there is one that tends to be repeated over and over again by the kids to me. What suggestion you may be asking....well lets just say its about me growing taller, which you would think would get under my skin to the point where I turn into and/or act like Joe Pesci's character in Goodfellas and start laying the smackdown. BUT, I'm bigger than that...nahhh not really... because you see experience has taught me that its best to fight fire with fire and use what comes natural to me which is sarcasm. Essentially, when they throw the height issue in my direction, I primarily retaliate back as to why they don't listen/behave and why i should not give the lowdown to one's parent(s) as to their misdeeds that I chose not to report to them. *sinister grin* Hey, this is what I go through folks almost every day.

In retrospect, the suggestions that are made by "my kids" can either be reasonable or unreasonable. It really depends on the sugesstion at hand which can be pretty out there when you hear them. Yet, the one thing that staff and kids of the asylum agree on suggestion wise is that the vans/bus needs to be majorly altered. Undeniably, the suggestion by the kids, as well as a few staff is to put together a tape to send to Xzibit and West Coast Customs to pimp our rides. Suggestions as pimp out the sound system; add flipdown monitors to the ceiling plus monitors to the backs of the seats for long roads trips of course; spinners for the wheels, a kickin' paint job that reflects the asylum's personality, and finally hydraulics so that the vans/bus' front end rise up and down low rider style. In the end, that particular suggestion right there by the kids is not considered a bad thing, its most definintely considered a good thing.