2015 in retrospect

   If I had a word for 2015, it's meh....well actually meh minus. It wasn't terrific by any means, but it was not completely horrible, either. There was terrific points in late summer and late autumn, come to think of it!

   The first part of the year started off pretty well. At work I was hammering away on a script for the literacy night play as well as producing, directing, and emceeing the final Marvin & Jessie assembly for the year. On top of that  I was also doing the televised morning news announcements. LIfe was quite busy and good. Come late March, during Spring Break, we took a nice trip up to Utah for what would be our final regular visit with Vickie's dad Alan.

   When we got to see him, we took Alan to Village Inn for breakfast. He ordered the biggest and most expensive breakfast there, the chicken fried steak! I didn't care, it was probably the biggest meal he'd had in a long time and he scarfed that baby up!

   Had we known then what was going to happen later, we would have just packed some of this things and brought him home with us.

   Later ended up being less than a week after that breakfast. The following Saturday he had fallen and hurt his head badly. A nurse came to check him and merely gave him some ice instead of recommending a scan or some sort of concerted medical effort. Two days later, he had another fall and was admitted to the hospital with a subdural hematoma. Vickie grabbed a ride with her brother and family to see him the next day.

   This will sound strange, but that was the first time I'd been without Vickie since the night before our wedding. It was rough at first. She came back 2 days later, but went up again 3 days after that to help her dad get into his new nursing home. This time it was a bit easier. She came back on Tuesday... but then we heard on Thursday that Alan was unresponsive and was admitted to the hopsital.

   We went up late that same night to Salt Lake with parental emergency funds. We stayed at a Super 8  for 4 nights while going to the hospital during the day. Vickie would spend long periods of time with her father while Natalie and I hung out in the waiting room. I actually made substitute lesson plans on a waiting room computer standing up!

   On Monday, Vickie made what may have been the toughest decision of her life. As Alan had been going in and out of a-fib with his heart and had been largely unresponsive, the quality of his life was not getting any better, so she chose to take him off of life support. He was moved to the palliative care ward, and as our hotel stay had expired, we stayed in the room with him for two nights, very tough nights at that.

   On Wednesday, we arranged to have him taken to a hospice home that afternoon. After he was moved in, we went for a quick bite to eat. While at the restaurant, Natalie had a quick bout of nausea and threw up at 6:15p.m. Minutes later as we got into the car, Vickie got the call...Alan had passed at 6:15. We got back as quickly as we could and waited as the funeral home people took care of him. We found a motel for the night, then headed for the funeral home in the morning.

   The funeral home itself was not too bad, and the director helping us was very pleasant and made things easier. He even agreed to put a bottle of Pepsi in with Alan as he was transported to Missouri. We headed home soon after, and I managed to teach for two days the following week before we headed to northwestern Missouri for the funeral.

   We stayed at a truck stop in Eagleville off of I-35 for 5 nights. In that time, we made arrangements for a coffin and a gravesite. Natalie also practiced singing "Amazing Grace" for the funeral. We spent our ultra-free time vising different cemeteries to find where some of Vickie's family, including her paternal grandparents and Aunt, were interred. We also drove around the area and found that northern Missouri is quite hilly on the local roads, therefore fun to drive. The Iowa state line was close, so we ventured there twice. We also let Natalie play at a park or 2, and she got to experience what I consider REAL playground equipment.

   On Saturday there was a viewing, which ended up being the 3 of us and Vickie's half sister who came in from Texas. The funeral home people graciously arranged for a CD player to be at the funeral the next day. At the funeral itself, I read a eulogy that I'd prepared and Natalie did a very nice job singing "Amazing Grace" along with Leann Rimes.

  








   We went home the day after that. It was rough for a while for Vickie, still is in many ways. There was less than a month of school left, including Field Day where I ended the day feeling sick, making the holiday weekend a royal bummer.

   A week and a half after that, the school year was over. Almost immediately, I got started on taking my license renewal classes. This actually made for a fun summer as my mind was active. I took a class on online/blended learning, an easy-peasy Powerpoint class, both online. I also went to a class for 3 days learning how to be a "champion teacher", which was helpful. In late July I began a class on early stages of writing.

   Vacation-wise, we took a short jaunt to Laughlin for a dinner cruise on the Colorado River in June, then a week-long trip to Tennessee to spend time with Vickie's friend Marilyn. That was one of the best weeks I can remember!

   Before we knew it, the time for school had begun. We took a very brief trip to Houston in September for a cousin's wedding, where I met some really nice people. I also had one more class to take, this one being about creating centers.

   By late October, I was burnt out. Lots had happened in the course of 7 months. Vickie went on a Carnival cruise with some of her family form Halloween to November 4. Two of those days were staff development days and I had to take them off since I couldn't find a babysitter for Natalie. My Dad and his wife came for Thanksgiving and soon after I celebrated my 43rd birthday.

   December brought something new for me. As I'd been getting more involved with school district issues, I met some new people also involved in that online, and met some in-person when I attended a rally. These people are highly motivated and I hope I meet more like them in the coming year.

   Christmas break was long overdue and it has really helped to re-energize me. It has also helped me to realize that I've been pretty down on myself for a long time. The school year has not been spectacular, although I have a great group of kids. I no longer do the news due to the assistant principal making changes to that program...in fact the school itself has felt very dark and lifeless, and that can be a consuming thing...I've let the dark spirit consume me., and that's not healthy. I've also been paranoid about other coworkers, another piece of dark spirit. This break has helped to clear those cobwebs.

   Here is hoping that the next year brings more Moore happiness!

Confidentially Speaking

What? My blog hasn't had an entry in a while? Well, fear not, because it is time for...you guessed it... a book review! Who knows, perhaps all of these book review posts will be compiled for immediate inclusion in a used bookstore's bargain bin!

Today's featured story is another long one...sitting at 497 pages is James Ellroy's classic "L.A. Confidential". This is another thick piece of pulp made into a movie years later, and the movie was quite good, starring Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, and Kevin Spacey. OK, we all (meaning I) know how this goes...I give a character profile, a major spoiler alert, followed by movie-book comparison/contrasts.

Characters
Edmond Exley: He is an accidental World War 2 hero, making his way up the ranks in the LAPD. He feels he has much to prove, and will do anything to get where he wants. By the book's end, he is a cold-hearted cop who has lost much to attain his goals.

Wendell "Bud" White: He is a brutal detective who has a penchant for defending female victims of abuse. He holds a grudge against Exley for the majority of the book. He is duped into doing what his superior officer Dudley Smith wants for years.

Jack Vincennes: He is an alcoholic and a narcotics cop who is also a technical adviser on the TV show "Badge of Honor". He has a years-old demon hanging over him, which threatens his career and marriage.

Sid Hudgens: He is a sleazy reporter for the L.A. tabloid "Hush Hush", and loves to catch celebrities doing illegal drugs for a story. He and Jack Vincennes have a business relationship, and he holds a secret Jack wishes he did not.

Dudley Smith: A cold, calculating Irish lieutenant, then captain. He is the brains behind much of the sordid activity in the book and has a crew of loyal lapdog cops working under him.

Pierce Patchett: He is a rich, influential pimp and chemist. He runs a call girl service called Fleur di Lis and is also in league with Sid Hudgens in the blackmail department.

Ray Dieterling: He is a Walt Disney caricature who carries many dark secrets, one of which is a running back story which unfolds at the end.

Preston Exley: Edmond's father, a self righteous cop turned architect. He also has a dark secret which costs him at the book's end.

***SPOILER***

The book opens with a short scene in 1950 of an ex-cop named Buzz Meeks hiding in a San Berdoo (Bernardino)  motel with an extensive amount of heroin. He is immediately hunted down by Dudley Smith and his crew and killed by Dudley himself.

The book then moves into Christmas 1951.Several Mexican men are booked for assault on 2 cops. Several cops, having imbibed in liquor brought into the station that night and led by Bud White's brutal and drunk partner Dick Stensland, go to the jail cells to beat on the Mexicans. Exley is the deputy watch commander. but has no control over the men and is locked in the supply room by one of them. Bud tried to stop his partner but is provoked by the Mexicans into throwing some vicious punches himself. Jack Vincennes also tries to garner some control, but fails and also throws a punch.

The ambush gets quite an exposure in the papers. Ed Exley uses the opportunity to advance his career by snitching on the violent cops.  Bud White and Dick Stensland are thrown off the force, and Jack agrees to corroborate Exley's testimony and serve on administrative vice as his wrist slap. Exley is promoted to lieutenant, but gets small cases and is shunned by his fellow officers as a snitch, Bud White is reinstated by Dudley Smith to permanently serve under him. One night, White and Stensland in disguise beat on Exley in a parking lot. Exley later gets the goods on Stensland for parole violation and has him arrested.

Soon thereafter, Ellis Loew is elected as district attorney with help from Jack Vincennes who not only introduced him to the woman he'd marry, but also worked with Sid Hudgens to permanently smear his opponent.

In 1953, the Nite Owl Diner has a major shooting and the victims of note are San Berdoo native Susan Lefferts, ex-cop Mal Lunceford, and pimp wannabe Duke Cathcart. It is reported that three black men were seen in a purple Mercury fleeing the scene. Some men are arrested on leads, and Exley interrogates them, finding out they abducted a girl. Bud White watches and then storms in, demanding an address. He rushes to it, finding a raped and beaten woman, Inez Soto, tied up in one room.  Bud finds one of her captors in the next room and shoots him. Inez refuses to talk to the police, she just wants the "putos" to suffer. Ed Exley tries to be kind to her, but she taunts him with Bud White's bravado. Exley finds the men after they escaped from jail and shoots them all and is lauded a hero.

In the interim afterward, Sid Hudgens is killed, Jack Vincennes goes to find Sid's secret files but finds nothing. He soon meets up with Pierce Patchett's underlings Lynn  Bracken and Lamar Hinton who have stolen Sid's files form the bank. The files indeed contain dirt on him and an accidental 1947 double shooting of 2 innocent people, but Pierce Patchett owns the carbons.

A paroled Dick Stensland partakes in an armed robbery and commits murder in the process. He is arrested, sentenced, and executed in the gas chamber.

Inez Soto, who formed a brief relationship with Ed following his shooting of her rapists, is sleeping with other men, particularly Bud White and is also working for theme park creator Ray Dieterling. She and Ed soon break up.

The scandal papers soon question the validity of the Nite Owl murders following testimony from a prison inmate who knew the 3 men Ed shot. An extensive re-investigation begins. Ed forms an alliance with Jack and an uneasy one with Bud., as Bud still wants to ruin Ed over Stensland's ruination and execution.

In the extensive investigation, Internal Affairs head Ed Exley finds out that the real Nite Owl shooters were former Mickey Cohen hoods Abe Tetelbaum, Johnny Stompanato, and Lee Vachss, along with driver Deuce Perkins in order to take over Pierce Patchett's smut empire. Sid Hudgens's killer was Ray Dieterling's insane illegitimate son David Mertens, over a complicated plot involving Mertens's torturing and killing of a child 18 years previously. He was never arrested, as another named Loren Atherton was falsely arrested by Preston Exley and later executed. Preston Exley also killed Dieterling's other son who looked exactly like David and who was hated by Ray. Ed confronts his father and Dieterling over the cover-up and the 2 older men commit suicide.

In the end, Ed, Jack, and Bud engage in a shootout with Lee Vachss and Abe Tetelbaum, killing them both. While Ed seeks David Mertens, Jack and Bud intercept a train full of convicts containing the men who tried to kill Mickey Cohen in prison. Jack is killed and Bud is severely wounded before killing Deuce Perkins.

In the end, Bud and his love Lynn Bracken head to Arizona so he can recover (although he will never be a cop again) and Ed vows to nail Dudley Smith, the mastermind behind the Nite Owl.

***SPOILER END***

Overall, the book is much more extensive than that brief spoiler, and involves some detailed and pretty sick smut descriptions. It gives the idea that 1950s L.A. is one big place full of crime and filth.  My favorite character of all the main ones is Jack Vincennes, a sad man haunted by a bad mistake who is trying to make his life better and ends up dying in his valiant call to duty.

Movie comparison/contrast

The movie focuses mainly on Bloody Christmas and the Nite Owl, and most of the smut angle is not present. Completely missing is the story involving Ed's father and Ray Dieterling. Plus, in the movie Dudley Smith is killed by Ed. IN the book, Jack gets married to a younger girl who goes from enamored to disillusioned. In the movie, he remains single..

One big similarity is Bud's hatred of Ed because of Stensland's downfall (in the movie Stensland is killed at the Nite Owl). In the book, Bud comes around during the shooting at the diner, while in the movie he and Ed join forces when they realize who the real bad guy is.

The book contained a large population of gay characters and pedophiles, something almost completely missing in the film. In the end, I say keep with the book, you will be more satisfied.