Starting Over with New Friends, Teaching Dreams, and Teacher Burnout

Manners, Bathroom Smokers, and the Cult of Amazon Prime

In this episode, Howard Kam tackles three burning questions that perfectly capture the chaos of modern adolescence and adulthood. First, he goes off on why saying “excuse me” and “thank you” has somehow become advanced-level etiquette, and why parents need to stop acting shocked when their manners-less kids behave exactly like them. Then he dives into the age-old bathroom-hotbox crisis in high schools—why it’s not new, why it’s not most kids, and why addiction and escapism deserve more than finger-wagging. Finally, Howard unloads on Amazon Prime and the cult-like devotion to two-day shipping that drains wallets, feeds impulse buying, and fills closets with crap nobody needs. Sarcastic, brutally honest, and filled with tough love, this episode is a three-round rant for anyone trying to navigate kids, classrooms, and consumerism without losing their last shred of sanity.

Starting Over with New Friends, Teaching Dreams, and Teacher Burnout

This episode swings through three real-life panic buttons: a high school senior terrified they’re not cut out to be an English teacher, a teacher in November already mentally on fire and ready to throw a desk, and an adult trying to figure out how the hell you actually build new friendships after ditching the toxic circus. We dig into whether teaching is actually worth it or if it’s just masochism with a retirement plan, why classroom management collapses when you’re running on fumes, and why the “boring” quiet of healthy friendships feels uncomfortable at first because chaos was your comfort food. It’s blunt, it’s messy, and it’s the kind of honesty you don’t get in faculty PD — because faculty PD would absolutely have a meltdown if you said any of this out loud.

Short: Student says he "Can't study"

A short episode where a student gives a nonsense "I can't study" response. Here is what I did.

Teachers, Toilets, and Tracking Apps: Why Everyone Needs to Chill the Hell Out

In this episode of The Annoyed Adult, Howard tackles three burning (and sometimes stinky) questions. First, should you warn parents your kid is in your class, or just teach like a pro and let them figure it out? Then, the absolute insanity of a principal banning staff from taking a dump in the office bathroom—yes, really. Finally, a young adult wants to escape Dad’s full-blown NSA-level phone tracking. Spoiler: if it’s free, your privacy isn’t.

Rings, Rehab, and Real Sh*t: The Reality Check Episode

In this episode of The Annoyed Adult, we’re serving up a triple-decker sandwich of hard truths: first, a 20-year-old wants to get married without ever having paid a utility bill—adorable. Then, a listener's friend with a drug habit comes asking for two grand like it’s a GoFundMe for bad choices. And finally, a high school senior with ADHD and undiagnosed dyslexia asks for actual help—and blows half the adult population out of the water with their self-awareness. It’s marriage, addiction, and neurodivergence—served hot, no sugar, no BS.