MyTunes Monday: The Adventure Final

A Beautiful Sight

Marriage equality passed tonight in the New York State legislature. I won't get into the politics and all that here (because I did HERE), but I found this picture which is worth far more than just a thousand words.

Humour Files: A Bad Sign

A Tease From the Mind

I'm pretty sure this happens to everyone. You are asleep. You are dreaming. And it is a good dream. Scratch that, it is a GREAT dream. Something you think is outside of your grasp in reality just drops into your lap, and it makes you unbelievably happy. Then, just as suddenly as it appears, it is ripped away from you. Someone or something grabs you out of that beautiful dream. As you realize that it was all an illusion, you are gripped by a mixture of sadness and anger.

This is what happened to me this morning. I have mentioned on this blog before a guy I simply called "N." The Cliff's Notes version of that story is that he is a guy I fell for hard and fast and I'm still not really over him. Every time I see him, relapse central. Anyway, back to the story. I had a dream about him. Nothing salacious, but what was good about it is that we were in bed together. I remember turning towards him and touching his hand and just caressing it. Both of us were smiling and rarely have a felt as happy in my waking life as I did at that moment. Then, the bane of my existence, my alarm clock, ripped me out of that happy moment. That mix of anger and sadness was on me immediately.

Of course this is not the first time this has happened to me. It has happened a number of times. Every time, it is extremely frustrating. But when I think about it, at least in terms of the big picture, I have to wonder if some part of my mind is telling me something. I suppose I could say I have a hunch as to what I was to get from this particular incident, but it requires some context. At some point, hopefully in the near future, I'll tell the story (such as it is) between he and I, although I hope/don't think that story has had its conclusion yet.

Humour Files: 35 Years

Apparently some 51 year old actor from "Lost" and "The Green Mile" married a 16 year old girl. Here is Anderson Cooper's take on it (which I found surprisingly funny).

The 51 year old in question is a guy that I remember from an episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and his character was particularly creepy, which doesn't make my view of this story any better.

P.S. Cooper is so hot.

Cross-Current: Friends Like These

When I was in grade seven during middle school, this girl and I were really close friends. We were constantly talking during classes we had together and roaming the halls of the school. There was this phenomenon going around the school where two people would share a notebook, write personal messages in it during class, pass it back to their "notebook partner" between classes and they would write back. She and I were notebook partners. It kept middle school bearable (I hated pretty much everything else about middle school). Given how close we were, I was gutted when I found out she would be going to a different school during grade eight. That separation was the bad news. The good news ended up being that the separation would be short lived when we ended up going to school together again for high school.. Those four years were really great, and this friendship was part of that greatness. 

Heritage High School

Those four years, as high school tends to be in hindsight, were also fleeting. After high school as was the case with so many people I knew from those days, even the ones I went to university with, she and I lost touch with each other. These were the days before FaceBook, Twitter, and MySpace. Hell, most people still did not have cell phones yet, so keeping tabs on friends across the miles (everyone going to disparate colleges, joining the military and so forth) was not particularly feasible. Besides seeing people during breaks, most of the months were spent buried in books.

HHS's flag in Iraq (we are everywhere)

And so the years marched forward. College came and went. Friends got married. Some had children. Some moved hundreds of miles away. A few joined the armed forces. We all went farther down our diverging paths in life.

Some years after I had started a FaceBook account (I was a little late to the party on that one), I received a friend request from an unfamiliar name. I looked at the profile and found out that it was her, who I had not seen since we graduated from high school. The name was different because she had gotten married (she also had two or three kids). I was excited that she had looked me up, but that feeling did not last. As I was looking through her profile, I noticed that she had joined some FaceBook groups that were anti-gay (the likes of the so-called National Organization for Marriage, though I do not recall off-hand the exact groups she had joined). I had been on the verge of accepting her friend request. However, after seeing these groups affiliations I ended up ignoring the request instead. I didn't make a pointed decision to do so. It was more that I am not particularly interested in being friends who would have me be a second-class citizen under the law. To be fair, she didn't/doesn't know that I'm gay. Still, I can not consider such a person a friend.

This story may seem a bit out of the blue. There is actually a reason that it was on my mind. Many times, I have heard politicians who have very anti-gay voting records and have made very anti-gay statements say "I have gay friends." I always find this statement strange. Of course there is no doubt in my mind that this is said so that they will not appear to be bigots, but I think that they fail in doing so every time. The latest anti-gay politician to say they have gay friends is the loathsome Rick Santorum.

If you have "friends" against whom you have voted in terms of rights and personal freedoms, how can you  call yourself their friend? How can they consider you a friend? I believe that friends see themselves as equals. Friends want the best for each other. Friends do NOT under any circumstances discriminate against one another or vote against each others rights.

Humour Files: Worse Than Anthony Weiner

From Second City Network

MyTunes Monday: I Only Want You

Title Town Bling

Green Bay Packers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it, but I'm a big fan of the Green bay Packers. Yeah, I watched the Super Bowl in February and was happy to down some celebration champagne. Some thing about that night just felt like the stars aligned, which is why I guess that I was so calm when Green Bay actually won versus going crazy and running around the room like a mad man. It was an uphill battle this season: a concussed quarterback, star players dropping like flies, and a loss to the Bears (which wasn't that bad since we ended up beating them twice later in the season, including the NFC Championship). I was told that I had the lamest reaction to the win, but a huge smile was all I needed to express how happy I was for us to bring the Lombardy Trophy back to where it belongs after 14 years.

So why am I mentioning this now? After all, the Super Bowl was several months ago. Well yesterday, the team got their well deserved rings.

Also, my big brother from my fraternity days is a Chicago Bears fan. I wish I had been around him to rub it in his face. I'm not usually a gloater, but I would have made an exception this time around.

Did I mention that Clay Matthews (Outside Linebacker) is a total stud?

Photologue: Sights of Spring

According to the calender, Spring is on its way out and Summer is coming up fast. Before the season is over, I wanted to show some photos I took in April. Spring around here is a really beautiful sight, which I shouldn't keep to myself.

Photo Funnies: Poor Diction

 

Not very presidential of him.

Best Mugshots Ever

This should look so much worse given what he did. Then again, he better look good with a $400 hair cut.

MyTunes Monday: "Life is a Sing" by Patrick Park

Really sappy thought, but if his voice were personified, it would be one of the most beautiful people to have ever walked the Earth.

Work Tales: Going Postal

Last night at work was...eventful (to say the least). There is this guy who I work with who is a perfectly nice guy who had been there for some weeks. Again perfectly nice, but a consummate screw-up. Well I guess last night was the last straw. The first part of the confrontation I heard was the manager on duty telling him to go home. I won't go into extreme detail (because that would take forever), but the guy was being irate and apparently wasn't aware that he needed to stop talking (read: yelling), despite everyone telling him he needed to just shut up and leave. eventually he "dared" the manager to fire him, which he did. 

A little bit later after he had left, we saw his car parked in the parking lot across the street. It seemed like he was just sitting there waiting for something or someone. A couple of people started making jokes like we should go over there (or at least within sight) and taunt him because we had jobs and he didn't at this point. I was trying not to smile or laugh during all of this, but the guy pretty much brought the situation upon himself, so I didn't feel guilty about it. Then we started making jokes about the guy stalking the manager that he had the altercation with. Right before I left that night, I said to the manager, "If you get scared tonight and you need someone to cuddle with, just give me a call." There was a semi-real chance that this guy was going follow the manager home and...well...who know what but we tried to keep the situation light.

In case you're wondering, the manager was fine. I saw him today alive and in one piece, so all is well.

Work Tales: I've Had Better Days

I know today could have been far worse than it was, but it still was full of suckage. I'm pretty stressed with my living/financial situation right now. I won't get into details, but I need to find roommates soon or I'm pretty much screwed. The jackass that I work with who is also a good friend of mine got really drunk last night (I called him around 8 last night and he was incoherent, which goes to show how day-drinking can get out of hand really easily), busted his face on some concrete, and couldn't work tonight. Thus, the rest of us had to pick up the slack. It was a slow night, but I was at work way later than I should have been. This guy CJ (I mentioned him in a previous post) was being a complete tool. He is way too into himself, and this modeling he has apparently been doing lately is not helping his ego situation. He is making several enemies; me being one of them, two others being are in managerial positions. I was pissy, cranky, bitchy, and ready to cut anyone that crossed me. My appettite was all over the place from not being hungry at all to stuffing my face with everything in sight. I guess I'll try to recover from all of that tomorrow.

Here's to hoping for better days ahead.

A Good Night at the Park

I'm certainly no huge baseball fan, but I'm always cheering for the Red Sox. After a terrible 0-9 start, they have sole possession of first place in their division. They have also beaten the pants off of the Yankees so far this year. Talk about a turnaround.

Work Tales: He Just Doesn't Get It

I was at work a few days ago when this guy CJ asked me a question which annoyed me. He asked me (and I'm paraphrasing), "So you're telling me that if Eva Longoria was in front of you, you would feel nothing?" This guy is young, naive, and pretty ignorant. Don't get me wrong, I think Eva is really hot. I guess what this guy doesn't realize is that there is a difference between finding someone attractive and actually being attracted to them. Hell, I think most people don't make that distinction.

Anyway, my response to his question was this (again, paraphrasing), "So you're telling me that if Taye Diggs was in front of you, you would feel nothing?" His answer was some form of "no," which is pretty much what I expected. I wish I could remember how adamant (or not) his answer was, but I don't remember his physical response being that bad. Obviously, my point in asking that question was to say "We're different. Deal with it and move on." I don't want to make it sound like I think he is particularly homophobic, since I don't think that. After he said no, I asked him why he would bother asking me about being attracted to women. I didn't really get an answer, but I said to him he would do well to think before asking such a stupid question. Hopefully, he actually thought about it, but I won't really hold my breath on that one. I guess empathy is something that comes along with maturity...which this guy is severely lacking in.

I guess I can sum it all up by saying I get frustrated by stupid questions really easily. People are attracted to what they're attracted to. This guy knows I'm gay so why bother asking me if I'm attracted to a woman?

This probably sounded like a lot of nonsense so I'm sorry bout that (I'm in a slight hurry because of work).

Gay Gold?

I just found this through AfterElton.com. After a stressful day, I really needed to see something like this.

MyTunes Monday: Hang Me Up to Dry

I was excited to find out a good friend of mine was a Cold War Kids fan too.

A Harrowing Day

There was a day when I was a kid. It was a Friday, which started out as a beautiful day. A few hours after I had gotten home from school I was in my grandmother's room. I remember that it was getting dark way earlier than it should have been. I looked outside and noticed that it was really cloudy. When I looked up into the sky, I noticed something that scared the hell out of me: a funnel cloud. I started to run down to the next floor but before I got there, everything outside blew to hell. All I could see outside of the bay window was brown dust and debris flying by. It was so loud that I could barely hear anything, but I was yelling for everyone in the house (which I think was my sister, mother, and grandmother) to get downstairs to the basement where we rode out the rest of the storm...which didn't last long, thankfully.

We checked the damage. Luckily, some shingles notwithstanding the house was fine. However, that was a bit lucky. Sometime during the chaos, there was a particularly loud bang. It was a tree in the backyard that had been toppled. It was a really big tree. Very tall. Very thick. It had fallen lengthwise across the yard. It would not have taken a direct hit for that tree to destroy the house.  A shed in the backyard had been blow away. There was a layer of pea-sized hail on the ground. We found out later that the church that I grew up in  had lost its steeple (which ended up taking a long time to replace if memory serves. And of course there was damage elsewhere throughout the city. It's unclear whether or not it was really a tornado, but I always assumed that it was based on what I saw moments before the storm actually hit.

Luckily, it did not take a very long time for life to return to normal. The storm was not very severe (F1 at the worst) and it was rather short-lived. Even though we lost power, it was restored by the end of the weekend at the latest. Since this happened on a Friday afternoon, there were no missed school days (at least that I can recall...my memory isn't that great).

This isn't the only natural disaster that I have experienced, but so far, it has been the most frightening. 

That day was exactly 17 years ago today and was one of the scariest days of my life even to this day.

Class Dismissed

What did I learn from X-Men: First Class?

-French sounds sexy, even when you are using it to threaten someone's life.

-Michael Fassbender, who played Erik Lensherr/Magneto is a total hottie. The name is probably unfamiliar, but maybe this will jog your memory:

Fassbender from "300"

-Nicholas Hoult, who played Hank McCoy/Beast (he's British) can do a hell of an American accent. Also, he makes glasses look hot.

Nicholas Hoult

Films set in the 60's (but filmed much later like this one was) have a really cool look to them.

The powers and stuff are really cool, and it's what really drew me to the X-Men as a kid. After all, who wouldn't want to be able to fly, be super strong, move things with your mind, or be psychic. I'm not a kid anymore and even though I still find that stuff awesome, I get it on a different level. Being persecuted just for being different and the way you were born is something all too many of us can relate to, in more ways than one. That thought crossed my mind several times while I was in the theatre. Even though I had made the connection before (having seen the other films, the television show, and the comic books), this film which takes place when humanity first discovers the existence of Mutants really hit the message home...which I did not expect in my excitement to see it.

All of that serious stuff aside, it was a great film and even if you have never even heard of the X-Men before you should see it. It was a hell of an experience.

Heading to Class (Redux)

Plans got scraped unfortunately so no X-Men last night (still went bowling though...don't ask my score, it was terrible). Luckily we rescheduled for this afternoon, so hopefully it pans out this time.

Heading to Class

I mentioned in a previous post that I'm a huge X-Men fan. Well, tonight is the night. X-Men: First Class comes out and I'm on my way to see a midnight showing (after some bowling, we're making a night of it). I have been looking forward to this film for a very long time which is ironic because when I first heard about it, I thought it was a joke and didn't believe it would happen. I will say that something I'm sad about is the fact that it isn't the original five that will be in the film (Cyclops, Jean, Iceman, Beast, and Angel). I guess if the film is good enough, I'll just get over that, though I find it very weird the Cyclops' little brother Havok is in this prequel given his capacity in the film. Still, super excited.

Won't be getting home until 3:00 am probably. Hope I can switch shifts tomorrow or I'm getting practically no sleep tonight.

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH

Coming to a Coast Near You:

HURRICANE SEASON (it starts today)!!!

50 State Stereotypes