My parents flew in from Alabama on Tuesday evening and we've been having a grand time!
Last night we went to the Olney Theater in Olney, MD for a decent production of Lerner and Loews "Camelot". The staging, costumes, chorous and choreography were all wonderful, however I believe 'Lancelot' had a cold, curtailing his higher notes. Afterwards we had a wonderful meal at the Mannequin Pis, an unassuming Belgian restaurant in a strip mall, that is OUT of THIS WORLD!
Today, we're having Mo, Daveed, and Daveed's Mom, Maryanna over for T'giving dinner! Its going to be quite a feast-us!
More L8r,
Gyr8or
- Mood:
happy
Unfortunately, when I bought it and Geert shipped it over, M and I were in the middle of construction and all my stereo equipment was boxed up. I finally got my turntable unpacked and hooked up about 3 weeks ago, and slapped my new possession on the turntable. WOW.
First of all, and much like the first album, Naked, the wide variety of music on "What Noise" is amazing for a pop band of that era. "Naked" had been produced by Martin Hannett (who went on to create the FACTORY sound of Joy Division, New Order and others), however, "What Noise" was self-produced and took nearly 2 years to complete. A couple of the 12 tracks suffer from a 'muddy sound', and appear to have been recorded in a large tiled public restroom. Anyway, here's the track listing:
Tracks:
| Title | Composer | Time | |
| 1 | Other Side of Heaven | Kissing the Pink | 4:10 |
| 2 | Captain Zero | Kissing the Pink | 3:44 |
| 3 | Victory Parade | Kissing the Pink | 2:54 |
| 4 | Greenham | Kissing the Pink | 3:30 |
| 5 | Each Day in Nine | Kissing the Pink | 3:08 |
| 6 | Rain It Never Stops | Kissing the Pink | 3:36 |
| 7 | Radio on | Kissing the Pink | 3:40 |
| 8 | Martin | Kissing the Pink | 2:52 |
| 9 | Watching the Tears | Kissing the Pink | 3:44 |
| 10 | Footsteps | Kissing the Pink | 3:52 |
| 11 | Love and Money | Kissing the Pink | 3:41 |
| 12 | What Noise | Kissing the Pink | 3:52 |
The first track "The Other Side of Heaven" is an energetic, and weird slab of 80's synthpop mixed with gospel (strange but it works)...Here's the youtube., though my tinny computer speakers didn't do this song any justice at all. There's a LOT going on musically.
Track2, 'Captain Zero' is a synthpop stomper, that reminded me of a Boomtown Rats song from the 'Fine Art of Surfacing' era. The lyrics are vague, but sound like an a warning against hero worship. Nick Whitecross' voice has a John Lydon whine in this one that he doesn't use on the rest of the album
Track3, 'Victory Parade', has psychedelic feel, with swirly caliope-like synths and a driving beat. It's an anti-war hymn.
Track4, 'Greenham', is a BIG arena filling anthem, much like the ones that Simple Minds (Alive and Kicking et al) devoted the rest of their career to after 1985, complete with a HUGE Laa la-la-la Chorus and crashing drums and swelling synths! Thrilling!
Track5, 'Each Day in Nine', is a stab at 80's smooth jazzy-jazz, like Sade or 'Brilliant Trees' era David Sylvain, it's a lovely, languid song, however the lyrics are odd and obteuse. 'A thousand martyrs died today, screaming the names of their tormentors'. Hmmm
Track6, 'Rain, it Never Stops', is a heavily produced mid-tempo rocker, it's one of the few forgettable songs on the LP, it's draggy in parts, and doesn't have a decent 'hook' or chorus.
Track7 The opening track on side 2, is "Radio On", a glorious slab of mid 80's electronic dance music, similar to the work that Duran Duran was doing concurrently with ''RIO". It uses the 'everything and the kitchen sink' production values that were in all the best, and mostly British, synthpop in the middle 1980's. Lots of Sax, jerky rhythms and skittering synths. It's a masterpiece. The video is below, and it seems to have a 'pro-life' vibe at the end of it (an angelic child, an a man weeping with a clothes hanger...subtle, no?).
Track8, 'Martin', is a slow, melodic song about their previous producer, Martin Hannett, who was later as much legendary for his brilliant production skill, as he was for his appetites for drugs, food and drink. If the lyrics are an indication he was quite the mess...'Martin sits in a room of his own, he's been playing with madness and the sickly child.
Track9, 'Watching the Tears', is one of my favorite songs on the album. It's got a neo-psychedelic, Echo and the Bunnymen/Modern English vibe. This mix suffers from strange production that buries the vocal track so deep in the mix that Nick sounds like was in another room, whilst the band played on! It's got a driving beat and a soaring chorus, that should have made it a hit!
Track10 'Footsteps', begins with a murmuring vocal over a bass heavy beat and expands into a fierce 'Gang of Four' like post-punk raver. This one grew on me after repeated listens.
Tracks11 & 12, Love&Money and "What Noise", are essentially a single dance track. They pre-sage the dance heavy direction that the band would take in the coming years culminating with 1993's 'House' inspired Sugarland. Love&Money/What Noise? begins with a harsh shouted, distorted vocal, that we'd hear much more of, in the industrial years that began in about 1988. The lyrics seem to be about the excesses of materialism. The track ends with the refrain, 'I just can't hear, I can't hear myself talking, there's a noise, there's a noise in my ear', with a stuttering and ominous beat.
All in all, this is one of the most exciting releases I have heard from this era. It's an over-looked gem!
That's all for now!
l8r,
Gyr8or
- Mood: cheerful
M and I were talking whilst getting ready for respective mornings, and M said happened to mention that rather than setting herself up for a run at higher office, that Sarah Palin was, in fact, establishing herself as a political celebrity, much like Jesse Jackson.
Like Jackson, she uses populist rhetoric, but she's far too polarizing to be a populist. Both have executive experience with her abortive Governor-ship, and Wasilla mayoral duties, Jackson was a 'shadow-senator' for DC, and was a director of the PUSH Rainbow coalition, whatever that entailed. However, neither is really interested in the bullshit involved in actual governance.
Jackson, with his leaping to defend the Jena 6, The Duke Lacrosse accusers and his cozyness to Hugo Chavez, excels at being a pain in the ass for the Democratic party, likewise, Palin with her rowdy base of Birthers, Teabaggers and Christianists, has become an embarrasment for moderate Republicans seeking to broaden their base.
Her first pre-emptive launch as a Poli-celeb was when she endorse the creepy Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman, over Republican Dede Scozzafava....causing the Republicans to lose a seat in the House of Representatives they'd held since the 1850's! Now she's got this book out that I am trying to unsuccessfully ignore, soon we can expect her lead boycotts of Target and SEARS for taking the X out of X-mas, probably she'll come out to defend Christianist service providers that don't want to provide services to gay/muslim/whatever folks, etc. You can see it happening.
That's why I am getting so annoyed about all this MSM (YOU TOO, NPR!) kvetching about Palin's stupid book and her 'plans' for 2012 and beyond.
This woman wants bling, she could care less about governing, if she did care she'd still be doing that, rather than shilling her ass on Oprah.
That's all,
L8r,
Gyr8or
- Mood:
aggravated
That is all...
L8r,
gyr8or
- Mood: annoyed
We watched some DVR'd stuff, and retired.
Saturday, we were having our buds, Garfield and Holden over for dinner. They had treated us to dinner at a swank restaurant in Ballston called "WILLOW', which M and I inwardly geeked over because of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" character. It was a wonderful meal and we wanted to return the favor. The menu was filet steaks wrapped in bacon (no way to go wrong there, unless you overcook), a potato baked dish with parmesan cheese and tarragon, and sauteed brussel sprouts with dried cherries. I baked an apple cake in a tube pan with a caramel icing. It all turned out ok, although I wasn't thrilled with the cake.
We spent the day cleaning up the house, and I spent part of it cooking. I told M that I was getting tired of home-based Saturdays, but there's only a couple more of them ahead. We decided not to do a December 5th Open House party, as we'd planned to, there was just no time, we'd done nothing in preparation for it and it was stressing us out thinking about it. So, we're going to try to do it in January or February. We had a really nice time with Garfield and Holden, the ended up staying until after 10pm, and they were really impressed with our new digs. It was nice hearing validation of that.
Sunday we went to church, there was a brunch afterwards but M didn't want to eat at it. Unfortunately, he had a meeting afterward with the Worship committee and they didn't finish up until after noon. We went home and had a lovely pasta toss with a bottle of vino. We spent the rest of the afternoon out in the yard cleaning up, raking, etc. It's almost time to call it a season in the garden, the only think left is getting the raked leaves mulched for compost. We finished up and had cocktails on our new deck, because it was really nice outside in the upper 60's! I made some chicken breasts, rice and creamed spinach for dinner and then we watched some TV.
Our netflix this weekend was 'The Watchmen', meh, I enjoyed the graphic novel more, but it was still a great story. M got lost at one point and we had to stop it and I had to explain things to him.
We got to see Amazing Race and then to bed. I was really exhausted.
This coming week is going to be busy, and next week will be a blur, my folks are coming up from Alabama to spend T'giving with us. We're having Turkey Day with Mo' and Daveed, our constant travelling companions, and Daveeds mom, Maryanna. Lots to do between then and now.
We've been playing catchup from things we let slide during the 4 months that we were under construction, filing and culling is one of them, so, now that they house is fairly clean, we'll focus on that. The guest room has become a staging area for M's filing method. It looks like the staging area for an Enron Shredding Par-tay!
Good times!
S'all for now,
L8r,
gyr8or
- Mood: calm
Friday night, we had our friends Bugs and Raj over for pizza. I love these guys. They helped us move out when we took our heavy stuff to the storage facility before we started the construction in April. M and I were somewhat appalled at how hard it was, our stuff was MUCH heavier than we thought it was. We'd made it easier, by moving LOTS of boxes and smaller things to the unit in the 2 weeks leading up to the start of construction. But, it was still a screaming horror. We've taken them both out to dinner and will continue to treat them like royalty for the rest of their time on earth!
Saturday, My old friend Carleen, called, she'd had a docs appt in Georgetown, and was wondering if she could stop by and see the house. I hadn't seen her in a long time, and said SURE! Carleen is in her car a lot, she has a townhome in Occoquan, works in Herndon, VA, which on a good day is at least an hour commute, 4 years ago she bought a fixer-upper in the Northern Neck area of Virginia, on an inlet off the Potomac river. She and her parents, who have a home in Alexandria, spend most weekend down there. So, her life revolves around work, and commuting to an from this second home. It was wonderful catching up with her, and she was really impressed with what's been done to the house. She spent the better part of 2 hours chatting and drinking coffee. She left around noon. It was wonderful to see her again.
After she left we got to work on the attic, our attic has become a dumping ground for electronics boxes, xmas decor, my cookie jar collection that I've never incorporated in to this house...in 8 years, and work samples from M's days as an industrial filmmaker, and old luggage. Add to that that when the roofers replaced the shingles it caused stuff to rain down from the rafters, so everything up there was covered with schmutz. I removed all the boxes and luggage, and we took everything out side. We broke down all the boxes and bundled them up for disposal. This took a while. We broke for lunch and had a rest. The attacked the attic with a shop vac. It was dirty, dusty work, and it's not a huge attic, so can't stand up. That took until about 4pm, and when we were done it was much better organized and things were easier to get to.
M and I went down into our den area and started clean up painting, the den was painted about a month ago, but we had a several problem spots that needed retouching. We finished this around 5:30pm, and we repaired to our respective baths, to scrape of the grunge. IT was pretty bad.
We relaxed the rest of the evening, I cooked some chicken breasts, served with oven-fried sweet potatoes and brussell sprouts.
We watched a film called 'Sin Nombre'. It was a Mexican film about 2 people, a poor Honduran girl and a Mexican drug-thug whose lives collide on an trip from the Honduras, to illegally immigrate to the US. It was very well done, but understandably grim. I'd highly recommend it.
Sunday we went to church, which was a real upper for me yesterday. Fellowship does that. M and I had a really nice lunch, of red beans and rice and a tasty sourdough, served with a cheap but good Sauvignon Blanc. Yum. A couple that we'd had referred to us, by Commonwealth Builders, the firm that did our renovation, came over at 2pm and stayed for about an hour. They were suitably impressed by the job that Commonwealth had done. They were a sweet older couple, probably 70-something. They have a home over in Annandale that they're considering renovating. Kelvin Pierce of Commonwealth, thought they'd enjoy seeing a recent project. They were sweet.
M and I finished our Sunday, by hanging artwork and measuring for blinds for the front windows. We're going to go to Next Day Blinds and buy blinds for the house, for our xmas gift to one another! Whee! Aren't we 'thoughty'?
I made a ham steak, sauteed spinach, and my own version of Crack n' Cheese. We watched 60 minutes and Amazing Race and called it a night.
Boring, but productive weekend.
S'all for now,
L8r,
gyr8or
- Mood: chipper
- Music:AOL Radio - Brand New Indie
If you didn't know, I am a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Republicans 'swept' the election yesterday picking up 5 seats in our house of delegates, and we also now have a republican governor, lt. governor and atty general for the first time since 2001. Nice, huh?
I was expecting this, tho I was hoping that it wasn't the stomping it turned out to be. Creigh Deeds ran a mostly shiteous campaign for the dems, in their debates, Creigh came across as unsure as McDonnell was assured. That Deeds has a slight stammer, doesn't help matters. All the dems ads seemed (to me) short on ideas and relied to heavily on the "we're not the other guy" strategy, which in my 47 years, I have determined isn't really an effective platform.
What caught my eye or ear this morning was the turnout results. According to the item, turnout in the Commonwealth was 39% on Tuesday. 39%. We have US soldiers being blown to bits by the Taliban in Afghanistan, to make sure that the Afghans can have a stable democracy and insure that they have free and fair-ish elections. The albeit tainted election in August, drew 40 to 50% of the registered voters in that tattered country. This, with unbelievable voter intimidation from the Taliban forces - people were dismembered and worse by these religious freaks for daring to vote. Yet only 36% of my fellow Virginians could be bothered to vote, even though its easier to do so now than ever before. Pathetic.
In my own work-group, of 11 folks, 4 don't live in Virginia so they don't count, so of the 7 remaining, 2 of us voted...me and a older, very conservative guy I work with.
If nothing else the last 20 years should teach the dems and left leaning independents like me, that every election is important. That's how the Christer-wing of the republicans took over. They ran in EVERY election, for every vacant position from town/city level on up, and made sure that their folks got out there and voted (funny, how conservatives have a problem with organizations like ACORN doing the same thing). Unfortunately, dems apparently don't vote unless a rock-star is running.
These guys believe they have a mandate, too. Some 60% of 39%, or roughly 30% of the electorate wanted Bob 'gals are ikky' McD for Governor, and a lesser percentage, probably closer to 25% wanted Ken "gays are ikky" Cuccinelli, for their atty general, and what's-his-name for Lt Governor. That's not a mandate.
Bob McDonnell, who's actual politics are most probably somewhere to the right of Goering, ran as a pro-jobs, fiscal conservative, hopefully that will be enough to keep him busy for the next 4 year. Ken Cuccinelli on the other hand, is an religious extremist - anti-gay, anti-woman's choice, anti-public education - he's probably a birther to boot! McDonnell will no doubt use Cucinelli as his hatchet man, so to speak to enact his biblical social agenda.
I tried to have a conversation with Cucinelli years ago, when he was one of the co-authors of the vile Virginia Marriage Affirmation Act. I called and left messages and sent him a long thoughtfully worded email. Shockingly, No response.
That's it for now. Got to get back to doing something at work.
L8r,
Gyr8or
- Mood: annoyed
However, Friday night was very pleasant. We had one of those church Pizza nights, Wii Kirks, we set up a big screen tv with a Wii, the pastor's wife and I fire up 2 ovens and each make a total of 12 pizzas. I refer to the pastors wife, as St. Cheryl of Shirlington, because she was REALLY there for me and M when we were in need last summer during our renovations. People who attend bring whatever they'd like to share, like dessert items, salad or nibbly things...oh and wine. We usually have a lot of wine, which I am really ok with on a Friday night if I have to be in church.
Work had been teh SUK all Friday, 2 outages, and a new move that I was going to have to help with at 3 pm that day. I had made the crust at about 6am and had put it in the 'fridge to rise...and rise it did! It nearly took over the lower shelf! I got home around 5pm and loaded everything into the back to the CR-V and headed to the church around 6pm. St Cheryl was already there and had started pre-heating the ovens.
It lasted until about 9:30pm, and we had about 23 people there. I got to visit with some folks that I hadn't seen in a while, and had a lot of laughs. M and I headed home and had a low key rest of the evening. Watched some DVR'd episodes of Project Runway, The Office and 30 Rock.
Saturday was all about the yard. We've really neglected the yard this year because of the construction project, and all the work we've done in the house since that was finished. I didn't get to plant anything this fall. So, Saturday after breakfast we started working outside. So much to do. We worked until about 1:30pm and broke for lunch (Leftover pizza, and a couple beers!). Then we worked until 5pm. At that point it started to rain, and we needed to get inside and get ready for the costumed bandits. (Baah!) I made a truly wonderful dinner of, filet steaks, spicy collard greens and spaghetti squash, and the costumed bandits started arriving at about 5:30pm. I enjoy seeing the neighbors kids, and honestly some of them are melt-your-heart cute, the ones I get annoyed with are the sullen teenagers that arrive uncostumed and the very young mothers who bring infants to the door and hold a bag for the baby. For the most part, everyone had on a costume and was courteous this year. I'd bought 2 huge bags of candy, maybe 300 peices or so, an we ran out by 8:30pm...of course I found out that M when he;d answered the door was being 'Daddy Warbucks' and giving away 3 peices of candy to my 1 (it's Crusty McNasty, again). The husband of one of M's co-workers, Shane, called and said that he couldn't bring his daughter over (they were going to try to bring the tyke to see the grandparents, and swing by our house on the way), because she was ill. I told him to come on over and we'd watch a scary movie. We watched "the Night Strangler'
Fun flick. Darren McGavin was kinda hot in an overthetop 70's weird way. It was super cheesy, but terribly enjoyable.
After Shane left we watched this really enjoyable rom-com:
A young American call center manager is sent to Mumbia to train his replacement, add a hot Indian call center employee, stir gently, to a frothy swirl. It was delightful actually, and ended realistically. It's sweet and not entirely predictable, which is 100% better than most of the rom-com stuff out there. Recommended.
I didn't sleep well that night, because I drank ice tea too late...really. It keeps me up. Sunday was a rainy mess, and really all we did was go to church, come home, had soup and a nice bottle of white wine, and the M had to work much of the afternoon. I finished putting my stereo together, after being in the house now for nearly 2 months...slacker. I'd bought 2 obscure out of print 80's new-wavy bands on vinyl while I had no turntable (It was in the attic). "Changing Hearts" by POLYROCK, and "WHAT NOISE?" by Kissing The Pink...more of these on a later post. for some reason neither of these have been released on cd, and I listened to half of "What Noise?"...they're one of those groups I can't understand why they weren't more successful, as they had a lot going for them, i.e. talent, high powered production, and killer hooks...but according to the lore, DJ's hated saying "KISSING THE PINK" on the air, so they later shortened thier name to KTP. I doubt this version, but that's whats on the internets. Here's one of the singles from this album, The Other Side OF Heaven:
That afternoon, after M had finished work stuff, we watched a netflix we'd had at home for a while called The Class:
I liked it but didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. It was grueling, and claustrophobic, perhaps that was the point but it wasn't what I was in the mood for. I know it was nominated for an academy award, but I am not sure if it won or not. It was a super-low-budget slice-of-life story of a French teacher in a lower class school in some suburb of Paris. Everything was shown and told from the teacher's POV, and much of the action took place inthe classroom, hence the claustrophobia. It was well done, but not easy to view.
I made a horrible chicken casserole for dinner that M said he enjoyed but I was embarassed to serve. We had a quiet rest-of-the-evening, watching the "Amazing Race", and a DVR'd episode of "FRINGE".
I slept like the dead Sunday night, thank goodness.
Off to the salt mines.
l8r,
gyr8or
- Mood:
blank - Music:WETA - Classical
I am reading a short non-fiction book now, by Nick Reding, called "Methland", about the history and effects of the drug Meth on a small farming community in Iowa, Oelwein. It's a devastating read, however, he tends to project too many outcomes on single events that didn't happen (i.e. if a certain bill hadn't been torpedoed by an evil Utah Repugnican Senator, whose last name starts with H and ends with an H and rhymes with SNATCH, that would have force drug manufacturers to keep track of shipments of pseudoephedrine that were over a certain amount, would have kept it from getting into the hands of the MegaMeth labs). He draws a line between 3 forces that exacerbated the epidemic -
1. BIG AGRA consolidated causing the midwestern meatpackers to layoff thousands of workers and cut wages by a 2/3s (!),
2. BIG PHARMA lobbied for more deregulation which reduced oversight and costs, making the main ingrediants for Meth, pseudoephedrine or ephedrine super cheap and abundant,
3. Drug Trafficking Organizations also consolidated to form 5 main distribution channels that efficiently moved and sold the drug throughout rural America.
Reding says he spent 5 years researching the writing this book, which is highly readable, gripping, tragic, funny and absolutely terrifying.
I got my review last week, the Big thing on it was that the board wants me to take and pass the Cisco CCNA certification by next June. I know I have to do this, but I have little interest in it, and am fighting my apathy daily....need mojo. I am half heartedly studying, and they sent me to a 'boot-camp' for this last year, that was essentially a waste of time. Boot Camps are only good when you are ready to take an exam as a reinforcement to your knowledge, if you aren't ready they are akin to a firehose of data being force in your general direction. I wasn't anywhere near ready. I'll do it, I just need to bitch and whine about it for a bit, I am just lucky to have a decent job with a good company, and I do know that.
S'all for now,
L8r,
Gyr8or
- Mood:busy
- Music:AOL Radio - Baroque
( the rest is cut for kindness )
- Mood: happy
- Music:AOL Radio - Renaissance
Senate passes measure that would protect gays
Hate Crimes legislation passed the Senate Thursday, attached to a billing outline for the Pentagon budget, so that Republicans would have really HATE gay people to vote against it. When in the majority, Repubs did the same kind of thing to social program bills by attaching flag burning prohibitions and abortion restrictions.
I am torn on the need for this type of protection, on the one hand it's absolutely wonderful to be recognized by lawmakers as class of voters in need of protections, however on the other hand this type of protection may make us seem more like victims than the laws intends. If one of my hetero loved-ones was killed by a random act of violence and the killer was arrested, and I was killed by a homo-hater and the hater was arrested, shouldn't both of these murderers be prosecuted by the same standard. We're both just as dead. Matthew Shepard's murderers are still in prison, because of the savagery that they demonstrated when they tortured him and left him to die tied to a fence, they were prosecuted because what they did was a crime.
I, too, have been really saddened by the reports of anti-gay violence that have been covered on sites like Joe.My.God. and Andrew Sullivan. I don't think that hate-crime protections will deter this kind of violence, however. Such violence springs from ignorance and fear, which you unfortunately cannot legislate against. Honestly, I get nervous when Gays are singled out by lawmakers as a class, in the last 20 years such focus has brought us Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell, The Defense of Marriage Act and state constitutional marriage amendments.
I knew a couple of gay soldiers that were in the Army back when DADT started, and they said that they wished Clinton hadn't bothered. One soldier told me that after DADT, he felt like he had a big spotlight on him all the time, and was concerned because he felt that he'd been to open about his sexuality pre-DADT. I don't know what happened to him afterwards. He said that before DADT, superiors didn't investigate rumours of homosexuality with the tenacity they did after DADT. My experience, pre-DADT in the early 80's was that I didn't know any out gay soldiers, but I knew several out lesbians, and it was known that they were gay fairly far up the chain of command. They all made it to their honorable discharges without incident. I did come out to my squad leader, and afterward felt I shouldn't have, he never mentioned it again, but strongly advised me not to re-enlist when the end of my time in the Army came. I wasn't really tempted.
I am interested in why we as gay people should celebrate this measure. So, here we are,
Why do you believe the Hate Crimes measure a good thing for the Gay community?
S'all for now,
l8r
Gyr8or
My formerly 20 x 15 eyesight has steadily deteriorated as I head into my North 40's. I have been wearing reading glasses since I was 42 now, and find that I really need to use them all the time now. My distance vision is still pretty good, but I'd rather not bring reading glasses everywhere. So, M kept
My optometrist, Dr. Doone, is a tiny 30-something asian woman, who got her degree at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. I really like her a lot. I told her I was up for contacts and she took all the measurements, and peered into my peepers. She popped the soft contacts into my eyes in a jif...it was fuzzy but awesome. I could see everything in the room clearly! Then, Dr. Doone passed me to a young pert junior aide, named...I kid not, Barbie. She was adorable, but looked more like a 'Gail' than a 'Barbie', IMHO. Barbie was supposed to coach me thru the care, cleaning and feeding of these new contacts. Ok, first of all, I am a tall guy, around 6'4" or so, in the room we were in, the mirrors were all at counter level and the chairs were all at their lowest level. I impressed her by popping the new contacts out of my head with astounding dexterity and speed. I could not, however, apply these buggers to my eye. I became annoying and my eyelids started to hurt and feel raw.
Unintentionally Funny Moment: Barbie said at one point during the torture scene, "Just relax, take a breath and try to get it in again. You're too tense." Hrrmmm, now where have I heard that before. If memory serves, it was...oh never mind.
My appt was at 5pm and they were very prompt, I didn't sit around and wait long. So, it was after 6pm by now, and that contact wasn't going in. Barbie sent me home and said to try again later in the evening, when I was not frustrated.
I had 2 other errands to run, a trip to the drugstore and a trip to the Library to pickup a book I'd put a hold on (METHLAND by Nick Reding).
M had started dinner, and we had a decent meal of hamburger steaks, canned peas and buttered noodles (hey, not the Ritz, but it was quick and relatively healthy). I went upstairs after dinner and tried again, and I GOT THEM IN! WOO HOO!
I wore them for the rest of the night and put them to bed that evening, no problems.
This morning, after a great workout and run and hot shower I tried again, and NO JOY. Not sure what my issue is, I'll keep, er, plugging though.
S'all for now,
L8r,
gyr8or
Hear, Hear....now I need to take a lil nap, toozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
- Mood: amused
It's been a bad year for his youngest kid, Winston. Winston is 16, and back in May I think, he was arrested on an "underage possession of a firearm" charge. He'd gone to buy a gun from friend of his, and being 16 and not really thinking things through, he and his buddy decide to test fire the weapons. Neighbors hear gunshots and call the police. Police arrive and find 2 armed 16 year olds, and they also find a small amount of marijuana on 'ole Winston. I thought he'd be put UNDER the jail. He got a 5 week sentence in an Alabama juvie 'bootcamp'. I think it was the worst thing that Winston has ever had to do, it was certainly the longest he'd ever been away from home and away from his brother, Pierce. Keephers had trouble finding a school that would take Winston, but they finally found a school in Tuscaloosa through a friend of my niece, X-tian, that accepted him and my brothers' $$$. So, Winston is going there now, for his Senior year. My other brother/nephew,
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thegooseisloose , is cautiously optimistic that Winston has been sort of scared straight. I suppose we'll see. On the ex-wife front, the S-word continues to linger like a beer fart. According to
thegooseisloose , she is always there when he stops by (which is a few times a month). According to Keephers, she's there to watch Winston, and keep him out of trouble...given her druggy past, that seems equivalent to Tom DeLay being put in charge of a Lobbyist Reform Taskforce. But, according to Keephers, and validated by thegooseisloose , S-word is no longer using, the meth inflicted sores on her arms and face have cleared up, and she no longer disappears for days/weeks on end, only to return and crash for days. I don't know anything about meth, but I didn't know people were able to stop by themselves. Keephers and she have been divorced now for nearly 2 years, she moved out for a while into her own house that she bought in cash with her half of the settlement $$$ (it was small house in a marginal neighborhood that she got for around $30K). Now, however, she spends most of her time in Keephers house, she is there for Winston, runs errands, cooks (she is actually a really good cook) and probably fucks Keephers, in exchange for food, shelter and companionship. I think I read a Hubert Selby Jr novel with a similar plot. I asked Keephers last night if they were going to get back together, he said that he'd never marry her again. I believe him. I don't understand it, but I hope it works for them. His other son, Pierce, began his first year at the Univ of Alabama in September. Keephers said that he was making A's and B's, which is good,
thegooseisloose , seemed to think that it was harder than Pierce thought it would be, but that he was doing ok. That's cool. Keephers daughter X-tian is dating a guy named Stephen that;s a few years older than her, and already out of school and doing something in a family business, Keephers wasn't sure what. I wish them well.
The last thing we talked about was the Health Care 'reform' that happening now. He gets his news from the FEAR NEWS Channel and enjoys listening to Sean Hannity (sigh) on the radio. He's a radiologist and is convinced that he'll soon be working for the government. Nothing I say will convince him that, probably, nothing much will change. We cannot talk politics at all, it;s like we;re from different planets.
S'all for now,
L8r,
Gyr8or
- Mood: hopeful
We returned to Markles and Jay's house and laughed and cut-up until nearly 11;30pm. M and I slept really well, I woke up around 6:30am M a few minutes later and we snuggled until 7am. M decided to get up and start getting ready for the day. I went down stairs and started the coffee that Markles had set up the night before and I read for a while until Don came down and we talked for a while. Jim came down later, then Markles got up. He fed their critters, Jordan the beagle and Pouncer the cat, then he put a breakfast casserole together, that had sausage, eggs and lots of cheese. Jay left the house at 8:30 for his twice weekly personal training session. We sat around and talked about politics, religion and pop culture until the casserole was done. Nice morning.
The only think on tap that day was a trip to the outlet malls that line Hwy 1 in Rehobeth. Delaware is a sales tax free state, you can save a lot of $$$ there. We're putting a bar together, so I needed some glassware. I also needed some liquor items and new running shoes. Markles and Don decided to stay in, so me, M, Jay and Jim stopped a large kitchen store, and I got 8 highballs, 12 martini glasses and a set of Libbey glassware that had 8 old-fashions and 8 Iced tea glasses, all for less than $60! We then went a Liquo-Rama store (It was HUGE), and stocked up on some brandy, marsala and dry sherry. We then headed down to one of the massive Tangiers outlet. I got my shoes at the Reebok outlet, M got a pair as well, and we were able to get a 50% discount on the second pair. After this, we went back to Markles an Jay's home and relaxed.
Don napped part of the afternoon, Markles worked on his blog for a while (he's got a great blog, located at talesofthesissy.blogspot.com, that you should check out). We chatted, laughed and had a wonderful time all day. Don and Jay told this hysterical story about a practical joke that Jay played on Don when they were in Montenegro that went horribly awry. They were on a bus tour of the Montenegro coast, and on the bus was an Indian couple that the entire tour had to wait on at several of the stops they made to the general annoyance of everyone on the tour. At one stop, they were so late that everyone thought they'd left the tour, but someone on the tour said that they'd seen them stop in a shop to buy cured hams (a regional specialty). At the last stop of the day, the one that Don was most interested in, the tour only alloted 40 minutes, and Don wasn't finished so he was trying to cram in as much as he could before he had to get back on the bus so he was slightly late for the rendezvous at the bus. Jim wanted to play a joke on Don, so he lied when Don came back to their seat and said that the Indian woman had wondered aloud, "where is the little bald man, didn't he know that we were supposed to be back on the bus by now???" Don became enraged, and suddenly shouted at the Indian woman: "Well, you didn't seem to mind making all of us wait while you bought your stupid ham!". The Indian woman looked at Don like he'd grown antlers, and said "I do not know what you are talking to me about!". Don screamed at her the Seinfeldian refrain " THE HAMS, THE HAMS!!!" Of course, Jim was doubled over in hysterical laugher and mortification, the Indian woman said, "For your information I had to go the restroom, we bought no hams! I have nothing to say to you because I don't know what you are talking about." When Don saw James reaction he knew that he'd been duped, and he sat down and fumed at Jim for the rest of the bus trip, and no doubt for the remainder or the evening. Our sides hurt from laughter at the thought of little Don, raging at the incredulous Indian woman, "THE Hams, THE HAMSSSS!!!!"
If I did something to that to M, and he reacted like that because of a lie I'd told, it would be all over...I'd be living in a one-bedroom apt, having canned soup for dinner and raving at the television.
We had cocktails (more Mark-tini's), and then went into Rehobeth for dinner at great restaurant called Eden. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. M and I both had Cassoulet with real duck confit (one day I will try to make this delicacy). The service was top-drawer. The four of us bought dinner for Jay and Markles, as a treat for their wonderful hospitality.
We went back and watched a movie called "Drop Dead Gorgeous" that was a 1999 jet-black comedy starring a lot of people became stars later, like Brittany murphy, Kirsten Dunst, and Denise Richards. Pretty funny, with gruesome elements too.
The next day we had a some zucchini bread that I'd brought to nosh on, and Jim had brought some scones that were out of this world. At about 10:30am we all headed over to Jazz Brunch at a local gay-owned restaurant. There was a jazz duo there, with a female vocalist and a male piano player, the food was great and there were a complimentary bloody mary or mimosa...I am all about the Sunday afternoon buzz...no better buzz in the week!
The thing that led to my epiphany was fairly innocuous. Markles and Jay are an inspiration to me, they are so un-judgemental and accepting. My epiphany was how narrow and judging I am becoming, and I vowed to M on the way home to work on being better at accepting people for who they are. M is actually a little worse than me, but we resolved on the trip home to help each other over come this tendency. The thing that led to this happened in the Kitchen Outlet that me, M, Jay and Jim went to on Saturday. I watched a woman, 40-something, attractive, about our age, in that store judge the four of us, her look all but screamed "Look at those filthy fags", she caught me watching her watching us, and got embarrassed, and very quickly looked away and acted like we were invisible. I am no better, I have done the same thing to countless others, and I vow to stop it now. I have no right to judge anything about the lives of others. Markles and Jay are are my inspirations. So, that was the valuable takeaway from Lewes.
Jay and Don left from the restaurant, but we had driven with Markles and Jay, so we headed back to their house, and left from there. We got home around 4pm, and did all the getting home stuff. I reorganized our glass cabinets and incorporated our new glassware into the cabs, and I packed up glasses that we didn't need as many of, and those will go into the attic until we have a place for them to go, or need them for entertaining.
I grilled some chicken breasts, cooked some brown rice and sauteed some broccoli for dinner. We watched a taped "Fringe" and "Office" episodes and then this weeks "Amazing Race".
Then to bed, we have both slept like the dead recently, I think it's the changing weather.
Busy week ahead, so much to do at work.
S'all for now,
Gyr8or
- Mood: relaxed
I have this memory of a strange cartoon that was old when I saw it as a child, so it was probably from the 1940's or 50's. In it, bees were in their hive singing this song that goes:
Biizzz, Bizzz, Busy , Busy Bees, making honey in our Factoreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Biizzz, Bizzz, Busy , Busy Bees, making honey in our Factoreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Biizzz, Bizzz, Busy , Busy Bees, making honey in our Factoreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
The things that stick with you. But I digress. I felt like those bees this weekend.
M and I spent a relaxing Friday night. Pizza, cocktails on the deck, a dose of television, then bed.
Saturday was an all day work-fest, which was rather frustrating, M was out in the garage re-finishing a piece of furniture and an unfinished mantle piece that's always been there, but we hadn't done anything with. I posted pictures and the whole story on my other blog, renovolutions.blogspot.com, check it out if you want. There were 2 trips to Home Depot, and a 6pm delivery of furniture that we'd ordered from BiF back in May. I'd completely forgotten what it looked like!
We watched this odd, and oddly uplifting documentary, We're All Angels. Its about a 20-something gay couple, Jason Warner and DiMarco Deciccio, that are making Christian rock, and have been a committed couple for now 7 years. We wikipedia'd them afterwards to make sure they were still together (they were). Though, they are both hugely talented their tepid pop isn't really my cuppa. They are in a tough market niche, because most of the consumers for Christian rock, would never buy a cd by a coupla fags. So they're limited to doing the MCC Circuit.
Sunday, we went to church and discovered that the congregational meeting we'd missed last week was a humdinger. We learned that we're losing some people who do major heavy lifting in the congregation. Darylene is moving back to Texas, not sure when. The Fullers are moving back to Florida, Suzanne (or Suzannistan, because she's doing a 10 month internship in Tajikistan) will be moving on when she returns from Dushabne, Marty and Karen are selling their house and moving away. So, we're once again heading into a crisis period where we aren't sure what's going to happen. There was apparently talk of Pastor Dee going on part time, rather than full time.
After church, I had a long conversation with BobbieE, you may remember she is the lesbian friend of ours who's former partner, has decided to go thru a sex-change. Poor thing has had a rough couple of years. About a year ago, she had to have an open heart surgery, because of sever blockage found on a routine doc appt, it took a while to recover from that. Not long after that her sister-in-law was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and was dead about 6 weeks after her diagnosis! Her brother was devastated, by his wife's death of course, but because he was a construction odd-jobber, he was on her insurance, which of course evaporated with her death. He'd been working for a demolition company, and back in June he was laid off and couldn't find work. BobbieE said he had COBRA insurance, but anyone whose ever had that knows a) how expensive it is, and b) it has high deductibles, so that you self-ration healthcare if you aren't making much money to begin with. Anyway, he'd been experiencing numbness in his arm according to friends and neighbors, but didn't want to go to a doctor about it, and about a month ago he suddenly had a massive heart attack and died. He was 53. BobbieE had been bugging him to get checked out thouroughly, but he apparently didn't. She seems to blame him a little for his death, but it was still a kick in the gut for her and her Mom, especially after the loss of her sister-in-law. Sad.
M and I had a nice lunch of a steak salad and a btl of vino. Afterwards, that afternoon, we made a huge dent in finishing the den. Really all we have to do now is a bit of spot painting and hang art.
I cooked out a bunch of chick breasts for dinner, a lot because we use the left overs for a meat portion at lunch every day. I am really getting into Quinoa (I think it's pronounce, Keen-Whaa) as a side dish. When I was diagnosed with elevated blood sugar, a nutritionist told be about this wonder grain. It's sort of like couscous, but only sort of. I cook it just like rice, 2 cups of water to 1 cup of Quinoa, plus whatever spices you want. It's high in protein and fiber, so if you are on Weight Watchers, its prolly, like, Zero points.
Oh, and we're bad gays. We totally bagged the Equality March on Sunday. There was too much to do at the house, and I am reaallly sick of living in such disarray. I want my house back, Equality will have to March on without me & M this year.
We are totally digging the Amazing Race this year. I was sorry to see Zev and Justin go, losing your papers is a tough break, but one reason that I love the seeming randomness of this reality-based game. Phnom Pehn lwas a nicer looking city than I'd expected it to be! I remember our friends Andre and Hyo Jin when to Cambodia in 2004, and really loved it. I can see why now.
Sa'll for now,
L8r,
Gyr8or
- Mood:accomplished
giddyWe had 7:30pm reservations at a place called The Crab Claw, which is a local institution. We wandered around snapping photos and sightseeing for a while. The pic below was of the waterfront near the restaurant. The sky was lovely that evening. There were surprizingly few people out, so it was like we had the place to our selves.
( The Rest is behind the cut )
- Mood: content
This weekend we're headed to St Michaels, MD. I was there nearly 15 years ago on a bizarre, but fun, sailing trip with my house mate, Serena, my friend Bertram and his strange little lover Raoul. I am looking forward to going on a more structured trip this time. We slept on the boat, 15 years ago, serenade by both Serena's and Bertram's sleep apnea. Good times.
This time the accommodations will be a bit more posh than the rusty tub we were on. Days Inn, baby!!!
We're going with our buds Mo and Daveed, who we travel with often. We haven't really gone anywhere with them since the Beach trip on Pres. Day weekend this year. M and I went to Ireland just the two of us this year, and tho we tried to interest Mo and Daveed in it, it was too close on the, er, heels of a hip surgery that Mo had in January. He was concerned about the discomfort of a long flight. After that M and I were in a construction zone for the next 5 months. In early September we went and visited our friends Kurt and Craiggers out in Takoma, WA (they live in University Place, if you're out that way). It will be great to go with them somewhere again.
We're really looking forward to it. I don't know a lot about that area of MD.
Should be fun! And I ain't lifting anything heavier than a martini glass!
Cheers!
S'all for now,
l8r,
Gyr8or
- Mood: excited
