If You Are Planning To Buy A Car...

...please consider buying a Ford.

I stopped driving several years ago, so I cannot comment on the quality of Ford's automobiles.  However, their commitment to fair treatment of homosexuals and trans-genders is certainly something worth supporting.

Interestingly enough I was alerted to this by an email from the American Family Association, an organization that seems, at least as far as I can tell from it's emails, to spend most of it's energy and resources promoting blind hatred and bigotry disguised as religion.  They refer to the "Homosexual Agenda" and ask their members to encourage companies that have non-discrimination policies and provide benefits to same sex partners to "remain neutral".

The rest of their emails tend to be about boycotting stores that use the words "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas".  One wonders in a nation with somewhere between 700,000 and 2,000,000 people homeless (36% of whom are families with children),  36.5 million people living in poverty (including 12.8 million children) and 47 million people without health insurance (including 8.7 million children), what Jesus would have to say to those bastards who won't say "Merry Christmas".

I Love Panda Cam!

It's just a little burst of happiness in the day.

Am I The Only One Who Thinks This?

The Internet is the worse thing to happen to dating.

Ever.

The Holidays

The period from Thanksgiving to New Year's is my favorite time of the year.  It always reminds me of good food, fine wine and the company of people whom I love.  Even if I don't get to partake in all of that every year, I still love the season and all it means.

And the best part of the whole package is Christmas.  I was discussing this recently with a friend of mine who noted how strange it was that an atheist (ie me) should love Christmas so much.  I tried to quote to her the passage from the Bible that to me sums up the idea behind Christmas* but I mangled it.  Here it is:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them: and they were afraid.

And the Angel said unto them, "Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

While I don't believe in the divinity of Jesus, I do think he had a lot of great ideas about what it means to be a part of the human race.  And I don't think it at all hypocritical to celebrate that idea; peace on earth, good will toward men.  Would we did not have to confine that notion to one day.

So I hope my non- Christian friends will forgive me when I wish you all a Merry Christmas.  I hope you all can take from it the same meaning I do.  

And wishes for you all to have a Happy New Year.

* So did Charles Schultz.

Wahoooo!

This is my first post from my new I-Mac.

I love this machine.

DAMMITT!!!

That is all.

Randomly Overheard Statements This Past Weekend

"It's sheep, sheep, sheep, and then we're out."

Dan Covey

"It's that sheep! It's trying to kill us!"

Holly Twyford

What Are You Doing Saturday Night?

This Bitches!

If Only You Could Translate Sounds Onto Blogger

Then you would hear me crashing and burning.

To the MSGAP, ignore the previous post.

A Question For The MSGAP*

What do you think of asking someone out via email?

* Multi- State, Girlie- Advising Posse

Update?

For several months I have been less than motivated to write here on the ol blog. Part of the reason is that work has been busier than the law should allow. Seriously, I went four months without going to the grocery store. There are only so many different meals you can really make from the stuff available at 7-11.

Another factor in my lack of posting was being involved in a relationship for a while. Strangely enough, I wanted to spend free time with the GF rather than sitting about writing blog posts.

Probably the biggest reason for my silence of late is that most of the things I have cared enough to write about recently I have cared too much about to write a half-assed or truncated post.

I would like to pause and say a big thank you to those of you who have continued to tune in despite the lack of reasons to do so. I appreciate your loyalty.

So what is going on?

I am currently in Baltimore designing scenery for one of the universities up here. The show has been going fairly well, although there have been some interesting mindset adjustments that have had to be made. For instance, part of the action of the play is for one of the characters to smash a guitar onstage. I suggested rigging a fake guitar to do this bit, but instead we purchased enough guitars to destroy one every night of tech and performance.

We have spent more on guitars for this show than the scenery budgets for several projects I was involved in last season. Of course this is a university with a "use it or lose it" budget situation. Like I said, a whole different world.

I have met someone I think I would like to see a whole lot more of. I suppose time will tell.

Work slows down considerably after this week. I am actually going on vacation for a while. Looking forward to getting away.

I hope I will get back to a little bit of blogging soon.

Peace in yer crease.

Why I Am Aggravated At The Moment

Because I am a big wuss.

It is amazing how much this bothers me.

And yes, I know I am being cryptic again.

Eastern Promises

Easily the best movie I have seen all year.

A Moment Of Silence

Luciano Pavarotti died today at the age of 71.

Argh!

Expletive! Expletive! Expletive!

That is all.

Blah!

I am in California at the moment. Tonight was 1st preview for Bleacher Bums. The show has been going well so far. We will start tech-ing The Weir on Monday. I will catch a plane Wednesday and finally head home.

As always seems to happen when I go out of town for extended periods of time, life has thrown me a few curve balls*. One of my mother's two surviving brothers had been sick and went to the hospital to discover that his whole body is riddled with cancer. The doctors have estimated one to six months left for him.

I received an email last week that a friend from college (the first time) died after a long illness last Sunday. Steve was truly one of the good guys. Despite the pressure of a very intensive program, he was always able to maintain a view of the larger picture. He was a dedicated family man and managed to find a balance between life and work that has so far eluded me. I wish I was a better writer so I could really express what a loss to the world Steve's passing is.

I won't go into details other than to say there is no bad guy in the situation, but I am single again.

I will pause here to say Happy Birthday to S, who is 28 today.

Peace in your crease, folks.

And There Was Much Rejoicing

Let all of the gods in heaven be praised.

I have working AC in my apartment!

Wouldn't It Be Great...

...if there was a magic ring we could drop into a volcano, and George Bush and all his cronies would just go away?

What I Am Doing Right Now...

...is drinking Jack Daniel's from the bottle and listening to Folsom Prison Blues.

It's been a grumpy two days.

If Nothing Else....

A meme. Citymouse tagged me with this some time ago.

Bloggers must post these rules and provide eight random facts about themselves. In the post, the tagged blogger tags eight other bloggers and notify them they have been tagged.

1) I can juggle. At an earlier time in my life, I lived with professional clowns. I could not stand to be the only person in the house who could not juggle, so I learned. I can only do balls though, not clubs. My attempts to juggle clubs ended when I actually knocked myself unconscious with one.

2) I have three tattoos. I want more. The last one I got was with S, a few days before she moved to New Orleans and I moved back to DC. It is a symbol that means truth, a promise between us that there we will always be honest with one another, whether we want to hear it or not.

3) When I was a small child, I had surgery to correct a chest and rib deformity and for some time had a metal plate in my chest. I have a wicked scar as a reminder. I usually win the "Best Scar" contest unless someone has had open heart surgery.

4) I have lived in my current apartment longer than I have lived any one place in my adult life.

5) My 40th birthday is on a Tuesday. How much does that suck?

6) I spent about a year managing a fast food restaurant when I was 18/19.

7) I am allergic to most fruits and vegetables raw.

8) I hate the taste of licorice.

I don't have anyone to tag because most of my friends have stopped blogging. So it's a free for all.