Electronic Vacation

Last week was CRAZY!, which is why I didn't really post much.

Monday - Installed new internet circuit at work...didn't get home until after 8pm, which is a long day when you take into consideration I was up at the gym at 4:30am.
Tuesday - Dealt with the aftermath of the installation, and had the Harvey Milk Dinner at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI, for short).  Indy Pride was a sponsor, and since I am the president, I needed to be there. Another morning Gym Day...
Wednesday - Gym again.  Worked all day.  We actually were allowed to leave around 3pm, but I wasn't able to leave until almost 4.  The reason we got out early was because we had our office Annual Dinner that night at 5:30.  So, I walked home, laid down for a minute, and then I got dressed up for dinner at Fogo de Choe, which is a meat coma inducing Brazilian Steakhouse where they deliver meat on swords.  The annoying thing is that the second Wednesday of the month is always the Indy Pride Board Meeting, which meant I had to leave early to get to the meeting, which didn't wrap up until after 9.
Thursday - Telephone upgrade at work! Once we got the internet circuit out of the way, we needed to upgrade out phones.  I was in early on Thursday for that.  It all went pretty smoothly, but I also needed to do a staff training on a system I had been on the same amount of time they had.  FUN!  Then Thursday Night there was another Pride event, where I got to run the spot light for a bunch of drag queens.  I drank.  I drank a lot.
Friday - I worked until Noon.  Then I went off the grid, except for a few Facebook posts.

The weekend was pretty much shopping, shopping, shopping.  I finally got an iPhone 5 on Friday night.  I really had no clue how slow my old 4 had gotten, but I am pretty pleased with the 5.  I have to say I am not sold yet on the need for it to be larger.  I have big hands, and even I think it sometimes feels too big, though that might be more about how light it feels in my hand.   Saturday was pretty much laundry and grocery day. Then I spent the evening watching DVR stuff.  On Sunday, I slept in, which was awesome, and then I went to the outlet mall.  I needed new shoes, desperately.  I got the shoes, two shirts, AND an offset spatula, which I need for a cake I am making for work.  I spent the rest of the evening watching movies and television.

It twas a good weekend.

I am looking forward to the debate tomorrow.  I saw this right before I started writing.   Love it:

Weekend Brain Dump

This was a fairly low key weekend outside of a Saturday night out.  Rewinding a bit, X came into town on Thursday night, and once he was done with classes, we ended up going out for a while to Metro and Greg's.  It was a fun time, and thankfully, Friday was a predetermined rest day for my workout.  So, I was able to sleep in a little and cuddle.  ;-)

While I was a little later than usual to work, I still beat my bosses in, which is good enough as saying I've been there since 8:30, and since it was unusually quiet, I ended up getting out of the office by about 3pm.  The weather had taken a turn since I walked to work in the morning, and what was a light drizzle turned into a constant rain and the temperature dipped.  This was very, very unpleasant to walk home in, because I was just in a short sleeved shirt.  Needless to say, I walked extra fast, and I was able to see X before he headed back to Bloomington.

No...I'm not defining X yet for the blog.  I will do more of that if/when it becomes something a bit more solidified.

I sat on my butt for the duration of the evening on Friday.  Saturday was laundry day AND helping my mother become the web designer she thought she was when she offered to do the website for her church.  Of course, the page she was putting up was for a pro-life pilgrimage to DC, which pissed me off, but what are you going to do?

After a quick trip to the gym, I went home and took a disco nap, and then I went to Halle Pino & Friend's Another Night on the Bayou, which is in its 6th year.  This is the first year I have not been actively involved in it, and without going into details, that is one of those strained friendships I referred to in my first post last week.  It is what it is at this point, but I was there to help if I could.  I ended up going to Greg's and Talbott Street afterwards, and it became a grand guignol of drunken buffoonery.  I spent WAY too much money and ended up eating hot pockets and mac & cheese.   Want to know why I got fat?  There you go...

Sunday became recovery day, and I whittled down my DVR to a manageable size.  This week is shaping up to be extra busy with stuff going on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday...

Brain Dump complete....   I am brewing up another political post.  So, stay tuned!

Friday Already?

I really don't know where this week went.

By and large, it hasn't been too eventful, which was a conscious choice on my part. I'm still trying to get back into the swing of blogging, but I gotta say, it is so much easier to just click "Share" and post something to Facebook, than to bop over here and write something. I know I can share things to Blogger, too, but it just doesn't have the same instant gratification.

Anyway, the early part of the week was a Super Bowl hangover and dealing with winter weather. While we didn't get the major snow that the DC got, it was enough to make it pretty nasty here. The good part is that there is plenty of TV for me to watch. I'll save my must see shows for another post.

Last night, I had dinner with some representatives from Cincinnati, who are trying to revive their Pride efforts after some splintering of groups and other drama. It was pretty cool to hear what they're planning, and I have to say I'm a bit envious of them having a clean slate to start.

This weekend is shaping up to be pretty full. So, I should have some stuff to report on Monday!

Tuseday, December 13th - Among the Living...

I have a number of reasons for not posting since last week, and here is the short list

1. January is a busy month for reporting, with monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and one annual report thrown in for fun, and New Years falling on a Thursday (along with Friday off), I didn't get to start until Monday the 5th, which is typically fine, except for the fact that most reports are due before the 20th, AND I am leaving for DC on the 17th for the inauguration.  So, yeah...busy, busy busy.
2. I've been working out in the morning, which means that my usual starting time of 7am has been pushed back closer to 8.  I didn't really have any qualms about using that first, quiet hour of work to do a little blogging, but once I get here at 8, I kinda feel like I can't do it.
3.  My hard drive died on my main computer at home, which I think is an amazing coincidence to the fact that I'm about to pay the sucker off.  Thankfully, I had a dual hard drive design, and I was able to work through the blue screens to save most of my the stuff on my main drive.  While I could install Windows on that drive, I'm just going to wait to buy a new HD.  So, the PC is down, which leaves me with a slow, hot laptop at home.
4.  I have become addicted to Facebook, and since it easily accessible through my iPhone, my status updates have become a sort of "Twitter" type stream of consciousness, which has sucked my will to blog away.
5.  I am working hard on getting my new website up and running....well, I am trying to decide on the right template.  I had hoped I would be able to get it up and running before the DC trip, but with the tribulations in #3, I haven't made as much progress, as I had hoped.  The great news is that I have found a way to transfer my almost 400 blog posts over to my new site.  So, at least I won't lose everything...

So anyway, I'm not sure I'll be blogging much the rest of the week, but I'm going to try. I will probably try to do some DC updates while I'm there, too.  However, if you'd like to be a Facebook friend, let me know, and I'll give you the details.

Friday, December 19th - I'm Here

Eep! I can't believe I haven't posted since Tuesday. It has been a pretty crazy week, mostly filled with be having a massive head cold. So, I haven't really felt like doing anything other than sleeping.

Plus, I've finally got the gumption to change my blog template, and I am working behind the scenes to make that work. Once again, I wish Blogger would make it a little easier to do this, but then I think I should just get a hosting package and relaunch. We'll see what I do in the New Year!

While thinking about the change in template, I've gotten it in my mind that I want to rename the blog, too, which is causing quite a disturbance in the force. I'm sure I will come up with something...it'll probably be when I least expect it.

I hope everyone has a happy holidays! I will be posting next week, but I just wanted to get that out there in case I don't. I'm still woefully behind in the shopping department, and I volunteered to make Christmas Eve dinner. So, next week is going to pretty hectic!

Monday, December 15th - Survivor's Story and 2nd Day of Christmas!

I know most people who read this blog are probably a bit mystified that I can still sound surprised when I type on a Monday "this was another busy weekend" because it seems like it has been a long time since I haven't had a busy one. I'm actually trying to think what my life was like before I got involved with planning Pride Skate '08 back in April/May and then got sucked into a more active role in Indy Pride. I must have done a lot of sitting on my ass, that's for sure. Of course, I would love to recapture some of that, but I cannot say I am regretting being more involved...except for the easy justification for not working out.

This weekend, I managed to go to two holiday parties, two drag shows, get my laundry done, go grocery shopping, buy a couple new sweaters (which I desperately needed), do some abortive Christmas shopping (I am SO freaking behind...seriously), go into work so that AT&T could install some new phone hardware, and talk my cat into using a different kitty litter system.

I'm actually most proud of the last one. My cat, Madonna (yes...you can laugh), is 18 years old, and while she pretty much doesn't show her age most of the time, well, except for the couple of times she's jumped and missed the bed at night, I was really leary about throwing both a new litter box and litter at here in one swoop -- especially since it cost 30 bucks. Cats are pretty notoriously creatures of habit, and I really didn't want to deal with the repercussions of her NOT liking it. However, after three years with wood floors, I am fed up with kitty litter tracking everywhere. She took to it, and I'm a happy camper!

So anyway, I'm a bit behind on the 12 Days of Christmas, which is a feature I did last year for only 3 days. We'll see if I get further this year. As you recall, the 1st Day of Christmas gift was Ann Coulter getting her jaw wired shut.

2st Day of Christmas - Gods of Football Calendar

First off, this is not American Football, this is my beloved Australian Rules Football, which is more like Rugby.  Now, frankly, I know nothing about the sport.  What I love about it is that the players are insanely hot and most importantly they are not shy about showing off.  Plus, they acknowledge and are comfortable with the fact that they have gay fans who think they're hot.  How many NFL players willing to admit that?

 

Now, since this is coming from Australia, it is going to be a bit pricier than your average calendar, but who cares?  Plus, it is all for a good cause: The McGrath Foundation, which is a Breast Cancer Advocate.

Get your copy here: http://godsoffootball.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, December 9th - Lawdy Lawd Lawdy...

It doesn't even feel like I blogged yesterday. I was actually thinking of starting this one off with the traditional "sorry, I didn't blog," but then I realized....lawd, it has been one of those days.

Someone sent out a mass email with a 4MB attachment, which got stuck in our email server and kept resending itself. This caused our internet speed to grind to a halt, which is usually indicative of a virus of some sort. I had a 12 hour day yesterday, and I went in at 3am this morning. So, I'm sitting here bleary eyed...planning on taking a nap.

Some thoughts:

1. Why the hell would you send huge pictures of dogs and cats, no less, to 1500 people? The brain damage, I tell you... Granted it WAS animal rescue, but still...

2. Why, while checking the computer in the medical room, would I even think of weighing myself? No more food for me....

3. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is the biggest fucktarded douchebag in the history of politics, and frankly, that is saying a whole hell of a lot.

See you tomorrow :-)

Monday, December 8th - Busy Weekend!

This was a fairly busy weekend, though next weekend is going to be crazy!

Actually, going back to Thursday, I met up with Blanche, Athena, and Romeo at Olly's for some after work cocktails. Cheap drinks are back...yay! It was good to hang out with everyone, and despite the fact that upon returning home I slipped on a patch of ice in my parking lot, ripping my jeans, and leaving a wound the size of Texas on my knee, it was still a good night. Yeah...the chuck taylors are going in the closet for the winter, that's for damned sure!

I was in a great deal of pain on Friday morning, though it was more from the inflexibility of the scab (sorry to be gross). So, I worked from home, which ended up being a bad idea because some server issues reared their head. Not good! *hour long break* It just did again, but I think I have it figured out. Hopefully, the server hasn't been damaged. Lord...I need a Christmas Miracle.

Anywhoo, Friday night, I met Athena to go see Twilight. Unbeknownst to me, she had read the whole series, and she had been waiting for the crowds of screaming girls to die down. Before we went to the movie, we went to the calendar signing for the Naptown Roller Girls, who have two teams called the Tornado Sirens and the Warning Belles. Our friend and fellow blogger, Xena is a new member of the team, and let me tell ya, I'm looking forward to seeing her kick some ass this season. The calendar is VERY well done, and if I had a brain in my head, I would have been carrying cash so I could buy one.

After leaving the gallery that was holding the signing, we had some time to kill until the movie started, so we stopped to get some snacks at Kroger. Well, Athena bought milk to take home, and I bought a bottle of rum (yo ho ho) and some yogurt covered pretzels. I am such a felon. In one week, I've seen three movies in a row and only paid for one AND smuggled booze in. I'll probably be cursed to watch Adam Sandler and Chris Farley movies for all eternity in my own personal hell.

This time around, I have to say I still enjoyed Twilight quite a bit. Since I have now read the book, I feel like I was able to pick up on a lot more stuff that I had missed the first time around, and I also got to appreciate the direction of Catherine Hardwicke. The fact is, she took a pretty passable book and made it into pretty excellent popcorn flick. While a lot of the credit can go to the Elliot Davis' cinematography for how the picture looked, it would be nothing without a strong director who can frame a shot well. This is why I am now a little apprehensive about New Moon, because it was announced this morning that Hardwicke isn't coming back due to scheduling conflicts. Of course, there is some subtext to the stories that Hardwicke might be "difficult," but I have to wonder if this is Hollywood sexism again because Michael Bay is an asshole who manages to still find steady work. Ah well, maybe it will be good for the franchise. Harry Potter certainly benefited from moving away from Christopher Columbus. We shall see...

I went out for a bit after the movie, but I didn't stay out too late. Saturday was pretty much a dull, grey laundry and nap day, though I ended up meeting up with Blanche, Romeo, Roqstar, and Sleepy for some cheap drinks at Olly's. Romeo and I ended up going to Greg's for a hot minute, but I left shortly after Romeo did.

Sunday morning I got up and worked on the Indy Sports Foundation website. They made some changes that pretty much wrecked my navigation, which is making me completely redo the site. Yay! I should ask for more money, but seeing as they are a not for profit, I can't really do that in good conscience.

I spent much of the afternoon surfing the web and catching up on som TV, and last night, I went over to Talbott Street for the Holiday Diva Show, which was being put on by Indy Pride in support of the United Christmas Service. I ended up wrapping up a gift my grandmother had bought for me that I never used. It was something I had planned on donating at work, but it has sit in my room for almost a year now. It certainly wasn't a "fun" gift, but I think it'll be useful to the family. Plus, it was the biggest gift...hehe. All in all, this was a great program, which had local performers singing traditional holiday tunes, and a special shout out goes to Cadillac Barbie for coming up with the idea in the first place.

I was home by 11, popped some popcorn, and watched Desperate Housewives. And that folks, was my weekend. Exciting, huh? Next weekend has two Christmas parties, two Bag Lady/Drag shows to attend, AND a 6 hour board retreat. Oy!

Oh, and in case you didn't see it, Amy Poehler came back to SNL for another go as Hillary. I hope they keep bringing her back periodically in the next 4 years:

Thursday, December 4th - Musings of a Scattered Mind

No strict narrative today, mainly because Wednesday was a wallow day for me. So, on to the musings:

• The Grammy Nominations: While I didn't watch the nominations concert, I have to give the Grammy's kudos for shaking up the process. Though I do have to say, in my world, Lil Wayne did NOT just get 8 nominations. Seriously? I was happy to see Jennifer Hudson get a few nominations in R & B, and I hope maybe she'll be able to perform at the show in February. It was also cool that Adele got some nominations, even though she has had little to no airplay in the US. Of the top categories, I would say the Robert Plant/Alison Krausse collaboration sticks out the most, but from what I have heard, it is at least deserving of the recognition, unlike some left field nominations the Academy has handed out in the past. I still can't believe there at 110 categories. I know music is varied and everyone has their own tastes, but things like Best Polka, well...ahem. Plus, technical stuff like Best Surround Sound? I dunno, that seems more appropriate for a sound mixers guild or something. Ah well, I suppose everyone deserves their recognition. Oh, and to anyone who watches Kathy Griffin's Life on the D List. She got her Grammy nomination!
  
• "To Change Washington is to Know Washington": I wrote this back on January 4th in the aftermath of Obama beating Hillary in the Iowa Caucus, and while I was writing in a hypercritical way against Obama, I am happy to say that my words are now proving prophetic in the choices Obama is making for his cabinet. Of course, the progressives out there and the change mongers who ate up the Obama rhetoric like junkies looking for a fix are now wondering if an administration full of those hated Clintonistas is really "change they can believe in." I don't think some of them would be happy unless Obama scoured grad schools and liberal think tanks as the only source of brain power to populate his administration. The fact is this: you simply cannot give a gigantic bureaucracy over to someone who has never worked in Washington. I wish I could shake these crazy people who think that Obama is abandoning them by choosing people who are actually qualified for their jobs. If anything, Obama is dispelling most of the doubts I had about him, simply by filling the vast gaps that he has on his resume with people who actually know what they are doing. It's asinine to think that he wouldn't look at veterans of the Clinton administration. Clinton didn't have the luxury of a recent presidency to find experienced people, and it was much to his detriment at the beginning of his term. Anyway, I am happy with almost all of Obama's pics (sans Tom Daschle), and all those people who think chanting "Yes We Can" gives them some sort of knowledge of Washington, really just need to shut up and trust the man they elected.
• My Blog Traffic: It has been interesting to see my traffic spike by even mentioning Twilight (Twilight, Twilight, Twilight lol). So, since I have been blogging for a good year and a half now, I have been looking closer at my traffic to see where it comes from and what brings people here. The funny thing is that my cyberstalking of weatherman, Jeff Renari, has caused the most traffic here. Granted, it was other people cyberstalking him that brought them here ("jeff renari" and "gay" being the top search words, but still). I thought it would be fun to post the world map for my traffic:
  Obviously, I have some holes here. I'm not expecting much from the interior of Africa or Greenland, but come on Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Iraq, Nepal and Mongolia! Help me out! :)
  
  

Wednesday, November 26th -- Ch-Ch-Changes

I want a new template for my blog. If anyone out there knows of a good place to find one, let me know.

And I also want the other half of my Blog Roll to actually start blogging again, or I won't have the strength to re-add you when I do redo everything. :) I know...big threats.

Ah well, short one today, because I am sitting on hold waiting for AT&T to tell me they can't fix the telephone line and will have to send someone out, which means I'll have to stay at work even longer....which makes me a grumpy person.

Ah well...

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 17th - "I'm proud to be a woman, I'm proud to be a black woman, and I'm proud to be gay..."

No, I'm not a woman. No, I'm not a black woman. Yes, I am gay. :)

Anyway, the above quote came from an unexpected source. When you consider I frequent Dlisted, Towleroad, Queerty, and sometimes Perez Hilton, sites that typically are on the cutting edge of who's who in the closet (Queen Latifah, Anderson Cooper, Oprah [joking...don't send Gayle after me]), I was pretty shocked when I came home last night and discovered that Wanda Syckes came out of the closet. This is even more shocking because on her on show, The New Adventures of Old Christine, she is actually married to Julia Louis Dreyfus so she doesn't get deported. Good Lord, you'd think even something as vacuous as Access Hollywood would be all over that irony.



Beyond that, the whirlwind of changes going on behind the scenes, that I'm not comfortable blogging about yet, are still going apace. I will say, if you can spare it, send some positive energy my way towards the end of the week. There might, just might, be something to truly be thankful for this Thanksgiving (or early December).

Monday, November 10th - Best Laid Plans...

Well yeah, so remember last week when I said I was back to blogging regularly? Psych!

Anyway, I was able to do two days in a row, which as been a minor miracle lately, but I do have a pretty good reason for not blogging. The main problem is that I can't really blog about that reason because I never really know who is reading this, but lets just say, there are some changes going on behind the scenes which could have a tremendous impact on me (for the better), and I would appreciate any positive energy you can send my way. I promise, once I can talk about it here, I will do so.

With that being said, I did enjoy my time off last week, even though the aforementioned "reason" consumed much of the available air for me. I did manage to get to the gym 4 times, and I felt tremendously good about that. If I can just keep that up through the winter, I'll have a good chance of being marginally presentable again.

The rest of my week involved catching up on TV, watching movies (Iron Man & Forgetting Sarah Marshall), and working on some website stuff I had put aside during the ramp up to Grande Masquerade. It was good to get stuff off of my plate because if I let things linger too long, I tend to get a little stressed out.

So, anyway, Happy Monday!

Here is a funny to start off the week:


Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Tuesday, November 4th - Vote Vote Vote

I voted this morning. I voted straight ticket, even though I took the time to color in all the bubbles on my Scan-tron-esque ballot. I voted for Jill Long Thompson for Governor, even though she ran one of the most piss poor campaigns since Jim Jontz ran against Richard Lugar. I just couldn't bring myself to vote for Mitch Daniels since I got fired for being a Democrat in State Government by his bubble headed Lieutenant Governor. I resisted the urge to write in Hillary. I voted to consolidate township government, and I voted to allow the Indianapolis Public Schools to actually fix up their buildings.

I voted.

I was the 447th voter of the day (at 11 am), which is a small miracle in a precinct that has had as few as 35 by 3 pm. I just missed the lunch rush, and I was proud to see American's finally getting involved. I just hope they continue to be engaged.

It's also been an interesting day on the professional front, but I'm not ready to blog about that in case the internet has ears. I've also been to the gym twice, which has doubled by effort in October!

Viva La Vacation!

Monday, November 3rd - Ahhhh....November

So, obviously, October was a busy month for me.  I neglected a lot of things from blogging, the gym, some work (which bit me in the butt last week), and just a whole host of things.  While the summer was an extremely busy and social time for me and the Mean Girls, it just seemed that October was the culmination of everything, especially with Halloween and the Grande Masquerade.

Last week, as you could tell from the stressed out or small updates, it was like everything exploded at work.  Due to a virus outbreak, we were blacklisted by four spam monitoring organizations, and the only way I could fix this was to go around to every computer in the office to figure out which one (or ones) was the problem child.  Being blacklisted meant that very little to no email was actually leaving our inboxes.  We were receiving just fine, but then nothing was going out.  It is very frustrating to diagnose a problem like that, because Microsoft literally has an error message that can actually mean 10 things.  I felt like I would probably be better off standing on one foot and point north to fix the problem.  I got it worked out, but it meant I put in a 13 hour day to get it done.  All of this on top of doing a major voicemail upgrade, working on one of the most heinous reports I have to do, AND doing last minute poster designs for The Grande Masquerade, well, I was about ready to lose my fucking mind!

I know I complain a lot about the reporting aspect of my job, but the reality is that I have done a pretty good job of juggling the IT part and the reporting for the last two years.  However, this past week was exactly what I feared most would happen -- when something IT related would interfere with the reporting.  What do I choose in this instance?  The deadline put in place by the Federal Government, or the people bitching at me in the office? Anyway, enough about that. 

The Grande Masquerade was an absolute success.  Sure, there were some kinks to work out, but for a group of people who didn't really have all that much experience on an event this size, I think we pulled it off and then some.  It was the largest attendance ever (620+), and it was one of the most profitable.  For me, it was just pretty surreal to see my designs all over the place.  From the program books at every seat at every table, to the backgrounds on the PowerPoint presentation that Blanche so wonderfully put together, and finally to the monstrous fairy girl that I put together - the mascot of the whole event - as the backdrop for the stage.  It was, simply, one of the proudest nights for me.  It was also weird that someone actually paid $50 for a framed version of one of the posters I designed for the event.  I actually called my parents to say I was officially an artiste now. LOL  It was even weirder later on in the night when I found out there was a war going on over who was going to get the blown up versions of the fairy girl.  Both Vivian of Talbott Street and Rob from Hoaglin Fine Catering wanted them, I seriously didn't know what to say about that.  I know most don't see me as an overly humble person (though, really, deep down I'm that insecure guy cowering in the corner), but I was really just humbled by it.

So, it was a rather amazing weekend.  Heck, even one of the volunteers for the Masquerade recognized me from by blog!  With all that though, the best part of the entire weekend is the fact that I'm taking the next three days off from work!  I'm going to make this a focus on me time.  Most of all, I'm going to go to the gym all three days, and I hope this will get me back into a groove.  I am ABSOLUTELY tired of my current appearance, and I have used this "being busy" excuse to keep me from the gym for far too long. It's going to be a beautiful three days, and I'll even be able to ride my bike to the gym.

Here's to getting back to the gym, back to blogging, back to a someone less busy life, AND to voting tomorrow!

Tuesday, October 21st - "I'm Gunna Kick Some Ass with my Own Pipewrench"

For reference, the title comes from the YouTube video below, but more on that in a minute...

I know I have been less than substantive in my blog posts lately, and it is not that I do not have that much to say (okay, maybe it is). However, October has been an inordinately busy month at work and extra-curricularly (is that even a word?), which has really just kind of left me in a literary lurch -- not knowing where to even begin. When I first started blogging, I went on and on at great detail about what is happening, and I'm not sure anyone gave a damn about it.

Since I'm not feeling the need to produce interconnected narrative, I'm just going to bullet the things swirling in my head right now:

• Halloween - I'm going to admit a gay sacrilege.  I'm not a huge fan of Halloween.  I do love that other people get into it so much, and I certainly enjoy all the creative outfits.  However, when it comes to me in a costume, well, I'd rather just skip it.  The fact that it is a Gay High Holy Month, just makes it all the worse, because god forbid, we actually wear the same outfit twice.  So, I'm faced with buying two outfits for a party on Friday and the Bag Lady Bus Tour on Saturday.  Oy!  At least I know what I'm going to go as (Herman Munster & The Mad Hatter), but finding the time between now and Friday to hit Goodwill is just going to be nigh on impossible.  I'm considering taking a half day on Thursday.  We'll see.  I'll also need to get a third outfit for the Grande Masquerade on the 1st.  Oy...
• Parking Tickets - I will be starting my third year at my current apartment, and with my lease renewal, I sent in some minor complaints that I would love to have addressed.  The first, of course, was the fixing of my ceiling tit, which doesn't leak anymore...it just looks ugly.  The second was I noticed my french doors leaked a little when they were getting pelted with rain, which doesn't happen often because they are east facing, but it is more the notion that if they leak water they certainly leak air.  Finally, I wanted them to repaint the lines in the parking lot because they have faded so badly, my nimrod neighbors can't seem to park in anyway resembling an organized fashion.  Oddly, they've painted the handicap places, which is funny because not only do you have to go down steps to get to the buildings, there are no elevators.  So, if you're handicap, this is not the building for you.  Anyway, my complaint is because we tend to be full on weekends, not because of too many cars, but because the neighbors park stupidly.  So, when I get home late at night, I can't find a parking place, which is what happened on Sunday.  Now, we share a lot with some sort of half way house (yeah no clue), and the only spot left was one marked for employees.  Well, since my only other option was to sit in the lot and wait for someone to leave, which was unlikely at 11:00 on a Sunday night, I just took the spot.  Yeah, I know.  When I went out to get in my car to go the Grand Masquerade meeting, I had a parking ticket -- in my own parking lot!  PISSED!
• OMG is Dead - Appropos of nothing, I sent my mother a link from the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ - Daily...HA!), that talked about the dump in our hometown being fitted with generators to convert methane gas to electricity.  I grew up out in the country near a lot of farmland, but about 4 miles from my house was also the aforementioned dump, which might explain the third eye that I desperately try to conceal.  I thought it was a cool idea that my mother would find interesting.  And then it happened.  My 61 year old mother replied with "OMG! I wonder if your grandmother knows about this!" My Mother.  Actually typed..."OMG!".  Seriously... (though as a sidebar, I giggled at the end of Gossip Girl last night when they showed the first album of original music used in the series is being called OMFGG - Original Music Featured on Gossip Girl - that I choose to actually think is Oh My eFFin Gossip Girl).
  

So anyway....onto the video.

Have you ever watched a music video that seems to actually have nothing to do with the song lyrically.  Well, someone on YouTube has recorded a literal lyrical version of "Take on Me" by A-Ha.  It's pretty hysterical!

Take On Me - Literally:

Wednesday, October 15th - National Grouch Day

Yes, today is National Grouch Day, and I don't think it has anything to do with tomorrow being National Boss Day. Hmmm or maybe it does?!?

Anyway, since I really have nothing to be overly grouchy about other than being annoyed with putting together the Grande Masquerade program or staying out a little too late last night, I am going to make a list of things right now that make me decidedly un-grouchy:

1. Brook Shields - This is two fold.  First up are her commercials for the Volkswagen Routan.  She's just so Dailey Show dry in her delivery about women getting pregnant just so they can buy the Routan and experience German engineering.  It almost makes you forgive Suddenly Susan.  Watch the Video  I'm also loving Brook right now because I'm a big girl and I love Lipstick Jungle!

2. Womanizer - Boy, don't try to front ah ah....

3. Pushing Daisies - Best.Show.On.Television.Soon.To.Die.More.Than.Likely

4. Battlestar Galactica - Returning January 16th! Woot! Final Episodes Boo!

5. Solitare City Lite - Double Klondike Solitare on my iPhone.  Addiction, I stare you in the face and .... uh ... play  more

I am sure I could think of more, but I'm starting to see a trend in the fact that escapist stuff is making me happy right now...

Uh oh...here comes the grouchy thoughts...

Monday, October 13th - You Say I'm Crazy? I've Got Your Crazy....

*cough* *ahem* Um...yes, I am actually still alive.

Last week was just one of those weeks where for various reasons, I just didn't feel like doing or saying anything. Trust me, I accumulated plenty I *want* to say, but at this point, I'm going to let them simmer. I certainly have some things to spew about concerning anonymous commentators and even anonymous emails, but I think I'll save that for a day when I'm in a particularly bad mood, ready to spew invective!

Today is the first day where I've felt normal, and even though I am still incredibly busy, I figured it was a good idea to at least say something here. So there..."something"

And, a Britney moment of Zen:



When I first heard "Womanizer," I have to say I didn't really care for it. I kind of share the same derision as Romeo has for songs that call a refrain just the same thing repeated over and over again, which is what Brit Brit does in Womanizer. Though then it kicks into a nice, real refrain where she try's to talk like the hip kids singing "Boy don't try to front ah ah, I know just what you ah ah ah..." This is where it happens...this is where it drills into your frontal lobe. Even if she sounds like she's channeling Betty Davis in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" (But ya ARH, Blanch...ya ARH!)

The best part about the video (outside of the insanely hot dude in it), is the fact that Brit seems to be all together now. Dare I say it...she appears to be having fun, which is the difference from the last album, which had good songs, but it was definitely a "lights are on, but..." proposition. Yes Yes Yes, I know Brit cannot sing her way out of a paper bag, but there is something to be said for entertainment value. Praise Prozac, It's Britney, bitch!

Monday, September 29th - I Need a Vacation

The weekend was another busy one. I had actually hemmed and hawed about going out on Friday, because I had gone out a few more times than planned during the week, but I got a text from a friend I had not seen in a while, so, I gathered myself and met Blanche at Talbott Street for some drag and then onto Greg's. It was a pretty fun night, kinda laid back..no complaints.

On Saturday, I got up and went and did laundry, and on my way home, I stopped at the store so I could make some brownies to take to a party on Saturday night. It was kind of a tight schedule because I didn't get home until 2 and the party was at 6. I did manage to get the brownies together, and I went to the party with my former co-workers where I proceeded to get quite inebriated, but hey, who knew I cold hold so much Patron tequila without vomiting. Mom would be proud! After settling down a bit, I wandered home and walked down to Greg's. I think this will be what I miss most about the summer: my discovery that walking too and from Greg's is not that big of a deal. Winter is so gonna suck! I can still walk to Talbott because they have a coat check, but Greg's only has lockers, which is a pretty big hassle.

Sunday was busy as well, mainly because I didn't really stir from slumber until about noon. I had to run into work for a couple of hours to install new computers in our classroom, and then I spent the rest of the day watching some TV and making some stuff for a pot luck Desperate Housewives party, which, btw, if you haven't seen it, it definitely rocked. I know the fast forward is kind of a cliche, but I really think moving the story lines ahead 5 years will give the writers a lot of fodder, which is a good thing.

Closing this down....I was going to rant about co-dependent gay men, but I've decided to save it. I'm still simmering...woo

Tuesday, September 23rd - Whoooooeeeeeee!

As I'm sure you've probably guessed because of the lack of updates around here, I have been busy and sick, sick and busy for much of the last 5 days.  After an aggravated emergency call to a doctor friend of mine on Sunday, I am happy to say that the antibiotics coursing through my system are working wonders, and I should be fully functional and phlegm free by Thursday!  It was really quite miraculous.  I took the first dose of the Z-pac on Sunday, and I almost felt instantly better.  Maybe it was a placebo effect, but man, I wish I'd just gone to the doctor now instead of trying to ride it out, but when you've had a history of ear, nose, and throat problems like I have, you learn to not do that all the time.

Anyway, I am also happy to report that some projects that I've been working on for a while and have lead me to probably have greyer hair are coming to fruition.  Halle Pino & Friends Present: A Night on the Bayou was a complete success, though for a while the weather was threatening to end it all.  We ended up raising over $4400 to go towards a continued conversation for a GLBT Community Center here in Indianapolis, which is an incredibly significant amount when you consider there are those that think it is a non-starter.  The thing that really makes me chuckle about all this, is that we raised a third of what we raise here at work with our smaller fundraiser of the year, and it took half the time, a third of the people, and it was 3000 times more fun.

The Grande Masquerade is coming along, and I am at least more than half done with the graphic design duties.  It has been a tremendous learning experience for me because I cut my teeth on web graphic design, which is an entirely different beast from print.  This will be very helpful if I ever want to work in communications, which is something I've always wanted to do.

Finally, the Indy Pride website.  It's launched!  It is what I am calling a soft launch, because only one other person I happened to be chatting with at 1am last night has seen the finished product.  The site isn't completely done yet, but I had to get something out the door because people were getting antsy.  I can understand where they are coming from, but they also have no clue how much time and effort it takes to build a website from the ground up.  It's not like I was using a design wizard or something.  Plus, they've been keeping my busy with other stuff, too.  Of course, a lot of it was me trying to find graphical inspiration that was both professional and fun, which is no easy task, but the site is up.  All the pages work (though they may not have any content yet), and I am happy to have it out there.

So anyway...busy busy busy, and good lord, October is going to be here soon!

Wednesday, September 17th - I'm Back

Sorta...

I am back to work today, and even though I feel extremely better, I still sound like Selma and/or Patty (or both).  I hope this clears out soon, because I'm supposed to do some announcing a Halle Pino's Bayou Bash this weekend, which might be rather funny, come to think of it.

I've been firing on all cylinders this morning, which is actually pretty good because outside of configuring some laptops from home yesterday, I am dreadfully behind with things I needed to get done this week, which if things had gone as planned, would have had me taking Friday and Monday off to prep/recover from the festivities of the weekend.  I'm still planning on taking Friday off, but I'm not so sure Monday is going to happen, just out of guilt.  We'll see.

Also, WTF people, didn't you find the pictures I posted yesterday funny? :)  Gimme some comments!  The picture with the giant booze bottle on the roof of a smashed car is totally undoctered and taken from a digital picture of my TV.

Anyway, a funny thing happened today that I would like to share.  We have a transitional housing part to our shelter, which means someone could live there up to two years.  We give them a bit more leeway, since they are unlikely to just skip out, and they actually pay rent and stuff.  Anyway, they have a computer in their area, and since I really don't have time to monitor it, I gave it to them as is with the caveat if they do something bad to it, that's it.  Well, lately they've been breaking the rules by browsing dating sites and chatting on IM.  So, I installed this software that allows us to completely monitor every site and every chat they have.  The first one that popped up was for a screen name along the lines of "lick_me_right_there" (not the exact name), and all of us just about dropped our teeth.  Lordy...who knew spying was so fun.