Answering Machines

When I lived with my first girl friend I got to be in charge of the answering machine greeting. At the time I could do a damn fine Tina Turner impersonation, so I used it on the machine...I can't remember what the hell I said/sung anymore, but it must have been entertaining because we got a lot more people calling and not leaving messages. At the time, we were one digit off from Pizza Slut, so we got a lot of wrong-numbers, so I had a captive audience. What is my voicemail greeting these days? "Hey, I can't hear worth a damn so speak slow and loud please." Ain't it great to get old?

I thought of this because of an answering machine greeting that frequently triggers in my head when I have forgotten what I'm doing. I used to do reminder calls at one of my jobs so I got to hear many greetings, and my favorite being from Debbie; "I have no idea where I am or what I'm doing, but please leave a message." I feel like I should have that tattooed on my forehead.

Is this a step above "the cute thing that my kittie did today"?

Stupid class and boycotts

It's almost time for the semester to be over, and oh my, am I ever burnt out. Class #1, research and evaluation...that says it all, yes?

Class #2, Human Sexuality. Ok, now you would think this would be a cool right? Yeah. Well, it is sooo not. Chapter 8, Homosexuality. "Umm, we'll get to that later."
Excuse me? Later?!

Well, it's later, and there is no time for the homosexuality chapter. She also neglected to show the scheduled homo movie for that chapter. What do we take our time up with instead?

Well, there was that 2-hour space taken up by splitting us into four groups to build penises and vaginas out of toilet paper tubes and puff balls. And there was the hour spent passing around ancient contraceptives, that I had to explain the usage of to her. Yeah. This is my $1300 hard at work. I am happy to note that everyone is pissed off about this class, particularly about having their intelligence insulted weekly.

On another note: Let the boycotts continue. Cinemark and Century Rio both contributed to Prop H8. For those of us in Burque, that means the only "dollar theatre". If your going to go, at least sneak in your own snacks cuz that is where they make their money anyway.

Doing our part for the economy

This week I was teaching a motorcycle class and I was able to get Chris into the class. This weekend we were going to shop around, and well, 4-hours later after driving up to R&S Yamaha, we drove home with Chris' new love. We found an 07 V-Star, complete with all the necessary add-ons, with only 4K miles...and it's pretty (the latter being the same reason I bought mine). I have to admit that I am a little jealous...hers has far more ground clearance than mine so she can take the turns hotter than I can.

dreams

So, I keep having dreams about people I have had falling-outs with. In the dreams we're all happy sharing space and having a warm fuzzy moment. I don't know if this is an omen that I should reach out to them, or just that I'm trying to work out the dis-harmony in my dreams, or what. I am happy to have the warm fuzzy dreams...just disappointed when I wake up and realize that it was just a dream.

12 good lines

At the book signing last Saturday, Jane was asked about her writing habits and schedule. She stated that she required "12 good lines" of herself everyday. There were different requirements for different stages of her books, but that was the one that stuck in my mind. 12 good lines seems like a do-able task. It bothers me that I have put aside all of my writing projects. Due to my work/school/internship schedule, I don't have a lot of time to devote to writing, but the truth is; I piss off a lot of time on the internet, or watching television...or just starring off into space. Not every day could I do 12 good lines, but there are certainly days that I could...I just have to decide what is more important.

I run into this 'importance' problem when it comes to my body as well. I don't mind working out, in fact I quite enjoy it. The problem is with my eating habits. I LOVE food. Good food that is. And up to now I have been unwilling to make my diet a priority, or to make food sacrifices. In the past couple of months, I have been able to shift my attitude a bit in favor of developing the body that I would prefer to have. More than anything it has been an exercise in willingness. Now I just have to get willing to set aside time for writing.

Following the X

So, I finally got my DNA results from Genographic project.

Haplogroup K
Interestingly, her descendants gave rise to several different subgroups, some of which exhibit very specific geographic homelands...today they harbor specific European, northern African, and Indian components, and are found in Arabia, the northern Caucasus Mountains, and throughout the Near East.
While some members of your haplogroup headed north into Scandinavia, or south into North Africa, most members of your group moved northward out of the Near East. These women crossed the rugged Caucasus Mountains in southern Russia, and moved on to the steppes of the Black Sea. Interestingly, your haplogroup is also very significant because some specific lineages within this group constitute three of the four major Ashkenazi Jewish founding lineages.

Interestingly, they used "interestingly" twice in a short space of words. I don't know at the moment that I feel like I have a better sense of 'where I come from', but it's a start, and when I'm not under a pile of homework I will study up on this further.

Yet another Passionate statement

Just in case I'm not the last person in the 'Verse to have seen this one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JalfEfZVk_M

How a Republican made me cry...

the title says it all. Thanks Christie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rfea8iEGNw

Drag Queen Bingo!

Sunday, NM AIDS Services held a fundraiser; Drag Queen Bingo. Chris and I volunteered, and I volunteered Chris and I to go in drag. I was Tex Longhorn, Chris was Bob the Builder. The Queens were hysterical and Queens tend to be, and a good time was had by all. And I'm told that Donnie Chase was very disappointed to find out that I was a chick. So perhaps, there was one who did not have a good time.

13

Last night Chris and I went to Jane Lindskold's talk/book signing at Page One. Have I mentioned that Jane is my new favorite author? The woman even baked chocolate chip cookies for the event...how can you not love her? She really is an incredible writer, and I have to say, it is such a pleasure to listen to someone speak who has such an amazing vocabulary...which is a truly rare and wonderous thing hear in Burque. (sigh) If she comes to a bookstore near you, even if you aren't a fan of science-fiction/fantasy, go! You will be won over!

If you happen to be a fan, or would like to know more about Jane, she is doing a temporary blog for Tor...the link is below.

http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=7290

I wept

Yesterday at 11:30 am, there was a Protest of Proposition 8 (H8), at Civic Plaza. Sadly, I forgot my camera, so all I have is a couple of mini-photos that we took on Chris' cellphone. To the left are my two favorite signs from the rally; "What if My Vote Disallowed Your Marriage?", and "No Special Rights for Heterosexuals."

And yes, I wept. I wept in anger that we have such a battle ahead of us and we don't have the financial resources of the many (so called) Churches to support us, I wept in sadness that in only two states can Chris and I get married (and at any time those states could vote to change that), and I wept with Love, for all of the support and camaraderie I felt from all of the people at the rally.

Reminder to self...

I Love this woman and I want to marry her...that is why this is my reminder as to why I am so furious about the many states who decided to pass legislation banning gay marriage. This is my reminder as to why I am not going to let this issue go. This is my reminder that I am coming from a place of the Heart, not a place of Hate. This is my reminder that I have a greater capacity for Love and Joy than hate and fear.

And these people need a big ol kiss...

In my search for companies that I might run into that I might just need to boycott, I found this lovely tid-bit that I was un-aware of. Please feel free to email google and Apple to let them know that you applaud their efforts to fight discrimination. This from the LA Times:

Apple giving $100,000 to anti-Prop. 8 campaign
Donating on behalf of same-sex marriage is seen as risky for a consumer goods firm.
By Michelle Quinn October 25, 2008
Reporting from San Francisco -- Apple Inc. said Friday that it was donating $100,000 to fight the proposed ban on same-sex marriages in California, taking a rare political stand that may win over some customers and irk others.The computer and gadget maker joined such companies as Google Inc., Qualcomm Inc. and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in declaring opposition to Proposition 8, which would define marriage as only between a man and woman.

"We strongly believe that a person's fundamental rights -- including the right to marry -- should not be affected by their sexual orientation," Apple said.Wading into a social issue with a six-figure donation is unusual and risky for a company that sells goods primarily to consumers, according to marketing and corporate governance experts. Although Apple has long pitched itself as a counterculture brand, products such as the iPod and iPhone have brought it into the mainstream.

Let the Boycotts begin!

Oh, sad day. I just received word that Blake's Lotaburger supported Proposition 8. I encourage everyone to boycott! As soon as I have contact information so we can all send them nasty letters letting them know that they are being boycotted, not just suffering from the poor economy, I will post said info.

Kwan Yin

I planted these flowers back in September, and to be honest I didn't really think they would survive more than a week or two, but here they are, flourishing under the careful watch of Kwan Yin. Most of my life I have hated fall...I was unable to appreciate the beauty of the leaves changing color and falling because all I could think of was the long, bitter winter to come. Living in Albuquerque has taught me an appreciation of the fall...especially since fall here is so mild. Seeing Kwan Yin surrounded by the fallen leaves gives me a little peace of mind that I am unable to conjure myself...Thank Kwan Yin.

Just for a change

In case anyone is getting sick of the gay marriage rants...for those of you in 'Burque, my new favorite author is doing a talk and book signing at Page One:

SATURDAY • NOVEMBER 15 • 7 PM • TALK AND BOOK SIGNINGJane LindskoldTHIRTEEN ORPHANSAs evocative and moving as Charles de Lint’s Newford books, with the youthful protagonists and exciting action of Mercedes Lackey’s fantasies, Thirteen Orphans makes our world today as excitingly strange and unfamiliar as any fantasy realm. . . and grants readers a glimpse of a fantasy world founded by ancient Chinese lore and magic.As far as college freshman Brenda Morris knows, there is only one Earth and magic exists only in fairy tales. But Brenda is wrong.A father-daughter weekend turns into a nightmare when Brenda’s father is magically attacked before her eyes. Brenda soon learns that her ancestors once lived in world of smoke and shadows, of magic and secrets. When that world’s Emperor was overthrown, the Thirteen Orphans fled to our earth and hid their magic system in the game of mah-jong. Each Orphan represents an animal from the Chinese Zodiac. Brenda’s father is the Rat. And her polished, former child-star aunt, Pearl—that eminent lady is the Tiger.Only a handful of Orphans remain to stand against their enemies. The Tiger, the Rooster, the Dog, the Rabbit . . . and Brenda Morris. Not quite the Rat, but not quite human either. (Tor Books)Jane Lindskold is the bestselling author of the Firekeeper series, which began with Through Wolf’s Eyes and concluded with Wolf’s Blood, as well as many other fantasy novels. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico

We'll Be Back! (insert Ah-nold accent)

Posted with permission below (in Red, White, and Blue) is a response to my "rant" blog from another one of Chris' neices. It is very enheartening to have strong, positive support from people I haven't even met yet, but people who are family none-the-less.

Last night as I was brushing my teeth I came up with the idea of boy-cotting California and everything from California. If the state felt the economic crunch, especially in these times of economic hard-ship, would they re-think their ease at passing discriminatory legislation against a sizalbe group of individuals? Chris made the point of "shouldn't we boycott all of the states that have done this?" It is certainly a consideration, but I think California would be a good start. So, all four of my readers, what do you think? Are you willing to boycott all California products? I'm sure they'll feel the crunch! :)

(Jeanette, your exempt since you live there...that would just be too hard.)
Three people can make a difference, right? This is America, after all!

aunt chris-i sent your email to my good friend from college, kate, whose dad is gay and who is also very disasppointed in what happened in AZ and CA. Her response is below. Just thought you might want to hear from someone who is passionate about this issue just like you are. I as well am very sad about what happened and hope this will change before long. I support you and LuAnn and many other people do, too.thanks for sending this. have a good day!-megan

Thanks for sending this Meg. It's good to know there are other people as angry about it as I am and as my family is. It is time for people to vote NO on these issues. There needs to be a strong and clear separation of Church and State. And Church and Hate for that matter.

In truth, I am shocked that people voted (overwhelmingly!) for Obama for "change" and then voted yes to these ridiculous marriage amendments. It is voting for the ultimate in progression and at the same time for the ultimate in regression. I am extremely disappointed in Arizona, although not really surprised. CA surprises me. And it scares me that Prop 8 passed there. We can't change the fact that these discriminatory propositions were passed, but what we can do is speak out and educate people about these issues, especially those of us that have personal ties to the people it effects the most.

I would encourage you to send this email to as many people as possible (with your Aunt's permission of course) and let people see for themselves how it feels to be a victim of legal discrimination. It makes me sick that people voted for these propositions and it makes me that much more motivated to ensure it doesn't happen again. When will your Aunt Christine and LuAnn and my Dad and James and the other 36 million+ people in this country receive equal rights?

Thanks for sending this Meg, this is good for me to see and read. Sorry this email sounds a bit passionate, I am just so tired of watching people vote to legalize discrimination against the people I > love-Kate

It's Raining Men

Another tid-bit from my friend Jeremy. I will note that he 'didn't have time to check source info'.

11/6/08; the County of Santa Clara filed a lawsuit with San Francisco and Los Angeles that petitions the California Supreme Court to direct State officials to refrain from implementing, enforcing or applying Proposition 8. The lawsuit asserts that: "the California Constitution does not allow a bare majority of voters to divest a minority group of rights conferred by the equal protection clause. The 1911 Amendment to the California Constitution creating the initiative process provides that, while initiatives can amend the Constitution to help further its purpose, initiatives cannot be used to revise its basic structure, which includes the notion of equality. Thus, Proposition 8 is not a valid constitutional amendment."

Tonight I ran into a friend who said to me, "this California thing is taking away your civil rights...this is America, you can't just do that." From the mouths of babes. I know we have come a long way in some ways, but I'm not satisfied with things being 'a little better than they used to be'...I will not be satisfied until we won't feel the need to have "Pride" parades because we have the same rights and the same responsibilities as everyone else, because we will be equal, because we will be considered 'normal'. Oh hell, we should still have parades because we're all attention whores. And we will continue to dress up like fairies and prance around in leather and/or lace to celebrate the hero's who finally stood up to the arrests, the demoralizations, the rapes, and the beatings at the hands of the police and said "No more!" the day of the Stonewall Riots.

Tonight a classmate told of being in Paris and the one lesbian float was playing It's Raining Men..."How sad was that?!"
Very sad Scott, very.

A perfect illustration of my point...and I do have one

Thank you to Jeremy, one of my 3 readers...for this link in regards to my post from yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H3kxDFgmu8

Married until proven otherwise

My friend Katie (who happens to be the fabulous woman who introduced me to Chris) recently went to California to get married to her partner of 7 years. After the passing of Proposition 8 she hung this tank-top outside of her cube at work. What it says since you can't really tell is, "MARRIED UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE."

A couple weeks before Katie and T went to CA to get married, we were at a BBQ together. Seeing Chris and I being all ga-ga over each other, she said to us, "You know, T and I have been together for 7 years and we still wake up in Love with each other every morning. I wish that for you guys."

How often do we encounter couples who are so in Love? How is it that a group of people can say to these beautiful, Loving women, "No, you can't get married because the Bible says that marriage is between a man and a woman." Excuse me, marriage wasn't invented by the Christians. I'm not going to go on a historical rant about what marriage is and has been, but I will say; lets not forget that it wasn't that long ago that caucasians weren't allowed to marry people of color...based on something that the bible supposedly said. Where do we draw the line? If you want to quote the bible, let us not forget the passage where Lot and his daughters engage in incest, but nobody is fighting to legalize incest because 'the bible said so.' And I'm sure good Christians will argue context on that, but lets face it, it is purely hypocritical to argue "context" only on the issues one chooses to.

Marriage isn't solely an institution for Christians, otherwise only Christians would be getting married. Love is a Human Right, as is Marriage. It is time to cut the bull$#*! and dispense Rights equally.

Justice for All

Upon reading my last post, my fabulous gf forwarded the post to several of her family members. I was touched by their support, and their support fueled my fire to keep on fighting the good fight. With permission, I have included C's niece's response.

Response from my niece, Jeanette. Wow. Made me cry a little…

I was so sad to wake up this morning to see that not only my home state but my new adopted state are supporting hatred and fear. People around school today had all sorts of explanations about why Prop 8 passed but there is only one- the American people are not as tolerant as they would wish the world to believe. I often ride the city bus to school and have the opportunity to speak to a wide variety of humans. Yesterday I spoke to an African-American couple who were offended when I compared this fight to the civil rights movement. They could not see the correlation between a movement promoting equal rights for all races to a movement promoting equal rights for all sexual orientation. How do you make people see that? I've heard people blame Prop 8 passing on religious groups but I don't think that's necessarily the case. I think there's still a culture of closeted/latent hatred and disgust towards homosexuality and it takes elections like this to bring that out in the open. It just saddens me to know that the state and country in which I choose to live is not living up a basic idea that we learned in grade school- liberty and justice FOR ALL. I love you much,Jeanette

And I agree with Jeanette. It's not just the religious right (wrong). It is the everyday folks who have it stuck in their heads that marriage is something only for them ("normal" and "straight" being their belief). Case in point, a man that I worked with who "had no problem with gay people", and in fact I have a great relationship with said to me one day "I understand that these people want to get married, but they don't get that marriage just isn't for them...they have to do something else." The question I didn't ask because I was so flabbergasted was, "Why isn't it for us?"

And or course this brings up the question of "what is marriage?" There are many answers of course, but historically, it has much to do with ownership (particularly ownership of women) and/or creating alliances. So are straight people who oppose gay marriage just afraid that by forming these strong gay-alliances through marriage we will pull a William Wallace and overthrow the straights???

(sigh) (rant)

So I stayed up long enough to see that Obama would be our new president. This morning, non-routine conscious act was to turn on my computer to see what else had happened in the election. I was relieved to see that the democrats swept our state. The next important thing, and the thing that was really 2nd only to the presidential election was Proposition 8 in California which would define marriage as between a man and a woman. As of the moment, the measure is winning, but not all of the precincts have reported in. I'm not holding out much hope, however.

There was a time not so long ago when I didn't really care about gay marriage. I mean, certainly I wanted us to have the same legal rights as straight people, but marriage just seemed like a hassle. Today though, I want to be able to marry my girl friend if I so choose, and I so choose. We plan on waiting a while, but we know we both want to get married...but our chances for being able to do so are looking slimmer and slimmer. Certainly we could do a commitment ceremony, but, lets face it; commitment ceremonies are a table scraps, they're the cheap imitation knock-off. I don't want SPAM, I want a pork chop. I want the same legal rights as my siblings, my neighbors, my countrymen. I pay my income tax, I pay sales tax, I vote, I abide by the laws; so why is it that I don't get the same legal rights as the other 90% of the American population? When anyone can call their roommate their 'domestic partner', domestic partnership is nothing but a sham and it takes away from the dignity and commitment of my relationship with my 'PARTNER'...and while I'm at it, I'm so frakking sick of hearing straight married people refer to their spouses as their 'partners'. Frak you, you have a 'HUSBAND' or 'WIFE'! I can't say that I have a wife, so don't demean me, or try to identify with me or come down to 'my level' like a kindergarten teacher kneeling down and talking slowly to one of her students; WE have partners, you have spouses, so don't be impinging on our terminology until I can say, my WIFE! Too bad the people who read this aren't the guilty ones.

I guess I need to call mom and celebrate Obama's win.

Mom

Ok, so mom's not all bad. Last night while I was working on my blog she called to tell me to make sure that I had gone and voted...for Obama. I love my mom. My brother, however, is a moron. I will say nothing more about him at the moment, but I am happy to report that mom made sure his daughter (who is studying law) voted for Obama as well.

The full effect of Carol as Mom

Sadly, I am not computer adept enough to flip the image, but I think it adds to the disturbing nature that it is meant to convey.

Oh, I forgot to mention in the other blog that my new and improved mother called tonight to make sure that I had voted for Obama. I love her.

Halloween, mom, computer

I have been having problems with my computer and as a result haven't been able to post as often as I would like. So, in my head is a scrambled bit of tid-bits that have been fermenting for a couple of days.

I love Halloween. Someone on Halloween asked "Is that your costume?" I responded truthfully, "I would dress up everyday if people wouldn't look at me funny, so I guess for today, 'yes, this is my costume.'" C and I talked about what we were going to do that night. Dancing of course seemed like the obvious choice, so we asked around to all of our gay friends for suggestions on where to go. After a busy afternoon of running around, we returned home for dinner, took off our hot costumes, watched some TV, finished our vampire-detective novel and went to bed. Not a bad day, but we still need to go dancing.

Our friend Carol, pictured above in the white nighty was "Dead to the world". Sadly, she looked much like my mother. And sadly, she acted much like my mother when she was on her 'nerve' pills. My mother had a little problem with 'nervous breakdowns' when I was a kid, and as a result she had an unending prescription to some anxiety med. So when she 'couldn't take it any more' she would just take a couple of extra of her 'mother's little helpers' and drag her feet around the house doing the Thorazine-(ozzy)-shuffle...or if you were around Friday, the Carol-shuffle. I have to report that my mother did get herself off the pills in her 60's. Kudos to her. Now if we could just get her to an alanon meeting.

Back to the photo, Josh on the right was a trailer-park granny(Can someone take me to Walmart later?), and the lovely Chris being 'Pimp-Daddy' meant that I had to be, ahem, 'Yo-ho-Ho'.