June 2003 Archives

I came across this article on quick mobs. Participants get an email detailing where to go pick up info on the gathering (in this case, one of three bars depending on what letter your last name starts with). Once there someone will dispense the details of the actual rendezvous and everyone shows up to participate in what is actually a peaceful gathering of a whole lotta people. You have to know someone to get the email. The gathering only lasts for 10 minutes and one of the key elements is rapid assembly and dispersal. The email also provides a stock answer that you must adhere to if questioned about your presence.

The first instance of it took place in New York City a couple weeks ago. Another one is scheduled for the near future and there are plans to do it in other cities, I believe. I am dying to organize one of these here.

An article about it on iWire (which references Smartmobs, the website affiliated with Howard Rheingold's book on the subject) also mentions Detroit Guerilla Queer Bar as an interesting variation on the "inexplicable mob." Detroit's version of GQB is one of many around the country. It's sort of like the smart mob version of a circuit party. The party isn't advertised and you don't get all the details until the last minute. Don't know if I'll be attending any, but I signed up to get the secret info.

I mourned the loss of Philo and Choire's East West Magazine, even though I found it relatively late in the game. But Philo is back at it! He and Nancy (aka JillMatrix) have a new venture called Queer Day:

Welcome to Queer Day, a new dawn for all things queer on the world wide web, one stop on the net for the very latest in news from around the globe, as well as showcasing sites queer specific and not that aren't worth missing. Except for our original content, we give you a slice of what to expect and a link for you to go get more if you're interested. We're here to untangle the web for you and invite you to join us in the process.

Shweet!

I had to work at 7 am today and yesterday morning. As I'm driving through the farmland on my way in to work, I saw a pack of cows just starting to wake up as the sun was coming up. I guess it was nice. Except that I was watching cows wake to the rising sun.

--my sister, Emily

New Memoirable from Rossi.

So we all know by now that the day before the Supreme Court's striking down of sodomy laws, there was a proposal referred to the House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution.

As drafted, the proposal says:

"Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any state under state or federal law shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says:

"I very much feel that marriage is a sacrament, and that sacrament should extend and can extend to that legal entity of a union between, what is traditionally in our Western values has been defined, as between a man and a woman," said Frist, of Tennessee. "So I would support the amendment."

Add to that his thoughts on the sodomy ruling:

"I have this fear that this zone of privacy that we all want protected in our own homes is gradually — or I'm concerned about the potential for it gradually being encroached upon, where criminal activity within the home would in some way be condoned.

"Generally, I think matters such as sodomy should be addressed by the state legislatures," Frist said. "That's where those decisions — with the local norms, the local mores — are being able to have their input in reflected."

Sooo, the states should be able to decide on sodomy. But you want to AMEND THE CONSTITUTION to prohibit gay marriage. Am I wrong in understanding that a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT takes the power away from the states to "with the local norms, the local mores" define marriage as it sees fit?

Hello, Church? This is the State. Get the fuck out of my house!

Before now I never considered moving to Canada or anywhere, say Down Under, because, while it might be nice, it's not better than living here. But if this even comes close to going anywhere, I am getting the fuck out of here.

Sounds like we've got this pre-emptive strike thing down pat.

They agree with me at morons.org.

And Bill Frist can take his Medicare bill and shove it up his ass, since it's legal to do that at home, now. Appropriately, it seems "he has done a masterful job of driving this bill through."

Do you ever catch yourself doing something, perhaps a personal grooming activity, and think, "I would die if anyone caught me doing this"? Rhetorical question, of course.

My friend Carla wrote me a poem once. I thought I'd share.

There once was a girl named Irk
Who has an amusing quirk
She hates the word "moist"
But I think she's just boist*
and on her feet she wears some Birk(s)

*There was this girl (not Carla) on this message board and she was really dumb (e.g. "Sigmund and Freud") and gross and couldn't spell ("boist" = "biased").

I really like this family ritual. I might have to try that.

I had a blogger sex dream. It was good, too.

BucaChat was so fun! I was afraid I'd missed it, but no! Boobies Galore! And a conspicuous absence of moobs or peni. Hrm....

I can die now.

UPDATE: It's only fair.

A previous trip to Casa Dominick's resulted in a pint-sized mason jar in my kitchen. This evening's trip resulted in a 1/2-gallon-sized mason jar to go with it. This means I need to fill it with my homemade reasonable approximation of Dominick's sangria. I'm so proud of myself.

I didn't know this going in, but the folks I went with were actually attending a going-on-4th-year med students' party. Those are some rowdy muthafuckas. And it appears that U-M Med School's affirmative action policies make for a very good looking class if nothing else. Lots of eye candy. And what is it about drunk girls groping each other?

I'm convinced that I saw no less than 6 people I've had a class with or lived near. I couldn't place everyone, though. It was kind of strange.

Sashay, Shantay

That wasn't it, but it's been in my head for a week now.

I have nothing of value to add to the blogosphere today, but I refuse to stoop to the Friday Five for material (but, I mean, it's cool that other people do). I'm on my way to Ann Arbor for a little sangria love.

Sashay, shantay. Shantay shantay shantay. Woo!

Le Gustere was on Last Call with I'm A Big Tool Carson Daly last night/this morning. They sang Amsterdam. I have photo documentation.

Adam and Ryan I
Adam and Ryan II
Adam I
Ryan
Adam II
Brian
Adam, Carson, Brian, Ryan

Can anybody look at the three Charlie's Angels and not think about sex? You don't necessarily have to be participating. You could just be watching.

I didn't think so.

I can't wait for this movie to come out. This is gonna be another leather pants occasion.

The National Do Not Call Registry goes live today. There are a several phases in the rollout, so check that out for more info.

In reading up on the reaction to the Supreme Court Affirmative Action decisions, I was reminded that I hate the term African-American. Really. I am not from Africa. And not only am I not from Africa, there are a whole lot of other black people who are not from Africa. They're from the Caribbean. Or other more southerly parts in this hemisphere. It's supposed to be such a politically correct term, and it's not. And it's a mouthful to say.

If anyone wants to explain to me the Hispanic vs. Latino thing, that would be cool. All I've found so far is that nobody from this country can agree if one is preferable over the other and that both are blanket terms to describe a whole range of people of Latin American (?) origin (Cubano, Tejano, Chicano, etc.).

I call myself "half-black-half-white." I'm more likely to lump myself in with black folks, if I'm going to lump at all. I never lump myself in with white folks. Sometimes my definition of myself depends on what point I'm trying to make. Sometimes I'm "only half-black" and sometimes I'm "half-white, too, ya know." I say that this issue doesn't bother me or that I don't worry about it, but I sure do think about it a lot.

I tend to use the blanket term brown to describe everyone that's not white (er, Anglo?). For example, "There are a lot less brown people in the Twin Cities than there are in Detroit." Some people seem to have issues with that. I guess I can see how you might, depending on the context. And maybe, to a small extent, depending on whether the speaker is brown or white.

And for the love, you cannot call people Oriental. Things, objects, goods from the region are Oriental. People are Asian.

By now I'm sure we've all heard about the Supreme Court decision to striking down sodomy laws. 6-3 in favor and Justice Scalia made ridiculous comments on behalf of the dissenters. Whateva. The SCOTUS also ruled 5-4 to overturn a previous ruling in a Georgia sodomy case.

Gay News Blog has a summary as well as a listing of rallies around the country.

For the Detroit area, there's a rally downtown, sponsored by the Triangle Foundation, at the Federal Courthouse (231 West Lafayette) at 6 PM. Call 313.537.3323 for info.

Chris has a nice bit up, too. She works for a GLBT non-profit and they've been anxiously awaiting these decisions.

UPDATE: Now this is just entertaining. Idiots.

I was tipped off on a really good sale on sheets today, so I had to get some (sheets). I was looking at my shopping cart listing, and I learned something about myself. Follow the arrow....

Who knew?

P.S. I bought towels yesterday and sheets today. What's with that? I don't even have anywhere to put them at the moment.

P.P.S. Between groceries, towels, and sheets, I have spent, in 2 days, the equivalent cost of the webcam on other mostly frivolous things. But those sheets were 75% off.

I hate to admit it, because Guster is my favoritest band ever. But I'm not in love with their new album, Keep It Together.

It's definitely their sound, but it feels a smidge different. Maybe a little more polished, more sophisticated. The decision to record Lost and Gone Forever without the use of one drumstick (so all hand percussion) made a bigger difference than I realized. Their older CDs sound more like they sound when they play live, which I think I like better. This one doesn't sound like that.

I didn't love Lost and Gone Forever when it first came out, but it grew on me and I like it just fine now. But I liked LaGF more initially, too.

My faves from KIT, in no particular order: Backyard, Homecoming King, Amsterdam, Come Downstairs and Say Hello, Two at a Time

I'll have to listen some more. I will listen until I like it. I will like it.

According to Adam Felber, there's a taping of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! in Ann Arbor tonight as part of Summerfest. I didn't know! Damn. I might have to make my way out there. Except that the cheap seats are $25.

This is just too good to pass by without sharing.

Jane at Social Reject (one of my new faves, btw) comes across a suspicious banner ad.

Moobs or Boobs? (Moob = Man Boob)

My results: Congratulations, you bloody pervert! You got them all right. Hell yeah!

(via MJ)

• Short short tight tight short tight shorts. On someone who is about to purchase a short short tight tight short tight pair of shorts. Said person unsuccessfully attempting to pick a wedge.
• Taylor Dayne: Tell it to My Heart
• Black Hair on the magazine rack
• Billy Graham on the magazine rack
• Towels, all the towels.
• Red Cups
• Beach Boys: Help Me Rhonda
• a puff of air as a motorized cart shopper passes by at close range
• "... can proceed to the joory counter."

I imagine reaching up to close the liftgate on the back of my car very much resembles spinning the big wheel on The Price is Right.

I've been wanting a webcam for a while. I haven't gotten one yet because every box I pick up at CompUSA lists all the Windows platforms that are supported and doesn't say diddly squat about Macs.

But. Voila!

The Apple iSight is soooo cute. It's way more than I want to spend ($149? shyeah). It works best with iChat (so AIM) which I hardly ever use (because I Yahoooooooo). But it can do normal webcam things even if I'm not videochatting. I rationalize.

I know there are other Mac-compatible webcams out there. I think the last time I checked I saw some the vicinity of $70-$100 and I thought that was already too much. So if anybody has any suggestions, I'll take 'em.

This is not about the weather.

This job searching thing seems to go in waves. Not much of anything for a while. Then all of a sudden I get calls right and left. (I have so far resisted the urge to determine the period and the amplitude of these waves.) I'll say no more on specifics, but I'm hoping for some good news by the end of the week.

I have turned down my best prospects on account of them all being located in Grand Rapids, MI. 'Sup with that? To their credit, nobody has tried to convince me that Grand Rapids is "not so bad" like that one guy with the job in Salt Lake City tried to tell me. What mofo born and raised in Tampa is gonna convince me that I would like living in Utah?

Guster's new CD, Keep It Together, is in stores today.

I must go buy it, and then drive around a lot so I can hear it all in the car, because that's my favorite place to listen.

Wimbledon started yesterday! And Lleyton Hewitt went out in the first round. Sweet.

Okay, now it's too hot. Thankfully no mosquitoes yet. But really, how do we go from 70 degrees to 90 degrees in two weeks? We had to turn the a/c on last night.

I'm ready for fall now.

University of Michigan Law school policy upheld; undergrad program overturned.

UPDATE:

After this whole Moxie vs. MoxiePop stupidness, I feel really silly for feigning indignation over the existence of Ericalynn (with-no-e, who I hear is pretty cool).

UPDATE: Especially now that someone has lost their job. Craziness.

I'm sitting on my front porch. The air has cooled off, but the cement is still warm. I'm drinking a Colorado Bulldog with Captain Morgan Swirlspice. The grass is freshly cut and watered, and my nose hasn't stuffed up yet. There are dogs barking on both ends of the block. Fat Paul is walking up the street towards his house. I can hear the neighbor's television.

The tree in the front yard used to have a branch that I could jump up and grab and haul myself up by. It got cut off a few years ago. I still miss it. That was such an accomplishment, to climb up in that tree. I can still see the usual climbing route. I can't believe my parents let me get up there.

My mom's experimenting with the landscaping in the front yard. All the little bushes are square cut except one on the end. That one she's trying to groom in a round ball. I said it looks more like my hair, so my mom pronounced that now I have my own bush, and its name is "Irk." I don't think she understood why I laughed at that.

My car is parked in front of the house. I'll have to scootch it up before Tuesday, because Tuesday is Garbage Day and if my car is too close to the bin, the garbage truck won't pick it up.

The streetlight just came on.

I just don't get it.

I don't even know where to begin telling the story of my Friday afternoon/evening. The short short version: Emotional breakdown followed by alcohol therapy.

Rossi's latest Memoirable is up. She starts off stating that she should be the control in any psychological study of normalcy and it gets better from there.

Suppose you know someone whose native language is not English. They are perfectly fluent in English.

Is it offensive to address them in their native language? Does it make a difference if you don't really know their native language very well or if you're conversational in it?

This is someone you know, in a casual social setting. Not, say, a customer service interaction. You're not assuming they don't know English. You're not even starting a whole conversation in another language. You might just substitute words and phrases here and there.

I ask because I find myself inclined to do that. It doesn't usually make it out of my mouth, but the foreign words tend to pop into my head more when I know whomever I'm speaking to knows them, too. Is it silly to do that when you could be having a perfectly normal conversation in English?

I leave you with Adam Sandler's Severe Beating of a High School Spanish Teacher.

Britney Spears is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, as are Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Apparently that honor is not as prestigious as it once was.

On The View on Friday, they had on the girls from the Miller Lite "Catfight" commercial. They did a mock commercial for The View "Hot Topics!" "Great Guests!" Heh.

In case I haven't mentioned it before, I love Meredith Vieira. If I had an older woman thang, she's the one.

I have a new fantasy (and by fantasy I mean "passing thought"). So as not to traumatize my sister, I'll just say that it involves rugburns and a room in my parents' house that has a lot of windows.

Yeah, so I had a hosting issue. All is resolved. Sorry 'bout that. More to follow.

Got my Sue Johanson fix. (That is not work safe.)

(courtesy of Dawn)

P.S. Don't forget to play the Sunday Night Sex Show Drinking Game.

'Cause I know you were wondering.

I haven't mentioned my secret mini-crushes in a while. The #1 slot is still occupied (and by the same person). I have a new #2 and the rest have fallen by the wayside, though if any of them decided to flash their rack, I wouldn't look away. #1's a real-lifer. #2's not.

Don't spend all that information in one place.

I almost felt compelled to launch into Jim-like descriptions of my subjects, but I'm not willing to give out that much info. And frankly Jim's a little crazy (Krazy Jim, hah!). Ooh, but I think I might get to see him on Friday.

Hnh. Slot.

I haven't been playing the Detroit Shock any attention, but maybe I should be. They came back from 16 points down to hand an overtime loss to the L.A. Sparks' their first of the season after a WNBA-record-tying 9-0 start. Sweet!

I wish the American Idol tour thingie would be over so I could see more of Kimberley Locke, hot little swirly momma that she is. I came across a baby picture of her and I think she looks kinda like me at a similar age (which I guess only my sister can attest to). Me, Lenny, and Kimberley.

The number of consecutive hours I've been awake because my dumbass decided to stay up all night installing MT and then just as I was getting ready to take a nap, my mom says she's gotta leave and I need to stay with the kids. Scratchafrick.

But she did bring home La Shish for dinner last night. Shish tawook with lemon oregano. :9 I'm gonna go have some hommous right now.

Okay, I've monkeyed around with MT enough (i.e. overnight) that I'm comfy with what I've got so far. I would have left it, but I didn't want to wait to be able to post anymore new stuff because I'm impatient like that.

So no need to update your bookmarks or blogrolls, but the syndication feed is different.

I have Blogger entries imported and I'll be going through and adding those in. Not sure what I can do about the old comments. They're probably lost and gone forever. I know the page looks a smidge different on Safari vs. IE for Mac. No clue what it looks like elsewhere. And I know in IE for Mac there are some popup scripts that don't work (those two little links underneath my picture). And my Must Do and Want To Do lists are a mile long. But yeah. Here we are. If you see anything screwy, let me know.

*phew*

Ho. Lee. Cow. movable Type.

*looks around in wonder trepidation*

...of fruit.

Peaches are sexy as hell, and I'm not even talking about the cleft in the peach. Just biting through the skin and feeling the silky meat of the peach with your tongue while the juice threatens to drip down your chin...

--Dave

It's here.

There's lots of dicking around to be done before it goes live so don't get too excited. Which you're probably not. But I am.

UPDATE: Okay, technical difficulty. It's not here just yet. I'm shutting up until it's ready. Carry on.

Remember these facts: My mom and I drive the same kind of vehicle. I have a rainbow sticker on the back of mine.

We're in the kitchen. Mom's sitting at the table with Sauvignon, one of the daycare kids ("like a fine Italian wine" boy). I'm at the sink rinsing some stuff off.

Sauvi: "Aunt Kaye, your truck is cool."
Mom: "Think so?"
Sauvi: "Yeah."
Me: "What about me? I have the same truck."
Sauvi: "You're truck is cool too. But Erica's gots colors on the back."
Mom: "That's right."
Sauvi: "What's those colors mean?"
Me: remaining silent
Mom: "They're just colors to you."

I should bring it up. I should say something. I don't know what to say. Is it worth it? I came out to my parents 11.5 months ago and we have not spoken of it since.

I just forked a lemon. Hell yeah.

I was composing a message in Yahoo Mail, and I clicked "send" and I got sent to a "Compose - Verify" page where you have to type in the word you see in the box. Like, the same as you do when you order stuff from Ticketmaster. They say it's a new security measure. Well how fucking annoying is that?

I think I successfully managed to avoid that person I wish would stop calling. The ex-never-was-my-girlfriend. She was visiting (she's from here) from Vancouver (where she lives now) via Ottawa (where she was attending a conference).

I conveniently was out of the state for most of the time she was here. And then I didn't call back. Hey, my mobile phone plan does not allow me to call Canadian mobile phone numbers without a hefty per minute fee. And my calling card's expired. Using locally-based landlines does not support my argument and were not considered.

I am mostly guilt-free over not returning the call. Conflict avoidance by contact avoidance. Although contacting her wouldn't have necessarily turned into conflict. But I would have had internal conflict. I should probably work on not referring to her as "bitch-ass."

I was walking through the house, and as I passed my mom's room, I noticed Colin Farrell on her tv. I stopped and thought, "Ooh, Colin Farrell." Except that I could not for the life of me come up with something about him that I was even remotely interested in. I walked away puzzled.

I have a sneaking suspicion I may have used this title before, many moons ago. I don't feel like looking it up.

If there is one corporate buzzphrase I hate, it's "thinking outside the box."

If there is one I may possibly hate even more, it is "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results."

I must be a fucking lunatic, because every time I refresh the RSS feed for my comments (which is frequently), I expect comments to be there. Work with me.

(I see you on the Traffic Monitor. I know you're out there.)

Rossi's latest Memoirable is up. This one's about an outing with her sister, who sounds positively crazy. I was cringing and wincing the whole time I read.

In spite of all that aforementioned nonsense, I'm in a pretty darn good mood today.

All that stuff is mostly just annoying. During the 5 minutes the yelling lasted I felt kinda bad. It's status quo, really. As for my grandma, of course I'm concerned for her health, but frankly, I don't have much of a relationship with my dad's family. It's not that the relationship is bad. It's just not there. It's too much work and there's no payoff. So I keep to myself. Don't want to deal with all the aunts and uncles who barely speak to each other. So I haven't leaped (leapt? lept? shit) at the chance to go to the hospital. Maybe later.

But the weather finally feels summery. Early summery. Not oppressive summery.

And one French-Canadian diva is rockin' my world. I know y'all love to hate on Celine, but I'm Alive is my Song of the Week.

I'm not particularly feeling the happy-go-lucky message here, but the song feels good in my head. Just the right snappy beat. Perks me up. Tappin' my toes. Bobbin' my head. I bet thousands of gay boys have shaken their groove thangs to a seriously bangin' remix of this song. Must look for one. Only caveat is Celine's range begins, like, a whole octave above where mine ends, so I can't sing along comfortably, especially after the requisite key change towards the end.

As most people mentally retch at the mention of Celine's name, I will not even bother to bore you with the opportunity to borrow this song, but I will provide for you the clips on Amazon (inWMP and RealPlayer formats).

My parents are at it again. You would think (or, I thought) at my age that it wouldn't really bother me, but surprisingly it did.

Quick recap: Dad has been unemployed for over a year. Is not actively seeking a job, probably suffering depression, and pretty much sits in a chair in the living room all day and generally avoids people as much as possible. Mom is now working 1.5 jobs, and resents that my dad does nothing to help around the house even after being given explicit instructions. And I'm at home.

So there's a yelling match on Friday afternoon. Which is actually my mom yelling at my dad while he refuses to speak. Mom storms out of the house and is gone for the rest of the evening. Dad is suddenly industrious and cleans the kitchen. I go to the liquor store and then retire to my room, emerging only for fresh ice. Had a later run-in with mom where I greeted her cheerfully, she replied stonily, I responded in kind and retreated, and then the next day she accused me of being sassy.

Saturday. My uncle calls. I know something's up because he never calls here and only rarely does someone actually call for Dad. Grandma has br