December 2005 Archives

We survived the trip. I survived the meeting of the family. I think I might be coming down with something, but I hope it's just that I'm dehydrated. More to come.

I have a group of online friends that does a Secret Santa exchange every year. There's one woman in the group who nobody really likes. She's really fucked up for a variety of reasons. But she's kinda like a booger you can't flick off and she's still around. And of course she wants to participate in Secret Santa.

The only thing worse than drawing her name is having her draw your name. I just got my "gift" in the mail and I'm really pissed off. What a fucking waste. If you can't think of something to get someone, get a goddamn gift card! I got some smelly seashell-shaped bath soap set and an xmas tree lapel pin.

I think it's safe to say that any of you reading this blog know that that is not some shit that I would like. I provided a list! A short, simple list. I don't have the heart to even regift this shit. Maybe the pin, but not the soap. It's going in the fucking garbage.

I might give her the benefit of the doubt if I knew she was short on funds. But I know she's not. Because she likes to talk about it all the time. Which is another reason nobody likes her.

*grumble*

TransAmerica. Mostly just because it's Felicity Huffman. But the AfterEllen review says it's actually pretty good. And, you know, it's Felicity Huffman.

And I've been counting down to Brokeback Mountain for weeks. Came across a thoughtful review from Absurd Noise (via feministe). I've been counting down to this since I saw the trailer while seeing Rent at Thanksgiving. I have a feeling this movie might make me cry. Since I'm getting soft and emotional in my old age.

For the straight guys in the house, there's The straight dude’s guide to ‘Brokeback’ (via peskyapostrophe). Are there even any straight guys reading here?

UPDATE: I only teared up in one spot during Brokeback Mountain. But I've been thinking about it a lot since then, and it's just so damn tragically sad. Heath Ledger does a great job portraying Ennis' struggle.

It was sad to see Ennis refuse to deal, and sad to see Jack try to deal. It was sad to think about what could have been, and sad to think that it actually could have been.

And while it was sad to see Ennis feel like he was unable to follow his heart, I found myself hoping that I will experience such a deep, profound sense of love in my life. And it made me grateful that I can feel free to follow my heart and be with someone I love.

Everyone I've talked to has said that they needed a moment (or an hour or two) after the movie to just let it all sink in. It's a heavy movie. I know every gay person will feel it. I think most straight people will get the message. Everyone knows, to some extent, the pain of feeling trapped and scared and the pain of loneliness and longing.

Everyone should go see it. Seriously.

(See also: The Towleroad Guide to Brokeback Mountain.)

UPDATE #2: I swear, people, the "Bareback Mountain" joke is not funny, unoriginal, and really tiresome. Knock it off.

If it weren't for Sherri, I might not have blogged anything today. Real life gets in the way, you know?

1. Are you going to any holiday parties this year? My work holiday party is in January. I may go to that.
2. Are you traveling anywhere for the holidays? Possibly going to see Fly Girl's family in Buffalo for Xmas. I say "possibly" only because we haven't obtained plane tickets yet.
3. If you could have any gift you wanted, what would it be? Money. Like, $1000 would be sufficient.
4. How do you typically wrap your gifts? Like normal, I guess. In wrapping paper, with bows. I'm not particularly anal, but I do wrap neatly.
5. Do you like to shop? For myself, yes. For others, not really, because I'm a totally non-creative gift-giver. And I hate being out in the crowds. Shopping for people is stressful enough without all those people being around.
6. Do you prefer white or multi-colored lights on a Christmas tree? Multi-colored lights on the tree.
7. What is your favorite winter-related smell? Baking spices. Cinnamon and all that stuff.
8. Are you sending out any holiday cards this year? Yes. Probably a combo of paper cards and e-cards.
9. Would you want to be this guy's neighbor? [Work-safe, and you should make sure you have the volume on. Also, this house in in Ohio -- rock!] Hell no.
10. Ask me something. What's your favorite holiday adult beverage? Besides Bailey's on the rocks.

I bought a pull-out couch and a loveseat from one of my co-workers, so now Fly Girl and I have all the furniture we're gonna have. Sunshine Sinatra helped me move them today, so he is my favorite person this week. (I told that to the guy who hooked my internet up, but I take it back.) He's helped me move everything, so I owe him big time. Fortunately, he's easily bought with baked goods and liquor.

Still need to decide how exactly the living room is gonna be rearranged. The boxes that are left in the living room are mostly books that will go on the bookshelf. As soon as we decide where exactly to put the bookshelf. We were waiting until the couch and loveseat got in to make the final decision on the bookshelf.

We made another trip to Target today. This stuff adds up. We haven't even started to decorate yet. What we've decorated with so far is stuff we already had, so the dining room and bedroom are sort of there. It's the living room that's naked.

We found a table runner that we like (that picture does not even do the colors justice), so that will probably go on top of the entertainment center. And then we'll need slipcovers for the couch and loveseat. And drapes and pillows. Where does it stop?

Tomorrow we're going to Ikea. We'll take that table runner with us. And I think we still need dish towels. Also I think there will be something to do with construction and the bathroom door.

I just want all of these boxes to go away. I'm sort of a pack rat, so even in my neatest most organized moments, there's always stuff all over everywhere. It doesn't really help that I haven't had that much space of my own in a long time, either. It's funny because each of us does a little bit of unpacking every day. But it kind of looks like we're doing more because, like, one box gets unpacked, but then three more get moved to a different spot.

It's also funny because I'll put some stuff somewhere, and then I'll come back the next day and it will have been organized very neatly into an appropriately-sized Rubbermaid container. This girl has more plastic tubs than I have ever known anyone to have. I mean, it's all nice and neat and convenient and probably easier to pack and move with. But that is a lot of plastic tubs. I don't even know where they're all coming from. There must be a tub of tubs somewhere. Just like all our luggage is full of other luggage.

Anyway. The end is in sight. If I get bored enough tonight, I'll post some pictures.

I still wear these shoes all the time.

The management company has it's own "communications center" which handles all the satellite tv and cable internet and all that stuff for all their properties. Lucky for me it's housed in the building next door, so I have no problems getting a guy over here to fix stuff.

So we have internet access. It's all wireless and encrypted.

And it was out most of the day.

It worked fine for about five minutes after he left. He hooked up the router and everything for me. And then my router started telling me something was wrong. I unplugged the router and plugged directly into my computer, and it was still slow.

I tried to occupy myself by taking a nap doing other things, wondering if it was just a temporary outage. But by this afternoon, I still had nothing, so I called them back. Turns out the jack in the wall, which appears to be precariously attached, was jiggled just the wrong way. That's good to know: When the internet goes out, just jiggle the jack.

It appears to be all good now. *whew*

...when he uses purple Comic Sans in his signature file. Even if he is gay.

Internet access is getting hooked up at our place tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.

I'm twitching now just thinking about it. I've been without home internet access for a whole week and a half. Did you hear me? A week and a half!

Unfortunately, I have stuff to do around the house tomorrow. Hopefully this won't completely sidetrack me.

Sherri's a little late on account of yesterday being her first day at her new job.

1. What is the last movie you saw in a theater? Rent.
2. What is your all-time favorite book? I'm not sure I have an "all-time favorite." I remember really liking Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier.
3. Do you own any sex toys? Yes.
4. Gambling: bad habit or entertainment? Mostly bad habit. Maybe a smidge entertaining.
5. What is your favorite Christmas song? To listen to: O Holy Night (the regular and the Eric Cartman version). To sing: the Hallelujah Chorus, Carol of the Bells, maybe Ding Dong Merrily on High. And anything from the Charlie Brown Christmas CD warms my cockles.
6. Christmas tree: real, artificial or none at all? I'd rather have a real tree than a fake tree. I'd rather have a fake tree than no tree at all. I'd rather not go through the hassle of buying a tree, though. I've never bought my own real tree. Okay, I've never bought my own fake tree, either, but I have put one together before. So at the rate we're going, likely no tree at all. But there will be lights!
7. When is the last time you went on a date? I guess I'd consider Fly Girl taking me to see Rent to be a date. We went out to eat afterward. I might be confusing two different evenings there.
8. Have you ever stolen anything from a hotel? Besides toiletries? I might have stolen a towel once.
9. How many hours do you typically spend in front of a computer each day? Assuming I have readily available internet access (which I don't at the moment), about five or six. It's sick, I know.
10. Ask me something. Do you take great pleasure in getting so many responses to RPM? Because I would.

... how many times I've walked into the break room at work (where the computers are) and found guys I work with looking at profiles of girls online.

Ugh.

And we're moved. Three days of paper, cardboard boxes and frosty weather will fuck up your hands, yo.

The unpacking is going verrrry slowly but surely. I have clothes and bathroom stuff and that's all that's critical. Except for internet access. Don't have that yet.

I unpacked the kitchen stuff today. I have pitifully little food. I'm so sick of eating out. Must go shopping this weekend. Since we're a block from the grocery store and all.

The living room is a sight. Empty boxes. Full boxes. Random furniture, bags, and other shit. We really need to get a lock for our storage unit so we can start moving stuff into it. And I should probably toss those empty boxes. Can't put the furniture where it needs to go until we move all the other stuff out of the way.

I turned up a super cheap pull-out couch and a loveseat from a girl at work. Just need to figure out how to get it from her house to mine.

Since I didn't go to work on Wednesday, I had the evening free to play volleyball with my old team. That was my reward to myself for getting the moving done. I miss volleyball. I miss my team. *sigh*

I'm seriously pooped. And I have to work tomorrow. Since I took days off this week, I'm only getting straight time for the extra hours, not overtime, which kind of sucks. But it's still extra money. And with any luck, we won't actually have to work our whole shift.

So, yeah. I'm alive. In case anyone was wondering.