Flashback

Ida Ruben is running for Maryland state senator in my little town. This is the actual photo that is posted throughout my 'hood on all of her campaign signs:



When I first saw it, I thought it was a joke but it's completely legit. I may vote for her based on sheer chutzpah and the love of that bun.

Rock on Ida!

Boo!

First tweezers now this:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security raised the threat level for all commercial aircraft to "high" and U.S. authorities banned liquids, including drinks, from U.S. commercial flights.

He's got a Dr. Pepper everyone look out!


and here's some unhelpful exposition from Mr. Neumann:

"This liquid explosive type of attack is particularly worrying. Planes remain vulnerable and in the coming weeks terrorists will be thinking of something else to do that we have no idea about," said Peter Neumann, director of the Center for Defense Studies at London's King's College university.


So, terrorists are thinking of things to do. Let's get DHS right on that.


I'm telling you nude flights are just around the corner.

Nemo Found

We always had a dog when I was growing up, well more of a doglet really. My mom had a penchant for dachshunds so pretty much my entire childhood was spent with a little brown extremely tolerant dog named Duchess. When I grew up I knew I wanted a big dog. One you could take for long walks, get rough with…. Something solid. So, we weren’t having much luck as we visited each shelter. The dogs tended to be a bit crazy really. As soon as you got them out of their cages they’d spin around, drunk off the freedom. One day I was scanning the DC site and came across this little guy, #62:



We wanted a youngish dog so this seemed promising. We walked past all the yipping, crazy dogs to come to his cage and there he sat sort of calmly surveying all the kerfuffle about him. We took him into the little visiting room and 62 came over and sat in my lap. None of the pound dogs had ever done that. At that moment I was bought and sold. He pretty much chose us. Sure I knew he was going to big, I saw the size of those paws but I had no idea just how big. A rottweiller mix he now weighs in at 120 lbs. We tried out a few different names and the name that stuck was Nemo. (One year late Finding Nemo came out and every kid in DC had a goldfish named Nemo. I know this because all the kids at the park would have to tell me about their fish.)

Funny thing about a dog this size, they’re really hard to ignore. His personality seems as large as his size. E adores Nemo, Nemo loves it when E is eating in his high chair. Oh it's true, there’ve been days when Neem’s driven my blood pressure up. One day he found an open bag of potting soil by the kitchen door and drug it around the kitchen and then downstairs and then shook it vigorously. There was dirt all over the basement, even on the ceiling.

What are you gonna do? He’s part of the family now.

Chim chim cheree

Tip of the day!

Can't afford a nanny? Well, problem solved. Speak in a british accent whenever your child misbehaves to give him that touch of worldly flair. It worked for Madonna after all.


You're welcome!

Bless the beasts and the children

First the dog woke me up around 12:30 and then E woke me at 3 so I had plenty of time to think about sleep. I use to run on 6 hours fairly well. I’d go to bed around midnight and be up at 6 with just a few cups of coffee to propel me through the day. Now that my mental stress has grown I find myself needing at least 7 and hopefully 8 hours.

I get insomnia now and then and I’ve learned to just ride it out. It seems the more you fight it the less successful you are and actually to sleep. The more I think about sleep the less I get. Also with L asleep next to me I think I have to be completely still or I’ll wake him, which just makes me want to thrash about even more. L has always been one of those annoying people who fall immediately asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow. I hate that.

I remember closing the bars down at 3 and it’s a much friendlier time when completely hammered. There’s such a stillness and quiet to 3 am it’s rather disturbing. The only thing that redeemed the time was having E fall asleep with his head on my shoulder. There’s no way to describe it really. There’s safety and love in holding him and it almost makes all this stress of moving and selling worthwhile. It’s that feeling of this is right and meant to be. I can hear his little breath inhaling and exhaling as he drifts off. With a little kiss on the forehead I carefully place him back in his crib and tiptoe out. As I carefully shut the door, he bolts upright, wailing. Yes, I think 3 am is probably the worst time to have to get up.

Mavericks!

Noted gay rights activist Jodie Foster has come to the defense of her troubled Maverick co-star and friend Mel Gibson in the pages of the Los Angeles Times. She tells the Los Angeles Times that she doubts claims that Gibson is prejudiced against Jews. What, you think it’s coincidence that all wars happen to have a jew standing nearby?

She says, "Is he an anti-Semite? Absolutely not, but it's no secret that he has always fought a terrible battle with alcoholism." Nothing proves one’s open-mindednes than a bottle of tequila after all.

Insisting that her Maverick co-star will recover from the scandal, Foster adds, "(He was) a shining example of how low you can go when you are young and still pull yourself up. Foster's credentials on getting low are quite impeccable.

"He took his recovery very seriously, which is why I know he is strong enough to get through this now." Thanks to other big stars like myself we hope to cover up this unfortunate glimpse into his true self and get back to the important things in Hollywood, $$$$$$$.

Friday Ramble

I have a date on Saturday with an extremely attractive, witty man. Yes that’s right my partner and I are dropping off the little boo at his Aunt’s and we’re going out for dinner and a movie just like regular folk. We’ll probably spend the evening talking about E.

I now get why parents spend so much time talking about their kids. It’s especially chronic in their early years. You have to take your carefree, clutter-free life turn it upside down and then shake it. Now, turn it over and fill it with plastic toys, safety gear, and flying food.

On one hand I feel like I have a new instant connection with other parents. Parenting is neither gay nor straight it’s all the same really. When I see straight guys talking about sports I know that’s a world I’ll never enter into, but parenting I’m in. In these early years all parents are dealing with the same joys, wonders, and fears. I wonder/worry about the junior high and high school years though when the bigotry and fears of the parents begin to creep into the minds of the young adults. Trickier subjects like politics and sex ed enter into the discourse.

I have to remind myself that gay parents are still new. The whole rights movement is so fresh. If worse comes to worse I’m fully prepared to defend myself before the PTA if accused of wearing my mini-skirt too high and drinking and a-runnin' 'round with men and going wild.

cool thoughts

Scandal

So Keith got the boot for contraband PATTERN BOOKS! In addition, we found out he left a challenge and got on the internet. I almost wish the incident had been a bit more exciting like slapping Vincent in the face or kicking Vincent or punching Vincent or breaking Vincent’s glasses while he mugged away at someone’s design. I think Laura summed it up pretty well for me when she said “He was an ass and I’m glad he’s gone but I wish he’d done bodily harm to Vincent before he left” or something like that.

The bigger shocker was Angela’s win. Of course she benefited greatly from Laura and Michael on her team. They were able to harness OCD granny circles and use them for the powers of good. The outfit was surprisingly tasteful.

Tattoo neck and Alison pulled off a close 2nd but really I’m glad they lost as it would have been a little awkward for the PATTERN BOOK boy’s design to have won.

Robert presented a shockingly bad sport jacket/ stewardess combo. I think he was working too close to Kayne’s product which caused hallucinations. You’ll notice in later interviews his hair is flat and there’s a hazmat sticker on his back.

Apparently a woman named Bonnie snuck onto the show, perhaps looking for her missing PATTERN BOOKS! and she was quickly disqualified for her late entry.


Now, for all you shut-ins like myself tune in to Design Star on HGTV. Interior design, a cute boy, and Vern from Trading Spaces, what more could you want other than a german supermodel.

Auf Wiedersehen

Antici-

That silence is from all the boys and girls waiting to find out who gets yoinked off Project Runway for cheating. We find out mere hours from now. Let 'em have it Tim Gunn!


-pation

The Wait of the World

Outside of the adoption community you probably haven’t heard of a treaty called the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions. It sets up standards between countries governing the entire process of the placement of the child. Guatemala has been a favored country for many Americans because of the relatively quick approval process. There are some unintended consequences of this status. According to an AP article:

“Every 100th baby born in Guatemala grows up as an adopted American, making the Central American country the richest source of adoptees in the Western Hemisphere.”

The 2 countries have been arguing for some time over whether Guatemala falls under the treaty or not. A few years ago adoptions stopped during a treaty review but they resumed as the 2 sides declared a sort of truce. Now though the US has decided that yes Guatemala does fall under the Hague. What does this mean?


“For now, willing parents can get Guatemalan babies by paying thousands of dollars to notaries who act as baby brokers, recruiting birth mothers, handling all the paperwork and completing the job in less than half the time it takes elsewhere. The process is so streamlined that Guatemala outpaces all other countries in the percentage of its children put up for U.S. adoption.
All this will likely end once the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions takes effect in the United States. The U.S. will then require all foreign adoptions to meet tougher international standards, which Guatemala ratified in 2003 but has yet to implement.”

International adoption is a wildly confusing process. Imagine if you will an international DMV that changes its rules while you stand in line. Of course you don’t know about the rule change until you get up to the window and the clerk tells you oh you should be standing in that line in the building next door and I’ll need you to notarize this conversation.

My fear is that this new layer of bureaucracy is going to make things even more complicated and the excruciating wait even longer. Parents will suffer, children will be delayed in getting to their families and somehow the lawyer fees will rise.

Trump'd

I would make a terrible real estate mogul. Each little turn of the deal and counter negotiation makes my stomache churn. Just buy my house and give me lots of money, ok? Is that too much to ask. So obviously the thing to do is to stop talking about because I'm obviously jinxing it and you know how powerful the jinx is. Next time I mention it will be after having the celebratory dinner.

We Open Our Eyes

In another blatant attempt to demonstrate my age MTV just celebrated its 25th anniversary. I can remember how excited I was when I would visit my father who lived in the big city and had cable. I’d sit down in front of the tv and watch videos for hours and hours. This was in the days before Real World and the ridiculous game shows that later filled the hours. Rap music hadn’t yet kudzu’d its way over the entire day either. Later the show MTV Raps would be introduced which gave you a helpful means to avoid the genre entirely.

Gather round children and I’ll tell you of seeing my first Madonna video. She was writhing around in the middle of a road (I was quite concerned for her safety) as she sang “Burning Up.” I thought the boys of Duran Duran were quite glamorous on their yacht as they searched for Rio. A Michael Jackson video was still an event and he was still black. This was in the days before the boy band too. I picked up my crushes where I could, Haircut 100’s Nick Heyward in his loincloth, Billy Idol sleazing around.

The big one though was Peter Cox from Go West. I’d race into the room whenever I’d hear We Close Our Eyes on the television. Peter Cox (hee hee) dancing around in his tank top was an electric jolt to a country boy.

Later, The Real World Norman Korpi would show me my first glimpse of a happy, healthy homosexual. I can understand why the crazy religious right are so afraid of gay portrayals on tv because it might just help some isolated gay kid realize why he’s different. For me Norman was a hero for just being himself and showing me possibility. Nowadays I see the Real World boys cavorting around shirtless and showing off for the cameras and marvel at how far we’ve come.

So thank you MTV! I’m long out of your demographic but a long time ago you gave me hope and you gave me joy... and more importantly thank you Peter Cox you gave me something a little more interesting.

The temperature of guilt

E was up coughing a few times last night. He had a slight fever but there was no temperature this morning. He was grouchy but seemed to perk up as he woke up and the morning progressed.

So we faced that horrible sick child dilemma weighing how sick was he versus using sick leave. I’m going to pick up at lunch I think. Oh the guilt.


In other news we finally have an offer on our old house. Pray for me that nothing falls through before settlement.

Songs I love

Suzanna Vega’s World Before Columbus from her album Nine Objects of Desire is heart-rending in its vulnerability. At first listen I thought she was talking about her partner but I then realized and it was confirmed in an interview that it’s a ballad for her daughter, Ruby. (Sidenote Ruby’s father is noted producer Mitchell Froom. The band Soul Coughing homaged Ruby in their album titled Ruby Vroom, but I digress)

Sometimes you can hear a song and know that it was written for someone. There’s an emotional integrity to it. Before I had E it moved me, now I’m really weepy goofy when I hear it. Thanks Suzanne!


World Before Columbus
Suzanne Vega


If your love were taken from me
Every color would be black and white
It would be as flat as the world before Columbus
That's the day that I lose half my sight

If your life were taken from me
All the trees would freeze in this cold ground
It would be as cruel as the world before Columbus
Sail to the edge and I'd be there looking down

Those men who lust for land
And for riches strange and new
Who love those trinkets of desire
Oh they never will have you

And they'll never know the gold
Or the copper in your hair
How could they weigh the worth
Of you so rare

If your love were taken from me
Every light that's bright would soon go dim
It would be as dark as the world before Columbus
Down the waterfall and I'd swim over the brim

Those men who lust for land
And for riches strange and new
Who love those trinkets of desire
Oh they will never have you

And they'll never know the gold
Or the copper in your hair
How could they weigh the worth
Of you so rare

Update

I decided on the perfect gift for my brother. I made a donation to the American Civil Liberties Union in his name. I just finished sending him the email to let him know about his generous gift.


hee hee hee

Bass fishin

This just in:

Lance Bass, the former 'N Sync heartthrob, reveals that he is gay, in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE.

"I knew that I was in this popular band and I had four other guys' careers in my hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said (that I was gay), it would overpower everything," says Bass, referring to bandmates Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez and Justin Timberlake.

"I didn’t know: Could that be the end of ’N Sync? So I had that weight on me of like, ‘Wow, if I ever let anyone know, it's bad.' So I just never did," he says speaking about his sexual orientation for the first time with PEOPLE.

Now, after years of keeping his personal life private, the Mississippi-bred, Southern Baptist-reared Bass, 27, is publicly revealing what he first shared with his friends, then his shocked family.


"He took years to really think about how he was going to tell everyone," says his close buddy Fatone, 29, who was the first 'N Sync bandmate to find out Bass is gay. "I back him up 100 percent." Adds Bass’s longtime pal, actress Christina Applegate: "I've always accepted him as who he is. It's about his own serenity at this point."




Wow, I had no idea my July 20 post would be so powerful.

We were the world

With anti-American sentiment at unprecedented levels around the world, Americans worried about their country's low standing are pushing a grassroots campaign to change foreign perceptions of the United States "one handshake at a time."



“Distaste for America runs so deep that, for example, at the recent World Cup in Germany the American team was the only one asked not to display its national flag on the team bus. In South Korea, traditionally a U.S. ally, two-thirds of people under 30 said in a recent poll that if there were war between North Korea and the United States, they would side with North Korea.” (Reuters story)



Today is my older, very redneck, very conservative brother’s birthday. He sent me an email on my birthday a few weeks ago and I wanted to do the same for him.

The problem is that my happy little missive keeps devolving into a political tirade.

How’s my family? Well we spend entirely too much money on lawyers to patch together protections for each other and to protect our son should something happen to one of us. Also our relationship is used to frighten red-staters like yourself and to distract from the economic and foreign policy disasters of the current administration.

When I see the national debt climbing and the current administration bullying our allies and threatening others I just get furious. I have no patience for republicans any more. The national divide has never been so great in our country. There’s not even a gesture of conciliation any more. Our only hope is for moderate republicans to retake their party or for democrats to regain control of the presidency, congress, or the supreme court.

So yes, my brother I do blame you. I don’t like being angry but I don’t see any other choice. We can’t afford to be silent any more. The stakes are too high.

Bamboo is the Devil's Weed

I spent the a good hour trying to thin the bamboo in our yard to depressing little effect. My first goal is containment, stopping the encroachment upon the yard. Next will be destruction and finally elimination. The larger stalks are going to require a saw to remove. I tried a machete but felt my injury potential was too ginormous.

It does provide a nice screen but at what price. Searching the internet reveals Herculean efforts to eradicate it. Sample comment:
“The running bamboo, is nearly impossible to get rid of after many, many yrs. I have a neighbor that has near a quarter acre "thicket" of the stuff in the backyard of her 200 yr old home. It's so thick that you can't see the ground and you can't walk through it. Much of it is a good 3" thick at the base. It's also growing on a hillside and it's now encroaching on a wonderful old barn. It kind of reminds me of kudzu in a strange sort of way. “

Now my shoulders are aching, my hands are cut and I think I’ve developed carpel tunnel from the clippers. I’m used to planting flower boxes or maybe decorating a tree box. This adventure gardening is going to be a challenge. I wonder if the zoo would let me borrow Tai Shan for a while.

Gratuitous panda shot here

Haka

I don't know much about rugby but I do know fabulous and the New Zealand All Blacks Haka dance is incredible. I love how it mixes their cultural heritage with a great big warrior challenge to the opposing team. I think you have to half crazy to play rugby (the injury potential is pretty astronomical) but the rugby athelete's body is a thing of beauty. See for yourself just make sure you have the audio turned down or you may be in for a surprise.