Paper Mario, Finished at Last!

  It has been a day of finishings.  First, I finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince—an accomplishment of 650 pages in 36 hours (less, actually, because I was at a family event for a lot of that time).  Then, tonite I finally finished Paper Mario: the 1000 Year Door.  Joe lent it to me and I’m proud to say I finally conquered is after 85 hours of game playing.  Don’t let that discourage you from playing it yourself.  It would be easily doable in more like 60 hours but i spent a lot of time exploring.  Anyway, it’s good to have it done.  That leaves just two more games in my queue: Metroid Prime 2 and the new Zelda game, the latter of which isn’t out yet and the former of which Joe isn’t done with yet.  This makes me happy because i have a wonderful sense of accomplishment for having finished a fun game, and it will make Fishy happy because i’m out of games to play and no longer have any excuse not to clean the house.  Hmmm… ok, so maybe I don’t have as much reason to be happy as Fishy does about this, but at least for tonite i’m in a good mood about it.  Tomorrow, I’ll clean.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Noddy and I reserved our copies of the new Harry Potter ahead of time so we didn't have to wait in line as long as the people who didn't reserve theirs. (We were #164 and #165 in a line of at least 400-500 people at the Barnes & Noble — or “Barnes and Nobles,” as Fishy would say.). They started selling the books right at midnight (the whole store counted down the last 20 seconds together). There were reporters both from newspapers and at least 2 tv networks interviewing enthusiastic customers:

        

I had finished the 650–page book about 36 hours later, spending every free moment with my face buried in the pages.  At one point, as my family drove back from Slower Delaware in the dark, I had to resort to reading in the back seat by the light of my iPod.)  As you have probably heard, another character dies in the book, so, as with #5 (Order of the Phoenix), I wanted to read it before I heard about it from someone else, or accidentally read one of the many spoilers already out there on the web.   (The Wikipedia already has a full chapter-by-chapter plot summary of the entire book, along with cross references, and the book hasn’t even been out for 2 days yet!)

The homeless in Canada are so much more creative

We saw this guy on Yonge Street in Toronto. I don’t know if it’s something in the water or air or the culture, but when’s the last time you saw someone in THIS country holding a sign like this:

He was actually in the background of a photo I took of Fishy, but I cut Fishy out of the photo so he wouldn’t get mad at me.  (Are you happy?? Huh?? Are you??)

TvDetective Quote #5

Here’s the second one:

“If I were a guy, I would totally want to date a slut like me.”

TvDetective Quote #4

You know, she is just FULL of the most amazing things.  We just went out for a Friday afternoon Frappuccino and she came up with two doozies.  Here’s the first:

“I’m getting horny; I feel like I have a penis.”

Sears Sucks

I am not happy with Sears right now.  I bought a freezer from them last year—a freezer that I have loved in every way but carnally. A freezer that has changed my life for the better.   A freezer that BROKE almost EXACTLY when the warrantee expired.  I salvaged what I could and crammed it into the tiny freezer upstairs that sits in the top part of the refrigerator, but still lost quite a bit of meat and some frozen fruit.  So that was bad enough.

But then I called their repair line and set up an appointment for today between 1pm and 5pm (which sucks, but it’s better than “between 9am and 5pm,” right?).  I was even impressed with how easy it was to use their automated system, and I DESPISE automated systems.  So I went home early from work today, using vacation time so I could be there for the repairman. At 3:00 I get a call from Sears.  I assumed it was the repairman telling me he was on his way.  But NO!  It’s someone in some office calling to tell me that the repairman couldn’t make it and they’d need to reschedule. (I commented to Fishy that at least it was 3pm and not 5pm.  And he rightly responded, “At least they bothered calling at all!”)

I believe my exact words in response were, “ARRRGGGHHHHHH!”  The lady wasn’t rude, but she wasn’t overly friendly, either.  She said her next appointment was next thursday between 1 and 5.  But I’d already fallen for that one before, so I (somewhat rudely) cut her off and said, “Do you have anything AFTER 5?  Or on a weekend?  I lost a lot of money so I could be home for the repairman today.”  She said the repairmen are in a union and don’t work in the evenings, but she has an opening in a week (A WEEK!) on Saturday morning between 8 and 12.  I asked her if I could please be FIRST, and she said that a computer made up the repairmen’s schedules and she didn’t have any control, but that I should be a higher priority since I was rescheduled.

So to sum up: 

• My freezer breaks like clockwork as soon as the warrantee is over, meaning I will have to pay for a repair that is clearly Sears’s fault to begin with.
  
• I have to miss several hours of work (and therefore the money I get paid for those hours) so that I can be there to meet a technician.
  
• That technician does not show up when promised, meaning I wasted those hours of work and lost that money for NOTHING.
  
• I now have to get up at 8–freaking-am on a Saturday morning so that I can go through this whole thing all over again.

How could this problem have been averted, you’re probably wondering.  Well, I’m glad you asked.

1. Build freezers that don’t break after only a year of use.  The refridgerator in my kitchen is probably 15 years old at least and still running strong, and I’m in and out of that thing all the time, yanking on the doors, dragging it across the floor so I can clean under it, leaving the doors open while I clean the inside of the fridge, etc. and I haven’t had a problem with that thing once.  But a freezer that just sits in the basement, running quietly, getting its doors open maybe 3–4 times a week if that?  It falls apart if you so much as look at it funny.  If my freezer is a strange fluke, then don’t charge me for the repair—who knows? Maybe they won’t?

2. Make your repairmen work in the evenings. You know, when people are actually home and don’t have to lose a bunch of cash out of their paychecks because YOUR product broke in the first place?  Hire non-union repairmen for the evenings if you have to.

3.  If you say you’re going to show up between 1–5pm then show up between 1–5pm.  Don’t schedule so many appointments, or else hire more repairmen.  If that repairman had just shown up on time, I wouldn’t be sitting here typing this now.  But since they can’t keep their word, I’m blogging the hell out of how pissed I am at Sears, hoping that other people read this post and decide to shop somewhere else instead.

Photoshop Blog

Am I the only one who thinks that the Photoshop Blog sucks?  It’s not the content that bothers me, but the design.  It is one of the most cluttered, hard-to-read pages I’ve ever come across.  And I’ve seen some real crap.  I don’t know what it is exactly, but every time I go to the page (which is every day or two—gotta keep current, after all!), I just see this big blur of words that makes me sigh in the way that you sigh when your boss hands you a huge file of papers to work on says, “I want this done by the end of the day.”  It’s like wading waist-deep through a swamp.  The Unofficial Photoshop Blog, although not wonderful, is much more pleasant to deal with.  Bright high(er)-contrast colors that don’t make me want to fall asleep, bigger font size, etc.   I’m just disappointed with the Photoshop Blog.  You kind of expect more from a blog about a product that is all about graphic design.

Radical Right Kills a 3-year old Faggot

At Equality Forum this year, the regular bigot protesters showed up, spewing their usual batch of hatred under the guise of Christianity. I was taking their photograph as the main preacher went on about what abominations and perverts gays and lesbians were. “Why else do you think the suicide rate is so high among homosexual teens?” he asked. Well, next thing you know I hear this voice coming out of my mouth. “BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU!” It was actually pretty amazing; I never lose my temper. I get angry, but I don’t lose control like that. It was literally like I was watching myself yell back but without any control over my own words. He really hit a nerve with the suicide comment. “No, it’s not because of people like us,” he said, much more calmly than I had spoken to him. “OF COURSE IT’S BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU! You stand here and call us perverts and abominations! What the fuck do you think is going to happen to impressionable young people who hear that sort of crap from their parents and friends and ministers?!” Ok, I said “fuck,” and I do regret it. Not a good idea when you’re trying to make a point, but I was completely out of control. “No, it’s not because of people like us…” he went on to tell me not to swear, insult my masculinity, and then went on with some other stuff that i stopped paying attention to.

“Not because of people like us.” Uh huh… A man was recently arrested for murdering his three year old son. Apparently he thought the boy might be gay and started beating the crap ouf of him in order to teach him to box. The boy’s mother said that the father “would make the boy fight with him, slapping the child in the head until he cried or wet himself. She said that on one occasion Paris slammed the child against a wall because he was vomiting.” THREE YEARS OLD!

The fact that this happened in the state of Florida should surprise no one.

Where do you think this man learned the values that told him he should beat the crap out of his 3-year old son because he thought he was gay? That gay people are so worthless and such abominations that slamming a tiny boy against a wall and sending him to the hospital is preferable to letting him grow up to be gay, even if you COULD tell he was gay at the age of THREE? He learned it from listening to his parents, his neighbors, the minister in his church.

So, to the so-called “Christians” who protested at Equality Forum this year, and especially to the preacher I yelled at, I just wanted to say again, in print and on the record: THIS IS BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU.

Ironically, I was just laughing two weeks ago at this story in the Onion, “New Dad Thinks Baby Might Be Gay” It’s not so funny anymore.

I have long been a person who thought that the best way dealing with the wingnut wacko protesters at gay pride events is to ignore them. That if you pretend they aren't there, then they'll just go away. But it's not true. They don't go away. They breed and multiply and grow like a virus or a malignant tumor, slowly taking over more and more of society until finally a man kills his three year old son out of pure homo-hatred. We cannot ignore these people. We must take them on. I am not suggesting violence, no matter how much violence they commit against us. But we must engage them. We need to bar them from our events (physically if necessary) when we can, we need to engage them in conversation and make them see the error of their ways if possible, and we need to out-shout them and shield them from public view if they won't engage us back. We need to fight them in the courts. We need to fight them in PTA meetings and in college classrooms. We need to stand up in the middle of a hate-filled sermon at church and tell the minister and congregation that sort of thing is WRONG. We need to fight the GOP's anti-gay platform both from without and from the inside. We need to hold Democrats to the standards and values that, as liberals, they claim to have. We need to draw attention to tragedies like the 3 year-old in Florida.

If you are doing these things, great. If you're not doing them, start. The best, most powerful thing you can do is to come out of the closet if you're in it. I think I've changed more minds simply by being an out, visible gay person than anything else I've done. I changed the way my parents vote by telling them I'm gay. I remember my mother saying to my father after Pat Buchanan's infamous speech of vitriol at the 1992 Republican National Convention, "I don't see how we can possibly vote Republican. I just don't think it's an option." Is it easy? No. And it requires some sacrifice, but anything that's worth doing, does.

Overpaid Spokesperson

I'm thinking Scott McClellan is overpaid. Instead of spending tax dollars on his salary, couldn't we just have an intern go out and put a big sign on the podium that says, "No Comment," thank everyone for coming to the daily briefing, and then leave?

Toronto: Thursday

After we checked into Le Meridien, I washed my shorts in the sink to get the coffee stain out and then ironed them to get them as dry as I could. Then we headed out and walked up Yonge St. looking for the gay neighborhood. We didn't find it, but we did find plenty of cool stuff. Fishy was nearing that stage of hunger where he gets dangerously close to hurting other people, so we ate at an Indian buffet, which was quite tasty and relatively reasonably priced ($8.99/each). I ended lunch with a small bowl of vanilla ice cream. Then we walked back down Yonge and stopped at a lot of the cool stores we'd seen on our way up, mostly comicbook stores. Apparently we were in the comic district or something. My favorite was actually the smallest one, the Hairy Tarantula. I liked it because of this guy working there. I'm too tired now to remember half of what he said, but he's originally from Detroit, and he got to talking about the bombing in London today, and then he started talking about 9/11, and how America has changed and what people from the Midwest ("my people") are like now compared to how they used to be. Apparently they're just dead inside now, they've given up. Then he started talking about that zombie dog story that's been going around. I don't really know how to describe this guy, but he was awesome. Well, in small doses, anyway. I can imagine he might wear on you after awhile, but he certainly had a lot of personality. The other comic book stores were just businesses whereas this one had personality. Like I said, I'm tired and I can't really explain what I'm talking about now. More late, hopefully.

Fishy Quote #8

On the issue of entering his name under mine on my customs form as we entered Canada:

"I don't want to be in a big gay database!"

Leg Two: Detroit to Toronto

The flight to Toronto was very fast, only an hour total in the air. It was very uneventful with no more hot fluids poured onto my body. We filled out the customs form. Fishy's laziness won out over his paranoia (see next entry for his quote of concern about both of us appearing on the same customs form) and he just added his name onto my form instead of filling out all of the info on his own separate form.

We went through customs when we arrived at Toronto. Fishy tried to get in to the line operated by the cute customs official, but another guy called us over to his line instead. He was businesslike but friendly, and we pretty much zipped through.

Almost right away once we got near the exit, this guy comes out of nowhere and tries to get us to ride on his shuttle bus. We was a little too Used-Car-Salesman-like, so i did my best (ultimately successful) to get rid of him. We ended up taking a taxi to the hotel instead for a few dollar more, but it saved over an hour in time, so it was worth it. The taxi was so nice! Clean, and it didn't have one of those awful walls that separate the passengers in the back seat from the driver. It was a very pleasant experience.

Oh, one more thing. While we were still in the airport, this woman's voice comes over the PA system and announces that a Catholic Mass will be held in a few minutes in Terminal 3. We were both like WTF?! In retrospect, it was probably being held because of the bombing in London today, but even so, that is just bizarre to 1) have a mass in the airport terminal, and 2) to announce it publically over the airport's PA system. I think people would probably picket the airport if that happened in America.

The hotel (Le Meridien, King Edward VII) is apparently a 4-star hotel. It's very attractive, but neither one of us is sure what exactly constitutes a 4-star hotel, other than perhaps the price. I mean, it's just a place you sleep and keep your crap while you're running around town. What special amenities would you expect a 4-star hotel to provide that a 3-star hotel or 2-star hotel wouldn't have? As long as I have a clean bed and my own bathroom, what more would I want?

First Leg: Philly to Detroit

We made it to the airport on time. I was going to get coffee before we got on the plane, but the only place that had any post-security check was Burger King, and there was a huge line there, probably for that very reason. While we were waiting for the boarding announcement, there was this incredibly cute boy waiting for the same plane. We later learned his name was Grant. He was ridiculously good looking. Preppy, nice hair. He looks like he could be Jeremy Lory's long lost brother. I actually looked at him several times wondering if it were in fact Jeremy, in which case I would have asked him if I could get my picture taken with him. When we got on the plane, he sat right across the aisle from him, and neither one of us could keep our eyes off of him. He kept looking at us, too, but of course you never know if somoene like that is looking at you, or just wondering why the hell you're staring at him in the first place.

The plane to Detroit was fine. Although the flight attendant spilled very hot coffee in my lap (apparently I should have just gotten it at Burger King after all), but he was very very nice about it, and I just decided to live with a coffee stain for the rest of the day. And portion of the coffee that stayed in the cup was actually quite tasty. They didn't give me much sugar, but I always have a packet of Splenda or two in my wallet or bookbag for emergencies. I find all-Splenda doesn't taste very good, but Spenda as a supplement to white sugar works very nicely and I usually can't taste anything artificial.

I otherwise occupied myself with my iPod, listening to the Shins' "Chutes Too Narrow" and a great binaural album I have called "Sounds of Old New Orleans," both of which I highly recommend.

Wild Blue Yonder

Who knew that there was a 5:00 in the MORNING too? Well, I gues I'd heard rumors, but now I know for sure. We went to bed at 1am and we're catching a plane at 7:30 to Toronto, so we got up at five. FIVE!

We're going to a wedding, and then staying a few more days after that. I'm too tired to type more, and we have to leave for the airport in 17 minutes.

I had a bowl of All Bran and now I have to finish packing. Talk to you all soon.

--------------------------

Holy crap. It's 5:43am and the skateboarders are going by outside my house. What's up with that? I can hear them roll by as I type. They're usually out there rolling around pretty late, too.

Let's get ready to rumble!

Patrick Leahy just made an extraordinary comment on the Jim Lehrer News Hour (or whatever it’s called now).  He said he hoped that the President’s nominee for Sandra Day O’Connor’s seat on the Supreme Court was someone who would unite and not divide the country, so that the issue of a filibuster wouldn’t even arise.  I say it’s extraordinary because the thought of such a nominee hadn’t even crossed my mind.  I can’t even imagine the President nominating someone who won’t draw a party-line or close-to-party-line (there are always a few senators who think the Senate’s job is to rubber stamp the Presdient’s nominees.  I don’t vote for those Senators.) vote.  But wow, wouldn’t it be wonderful?  Imagine a nominee that would get 75%+ of the vote in the Senate!!

Patchouli Farts

Were u ever on an elevator and someone farted, and then they got off, and then a floor or two later someone else got on and you KNOW they blamed you for the smell?  That happened to me today, I think. Well, kind of. This semi goth/punk guy wearing dark rayban-esque sunglasses and spiked leather wrist bands, some incredible tattoos, and an ugly little goatee that any sane person would hold him down and shave off,  was wearing patchouli oil.  Lots of patchouli oil.  Ugh.  I’ve never been a fan of the stuff in general, but in high doses it’s almost lethal.  Anyway, he got off on the first floor, and some other people got on, and of course the odor lingered long after goth boy was gone.  And the other two people kept eyeing me for the rest of the (thankfully short) elevator ride.  And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just because i look so damned good today.

Someone should put a warning label on Jennifer Garner

Hasn’t anyone figured out yet that Jennifer Garner is nothing but trouble?  She left her husband Scott Foley for Alias co-star Michael Vartan.  Then she dumped Michael’s heart-broken ass for Elektra co-star Ben Affleck.  How many lives must this woman destroy before someone stops her?   Don’t get me wrong:  I love her to tears.  I practically wet myself every time she puts on a new disguise in Alias (btw, my favorite was DEFINITELY when she played the computer geek, an homage to co-worker Marshall), but i thank my lucky stars I’m just some gay gay from Philly and not a youngish, ruggedly-handsome heterosexual tv/movie star she can chew up and spit out like a piece of gum that’s lost it’s flavor.

Here’s my advice to Ben:  keep her on a short leash.  Tell her her acting career is over—no more tv shows or movies with studly co-stars.  I give their marriage 2 years at the VERY most.  Maybe more if he can keep her barefoot and pregnant, but the woman doesn’t exactly have birthing hips. 

Test Entry

Just testing blogjet.  here goes…

 

 

Coffee Buzz

I love coffee. I hate being addicted to it, it's true, and I ween myself off it at the end of every winter. But I love the way I feel about 10 minutes after I finish a cup. I feel artistic and powerful and creative. I have a zillion ideas and the feeling that I can accomplish them all. Why can't I keep that feeling all the time, and why can't i achieve it without a cup of coffee?

No More Movies

The Taipei Times asks "Are movies dying?" because people aren't going to Movie Theaters anymore. Hmmm. Why could that be? Well, let me tell you why *I* don't go as often as I used to. And I'll say from the get go, I *love* seeing movies on the big screen. There are many movies that just aren't worth watching on DVD.

1. Movies cost $10+ anymore. I don't know who these people are who can afford $10 a pop for a movie (imagine taking a family of 5!), but I sure as heck ain't one of them. Where are the 2nd run theaters in Philly, anyway? I'd be glad to see 4 or 5 movies a month at $5 each, the way I used to. In order to justify the expense of seeing a movie (not to mention refreshments), a movie has to be basically *critical* to my life in order for me to justify seeing it. LOTR, Star Wars, etc. There were a bunch of movies I gladly would have seen on the big screen, but not for the kind of dough it would cost.

2. So many movies released today are crap. This alone isn't TOO much of a reason not to see movies, but in conjunction with price it's a total deal breaker. Hollywood pretty much just pumps out remakes of old classics (I'd much rather just see the old classic. If it was good enough to spend millions remaking it, then it's probably not going to be easy to improve on.) and whatever crappy little stories it can make a bunch of money on in merchandising and product placement even if the movie bombs in the theaters. Occasionally I see an ad for one and think, "that sounds OK, I guess. I'd watch it if someone else paid for it." but it's not good enough to justify spending $10 on.

3. People talk during movies. I don't know when this started happening, but people are incredibly rude. A quick whisper here or there to a friend is one thing, but for Pete's sake people actually have conversations! They answer their freaking phones (which should have been turned off in the first place)! We pretty much only see movies in the suburbs now, because everything in Philly is filled with people who talk, and (again with the money, I know) I'm not paying $10 to hear someone talk to their friend during the whole movie.

4. DVD and Netflix. I'll admit it, there are often films out where we say, "Eh. We'll get it on video." There are movies that, if they weren't available later on DVD, we would probably go see in the theater instead.