Johnny, Alvin, and Global Warming

It is Saturday night and I am not preaching tomorrow. It always feels a little bit weird not to preparing a sermon--not necessarily bad just weird. I'm doing a blue Christmas service tomorrow--it is a service where we acknowledge that with all of the joy that this season brings it also comes with many dark aspects as well. For many it holds great sadness and grief. So we'll name that in worship tomorrow. It will include lots of time for meditation and silence. And that means no sermon from me.
So what have I done today in place of sermon preparation? Well I've done a lot of what I normally do on Saturday--nothing. I woke up and listened to the radio. I love, love, Saturday morning NPR. Weekend Edition with Scott Simon. Car Talk. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! Seriously love it, even though the wait, wait was a montage of previous guests. They didn't tape this week because of the holiday. Then this afternoon I saw Sweeny Todd. It was really good. And I was a little hesitant about a singing Johnny Depp. But yeah, good. Definitely worth seeing. Although, be forewarned it is a bit gory. As you would expect if you know the story. But the blood is cartoonish.
When I was in Florida I saw Alvin and the Chipmunks with the nieces and nephews. All I will say is that I think the kids liked it.
I had a good time in Florida. i ate a lot of really bad food--that was really, really good! For those of you who live in cold climates, it was so not that in Florida. Sunny and warm. I wore shorts and t-shirts most days. Some of you may say that doesn't feel like Christmas, but I grew up in Florida so it feels for the most part like Christmas to me. Although, I do remember colder Christmases. It's an inconvenient truth.
Which reminds me of something. Somehow my cousins and I were joking about melting ice caps and droughts, etc. I know funny stuff right? Anyway, my aunts pipe in I think the Lord has it all under control. I tried to pipe in that we were appointed care takers for the earth but by that time they had already moved on to something else. But seriously, I just think that is so crazy to just think oh we don't have to worry about global warning because God has it all under control. Perhaps, I'm just thinking, oh maybe God wanted us to have it all under control. And I don't think we've done that great of a job. Oh well. That is my family.

Alright, well that is it for tonight. It is kind of cool and rainy here so I'm going to heat up some soup and settle in for the night.

Peace out!

Hope Your Christmas was Crap Free!!!

I am T-I-R-E-D! I woke up at 3:30 AM this morning in Florida. I had only been in Florida since Monday and I never really adjusted to the time completely. Plus I was staying at my parent's house. At some point I'm sure I'll go into my parent's house--but for now I'll just say that their house is so dirty that I don't like being there and I especially don't like sleeping there. So I didn't get much sleep before I got up at 3:30. Then I left Florida and landed in San Francisco at 1:30. Now it is 6:16 PM in California. I have been up for a long time. Oh, and I have the beginnings of a cold, what with the sleep deprivation, my parents dirty, drafty house, and the walking petrie dishes that are my nieces and nephews it was bound to happen. So I have been downing airborne all day. But I have a headache and I am tired.

So I'll write again soon and talk about Christmas! And then don't forget on January 1, my year in review. I'll post my Christmas Card picture with this post so you can enjoy it if you didn't get an actual card.

UPDATED: Well I couldn't post the picture. I'll try again when I'm more awake.

Why can't a computer read my mind?

Okay, so in yesterday's post I told you I mailed off all my Christmas cards. Well when I wrote that I was wrong. About 6:00 last night I was doing some other things at my dining room table, which serves as an additional desk, when I looked over and saw a stack of addressed envelopes that hadn't been stuffed or mailed. So I quickly did that and got them in the mail. Although, that means I they went out with today's mail instead of yesterdays. It also meant that I ran out of cards. I had two left and 6 more names on my list to get addresses for. So last night I had to go to Target to buy a box of generic cards. They are nice, but my cards had my picture on them and a witty comment. Oh well. One note about the Christmas cards: normally I like to write a letter and place it in the card, my take on a Christmas card but hopefully not so tedious. But this year it just didn't happen so i wrote a note saying I would write a year-end review on January 1 on the blog. This mean for those of you who don't get a Christmas card you won't miss out on my wrap up of the last year. Hooray for you! You won't want to miss it. I know that sounds awfully arrogant but really it'll be good. (Maybe, I'm over selling it, a bit!)

A complaint. So this afternoon I went to mail the 2 international cards at the post office. They have this automated postage machine. I went up to the machine to buy the postage because the line for the counter was long. But when I got to the end of the screens, after the letter was weighed, and I was told how much it would cost, 90 cents, I pushed the button that said purchase and it said I had to spend at least a dollar. It wanted me to buy an extra stamp but I didn't need an extra stamp. I wanted it to take into consideration that I was going to buy more postage. I cancelled and got in line and waited.

This week I have also seen two movies, one Monday afternoon and one this afternoon. On Monday I saw Atonement and today I saw Juno. I really liked them both. Juno was hilarious and touching,--Atonement heart breaking. They are both so good. If I could only see one, it would probably be Juno. The writing was just so witty. There were lines I so wanted to remember but there were just too many of them. Ellen Page who plays the title character was really, really good. In Atonement, there is one character who ages from a little girl to an old woman throughout the film. And they way they visually signal this to the audience is they kept her hair style exactly the same. Come on, 80 years of the same hair style? I think they even gave her the same barrette. Ridiculous. I think the audience might have been smart enough to figure out that she was the same person even without the hair.

Alright, I'm off to have dinner with my friend Karen.

Peace out!

Yay! They are done.

I just finished mailing my Christmas cards. Well, almost all of them. I still need to get a few addresses. I made a little video to document their very long trip to the mail box. The song is obvious but it is being sung by James Taylor. Enjoy. Now I'm off to finish everything else on my list.



Peace out

Irony?

No time to write tonight. It is 10:21 and I have been working on my Christmas Card mailing list since I got home from centering prayer. I just took a break to write this blog and to do something else that I'm about to ask you about.

I have on the Biggest Loser while I'm working. I haven't really watched this show but I just feel so good seeing all these people get healthy. So anyway here is my question: Is it ironic that while I took a break and a show about people losing weight was on I was eating chocolate ice cream out of the carton?

I think it is.

Alright until tomorrow.

Peace out!

Happy Birthday Jesus, I hope you like extravagant consumption.

I've attached a talky blog today. It is a story about a Christmas party I went to this weekend. You'll see I run out of time. So watch the video and then read below it for some tied up loose ends.



So Juuu-lee had two sisters, one of which was at the party. The two sisters were names Betty and Peggy, named after Juuu-lee's grandmother and aunt. So she said her name was french for Julie and that her mother wanted to name them all french names but had to name the other two after family. I don't buy it. I think she changed the pronunciation herself to sound all hoity-toity. It was kind of ridiculous.

Anyway, I just wasn't impressed. And the more Don drank the more impressed he was. He just fawned over the whole thing. I think I was actually more annoyed by him than the party.

But he left today, so I'm back to having the house to myself. Don is a good guy but I can only stand him in small doses.

Alright, well my Christmas cards came today so I have to get working on that.

Peace out.

I don't need a Tickle Me Elmo after Christmas!

Okay, I just got back from Target a little while ago. Why you may ask? (Probably you were not asking that but I'm going to pretend that you were.) I just got back from Target because I went to buy Christmas gifts for my nieces and nephews. I was going to order them on-line and have them shipped. But all of the toy things I was going to get them would not have arrived until after Christmas. I know I waited to late to order, blah, blah, blah. But anyway I also ordered books. I like ordering on Amazon, particularly for Christmas and birthdays, because I am an Amazon Prime member which means I get 2 day free shipping on my purchases. And I did that last night, I ordered at least the books. But here is why I am a big doofus. My friends Mike and Don are in town this weekend going to a party in Oakland. So I put the books in my on-line shopping cart before they arrived and then I got busy finishing dinner. (I made a butter nut squash soup. It was goo-ood.) So I had to check-out after they got here. Well I was sort of talking and trying to check out at the same time and what did I do? I had the books shipped to my house instead of my parents house. So that means that free shipping to their house means absolutely nothing now. My plan is to just put it all in a big box and check it on the plane. Because I will be out of time to ship it, ship it after the books actually arrive here. Which is fine, but it just means I'll have to schlep it around the airport before I check in. But you know I go write to the counter to check-in so it really not an inconvenience. It would have just been nice. And I wanted to point out what a fool I was.

But I did get the toy items for my niece and nephews today at Target. This means that I have only a few more items to buy and I'll be finished. Yay! See I finished in time and did all my necessary advent things. I'm a rock star!

Tonight I'm going out for my friend Justin's birthday. We are having dinner at this really nice restaurant called the Last Supper Club. But we aren't having dinner until 8:30. That is late for me to have dinner. So I had a bag of french fries on my way home from Target and now I'm eating an apple. I have to have a snack. Then after dinner we are headed out for a pub crawl and my friends Don and Mike are going to meet up with us later. It will be fun. Justin is a hoot. Remember he is the proprietor of Studio Vox. If you need that last minute gift idea check him out.

Oh, and one more thing, you'll notice I added another blog, Anne Nahm. You have got to go read her latest series of entries. Read for the last week and a half or so, beginning with the baby j series. Oh my lord is it funny. I don't even know this woman but she is my new blogging hero.

Alright, until tomorrow when I'll probably be writing in some hung-over haze.

Peace out!

Saint Lucia Day

Happy Saint Lucia Day!

I hope someone greeted you at the foot of your bed this morning with a flaming head and warm buns.

Does this fish come with mashed potatoes?

I hope you all enjoyed my cooking segment I posted yesterday.

So today I'm going to try and catch you up on what has been going on. I had a busy weekend--dinner with my running buddies Friday night and then The Color Purple on Sunday. The Color Purple was an Alice Walker book and then a movie starring Whoope Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. Now it is a musical produced by Oprah Winfrey. And I have friend who saw it in New York and loved it, but I got to say, the touring production I saw was just okay. I think part of the problem was the lesser known Destiny Child member, Michelle WIlliams, who played Shug. She was not good. She wasn't horrible, but she wasn't good. The story was still fairly compelling--I was crying at the end. The other thing about The Color Purple was the woman sitting next to me. She sat down and immediately started talking to me. I didn't know this woman. But that didn't matter, she just went on and on. It wasn't completely annoying but I tend not to want to talk to strangers. Fortunately, I didn't have to do much talking because this woman talked so much, I just had to nod.
Oh, also, I have a question: Does anyone else feel guilty about not ordering fish at a seafood restaurant? I went to this restaurant on Friday night with my running buddies. The restaurant is called Catch, obviously a restaurant that specializes in seafood. Well I ordered chicken because it looked so good on the menu. I like fish but I rarely order it. I think it is because rarely does it have a side I want. I often order a dish based on what it comes with, and usually that is some rich hearty starch, mashed potatoes or risotto.
Then last night I went to see Chanticleer in Palo Alto. For those of you who don't know Chanticleer is this acapella men's group. They are fantastic! And they were really wonderful last night. Their sound just melts over you like butter, literally like butter. But last night they sang this song that was an old hymn--Oh it was a Christmas concert-- called Beautiful Start of Bethlehem. It is some southern Gospel hymn and really lovely. However, they sang it in this mocking thick southern accent. I was so offended. I mean people were snickering during the song. It was so offensive. They didn't parody the African American spiritual so why is it ok to parody the white southern hymn? It just completely colored the concert for me.
So that is it. I still have not taken my Christmas picture for my Christmas card yet. But I'm doing it tonight. And then I'm doing my Christmas shopping on-line tonight as well. It has to be done. I'm running out of time. I'm thinking the Christmas card might actually be sent during the actual Christmas--you know Christmas day through Epiphany. I could say it was intentional because I refuse to get sucked in my our cultures premature celebration but it is really just because I can't get my act together.
Alright, until tomorrow.
Peace out!

Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel, I made it out of clay

Okay, so I am embarking on new territory. I made a cooking segment for my talky-blog today. Last night, because that is when I taped it, was the last night of Hannukah or tonight is, I'm not all that sure. So I was having the gays over and I decided to make latkes. It was fun. The house now smells like fried food. (It tastes good but it doesn't make the house smell good afterwards.) So anyway you get to see me making them, sort of. Sort of because you can really only see my face and occasionally I show you what I'm working on. The computer was up on this ledge that is between my kitchen and my living room, but it was kind of too high to actually show what I'm doing. But I think it is pretty good. Then you get to see my friends Alan and David enjoying their latkes. So here it is. I'll post the recipe at the end. Enjoy.



Dede's Latke Recipe

As promised, latke recipe (there is probably a different recipe for every Jewish cook in the world J):

2 lbs potatoes
1/2 medium onion, grated
2 tbs flour
2 eggs, beaten
1.5 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tbs minced parsley (should really be fresh)
Cooking oil (healthy, of course, is canola but pure vegetable shortening/oil is good, too)

Wash & peel potatoes. Cover with cold water, drain.  Grate at once and drain water that collects on grated potatoes.  Add onion and mix.  Add flour, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and parsley.  Mix thoroughly.

Heat oil in frying pan or griddle.  Place large spoonfuls of potato mixture in hot pan, 3-4 at a time, patting down into a pancake form, until brown on one side. Flip to brown on the other side.  Drain on paper towel and keep warm (usually I use the top of the stove) while you cook others.  Have applesauce available to serve with pancakes.

Why can't I answer this question?

Okay, since I started writing my own blog, I have become a much more avid reader of blogs. There are some really wonderful writers in the blogosphere. (Lets be clear there are also some really crappy writers as well.) So anyway recently I stumbled across a blogging contest, the Bloggies. It's actually for gay folks who are writing blogs, but the they have to write on a different topic each week that isn't a particularly gay topic. And each week a different person is eliminated. Well anyway this week's topic was the most important event of 2007, so I thought I would write about that today. (Although, just as an aside, I had planned to write about the bell ringer at the grocery store today who was also singing christmas carols. As I came out of the grocery store she was singing jingle bells and the way I heard it the line that came out of her mouth was "one ass opened sleigh." I probably misheard her.)
Anyway most important event of 2007. Well there is the obvious things like my brother's cancer, getting a new set of dishes, and seeing Pablito at farm day at Terra Firma farms--in no particular order. But I have to say the most important event of 2007 was wait for it....
wait for it...

The most important event of 2007 is: I haven't got the slightest clue. I was hoping to come up with something witty and entertaining, but no such luck. So it is probably good that I'm not in the blogging contest. But why can't I come up with an important event? I mean there were lots of important events in my life this year--I think, but nothing that is the most important event. I can't even think of any world events that were the most important events of this year, outside the introduction of the i-phone.

So I'm putting the question out to all of you. What do you think is the most important event of 2007? Let me know what you think.

Until tomorrow, which might hold the most important event of 2007.

Peace out!

I think Maude might be a man

Okay the Golden Girls were fun. We thought they were doing the two Christmas episodes. (They in their entire run they only did 2 Christmas episodes.) Well anyway they only did one of the Christmas episodes. The first episode they did was unrelated to Christmas. Although, one of the people who was with us is Jewish and at the end of the first episode he asked if there were some secret Christmas references mentioned that he was not privy to. There were not. The clothes were fantastic--very Boca Raton 80s/90s. And still the drag queen that played the Bea Arthur role, Dorothy, looked like Bea Arthur. I think it is because Bea Arthur is so manly. But I do love Bea Arthur.
Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent. I took pictures of what I did with the space, but I haven't downloaded them from my camera yet. When I do I'll post them on the blog. I think it turned out pretty well.
Then after worship one of my members asked for my advice. He has this ex-boyfriend who has been living with him for the past several months. Yes I did say ex-boyfriend. He is so f-ing co-dependent with this guy. Well anyway he finally gave the guy, a total loser, a deadline for when he had to be out of the house. The deadline was this past Saturday and of course the guy was not out of the house still on Sunday. So my parisioner wanted to know what he should do. He said "Should I put his stuff in the back of my truck? Should I put it out on the street?" Then he said I don't want to do what is best for me, I don't want to do what is best for him, I want to do what is right. I told him he should do what was best for him. I haven't talked to him, but I'm guessing the stuff is still in his house. Seriously, how do you help someone who is so co-dependent that he can't even imagine doing what it best for himself? Crazy.
Today, I tried to do some Christmas shopping, but of course I didn't actually get any gifts. I try and find the perfect gift and I just have to be inspired. And I still haven't been inspired.
Tonight I'm headed over to one of the gay's house for dinner and movie/tv/video/dvd watching. For the next few weeks we have a Christmas theme. So who knows what we will watch? I'm taking a few things including Steel Magnolias. I think it qualifies as Christmas themed, because Shelby announces her pregnancy at Christmas time and that is also when Annelle loses her contact lens at the Christmas Carnival. So I think it works. We'll see.
So until tomorrow.
Peace out!

If they threw a party and invited everyone you knew...

I've finished my sermon for tomorrow. It is decent. It is 6 PM. I have an hour and a half before I have to leave the house. I'm having dinner with some folks and then going to...wait for it....wait for it...wait for it....

do, doot, doo (trumpet sound)

Drag queens performing two Christmas episodes of the Golden Girls. You might remember that I saw them do two episodes back in June. Well now they are reprising their roles this time for Christmas. Yay! They were pretty awesome last time, so I'm really looking forward to it. I'll report back tomorrow. I hope I'm not setting my hopes to high.

Right now I'm listening to Christmas music. Earlier I was dancing around the apartment listening to some of the songs I downloaded from i-tunes. They are from the soundtrack for Enchanted. That is the movie I saw yesterday. Seriously, too fun. Although, if you could have seen me--it was really, really gay. As Grace Adler on Will and Grace would have said, "Rip Taylor would say now that is faggy." I know. I know. I thought about taping it for the blog. But I'm not sure we are there yet. Maybe. Maybe one day I'll let you see me doing my broadway dancing imitation. But I don't think today. I have to keep you wanting.

Alright, well I'm off for more singing and dancing. And then the Golden Girls.

Peace out!

Uninspired

Okay, I've been feeling kind of uninspired to write on the blog lately, but I'm going to write today because this is a discipline and sometimes you just need to engage in it even when you don't feel like it.
This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. So I went to Grandpa Kevin's Discount Christmas Tree Lot today to buy garland for my Advent wreath at church. I really like what I do with the worship space at Advent. But I've been doing the same thing for probably 4 years now and so it is pretty easy to set. I hang 4 panels of fabric, 3 purple and 1 pink, around the circle we sit in and then I hand the advent wreath from the ceiling--four lanterns hold four candles and then are suspended from the garland that I attach to a ring. I think it is really nice. But I'm thinking maybe next year I should try something different. But that is next year. This year I'm ready. Although, seriously my sermon not even close to ready. I lost a day of work this week because I was flying home on Tuesday. I intended to take some sermon prep stuff with me but I didn't. So I'm a little behind. I'm sure something will come but it aint there yet.
I saw a movie this afternoon--you are probably saying I don't have much sympathy for you being behind in your sermon if you went and saw a movie this afternoon. But I have read all that I will read this week so now all that I have read is just floating around in my head, cooking if you will. So that can happen at a movie. Anyway, I saw Enchanted. It was okay. But the best part is that there is singing and dancing. I'd say though, it is probably a rental.
So I think that is it for today.
Until tomorrow.

Peace out!

Lazy--Not Lazy

I'm back in San Francisco. I'm very glad to be back. I thought I was never going to make it to the airport. My Dad was driving really slowly. But the real issue was that my parents were bickering the whole way there. It was an hour trip to airport! It was mostly my Dad. My mother would say something like "You are going to need to get over in the other lane." My Dad would answer in this overly frustrated tone "Honey, I know that!" Well chances are very good that he didn't know that and would have been in the wrong lane. That went on for most of the hour.

Speaking of my family here is something I realized during my visit. I always refer to myself as lazy. Well I've decided that is not completely the case. Sure I can be lazy. But I really am not. My family--they are lazy. Seriously for the first few days I was there every time I would get out the dishes for a meal my sister or my cousin or my mother would say "why are we using the real dishes." And then the person would say "well is he going to do the dishes." To which I would have to respond "yes I am going to do the dishes." I mean come on there were never a lot of us and even if there were really do we have to use paper plates and cups at every meal. As one of the Queer Eye for the Straight Eye guys said once, "If that is what they use for their everyday what do they use at picnics?" I know the answer is that they don't actually go on picnics but it makes you wonder right? So I am not lazy--it is all relative.

Also, all I did while I was in Florida was work. i've found that THe best way for me to survive a visit to my family an avoid going completely stir crazy is to keep myself busy. Otherwise I'd just sit around watching my family sitting around watching television. So I work around my Grandmother's house. This time hanging Christmas lights, putting up the Christmas tree, painting some outdoor chairs, hanging pictures, etc. So I was actually glad to come back to San Francisco so I could rest some.

Now I am in full swing Advent preparation. The first Sunday is this week. But for now I'm sitting on my couch about to watch Pushing Daisies. If you were here you could watch me watching this. So until tomorrow.

Peace out!

On the Road & Studio Vox

I'm leaving the house in about an hour to head for the airport for my long trip back to San Francisco. I'll get in about 7 PM. That will put me back home just in time to watch my favorite Christmas Special, Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. I particularly love the dancing and the singing where it looks like their heads are on hinges. It's been a good visit. I'll have much to write about when I get home. Also, a couple of pieces of good news. First, I came up with an idea for my Christmas card picture and annual Christmas letter. Yay! I think it will be really good and particularly crass this year, oh yeah. Second piece of good news is my brother got the results from his cat scan yesterday and the tumors have remained stable again, not growing but not shrinking either. He'll continue on the current chemo regimen for another month or so. Also, he gained 6 pounds. Hopefully he can continue on that trend.

The other point of this post is to tell you about Studio Vox. You'll notice to the left of the posts below the blogs I'm reading there is now a sites I love list, well not so much list yet as one site but I'll add others. I won't add porn sites you'll have to ask me about those in person. But the first site I want to high-light is Studio Vox. This is my friend Justin's website. He is a great photographer. He took my headshot picture. It was the picture I posted in my first or second blog entry. He is selling prints of his photos and they are fantastic. Seriously, fantastic. They are very, very reasonably priced. Some might even say cheap. But the prints are high quality and the photographs are amazing. I love the crayon series. They would make excellent Christmas gifts. Hannukah also as long as you attach them to some of that crappy chocolate hannukah gelt. So that is it visit his site. I get no commission for anyone I send to the site. This isn't some Studio Vox pyramid scheme. Although....?

Alright, off to the friendly skies.

Peace out

The solemnity of the Star

Okay its been a couple of days since my last post. I finally saw my brother and we spoke on Thursday night. He had had a couple of visitors throughout the day and some phone calls so he was really tired. But in my opinion he looked better than he did when I was here in June. His color was fairly good and he seems to have put on a little, a little, weight. I'm still anxious about the results of his most recent cat scan on Monday, but was pleased with what I saw.
Now on to the past couple of days: First I didn't really talk about my Thanksgiving. It was nice, but what I wanted to tell you all is that we had canned cranberry sauce. You know the classic cranberry jelly in a can that makes that Thwack sound as it pops out of the can. And it has the shape of the can. Then everyone sliced off pieces. I could not bring myself to eat it and I really like cranberries.
Today and yesterday I have been, aided by my sister, putting up the Christmas tree in my grandmother's house and then hanging the lights outside. I've made numerous trips to Lowes over the past few days. But I'm pretty beat. For as long as I can remember my grandparents have always decorated the outside of their house with colored lights and a large wooden star. My grandfather would spend a lot of time decorating the house but mostly working on the star. The star is surrounded by lights. Well inevitably every year he would have to rewire or replace several bulbs on the star. Yes I said rewiring. He sometime would actually rework the wiring. So anyway of course today was no exception. My grandfather died in 1990. But we have continued to put up the lights at the house and the star. And today we had to work on the star. Only half of it was lit. So my sister then spent a good part of the day taking off the old lights and putting on new lights. The original star my grandfather made has been replaced but the idea is still alive. Now here is the best part of the story. It is a wooden star surrounded by white Christmas lights, hung on a nail on the house, with a bright orange extension cord hanging from it so that it can be plugged in. Well we were out looking at the lights tonight--my grandmother, my aunt Carol, my mother, my nephew, William, and I. Well my grandmother said that she would have to put something in the window that sits beneath where the star is hung. My Aunt Carol said yes but it shouldn't be something too ostentatious to take away from the solemnity of the star.
This reminds of the people here who at Christmas time put a giant cross in their front yard and wrap them in Christmas lights. Does anyone see a problem with a giant glowing cross in someone's front yard? Particularly in the south. A place that has a disturbing history of flaming crosses in people's yards. Which reminds me of the truck I passed tonight with a confederate flag tag on the front of it. Also, there is a house down the street from my grandmother's house that appears to have a confederate flag hanging in the living room. Hello! How is it that this is still okay? Do people realize what that flag stands for. People who couch it in Southern pride are just ignorant. I'm sorry but an emblem of a war that was fought to support slavery is just wrong. And it is not something I am proud about my southern heritage.
Alright, this went from Christmas lights to racism. That is quite a journey in so short a space.
So until tomorrow.
Peace out.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is what I'm most thankful for today:
boiled peanuts
corn bread dressing, not stuffing
mashed potatoes and gravy
my 2 year old nephew who likes to raise up his hand and say "up high" until I high five him
the woman at the movie theatre today who told me her husband didn't want to go to San Francisco because he was afraid he might run into [flick of wrist] (people like me) but she doesn't care about that she loves all people
a movie that is about living life instead of fearing death (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Imporium if you are curious)
a ride in the car to remember a neighborhood, a school, a church, a family that gave me the courage to leave them and find my own way
4 year old Noah who told me about eating 2 pieces of pumpkin pie and then asked if they can come over to my house some time
Voices of people that I love that remind me of how grateful I am for this life that I am leading

Yep, that's what I'm grateful for today.

Peace out!

Ice? Woman Come On!

Today we had all three kids again, my brother's sons and daughters. All three of them have colds. Yay! They actually were fine. But my Dad had to take them to the doctor and then take the oldest one right home to my brother's house after the appointment, leaving the other two with us. My niece and I baked pumpkin squares this afternoon. It really was great fun to do that with her, even though we put in double the amount of allspice the recipe called for because I lost track of what she had put in.
Then there was the freezer. I mentioned this in yesterday's blog. My grandmother's upright freezer stopped working Monday. I mention that it is the upright because she has two. My widow grandmother has two freezers. Two. And she believes she needs both of them. So yesterday we bought a new freezer. It was delivered today. So I spent a good part of the afternoon taking the frozen vegetables out of the refrigerator freezer and the deep freeze and placing it in the upright. And me realizing she has a lot of stored vegetables. And lots and lots of ice. And apparently it is not enough ice. I thought I had it all sorted out so that she only needed one freezer. She talks about wanting to sell the deep freeze. Well that was when she went to refrigerator freezer and saying "oh, this isn't going to work, I'm going to need more space." I asked her what she meant. Well she meant that she had to have room for the ice trays and a third bucket that she pours ice into when it is made in the ice maker. There was already one additional ice bucket in the freezer and she needed one more. Did I tell you she is a widow? And that she had several bags of ice in the deep freeze? Now she has a lot of family around, but seriously, she has a lot of ice. A lot of ice! And she is convinced that she has to have this much ice. So I couldn't argue with her. I just went along with the ice plan. Crazy, not crazy as say wanting to name our church "Jane Fonda Baptist Church" but crazy none-the-less.
Spoke to my brother on the telephone today, but didn't see him. Hopefully tomorrow. I don't think I'm avoiding seeing him, but maybe I am. In the end it's important that I'm here right now. If he and his family don't come over for Thanksgiving day lunch then I'll go see him. It won't be a long visit because he doesn't visit for very long, but I'll go see him.
So that is today. There was singing on Pushing Daisies tonight. Yay!
Alright, I'll write again tomorrow when I wake up from my turkey induced coma.
Peace out!

Arthur has one blue ball.

Well I have so much to share. So I'll just start at the beginning.

The concerts this past weekend went well. Friday nights concert was probably better than Sundays. But all in all they were good. I was also glad that they were over. They made for a very busy weekend. I never really connected with this group. So I don't know that I'll sing with them again. I'll definitely not be singing with them in the spring and summer since my sabbatical runs from late spring into early summer. We'll see how I'm feeling in the fall.
Saturday I baby sat for a couple of parisioners. One went to a wedding and the other was in nursing clinicals all day. So I stayed with their 4 year old and their 9 month old. The 4 year old is full on ADD. I technically was only alone with them for two hours. But I was so over them at the end of that two hours. Particularly I was over the 4 year old. And at one point he was just repeating the same phrase over and over and over. "You can. You can. You can. You can. You can. You can. You can. You can. You can. You can. You can." Imagine that repeated about 500 times. (Only a mild exaggeration.) I came away thinking, I do not want to have kids ever. Ever!!! EVER!!!
Then Monday morning I boarded a plane at 6:45 for Florida. I'm here for a total of 8 days. This is the longest I've been in Florida with my family in probably 8 years. Maybe more. The plane ride was actually pretty good. I had a short layover in Cincinatti. Both of my flights left early and arrived early. I was upgraded on the second leg so I had a lot of room. I do though have one question: I went to the bathroom a few times on the plane and I need to know this, how do people have sex in those tiny little bathrooms? Really, I just don't get it. And I guess it is clear that I have never gotten it, if you know what I mean.
As I was arriving though I realized how anxious I am about this visit. I found out at the end of last week my brother had not received a chemo treatment last Monday as we expected because his white blood cell count was too low. Yesterday as I was flying he was having another cat scan. He'll get his results next Monday, the day before I leave. I've talked about having a new normal. Well for me that new normal feels like every bit of news we are going to get is going to be bad news. So I didn't want to get off the plane--if I didnt' get off the plane then perhaps time would stop and we wouldn't get any more bad news. Realistic? No. But that is what I was thinking, particularly that is what I was feeling. I'm just afraid all the time--I can't imagine how my brother feels. I was riding with my grandmother today and she was saying that she believes my brother is going to get well. She doesn't know when and she doesn't know what doctor will be the one with the cure but she believe it will happen. I wish I believed that. Instead, when I see my nieces and nephews I wonder if they'll remember their father. I didn't see my brother today, I'll see him tomorrow. But today I kept his youngest son and daughter, tomorrow hopefully my father can help and I can get over to spend a little bit of time with him. A little bit of time is really all anyone gets with my brother. That didn't come with the cancer that comes with his personality. I'll keep writing about what I'm feeling and experiencing.
Today, I changed flourescent light bulbs, bought a freezer, pushed the niece and nephew on the swings, played ball, ate barbecued chicken, played rummi-kub and talked on my nephew's toy phone way, way, way too many times. Oh I also read some books to my nephew. Today's title is a line from one of those books. I'm not making that up. That is what the children's book said. If feel like it was kind of this inside joke for all the adults who have to keep reading the same books over and over.
Until tomorrow, from Florida, peace out!

I'll be taking my frozen convenience store burrito on the front porch please

It has been a busy couple of days.

First I saw a microwave on a front porch. You heard it right, a microwave on a front porch. I was walking down the street the other day and saw two painters on the front porch of house they were working on. It was lunch time and they had plugged in a microwave and were heating their lunch right there on the front porch. Now I just found that to be funny. I've seen a sofa on a front porch but never a microwave.

Second, it took two days to get my car back from the shop. But I did tell the service representative about the shuttle driver who was text messaging while he was driving. Now it doesn't let me off the hook for not saying something to him when it was happening. But I at least didn't let it go completely.

Then I have had something going on every night this week. Monday: the gays, Tuesday: a gathering with a local group of folks that I meet with once a month to talk about worship issues and largely to eat and enjoy ones company. I was also supposed to have a dress rehearsal with the chorus I'm singing with, but missed it. Basically I hadn't been paying attention to the calendar. Wednesday: 2nd Dress Rehearsal. We have two concerts this weekend in two different venues. So this was the dress rehearsal for the 2nd venue. The baritone soloist is HOT! Although, his upper body is a little too well defined. You know it is clear that he spends a little too much time at the gym. But he is nice to look at. Tonight, Thursday: dinner at my friend Rice's house. Tomorrow night: Our first concert in Berkeley. Saturday: baby sitting for some friends. Sunday: church and then the second concert. Monday morning I fly out to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday. I'll be there for 8 days. 8 DAYS!!!!! Oh my God!!!

But I should be able to blog. I was able to steal internet access the last time I was there from a neighbor's wireless. It is only fair because I'm sure people steal access off my wireless network. My wireless network that I didn't really know you could create your own name for so it is 2Wire116. The other fairly common network name is linksys. If you ever see that you will know that the person didnt' really know what they were doing when they hooked up their network.

Alright, well I'm off to get ready for dinner. I'm hoping to blog this weekend and let you know about the concerts.

Until then.

Peace out!

Crash Text Messaging Dummy

I had to take my car to the shop today. They are replacing the cover on the transmission. That sounds like I know what I'm talking about but I really don't. But that doesn't matter because it is covered under the warranty. So it's not costing me anything. However, that is really not the point of this story. Instead it is to tell you about the guy who took me from the dealership to the BART station so I could get back home. He works for the dealership and it is his job to shuttle people like me who need a ride after they've dropped off their car. Well first of all the radio station playing was a Spanish station. Which was fine it was a short ride and I didn't care what was on the radio. However, this was the first time I had really heard a Spanish commercial. It was for McDonalds. And this is what I heard: Spanish words, Spanish words, Spanish words, mcmuffin. It doesn't sound as funny written as it did when i was actually listening to it. But I love it when foreign languages get to some American word that doesn't have a translation.
But then here is the thing. The driver was text messaging the whole way to the BART station. Driving down the road text messaging. Text Messaging!!!! I'm sorry but it is one thing to be on a cell phone, but text messaging. Oh no! I'm sorry that is just wrong. Now why didn't I say to this man who was endangering not only his life but mine that he should watch the road and not his cell phone? Why was I willing to allow someone to risk my life?
All I do know is that I'm walking from BART to the shop when I go to pick up my car.
Alright until tomorrow, glad to be alive.

Peace out!

Barbarosa Baptist Church?

Today in worship we had 5 people. At 11:00 we had 4 people, this is including me. The 5th person showed up at 11:15. So I did not preach the sermon I had prepared. I preached once this summer to 3 people and I wasn't going to do it again. I told the pianist that he could leave because with the four people who were there I would have been the only one singing. Not an exageration, the only one singing. So we just had a conversation about a few things that it was helpful to talk about. But it was just crazy. Last week we had 18 people, any more people we would have probably had to add chairs. This week 5. I'm saving this weeks sermon for next week. I'm using the same order of worship and everything. I'm considering just crossing out the 1 in November 11 and changing it to an 8. Now I'm probably not going to really do that, but it seems like a waste of paper to print new bulletins with a different date.

We started talking about the fact that before we start advertising on the radio we need to change our name--we've talked about this a little before. But one of the members, the one I refer to as "guy who does drugs," said that he has a whole list of new names for the church. He apparently lies in bed at night thinking about this stuff. One of the names he threw out was this one. Wait for it.

Wait for it.

Jane Fonda Baptist Church.

WTF!! I don't think he believes this is a serious possibility, but he at least wrote it down. Sometimes the level of crazy really amazes me.

Alright, until tomorrow. I'm hoping tomorrow holds a little less disappointment and a little less crazy. But I'll take a little less of just one of those.

Peace out!

Far and Away all over again. UPDATED

It is 6:21 and I still don't have a sermon. This is not unusual and I know I've said this before but I just don't have much. I have a general sense of where I would like to go, but no real sense of how to get there. I know I will, but I hate it when i get to Saturday night and have this feeling.

I even did some work today, reading, etc. and still nothing. Normally, I just don't do anything until I sit down to write the sermon because I don't want to give up a day off. But today that was not the case. Although, I did also do a lot of nothing. I mean nothing. It was rainy today. So I basically stayed in all day except when I went to get the mail out of the mailbox. I didnt' even take a shower. So don't come to my house right now, because I'm guessing that I stink.

I saw Lion for Lambs last night. And that is it. I'll never be tricked into seeing another Tom Cruise movie again. I don't care if every great actor and actress in the world is in it. I'll not be fooled by him again. Because a movie with him in it is going to be tainted. Lion for Lambs was no exception. Now all of the blame for the bad movie shouldn't really go to him. But I'm just putting all the blame on him. I'm calling it the Tom Cruise Stink.

Alright, I'm just procrastinating. I need to try and write something that Jesus would be proud of. And by Jesus I mean Jesus Portillo a cab driver who went on the mission trip I lead to New Orleans. Because I'm not sure any other Jesus would be all tha tproud of what I'm goign to end up saying tomorrow.

Peace out!

8:52: Finished my sermon. Not bad, definately Jesus Portillo worthy.

And they call it Puppy Love!

I don't really have much to say today. I went and picked up the most expensive shirt I have ever bought today. I can't even tell you how much I spent on this shirt. i wanted to buy a fitted dress shirt, specifically a tuxedo shirt for the concer next week. I have a huge neck and a medium size body. So a shirt off the rack doesn't normally fit all that well. So I've decided to stop buying shirts off the rack. I'll buy them one at a time and have them tailored. Well, I probably won't spend as much as I did on this one. But I picked that up.

Then I'm going to see some friends tonight and then see a movie later. I'm going to see Lions for Lams. I feel pretty manipulated. Becuase I had vowed to never see a Tom Cruise film again. Then he goes and makes a film with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Well I have to see it with those two. Bastard!

Finally, on Oprah today--the Osmonds! All of them. I loved the Donny and Marie show. I'm a little bit country and rock and roll. I'm a combination of the two. Except without the weird constant perkiness and lack of alcohol and all the kids. They are singing right now: He ain't heavy, he's my brother. A bit of a prolem now because some of them are heavy if you know what i'm saying. Jimmy, the youngest one, is like me--he has a big neck. His tie is tied but it is clear that the collar on his shirt won't button. You are coming on Oprah get a new shirt. Also, apparently Marie is not only on Dancing with the Stars but she also makes dolls for QVC. She brought with her a doll that looked a little like Oprah. Those fancy dolls freak me out. And the one of Oprah was no exception.

Alright, that is enough. I'm going to go try on my crazy expensive shirt.

Step right up, folks!

On my way to pilates today I saw a dog with a diaper on. I don't live with dogs or pets of any kind so I don't know why a dog would need a diaper. But it looked very odd.
I visited with a woman from my congregation today who is 103 years old. That's right 103. She didn't really know that it was her birthday, nor did she know who I was. But I was still amazed that she has lived for so long. She continues to live at home, albeit with her son living upstairs. She also has a full time caregiver during the day.
I don't know that I want to live to be 103. But I'm guessing that if I did Willard Scott would still be on the Today Show announcing 100th birthdays. I mean that guy has to be over 100 himself by now. I haven't watched the Today Show in years because I get my news from NPR in the morning, but I'm pretty sure Willard is still on the show.
I think that is it, a 103 year old woman and a dog in a diaper. Doesn't that sound like one of those carival side shows that would show up in dollar store parking lots? You know like the worlds fattest man or the bearded woman.
Alright, until tomorrow.

Peace out!

What happened to your organ?

I just got home from Chorus practice. Our concert is next weekend, not two days from now but nine days from now. I think we sound fine. I left early because it had been a long day. (Seriously, I actually had a long day of work stuff.) The pastor I work with who invited me to join the chorus left a message on my answering machine this afternoon telling me she realized she was not going to be able to be at the dress rehearsals next week and asked me if I would tell the director she didn't think she was going to be able to sing in the chorus. No I'm not going to tell the director that. And I didn't. Crazy?!? I am going to be late for the Tuesday dress rehearsal next week. We are having two because our concerts are in two different venues. And I only actually read the calendar tonight and realized we have two dress rehearsals and not one. It's not new information I just didn't read clearly the information. A few weeks ago I realized one of our concerts was in Berkeley not San Francisco and a few weeks ago realized that our two concerts were on Friday and Sunday not Friday and Saturday. Again I had all this information I just wasn't paying attention. Can you tell I'm not all that committed to this group. Although, I do find the president of the chorus to be pretty cute. And I'm flirting with him and by that I mean I'm not talking to him, rarely making contact, and when he is making announcements to the group I'm thinking how cute he is. How is it that he and I aren't married yet and adopting our first Himalayan whistle child? I really can't figure it out.
But now here is the real point of all of this. Tonight I remembered a story that will be hard to recreate in writing but I'll try. Last week at rehearsal Larry, the director, told about one of the concert venues, specifically one of the venue's organ. Apparently, it was a big fancy organ--I don't really know. And apparently it was new. Well the varnish on the organ crystalized. When he said this, many in the chorus gasped in horror. Gasped! Literally, oxygen was sucked out of the room. I still don't even know what any of this means except that the organ has to be taken apart and we are going to have to use their old organ. At the church I was a member of in Atlanta there was a big ol' handcarved organ, but I still don't know what crystalized varnish would do to such a thing. I also have to say regardless it doesn't really deserve a gasp like you've just witnessed a travesty of justice like when Dolly Parton didn't win the academy award but instead lost it to the it's hard out here for a pimp song, or when you've just heard that someone has never seen Steel Magnolias or Nine to Five. Come on priorities people.
This reminds me of a story from college. We were sitting at a table in the dining hall and I overheard a story coming from a group of music majors. They were talking about someone's wedding that was something like nine or ten months away. This one woman was saying this, "Can you believe it the wedding is nine months away and they don't even have an organist yet?" No I cannot believe that. Nor could I believe that Sanjaya lasted so long on American Idol, but some things are just incomprehensible.
Alright I've said enough. Until tomorrow.

Peace out!

Chorus Suckus

Sorry I've been such a slacker with blogging lately. I'm going to try and do better. And just wait I'm going to Florida in a couple of weeks to spend 8 days with my family. I'll have plenty to blog about and plenty of time to blog.
This weekend I was busy. The Executive Director of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists was in town. There was a regional AWAB event on Saturday night and then he preached here on Sunday morning. He stayed at my house. He originally e-mailed me his itinerary and it said Monday. But then he kept saying that he was leaving on Sunday. But then when he arrived he realized that he wasn't leaving until Monday. So he was here all weekend. Then I had the gays over Monday night for dinner. So I have been dragging today.
At the event on Saturday night the East Bay Gay Men's Chorus performed. They sang two songs. They were in their tuxedos. if I'm getting in a tuxedo I'm singing more than two songs. But honestly I'm glad they didn't. Because they were not good. They are clearly the B group compared to the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. Let's start with their attire. Many of them were completely disheveled--crooked bow ties, cumberbunds up too high so their belts were showing. Then they just weren't all that great. And then they sang We are Family from Dreamgirls. You know the last post I made with Bea Arthur and Nell Carter. Well all I could think about while they were singing was Bea Arthur. It was hard not to laugh. But it was near impossible not to laugh at the man in the center of the front row. He was counting the beat with his body, rocking forward and backward. At first I thought he had some developmental dissability. But then I realized that was not the case. I was biting my lip so that I wouldn't laugh out loud. Hilarious!!!
Today is election day. Our mayor, Gavin Newsom, has called me three times over the past couple of weeks. Do you think that means we are dating now? I think it does. He's pretty much gauranteed to be reelected. He is running essentially unopposed. HIs opponents include a nudist activist who's only platform has been to make Golden Gate Park clothing optional, a homeless cab driver and someone named Chicken John. Chicken John and the homeless cab driver may be the same person. I'm not that familiar with all of them. But I voted.
So that is it for today. Until tomorrow.

Peace out!

We are a family

Okay, y'all have to see this. The song is from Dreamgirls. I hope you recognize the rest. It is from the 60th anniversary of NBC in the 80s. Oh it is good.



And there is another post for today with a request. Please see below

Rock and Roll

Well I don't have anything really to write about today. Except this. I am planning to do this ritual on Sunday--it's All Saint's Sunday. The ritual involves rocks, river rocks to be exact. So I already have a lot of little river rocks, and I have about 15 or so larger river rocks, about the size of two fists. I want a lot more of the latter. But I went to the homo depot this afternoon and was not able to find them. I don't really know where I would find rocks this size. You know what I'm talking about, they are smooth from the river rushing across them. They also typically vary in color, grays and browns. So if you have any suggestions on places that might sell such items, let me know. I'll be going out tomorrow so I could buy them then.

I'm not preaching this weekend--we have a guest preacher. Yay! Although, he is staying at my house so I'll still be tired by Sunday night.

Peace out!

Trunk or treat?

Today is a very big blogging day. I have a lot to share.

First, the final jeopardy category tonight was Musical Theater. And I knew the answer. How great is that?

Second, I picked up my farm box today. I got mandarin oranges. Yay, mandarin oranges. I did not get pomegranets (I know Mary Sue that is misspelled.) nor did I get kale. Both of those came in the medium and large boxes. I feel a little cheated when I get a small box and there are cool things in the bigger boxes, but I couldn't eat all the vegetables in a larger box. So I'm just going to have to live with it. But I had heard about the pomegranits (I know still misspelled.) and I was getting excited about the pomtinis. Oh well, I'll just have to drink the vodka.

Saturday night/Sunday morning is the greatest day of the year. It is the day we set the clocks back. I'll keep mentioning until and after that day, because it is my favorite day of the year. I love, love, love, the extra hour of sleep. My friend Barbara who was not a church goer used to save her hour until Sunday afternoon and then she would take a nap and feel like it was a free nap. Now as you all know I do not need an excuse to take a nap. But still I love the extra hour.

Finally, yesterday was Halloween. Last night I went to choir practice and someone asked me if I wore a costume yesterday to work. Well I work mostly from home which I told him. But here is the question: would you ever wear a costume to work at home? I sometimes barely even put on pants much less a vampire costume. But would you?

Also, I was talking to my mother today and she was talking about the nieces and nephews trick or treating last night. She told me that they didn't get a lot of kids last night because so many churches did trunk or treating. Trunk or treating? I asked what is that. Well apparently so kids don't have to go door to door churches sponsor these alternate events where peopel come to the church parking lot, decorate their trunks and hand out candy to kids. They decorate their trunks!!!! What the #@&!*? That is crazy, right? I just laughed. Who came up with trunk or treating? Crazy. If any of you have seen this, please tell me about it. Also, seriously if you have pictures of a decorated trunk that would be fantastic.

Alright, until tomorrow, I'll be looking for candy in the trunk of people's car.

Peace out!

The Centenial Post

Alright, it is my 100th post. And some of you thought it would never last.

I know it has been a while since I posted, so I have a lot to share.

First, we had an earthquake last night. I was sitting in a building committee meeting at the methodist church, the methodist church which is planning to do renovations, renovations which include seismic retrofitting. Yes that is right I was sitting in a building with a group of people who all knew that the building we were sitting in would not be able to withstand a major earthquake. The earthquake lasted longer than any that I have been in before. Probably 15 to 20 seconds. That is a long time in earthquake time. There appears to be no major damage. But I was particularly grateful, as all of you who are regular readers of this blog, that it was not in the middle of the night.

Second, I was recently in the Atlanta airport. I was standing at a urinal--this has nothing really to do with the rest of this story, but I like to set the scene. Anyway, I heard over the intercom "Flight such and such to Chicago Ohara airport is now boarding." Ohara? Chicago Ohara? The plane was not flying to Scarlette Ohara illegitimate sister, Chicago's house. Only in Atlanta.

I met with an account executive from Energy 92.7 today. This is a local radio station that plays mostly dance music. I refer to it as all-gay, all-time. He had seen our booth at the Castro Street Fair, a local neighborhood festival. He thought we would make good partners. We'll see if we actually advertise on the station, but my ego really gets the best of me. I want to become one of those radio preachers. Not like a televangelist, but instead one of those preachers who makes pithy statements on the radio. It makes me laugh to think about it. I've been practicing my radio voice.

I'm sure there are other thing to say about in this 100th post, but I can't remember what they are. i should have made notes.

Oh well. Until tomorrow, when it will just be post 101. Peace out.

Word

This is the 99th blog entry. That means the next one will be the 100th. I hope it is a good one. But for today, this is only the 99th. Today I baked a cake. I had some carrots left over from last week and I needed to do something with them. So I'm headed out to one of the gay's tonight and I decided to bake a carrot cake. Now here is my question: does it count as eating more vegetables if I bake them into a cake? I know it doesn't but I wish it did. While I baked my cake I listened to ABBA. I love ABBA. I mention this because on a blog I occasionally write on someone posted a video clip of ABBA from 1974. They were awesome even though a bit cheesey.

Today in my farm box I got bok choy, a pepper, some apples, green beans, salad greens, sweet potatoes (Does potato have an e in it? I am so Dan Quaye.) more carrots, and pistacios. Yay for pistacios. Apparently next week I can expect brocolli. How exciting is that?

For all of those out there with young children I read today on the internet that the Bumbo was recalled. The Bumbo is this foam seat for young babies. The child can sort of sit up. Well apparently there have been reports of children getting hurt on the chair, some even with fractured skulls. Now here is the thing. That is awful. Awful. However, the way they are getting hurt is that the chair was placed up on a table or a counter and then the child falls off not only the chair but the table/counter. Now I get it. I get why someone would put them up on a table or a counter. I also get how a parent could turn their backs for a minute and then the child fall. But can you really call it a recall when it is not based on the product but actually on human error? I mean there is nothing wrong with the Bumbo, the fault lies in the users of the Bumbo. Seriously, I think I just wrote that whole paragraph because I liked saying the word Bumbo. Bumbo. Bumbo. Bumbo.

I also like the word panacea. And persimmon. And now bok choy.

Alright, until number 100.

Peace out.

Mmm, fruit

Persimmons are tasty!

Off to choir practice.

Peace out.

Long day!

I hoped to post pictures from the CERT drill, but the disc that I was given with the pictures on it says that it is blank. I'll keep trying. I've seen a printed photo and it is pretty disturbing. I'll share it when I am able.

Today was a long day. Not a difficult day by any means but a long day. I got a haircut and a massage. I went to pilates. Then I also met with the pastor of the Methodist church to talk about Sunday's worship service. Then I went to the hospital to visit a parisioner who had a pacemaker installed today. She is going home tomorrow. Crazy, huh? Then I went to centering prayer tonight. So I was glad to get home when I did at 7:00.

I had left over pasta from my dinner last night. I went out with my friends Shannon and Sean and Karen and Robin to celebrate Shannon's birthday. We went to this great Italian restaurant. I had a spaghetti carbonara. It was very rich last night, but seriously even richer tonight. It seemed much oilier. But I didn't have to make it.

Shout out to my friends Mark and Mary Sue in San Diego. So far they are safe from the fires,but they are still affected by the event.

Alright, that's it. This is my only night at home this week. So I'm just going to eat ice cream and lay on the couch.

Peace out.

It's the Great Pumpkin Dixie

Here's a talkie blog. Enjoy!

Massive Head Wound Dixie

So I was a victim today. I showed up at the Community Emergency Response Training drill that my friend Sean was running. He bought makeup that included latex wounds. I had a hole in my cheek and then a large wound on my neck. Then I was given instruction. I was going to be at a house about three blocks away from where the drill would begin. And when the team arrived I was to be unconcious and then come to and tell them the last thing I remember was being hit on the head and then lose conciousness again. First problem, I was hit on the head but I had a gash in my neck and a hole in my cheek. But whatever. So I layed around for a while. Where Sean told me to lie down was in a shaded area. And eventually it got cold. So I stood up in the sun and just waited to see the team walking down the road. They were in flourescent vests so they wouldn't be too difficult to see. Well when I saw them coming I went back and laid down. About that time the mail carrier showed up. I was right next to the mailbox. So I had to look up and tell her what I was doing. She said "Oh is that why all the fire engines are around. I was grabbing for my cell phone." She was about to call 911. Then the team walked up. I had my eyes closed. One of the member comes up to me and I give my line and I lose conciousness again. At that point they are supposed to get me on a stretcher and carry me the three blocks back. Well first of all they were having a hard time getting the stretcher together. Then I was sort of in a doorway so they were trying to figure out how to get me on the stretcher. They decided they would roll me over. Well they did alright except for the neck. The guy held it but then they realized that they were not going to be able to just roll me onto the stretcher, so they turned me back on my back and the guy just let go of my neck. If I had a real neck injury I would have then had a broken neck. So they have to pick me up by my legs and my shoulders. They did alright but it just made me laugh. Then when I was finally on the stretcher they started carrying. Oh I almost forgot at first they weren't going to strap me down to the stretcher. Fortunately they thought better of that idea. So they tied me down and then began carrying me down the street. All the while my eyes are closed. And then they kept having to put me down because one of the women kept getting winded. And they would change sides. At one point I was slanted. See good thing they had me strapped in. Then finally they had to call for help because the woman couldn't carry me any further. I heard her saying she had been on disability all year. Hello, then why in the world is she being trained emergency response. She is going to be the person who will be rescued. (That was rude. I know.) Well anyway then they get me back to the site. And they keep saying I'm the happiest dead person they had ever seen. And I kept saying I'm not dead just unconscious. And the guy failed to tell them about the fact that I had been conscious and had been hit on the head. I'm sure they did fine but seriously if there is an earthquake I hope I'm not in Colma--that's where I was today.
I did get free pizza though and the firefighters were hot.
So that's it I have to write a sermon now. Until tomorrow.

Peace out!

Hanging out in Clark's pants

Honestly, I'm not the person who encourages conversations with strangers. This might be the reason why I'm still single, but that's me. However, yesterday I went to lunch at my favorite little diner down the street from my house. I sat at the counter as I usually do, and almost immediately the woman sitting two seats over from began talking with me. Now technically she was almost directly across from me because the seat between us was actually on the curve of the counter. She was this little old lady and she did not stop talking. At one point I started to look down at the journal that I was going to read, but decided I was just going to sit and listen to this woman. I was guessing that she was lonely and so it didn't cost me anything to listen to her. But seriously she did not stop talking. I couldn't hear all of what she was saying. But she was talking a lot about books. She asked me if I had been to our new library. But I hadn't because it only just opened and as you know I've been sick. She was excited to be going to the library which is in the same block as the diner, but thought it was unfortunately the library didn't have a fireplace. Her version of heaven was a library full of books with a fireplace. She actually told me this. And she told me about all these pleasant memories she had throughout her life. And then the best parts were that she kept saying that she was interrupting my lunch but then she didn't stop talking. She was done eating when I arrived but didn't leave until right before I did. The other great thing was that she completely stole the menu. I saw her tuck it right into her bag. And then she headed off to the library. And I went on my way. I don't even know what to make of this experience. I'm just noticing it and hope that I have other experiences similar to it.
Went to Borders today looking for a book for my sermon on Sunday. I looked the book up on the internet to see if this Borders had it and the website said that it did. I also was going to buy a book my friend Clark had been talking about. But I couldn't remember what the name of the book was. So I called him on his cell phone. I think he answered the phone but I think he was trying to turn it off because he was engaged in some business conversation. But the thing is he didn't turn off the phone, instead he answered it. But I'm assuming that the phone stayed in either a bag or his pants. Because I could hear a muffled version of his conversation. Not enough that is was some violation of some confidentiality, just enough to know that I was hearing a conversation. It was also weird to think that I was hearing this from inside his pants. Finally I just turned off the phone. Then I got to the Borders and they didn't the book I was looking for for my sermon. So I the trip was sort of a bust. But then I ended up buying three other books. Doh!
So there you have it. I'm headed off to have dinner at a friends house. Then tomorrow I'm most likely going to participate in a Community Emergency Response Training. I'm going to be a victim. My friend Sean is a firefighter and he asked me to volunteer. To which I asked will there be food and he said yes. I think basically all I have to do is lye around and play dead. I'll let you know.
Peace out!

Mmm good!

Well it has been several days since my last post. The cold took over. So I spent much of Monday and Tuesday on my couch. But finally last night I turned the corner. And today I'm still not well, but I'm better.

Monday night I was not feeling great but the gays were getting together and all I had eaten was a banana and an apple, so I was hungry. And I knew that at least there would be food at my friend's house. I at least tried to stay away from them while we were together so no hugs, etc. But if they get sick it is probably my fault. Although, as I told them this cold is going around and wouldn't they rather get it from me than from a some stranger on the bus.

Today I have been making chicken soup. So that the next time I have cold I can pull a bag out of the freezer. Although, seriously, I hope that day is not anytime soon. The house smells delicious. It's been simmering all afternoon. Mmmm, good.

Now the best thing that happened today is not that I'm getting better or that I'm making soup and the house smells delcious. No the best thing that happened today was that I found my crossword puzzle pencil. I'm sure this sounds ridiculous. But I have a pencil with a good eraser. You know what I'm talking about. There are pencils that are so old that the eraser just smudges the errant mark instead of actually erasing it. This is a mechanical pencil, so the lead is always sharp and the eraser works. And it was lost. My cleaning lady came today and when I came home it was on my side table. I was very excited. I don't know where it was I just know it once was lost and now it is found. I hadn't worked the crossword puzzle yet today, but when I found the pencil it was as if the universe was saying to me work the crossword puzzle. So I did.

And then tonight is Pushing Daisies. Yay!! Now I'm headed off for a meeting at church and then chorus rehearsal. Have I told you all that I'm singing with the San Francisco Civic Chorus? The concert is mid-November. It's okay. Oh yeah, I told you, because I talked about the utilikilts.

So until tomorrow, stay well!

Oh no he didn't!

Alright, well I still have a cold. Also, I've been pretty hung-over all day. But still a lot has happened since my last post. First, I went out last night, hence the hung-over part of today. We went to a bar called the Deco Lounge. At midnight last night they had a wet jockstrap contest. (Warning probably about to give too much information.) I don't fully understand a wet jockstrap contest. I mean making a jockstrap wet doesn't reveal anything else. And seriously a lot is already revealed. Plus where we were standing all we could see was the top of people's heads. But I found out that I have missed out on a significant guy experience. I have never worn a jock strap. Apparently all over the country when boys were in high school they were required to wear jock straps. But i never did. I mean I didn't even shower in high school gym. So there was not going to be any slipping into a jock strap. Another friend asked why I didn't wear one when I was running the marathon last year. But I didnt' need to, or least I didn't think I did, because I wore the shorts with little built in underwear. Anyway, I don't suppose I'm going to go out and buy a jock strap now. Nor am I going to be entering a wet jock strap contest. But it is just something that apparently I missed out on.
I got home late and drunk. Now I don't drink a lot but last night I drank more than I normally do. And what I realized is that I am not the angry drunk. Instead, I'm the one who keeps announcing "I'm drunk." And as some of you know, I'm also the drunk who has a hard time holding his head up. But last night I managed to keep my head up and get myself home. About 2:30 this morning to be exact. Then I had to get up at 7:45 and walk down to the BART station and get my car from where I parked it last night. I drove to the BART station and had intended to park it in a parking lot, but and then pick it up some time today. But there was a sign prohibiting overnight parking. So I had to park in a metered space, but metering starts at 8 AM. So I had to get it early. That was a long walk!! Then I came back home and went back to bed.
This afternoon I had to go to a birthday party of a parisioner who is turning 70. (Can I tell you how little I wanted to go to a birthday party, what with the cold and hang-over.) But a very "interesting" thing happened And by interesting I mean really, really uncomfortable. As I was saying good-bye to the birthday boy and the host, his partner, the birthday boy told me a story. When his former partner was living he took him to a house of someone the birthday boy(BB) did not know. And when the BB entered the house the owner gave him a side hug and then grabbed his crotch. Well now just hearing the story would have been uncomfortable enough, but he was demonstrating on me. HE GRABBED MY CROTCH!!!!! Now in all fairness it wasn't a full on grab, but there was contact. Can you say boundaries!!! In the end he is an old man, although not that old. And I didn't get him a birthday gift. (Oops, I just realized I didn't mail his birthday card. I send a birthday card to all my parisioners.) So he got his gift. But eeewww!!! I felt a little violated!!!
So that has been my day. Oh and I watched "Legally Blonde, the Musical" on MTV. I tvoed it while I was at grabby mcgrabbersons house. I saw the original when it was here in San Francisco before it went to Broadway. It is great. For those of you who have cable and who like a musical and who liked the original movie, you should watch this. They'll keep rerunning it because it is MTV.
So there you have it. That has ben my hung-over day. Until tomorrow.
Peace Out!

Here comes the rain again

So I have a cold. It is not a horrible cold right now. I'm hoping it doesn't get horrible because I started almost immediatley taking extra Emergen-C packets and then went to Airborne. But here is the thing, I think I'm being taught a lesson. My first thought was that God was smiting me. Even though I don't really believe that. But here is the reason why. I had just been talking with friends on Sunday night at the deep fried mac and cheese event. We were talking about how my friends Robin and Karen had recently gone to eating all organic. They also are now members of a CSA. Robin has had some health issues for a while now that mostly manifested themselves in horrible coughing spells. Well since they started eating all organic Robin really hasn't had those problems. I added to this discussion by saying that because of what I eat, the vitamins I take and the general way I live that I--wait for it, wait for it--"I just don't get sick." Yep I said that. And what happens only a few days later I get a freakin' cold.
Now I don't think that God is smiting me. I don't think God does that. However, God/the universe is offering me a lesson. I realized the connection today. Recently my sunglasses broke and I also lost me umbrella. This was a particular problem today because it is a real golly washer of a day. You see what I'm saying. Well let me explain. I try so hard to keep myself safe from harm, or at least safe from annoyance, thinking that if I do all of thees things I won't get wet or sunburned or sick. I do this because I want there to be a reason for everything. And honestly I do recognize that eating well does keep me healthier, but sometimes there are things I can't protect myself from. Part of the reason I'm doing this is because I'm still trying to make sense out of my brother's cancer. He doesn't eat well. His house is a mess, closed up, dusty and dirty. He doesn't really exercise. So if I do all these things I won't get cancer. And perhaps I wont. But despite all of these efforts I still might get sick also. Sometimes it just wont make any sense.
I know i've probably written about this before, so forgive me. It's a lesson I'm learning and I'm guessing I'll keep coming around to it.
One more thing, I'm going out with the gays tonight whether I'm fully well or not. I know this is a stupid idea, but I'm going. My friends never want to go out on a Friday night because they all have been working all week and are tired. So they would rather go out on Saturday night but obviously that doesn't work for me. So anyway, I'm going to load up on vitamin-c and head out about 9:30 tonight. I took a long nap this afternoon and will take another one. But I'm going! I know it is stupid, stupid, stupid. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Peace out!

Hopelessly Devoted to Daisies

Its late so I not going to make this a long post. I'm just going to say that I have a new favorite television show. It might possibly be my favorite television show ever, but I won't make that statement yet. What is the show you might be asking. Well it is Pushing Up Daisies. I wrote about this last week, but I was no where near as excited as I am tonight. And I'll tell you why. Not only does it have a very quirky premise. Not only does it have fantastic lines. Not only does it have this fantastical setting. Not only does it have Broadway actors. Tonight, it also had singing. Yes I said it, singing. Kristen Chenoweth--she is a wonderful Broadway actress: Galenda in Wicked, Sally in You're a Good Many Charlie Brown, and many more. She was also Leo's assistant on the last season of The West Wing.--sang Hopelessly Devoted to You from Grease. And not just a couple of lines. The entire freakin' song. Oh my God. This show is what would result if Picket Fences and Fame had done the horizontal mambo and nine months later had a bouncing baby dramedy. It is very Desperate Housewives (1st Season) meets Ugly Betty meets Six Feet Under.
Now my fear is that it is so good that no one is going to watch it. So this is my plea. If you watch television give this show a chance. If for no other reason than to help me out. Not the actors and the writers, etc. No me. I need to have a show that I love this much. (Seriously, I need a man I love this much.) I hope to one day be as evangelical about Jesus as I am about this show.

Alright, I've said enough for now.

Peace out

Warning: This is a heavy, potentially painful post

Okay, I try and typically write only about my story. And to a certain extent I'm going to do that today. However, in many ways this is not my story. And I will freely admit that I have no way of knowing what I would do if I were in a differently situation.
But today I was watching Oprah and she had a variety of women who have struggled with infertility. Now I'm at a point in my life when many of my friends are dealing with infertility issues. Some have been successful in getting pregnant and some have not. But the people on Oprah today were doing something that I think is a bit extreme. The first couple was a couple who have hired a surrogate in India. According to the program in the United States surrogacy could cost as much as $80,000 but in India this couple is paying $5000. Now that $5000 in India is helping a woman buy a home and better provide for her family. So the money is doing good work. And it was framed as women helping women. The other story was Alexis Stewart, Martha's daughter. She is spending approximately $28,000/month to get pregnant through IVF.
Now again, I don't have any idea what it would feel like not to be able to do somethign that should be a biological given. And I know from my friends who are unable to get pregnant how painful this can be. And I think the ways that we are able to medically help people get pregant are really wonderful. But when does all of it become unethical? And I would guess that the ethical line is different for everyone.
And again, I realize this entry is treading on ground that I have no real experience with, and in many ways will never have experience with. But I think today I was just grieving for the children in this country that won't be adopted because a couple decided to hire a surrogate in India or another women is spending thousands of dollars a month. And I know that adoption is also fraught with all sorts of problems as well.
And I know that there are people who will read this that have struggled with these very issues. I don't even know what my point was in writing this. Except to get out what I was feeling. And know that I am not trying to judge anyone who has made any of these choices. One of the women who was on the show today when asked about people having ethical issues with what she was doing responded, "who is anyone to judge what I am doing" And I'm not judging her, or maybe I am. I don't want to judger her for doing what she is doing.
I think there was just so much there. So many questions for me.
For those of you who this is a much more real issue than it is for me, I hope that you will hear me saying that I support whatever is the best decision that have to make. Alright, I'm going to stop trying to take care of every reader of this blog, and trust that those of you who know me know the spirit that I'm trying to to say this. (Those of you who don't know me, sorry.)
Peace out.

If I only had an Iphone

I'm having computer/phone issues. I have this T-mobile phone that has a windows operating system. What this means is that I have to download an application from the internet for my computer that allows it to sync up with my entourage--outlook for you pc users. Well now it gets stuck before it completely syncs up, and then it starts the computer fan and slows the computer down. To get the computer back up to speed I have to shut down the computer and reboot. Now why am I telling you all of this. Well I don't know. But it has been what I have been focusing on all evening. I finally e-mailed the company that makes the program that I downloaded. Because I'm fairly sure that it is related to the application not my computer. This means that my apple care that I bought to cover my computer won't help me. Otherwise I would just take it into the apple store and tell them to fix it for me. Because let's be clear I really don't know how to do much oither than check e-mail and type sermons. And this blog.
Other than that I had lunch with a friend today and then bought some new running shoes. Took a nap this afternoon. So nothing else really to tell you. Wish I did. Nothing funny or all that interesting.

Maybe tomorrow.

Peace out!

Eeewww! That is not good

Totally dissapointing and totally disgusting. Seriously, that is what deep fried macaroni and cheese was. It was as I thought it might be, not all that gooey and hot in the center. And the bacon was a little undercooked, not undercooked in the food poisoning sense but in the kind of not quite crispy sense. And unfortunately it is still wtih me. If you know what I'm saying. It was a delicious meal over all. But the deep fried mac and cheese--not good!
This is the end of my very long weekend. Worship was good. Then I had lunch with friends and we went to the Castro Street Fair. Nearly every neighborhood in SF has a street fair. My congregation had a booth at the fair. (Of course, this meant that I had only 2 other people in worship besides myself. Fortunately it was a combined service or I'd been upset.) Anyway, I thought I would leave my friends and go sit in the booth for an hour. But I really, really didn't want to do that. So in the end I didn't. I went by said and hello. I thanked the folks for organizing it and for being the booth. Then I continued on with my friends. Now part of me feels a little guilty, as if I was shirking some responsibilities. But the other part of me, the bigger part, is glad that I didn't do anything that I really had no desire to do. And that I just would not have felt good about. I know there are parts of my job that I have to do even though I don't want to necessarily do them. But this was not one of them. Then i had a great dinner. Well except for the deep fried mac and cheese. And now I am tired! T-I-R-E-D!!!
So I'm going to watch Brothers and Sisters and then it is off to bed. Thank goodness tomorrow is my day off.

Oh and by the way yes, I obsess about my body and my weight way too much. I know in reality that I'm nowhere near as big as I think I am. But it is the journey I am on-a journey to loving my body. Although, with the mac and cheese I'm on my way to really having a double chin.

Peace out!

That is not cool!

It's Saturday night, I'm finished with my sermon. I've made macaroni and cheese and it is on the counter cooling. I'll put it in the refrigerator so that it will be cool and solid by tomorrow evening when we are ready to deep fry it. Yay. And it is only 9:30. I was expecting to be working much later.
I've been in a workshop all day. It was really great, but it was all day on a Saturday. The speaker was John Bell. He is a hymn writer and theologian from Scotland. He is from the community that I want to visit on my sabbatical--Iona, Scotland. It really was a great day. We mostly just sang all day. The hymns that he writes focus on social justice. And they are beautiful. And they are real. The don't water down theological language. THey talk about real life and what and why people believe. And he has a Scottis accent. How can you go wrong with that?
One last thing, before I start getting ready for bed. The other day when I yelled, okay not really yelled, at the old lady, I had another incident. I was sitting at a table with two ladies for lunch. Another woman sat down. She started talking about how she had lost some weight. Well in a self-depricating way I said I found all the pounds she lost. Well one of the other women at the table said "yeah I can see that in your face." OH MY GOD! You aren't supposed to say that. Even if it is true you aren't supposed to agree with the person who says that. Even if it is true. The most you should say is "Oh no, you don't look like you've gained any weight." But at least just snicker and don't say anything. Seriously, that just isn't right.

Alright, good night. I'm goign to hope that I lose some of the weight I'm retaining in my face over night.

Peace out!

Yay for Thursday!

Tomatoes, yali asian pears, sweet peppers, green beans, seedless grapes, sweet dumpling squash, and red cippolini onions. That is the list of vegetables from my CSA today. I swear it is like Christmas every Thursday. I get so excited to find out what it is in my box. I go right at 4:30 which it the time I'm told they will be at my pick-up site. The only problem so far is that my box has been on the very bottom of the stack. And the stack is as tall as I am. So that means I have to move all the boxes to get to mine.
Yali asian pears are like other asian pears but they look more like pears than apples which is often the shape of an asian pear. I'll let you know how they taste. The grapes are delicious. The red cippolini onions are small, about the size of shallots. According to the Terra Firma Farm newsletter they are red onions but more pungent than regular red onions when raw but delicious when cooked. So again I'll let you know how they taste. I'm going to make a green bean salad for a pot luck I'm going to on Sunday night.
The potluck is for my friend Sean. It was his birthday yesterday. Now lest you think this is going to be a big ol' healthy meal, you should know I'm making something else. Deep fried macaroni and cheese. Sean and his wife Shannon bought me for my birthday a deep fryer. And I was watching Paula Deen one day and she was about to make deep fried mac and cheese. So I immediately called Sean and said oh my God you have got to see this. So ever since we have been talking about deep fried mac and cheese. And on top of the obscenity of this idea the mac and cheese before it is breaded and deep fried is wrapped in bacon. Yes, bacon! Can you believe it? I mean it sounds so bad and yet so good! Again I'll let you know how it is.
Thursday is a great day all around. I get my CSA box. Then I hang out with the gays on Thursday night. Tonight is at Alan and and David's. (Shout out to Alan, a regular reader.) Alan is a great cook and also a member of Terra Firma Farm CSA. It is always very exciting to go to their house. Then I will come home to find, hopefully, two great shows, Ugly Betty and The Office, waiting for me on my tivo. I say hopefully because sometimes the tivo doesn't change the channel. So I know I'll get Ugly Betty but not necessarily The Office because it is on a different channel than UB. So keep your fingers crossed. I know I will be.
That's it for today. What will tomorrow hold? Well I know it wont be a box full of vegetables. But if I did get a box full of vegetables every day it would make Thursday so much less special. And Thursday wouldn't want that would it?
Peace Out!

A big ol' wad of fear and anxiety

Today has been a very long day. I had an on-line chat that began at 9 AM, but because my cleaning lady comes every other Wednesday, this being that Wed., I had to go to my office for the chat. So I was out of the house earlier than normal. (I know some of you get out much earlier than this. But this isn't your blog now is it.) (Oh and yes I have a cleaning lady. Don't judge me. I realized that i have two conflicting issues: cleanliness and laziness.)
Anyway then I had to be in Oakland at noon for an all afternoon meeting. This meeting happens once a month. It is a gathering of local Baptist clergy. We gather for lunch, BLT, Baptists Lunching Together, at an assisted living facility. Yes I said at an Assisted Living Facility. And when you look around the room at the people gathered there is a lot of gray hair. And then the board of the organization that sponsors the lunch meets and I'm on the board. So I get there for a fairly crappy lunch and am there until 4. Today I had corn & carrots, stuffing, and turkey pot pie. How much more starch can one fit into a single meal? Then during the board meeting I got frustrated with an old lady. She always frustrates me and so I have little patience with her. So often she will say something and I'll just say, "no you don't need that" or "that doesn't make any sense." I say this with much less compassion than I might to someone else. Board meetings frustrate me. I don't really like the way I behave in these meetings. It's not that I am just plain out mean. I just think I'm not very centered. I need to figure out how I can be more centered.
Then tonight I had a meeting from six to eight at the church. FInally, I got home about 8:20 for dinner. And I watched this new show on ABC called Pushing Up Daisies. It was pretty good. Quirky and interesting premise. It had some great lines. My favorite was "I wish I could give you an emotional heimlich and make you cough up a big wad of fear and anxiety." Seriously, isn't that fantastic? But now here is the absolute best part. Three of the actors are Kristin Chenoweth, Swoosie Kurtz and the woman who played the lead in the movie version of Little Shop of Horrors. All Broadway actresses. Love them. Love it!!!

It's time for Top Chef.

Peace out!

A music survey on the subway?

Do you like hip-hop music? That was the question that I was asked out of the blue while I was waiting on a BART train today. Just a random stranger asking me if I like hip hop music. Now I don't so I said "no," and the man wandered off. I don't know why he wanted to know this or what he was doing with the information. Maybe he was taking a survey. I don't know.

Then I went for a run today and this is what I overheard as I ran buy a couple, "I'm not saying it was the root cause just that is might have exacerbated it." I just loved that sentence and I don't have any idea what they were talking about.

There are two things I want to write about. I'll start with my brother. He had a cat scan last week and he got the results today when he went in for his next round of chemo. The cat scan showed that the tumors had not grown since he began this new round. They haven't shrunk but they haven't grown. It's interesting how normal can change. We are now working with a new normal. Now news that isn't bad news is good news. He will continue this chemo treatment for the next two months. Then the doctor is looking into an experimental treatment that might help my brother. So for now we continue to wait. But on a day when we didn't receive bad news we are just being grateful.

The other things is this. I saw a movie today which wasn't great. It wasn't The Nanny Diaries or Transformers but still it wasn't good. (Feast of Love.) But there was a trailer before the movie. It is a Tyler Perry movie. He is the one who made Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Madea's Family Reunion. I didn't care for DOMBW but I loved the character Madea. Today's trailer looked terrible. It's called Why Did We Get Married. It is also starring Janet Jackson. But here is the question that I'm pondering. It is an entirely African American cast. So I wander do I think the movie is really bad or is it racism? I grew up in the south. I know that I have a history of racism in my family and where I grew up. The town I grew up in was segregated. There was a part of town that was referred to as the quarters and that is where all the African Americans in our town lived. And I knew that there was an unspoken word that went before quarters. I say unspoken but it wasn't always unspoken. There was a "quarters" in most of the towns near where I grew up. We used to drive through one on our way to high school. One day my brother was driving and we had an accident. So I had to go into someone's house and call for help. I called my Dad and was trying to tell him where we were. Since I didn't know what the name of the road was I just had to try and describe to him where we were. But I knew that I couldnt' tell him that I was in the quarters, not while I was standing in this woman's house. I just don't know. My racism really scares me, because I'm just not sure how aware of it I am. I guess I am more aware of it than most. But I just don't know if I'll ever escape it. I don't think I treat peopel differently or view them differently because of their race. But is that enough? I don't know.

And is this why I don't like hip hop and rap music?

Well there you have it: that is my personal confession for today. I don't need absolution. I don't think.

Peace out!