I had one such moment today. I had gone into a Plaid Pantry to take ownership of some afternoon delight (Red Bull and smokes) and as I exited the store I caught a guy sitting in his car, finger up his nose, full thortle mining. His buddy had gone into the store for Subway and there was no one outside. He obviously thought it was the perfect time to dig one out. A nose goblin of course. As I came out of the store with me goodies my eyes locked right on him. He was arched back in the passenger seat, finger near knuckle deep, really going to town. As I came out our eyes locked and he froze. He never took his finger out, readjust or try to pass off like he was just scratching his eye. Just froze.

I broke the lock, fought back the urge to start laughing and immediately was trying to figure out if I could casually snap a pic for posting. He simply went back to digging.

I jumped in my rig and took off. But giggled to myself over the thrill of having one of those truly uninhibited human moments.

Oh and before anyone asks what he did with his findings: mouth or shirt?

All shirt baby, with a quick pass through his mouth after. Priceless.

Regardless of your politics, etc…one picture really struck me…

…and it had the following caption…

“President Barack Obama bends over so the son of a White House staff member can pat his head during a family visit to the Oval Office May 8, 2009. The youngster wanted to see if the President’s haircut felt like his own.”

Just a seemingly sweet photo right. A little silly even. And some called it cute.

For me I got a bit emotional.

Why you ask?

Because this photo was the first time it really, really struck me. The real historical impact Barack Obama’s election has had and will have on us as a nation…as a people.

Having grown up severely confused and self-hating due to my sexuality, one thing I know I never had at that time was anyone I could identify with as a kid. No one I could look to and especially not talk to as these thoughts of identity raced through my head. Due to that fact I spent a lot of time in my youth hiding…believing I was a sexual deviant. That struggle still has lasting impressions to this day.

But here is the thing for that little boy in that picture and other children now and in the future. The levy has been broken…the door flung wide open…kids now of African-American heritage have that person they can identify with…and believe that they to could be President one day.

I have had conversations with a number of Black friends or colleagues about what I saw as a lack of role models in the Black Community. That there was too much of the “rapper who made it big” and not enough of people to the level of Barack Obama. Politics aside…Obama is a well-spoken, intelligent, educated, family man. For people who still cling on to old, tired bigotry of Blacks, the messages and lifestyles of rappers, who seem to make such an impact on not just Black youth, but poser White suburban youth as well, helps reinforce hate-filed ideas.

If you crack a book and do some reading on the times prior to the movements of the 60′s – many felt and looked at Black people as basically dumb and animals. Hence why they were treated as sub-human with separate water fountains, bathrooms and places to sit. Even as things changed and improved, I think the media still kept reinforcing the idea of “Fear the Black Man” in news reports about crime, etc.

Even when Obama was running for President, I was amazed when, more then one longtime Democrat would make the following statement around me, “No I am not voting for Obama, there is just something I don’t like about him.” Uhhhh, to me that was always a more acceptable way to say they would never vote for him due to the fact he was Black. How else would one interpret that? I could understand if they said they weren’t voting for him because…and then rattled off his political stands on issues and they disagreed. No it was never that.

One person I knew kept saying they thought he was the anti-Christ, since the Bible referred to someone who would be well-liked. I had another friend make a similar inference. This really floored me. I had to point out that their have been a number of beloved political figures…Kennedy, Reagan, etc, etc. I lived through Reagan’s election and following Presidency and I use to see people all the time who would go on and on about him, wearing shirts, etc. I don’t remember people saying that due to that he was the anti-Christ.

So yes, all of this came from a photo of a little boy patting President Obama on the head to see if his haircut felt the same. Why? Because a whole Generation of youth will have someone just like them, that achieved greatness, made history through the quality of his mind and the heart of his character.

It wasn’t my first experience having an ear piercing. I had originally had just one ear pierced in college at one of those mall trendy earring shops my 17 year old niece enjoys shopping at. They clamp your ear in their Wallmart quality ear gun and squeeze the shit out of your lobe No big surprise that ended with an ear that was super irriated and I finally pulled it out.

My second adventure with adorning my body with metal took me to an actual body piercing shop. BIG difference. The place was very clean, they use a sterilized, one-time use needle and it is done by someone who obviously knows about piercing, not a bubble gum smacking, min wage girl.

So end result? Both ears pierced – no issues. Barely even felt it. Though the guy was looking longingly at my earlobes making reference to what he could do with lobes like that. I may not have been blessed with goodlooks, but I was thrown a pair of earlobes that are the envy of many piercers. So I got that going for me.

So why the hell post about this? Well when I managed at the extremely backwards Hollywood Video, men were not allowed to wear earrings. So daily I had to pull them out. Over time it became a pain so I just stopped putting them in and of course the holes sealed back up.

For some reason I have been wanting to do it again.

Maybe I just like the earlobe lust…who knows.

With the complete move over of the blog and now that I have finally consolidated it all under one roof, I will finally finish up the Fear and Loathing in Los Angeles posts and then move on to more current fair.

Like right now!

Old Man Winter took on Portland with a vengeance this past weekend and left the place frozen over. I have been housebound for a couple of days and yes cabin fever has set in.

And sadly my car having a once over by Mr. Freeze has not helped.

I am now, fondly, remembering my 70 degree Christmases down in LA!

I have never been to Hell, but I am sure the bus ride home, that unusually sunny, winter day had to share some similarities to the fiery depths of Satan’s lair. The world seemed to be spinning out of control from my point of view. I had buried myself as far in the back of this transit nightmare as I could. The others on the bus can hear my thoughts, I know it. Can sense my build up to insanity. They seemed to be watching me…or am I just being swept up in paranoia? Each time the doors open at a stop, my muscles tense as I debate bounding from this hell ride on wheels and escaping into the city, before I am leveled to a slobbery, blubbery mess on floor stained with dirt and old soda pop. I grip the seat and beg for strength to get just a little further.

To be continued shortly….

“iPod Generation will suffer hearing damage”

“Man brings class action suit against Apple for hearing loss”

I have always known that we, as Americans, can be kind of dumb sometimes. But over the course of the last several years we have truly lost our minds with panic and fear of anything and everything.

The latest and greatest example of this is countless articles and now legal action concerning the iPod and hearing damage. A man has actually filed suit against Apple Computers, one that his scumbag attorneys are now turning into a worldwide class action suit, claiming that his iPod caused him hearing damage. Even though Apple’s enclosed booklet clearly states to use the device at a “safe” volume, people seem to not know what that is.

Wow. Was it the drugs of the 60’s, is it toxins in the water or have terrorists secretly unleashed Dumbass Gas on us. When the hell did we get so fucking dimwitted in this country? How can we truly exist like this? How can we walk around and function when people want to sue over things that ARE THEIR OWN STUPID FAULT. A woman dumps HOT coffee on herself and she sues. People choose to smoke for years and later develop health issues related to it, they sue. I am waiting for fat people nationwide to start suing McDonald’s because they are obese. For all I know, someone is filing such papers now.

So in response to these worries of hearing damage, especially by parents, Apple released an update today adding a volume limit setting that can be used to keep your volume locked at a certain level. It can also be protected so a child cannot remove it once a parent has put it on. A smart idea, kids are the most prone to thinking they are invincible and cranking it up. But an adult should know better. Of course the law firm representing the idiotic, partially deaf man, responded to Apple’s upgrade by saying that it proves they know the device is faulty. Faulty??? Ummm, did the guy’s iPod crank the volume to full on its own and then clamp its headphones into his ears for hours and hours? I am thinking not.

We need to stop clogging our courts with crap. It needs to stop. These types of suits are ridiculous. I think laws need to change that allow judges the right to slap both the lawyer and the clients of such inane and dopey suits with fines and fees to cover the court expenses for even hearing such drivel. Not that any of us will hear them anyone, we will all be deaf from our iPods.

Yes Mama Britney decided to share her miracle of childbirth with the world in this sculpture.

My reaction to this when pictures were published today was…..is this the birth or the conception? Regardless I could have lived without seeing Britney Spears on all fours, stroking a bearskin rug while popping her kid out the other side.

You may pickup vomit bags on the way out.

So the Academy Awards are over, all of the statues known as Oscar have been handed out. All of the predicted winners walked away with their golden trophies except one. When Jack Nicholson opened the envelope to announce the winner of Best Picture even Jack seemed surprised when the Oscar went to “Crash”.

As the big day was approaching there was a great deal of talk that “Crash” could swing in and snag the coveted award from the frontrunner “Brokeback Mountain”. Even though prior to the show, “Brokeback” had won just about every other major award for best picture of the year, so it was natural to assume it would take the Oscar as well. It even seemed more likely as the evening went along after it won for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director.

After the awards, in the following several days, many stated that it was too controversial of a film to win and the novel’s author, Annie Proulx, was accusing intolerance that robbed the film from its deserved award.

It is not uncommon for a film that truly was not the best of the year to win Best Picture. I would state that in the Academy’s history, more films that were less deserving have won the award than the ones that were deserving of it. The question is, was it intolerance or homophobia that caused “Brokeback Mountain” to lose? My answer……..who knows.

The members of the Academy are vast and varied indeed. It is possible that the film’s homosexual themes were not welcome by all, but I harbor to guess it had more to do with “Crash” and its ties to Los Angeles. The film is a true expose of the racial tensions that run deep in L.A. Having lived here for more than 3 years, racial feelings and tensions are such a huge part of the landscape of living here than anywhere I have ever been. You have millions of people in a space of real estate that is truly divided into its neighborhoods. White parts of town are white, Black parts of town are black, Hispanic parts of town are hispanic and so forth. When you go into downtown Santa Ana you would swear you had crossed the border. Everyone on the streets is hispanic. The signs are in spanish. The music playing is hispanic. But cross the border into Costa Mesa and you have entered primarily Asian areas. The entire city and suburbs are all like this. This has created in this town a high amount, at times, of racial tensions. These explode on occasion in such situations as Rodney King, the Riots, etc.

The Academy has always favored these types of films. L.A. story type films. I think this has played more of role in the upset that night at the Oscars. Because keep one thing in mind, the majority of the Academy is made of rich, white people. I think applauding and awarding films such as this make them feel very colorblind and non-racists, though many would not live in a predominantly black neighborhood. You have to understand the psyche of the celebrity. They have to give to charity to make themselves not feel shallow, though many are such. So a film like “Crash” feeds that same type of purpose. “Hey, we are progressive, see we award black actors and films discussing racial issues……aren’t we great.”

Homosexuality has not quite reached that level for them yet, because it is still acceptable by many to condemn homosexuals. So they can hold onto those feelings for a little while longer. Allows them to continue to wash those racial epithets from their lips and minds.

One of the problems you have when you do not have TV, is you can get a little behind on the old current events. I do a lot of RSS News Feed reading in the morning when I get up, but sometimes it gets interrupted so I miss different things happening.

The worst example of this seems to be a story that erupted a while back concerning TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart. I am not a big fan of the Reverend Swaggart. Not just because he is a TV evangelist, a breed I feel does nothing more than manipulate peoples faith and bleed them of money, but also because he has the nerve to launch attacks on people he deems to be “abomb-nations”, even though he is infamous for his motel room trysts with prostitutes and his infidelity. It is difficult to take moral guidance from such a man. Yet many do so.

But his statements in this video are truly disgusting.

My favorite aspect of the video is how he goes so far as to say he would kill another man for looking at him in a romantic way, then proceeds to backpedal later saying that he is not condemning the poor homosexual, because they need saving too.

Only from you and your kind Rev. Swaggart.

The topic of gay marriage has taken a back seat to more important topics in our nation’s consciousness at the moment, like the war in Iraqi, but I am sure it will become a subject of hot debate again.

I consider myself a moderate when it comes to my political views. On some topics my stance would be deemed very conservative, while on other topics I would be deemed as a liberal. Overall, I feel I am a liberal on ALL topics, since the true dictionary definition of the word liberal means “open-minded”. The world of politics has developed this alternative meaning to the word suggesting that it is negative or evil to be liberal. You are deemed “wishy-washy” and a “flip-flopper” if you are liberal or open-minded. I wear my badge of being open-minded with pride. I am liberal, because the only thing I TRULY know is, I do not know everything. I make decisions in life as best as I can. I try to research and expand my knowledge as much as possible, so I can make the best judgement calls on things in life. But, I admit that there are some topics I know better than others and there always seems to be information out there I am not familiar with, so there are times where a stance I may have on something may change, but it is only when new information comes to light.

Others feel you have to take a stance on things and you cannot change. The dates may go by, the world may change, new ages may be born, but our attitudes and decisions on things should never wavier. I cannot agree with such a philosophy. Not all new information may change my ultimate decision about something, but I like to look at a situation individually, as opposed to lumping everything into one bucket and forcing everything to be black and white in a very grey world.

Gay marriage is one of those issues for me. My initial response to such a proposition was, “the gay community is not ready for this benefit”. Why did I feel this way? Well mainly because it seemed that the gay community’s focus was on sex being the defining principle of the community. I really do not feel sex should be or is what defines ones sexuality. I think anyone can have sex with just about anyone else. I think our defining aspect in ones sexuality has to do with the emotional aspect. Put simply, with love. Who you love, combined with who attracts you, defines your sexuality. It seemed that so many in the gay culture were so obsessed with sticking out, throwing sex in the faces of everyone else. I feel this really is a poor representation of who we are as gay people in a society. Gay Pride Parades are all fine and dandy, but how does men parading about in ass-less chaps really help people see, we are not too very different from them. It has been my experience in the gay world that the focus and obsession was bedding everyone, not dating and seeking long term relationships. But I, unfortunately, had been deciding this from a vacuum.

It is true, there is a lot of promiscuity in the gay culture. Most likely born out of the decades of hiding ones true sexuality. But, there are many gay and lesbian couples, who do not give into that part of the culture and truly seek and keep long term relationships with someone they love. In my eyes, denying them of marriage is wrong.

This idea upsets many though. Constantly on their lips is the term, “protecting the sanctity of marriage”.  

sanctity |ˈsa ng (k)titē| |ˌsøŋ(k)tədi| |ˌsaŋ(k)tɪti|

noun ( pl. -ties)

the state or quality of being holy, sacred, or saintly

It strikes me as funny, that some how, some way, gay or lesbian people getting married in some manner rips away the sacred nature of someone else’s marriage. Funny that. Is the sanctity of ones marriage really what counts? If one spouse cheats on the other, then the sanctity of their marriage is compromised. But is it compromised if your neighbor cheats on his or her spouse?

See, sanctity is dealing with a holy or religious aspect of marriage. But there are really two aspects to marriage. The religious aspect and the legal aspect. Many people have been married in non-religious weddings. The underlying issue here is one of religion. People feeling the holiness of marriage is corrupted by allowing same sex couples to marry which would be an abomination. I think what these same people need to do is look at how the sanctity of marriage is being corrupted by forced marriages, marriages of convenience, divorce, infidelity, etc.

Many issues plague, and one could argue, have destroyed this idea of sanctity in marriage. I feel people marry too easily and for all the wrong reasons in today’s day and age. This divide will probably never change though, since religion is playing such a deep role in this debate.

Time will tell.