Fabulous!

(Do you notice that many of my blog titles end with an exclamation point? Really, I'm not flamboyant in person. Just the internet. !!! Anyway, on to my post...)

Last night we were fortunate enough to get free tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. We sat in the orchestra level, right section, around the midpoint of the section. Really nice seats. :)

So, anyway, I was reminded once again of the theatre's grandness. (We were there in August for Star Wars - see post.) Since the show is set in the amazing Paris Opera House, the stage designers built an opulent facade reminiscent of the Opera House. Given that the Fox is pretty opulent itself, the facade looked right at home.

At any rate, through much of the show I thought about how we (i.e. Americans) are usually entertained - movies. And more often we just watch a movie at home. That's nice and very convenient, but in my opinion lacks the joie de vivre of a live performance. (I know my friend happyboogie will agree.) We are so used to amazing special effects and edits that produce near perfect movies that we forget the talent and hard work that goes into a live production. It's easy (well, maybe not easy, but certainly easier) to create mesmerizing scenes and action with digital effects, but isn't it more creative to be able to create illusions with just plain old props and lighting?

Live performances are great - hopefully Randy and I will be able to go to many more... :)

So gay!

This morning in the locker room at the gym I noticed a magazine on the bench. The back cover was facing up and it was just an ad for vodka or some liquor. It was pretty cool looking (of course) so I thought I'd turn over the magazine to see what it was. I wasn't familiar with the title at all and at first I thought it was just an ordinary (or perhaps hip) publication.

Upon closer examination, I wondered why there were scantily clad guys on the cover. So, of course, I started to thumb through the issue and noticed several articles with more pictures of scantily clad guys... One article had a photo of a guy's bare butt with another guy "spanking" him with a ruler (it was apparently some "back to school" issue).

Anyway, I said to myself "This is just so gay - SO GAY!" Nothing against being gay, of course, but I sometimes wonder if these free weekly publications go just a bit too far. (The magazine was "Next Magazine, The hippest guide to
gay New York.")

I of course took the free publication with me.

Upcoming birthday

OK, here's another gift idea:


Candy G-String


LOL. Just kidding.

How rude!

Pet peeve: n, something which bothers, annoys, irritate, riles and/or enrages. (my definition)


I've realized that my pet peeves generally boil down to rude people. Those people out there who either by wit or dim-wit do something which adversely impacts ME! I always find it amazing when people decide to do something which by any logical standard would be considered rude.

For instance, yesterday on my way home from work, I was exiting the freeway. The exit ramp is rather long and starts off as two lanes, then condenses to one. Occasionally, (and yesterday this was the case), traffic builds up at the end of the ramp as it joins several other lanes of traffic. It was at that junction that I noticed a driver passing all the traffic behind me by driving on the shoulder. That is just so amazingly annoying to me. As if that driver didn't need to follow traffic rules and sit there with the rest of us. To add to my ire, of course someone let the "shoulder driver" back onto the road when the light turned green.

Another thing that annoys me is people who litter. I've seen at least two occasions at the gym where people have left chewing gum (used) some place other than the trash - how gross!

My short list:

• Lousy drivers
  
• Litterers
  
• People who take up two parking spaces
  
• People who cut in line
  
• People who rant about others in blogs!
  

Shock and Awe

I have so far tried to steer clear of political posts. Politics have a way of bringing out the worst (and occasionally the best) in people. I will admit that I am liberal progressive in my political views and thus almost always agree with Democrats as opposed to Republicans. Some facts which contribute to my views include:

• Tax cuts for the wealthy (e.g. the "Death" tax)


• Exorbitant deficit spending (isn't that supposed to be from Democrats???)


• Questionable relationships between high level officials and corporations (Halliburton, Texas oil companies)


• The growing divide between the rich and the poor

I honestly believe that Republican fiscal policies directly contribute to the last item in my list. Over the past 20 years or so, corporations have paid fewer (i.e. in percentages) taxes, wealthy people have seen their tax brackets lowered (and on average have "saved" MUCH more than the average American) and workers at the top have seen wages rise while workers at the bottom have seen wages decline. The fact that America is the richest country in the world, but still has so much poverty is amazing. Yet, so many people feel "sorry" for wealthy Americans who "pay too much" in taxes. What an ingenious spin!!!

So, it was with shock and awe that I heard on NPR yesterday that Bush waived federal requirements that contractors pay prevailing wages. WTF??? If nothing else, the Katrina tragedy exposed the amount of poverty in the Gulf Coast region of the country. Could this do anything other than propagate that poverty? Do you think any of the corporations (e.g. Halliburton) are going to pay their CEO's less?

More on Bush's waiver at CNN.

p.s. I'm nearly embarrassed that I just read about Arianna Huffington's "blog". Awesome.

States I've visited

This is interesting:



create your own visited states map

Gay Gospel Pop Duo????

Um, you do the math, but to me this just doesn't add up:

Jason and deMarco

Upcoming birthday

I (unfortunately) have a birthday coming up, I would love one of these. Especially if you can find a big green frog to show me how to ride it. Be sure to check out the video, it's quite long though...

Tomorrow I'll try to bring my camera to work and post a few pictures from last weekend.

My Dream Vacation

I think about vacation - a lot! The thought of visiting and experiencing other cultures seems very fascinating to me. And the thought of not being at work for a while of course entices me that much more.

Randy and I have been fortunately enough to have some really nice vacations, but as with many things in life, you never have too many. We've had great times with friends in Mexico, Costa Rica, the British Virgin Islands, on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, Charleston on the beach and numerous American cities. We've of course also been on vacations alone, though we do tend to go with friends. Randy is always looking for something to do, while I'm usually satiated by sitting by a pool (or the ocean) and reading (and drinking, obviously).

Recently, I've thought that traveling by train would be a great experience. I think it would be cool to travel through the Rocky Mountains. I would definitely want to have a room with a bed rather than sit in a seat for the trip (which can be days, depending on how long you could devote to the trip). My friend, happyboogie went on a train adventure with her husband a few years ago so I'll have to grill her about it when she visits next month. When I mentioned train travel to Randy at the gym this morning, his response was "I'll fly and meet you there." He'd be bored off his ass. (Who wants to come with me?)

Randy and I actually have lots of dream vacations. We've been on one cruise and had a blast. We would both like to go on another. But, we've never been to Europe and would really like to go. Probably either Spain (Barcelona) or Germany (Berlin?). We'll see.

Until then, I'll just enjoy this mini-vacation weekend and be happy I don't have to come to work Monday. :)

Rebuilding New Orleans

Randy, friends and I brought up the question of whether or not New Orleans should rebuild. I mean, if you look at the situation logically, (well, with my logic) on the surface if you take away sentimental value, it might appear that it makes more economic sense to not rebuild. I'm sure that some of the people who live in the area won't return, and others may wish they hadn't. Indeed, I'm afraid it will take years for the city to return to normalcy.

However, my initial reaction was "Yes, I'd like N.O. to rebuild - they have 24-hour bars!" That, along with Mardi Gras, Gay Halloween, Bourbon Street and the French Quarter seem like enough reason to rebuild. Unless they were all transplanted some other place... Atlanta? HA! We've had our stint with 24-hour bars. I was sad to see them go.

So, anyway, back to economics. As I was listening to NPR this morning, I began to realize that the city of New Orleans is pretty important economically. Located at the mouth of the Mississippi River, it serves as one of the biggest shipping ports in the country. Thus, commerce could be adversely affected with its disappearance. Also, as we're seeing nationwide now, the supply of fuel is directly dependent on N.O. and the Gulf in general.

With that said, I'll add that I'm far from an expert on economics. On the other hand, I do pride myself with knowledge of libations. And with that I'll toast to the rebuilding of New Orleans!