Meastro, please....

And a one....

And a two.....?

Nancy Reagans sudden passing would make this a full week....

Humming Peggy Lees, "Is that all there is....Is that all there is...If that's all there, then let's keep dancing....let's break out the booze and have a ball...."

Everybody....breathe....eat....breathe.....

So there is good news and bad news today.....

Let's get the bad out of the way first. Why won't he just go away?

Now the good news. First I have to ask this question though. What is the Catholic church going to do with the pope, now using a nasogastric feeding tube. Will they keep him alive indefinetely, daring G_d to take him? Does he have a living will? Of course he doesn't, because the Pope thinks you should give food and water to every person. Will he continue to be the head of the Catholic Church? Can the Church remove him? I wonder. This odd parallel to the Schiavo case is odd, and perhaps the pope should investigate what happens to you when you stop receiving nutrients from tubes.

For those of you keeping track, this site might interest you, popedeathwatch.com

Full Disclosure

Okay, so I mentioned this yesterday and I thought I would tell you the whole story.

Remember when you were a kid and television specials only came on once a year? Every spring CBS aired "The Wizard of Oz." I was especially fond of the Peanuts movies. There was one though, that made me cry. Every year they would air "Snoopy Come Home." In it Snoopy leaves Charlie Brown for the little red-headed girl. Every year I would beg my mother to watch it and every year I would cry when Snoopy leaves. Cry. Inconsolably. I remember the tired look on my mothers face as she switched off the set and would sigh, "Maybe next year." I guess this should have been an early warning of my sensitivities. The Christmas before I moved to New Orleans (which was literally days before my move) my mother gave me a copy of the movie. I tried to watch it a couple years ago but found it too overwhelming even now. I have no idea what happens at the end, though I suspect that Snoopy must come home.

I did my laundry yesterday, but...

There is always dirty laundry. Take, for example, the most recent song/video release of Miss Lisa Marie Presley. Formerly the princess of Rock and Roll, Lisa has covered the old Don Henley tune "Dirty Laundry." I always liked the song but then she released the new video. In it there are multiple television screens showing what the producers deem as other peoples dirty laundry. Chief among them, the funeral of Princess Diana. Isn't it bizarre that Lisa Marie would hawk the death of a sacred cow for cash....wait...it's all she knows. Never mind.

Terri is still alive. Still. I know I am a thief, but I pinched this from my friend Brian's website, he stole it from someone else...but be forewarned, this is funny, but sick sick sick.

Terri Schiavo, as told by easter eggs.

Don't shoot the messenger.

Easter is over, Jesu lives, rah rah sis boom bah. I wait every year, hoping they won't kill him this year. It's like watching Snoopy Come Home (another story I'll have to tell sometime) and thinking "Snoopy won't leave Charlie Brown for the little red-headed girl, he won't!" But he does, every time. It's that way with Jesus.

A second chance...Perhaps

When I travel I usually read trashy novels. I've been sated for years by the likes of Jackie Collins. Judy Blume's Wifey, also a treasured teen read, was re-discovered in a half price bookstore in Indy during another trip and made for an excellent long layover soothing time.

Leaving the airport in Indy a few weeks ago I picked up Christopher Rice's second book "The Snow Garden." I had read "Density of Souls" out of curiosity when it first came out and, well, it was a first novel. A first novel that probably wouldn't have been published if his last name was Smith. This second book was a much better attempt but his writing still seems to have met the same fate of his mothers, an inability to close a story. Snow Garden takes us through the lives of college students who quickly find themselves embroiled in mysterious deaths, affairs, the pain of molestation, parental abuse and even a little HIV tossed in for fun. In other words, the typical college experience. The character development is fairly decent and the story does draw you in. The last 20 pages or so, meant to wrap up the story, drive fast and hard towards a resolution that makes little sense. The lead characters disappearance feels like it's supposed to be a cliff-hanger in line with "Who Shot J.R."

Chris third book, "Light before day" is now in bookstores. I have yet to read it, but flipped through the Amazon reviews by both casual readers and serious reviewers. (Though "serious" reviewers might be a stretch.) There were mixed reviews but the casual reviewers touched on something I noticed in "Snow Garden." Those of you who are regular Anne Rice readers know that she edits her own books, she and her 'team' of people. This often leads to problems, mostly in grammar and typographical errors. Chris suffers the same flaw though I'm sure he is edited so these problems probably belong more to his publishing house than to him personally. Now I am not the king of grammar, as these writings reveal, but I'm not making money to publish this either. Though I should have marked them so I could pinpoint them to you, gentle reader, but I failed in that task. One reviewer mentioned that a character in the new book is wearing a "Poca" shell necklace instead of a Puka shell. Little things, little annoyances.

Interesting side note, in the acknowledgements Chris mentions Spencer Doody's name in the group of people he wished to thank for helping him make a personal transformation. It's nice to see someone I know be mentioned, so Kudos to you Spencer...

In keeping with my true form

So today is Good Friday. Today my Jewish Brethren sold out Jesu and they strung him up. If I didn't hate Mel Gibson so much I would rent "Passion of the Christ" and watch it over and over again today. Please direct your hate mail to my comment box.

The New Messiah

So back to Terri Schiavo. I have this strange feeling she's going to die today. Reports of her condition say that she is severely dehydrated with skin flaking, sunken eyes. Her parents lawyers are flying around the country filing suits in various courts. Today is probably Terri's day though.

Today, you see, is Good Friday. Could there be a better day than Good Friday for this new sacred cow. She is guaranteed to be the main dish at every Easter Sunday sermon in catholic and Christian society. Resurrected, if you will, her cause being put forth to the righteous, urging them to fight the Romans (Read: Democrats) and not to hide their true goodness (Read: Hypocritical homophoic self serving grandiose sense of entitlement.) Terri's story will be eviscerated, it's marrow sucked dry so we can pat our neighbors hands and say "How sad it is, how sad it is." It is sad that we live in a country that cannot leave people to their own devices, allowing them to die with some form of dignity, not be a circus animal for us to kiss when the cameras roll.

My Florida Travels

I am going to travel to Florida this weekend and smother Terri Schiavo. Okay so I'm kidding but I think this entire thing is so ridiculous. The republican senate has intervened for what reason? Shouldn't this be a matter for the courts? The supreme court has refused to hear this case something like five times now. Her parents were on the news last night saying "let this insanity end...let my daughter live." I can appreciate their desire to let her live, but she isn't living, she's being kept alive. I'm a bit troubled by the husband's motivations but he still has the right to decide what's best for his wife. Terri Schiavo has been in a vegetative state for 15 years. It sickens me to think that this woman has to starve to death in order to die because her parents feel that any life is worth saving. Whose values are being upheld here?

Just When You Thought....

Just when you thought you had seen it all.....

I took the pups to the dog park today, encountering Jeff along the way. Both Dash and Chase had been full of energy all day and needed a good run. They were having a good time at the park but they wore out quickly so we decided to leave. Then we saw something that neither one of us could believe. Now I'm sure that everyone has heard of dogs that "tree" other animals, trapping them in the tree. Today I saw a dog that could climb trees. Yes, climb trees. At first I thougth it was an oddity of circumstance. The tree I saw it climbing was at a 45 degree angle, either a mishap of time or the slow decline of roots that had given up from years of pooches using it as a pee spot. Nonetheless, there was the dog, about 8 feet up in the tree. The dogs owner told me that he had learned to do it by chasing squirrels and he had been surprised too the first time he saw the dog run up a tree. To prove the point he had the dog climb two other trees, neither of whom was leaning. They did have branches low enough on their trunk that the dog was able to get a hold and pull himself up higher. In a city where nothing ever phases you, I was dumbstruck by the squirrel chasing, tree climbing dog.

Just When You Thought....

Just when you thought you had seen it all.....

I took the pups to the dog park today, encountering Jeff along the way. Both Dash and Chase had been full of energy all day and needed a good run. They were having a good time at the park but they wore out quickly so we decided to leave. Then we saw something that neither one of us could believe. Now I'm sure that everyone has heard of dogs that "tree" other animals, trapping them in the tree. Today I saw a dog that could climb trees. Yes, climb trees. At first I thougth it was an oddity of circumstance. The tree I saw it climbing was at a 45 degree angle, either a mishap of time or the slow decline of roots that had given up from years of pooches using it as a pee spot. Nonetheless, there was the dog, about 8 feet up in the tree. The dogs owner told me that he had learned to do it by chasing squirrels and he had been surprised too the first time he saw the dog run up a tree. To prove the point he had the dog climb two other trees, neither of whom was leaning. They did have branches low enough on their trunk that the dog was able to get a hold and pull himself up higher. In a city where nothing ever phases you, I was dumbstruck by the squirrel chasing, tree climbing dog.

Once again, with feeling

I can't believe it's been so long since I have blogged. I can't believe that I have made more trips to Indiana than blogs this year. Okay, so that's not totally true, but almost.

Yesterday afternoon I returned from yet another trip to Indiana, the second this year and obviously the second this winter. Yes, winter. I hate winter. It was a major reason for my leaving Indiana in the first place. After my last trip there I was determined not to return to Indy until late summer. My mother and I were not getting along and I didn't want to go through all that crap again for at least six more months.

(Side Note) While writing this I had to stop for about the 10th time today to yell at Dash, one of my precious puppies, to get away from the trash can. He has learned how to use his snout to open it and snack away at anything I have thrown away. Note to self, buy new trash can.

Anyway, my friend Jason asked me to come up and go to the Elton John concert in Indy with him. I really didn't need to take any time off work or spend the money to go to Indy but I agreed to go anyway. All my arrangements made, it was kind of a surprise to find out that Elton had cancelled a few days before. My sister and I had made arrangements to go see the traveling Broadway production of "Hairspray" with our mother and some other friends. So I went anyway. Jason had arranged my ticket at the ungodly hour of 7 am so of course I missed my flight. Delta put me on another flight and I made it to Indy only 45 minutes later than planned. My luggage wasn't so lucky. Delta left it in Atlanta. They finally got it to me that night about 10 pm after several phone calls and an idiot delivery man in a pick up. Indiana.

We went out Saturday and had a great time, even though Jason and my old roommate Bill intimated that the boy I was talking to had parkinsons disease at the top of their lungs. The boy was just drunk, but it did drive him away, so that wasn't so bad after all. My obligatory trip to the Unicorn (which is now Kyler-Less) was alright. They had a hot hot hot new dancer named Benjamin who immediately won my dollars (many of them, many many of them) by having a very nice ass and wearing a black jock strap. Unfortunately he was a young boy with an attitude (read: Indy) so we left shortly thereafter.

Sunday was fun, we all went to the very very bad production of Hairspray (Note to self: this should finally cement your decision never again to attend a traveling Broadway production of anything unless Linda Gray is playing a role.) Afterwards we all (Richard, Bill, Michael, Jason, my sister and my mother) went to English Ivy's, my mother first trip to a gay bar. I hoped to see John F. And Daryl Ann, but they were nowhere to be seen. After, we went to Metro and played darts for a while. My sisters old roommate Stacia showed up and somehow convinced a boy that resembled a Keebler Elve that 6' 6" Jason was an actor from LA who was a regular on Joan of Arcadia. Outside of Fred Gwynne I wasn't sure there were too many Jolly the Green Giant actors out there, but the kid bought it. Jason and I left, stopped by some friends of his house then went home to rest up for Monday, my day to spend with my family.

Let me just say now, I hope that Whitney and Jeremy from Logans roadhouse on County Line road in Greenwood have patched up their problems. They are two employees who dated and Jeremy did what he would only describe as "the worst thing possible" to his girlfriend. Jason accurately predicted that "you might not want to make this crowd think of the worst thing possible." After assuring us that he had not slept with Whitney's sister, called her mother a whore or told her she was a fat cow, Jeremy abandoned us and bided his time until we left. The day went morally downhill after that. I never thought I would do a kickline behind the gravesite of two twin girls, but hey, you gotta keep an open mind.

I will try to write more very soon, but I have to go to work now, somebody has to make the doughnuts.