Sunday, May 27, 2007

This & That

Please note the sarcasm in the following three statements: Literacy homework is just SO much fun. I don't want to gouge my eyes out at all. I LOVE this class!

Uncle Vinny surprised us and came in for the weekend. He is addicted to Condrell's ice cream shop on Delaware Ave. in Kenmore, and invited me to join he and the family last night for ice cream. I turned them down on the grounds I'm trying to lose some weight, but caved into the peer pressure and went with them tonight (yes, they went AGAIN). Everyone else was eating these huge ice cream wonders... while yours truly had a fat free-sugar free hot fudge sundae. The ironic part? I did opt for the real whip cream, so basically I canceled out the whole "healthier" concept of the fat/sugar free.

We're having everyone over the house for dinner tomorrow, for bbq chicken. Should be nice to have everyone over, and since I get out at 1pm from work.. I can actually enjoy the event.

I spoke with Anne today, and Parris is doing better. Not sure if I posted it or not, but she recently flat lined in the hospital, and had to be revived. She was back in intensive care. Anne tells me she is doing better, and they have her in a wheel chair to get her around outside of bed. I'm assuming that means she's out of ICU. Anne got to talk to her for the FIRST time since all this happened about a month ago, yesterday. She said Parris sounds weak, as is to be expected, but progressing in the right direction. Anne is torn whether or not to visit her now, or go later. The trip is expensive, and they no longer have a place to stay with her son gone. She wants to be able to go when she can actually sit and talk with her granddaughter, instead of making the trip to sit by her bedside as she sleeps. I know she and Vince are torn about what to do.. it wouldn't surprise me if they hopped on a plane tomorrow.

One of the many, many, many, many reading assignments I have had (in only TWO classes) was entitled "Everything you Wanted to Know About Phonics. But Were Afraid to Ask" -- I have chosen to re-name it: "Everything I Didn't Need to Know About Phonics... And Couldn't Care Less About"

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Words of Wisdom

Here is a list of random quotes off the top of my head that are in some way inspirational to me. They are from both famous, and non famous people alike.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. - Jesus Christ

Believe the impossible, and you can do the incredible. - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Walk softly and carry a big stick. - President "Teddy" Roosevelt

We have nothing to fear but fear itself. - President Franklin Roosevelt

You can't have it all, you just can't. Any idiot knows that. - Katharine Hepburn

Life's a banquet and most poor bastards are starving to death! - Mame

It seems the more book smarts you acquire, the more common sense you lose. - Grandma D.

Self praise stinks. - Grandpa D.

Being like everyone else is easy. It's being yourself that takes courage. - Me

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Georgia Rule

Went to see the movie Georgia Rule today. I loved it. It had everything a good chick flick should have.... comedy, romance, drama, family issues, and an ending that brought a tear to my eye. The reoccurring gag of Georgia washing a person's mouth out with soap every time they took the Lord's name in vain had me rolling with laughter.

It was a cute movie that made you think... Shut up and go see it!

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Seth MacFarlane's Harvard Class Day Speech STEWIE

Like I said before.. funny and SO damn cute!

Beginnings of Grad School

Yesterday was my first masters level class. Currently I am taking Adolescent Literacy, which is held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:10PM to 7:40PM. Originally, I was enrolled in another course this session, but quickly discovered I had to drop it and take it in the Fall as set out in the program guideline. Grad classes have a LOT of homework, and it would be impossible to get all the work done for TWO classes at once. So much for trying to make my Fall course load lighter.

This class is really quite interesting, and dare I say it.. fun. The professor is outgoing and humorous, and the class time seems to pass rather quickly. While the homework may be a bit daunting, I think I'd have to say that so far, I "like" this class.

While the topic of literacy seemed boring and irrelevant at first, as most of us had the same reaction: "I'm not planning on teaching reading and writing", we quickly found out there is much more to the topic than that. After only the first class, my mind is already pondering new classroom strategies and techniques for teaching the subject matter in ways that weren't possible when I was in middle school.

So far so good.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Seth Macfarlane



I have decided to put my casual stalking of Michael Buble on hold, and begin stalking Family Guy creator, Seth Macfarlane exclusively. Not only is he quite talented, and funny as hell.. but he's SO damn hot!!

If I'm gonna dream, I'm gonna dream big... and if I'm going to jail for being a stalker, it's gonna be worth it. (just kidding... maybe)

"If you put peanut butter anywhere on your body, he'll lick it off.... Anywhere!!"

Sunday, May 13, 2007

An Academic Miracle!

Final grades were posted for my bio class, and I managed to score a C+ !! While it is nothing to write home about, it is more than enough for this class to count and fulfill the science requirement I had. HOPEFULLY I will NEVER have to take another science class again.. and THAT is awesome!!

I begin my grad work the end of this month (the 21st I think). I am taking two classes the first summer session, and one the second summer session. This first session, the classes meet twice a week for about three hours each evening. So I will be in school Mon-Thurs. evenings, working in the morning. So basically, I will have no life for those six weeks of the first session.. with things being more manageable (hopefully) the second session. Well, it's not like I have much of a social life anyway. =-)

I am nervous about the upcoming grad work, but I am excited to FINALLY be starting it after all this waiting. Things need to really start moving forward. The way I look at is: The sooner I start this program, the sooner I can start looking for teaching job.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

The Gay Let Down

With each passing day I become more and more disappointed in my "fellow" gay men. Functioning in the Catholic social networks and communities that I do, I have heard, seen, and endured a lot of anti-gay criticism. I've heard how we are corrupt, immoral, sinful, hateful, sex driven.. etc etc. It hurts because I know we're not all like that, not to any worse extent that the average heterosexual person. Lately though, I seem to have been bombarded with examples of ammunition for those advocating the "immorality" of the gay man.

There is a scene from Will and Grace I viewed recently on a re-run of the show in which a conversation between Jack and a newly outted gay man occurs. Jack is trying to teach this guy how to dress gay, act gay, and think gay. The conversation went something like this: "Is this all gay men care about? Faces and abs?" "No, just abs... the face can be covered up by a cute hat or a leather hood." It is a funny line, but it's not very far from the overwhelming image gay men portray. It's all about looks.. who has them, who doesn't, who's dating them, and who's sleeping with them.

Every time I turn around, there are those same guys who seem to change "boyfriends" more frequently than I change my socks. Couples secretly cheating on their partners when they aren't looking, and swearing their fidelity to their faces. The common "home wrecker" who justifies his actions by telling himself "I didn't really want to do it, but he came onto me." or "If he didn't cheat with me, it would have just been someone else." No one stands up and takes responsibility for their own actions.

Go to a gay bar sometime and just observe the interaction with people. It's comical to see the diversity of low lives one will encounter. The shot boy walking around in nothing but tighty-whities, the "monogamous" couple secretly hitting on other people, and the ever present plethora of chicken hawks -- 40 some year old men (or older) looking to score a barely legal to mid twenty something kid for a quick fuck.

Recently I went out for a drink with a friend. A friend of his came to our table, and we were talking. Suddenly, my outfit was the topic of conversation.. and apparently the concept of personal space does not apply in a gay bar. This guy thought it was perfectly acceptable to unbotton my shirt repeatedly, under the guise of telling me I needed to "show off more of my body", until he grabbed my stomach and told me, "You need to work on that". I was wearing a cap, and this guy wasn't a hat person, so I was lectured for a good twenty minutes on why it's not attractive for a guy to have a cap on. And of course.. my glasses had to go, and I needed to switch to contacts.. because you know, they're not at all expensive or a pain in the ass. What this guy was doing was attempting to tear me down, and build me up in his own image of what a guy should look like. An attribute that is all too common in the gay world. It is perfectly acceptable to tell people how to dress and how to act in the name of vanity. Gee, I wonder why the stereotype of the fashion police fag still lingers on??

The last and final group I'll mention here is by far the most common. The liar. If I had a nickel for every time I heard a guy say "I want a monogamous relationship. I'd never cheat. I want that special someone. I'm a good guy." I'd be rich. These are such common pick up lines, lines even I have fallen for before. That's what a guy says when he wants someone around for a while until he find someone better. The liar is one who will say and do anything to get you home with him, and then will drop you as soon as someone "better" looking comes along.. and then will feed that line of bull to the new guy and spin his web all over again.

Can people really say they blame heterosexuals for viewing the homosexual male as a degenerate? Sometimes, I whole heartedly agree, with few notable exceptions.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Peace and Quiet.. for the most part

Mom and Dad left for Disney World on Tuesday, and I almost feel as if I'm on a mini vacation myself. It's so refreshing not to have them home. I appreciate the quiet (with the exception of Scott), and not being yelled for every 5 minutes. True, I have had an increase in household work, taking care of laundry and general damage control in Mom's absence, but I don't really mind.

I took my fountain out of storage and assembled it back on the patio. It's nice to have the sound of the water again, and I enjoy sitting on the patio in my rocker, enjoying the cool weather. Would be better if I had someone to sit with out there, but life is good just the same.

I went to visit Anne yesterday. He two sisters are still in from out of town, so it was nice to be able to chat with them and catch up. Her great grandson Austin was there also. He's 13 months old, and so damn cute! I was chasing him all over the house to try to give Anne and her sisters a break.. so he kept me moving most of my visit. We kept hoping he'd wear himself out and take a nap, but that never happened. In fact, he ended up putting some of the adults to sleep. Anne, Doloris and I burst out laughing as we looked over at the couch to see Vince asleep on one end, and Marie asleep on the other... both snoring. As for Austin.. he just kept right on going.

So with the exception of occasional temper tantrums out of Scott, it's pretty quiet around here. Just Toby and me for the most part. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I find it a bit lonely.. not that I want my parents to be around.. it just hits me that there isn't anybody knocking on the door or calling the phone to visit with me. As with most things, I putter around alone.. and I guess that's ok. When I was a kid, my older brother forced me into isolation by making sure the neighborhood kids didn't play with me. I managed to be content by myself years ago, I'm sure I will be able to do it now.