Friends

So I've returned, unharmed and unmolested, from my first ever Pride paraded. Over all I had fun. I really enjoyed being able to smooch my man and keep my hands in his back pockets through out the entire event. I think the highlight of the parade itself was the inclusion of not only a group of enlisted men and women but the police, fire, and EMS all with the full support of the city and military. And in a nutshell I think that's what ultimately I came away from Pride with, respect. I was very pleased to be able to show my respect to the men and women who server their fellow man while not being snubbed by the system they lay down their lives for on a daily basis. I truly feel for the men and women of the armed services in the US who have to conceal themselves within their jobs.

There were plenty of other shenanigans though. Every size, shape, color, was on parade and thrilled to be doing their part I give them a big thumbs up for it. God knows I wouldn't be able to get out there and walk the route. There was plenty of eye candy and two of three humorous occasions when Alex managed to snap a picture of some guy giving me the once over. Alex was also playfully accosted by a guy in the Parade. In the end we weren't sure if the guy thought Alex was cute, or if it was someone Alex knew but didn't recognize but the guy came right up with an inflatable bat and smacked Alex with it. I am of the impression that he mistook Alex for someone else and didn't realize it till after as he quickly buggered off.

For two hours a plethora (Love you xkot) of Proud individuals paraded past us representing everything from local health clinics to local bars or social groups. Alex spent then entire time leaning over the railing snapping pictures while I idly stood behind him taking it all in. Like most times when I don't feel like giving something the chance I'm glad that Alex dragged me out.

Standing in the middle of Bond street and Carnaby street waiting for all the Queerness to stroll by.

The end of the work week is here and it warms the cackles of my heart to know that most of you will still be in work for at least another six hours after I go home. Yeah sure I'm here at work now, but you're asleep and can't possibly be smirking at me as you enjoy a few more hours of sleep. (God bless the international date line.) Although most of you may be able to stick it to me as your work load is dramatically lessened in anticipation of the warm glow of our Nation's phosphorous spirit to be on display long after I've gone to bed myself.

I'm thinking of mustering up some support from my fellow co-workers in a protest, and force the UK office to observe this day and remember how we Yanks rightly gave the old King a boxing on the nose. I'm thinking of confiscating all the tea in the office and reenacting the Boston Tea Party out in the office park lake; "No Taxation with out Representation!" will be replaced with "Let me have the day off!"

I doubt my movement will find much traction though. So I'll just sit here and dutifully do my job. Poop. Although Alex did come over and we hit the Brits where it hurts, Toast. We took several pieces out and tossed them in the lake... although it did little to help fuel our feeling of Independence, the fish were happy.

In other news. Yesterday I thought I had the skin of a pop corn kernel stuck under the fold of my tongue where it connects to my jaw. I spent all day trying to dig it out, bread, coffee straws, pressure wash, gum... nothing relieved me for this ubiquitous annoyance (Just for you, xkot simply because I couldn't figure out how to apply plethora to the thought). Last night as I was lying in bed I manged to force four or five fingers into my mouth where they were met with my wylie tongue who had no interest in these foreign interlopers. In the end my digits won out and pinned their wet cousin and I found that it wasn't what I thought and was in fact an irritated little patch of skin that I had only managed to antagonize even more through out the day. So after forcing my reflexive nature to relent I managed to drift off to sleep. Its much better this morning. I'm aware of its presence but I'm ignoring it to the best of my ability.

Also, yesterday I realized about half way through the day I was wearing the most unflattering shirt possible. It looked like a maternity gown on me. :(

Is thankfully not your typical Super Hero movie. At the same time its far from being perfect and at times seems to try and burst from its own seams in every direction. Yet like just about any Wil Smith movie there is a definitive anchor that you find yourself drawn to, Wil Smith. Even when he's being a complete asshole (which for Hancock is a big red button word) he's charming and funny and you sort of cheer him on. In this yarn of super human feats Hancock is a bum, the ultimate Bum really. Spending most of his days drunk he sometimes finds himself coming to the city's aid as their unofficial and often unwanted Super Hero. And lets face it the guy, as you've seen played up in the trailers, is a whirlwind of insurance pay outs when it comes to his brand of justice. But fate would have him cross paths with a fledgling PR Rep, Ray Embrey, who finds himself wanting to help Hancock improve his public image when the unloved hero saves him from a date with a freight train.

And yes Fate plays a big part of this film as it slowly reveals just who Hancock is and what he possibly might be. This is where the movie is going to loose people because not only does it not lay out his origins with real specifics the movie itself makes a huge gear change. It goes from the humors antics of Hancock to a self reflection and discovery kind of film. Also the last twenty minutes seems to be shot by a completely different director, or the budget ran out, or the director of photography started downing mushrooms by the bushel load.

While it has its rough patches it's still a fun and enjoyable film. Wil Smith plays up Hancock equally as a self indulgent drunk with a misplaced heart and a hero trying to prove that he's capable of what the public wants from him even if he's unsure of who he is. Jason Bateman who is just on a come back roll is equally enjoyable, some times stealing complete scenes from Smith with but a one of two word line perfectly delivered. Theron isn't so lucky as she's thrown on to the screen as a plot point to Smith's personal discovery, but she's no chump and what little she has to work with she does well with, even more so when certain things come to light in the third act. So if you like cheering on Wil Smith, and are a comic book fan who would like to see just how an everyman would be a super hero I suggest a visit to your local cinema.

For Legitimate Glamorousness:

Anyone at the parade get any good shots of me? Comment/post them to this post or email me :)

Please!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

I love Helloby, and I love Inside the Actors Studio;


SQUUUUEEEEE

As most of you who know me personally can attest to, I have a hearing problem. No I'm not deaf or anything, I may have some trouble hearing out of one ear, but my true hearing problem lies in my brains odd way of parsing information thrown at it. Often I hear something completely different from what was being said. Not sure why but I've been doing it for quite some time. A friend of mine had a similar issue and she decided to start writing down what she heard and what was really said and kept it in a note book. We had many laughs going through it, as well as adding to it. I think its time I start cataloging some of my own.


July, 2nd 2008

Heard: "You're now the Offical Ass."
Said: "You're not refreshing fast enough."



Stay tuned for more of many more true stories of my impeccable listening skills.

I learned something when I moved to the UK, no matter where I go I'm tall. Most office furniture is built to meet some "average" height and build of those it is destined to be used by. I don't fall within those parameters. Since February I've found myself hunched over my desk at work because well the desk was so low. People around me would throw out the very unhelpful; "Drop your seat lower." Well then my knees would sit above my hips. I'm not sure how many of you suffer from the same issue but I can tell you having your knees elevated above your hips for any length of time tends to lead to cramps, numbness, or just plain old soreness.

The other day, sadly, a co-worker relinquished his desk and it turned out that it is one of the few that can be height adjusted. So sheepishly, in memory of my co-worker, I asked if I might take possession of the desk. Today I'm happy to report that I'm sitting pretty. It's amazing what two or three extra inches can do to make you happy. :P

On the health front I got home last night and took one of my Zyrtec and some cold meds. I also made use of the Neti-pot. Sadly I can't say with certainty as to whether I'm suffering from allergens or an actual cold. The Neti-pot helped, but wasn't any amazing cure all of any kind. Cant' say the Zyrtec did anything wondrous either. The morning when I work up I started the whole regime again and I have to say I'm doing better than I was yesterday. But the wind is down and its damp outside so if its allergen based I just may not be receiving the brute attack I was yesterday.

We had hoped to catch a showing of Wanted last night after work, but sadly I got stuck on a nasty issue last night just before work ended and then the trains were having problems as well. I had my first; "They are trespassers on the tracks ahead. We'll hold here." At first I was of the mind; trespassers be damned! If you're playing on the tracks then your life is forfeit. But then logic set in and one would have to wonder if said trespassers might actually be saboteurs. Then I was okay with waiting for them to check things as I preferred not to spend the evening in the mangled wreckage of a train.

So we went without on the movie front and instead enjoyed quite evening home filled with, figuratively, Chicken Tikki Marsala, and not so figuratively, Smash Bros Brawl. I've fallen in love with Kirby (see picture). He's cute, quick, and when played correctly he can be quite deadly. Alex and I play a few rounds a night as we slowly unlock all the challenges. Last night we tried to power through 20 brawls using Donkey Kong, and well we gave up. He's a horrible character and I couldn't stand playing him. But we did manage to unlock a new Pokeman character after using the custom battle stages ten times.

We had quasi plans to see Hancock tonight after work, but we're not sure if its going to happen. Alex had to head out of town this morning to see a client based north of London. He's just informed me via a text that the train has broken down. He also has to return to work late this evening to take care of a unplanned issue that has cropped up. I too have to go out to our new Data Center for an Office Get Together, so we'll both most likely be feeling less than energetic.

This morning as we shuffled about the house preparing for work I saw Alex perusing his Friends list. I noticed, as I have in my own friends list, numerous photos capturing the spirit of Pride as it rips across the globe. Without thinking I stated;

"Man, everyone is just going with the Pride pictures these days."

"You know why right," Alex inquired.

Not knowing myself, and feeling somewhat sheepish about it to say the least I quickly put my mind to work sorting out important sounding historical Gay events. Like a big spinning wheel on a game show it slowly came to rest on; "The Stonewall Riots..." I said somewhat unsure.

Alex just rolled his eyes at me. I'm a bad "Gay". As a punishment this made Alex look up London Pride, which is this Saturday and it looks like we're going. I hope my head doesn't explode while we're there.

In other news. Ciara survived her first day all by herself in the house. There was just one accident, a little accident near the door. Sadly the puddle included one of my up turned shoes. I arrived home later than Alex so I found my shoe just laying haphazardly out in the garden, discarded in disgust or something. No harm though. The shoe had dried and a little Oust took care of odors and such.

It also seems I'm sick yet again. I guess that's something of a falsehood, as I've never actually recovered from the last bout. I've continued to suffer from a runny nose and chest congestion. It seems a lot like hay fever really. I'm often sneezing and my eyes are watering. I find it annoying as I've never had issue with it in the past.

Beyond that we have friends coming into town shortly in the middle of July as they make their way back to the US from a trip around Europe. We're looking forward to it. It'll be a short visit but fun to have people from the old stomping grounds about.

Time to work.

A friend and I are going to see Ockham's Razor on Thursday at 8 at Kells Irish Pub near Pike Place Market. Anyone else interested in coming with us? We can meet up at my place and walk down from there or just meet at the pub. It'll be a roaring good time for sure!

... but ever so deadly. When it comes time for bed Ciara doesn't like to walk all the way around the perimeter of the bed to follow Alex who is actively trying to persuade her to hop up. Instead she lunges up from the floor on my side of the bed where I'm oblivious to the going ons around me as I'm nose deep in a book. All 16 pounds of her lands squarely on my junk. To be even more precise, as if some kind of laser guided ordnance, she manages to deposit all of her weight on just one of my testis before proceeding with a full on Billy Elliot number as she rebounds away. Alex laughs in only the way a loved one can laugh at their partner rolling about in pain. Ciara thinks of course we're playing. She later repeats the same onslaught to my chest.

Half the fun isn't even playing it. Instead sitting idly near by surfing the web while the boy toy plays it often reveals a lot of dialoge I never even heard during the multiple times I played it.

September 12th!!! So excited!!!

Diablo 3 is announced. A much darker, richer, world of demons and stuffz.

Yeah we own it finally, would love to kick someones ass. Our friend code is 4640-0408-1813.

The Challenge:
- Post 3 things you've done in your lifetime that you don't think anybody else on your friends list has done.
- See if anybody else responds with "I've done that." If they have, you need to add another! (2.b., 2.c., etc...)
- Have your friends cut & paste this into their journal to see what unique things they've done in their life.

Oh this is so going to be easy...

1.) Knowingly took a live set of wires and placed them in my mouth in order to check to see if my braces would in fact conduct electricity. (this was not done on a dare, I was simply a curious child.) On a side note, I've never once had a cavity. Coincidence?

2.) At the age of 10 (although this is not restricted to age) was walked through the process of starting up an APC during an Armed Forces Day celebration without informing the other 12 civilians crawling around the damn thing at the time. There was a lot of screaming, and a very amused service man.

3.) (matched by violetdawn) Because of my knack for falling asleep on a motorcycle I was once strapped, with bungee cords, to the back of my dad's gold wing like a dead deer during a summer trip from El Paso to Sierra Blanco.

(3a.) Sadly I know exactly what horse urine tastes like. What's worse is if you've ever drank warm Squirt, so do you.

(3b.) I can hold my breath (or at least use to be able to) for four minutes.

So I was just trying to share a cool YouTube video with my brother, and it took me about 15 minutes to get him going, which was really frustrating, to say the least. Short story: if you're a Canadian and want to watch an awesome video on YouTube that's marked as US-only without having to use a proxy server, just go to http://youtubeproxy.org and enter the URL of the YouTube video on that page.

Also, if you want, you can fake which country you're in by using a proxy server listed at http://www.xroxy.com/proxy-country-US.htm (by editing your proxy settings via your browser's connection settings); however, many of these proxies have sites such as YouTube banned, so you won't be able to access them through the proxy. There can also often be a significant lag as all your browsing is redirected through the proxy.

I also found out my brother was using IE, so I informed him of the surfing benefits of Firefox with Adblock Plus. :-)

Alex wanted me to bring Ciara into the office to meet everyone who had been hearing all about her. So around noon today I grabbed a shower and the pupperness and I prepared to head out. While we hadn't had any troubles with getting her on the train I couldn't for the life of me remember seeing a dog on the boss in the few months we've been here. So I called the lovely people at London Transport, the all knowing beings who tell you when and where the trains and buses are. Sadly the representative I was put in touch with could only give me; "You should be able to take her on the bus." (More on that later.) So armed with my new found knowledge I threw on my shoes and grabbed Ciara's leash, the rest comes in the form of the digital eye I carry in my pocket;

( See the pix behind the cut. )

Then we arrived and Alex took her around like the proud papa he is. We also found that a co-worker of our has a deathly fear of animals. Even when Alex had Ciara firmly in his arms this co-worker was like; "Get her away!" I feel bad for people who have such a over blown sense of fear. Even more so when it comes to a sixteen pound Scotti, who by the way didn't bark once the entire time. On the way home we didn't luck out with the bus though. Crazy Angry Bus driver flipped out when I tried to get on the bus. Like I had committed some personal affront to him by trying to bring the dog on board. It was odd seeing as I had no trouble catching a bus out to the office from the train station. Any of your local dwellers know the deal with dogs on the bus, is it simply up the driver? I've had no luck with London Transport or the website. Luckily the next driver had no problem with it.

On a slightly related question. Do Muslims not really like dogs, is it some kind of cultural thing? Might have explained the drivers reaction, and numerous reactions I had from various people along the way. Ciara and I must look the pair though. Me 6 foot 6. Her, a foot at best.

For the last two hours I've been trying to make Urchin do what the tech forum and faq say it should do. But its not. Then again my website is as complex as a single page of html but logging is setup for it and I keep hitting refresh and clicking on links. Urchin is just being a bitch.