I never know what to say in the first post after I’ve had a death in the family. In the past year, we’ve buried a nephew, a grandmother, and now a father/father-in-law. There’s always a strange stillness in my mind when I try to get back into the groove of things.
I should start by thanking everyone for their kind words of sympathy. It’s so wonderful that there are people out there in the world who have never met us, and yet care so much about us. Thank you. Rodney reads my blog and has read every comment regarding the passing of his father. We are both very touched by your support. I was also amazed at how many of you have went through the loss of your own parents already. I can’t imagine how any of you got through it, but I guess you all did.
Well onto other items… let me tell you a strange story about spontaneous glass breakage. Ever heard of it? I hadn’t.
Rodney was in the garage organizing some things today, and he picked up a glass door that used to be attached to a stereo cabinet unit. It wasn’t cracked or in bad condition. Just a piece of glass that was in the garage.
When he picked it up, the glass shattered right in his hands. Thousands of tiny shreds of glass came falling like rain down on his legs, feet, and all around him. Amazingly, he didn’t had one scratch on him.
Then it got stranger. The chunks of glass started “popping” in the air… It was just like popcorn. A chunk would actually lift up into the air and explode into smaller pieces, then go flying in different directions.
This is called spontaneous glass breakage and it happens unexpectedly. The glass doesn’t even have to be touched. Sometimes it just explodes on its own. Pretty freaky, eh?
We’re assuming it happened to us due to the heat in the garage. It was hot today, and it must have put the glass in an unstable state, causing it to explode.
First I want to start with Senator Clinton, and then I want to finish with Senator Obama…
Senator Clinton was my personal choice for the next President. I have passionately supported her throughout her campaign and defended her during some of her darkest days. I didn’t agree with everything in her campaign, but that’s what support is… It’s believing in a person even when you disagree with them. Support is not to be confused with agreement. It’s the same with a loved one, a friend, a colleague. You might not always agree with them, but if they’re important to you, then you should support them. Senator Clinton was important to me. I wanted her to be President.
Having said all that, Senator Obama won, and he deserves my respect and support. He has always been my next choice. I don’t dislike him, or having any major problems with him. I simply liked Clinton better. But he has many qualities I admire, and the bottom line is that he is our official Democratic nominee.
So I want to say congratulations because he’s made it. I want him to win in November. I want him to take us all the way to Washington. I believe he is a stronger choice than McCain, and I believe he will help get our men and women home safely. I also believe he will help build a better America for all of us.
It’s very important that he and Clinton work out their differences and move forward in a way that is productive for America. Will she be the Vice President? That remains to be seen. I really would enjoy that. But it can only work if they can truly work past their differences.
Whatever the case, it’s important to realize Clinton has millions upon millions of supporters. She only lost by a very small margin, and this needs to work out in a way that brings Clinton’s supporters over to Obama. Those numbers are crucial for November.
We need those votes to nail down a solid win against McCain. I hope we can all work together to get Obama in the White House. Our country cannot afford to go backwards anymore.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about a cat who gave birth to kittens on my parents’ back porch. After the kittens were old enough, they were divided up.
2 kittens came back to Tennessee with us. I have a client who adopted them.
1 kitten went with her mother to live on a farm. That completed the pack.
20 days later, the mother cat showed up back at my parents’ house, 5 miles into town.
Her baby was not with her, and is believed to have died along the travel.
I just feel awful, so sad about the whole thing. They must have been traveling back to find the other 2 kittens. How in the world did that mother find her way all the way back to my parents?
And I feel even worse that the 1 kitten died. I just wish there was a way to explain to this mother that her other 2 kittens are fine here in Tennessee.
But the poor mother cat has no way of understanding this. She thinks her babies need her. How could she ever have found her way 5 miles back to my parents? I can’t even imagine the instincts she must have.
Anyone who believes cats don’t have emotions is sadly misinformed. They are very intelligent, very sensitive creatures. This story proves that a Mother’s love is strong, even with animals.
This is a poll taken on my site in August 2007. According to the votes, if the readers had to pick a President that day, an overwhelming number would have chosen Hillary Clinton. Around this same time, a lot of other blogs were conducting similar polls. Clinton came out the winner in all of them.
Fast forward to January, 2008. Although Barack was picking up support, Hillary was still expected to be the next Democratic nominee. People loved her, especially the gay community. I read blog after blog showing support for her.
During a debate on January 31, 2008, I started to see signs of something bad. A live debate between Hillary and Barack was televised. I remember that Rodney and I were trying to pack for our trip to New York, but couldn’t keep our eyes off the TV. Something wasn’t quite right…
Every time Hillary was asked a question, she was cut off. She also got all the questions first, which seemed to provide an open opportunity for Barack to spin off whatever she said. Meanwhile, when it was his turn to speak, the mood was much different. People listened quietly, patiently. Hillary never seemed to get the same respect.
A few days later, Hillary took over Super Tuesday. The excitement in New York could be measured by the energy of people in the streets. There were so many supporters, people handing out stickers, holding signs. I remember walking proudly through the streets of New York with my Hillary sticker on and other people cheered when they saw it.
That night, she delivered an inspiring speech that made me a bit misty eyed. I felt so inspired for the future of America. It was a good time for Hillary Clinton supporters.
But the crack continued. Every time there was a debate, she got the short end of the stick. She finally spoke up and asked to receive questions second. I felt as though she was scoffed at. The media had a field day, trying to build her up to be some mean old bitch.
I was watching with my own eyes, it really did seem that she was being unfairly treated during the debates. I saw nothing wrong with her asking to be questioned second.
From there, the rollercoaster started. Hillary started receiving blow after blow in the media, she started to fight back, projecting the negativity onto Barack.
In retrospect, I think this was a mistake. She came off as too harsh, too negative. She even made me second guess my support. But what can you say? When you’re truly passionate about something, it shows. Just as she says, “America is worth fighting for.”
All it took were a few months, and nothing is the same for Hillary. News report after news report portrays her negatively. Blog post after blog post attacks her. I tried to do a search tonight for recent blog posts that said something nice about her, and couldn’t find any.
But when you block out all the noise from the media, Hillary is still loved by millions. She won some of the most populated states, including New York and California, and she even won swing states, which have historically helped predict who will win in November.
The only thing I know to say is expect the unexpected. Just a few months ago, most people thought Hillary was the top choice. The tides can change quickly, and clearly there are still millions of voting Americans who do want her as President. It isn’t entirely impossible that the super delegates could turn the tables again.
I can’t help but wonder where the 53% of people who voted in this poll last August disappeared to. Anybody out there?
(Edit: I have no doubt I’ll upset some Obama supporter with this post. I want to point out that I am not Anti-Barack, and I never have been. Feel free to scour my archives. I’ve never said a negative thing about the man. I’m simply Pro-Hillary.)
I want you to try something for me. Roll your eyes upward, toward the back of your head. Try to see how much you can show of the white part of your eyes (without straining, of course). Is it easy for you? Is it difficult?
If you have an easy time doing it, you’re a good candidate for regression therapy, where you are hypnotized and can re-live events in your life that might be causing you deep emotional turmoil. The easier it is to do this, the easier it is for you to dive right into the depths of your emotions.
For me, it’s difficult to do. I have a hard time rolling them, so it’s not easy for me to reach the depths of my feelings, and requires extra effort and work. I can be hypnotized, but it might take longer to reveal anything. I guess I really do keep my emotions under lock and key.
But I’ve just had the strangest experience. I was watching an episode of Oprah with Dr. Oz (I love it when he’s on, they make such a great team.) The guest was Dr. Brian Weiss, and the show took an in depth look at people finding peace with events that had upset them earlier in their life.
It then went a step further as guests tapped into former lives. Very deep stuff, dealing with reincarnation and very intense events that seemed to scar people in their current life.
I’ve always believed in reincarnation, but never really taken the time to study it. There are many things in this world that we don’t have the answers to, and I find that exciting. Knowledge is power, and there is an unlimited amount of discoveries to be made in our lifetimes. I love it.
Hypnosis is not at all like in fictional movies. You don’t lose control of yourself and start clucking like a chicken. You’re completely aware of what’s happening and you know what you’re doing. I’ve listened to some hypnosis tapes, but very light stuff. I admit, I am scared to go too deep. But they always work for me.
During this episode, I watched Dr. Weiss hypnotize a patient, and I’m afraid I watched a bit too closely, because I started to feel different. Can a person be hypnotized through TV? I’m not sure.
After I watched it, my eyes felt very heavy, yet I wasn’t tired. I went upstairs and crawled into bed, turning off all noises, blocking out all lights.
I found myself surging into something… but I don’t know what. There was a message, there was an answer revealing itself. But I couldn’t get to it.
(Remember, I’m considered a bad candidate for going deeper.)
An hour later, my Mom called. She said I sounded like someone else, and got freaked out and wanted to get off the phone. It was strange.
I feel like I’ve tapped into a deeper part of myself and I hope to learn a lot more. Very interesting stuff.
I’m wondering, have you ever had any experience with hypnosis or past life studies?
As many of you probably already know, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit China, killing close to 9,000 people.
How much is 9,000?
Well, we all remember the death and destruction of 9/11, and that was just under 3,000 people. We also remember Hurricane Katrina, which was 2,000 people.
I’m in no way trying to compare a natural disaster to 9/11. I’m just looking at this from a mathematical angle. China is now faced with losing 3 times more people than 9/11, and 4 times more than Katrina.
I don’t know about you, but I have a tenancy to be a bit blind to what goes on in other countries. I guess it’s out of sight, out of mind, because when something happens that’s far away, I somehow don’t grasp it as clearly.
So I just thought I should acknowledge, at least to myself, how tragic this is, and how many families and friends have been lost.
Very sad. 
It bums me out that the majority of gay blogs I read have turned on Hillary Clinton in recent months. Polls that were done at the beginning of the year showed an overwhelming majority supported Hillary for President. I even conducted 2 polls of my own on this blog, one of them asking if people had to vote that day, who they would choose, and they chose Hillary.
I guess she lost people when she started being so fiercely competitive. I’ll admit, there was even a time when I was thinking about switching over to Barack myself.
But the thing that really bothers me is all the people who say she should give up. It feels completely unfair to say this because you’re basically saying people like me don’t count. We’re unimportant just because we support 2nd place.
I count too. The states Hillary has won count. She still wins, she still has supporters, so why quit now when she’s made it this far?
I just think it’s selfish, and it makes me angry. If Barack had 90% of the votes and Hillary had 10%, then yeah, it would probably be a good time to throw in the towel. But all in all, the race is still tight.
All the Hillary bashing only fuels my support for Hillary more. I think of all the times in my life people told me to give up:
- When I was 15, I started a website design business. People told me I was too young to be taken seriously and suggested I get a job at somewhere like McDonald’s like all the other kids my age. But I didn’t give up, and now I’ve been doing this for 11 years. Where would I be today if I listened to the people who said to quit?
- When I came out of the closet, people encouraged me to be discreet in order to lead a “normal” life. Even my own parents tried to convince me that the world would never support me. But I didn’t give up. I chose to live my life openly and honestly… and I truly feel that I do have a “normal” life.
When you want something with all your heart, you shouldn’t give up. Hillary has often said that she feels America is worth fighting for. And if she loves this country so much, why should she quit?
For all the Barack supporters out there, I applaud you. I am glad that you support a Democratic leader and I encourage you to continue supporting your candidate. But please think twice before you say Hillary should give up.
Saying this implies that she isn’t entitled to pursuing the American dream too. It implies that the underdog can never win. And we gay people certainly know what it feels like to be the underdog. But most of all, it implies my vote doesn’t matter and has no value.
This double rainbow disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared, so I had to hurry to get this shot. Will you join me as I channel my inner Judy Garland and break into song?
We’re back home after a long trip of helping my parents move into their new house. It was a bit stressful, very tiring, but all in all, not too bad. I find it’s much easier to help other people move because I’m not trying to micro-manage where everything goes.
They lived in their other house for 30 years and it’s the home my brothers and I grew up in. Parting with that was a bit overwhelming, especially when it was empty. But the house is for sale now, so I don’t think it will really bother me until somebody else buys it. That’s when I’ll know I can’t ever go back.
I had so many philosophical and insightful things to say, but now I’m just glad to be back in our own home, and all my thoughts and feelings went out the window!
That’s the news. It’s a beautiful spring day here in Tennessee. I’m ready to get back to my normal daily routines.
This is a story that really angers me right down to the core.
An 11-year-old girl in Wisconsin (pictured to the right) was suffering from a treatable form of diabetes. But her uber-religious parents refused to take her to a doctor because they believed they could pray her illness away. They also believed that illness is God’s punishment for sin. She was freakin’ 11 years old! How sinful could she possibly be? Did she not share her crayons in school?
Ironically enough, she died on Easter Sunday. How weird is that? Low insulin. I feel so bad for her. I know diabetics, it’s not a walk in the park. I can’t believe this little girl was told by her parents that she was possessed by sin and had to suffer to death… literally suffer to death.
I do consider myself to be spiritual, and I do believe that humans can be healed. But this is downright crazy. I would never prevent anyone, child or adult, from receiving medical attention simply because it conflicted with my “religious” beliefs.
Her parents have been charged with murder and are going to jail. Good! Let’s see them pray their way out of that one.
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