Work and a Little Vacation

I'm in Mexico for a few days for a meeting for my day job. It's nice to get a trip out of town that I don't have to pay for, but I'm ready to go home.

What the...French?

I saw two very interesting French movies this weekend. The first was called Two Days, One Night (or Deux Jours, Une Nuit for the Francophiles out there). Marion Cotillard starred as a woman who's in danger of losing her factory job unless she can convince at least 9 of her 16 coworkers to give up the bonuses they were promised (1,000 Euros). If the majority of workers agree to forego their bonuses, that money would be used to keep Marion on the payroll. She has one weekend (two days, one night) to track down her coworkers and try to convince them to help her out before they all vote via secret ballot on Monday morning. The movie was fascinating not just because this woman had to basically beg her coworkers, who didn't have much themselves, to forego needed money, but because employment laws must be totally different in France that here in the US. Marion basically stalked her coworkers. She called them if she had their phone numbers and showed up at their homes unannounced. If someone did that in the US, they'd be fired on the spot. You can't hunt your coworkers down and harass them at their homes! Crazy.

The second French movie I saw was called Eastern Boys about a middle aged Frenchman who picks up a hustler of Eastern European descent at a train station and the hustler and his thug friends end up cleaning the Frenchman out. They descend on the Frenchman's condo, proceed to drink his liquor, have a party, break things and then take the things they didn't break (like the artwork on his walls, his TV, computer, etc.). But, even after this, the guy still wants to have a relationship with the hustler who set him up in the first place. He falls for the guy and wants to help him get away from the Eastern Bloc hoodlums he's running around town with. Again, crazy.

Merry Christmas (or Enjoy Your Day Off)

Merry Christmas and for those who don't celebrate, enjoy your day off. I'm just glad I'm not buried under several inches of snow this Christmas. Some folks don't like having a green Christmas, but I'm not one of them. Hey, temperatures in the 40s with a little sunshine sounds great to me. I have to travel next week for work, so I'm looking forward to spending some time doing absolutely nothing. I wish there were better movies out right now to see. I wish the Leonardo DiCaprio movie was out here now because I'd like to see that, but since it isn't, I guess I'll have to stick with Netflix or the Godzilla marathon on El Ray.

Enjoy!

Food and Grog

I blogged earlier about Chipotle and the problems the food chain has been having  but I read an article this morning from Bloomberg Businessweek about the E. coli outbreak that just hit me in the gut. The article featured the story of a man who was sickened after eating a Chipotle chicken bowl. No! Not the chicken bowl! As a fan of the chicken bowl, I was devastated to hear that's what took this dude down. He used to do P90X and his kidneys almost shut down because of a Chipotle chicken bowl. Sad and terrifying.

In grog news, I've recently discovered a great (and cheap) white wine at Trader Joe's that I like (and, no, it's not Two Buck Chuck). It's Espiral and it's tasty.

Free At Last...For Now

Finally, my day job is in the wind for a few days so I can enjoy the Christmas holiday and relax a little. Free at last! It's been a stressful few weeks so I'm looking forward to the break. Maybe I can get some writing done. Plus, the Grinch was on TV tonight and The Year Without a Santa Claus was on earlier this week. (Yea! Heat Miser/Cold Miser!) Good times.

Standing on the Top

I immediately thought of the Rick James song "Standing on the Top" when I came up with the title for today's blog post, but that's not what the post is about. (As a sidebar, I remember where I was when I heard Rick James died. I was at a jazz concert in Philadelphia watching saxophonist Steve Cole and he announced it during the show and played "Give It to Me, Baby.") But I digress. I watch a lot of gay movies and, sadly, a lot of them are bad. I understand gay films can't get the kind of budgets that films featuring straight couples can, but I find it hard to believe that they can't get better scripts. The movie I saw over the weekend was called Monster Pies and it was about two Australian teenagers who fall for each other while they're working on a school project about Romeo and Juliet. Fine, right? Wrong. This movie was such a downer. One kid's mother was brain damaged and confined to a nursing home as a result, that same kid's father was an alcoholic who beat him, the other kid was bullied at school and ended up losing his after school job at a video store after a woman falsely accused him of harassing her (when she was the one harassing him). And, just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, the kid with the brain dead mother and alcoholic father hangs himself in the end. Oy. What a depress-fest. I just wish more gay-themed movies didn't end on such a tragic note. Why can't the gay guys or lesbians come out on top at the end? Why can't they reign victorious and overcome the shit they've dealt with in the movie? Why can't they be standing on the top when the credits roll? I know every gay-themed movie isn't terrible and/or depressing, but a lot of  them are. I know life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, but it's not all gloom and doom either.

Aren't They Over Yet?

I saw Tina Fey and Amy Poehler trotting out their tired Sarah Palin/Hillary Clinton imitations on last night's SNL. Aren't these two over and done with yet? God, I find them annoying. Maybe they were amusing back in 2008, but not now. I find them both smug and condescending and not particularly funny.

As a non-science-fiction fan, I have no desire to see the new Star Wars movie. I keep wondering when some non-Star Wars movies are coming out. Did the studios just throw in the towel for Christmas because of Star Wars? The last movie I saw at the theater, I think, was the Amy Winehouse documentary and that was a while ago. There just hasn't been anything out that I wanted to see.

The Deciders?

I'm tired of states like Iowa and New Hampshire being the deciders in which presidential candidates get pushed to the front of the pack and which ones bite the dust. This archaic process needs to stop. Iowa and New Hampshire have to be two of the least diverse states in the country, yet the citizens of these states (and South Carolina, to a lesser extent) get to be political kingmakers? It's not right. The system needs to change.

Chipotle

I walked past my local Chipotle restaurant yesterday around lunch time and there was only one person inside eating. On a typical Sunday afternoon, that place would be packed but not now. No one wants to take a chance that the burrito ordered might come with a side order of diarrhea. I haven't had a chicken bowl or anything from Chipotle in weeks. It's sad because I like Chipotle, but I just don't want to take the chance that I'll get sick from the food especially since the company can't seem to pinpoint the source of the E. coli outbreak. Until some additional information comes to light, I'm keeping my distance from Chipotle.

Enthusiasm Curbed

My sister has been in a tizzy lately over the hit Broadway show Hamilton. (She's going to see it next year.) She's downloaded the soundtrack and she keeps up with news about the play and its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. She's also trying to get me to be as enthusiastic as she is about the show, but I'm not biting. History and hip hop? Thanks, but no thanks. I just can't get into it. I listened to some of the show's music during our drive from Detroit over Thanksgiving, but I can't say I enjoyed any of it. Nothing against Miranda (I'm glad he's out there doing his thing and putting people of color out in front in a Broadway show), but historical battle raps just aren't my cup of tea.

My enthusiasm was further curbed when I watched the indie movie Tangerine over the weekend. This movie, about two transgender prostitutes, was supposedly filmed entirely on iPhones. If that's true, I commend the director(s) for doing an excellent job. The movie looked good. I wish I could say the same about the movie itself. The dialogue wasn't really more than one person after another cursing at someone and there wasn't much of a plot either. But I will say I thought the film presented a realistic view (or what I think is a realistic view) of street sex workers and how they live very hand-to-mouth. They say pimpin' ain't easy? Well, ho'ing ain't no walk in the park either, apparently.

Dry Bubbly

I just watched Michael Buble's Christmas special and found it quite dry this year. He didn't even seem to be into it. Other than Celine Dion's numbers and Bubbly's finale of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" the show was kind of a bust for me. The comedy skits were lame and his family wasn't even there. Last year's show with Babs Streisand and the one the year before with Mariah Carey were much better. I think having the show in Hollywood this year rather than New York helped to put a damper on it. Plus, Bubbly didn't really do a lot of songs that I liked. (The Chipmunks' song? Really, Michael? Sigh.)

Santa Baby?

I just want to go on record and say that I'm not a fan of sexy Christmas songs like "Santa Baby" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Since when did Christmas become a sexy holiday? Uh, never? During the Christmas show I went to last Saturday night (see my previous post), a few of the drag queens performed "Santa Baby." This song is just wrong for Christmas. Slip a sable under the tree for me? No! Not that I'm against gift giving during the holidays, but asking Santa for a fur coat because you've been a "good girl" seems sleazy and self-indulgent.  Now I have nothing against sleaze and those who read my books should know that by now, but I do have something against sleazy Christmas songs. Something more clean and fluffy like "All I Want for Christmas (Is You)" is perfectly fine with me. But songs about pimping yourself to Santa for a sable just go too far!

No Bueno

I went to see the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus perform their holiday show "Miracle on Thirty Funk Street" last night and, sadly, I found the show disappointing...so much so that I left during the intermission. The chorus itself was very good, but the comedy skits and solo numbers in between were no bueno. I kept watching thinking things would get better, but they didn't. (Maybe the second act was better, but I didn't stick around to find out.) I expected to see entertaining performances with great singing and dancing, but what I got was amateur hour at a community theater. I should have known when "Uptown Funk" closed out the first act (I hate this song--sorry Bruno Mars) that it was time to go. I saw a much better gay-themed holiday show at Hamburger Mary's in Chicago a few years back. I wonder if they have a show this year as well. I should look into that.

Sad Clown

When I was in Detroit last week for Thanksgiving and attended the Thanksgiving parade, I was shocked and saddened to see how the balloon of the clown (who really serves as the parade's mascot) was in such bad shape. That poor clown float looked terrible, as you can see from the picture my sister took. His clothing was peeling and it was clear he'd been patched many times. I'm surprised the parade folks even saw fit to let him roll down Woodward Avenue for this year's parade. It's time for a Kickstarter or Go Fund Me account to get a new clown balloon. The parade company's site does take donations so maybe that's the place to begin. The parade clown is supposed to be happy, but this clown was just sad. I love clowns and it breaks my heart to see this one in such bad shape.

Now What?

So Rahm Emanuel fires police chief Garry McCarthy (finally) and now what? Business as usual? Rahm should have fired himself too, but I know he won't do that. The City of Chicago and the whole State of Illinois are a mess. Double-digit murders pretty much every week, no state budget, no lottery payouts over $600, dirty cops, dirty school leaders. Can things go any worse around here? Possibly. I do hope with McCarthy's ouster that some serious changes happen with the police force that reduce the shootings in Chicago and clean up the police department. And I'll end this post with a message for annoying Daily Show host, Trevor Noah who "joked" that he wanted to come to Chicago but was afraid of getting shot. Here's my message to him: STFU.

Home Again

I'm home again after spending most of the Thanksgiving weekend in Detroit. It was great seeing my family and spending time with them. I was also pleased to see so much development around my alma mater Wayne State and also out in the Detroit suburbs. There are so many new (well, new to me) strip malls in Oakland County so business is doing well in some parts of Michigan. As for the neighborhoods of Detroit? Well, those are still a work in progress. Seeing parts of the city just broke my heart. But, I'll focus on some of the more positive aspects like the parade. 

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm live blogging this morning from the. Detroit Thanksgiving Parade. It's cold but at least it's not snowing or raining now. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Sabrina Malheiros ~ Estacao Verao

Thank God for my Ivan Lins Pandora station or I might not have ever heard Sabrina Malherios. This is my favorite song right now. Everything about this song is right: the singing, the beat, the music.

Sixty to Snow

Earlier this week, I was enjoying temperatures around 60 degrees and now the weather has taken a turn for the worst with snow and wind. What a mess! 

Music Stuff

I was listening to Harry Connick, Jr.'s version of "Stardust" last night and the piano solo in that song by Ellis Marsalis is truly a beautiful thing to hear. I saw the Marsalias family in concert years ago in Philadelphia and, seriously, Ellis can outperform all of his sons and they're all very talented in their own right.

I've also been listening to a Brazilian singer named Sabrina Malheiros who is excellent. More on her later.

Winning? Hardly!

When I heard last night that Charlie Sheen was going to announce today that he's HIV positive, I wasn't surprised because I'd read this on one of my gossip sites a while ago. When Charlie was at the height of infamy after being fired from Two and a Half Men and going on TV proclaiming how he was "winning" I was hospitalized in New York (because, seriously, the city was killing me from the inside) and I remember being in my hospital room watching Charlie speak with a reporter from MSNBC or somewhere about how he was on top of the world and everyone who didn't see things his way as a loser, blah, blah, blah. Now I'm not one to kick a man when he's down, but this guy has been so fortunate and been given so many breaks in life that it's hard for me to feel sorry for him. He comes from a famous family, has had a great career, attractive wives, healthy kids, and he just seems to have squandered everything. Having HIV is not a death sentence the way it used to be and I certainly hope Sheen is able to get the help he needs, but I can't lose any sleep over him when there are so many other people who are deserving and in need of help and sympathy and there are so many more pressing problems in the world right now.

W. Kamau Bell

I went to see comedian W. Kamau Bell speak at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art yesterday and his show was interesting, funny, and insightful. He largely discussed racial issues in the country, but with a great deal of humor. I never watched his show when it was on TV, but I had seen him on other people's shows. I believe I saw him on the Daily Show once. He's entertaining. Check him out if you get the chance.

Baggage

I know the news right now is largely depressing, so in my own little corner of the internet, I'm going to try and bring some good news. I've finally (FINALLY) finished the book I've been working on. It's been a long haul with many starts and stops but it's done. It's called Baggage and it'll be out early next year. More news to come on that. Yea! I'm working on the next one (that's already about 50% done) so it shouldn't take another year to get that puppy finished. I've been taking an 8-week writing class this fall that's supposed to help you create your first 50 pages. I'll be lucky to get 30 out and I'm not that happy with those. The class ends this week and it's been fun. It's interesting to read what other people are working on. I don't know if helped me very much and I'm not sure I'll even develop the story I started working on for class into something larger, but having a class that forces me to write on a weekly basis and submit my work on a bi-weekly basis has been helpful.

Paris Is Burning

I didn't even realize there had been attacks in Paris yesterday until I was driving home from work and heard about it on NPR. I'd been hunched over my desk working on a project and I hadn't even had time to get on the internet after lunch and check the news. I hope the culprits who caused this destruction (the ones who are still alive) are caught and brought to justice. The world is a dangerous place and it's always terrible to hear about acts of mass destruction like this. When tragedy occurs, it really puts things into perspective. While some people are busy complaining about Starbucks cups not being Christmas-y enough, Paris is burning and people are dying in the streets. We could all use some perspective about life in general and sometimes it, unfortunately, takes a tragedy to open our eyes to the harsh realities of the world.

Idyll Threats

I always like to recommend books that I enjoyed and my recommendation today is Idyll Threats by Stephanie Gayle. It's the story of a small-town Connecticut police chief who's in the closet and, when he's about to hookup with an anonymous man at a cabin in a remote area. But when the chief and his friend enter the cabin, they find a heterosexual couple already there having a little sexy time. The hetero couple leaves and the police chief and his hookup also vacate the premises, but the next day the woman turns up dead and the chief has to work the case without revealing that he actually saw the murdered woman the night before because it he admits this, then he would have to reveal he's gay and he was about to have a little sexy time of his own with another man. It's a great book and the voice of the police chief is really wonderful. I really hope the author creates a series of books with this guy and if the book cover is any indication, it seems like that's the direction she's heading in.

Hobophobia

For some reason, I was thinking about the word "hobo" over the weekend and I wondered why we've stopped using it. People don't refer to the downtrodden as hobos anymore, do they? I did some Googling about the word "hobo" and found out that hobos, tramps, and bums are not the same. Hobos apparently work for a living. They ride the rails and go from place to place looking for work. Tramps only work when they have to and bums don't work at all. Interesting. I assumed they were all the same. The image of the hobo from the past is a guy with his meager belongings tided up in a bundle and hung from the end of a stick. I'm sure the modern hobo (if there are any still around) don't cart their belongings this way. In my internet research on the hobo, I came across the term "hobophobia" which is an irrational fear of the poor. That just sounds crazy. Does hobophobia create hoboists (those who discriminate against hobos)?

Get Some Real Problems

I just read a story about some people being upset with Starbucks because this year's Christmas-y cups aren't Christmas-y enough apparently. Rather than featuring some holiday illustration like a reindeer or snowflakes, this year's cups are simply red with the usual green Starbucks logo. Stop the world, I want to get off! I can't believe people are actually complaining about a cup. It's a holder for your beverage. Nothing more, nothing less. I doubt the Christmas season will fail to happen because Starbucks didn't put a reindeer or a wreath on its holiday cups. For all those folks complaining, shut up and call me when you get some real problems!

Speaking of Christmas and cups, I'm looking forward to getting a Christmaskindlmarket boot mug this year. The Chicago Tribune called it a "kitschy boot-shaped drinking vessel." (Did someone really go to journalism school to come up with lines like this? Apparently.) These kitschy boot-shaped drinking vessels going on sale in a few weeks and I fully intend to get one this year. It's a relative bargain at $7 plus you get wine. What more could you want? I suspect the folks complaining about the Starbucks cups would find something to complain about with the boot mug too. It's too foreign! Where's the reindeer??? Insert eye-roll here.

Friday, Friday, Friday

I took a vacation day from my "other" job to get some things done today--mainly finish the book I've been working on. (I'm almost there! Really!) In catching up with my online news, I read that new Daily Show host Trevor Noah had his appendix removed this week and was back to work after one day. When I had my appendix removed way back in the early 90s, I was down and out for a week. In fact, I was hospitalized for a week. There's no way I would have been in any position to go back to work after one day. Has medical science improved that much or is Trevor some kind of Superman? Speaking of Trevor, I can't really say I've been watching The Daily Show with any regularity since Jon Stewart left. Hell, I was barely watching before Jon left. However, in the few episodes that I've seen, Trevor just doesn't seem to be engaged. To me, he still seems like a tourist. He doesn't appear to have any kind of investment in America. He's just a guy working here on a visa waiting for the next gig to come along.

Even though I don't live in New York anymore, I still read Gothamist and NY Magazine's site to find out what's going on in the Big Apple. There's a feature on Gothamist called "Ask a Native New Yorker" that I read often and the guy who responds to questions is from Brooklyn. He often posts pictures of himself with his responses and they all come from his "private collection." How private is this collection if you're posting a new photo every week? I don't know if that "private collection" credit line is a joke or what. (I suspect it is.)

My publisher, JMS Books, encouraged me and other authors who publish with them to join Author Central via Amazon and I did this today. My site isn't totally set up yet, but it's getting there. I think it'll take about a week to get up and running. I should have done this a while ago, but I'm not exactly the best person when it comes to social media. (No Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram--you get the picture.) However, I'm making small efforts to change this. My main obstacle is that I work a day job and it's hard for me to find time to devote to social media when I'm working, writing, reading, and living my life. But I will make an effort to keep the Author Central site up in addition to this blog.

Danger, Will Robinson!

It's hard to watch or read the news these days because it all just turns into one big depress-fest. Between the shootings in Chicago (a 9-year-old? Really?), dirty cops faking their deaths (and making tax payers foot the bill for manhunts that weren't necessary), and Kentucky Kim rearing her ugly head again to pop out of her hole in the ground (because once you're on the grift, you're always on the grift) to file more appeals through the judicial system whose rulings she rejected, I don't even know why I bother, but I do.

In more uplifting news, the weather in the Chicago area has been great lately. I can't believe it's November and we have temperatures in the 70s. Wow! Last year, the kids were trick-or-treating in the snow on Halloween. No snow this year (just rain). I know this Indian summer won't last, but I'm certainly enjoying it for the time being.

Post-Halloween Greetings

Well, now that Halloween is down and out, I assume the Christmas season will kick into high gear and Thanksgiving will be given the short shrift once again. I was in Walgreen's yesterday and I saw an entire row of Christmas cards on display. The season does seem to start earlier and earlier each year. Pretty soon Christmas in July won't just be a sales promotion, it'll be the norm.

In non holiday-related news, I keep reading about the poor reception the public has given to the latest Steve Jobs movie. I can't figure out why anyone thinks a lot of people (A) care about Steve Jobs and (B) would spend money to see a movie that shows what an asshole he was. How many Steve Jobs bio flicks do we need? This is, what, the third or fourth one? This guy wasn't Lincoln or MLK. Why do we have so many movies about him? I don't get it. I'm also tired of seeing movies with European actors playing Americans. I like Michael Fassbender and I think he's a great actor, but were there no American actors who could have played Jobs? The same goes for that panned Stonewall movie. A British guy starred in the leading role as a guy from Indiana. Were there no American blond male actors available?

I've been working on a new book and it's almost done. I just need to wrap it up. I plan to do just that in the next week. I hate that I'm a relatively slow writer, but I am. Thankfully, once I get this latest book over and done with, I do have two more in the works, so it shouldn't take me a year to get another book out.

Man vs. Wild

For some reason, I often find myself watching Man vs. Wild at night on the BBC American channel. They seem to show an endless amount of back-to-back episodes quite frequently. I find Bear Grylls both crazy and fascinating. Watching him survive the jungles of Borneo and scarf down various bugs and other critters of the wild is entertaining. He often finds some way to strip down on the show also to give the ladies and fellas a glimpse of his pasty white body. Yum. (Not really.) I watched an episode this week where he had the head some wildebeest (or Who beast, as my sister referred to it) and he threw that thing on the fire until it was crispy and then he dug beneath the burnt part and ate the meat. Gross. So gross. It's a wonder he doesn't have botulism or leishmaniasis or something from eating stuff like that. If someone dropped me in the middle of a remote jungle with a backpack and some all-weather gear, I'm sure I wouldn't survive one night. I couldn't even handle sharing my space with geckos. There's no way in the world I could survive the jungle.

Stay Classy, South Carolina

Why am I not surprised that the latest viral video of wrongdoing by law enforcement comes courtesy of South Carolina? I've said it before, and I'll say it again: South Carolina has issues. My brief time in the state left me with a sour taste in my mouth that resurfaces from time to time when I see some nonsense like the latest video showing the law enforcement officer pulling a female student out of her seat and throwing her to the floor. If that girl had been white and blonde rather than black and not blonde, you know damn well she would not have been treated the way she was. I am not against child discipline. I grew up getting spanked and back in the old days when I went to school, teachers used to hit kids with paddles. (Detroit Public Schools in the 1970s and 80s.) I know some kids are just awful: bad attitude, back talking, and general ugliness. Still, grown folks (grown men and law enforcement, in particular) shouldn't be assaulting teenagers in school. There are other ways to handle disciplinary problems with high school students. Now the school is claiming the student hit the officer. I'd hit that joker too if he put his hands on me like that! The head of the FBI is claiming police officers are slow to react or non-responsive to criminal calls because they're afraid of being caught on video. Hey, I've got news for you, FBI guy, viral videos aren't going away. They're on pretty much every cell phone now and officers just need to expect to be filmed when they're on the job (or off). That's just the reality.

Not My Bacon!

The WHO's big announcement today about certain cured meats causing cancer was such a disappointment for me because of the bacon factor. Sure, I know that certain meats aren't good for you (bacon included), but I love bacon. It's tasty! I don't eat bacon on a daily basis, but I do have it on a weekly basis. I can give up processed lunch meats and hot dogs because I don't eat these things that often, but bacon? No way. I recently had some bacon from the Honeybaked ham store and that, my friends, was some tasty swine. One pack of that bacon cost nearly $10, but it was totally worth it. I was listening to NPR on the way home from work today and there was a story about this latest WHO study and, of course, someone from the meat lobby had to come on and try to debunk the study's findings. I'm waiting for a statement from the bacon lobby. (I assume there is a bacon lobby, and a sausage lobby, and a lunch meat lobby.)

Chatty Cathy

I have to start paying attention to my cashier the next time I'm at Trader Joe's. The guy who rang up my groceries there yesterday started a conversation with me and I didn't notice until later that day that he'd charged me three times for the same one item. So frustrating! I thought the total seemed a little high for the items I bought, but I didn't check my receipt before I left the store and went home. When I lived in Brooklyn, I complained about the Trader Joe's cashiers being too  friendly (asking about your weekend plans and such), now they're not only friendly, they're also overringing. Grrr!

Critters

When I came home last night, there was a skunk outside of my apartment building door. He was sitting there by the little front porch, under the light, doing nothing. I wanted to get into my apartment, obviously, but I didn't want to get sprayed. The skunk looked like he wasn't in any great hurry to move along either. What's a girl to do? I started shaking my keys as I approached the building and that got the critter's attention. He eventually wandered off and I was able to get into my building. I've never seen skunks wandering the streets in the other cities I've lived in (Detroit, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, South Brunswick, NJ) but they're clearly taking up residence in Evanston, IL.

In other critter-related news, I am psyched to see those red pandas. There's a family of them at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, so I've got to take a trip there and check them out. They're cute and kind of raccoon-like (although raccoons are killers--they'll bite your face off). I don't know if the red pandas are capable of such violence. I certainly hope not.

Cable Complaints

I read today that layoffs are expected at ESPN. As much as I hate to hear that people are losing jobs, I also hate that I have to pay for stations like ESPN that I don't watch. ESPN demands a chunk of money from each cable subscriber who gets the station whether the subscriber wants it or not. The channel really should be like HBO where you pay for it if you want it. I hate paying for channels I don't ever watch. How many Spanish language channels am I paying for that I don't watch because no habla espanol?

In other cable complaints, what's up with Sam "Daddy" Champion's hair? That Tintin look isn't working anymore, babe. Time for a change, Daddy.

Larry Feels the Bern

I loved Larry David doing Bernie Sanders on SNL last night. "Bernie Sanders dot com. Check it out. It's a mess!" Too funny. Bernie said he on This Week that he needs to take Larry on the road with him. He's right. He should have Larry fill in for him at some events. I'm sure he'd draw huge crowds. I'm a huge Larry David fan and only recently finished watching the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I hope he comes back to television with a new series or another HBO movie or something. Don't retire yet, Larry! We need you!

Glenn Frey and Yacht Rock

I heard a song by Glenn Frey while I was at the laundromat today and two things occurred to me: 1. The song that was playing (The One You Love) is a great song and 2. Glenn Frey is totally underrated. He doesn't get the credit he deserves for being a great singer on his solo work. Sure, we all know him from the Eagles, but he put out some wonderful songs on his own, too.

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal recently about "yacht rock." Let me say now I am a huge fan of so-called yacht rock. Ambrosia, Player, and other assorted easy-listening music from the 70s and 80s is very soothing to me and I grew up listening to this stuff. 

Let Me Get This Straight

Let me get this straight. So the two guys who beat a gay couple in Philadelphia got, basically, a few slaps on the wrist and a temporary "ban" from Center City? They pay some cheap fines and do some community service for beating a guy so badly that his jaw was wired shut? Huh? For shame, Philly. For shame.

And if you play the lottery in Illinois and win over $600, the state will issue you an IOU. Huh? What? I know I've talked about this before, but initially the IOU amount was $25K or more. Now the state is claiming it's so broke that it can't pay over $600 due to the budget crisis? If that's the case, then they should stop selling lottery tickets entirely. They're still collecting lottery money from the public, yet they can't pay lottery winners when they win? Where's the money they're getting every day from lottery players? I'm so sick of Illinois politics.

Chicago

Like a lot of people in and around Chicago, I get tired of hearing that 30 people were shot over the weekend or that some politician or political appointee was brought up on corruption charges. I wish the people in power around here would come to the conclusion that many citizens already have and realize that something needs to change with the police force and with the hiring process of people whose jobs are to provide public service. Stop blaming everyone and everything else for the city's problems and start making some changes in the administration.

Disgraced and AHS: Hotel

I went to see the play Disgraced at the Goodman Theater yesterday and it was intense. It's the story of a Muslim attorney who's married to a white (blonde, of course) artist and things spiral quickly of control when the couple has another interracial couple (a black female attorney and her Jewish husband) over for dinner. It's an interesting look at relations between people of different ethnicities, religions, classes, and backgrounds. What I always find interesting about plays like Disgraced where you have a bunch of supposedly hip, urban, liberal types together (Clybourne Park is another example), is that when the PC niceness goes away, you get a glimpse at the "real" people here and you find out everyone isn't as liberal and PC as they like to believe (or want others to believe) that they are.

In other news, I watched American Horror Story: Hotel over the weekend since I missed the premiere Wednesday night and I thought it was largely a hot mess. At times it looked like a bad 1980s music video. Gaga and Bomer have no chemistry and Cheyenne Jackson seemed miscast. And the whole rape scene with the drug addict was awful. (And why wasn't there any blood after that? When Gaga and Bomer went to town on that couple they hooked up with, there was blood everywhere but no blood when a guy gets a drill bit up the behind? Maybe the sensors put the kibosh on that.) Ryan Murphy certainly has a "type" when it comes to the guys he casts in these shows. He likes the pretty boys. In any case, I'm not willing to bail on AHS: Hotel yet. I'm willing to give it another week or two before I decide if I'm in for the long haul.

Paris

I read that a new gay night club called Paris has opened in my hometown of Detroit. Color me surprised. I'm old enough to remember the slightly seedy gay clubs near Palmer Park. There used to be a gay bookstore in the area also and I remember going there to buy a book or magazine. That must have been in the early 1990s. I hope Paris makes it. Detroit is a hard area for any business to break into, but it's nice to hear some good news about the city for a change.

Really?

A friend of mine told me I should be Kim Davis for Halloween. I told her, "I'm Kim Davis EVERY Halloween (just not THAT Kim Davis." There's no way in hell you'll see me dressing up like Kentucky Kim. Ugh.

People keep having to learn the hard way that if you act a fool in public, chances are someone will be filming you and you'll end up as the viral asshole of the week. The week has barely started and there are already two candidates: some college kid who went crazy on a cafeteria worker (and was subsequently arrested) because there wasn't any mac and cheese available and some "bro" who decided it would be funny to post a picture of a black co-worker's child on his site so he and his friends could make racist jokes about the three-year-old. Mac and cheese and a three-year-old. Really? Jesus, how stupid can people be? Mighty stupid, actually.

And, Emily Blunt, STFU. Go back to the UK if you love your queen so much and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Oh, and we'd like your US citizenship and passport back also.

ATM Fees

I was reading an article today about how ATM fees are just out of control. Someone commenting after the story asked why people even need to go to an ATM given the vast amounts of places that accept debit and credit cards for transactions. Someone quickly noted that cash must be used for certain transactions (drugs, paid Craigslist hookups, etc.). Yeah, I don't think the weed man or rent boys take plastic and/or Apple Pay. As someone who uses plastic for a variety of transactions, I also use cash for stuff, mainly stuff under $20. I don't believe in charging a drink from Starbucks. If I don't have $5 in my pocket for a venti black tea lemonade (sweetened), then I highly doubt I'd whip out a Visa to pay for it. My feeling is that if I started using plastic for every little thing (a drink, a sandwich, hand lotion, whatever), I think I'd lose track of what I was spending. ATM fees are out of control and I try my best not to use an ATM that will charge me a fee. I shouldn't have to pay to get my own money, right? But I guess I'm paying for the privilege of letting a bank that isn't MY bank give me access to my own money (or something like that). We just seem to get nickle and dimed at every turn. Paying for checked bags at the airport, paying to use the ATM of a bank that's not our own. First-world problems? Yes, but that doesn't mean they're not still problems.

The Sound of Money

I'm sure I've stated before that I'm a big Eddie Money fan. I was listening to his greatest hits CD "The Sound of Money" on my way home from work yesterday and thought if Eddie Money tried to come out today as a pop star, he'd never make it. Eddie Mahoney (aka Money) doesn't have the "look" of a pop star and I doubt a studio would be willing to back him and that's a shame because he's incredibly talented. I'm glad he flourished in the music business before it turned into the marketing and PR bullshit campaign that it is now. By the way, "Baby, Hold On to Me" is a great song. I would totally use that as a book title if I could work a story around it. Also, if I'm finally forced to work under a pseudonym, I'd love to go with Kim Money. I'm just saying. Eddie Money hit it big with "Take Me Home Tonight" (also a great song with Ronnie Spector), but it doesn't have the juice of "Baby, Hold On to Me" (in my opinion).

Speaking of marketing and PR bullshit campaigns, I can't believe all of the excuses being made for the Pope's visit with Kentucky Kim. You can't just walk in off the street and meet with the Pope, I'm sure. That meeting was arranged and I don't believe for one second that the Pope didn't know what the deal was when he met with Kim. All of these cries of "he was tricked" and "he was bamboozled" don't pass the smell test with me. The Vatican is just trying to deal with the blowback they received as a result of this PR fiasco. Plus, why wouldn't the Pope meet with a gay marriage hater? It's not like he's an advocate for gay marriage himself. Let's keep it real, people. And did the Pope's people think Kentucky Kim and her attorneys would keep this meeting under wraps? Ha! Their PR machine just revved up for another round of bullshit.

Identity Politics

As I've complained before, it's hard being Kim Davis right now. Ugh. But, that's my name and I'm sticking with it in spite of the hell Kentucky Kim is putting in the universe right now. This week, I read that m/m author Josh Lanyon finally fessed up and admitted she's a woman (whose name isn't Josh Lanyon). After denying that she was a woman, I guess she decided to just come clean. It's hard these days to write under a pseudonym especially if you have some success with your work. I enjoy a lot of Lanyon's books and that won't stop now that I know she's a woman. (I kind of suspected she was anyway--the lady doth protest too much.) I do think it's sad that some writers feel they have to be someone else in order to gain an audience. I read recently about a white guy who used an Asian name to submit his poetry in a contest and won. He said he hadn't had any luck getting his work recognized under his rather bland (i.e., white) real name, so he decided to try something else and that something worked. The same goes for JK Rowling and her reasons for writing the Harry Potter books under a pseudonym. It's a shame that some people will discriminate against an author because of his or her name. I'll read anything by anyone as long as I'm interested in the book. I don't discriminate against an author because he's white (or not white) or because she's a woman. If you write something I want to read, I'm reading it. There's a perception that women and people of color primarily cannot write outside of their own identity. (White heterosexual men are the exception because, apparently, they can write about anyone and anything. /s)  I get annoyed with people (men, mainly) who say women can't write from a male point of view and women who say the same about men. I enjoyed reading The Hours written by Michael Cunningham that tells the story of three women and I thought he did a great job of telling those stories. He's not a woman, yet he wrote from a woman's POV. Yes, he's gay, but so what? Does that make him more apt to write about women? I don't think so. He's still a man! JK Rowling isn't a little wizard boy, yet she did a great job (I'm told) of writing about a little wizard boy. My point is people shouldn't box themselves in by dismissing a writer just because that writer happens to write about someone of a different race, sex, religion, class, whatever.

Enough Already

Just when I thought I'd finally be able to enjoy a week free from hearing about Kentucky Kim, she puts herself back in the spotlight by telling everyone she met the Pope. For someone who claims she doesn't want attention, she sure does a lot of media. Why can't this woman go away???

The Trevor Noah Show (and Other Stuff)

I watched the new Daily Show with Trevor Noah and it was okay. Not great, just okay. It was very similar to the old Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I suspect the suits at Viacom didn't want to freak the audience out too much at once, so that's why they kept the flow of the show basically the same. I still say an American should have been hired for the job (in spite of Noah's claims that none of the Americans asked to take the job accepted the position). My response to that is dig deeper, Viacom! Whatever. What's done is done so either Trevor will work out or he won't. Time shall tell.

In other news, my sister is planning to take some time off from work around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and she has to coordinate her time off with the other people in her office. That is such a foreign concept to me because my day job work environment doesn't function like that. I don't have to coordinate my scheduled time off with anyone else's and, frankly, I'd hate to have to do that. I can't even imagine being told, "Kim, you can't take the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off because Bob wants that day off and he's got more seniority than you and you both can't be off the same day, so, sorry, you lose!" Ugh. I think I've been spoiled by having managers for so long who don't care when I take a vacation day.

I've been watching the first season of American Horror Story on Netflix and it's pretty darn good. It's also pretty darn raunchy. I know it comes on FX, but that's still basic cable. How did this show make it through? (Then again, they put lobster boy on during the Freak Show season, so go figure.)

I'm not Catholic and I thought the media coverage of the Pope's US visit was excessive (I also thought the Pope's schedule was too tight--he's not 25 years old!), but I did enjoy seeing some largely positive news on for a change. And who didn't like seeing him kiss that baby dressed like him in Philly? How cute was that? The Pope emoji created were also cute (although I doubt the Pope ate a cheesesteak during his stay).

One more thing: Matt Damon: just shut it already.

Monday Moaning

I was reading about the former prison worker who helped the two guys escape from the prison in upstate New York. The worker was sentenced today for her role in the escape and I was surprised to see her dressed in black and white stripes. I didn't realize prisoners still wore zebra stripes. Interesting, but I digress. I guess I can understand that this woman formed some kind of bond with the prisoners because of her daily interaction with them, but how do you go from having feelings for a prisoner to smuggling tools to them to aid their escape? That's a big leap to make, in my mind. If she wanted to help these guys, she certainly could have done so legally by helping them with legal aid or something, but she didn't and now she's headed to the big house herself.

Why is Brian Williams back on the air? I don't get the admiration for him. Maybe he's a nice guy, but he lied time and time again on the news and that should have been enough to have him off the air for good. Someone at NBC certainly loves the guy. Either that or he's got some serious dirt on someone at the network. Lester Holt had better watch his back. As soon as they start trying to put Bri Willy in his place to anchor the evening news while he's on vacation, you know there's trouble afoot!

I try not to get too political on my blog because politics generally annoy and depress me, but I have to say it: I'm not feeling the Bern. Every time I see Bernie Sanders I think, "This guy hasn't got a chance in hell of being the Democratic nominee let alone the President." He looks like a professor who's been teaching too long. I'm sorry, but I don't want a 75-year-old President. (I don't want Clinton either, but that's another story.) I really wish someone else would break from the pack on the Democratic side and run. How many jokers are still in the Republican race? Too many, yet we can't even get more than a few Democrats out there? Are they afraid of Hillary?

I've got to stop reading internet comments on some websites. I got pissed off today after reading some comments after a story on Salon.com and then I was annoyed with myself for actually getting pissed off. Life is too short to get my panties in a wad over stuff like this and I know better.

Tray Table Typhoid

In the travel section of my local paper, a reporter reviewed some kind of travel wipes to use when you fly. The wipes were antibacterial and could be used on surfaces and on yourself. One of the areas mentioned in the article for cleaning when traveling is the all-purpose tray table. I never really thought about how nasty a tray table can be on a flight. I've never been on a flight and actually pulled my table down and found that it was covered in filth. However, looks can be deceiving. Do those tables actually get cleaned between flights? I bet they don't. And, let's face it, some people are nasty. They go to the bathroom and don't wash their hands, they touch all kinds of stuff (and people) during the day, they put their fingers in their mouths (and other places). It's a gross world out there. No, you can't protect yourself from every parasite, but cleaning the table you eat and drink on during a flight is one small way to try and keep the germs at bay. The next time I fly, I'm definitely getting out some wipes or hand sanitizer and giving my tray table a good wipe down before I enjoy my complimentary beverage.

Creepy Kids

I saw the movie Goodnight, Mommy (comma added) recently. When the movie started, there were three people in the theater. By the time it ended, I was the only one still there. I don't know why the other two folks walked out. (They each left at different times during the movie.) I can't remember when the first guy bailed, but the second guy beat it during a scene where twins start to torture their mother (or is she REALLY their mother?). Horror movies that show kids doing awful things are often hard for people to take and often end up being stupid as a result. Remember Sinister? Killer gangs of kids terrorizing the inhabitants of a house (with the help of some creepy dude in a mask)? What about Pet Cemetery with the murdered toddler coming back from the grave to kill? Not good. Goodnight, Mommy had an interesting premise, but ultimately failed to deliver at the end. It's also long and drawn out. I stayed until the end, not because the movie was good, but because I wanted to find out what the deal was. I think it's better to leave the killing and torture to adults in horror movies. Having children commit heinous acts like these seems like a recipe for disaster.

Today's Ridiculousness

Kentucky Kim: Newsflash: You're NOT good at your job. You aren't even DOING your job! Can I get paid to go to work, make $80K a year, and do nothing? I don't think so! My anger over Kentucky Kim is starting to shift from her to the Kentucky government. How long are the powers that be over there going to keep this circus going? Squash it already. If that means having a special election to remove Kim from office, then do it. Enough of this ridiculousness.

In other ridiculousness, I saw a very funny video of Jimmy Kimmel having James Taylor sing snippets of his hit songs with the added line "in my pants." I've seen fire and I've seen rain...in my pants. I thought it was funny, but I laugh at pretty much anything.

Stonewall Movie

I've been reading a lot about the new Stonewall movie and most of the narrative has not been good. The Gawker review from Rich Juzwiak and the Vanity Fair review by Richard Lawson were both particularly harsh. Critics are complaining that the movie portrays an unrealistic view of the Stonewall riots. The main criticism is that the star of the movie is a fictional character who's a handsome, young, blond, white guy who can "pass" as straight while the "others" (minorities, transgender, women, non-blonds) are relegated to the background to bask in the white guy's glow.

I haven't seen Stonewall (and probably won't), but I don't see how the theme of the white guy on top (pun intended) is any different from a whole host of movies out there. White guys have been saving folks in movies since movies started. How is this different from any superhero movie or Jason Bourne franchise or pretty much any blockbuster out there? It doesn't even have to be an action movie. Indie movies like Half Nelson and Children of Men have the same white savior complex theme.

I try to be a realist when it comes to things like this. I understand how the world works. Look at my books. With the exception of Clean Hands, they've all got white guys on the cover and that's where the market is for m/m fiction. The problem, I think, so many critics are having with Stonewall is that it's a movie based on actual historical events. Had it just been an entirely fictional story, the writer and director probably wouldn't be getting so much heat. I've watched a lot of gay-themed movies and the majority of them do feature good looking white guys, so the Stonewall casting shouldn't come as a huge shock to anyone. I suspect the director is hoping to attract gay men and, I guess, straight women to the movie and figured an attractive blond will help put asses in the seats.

Bad News for VW

As a Volkswagen driver (although one who doesn't drive a diesel vehicle, thankfully), the recent revelations about VW's janky emissions systems for its diesel cars is bad news. What are the owners of these vehicles supposed to do? The value of their cars has just dropped into the toilet and I read that the cars can't be fixed properly without ruining the engines. What a mess. I like my VW Jetta a lot (except for the stereo system that I've complained about more than once here). I got my car used last year and, so far, so good. I really hope it lasts me a while. Hell, I've got a few more years until it's paid off! I also hope Volkswagen doesn't fold as a result of this emissions thing. I used to have a Saturn and I know how it is when a car brand folds up shop. At least with Saturn you could get service at GM dealerships, but that won't be the case if VW folds. Volkswagen doesn't share its brand with anyone else, does it? The Germans really shit the bed with this one.

Black Mirror

That David Cameron rumor (rumour?) of him doing something unsavory to a pig is just a little too close for comfort to that Black Mirror episode. I'm just saying. Coincidence, or something more? The Black Mirror writer swears he didn't know anything about the Cameron rumor (rumour?) when he wrote that episode, and if I take him at his word, then I have to wonder is the whole pig thing a British thing?

Ivan Lins and Pen Names

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love Brazilian music. I was listening to a CD from Ivan Lins the other day and, after hearing Lins sing in Portuguese and English, I feel that his singing voice is much more passionate in his native language. I enjoy listening to him sing regardless of the language, but he just seems to much more expressive when singing in Portuguese. There's a song he does in Portuguese and English that has the English title "Who's In Love Here?" and the Portuguese version is so superior to the English one.

In other news, I posted a question to a writing forum I'm a member of and asked about the use of pen names. (Do you use one? If so, why, if not, why not?) The whole Kentucky Kim Davis thing has got me thinking about pen names a lot although I doubt I'll use one myself because my name IS Kim Davis and it has been Kim Davis since I was born, and, unlike Kentucky Kim whose real name is Kimberly, I am NOT a Kimberly. (If we really want to be technical, Kentucky Kim's name should be Kimberly Jean Bailey Wallace Davis McIntyre Davis.) Kentucky Kim is so busy trying to fight the courts on her behalf, I'm wondering if I can sue her for using MY name and potentially damaging my reputation and causing me to lose readers with her homophobic behavior. My sister thinks I'm blowing the whole Kentucky Kim thing out of proportion, but that's easy for her to say because her name isn't Kim Davis and she doesn't write gay romance books.

My Kalani Experience

I've been so busy blogging about that Kentucky Kim Davis and other assorted annoyances over the past few weeks, that I haven't taken the time to do a post about my brief stay at the Hawaiian resort Kalani. I was supposed to stay at Kalani for seven days and six nights, but I only made it through about two days and two nights. As I've stated before, the geckos that filled my bungalow (see below) drove me out of there. Had I not had to share my space with lizards, I probably (maybe) would have remained at the resort for the full week. It's an odd place and I knew that going in. During my brief stay, there weren't many guests. In fact, most of the people I came into contact with were staff members who live and work on the resort grounds. I tried to talk with people during meals to find out exactly why and how they ended up at a remote hippie retreat on an undeveloped part of Hawaii and each person had a rather interesting story to explain how he or she came to be there. The guy who drove me from the airport was originally from Germany and had also lived in Chicago for a time before ending up in Hawaii. (The weather in Chicago drives many people out of town and he was no exception.) I spoke with a  Canadian woman who had taken a leave of absence from her job as a family counselor to bounce around Hawaii and live out of a rental car. She was trying to decide if she wanted to become a volunteer at the resort. Most of the people I saw working there were young and white and many of them seemed happy to live off the grid out there in the jungle. Hey, if that's your bag, baby, do it. I, on the other hand, could never live out in the middle of nowhere like that. No cell phone signal? Spotty wi-fi? Clothing-optional swimming? Oh, and did I mention the geckos? Yeah, thanks but no thanks. When I left Kalani and relocated to a nice hotel in Hilo, I must have checked my bags and the room for the first two days making sure it was gecko-free before I was able to totally relax. (My fear was that one or more of those lizards had hitchhiked in my luggage. Thankfully, none had.) What I learned from my brief stay at Kalani was that I am not cut out to "rough it." I'm a city kid who doesn't do well in a non-urban environment. I also prefer a clothing-required swimming environment and critter-free living space.

Land Rover=Bad Driver

Some dude in a Land Rover tried to take me out on the way home from work today. He just veered over into my lane and almost hit me. Thankfully, I was quick on the horn and he jumped back into his own lane. You would think that someone driving an expensive vehicle like a Land Rover would do a better job of driving safely, but maybe he felt like his luxury vehicle entitled him to own the road. Or maybe he just wasn't paying attention. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I hate driving now. I used to be okay with it. I'm from Detroit and driving was a way of life for me. But after living in New York and being without a car for a few years, I grew to enjoy NOT driving. I really need to get another day job that enables me to catch public transit to and from work so I don't have to schlep out to the suburbs on a weekly basis. It's tiring. Say what you will about public transit. It can be annoying (well, other people can make it annoying), but at least you can sit and read and not worry about someone in a Land Rover trying to mow you down after a hard day at the office.

I keep seeing commercials with the actor Adam Scott. I don't know what it is about that guy, but I don't like his face. He has the face of a former frat boy and looks like the kind of guy who'd call you a bitch if you didn't bow down before him. (Adam Scott could be a totally wonderful person who exhibits none of the douchebag qualities I've described here, but I'm going with my gut until I have proof otherwise.)

A Little Life

I finished reading the 720 pages of Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life this morning and I had to blog about it because I found the book so fascinating.

First, this is a terribly depressing book that deals with sexual and physical abuse of a child, so anyone thinking of reading this book should be aware of this. That being said, the largely self-inflicted mental and physical abuse of the character who's been abused, Jude, is equally (if not more) destructive than what he suffered as a child. Jude just puts himself through such turmoil that I found it hard to believe that he, as an adult, was able to become a successful attorney. Apparently he's the kind of person who can compartmentalize his life in such a way that he's one person at work and an entirely different person outside of the office.

Second, the jacket flap of A Little Life says that it focuses on the lives of four friends (Malcolm, JB, Willem, and Jude) but that's not entirely true. The book largely focuses on Jude and Willem. JB and Malcolm are given the short shrift here (Malcolm more so than JB) and my theory about this is that Yanagihara just wasn't comfortable writing for non-white characters. Malcolm, who's biracial (black father, white mother) is barely given any ink in the book. I don't know if his wife was white (I suspect she was--her name was Sophie, for God's sake) and I don't really have any idea how he felt as a biracial man with largely white friends. And JB, the Hatian-American guy, is presented as a man who has a fetish for white men. He wishes he could be Jude (who's supposed to be racially ambiguous, but really isn't--more about that later) even though Jude is physically disabled and a mental mess, JB still sees something in him that he wants and wants to be. Everyone focuses on Jude's self-loathing, but what about JB's? For JB, being white and being with white men seem to be his (unattainable) goals in life. His life, and largely his artwork, focuses on white men, yet this isn't really explored in the novel.

Third, I have read reviews of A Little Life that refer to it as a post-racial novel. It's not post-racial. Race is just pushed into the background, I suspect, by the author in an attempt to make (white) readers feel more at ease. Jude, who's described as being racially ambiguous (perhaps he's supposed to be half Native American or something, but this is never explored), but he isn't really. If he's not 100% white, he's certainly treated as a white man which means he certainly must look like a white man. To even throw racial ambiguity into the mix seems unnecessary here, almost an afterthought by the author, who's Asian herself and clearly knows what it's like to be a racial minority. (Asians don't feature prominently in the novel at all. There are a few on the peripheral, but none of the major characters are of Asian descent, something I found interesting.)

Fourth, despite my issues with the racial aspects of the novel, I did find it fascinating. Jude and Willem's relationship is certainly the best "gay for you" male romance I've never read about. Jude's brief relationship with Caleb was like a train wreck. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. One thing that bothered me throughout the novel was that as the characters aged, they didn't seem to change mentally. The 20-something Jude sounded exactly like the 40-something Jude and the same went for the other characters (Willem, JB, Harold, etc.). No one seemed to mature and I thought that was odd. Different things happened in their lives as they grew older, but they seemed to remain mentally the same. Also, I don't think I've read a novel where the words "I'm sorry" were used so much. If I had this book on my Kindle, I would have done a search to see how many times "I'm sorry" appears in the book. It must be hundreds of times. It seems like every time Jude opens his mouth, he's apologizing to someone.

Yanagihara knows how to tell a story and she knows how to keep readers engaged so the pages keep turning. Yes, A Little Life is at times a little too long, but it's an interesting look at functional and dysfunctional relationships between men.

Good News (For a Change)

I've been in a bit of a tizzy all week because I had to have some medical tests done and I was worried they wouldn't turn out favorably but, thankfully, they did and everything seems to be okay. Between worrying about that and everything else going on (I'm looking at you, Kentucky Kim) I've been more than a little stressed this week. I am glad that I'm not on Twitter and/or Facebook now with all of this Kim Davis nonsense in the news. Some poor woman named Kim Davis on Twitter has been bombarded with messages from people who have her confused with Kentucky Kim. This is why I'm glad I'm not on Twitter right now. I was on Twitter for exactly three days a few years ago and I hated it. I didn't have a handle under my name because, of course, it wasn't available. I just found Twitter weird and frenetic, so I bailed on it. Every few months, I think I should start an account again, but I keep talking myself out of it. As for Facebook, I ditched that many years ago and have never looked back. Keeping this blog up is about all I can handle right now on top of my day job, my writing, and life in general. It's hard to maintain multiple social media platforms and I'm not twenty years old. I don't want to be on my phone or on the computer during every waking hour just so I can post online.

My message for other weary Kim Davises out there is to hang on. Hopefully, the stench of Kentucky Kim will dissipate and we can all go back to breathing clean air again soon.

That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore

I've received a number of emails over the past week about Kentucky Marriage Cockblocker Kim Davis and people think it's funny that she and I share the same name. Well it's not funny to me! As Moz would say, "That joke isn't funny anymore!" Actually, it never was.

Speaking of Morrissey, I've been listening to Louder Than Bombs by The Smiths this week and it got me thinking that I'd like to read Morrissey's autobiography. Once I finish this 700+ page book I'm reading now, maybe I'll do that. I read Moz is supported to be writing a novel next. If his novel writing skills are anything like his songwriting skills, I'm sure he'll put out an entertaining book.

Post-Labor Day Observations

This Kim Davis is proud to say she's had the same name since she was given it at birth and she's never been locked up. She also supports same sex marriage. (I'm just letting folks know in case I, by some bizarre chance, get confused with Kentucky Kim.)

So Jon Hamm is back on the market after breaking up with his long-time girlfriend. I hope Hamm doesn't end up dating some 20 or 30-year-old. I enjoyed the fact that he and Jennifer Westfeldt were around the same age. That's not something you see very often with Hollywood couples these days. I have been down on Hamm since I heard about the vicious hazing he participated in during his college days, I assume Hamm has changed his ways. I certainly hope he has.

And Colbert's new show starts tonight. I've missed Stephen even though I stopped watching The Colbert Report before it officially went off the air because I'd grown tired of it, there's been a drought since he disappeared from the airwaves and it will be nice to have him back on television doing something slightly different. I doubt I stay awake to see his show because I have to get up early to go to my day job, but I'll try to catch it on On Demand or something if I can't see it tonight.

Labor Day Sale and A Little Life

I forgot to mention that my publisher, JMS Books, has a Labor Day sale going on through today with titles for sale at 30% off. Check out the deals here: http://www.jms-books.com/

I've been reading the 700+ page book A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara for a little over a week now and I'm about halfway through it. It's fascinating and I'll have more to say about it once I finish it. The book kept coming up on my Amazon recommendations list and I got a sample of it for my Kindle, but I just wasn't able to get into it via Kindle, so I bought the book. Some stuff I just have to read in hard copy form. I find it hard to flip back on the Kindle the way I can with a book. There was also an article in Friday's Wall Street Journal about the author and I read my boss's copy last week while he was out. I didn't realize the author was 40 years old. I thought she was younger. Anyway, I'll have a lot to say about the book once I'm done with it. It's been long listed for the Man Booker Prize and I certainly see why.

Amy

I went to see the documentary Amy about Amy Winehouse and it was a total depress fest, but it was also fascinating. Amy Winehouse was so talented and such a hot mess. I'm surprised she held on as long as she did given the amount of drugging and drinking that she on top of her bulimia problem. It's always a shame to see someone so young and so talented just self-destruct. Hearing how the album Back to Black came to be was  interesting. It's such a great body of work and Amy got famous for "Rehab", but I think that's one of the weaker tracks on the album. "Some Unholy War" is so much better. I know it's not catchy and it's not the kind of song that would get a lot of airplay, but it just hits all of the buttons for me.

One Long Week

This has been a long week and I'm glad to see it's coming to an end. I'm exhausted from traveling and my head hurts from listening to news about Kentucky Kim Davis all week. I'm ready for the holiday weekend and I hope to catch up on some much-needed sleep and on some writing.



I'm posting the David Naughton song "Makin' It" to round out this week because I heard it yesterday while I was in an art supply store buying a picture frame. I don't think I'd heard this song since I was a kid in the 1970s. Wow.

Kentucky Kim Davis Ordered to the Big House!

Well, Kentucky Kim Davis has a one-way ticket to jail because of her refusal to issue gay marriage licences. I got an email from a former coworker today about this and I told her how much it infuriates me that this Kentucky woman and I share the same name. Ugh. Granted, there are many Kim Davises out there and most of us go through life without having our names mentioned on the news or plastered over the web, but when one Kim Davis is in the news, especially for something ridiculous like this, the other Kim Davises take notice. (Well, I don't know if the others really take notice, but I do!) Of all of the things for a Kim Davis to be in the news for, I never thought one would become popular for refusing to grant gay marriage licenses. The whole fiasco is, to me, a writer of gay romance books, annoying and sad.

IOU

I read that the State of Illinois is delaying payments to lottery winners because legislators have failed to pass a budget. For the winners, this certainly must suck. You hit the lottery and the state gives you an IOU with a promise to pay as soon as the budget is ratified? That ain't right! The State of Illinois certainly isn't freezing the funds they receive from the many losing lottery players out there, so why can't they pony up for the winners? If I was a regular lottery player, this is the kind of thing that would make me reconsider playing the lottery here. People would probably be better off playing in an adjoining state like Wisconsin or Indiana. At least there you'll get your money if you win.

Stop the Nonsense, Kentucky Kim Davis!

Once again, Kentucky Kim Davis is refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay (and also now heterosexual) couples complaining that it's against her religious beliefs. I don't know why I expected her to do the right thing after the Supreme Court refused to hear her case. She defied the Court's ruling initially, so why even take your case to them? Whatever. This woman needs to be removed from office. If it takes a special election to do it, then so be it. You were elected to do a job, so do it. If you can't (or won't) perform the duties of that job, then step down so someone who can and will do the job can step in and take care of business. It annoys me to no end that this woman and I share the same name, but that's what happens when you have a common name as I do (although I believe Kentucky Kim has Davis as a married name with her, what, third or fourth husband?). The stupidity of some people just astounds me. I'm also annoyed with people who just say gay couples should go to another county to get marriage licenses. Those couples shouldn't have to do to that. They're entitled to receive the same services at Kim Davis's office as they would receive at any other Kentucky office that issues marriage licenses. The law is the law everywhere and Kim Davis needs to stop with the nonsense! Do your job, lady!

Home Again

I'm glad to be back home after my week-long vacation. The time away was relaxing, especially after I got away from the hippie commune (but more about that in a later post). Traveling away from home always makes me appreciate the things I miss at home like my own bed and the familiarity of my city, neighborhood, and environment. But I'll miss the beauty of Hawaii also. 

Out of the Jungle

Now that I'm out of the jungle and away from the geckos, I can really relax and enjoy the rest of my vacation.

Geckos 1, Kim 0

I had to bail on the crunchy granola remote place where I was staying in the jungle because I couldn't take sharing my living space with geckos. Those critters were in the rafters, on the walls, scurrying across the floor. Ugh. I spent last night in the bathroom with a towel under the door. The bathroom seemed to be the only gecko-free space. So I decamped for a nice, gecko-free hotel for the duration of my stay. But I took a picture of one of the little critters to remind me of the hell I endured over the past day.

You're in the Jungle, Baby

I'm taking a little vacation to try and relax, read, and write. Sequestered out in the jungle with no TV and barely a wifi signal, I'm hoping to make the most of my time away from the grind.

Believe It or Not

I saw a woman driving a minivan with a personalized license plate that said "Aryan 4" on it yesterday. Really? I'm surprised the State of Illinois would allow such a plate, but clearly they did. I had to get a good look at the drive as I passed her. She looked like any other minivan driving suburban white woman with dark hair. I don't know what I was expecting. Someone with Hitler garb or maybe a white robe? What I can't figure out is why you'd have a plate like that around suburban Chicago. (I saw her in Skokie, to be exact, a place with a huge mix of non-white, non-Christian people, by the way.) Maybe Aryan 4 was just visiting from someone less diverse.

Speaking of awful license plates, I used to work for a man whose license plate said "Dick." His name was Richard, but everyone called him Dick because he was old enough to have been given the name before it turned into an insult. He was a very nice guy, but whenever he'd take the clerical staff out for lunch, I have to admit, I was a little embarrassed to be riding in the Dick-mobile. Fun fact, Dick was also a minivan driver. Is there a correlation between minivan drivers and awful personalized license plates?

Hotel Living

Sometimes I have to do a blog post in addition to a Goodreads update when I read a book that I think deserves some extra attention. That book today is Hotel Living by Ioannis Pappos. Ever since I finished this book a few days ago, I can't stop thinking about it. It's the story of a Greek immigrant who completes an MBA at a European school, works for some management consulting firm in the US, and has an on-again/off-again relationship for years with a WASP who does humanitarian-like work. It's about class, money, sexual fluidity. Based on the author's bio, I suspect some of this material is autobiographical. What I really enjoyed about the book was the relationship between the main character, Stathis, and his WASP boyfriend Erik. There's a lot going on between these two and their scenes together were fascinating to me. (Erik often refers to Stathis as Feta in the book. How cute is that? He could have called him Gyro and I would have found it equally adorable.) The book veers off into Bret Easton Ellis territory later with tales of drugs, models, parties, unfortunately. As someone who read BEE's stuff when I was younger, I could deal with it, but I didn't necessarily want to see it in this book.

I got a sample of Hotel Living on my Kindle, but decided against buying it because it didn't immediately draw me in. Then, about a week later, I saw the book at my local library and checked it out and read it. I loved it so much that I ended up going back and buying the Kindle version so I could have the book for myself. I look forward to reading more work from Pappos. This was his first novel and I'm sure he'll put out another one. He seems to be very well connected in the NY literary scene. Hell, he's got blurbs from Michael Cunningham and Edmund White! I doubt he'll have trouble getting a deal for a second book. I'm sure he has one already.

TMI

One of the hairdressers at the salon I go to was talking about how her father and mother often walked around their home nude when she was younger. TMI but also WTF? Now I'm no prude, but I think it's weird and mucho freaky to see your mother and father walking around the house buck naked. The beautician explained that her father felt he could do what he wanted in his own home and that his daughters should see a man's body in full so they would be comfortable with when they came in contact with it later in life. Imagine coming home from school as a child and seeing your dad sitting on the sofa with no clothes on. Your father, his dick, and his balls greet you as you walk in the door. Or imagine your mother's T&A on display for the household while she chats on the telephone with Grandma. No bueno, folks. No bueno.

I Approve!

Last week, Rob Lowe and John Stamos joked that they'd been seeing each other for years. I wish! These two would make a great couple. Attractive, age appropriate...This is a couple I can get behind. I've watched a lot of gay movies, etc. and one of the things that can kill the vibe for me is if the gay characters don't work for me as a couple. (The same goes for heterosexual couples, but let's focus on the gay couples here.) Brokeback Mountain put me to sleep mainly because I didn't find Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal attractive separately or as a couple. They failed to ignite the spark I needed to be invested in their on-screen love affair. I'm not saying every guy needs to look like Lowe or Stamos, but the couple needs to work. Alfred Molina and John Lithgow worked as a couple in the movie Love Is Strange. They had a very believable relationship and, to quote the X-Files, I want to believe! One of the best on-screen gay couples I've seen was Paul Rudd and Tim Daly in The Object of My Affection. I loved the way they looked together and I loved the way they interacted with each other. When Rudd got himself a new boyfriend later in the movie after Daly dumped him, the boyfriend was such a disappointment. How do you go from Tim Daly to some guy who looked like a troll? I kept rooting for Rudd to get back with Daly even though Daly's character was a dick and I'd read the book so I knew they wouldn't get back together. But I didn't care. Paul Rudd and Tim Daly made an adorable couple. I saw a movie called August a while back with Murray Bartlett and I enjoyed it because I like Murray, but his love interest in the movie didn't look like the kind of guy two guys would be fighting over. The actor reminded me of the guy who played Arnold Horseshack on Welcome Back, Kotter. He was totally out of his league with Bartlett. When I see such a miscast in movies and TV shows, I wonder if the casting director owed someone a favor or something. Did someone's cousin need a job?

The End of an Era

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has drawn to a close. I'm glad to say I had the opportunity years ago to attend a live taping of the show. (I also went to a taping of the Colbert Report and got to ask Stephen a question and that was great. Colbert is the white husband I never had, but I digress.) It's sad to see Jon go, but good for him for getting out of the game on his own terms rather than being forced out or continuing to work a job he had grown tired of.


In totally unrelated news, I read about a program in the Chicago area that places rescued pit bulls with abused children. Huh? This sounds like a recipe for disaster. I know any dog can be vicious, but any dog won't clamp down on you and have to be hit in the head or killed to get its jaws to unlock like a pit bull. How many times do you have to see the news or watch shows like the People's Court and hear about a pit bull attacking a child, a person, or another pet before you realize these dogs are dangerous? 

Cuba Libre?

Now that diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba have thawed significantly, I've seen a lot of trips advertised for Americans to visit the country. I can't believe how much these trips cost. I saw one recently offered by my alma mater and it was $5,000!! That seems expensive to me. Five grand?? I'd love to visit Cuba but the price needs to come down. I don't understand why traveling there is so expensive. Maybe because the country was off limits to Amercans for so long and now the travel industry folks figure they can make some cash by overcharging since the travel restrictions are gone now.

Ass, Gas, or Cash

I've been reading articles about the Canadian hitchBot that was sadly destroyed during its brief stay in Philadelphia. I'm sorry the robot was taken down in Philly. As a former Philadelphian, I can't help but see this as yet another black eye for the city. (Although I did breathe a sigh of relief that this destruction didn't happen in my hometown, Detroit. Detroit's too busy fighting Satanists right now.) But back to the hitchBot. It is sad that we can't have nice things because there are so many people hell-bent on destruction, particularly the destruction of other people's property. One of the gossip sites I read suggested that hitchBot may have had a better chance to hitch a ride out of town in Philly had it offered up some ass, gas, or cash since no one rides for free.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

I've been wanting to see The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover for some time now and it hasn't been available on DVD via Netflix, but it was finally available through streaming, so I watched it this weekend. Crazy! Helen Mirren looked great. The guy who played her husband reminded me of the character who kept screaming, "Where's my hansenpfeffer?" in an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. The movie looked like an 80s music video with the changing colors and the Jean Paul Gaultier bondage wear the cast clothed themselves in. The child who kept howling in falsetto throughout the movie made me mute the sound at times. I hate to say it, but when that kid ended up hospitalized and unable to sing, I was glad for the break from his warbling. The movie was a bit of a disappointment to me mainly because it focused too much on the boorish husband basically yelling at folks with shots of rotting food and torture thrown in for effect. I was hoping for more of a story. Oh well. On to the next movie in the queue.

Random Thoughts

As this weeks winds to a close, I wanted to recap some stuff that has been on my mind.

1. Trevor Noah: The new Daily Show host has been on a press junket lately and I found something he said to be particularly telling about his mindset. When a reporter asked him how he felt about Comedy Central having two black hosts (him and Larry Wilmore) during their coveted 11pm-12am (EST) time slot, he made a comment that he's "half white." Clearly, Mr. Noah is still working under the three-tiered racial categories of his native South Africa where you have blacks, coloreds (mixed-race blacks), and whites. Uh, you're in the United States now, bro, and we don't really have two levels of blackness here. If you've got one black parent and you pretty much look black (as he does), dude, you're black! Not colored, not mulatto, not whatever other pseudo-black term your home country has come up with to separate you from black folks with two black parents. No, you're black.

2. Not Happening: How many failed movies do Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal have to make before the studio bosses realize these two jokers can't carry a film? I don't think either one is a particularly terrible actor but, let's face it, these two just aren't leading men. They're co-stars or supporting cast members. They can't put asses in the seats and they can't carry a blockbuster film. It's time to face the facts and stop trying to make these guys happen.

3. My Spanish Class: I took an eight-week Spanish class this summer although I only made it to six of the eight classes. I blew off class during the fifth and eighth weeks because I just didn't care. My teacher was a nice woman, but the way she taught wasn't particularly helpful for me. I felt like she focused on things that weren't relevant at times (like how to pronounce a phone number the Spanish way). If someone needs a phone number, I'm sure that can be written out or the person giving it can just give each number separately: ocho, siete, uno, etc. This is not a priority!!! Another problem I had was that the teacher tended to only speak to one half of the room (and it wasn't the half where I was seated). Maybe she felt she had a more captive audience on that side. She also wasn't that great of an English speaker which tended to hinder her ability to understand (and write) words in English. No, the class wasn't a total washout (I did learn some numbers and phrases), but it wasn't that great either.

Days of Bliss

Finally we've gotten some decent summer weather here in the Chicago area after June and the first half of July were filled with far too many cool and rainy days. And, to top it off, it looks like my upstairs neighbors are moving. Yea! I don't know if they're both leaving or just one, but I saw the female part of the dynamic duo outside with the UHaul. I resisted the urge to tell her, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out!" With my luck, someone new who's even more annoying will move into the apartment in her place. But, in the meantime, I'll enjoy not having to hear or see that chick and, hopefully, her bearded compadre.

Insomnia

Years ago, when I was living in New Jersey, I went through a serious bout of insomnia. I could fall asleep at night, but I couldn't stay asleep. I tried all kinds of herbal remedies before finally breaking down and going to my doctor. She prescribed a small dose of Ambien for me and it helped me sleep through the night, but I had weird dreams while I was on it. We all have weird dreams from time to time, but the Ambien made me have weird dreams much more often. I haven't been on Ambien for years, but I still have occasional nights of insomnia and it's the same thing: I fall asleep and then wake up and can't go back to sleep for several hours. I've  read all kinds of self-help tips for falling asleep: only use your bed for sex and sleep, don't watch or read anything with a digital screen before you go to sleep, blah, blah, blah. But what happens when you use these tips and you're still wide awake at three in the morning??? I'm all for the use of prescription and/or OTC drugs to knock me out when I need to sleep and can't. Insomnia is a bitch and that bitch sometimes needs a little help to be taken down.

Grace and Frankie

I watched the first episode of the Netflix series Grace and Frankie last night starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin and found it very cute. It's the story of two older women whose husbands (who are also business partners) announce they're gay, that they've been having a relationship for twenty years behind their wives' back, and that they're planning to marry, now that it's legal. What's refreshing about the show is that the main cast is filled entirely with older people (Fonda, Tomlin, Martin Sheen, and Sam Waterston. That's not something you see a lot these days. The writing is tight, the acting is great, and the storyline is interesting. I'd read about the show in the NY Times and now that I have streaming service, I was actually able to sit down and watch it. I read a comment online somewhere that the bulk of good writing these days is on TV because TV writers don't have to be concerned about overseas appeal the way movie writers do. Shows like True Detective (the first season--I haven't seen the second yet though I heard it sucks), Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and others probably wouldn't translate well overseas because they deal with largely American themes and issues, but that's okay. Everything can't appeal to everyone nor should it have to. Good writing is being churned out for a lot of small screen shows and these shows seem to be finding an audience, which is great.

Upstairs Downstairs

When I lived in Brooklyn, I had a weird guy living in the apartment upstairs from me. He looked weird and he WAS weird. He had a nightly ritual of pacing between the kitchen and the bedroom before he went down for the night. I likened his behavior to that of a dog who has to circle his dog bed several times before finally climbing into it and going to sleep. Prior to that, when I lived in New Jersey, I lived briefly below a couple involved in a domestic abuse situation. I don't even think the man lived there, but he was there enough that I suspected he was beating the woman who did live there. The first weekend after she moved in, she and her boyfriend fought violently. I could hear her sobbing. I complained to the management about the situation and it would stop for a few weeks before starting up again. Thankfully, I was on a six-month lease at the time, so I didn't have to endure this situation for a long time before I moved to Brooklyn, but riding out those last months wasn't easy. The woman also had children in the apartment so these kids, no doubt, had to witness their mom getting her ass kicked on a regular basis. Sad. I probably should have called the police on my neighbor, but I didn't because I feared for my own safety. I would see the abusive boyfriend sitting in the parking lot of the complex in his car waiting, I assume, for the woman who lived above me to return home. (I guess he didn't actually have a set of keys to the place.) I didn't want this guy coming after me if I called the cops on him. Hell, I lived there alone! After I moved, I read there had been a shooting at the complex and a woman was killed by her boyfriend and I wondered if the murdered woman was my upstairs neighbor.

My current upstairs neighbors don't have a pacing ritual and they don't seem to abusive towards one another, but they're still weird and annoying. The male and female couple (I'm not really sure what they're relationship is--friends, lovers, whatever) just give me the creeps. My interactions with them have been brief and uncomfortable. One time I heard someone trying and failing to unlock the front door and when I opened the front door, I found the woman who lives upstairs standing there. She claimed she'd mistaken my apartment for her own. Really? Whenever I see Frick and Frack (my nicknames for them), I avoid them like the plague. There's something off-putting about them. They look sickly, like they don't get enough sunlight, and they just creep me out.

Jesus, Take the Wheel!

I have said in the past that I'm not the greatest driver. I used to be a better driver, but after not having a car for a few years when I lived in Brooklyn, my driving skills suffered. Actually, they suffered before then, but that brief stint didn't help. In any case, I'm forced to be a driver once again and I'm dealing with it. This morning while I was on the way to my day job, I was behind a truck towing a trailer on 294 and one of the back trailer tires just blew out. There was debris everywhere and the smell of the blown tire was enough to choke you. I was praying none of the tire parts would crack my windshield or cause any other kind of damage to my car. I wasn't even able to get from behind the trailer due to traffic, so I just rode the brakes until the truck was able to maneuver onto the shoulder. The whole experience was frightening but, thankfully, no damage was done (or none that I know of).

In other vehicular news, I can't stop thinking about Sandra Bland and her traffic stop from hell. How does a woman end up dead after being pulled over for a minor traffic violation? This whole thing stinks and I hope the family gets to the bottom of it and finds out what really happened. I've only been pulled over by the police twice while driving and both incidents happened a long time ago. One time I was pulled over because I had a brake light out. (I had no idea it was out.) The other time was due to speeding. In both cases, I wasn't ticketed. And, in both cases I, a non-white woman, was stopped in suburban largely-white communities. So how did I manage to avoid getting tickets? I got lucky. The police officers I dealt with were not aggressive or hostile towards me, I was apologetic, and I had a clean driving record. I hope I never have to deal with the police in a situation similar to Sandra Bland. The thought scares the hell out of me. Jesus, take the wheel if I ever have the misfortune to be pulled over by some cop who decides he wants to flex his muscles through intimidation. Ending up in jail for a weekend because of a failure to signal when changing lanes? That's absurd. It's also frightening.

Reading and Writing

Since my move from New York about a year and a half ago, I've found that I'm not writing daily as much as I used to. Maybe living in Brooklyn just put me in the mood to write more. (Nah, I was just so broke that I couldn't go anywhere and stayed home and wrote!) Whatever the reason, I'm trying to right that wrong by getting myself back on track. I have two pieces in the works now. One is farther along than the other and almost done and the other still needs a lot of work, but it's coming along. I'm also working on a shorter piece that it's a nice break from the longer stuff. Normally I don't work on more than one thing at a time, but I'm breaking that rule temporarily because I feel I need to. I'll be taking a little vacation from my day job next month to relax and, hopefully, get to work on my own work.

In addition to slacking on the writing, I've also been slacking on the reading, but I'm working on improving that too. I hate that I'm forced to drive to work now, hence losing my precious public commuting time that I used to read. Yes, public transit is sometimes awful and there were days when I was riding the F train and I wished I was in my own car away from everyone, but at least I had some uninterrupted time to read during my commutes to and from work. I could sit back for those 45 minute rides to and from Brooklyn and get some serious pages knocked down. Those days, sadly, are over. I need to get back on the train. Seriously.