Sigh

Gay Marriage Begins in Connecticut as it Ends in California

In the City Clerk's office, Barbara and Robin Levine-Ritterman became the first of the plaintiff couples to get their marriage license. The couple's civil union "just did not compute" for their twin 11-year-old sons, Carlos and Fernando, said Barbara Levine-Ritterman. "Now they can say our moms are married," she said.

Jeffrey Busch and Stephen Davis, another of the plaintiff couples, wore pink "I do" buttons on their lapels as they emerged from city offices with their new marriage license.

"This feels like the beginning of a long married life together," said Busch with a wide grin as he stood with his partner of more than 16 years.

The recent vote in California to ban same-sex marriage with an amendment to that state's constitution dulled the glow of today's victory. "It's very sad," Davis said. "It does somewhat diminish our joy."

But Davis said he and his fiancée aren't worried about a similar ban ever taking affect in Connecticut because, "it is the safest place in the country for gays and lesbians." (Boston Globe)

Obama Gets Prop 8 Passed

Okay, lets talk about some of the statistics in this election that nobody wants to talk about. The numbers reveal deep divides in this country. Obama took 95% of the Black vote. He lost the White vote by a slim margin.

A perhaps unintended consequence of Obama's wildly successful get-out-the-black-vote effort meant that there were enough black voters, who overwhelmingly supported the marriage ban, to push the ban through 52% to 48% in California. Obama win means gay rights lost

This is a country in serious trouble, because there is an elephant in the room, and nobody will admit it.

blacks back ban
Obama lost the White vote in Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia

The US media were afraid to talk about this story, but police felt the need to prepare for race riots in the event of an Obama election loss. Jong threatened blood in the streets.

Justice Roberts Thinks Sex is Shocking

While the nation votes for its next president, the Supreme Court today is hearing the FCCs case against broadcasters who air foul language.

"Why does the F-word have shock value? Because it's associated with sexual activity. That's what gives it its force," Roberts said, defending the FCC's policy as reasonable and not arbitrary. LA Times

Keep in Touch, Randomly

I know I haven't blogged much lately, but I'm still around so if you've been following this blog and want to know what you've been missing, speak up...

Anyway, things have been good. And like Brianna said, "The happier you are, the harder it is to blog." I've been living and working in New Jersey, playing and relaxing in New York. I've met lots of interesting and wonderful people, gotten angry at politicians for foolish things they say and do, lost little things like ipods and wallets, found some of them where I left them...

I still try to keep abreast of the news, though its so hard to trust... especially when it comes to the election campaign.

I still think cute boys are one of the most compelling reasons to live.

Ehud Olmert is still the PM of Israel. Ha, some things never change.

Oh the Poignancy: Selichot begins... but not everybody's listening

The scene: A gay club in the city, late at night, the music is pumping, lights flashing - dark, sleazy, the air dense with the mingled scents of booze and body, lots of young flesh pulsating to the beat, strobes and lasers, dancers, sex...

Cut to scene: A synagogue, late the same night, a group of Jews gathered for the Selichot (Repentance) prayers. The atmosphere is serious, the cantor's voice melodic, slow, steady, powerful, beautiful, intones the Hebrew words, "At the close of the Sabbath, as we stand here trembling, turn Your ear from the heavens, You who are eternally exalted, to listen to our song and to our prayers." The congregation, still wearing their Sabbath clothes, suits, hats, begins to murmur the words of the prayer, soulfully introspective...

Cut to scene: On the street, outside a college dorm in the city. A group of teens and twenty-somethings hanging out, some making out, some smoking, some just spacing, a boy emerges inebriated from the 24 hour food mart and complains to his friends that they wouldn't sell him any beer. Some rule about not selling booze after 3:00AM? They agree to go find some in the dorm...

Cut to scene: Back at the synagogue, the prayers continue, "Listen to our voices, Adonai, our God, spare us and have mercy upon us, and accept our prayers." The congregation shouts out the words, repeating after him, and then the cantor continues, "Return us to Your service, for we want to return. Renew the days of old." The people repeat after him, each verse. And he continues, standing and swaying before the people, and they respond in turn, "Be attentive to our speech, do not cast us out from before You, and do not remove Your Holy Spirit from within us."

Meanwhile: Someone has turned the music on in the dorm room, blasting Katy Perry, "Cuz your HOT and you're COLD, you're YES and you're NO, you're IN and you're OUT, you're UP and you're DOWN." Three guys are in the dorm room. Two are naked. One has shoved his dick in another's mouth, the third, his lips on the dick of the one being mouth-fucked. Everyone's moving, reaching, trying to get more of the other, feel him more, kiss him more  touch him there...

By this time: The prayers have concluded, the congregants are in their homes, most are probably asleep...

Cut to: A subway train, handful of late night travelers, one guy sprawled out across three seats, fast asleep.


P.S. if you want to hear this prayer, you can find a recording on the virtualcantor site (its called b'motzaei m'nucha). I'd include a link, except that the recording there doesn't at all do justice to the beauty of the way I've heard it sung - so to include the link would just distort your perception of the whole thing.

The Latest

Wow what a weekend! Thursday night I... went to sleep on time! Exciting, no? Then Friday I... went to work... haha but wait, it gets better. Saturday night I partied in Chelsea till like 4:30 AM, at the end it was just me and a bunch of go go boys left in the club. I think it was open late just for them, I dunno why they even let me stay. Maybe one of the gogos had his eyes on me? Or am I dreaming...

Sunday I went to a comedy show, then started walking over to Hells Kitchen and this really hot but seemingly straight guy offered to buy me a drink. And then he took off his shirt and started doing chin ups on the scaffolding for me... I don't get it, but I'll take it... Then I met another cute guy (this one was gay, I'm sure of it...) in a club there and we were up pretty late. And now back at work... Unreal.

Race in Sports and Politics. A Homograph

I ran the NIKE+ Human Race 10K New York in under 57 minutes! Then at the All-American Rejects concert, I somehow ended up right next to this really cute guy and he seemed interested in me. Was I imagining things? He was really nice; I dropped something and it was dark, he bent with his cell phone light to help me look for it. We spoke a little, but it was loud and not suited for conversation there. I had hoped to ask him to join me for a drink or something after the show (if my courage would allow such a thing) but he left before the end and I didn't see him after that. Maybe I'll try missed connections lol. I didn't want to tell him I think he's cute or make any gay references during the show because if I was wrong that would make standing there the whole rest of the concert too awkward...

Afterward, I wandered through the city making stops at several bars and clubs, met some new people, some old people (as in people I knew - I actually didn't met any old people, unless you count the tourist family whose dad asked me about my t-shirt). And when I thought the night was over (and the doorman of the club did insist it was over) I met this great guy going into the subway. We shared a train ride and a moment and our numbers...

Now the weather's been awesome, and it's officially September, and everybody's saying "Back-to-School" and "Hannah Montana" and "Gossip Girl" and it all means nothing to me... it's just work as usual... which is good and bad...

My gym is closing. I don't know what I'll do. I can't live without it. I may have to buy a car just so I can drive to a farther gym...

I'm trying to invest some money. I've thought about stocks, funds, securtized debt... haha the whole world is crying about the collapse of the debt markets and the credit crunch and I want to open a bank. But ya know what? Banks make money. So there. Oh, who knows? All I know is that with significant inflation, I need to do something so my buying power doesn't erode in a savings account.

SEX-wanted ads in Denver spike with DNC

Yeah, except I think you mean that correlation does not imply causation. Correlation certainly does imply correlation!

btw, what do you think is a good gift to give along with Shakespeare's Sonnet 29?

Balancing Cardio and Resistance Training

Yeah, well the new job is in Jersey, so there is the commute issue. But I got a place to stay just minutes from the office and I've been going home just for the weekends. It's only for the summer for now, but anything can happen. I signed up at the local gym. I like the idea of stopping off in the city to go clubbing during my weekly commute. If I'm not sounding coherent, well these 12 hour workdays and late night workouts are not giving me much chance to sleep and I'm trying to get an update posted and get back to work quickly. Ahhh.

Anyway, my phone cracked last week. Thank god for Facebook, I could at least let my friends know why I'm not answering their calls.

My birthday's coming up. Tomorrow, actually. I'm gonna postpone it a few weeks. I really only meant to push it off a few days to a week like usual, but the scheduling has become complicated with a full time job.

Not familiar with the system of flexible birthdays? In the Jewish calendar, the 9th day of the month of Av, on which I was born, is a day of national mourning. So its never been a day for celebrating birthdays. And if I'm gonna change the date anyway, why not stay young a little longer. lol
. . .

I just finished listening to my boss reminisce about the days he worked till 3:00AM. He once billed a client for 24 hours in one day. Yikes! Btw, if you use the ellipse feature in your word processor, make sure people know if you want spaces between the dots. Or don't. Up to you.

Oh yeah, the title. You know me, the titles don't always quite fit. But for the sticklers, make sure you know your primary goals. Make sure you get the right nutrition. There's differences of opinion, but in general you should have sufficient carbs to fuel you cardio and sufficient protein to recover from weight sessions and the key word is balance and don't overdo it.

P.S. Disregard the last thing about the relevance to the title. That advice is silly, get some real advice elsewhere. But if you want to sign up for personal training, let me know. haha

More Later

Haven't updated in awhile. Partly because I didn't have email access when the internet filtering software staged a ferocious coup on my system. My father has graciously tamed that savage beast and made email safe again. Nothing much has happened and yet so much has happened. If you've been reading my blog you may understand. I think I got a better understanding in therapy. I realized that I thought nothing happened if nothing sensational and objectively interesting happened. But I'm trying to see my inner life and thoughts as having some importance of their own, if only because they are important to me. It's hard to believe it because I think this stuff would be boring. Someone else's sh1t would be boring to me. Unless they were important to me (read: cute). But that made me realize that if you like someone their nonsense becomes genuinely important. So I have to think about this. btw, if anyone reading this does appreciate hearing what I have to say, it would help if you told me. More later.

Stonewall 2 on Pride Weekend

The NYPD rolled up in force to club Splash last night in New York City in response to a violent incident involving several of the club's bouncers. At least 6 police vehicles converged on W. 17th St. in Manhattan at 2:44am this morning, some of them remaining on the scene for much of the remainder of the night. Partygoers report that they were largely unaffected by the police presence and praised the better handling of the situation than the debacle of Stonewall 40 years ago.

I Have an Inversion to Life (sic)

So I'm running the 5 Mile tomorrow in Central Park. I went to pick up my number today. The Road Runner's office is right by Museum Mile, which had the street festival today, so I got to go check out a bunch of museums for free. Went to the National Design Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt, the Jewish Museum, and the Met. The line was too long for the Guggenheim, so I had to pass. Then I walked/jogged/ran 80 blocks downtown to meet someone for dinner. I enjoyed it; hope he did too. Then I went to a bar, alone, feeling kinda down. I just needed the restroom, but then I stayed a little for the entertainment - it was karaoke night. I didn't drink anything. Then left, took the subway home.

Walked again from the subway station home. Thinking about how I did so much for so little money but what did I have from it? What was it worth? And even considering how much I was able to do free or very low-cost, I still ended up spending about $35. So this money has to come from somewhere and I need a job. And how much life sucks. And how I thought my life could be different; hoped I could somehow rise above the suckiness, the drama, the pettiness, the roller-coasters. But no, I guess I can't. And it was foolish to think I can.

And I'd better get some sleep if I intend to run tomorrow.

Pretty boy endorses Obama

Pretty boy Senator and former Presidential candidate John Edwards has given his endorsement to Barack Obama. Not the John Edwards gay lover of Francis Bacon, artist, whose painting recently set a record at Sotheby's by selling for over $86 million. That was a different John Edwards. And incidentally, that Francis Bacon wasn't the same as 17th Century philosopher Sir Francis Bacon. Though it seems he was gay too.

Oh, and when a rocket landed a few miles from President George Bush during his visit to Israel and injured 14 people, and Bush criticized Iran, Obama attacked Bush for speaking out against his willingness to negotiate with terrorists. It's all too much.

If You Want to Tell a Story, Tell the Whole Thing. Honestly.

You are going to look like such an ass when (if) this story comes out. The full story, minus your pro-Jewish-mafia redactions.

"At approximately 3:00PM, an NYPD Traffic Agent was writing tickets on 13th Avenue near 53rd Street, and people felt that certain summonses were unjustified. A crowd gathered around the agent, and unfortunately, a Boro Park Shomrim unit was detained by the police. He was taken by a patrol car to the 66th PCT, where various Askonim arrived to offer their assistance."

People felt the summonses were unjustified, a crowd gathered, and "unfortunately" the Shomrim thug just happened to be escorted to the station, huh? Maybe because he attacked a police officer or was found to be obstructing justice? Whatever the case, I doubt the detention was "accidental". Usually these thing happen because you are misbehaving. Own up and obey the law. Shomrim.

Really, this sounds exactly like when I used to fight with my little brother.

Brother: (crying)
Mother: Teddy, what happened here?
Me: Well, he was teasing me and I told him to stop and then he kept doing it and now he started crying.
Mother: What did you do after you told him to stop that made him start crying?

Mr. Shomrim guy, what did you do that made the cops arrest you?

Have We Delivered Up the Youth on the Altar of Education?

I wasn't going to write this article, nor do I necessarily believe that the answer is Yes, or even that this is a sacrifice we should not indeed be making. However, when I searched for the term on Google I found that the terminology of "sacrifice" on the "altar of education" was not even in the vernacular of debate. I thought it was language worth reviewing.

Many young people currently facing the end of Spring Break see their lives as coming to an effective halt, as if someone pressed the Pause button on their existence and sent their "true" selves into another long hibernation until summer. I am the first to recognize the value of education, but I can't help but wonder if there isn't some way to alleviate the real burden these children face. Can the experience be improved? Is accepting the necessity of schooling equal to accepting the necessity of a sacrifice of the value of freedom?

The Biofuels Debacle

"In order for you to put biofuel in your Prius and feel good about yourself for no reason, real actual people in faraway places have to starve to death." ~Mark Steyn on worldwide food shortages in The New York Sun, April 28, 2008.

Side by Side, Issue 3

"I swear—by my life and my love of it—that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
~Rand, A. (1957). Atlas Shrugged.

"Naked to the waist, his body a little green, like that of a dead man, the bachelor was lying on an unmade bed. The disorder of sheets and blankets attested to a long death agony. I smiled, thinking about M. Fasquelle. But he wasn't alone; his daughter was taking care of him. On the canvas, the maid, his mistress, her features marked by vice, had already opened a bureau drawer and was counting the money. An open door disclosed a man in a cap, a cigarette stuck to his lower lip, waiting in the shadows. Near the wall a cat lapped milk indifferently. This man had lived only for himself. By a harsh and well-deserved punishment, no one had come to his bedside to close his eyes."
~Sartre, J. (1938; 1st published in U.S., 1959). Nausea.

Out of Context, Issue 8

And it was true, I had always realized it; I hadn't the right to exist. I had appeared by chance, I existed like a stone, a plant or a microbe. My life put out feelers toward small pleasures in every direction. Sometimes it sent out vague signals, at other times I felt nothing more than a harmless buzzing.

Nausea. Sartre, Jean-Paul. New Directions Publishing.

NRA's Newest Recruit

I've never had much interest in guns. Kinda supported gun control. Though I'm distrustful of Big Government controls on personal freedom, I do approve of some measure of restriction in the interest of safety. When Barack Obama said the bitter poor cling to God and guns, I didn't see myself as being within his line of criticism.

Then I held a gun in my hands. Felt the weight of the cold metal, the power. Aimed and fired, heard the pop, felt the recoil and the pure speed of the bullet, watched the shot hit the target, and was changed forever. Guns and knives are beautiful. I tried the rifles and handguns, admired the AK-47 and the M-16, the Barrettas and the Smith & Wessons and Uzis and Glocks. Took note of the differences in aiming and kickback, thought about which would serve best on the battlefield or on the street. I can't really condone illegalizing this form of innocent pleasure. We have to get out of the mindset of, "I don't like it so you can't either."

My freckles are coming out. Not that that's a bad thing. It's cute. But my face just looks dirty from all the hair from not shaving during sefira. And my instructor at the firing range, this Marine, was a major cutie. Maybe that even had something to do with this change of opinion on the gun issue. Yup, just like how my bf convinced me that we have a moral responsibility to go green. Lol. My so-called beliefs are so wishy-washy. Show me a sexy guy and I'm putty. Should I be ashamed of that? I could say I'm just being open-minded and willing to hear new evidence. I'll think about this and get back to you.