F-F- Friday

Here are some pictures of the flower boxes I made up this weekend. I am looking forward to watching them spread out and bloom to their full potential!

 

 See the third shot? Behind that is the front lawn that looks like crap. It is actually much better than it was but I still have a long way to go. I have made it my mission for the summer. Wish me luck!

Advertisement

Ten Things Tuesday

 Ten things I love about summer;

1. I absolutely love the way a warm breeze feels on my skin.

2. Shadows from the trees. For some reason I really dig the way a shadow made from a tree full of leaves looks. It is also nice to sit in the cool shadow on a hot day.

3. Swimming. Pool, lake, or ocean. It doesn’t really matter.

4. BBQ’s. I love food on the grill.

5. Growing stuff. The older I get, the more I enjoy growing flowers and veggie’s. 

6. Sleeping with the windows open. I especially like this when there is a cool breeze blowing in.

7. Kayaking. I love being out in the middle of the lake in my kayak, especially when it’s quiet out there.

8. Provincetown sunsets.

.

9. Jumping off the bridge in Martha’s Vineyard.

It’s higher than it looks.

10. Ice Cream. Duh! This place is great!

 

Photo Credit; Tree, kayak, Hodgies

FF Friday

This is the print that hangs over my bed. I have not planted any flowers yet so this is what you’re getting. I love this print. Anyone wanna take a guess as to where I got it? Chili, MST, and Auntie Teacher don’t get to play. You kids know me too well.

In other news, this young man got his first Little League hit last night!

I was planning on going to the game but I got stuck at work then stuck in traffic. His twin brother actually called me to tell me that his bro was up to bat. I asked him to give me the play by play. Silence.

“What’s happening?”

“He’s just standing there.”

Next thing I know I am hearing yelling.

“Tell me what happened little man!!”

“He hit it! He hit it! He’s on the base!”

The phone was then passed to SLM2.

“Dude! He got his first hit! I was jumping up and down and my pants almost fell off! I gotta call my wife! Bye!”

Both Manny and Mike Lowell hit grand slams yesterday. They’ve got nothing on the little dude! Congratulations little dude!

Ok, I just called the SLM family to ask permission to post a picture of their son. It is 6:45 and normally it is ok for me to call this early. SLM1 answered and I could tell I woke her up. I totally forgot the whole family is taking the day off from work/school to have a family day! I am so sorry I woke you guys up!!

TTT Quiz Answers

 Ok, you guys didn’t do so hot on the quiz. That’s ok though. It is kind of a dumb quiz and there really is no real scientific evidence to back any of this up. I was talking to Chili about it last night and I pretty much said to her that I felt like they (people who research these kind of things) find all kinds of similarities in a group of people but they can’t really explain what it’s all about. I think this is the case with this quiz. Anyway, here you go;

1. 10 to 12 percent of men are gay? False – 2-6 % are.

2. Gay men have longer, thicker penises than straight men, on average? True

3. As children, most gay men display gender-bending behavior, like dressing up in their sisters’ clothes or playing with dolls? True

4. In general, gay men are worse than straight men at certain cognitive skills, like reading maps, spatial orientation, finding missing objects, and packing trunks? True

5. Lesbians are better than straight women at certain spatial navigational, and language tasks? True

6. Men with the most masculine voices tend to be straight? False. The voices rated as most masculine are those of gay men (and the most feminine are those of lesbians).

7. Gay men often have distant fathers, suggesting that levels of childhood affection have an effect on sexual orientation? False. Though some fathers may have become distant in reaction to childhood gender nonconformity of boys who are born gay.

8. The more older brothers you have, the more likely you are to be gay? True.

9. Sexual orientation correlates with whether you are right or left-handed? True. Homosexuals are 39% more likely to be left-handed or ambidextrous.

10. The ratio of the lengths of the second to fourth finger predicts sexual orientation? True.

 In my opinion, #1 is a very low number and #6 is total bullshit. #8 they think is because when a chick is pregnant with a boy, her body thinks it is a foreign object and attacks it with antibodies thereby feminizing it. The more boys a chick has, the better she becomes at firing off those antibodies. #10 is totally true. All of my queer friends have longer ring fingers. Weird.

Joe Shmoe

 So, I just got done reading Chili’s teacher blog. This post in particular. What I am writing about tonight is “Joe’s” comment. Here it is;

“Was it really neccessary to use the term “white” in your last comment. Maybe you are as guilty as the rest of us at subtle racism. Is your troubling student black by any chance?”

 Now, you need to understand that this rant I am about to go on has nothing to do with the fact that Chili is my sister. Really, it isn’t. It is true that I am always quick to defend her honor. She is my sister after all. It is also true that I am the first to tell her when she is being A FUCKING MORON! She is, after all, my sister. Sisters do that. They defend each other and they let each other know when they are being stupid. 

 Back to Joe and people who say dumb things in general. First of all Joe, have you bothered to read my sisters blog at all or are you just commenting on that one post? Either you showed your ignorance by judging her on one post or if you did read more, than YOU JUST DON’T GET IT! Joe, did you know that Chili runs the GSA? Did you bother to read that she made a big deal out of black history month? Read between the lines Joe, MLK is pretty much her hero. Ugh! Joe, really? Really? Go back and read pal, then leave a comment. Chili likes everyone and doesn’t have a raciest bone in her body. Again, though, this isn’t about Chili, it’s about all the Joe’s in the world.

 It always makes me laugh, mostly out of disgust, when people start spouting off about people or things they just don’t know about. Do they not see that they are showing the world just how ignorant they are? How small minded they are! All I can do is shake my head.

 Here is the thing; aside from my close friends and Chili who read my blog, the rest of you have no real idea who I am and what I am about. You only know what I tell you. You know I am in social service (and love my job) and you know I love the Red Sox. You know I am a queer kid and that sometimes I get hives on my ass. You are absolutely free to come to what ever conclusions you would like about me based on the information I give you. You might think that because I work with addicts, then I must be in recovery myself. You might think that because I love baseball, then I must be a dumb jock. Maybe I hate men because I am queer? Or maybe, from reading my blog, you have come to the conclusion that I am very respectful of women. This is true of me.

 It actually came up in a conversation with a friend today. A man looked at her like he wanted to fuck her and it totally irked me. I was all fired up about it. Totally disrespectful. It is one thing to look at a woman and find her attractive. It is another thing to look at her in such a way that other people can pick up on the fact that you are only thinking about getting in her pants. I respect women people! I have a point to this story.. What you don’t know about me is that I can be a total pig and turn just about anything into something sexual. What? You never would have guessed that about me? Well, that is because I understand when it is appropriate to say things like that and when it is not. I choose not to put those kinds of things in my blog because you all don’t know me well enough to get it. My friends do. I can say shit like that around them. I know what I can and can’t say to people. I understand that sometimes it is just plain inappropriate to make my disgusting comments. I pay attention to the things people say and comment accordingly so as not to offend anyone. In short, I try to know my audience.

 If you want to judge me based on the little information I give you, well, that’s your choice. But I have to ask. Really? Honestly though, from the comments I get from the people I have never met, you all seem to be non-ignorant people. I did get some comment from some yahoo asking something about my boobs. I did not respond to him, he is clearly ignorant and disrespectful.

What I am trying to say here is if you want to leave a baseless and ignorant comment on someone’s blog, or say it to their face even, just know that people are watching. They can see your how your mind works. Perhaps it would be a good idea for you to try to understand the writer(or speaker) before you go spouting off though.

 And now that I have vented, I would like to further add a reminder to you all. All behavior has meaning. (See how I am pulling myself back in here?) The Joe’s of the world have some stuff going on. Joe’s; if you want to talk about it, I’m here for you.

Ten Things Tuesday

 Before I get to TTT, I need to say that last night Jon Lester threw a no-hitter for the Sox! This is the second no-hitter in as many season for the Sox, the fourth no-hitter caught by Jason Varitek, and the first lefty to do it since 1956. What makes this even more cool is that he is a cancer survivor. It was so cool to watch after the game, especially the interaction between him and Tito. Go here if you want to read more. The thing that sucked about it was that I REALLY wanted to call Mr. Chili. I didn’t for two reasons; 1. It was late and I wasn’t sure if he would be awake, and 2. Because he sometimes Tivo’s the game and can be a few minutes behind. I didn’t want to ruin it for him.

 Ok, today we have a quiz! This was pulled from Shrink Today (Psychology Today). I will post the answers tomorrow. Good luck! No looking up answers either! 

True or False..

1. 10 to 12 percent of men are gay? 

2. Gay men have longer, thicker penises than straight men, on average? 

3. As children, most gay men display gender-bending behavior, like dressing up in their sisters’ clothes or playing with dolls? 

4. In general, gay men are worse than straight men at certain cognitive skills, like reading maps, spatial orientation, finding missing objects, and packing trunks? 

5. Lesbians are better than straight women at certain spatial navigational, and language tasks? 

6. Men with the most masculine voices tend to be straight? 

7. Gay men often have distant fathers, suggesting that levels of childhood affection have an effect on sexual orientation? 

8. The more older brothers you have, the more likely you are to be gay? 

9. Sexual orientation correlates with whether you are right or left-handed? 

10. The ratio of the lengths of the second to fourth finger predicts sexual orientation? 

 

Photo credit

 

Feeling the Pull

 Remember my post about my friends that I stopped speaking to? Well, one of those friends has called me a couple of times since that incident. The first time was to invite me to her going away gathering. She moved out of her apartment and in with the other friend and wanted to have one last party at the old apartment. I thought it was very nice of her to invite me. She said that although our last conversation didn’t go well, we had been friends for a long time and shared lots of memories in that apartment. I didn’t end up going. I had lots of school stuff to do and honestly, I didn’t feel like I needed to re-hash old memories.

 Certainly me and my friends had a lot of good times together. For me though, not feeling respected  for who I am by my friends had been going on for a very long time and I had no desire to put myself in that situation again. I did struggle with the decision of whether or not to go though. I felt like I made the right decision and had absolutely no regrets.

 Two weeks ago she called again. We chatted for a bit and gave updates on each other lives. After a bit she started talking about our friendship. The gist of it was that she felt like we had been friends for a long time, had some good memories, and had been there for each other through the years. She went on to say that since I answered her call and was chatting with her then I must not be mad at her and maybe once in awhile we can chat or hang out. I know it was very difficult for her to get out. I just gave you the gist of it. She went on and on. As she was going on about it I was thinking that it was cool that she was able to communicate her feelings to me and that she was willing to take the first step in possibly rebuilding our friendship.

 My response was that I was never mad at her. I truly wasn’t. I said before and will say again that she gave me a gift that day. I was finally at a place with the two of them where I could stand up for myself and do what was best for me. I didn’t care what they thought of me, I cared what I thought of me. That was a great feeling. Anyway, I told her that as long as we could be nice to each other and be respectful of each others feelings, then it would be ok to talk or hang out once in awhile.

 What is important to note is that since I have not spoken to the two of them, my life has been much happier, simpler, and absolutely drama free. I have not had one interaction with any of my many friends where I felt disrespected or  judged. Not once.

 What has been on my mind the last two weeks is do I give it another chance or I am just going to be inviting all the yucky stuff back in? I really hate to close a door but I have really been loving my life. If I do give it another go, you can be sure that the rules of the game will be made clear and will be enforced.

Real Hot People

Kizz, someone thinks your hot. Well, someone besides me that is. You see, this morning I decided to check out my blog stats. I don’t often do that. So, I check out the search engine terms people use to find me and wouldn’t ya know, “Kizz is hot” is one of the ways someone got to my blog. 

 My first though was that the person must have been disappointed because I have no pictures of Kizz on my blog. I’m going to fix that now. I went right on over to her site and stole a couple of pictures!

 I think this is a great picture. If I saw her standing in a bar like this I would be hard pressed not to stare. Unfortunately staring is all I would do because as hot as she is standing like that, it would also intimidate the hell out of me and I would not be able to get the nerve to go talk to her.

 I may be able to approach her here. Her smile is warm and inviting. I’m not all that great at approaching women so I can’t really say for sure though.

 Kizz, perhaps you can take your picture in a little black dress? I would really love it if you did The person searching for you might like to see you in a different color..

Driving Adventures

 Last night I went to watch Beans violin recital. She did great and appeared to improve quite a bit since her first recital. Also, she was much less fidgety this time around. I was concerned that the enthusiastic boy standing next to her was going to poke her eye out with his bow but she managed to make it out with both of her eyes. Good stuff.

 As much as I am sure you all want to hear about all the details of the recital, this post is really about my very interesting drive up.

 I leave the house and get on the on ramp to the first highway. There is an elderly man in front of me, lets call him Grandpa, and someone behind me. As we are making our way around the ramp, Grandpa locks ’em up right in the middle of the ramp. I say “locks ’em up” meaning he slams on the brakes. You can’t really lock ’em up anymore with anti-lock breaks and all.. Anyway, he locks ’em up for no apparent reason! Well, there was a small pot hole. Maybe thats why he did it. Now, because I am a very safe and conscientious driver who was not tailgating, I only had to tap my breaks for a second. As I did, I said to myself (but out loud) “It’s ok Grandpa, it’s only a pot hole.” You see, I gave up the whole road rage yelling, swearing, and bird flipping thing a long time ago. Now I just offer suggestions in a very calm and polite way.

 “A directional would be helpful to me.”

“If you were not driving so close you wouldn’t have to slam on your brakes so much.”

“It’s easier to merge with traffic going 70 mph if you are going faster than, I don’t know, 25 mph.”

 Back to Grandpa. So when he finally makes it to the end of the ramp and trying to merge at 25 mph I say to myself (but out loud) ” Grandpa, you gotta hit the gas. You’re gonna get us killed.” I was not yelling, I was not making wild hand gestures. So we get on the highway and as soon as I have a chance, I pass him. As I am pulling up on him he gives me the finger. Not just a quick flip. He is holding his hand up against his window the entire time I pass him. I was in shock! “Grandpa! Is that you? Flipping me off? Really? You’re like, 100 years old!”

 Sometimes when I am total disbelief about what someone is doing on the road I give ’em the look. You know the look? The one that says “What the hell were you thinking?!” I chose not to acknowledge Grandpa at all. I decided if he was that old and that immature, he might just try to ram me or something.

 In other news I saw two funny bumper stickers on my ride up.

 Sorry it’s so small.

I can’t find the other one but it was on the back of a VW Bug and it said  “I eat children”. It’s a weird thing to have on your car but stranger on a VW Bug. Bug owners seem so nice and wholesome to me.

 

Photo credit

“

Ten Things Tuesday

Ten more random things;

1. I am officially done with my first semester of college! My computer final was soooo hard! Not! I feel like I did pretty well on my Psychology final too. 

2. I wanted to cut the grass this weekend. The roommate lent out the gas can so no gas. No gas equals tall grass. Hopefully the can will be returned soon.

3. I had to take the gas tank off the mower and clean it and its respective parts. There was a random red piece of plastic in there as well as some sand. God only knows how that shit got in there.

4. Did you know that using a gas powered mower for one hour emits the same amount of emissions as driving a car for 100 miles? Wow.

5. We have moles which means we have grubs. Auntie Teacher recommended a product to use to get rid of the grubs. I really hate putting chemicals on the lawn however I am so not interested in breaking my ankle on a grub hole. Chemicals it is.

6. I am done talking about the lawn now.

7. The men are coming to open the pool on Wednesday! We lugged out all the stuff last night and I am going to try and remove all of the leaves off the cover after work today.

8. Work is going very well. Many of my clients continue to do great work! Stayin clean isn’t easy. They are recognizing patterns in their life, breaking those bad patterns, and making some really great choices. I really admire their strength and determination. 

9. Remember the shady gas station I told you about? The one who switched the grades of gas around? Well, they switched them back. No, I didn’t go there. I can see the pumps from the street. Somebody must have complained.. I’m still not buying my gas from there.

10. The veggies I planted are growing pretty well. I was going to transplant them into containers and leave them on the deck. I was going to do this because Ma, the roommates mom, is a stickler about using water because it’s town water that she has to pay for. We were talking about my veggies on Sunday and she said she wanted cucumbers. I told her I wasn’t sure I would have enough room for them and she suggested I plant my stuff on the side of the house.

 ” Ma, if I do that they will need more water. I don’t want you to yell at me for using to much water!”

 ” I’m going to yell at you anyway. I want cucumbers and more tomatoes! Just do it!”

Well, there you have it! If she wants more stuff, she will get it. I’ll just try to water when she is not around.

 Happy Tuesday!