esrosedotblog

I am fascinated by the invitation from John Boehner to Netanyahu.

Apparently so are a lot of other people.

Forbes Destroys John Boehner in Scathing Smackdown

To say that John Boehner is a shitty Speaker is an understatement. One look at the shifty eyes would be enough. The fake suntan. The closet smoking. And that is without even hearing him say the things he does or see them. Snaky.

This goes beyond my normal distaste for the Wachington in fighting. It is an outright "fuck you" to our head of State.

And then, Bibi. Another snaky bastard. Manipulative. Liar. All of it.

The two together are a set. Wolves.

I don't want to rant on about it. No one seems to be paying attention to this side of things. But the sleaze factor of it is very high.

I can imagine that Obama could actually give less of a shit about it. In a way it works for him. He does not have to be in a room with the bastard. Either of them, actually.

Just sit back and watch the fun.

Labels: Barack Obama, republican whack jobs

Gail Collins takes a last swipe at Mittens as he exits. Right?

Mitt Quits Again. Probably.

Collins has always had the ability to hone right in on Mitt's weak spots.

It is almost like animal cruelty.

She cannot help tease the guy in the cage.

What cage? The ego cage, the Mormon cage, the other restraints that hold Mitt back from being an open, genuine, whole healthy man.

He lives in a straight jacket. Just watching him, which I no longer do, makes me want to loosen my collar.

He stutters, stammers, backs up, tries again and smiles. Goddam how he smiles. That fake condescending smirk of the little squirt who knocks at your door selling The Book.

I just do not know where to start. Mitt's past due date passed decades ago. Or maybe before he ever began running for office.

Mitt suffers from the disease of privilege. His Dad, George Romney, a self made man, sort of, ran an auto company badly. Ran it into the ground.

I will miss Mitt. But I also somehow believe it is not the end. That that ever overflowing ego will find some need, some time, to emerge again.

Put the smile in the closet Mitt along with the bad suits.

Don't throw any of them out. The GOoPers are probably going to need another man on a white horse sometime in the future and you are still a youngish savior.

Look.

He got two successive items in this blog! I will miss him. Sorta.

But the ability of the Republicans to vomit up another mockable candidate is probably infinite. An endless source of fun.

Labels: republican whack jobs, Republicans, Romney

It is hard to believe.

Mitt Romney Won't Run in 2016.

Surprise that he has some pride left.

How much rejection can one ego take?

What will we do?

No one else seems as mockable but somehow the GOoPers will find someone.

I have confidence in their ability to choose Elmer Fudd to lead them.

It will take some time to shake out.

A Mittless party has to be a little aimless for awhile. Or perhaps he was thrown over the bridge.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Labels: Romney

It is hard to adapt any original material for film, let alone a musical.

Often what is charming and engaging on stage dies on the screen, the withers on the teevee version.

To all this critical nonsense I have to admit that I do not give a shit.

I will never go see the stage version. I am not in the great, late NYC swim.

So, my standards are twisted by being provincial. And so I find

Jersey Boys (2014)

great entertainment fun and worth a 5 out of Netflix5.

There is no way to make this appreciation abstract.

In a way you had to be there. All of it. The shows, the cars, the clothes and above all Franky and the boys.

This is a wonderful bath in the traditional bio-musical form. They pulled it off.

Directed by Clint Easta\wood of all people. Genius. It helps that the singing us quite immediate and real. The real actors, I believe, undubbed although I could be wrong about that part.

Sit back. Listen. Watch. See it all. The clothes, the shows, the music, the joy.

A 5. I want to buy this one.

Labels: films, music

We are waiting for the garage door guy to come back with a new closer.

It refused to work earlier today. So we called what looked like a good place in the internet lisings. Random.

We are lousy at this part of any project.

Waiting and wanting and looking and thinking. A song idea?

He said that the innards had stripped out and we could have a chain or a rubber belt so we chose the noisier but stronger chain. That sent him back to the shop.

I am waiting dinner but not really. It is 1715 hours and we don't usually eat for another 20 minutes.

The key is not to get on each other about it. Should we? Shouldn't we? What is our obligation? And so on.

One thing is sure, we can't fix it.

The garage door is openable by hand. It is not too bad to do this so the car will have a "bedroom" tonight, one way or another.

He got done. What a charming guy. An Israeli married to an American, has a green card.

He has to keep his nose clean for three years and then he can start the process. I will vote for him!

Labels: repairs

Things seem to be clearing up in Boston.

As a retired Bostonian living in a new place I still have roots there. They are strong and deep and location of my current life cannot remove them.

So I read this item with great interest and affection this morning.

Finding Out Who Shoveled the Boston Marathon Finish Line"

It was a great idea and somehow took a lot of the pain out of the bombing aftermath which seems to bleed daily into all the news outlets.

I will let you read why he did it but it is for the best reason I can think of.

Let's say reverence or affection. It is in his work neighborhood and there it was and he took a shovel to it.

This is the kind of thing that regularly can take the sting out of life's downsides.

I am not a fan of the whole "Boston Proud" thing. Another slogan tainted with the same mindless boastfulness that offends in all other areas of life. Hokum for the boobs.

But there is a quiet pride in Boston in my heart. One which does not go toward aggrandizement or making the town bigger than it is already in my heart.

True pride is quiet and loving and fond.

And, apparently it had nothing to do with the crazy brothers.

Labels: Boston

We are still a political football.

States Renew Fight to Stop Same-Sex Marriage

The 'sanctity of marriage' people are still at it and now, their pride wounded as well as their intelligence, they are fighting back. The skirmishes of a retreat.

The fact is that in a lot of places gay marriage is a handy issue for the haters.

The idea that my marriage to John in anyway endangers the marriage of my neighbors (the straight ones) is ludicrous.

The problem is that there is no place to put one's hands on the issue that will work. The deflated football!

Demagogue material.

I won't even bring out the older and probably more correct old saw that a homophobe is nothing but a man scared of his own sexuality. It isn't even necessary to explore one of these closets. It doesn't matter. They are probably "agin' that sex stuff" whether it is gay or straight or upside down (not a bad position actually).

The thing is that some of these people are not rubes and ignoramuses. They are opportunistic zombies feasting on the body of a dead issue to gain some political traction with the knuckle draggers.

What is sad is that there are enough knuckle draggers to help these bastards out at the polls.

Labels: gay marriage, republican whack jobs

Today's film was a section of the fifth season of Big Bang Theory.

I like these folks a lot. As an MIT graduate I spent a good part of my life with "them".

On the second floor of Nichols dorm, my freshman year, there were all Physics majors.

All.

As a group they are wonderful companions. They knew the best restaurants, the cheapest places to buy things, how to get along.

The opposite of the mousey introverted stereotype.

And they knew how to laugh. I was scared as hell my first year. And the other ones too. But the companionship of these generous upper classmen earned my appreciation for their craft. And physics, particularly the nuclear is a craft. Be sure of that.

When they show the labs in the show I know that they are the real thing. I have seen the interview with their science advisor. Typical funny physicist. Taking the world and himself lightly.

Today's program had the "tiara scene". I won't explain. Just that the receiver of the gift is a PhD biologist. A different kind of creature. But the same at heart. I knew some of those too.

Labels: Big Bang Theory, jewelry, physics

Today is my birthday.

Ever year for 78 years. January 28th.

I am not quite sure how I got here. It wasn't what I intended.

For a long time I had no intentions.

Kids do not.

Then, I did have fantasies about being a wise old man, maybe 100.

But I met a lot of people that had this type of goal and they led very careful lives.

I am not the one to do that. Some phases of my life have been very uncareful.

Partly because for a long while I was protected with a mantle of denial and disbelief.

Never mind the details, but most young people, and I have met a few of those, do not dwell on the length or even the quality of life as an elder. The smart ones just live their lives to the fullest. The facts are that this wisdom recognizes the imminence of death at almost any point of time. Death is not just for the old.

That is it with the talk about life and death.

I have had a very good year. My health is very good. When it was not it has been fixed. Mostly medical science. Or giving something up. Or starting things up.

Mostly, I try to hang out with as many young people as I can. There are a lot of them. Some treat me as an elder and that is nice but I refuse any pedestals.

And so on. Ruminate.

Right now I am thinking about my cake which is the other half of the cake we had at John's birthday. An ice cream cake.

And there is a very tall thick package at the dining room table all festively wrapped. Not allowed to touch that.

Labels: birthdays

Gym of course, followed by Marcus' stitch removal.

Then chiropractor. Good adjustment.

First half of a Big Bang disc, Season 5.

Long nice dog walk.

Now supper.

No blogging for me today. Besides it was so "regular" around here, it would be a bore to read about.

But I had a good time.

Labels: blogging

I will not mention how great it is not to have a blizzard on our doorstep.

Powerful Nor'easter

Although, I do have to admit that they were fun when they happened. For awhile.

The most memorable for us would be the '78 one. We had reservations in Key West for the third day, the very end of that one.

We were determined. We walked from Beacon Hill to Back Bay Station where the trains were said to be running.

So we trudged and got the first train going to New York.

In New York, we took a shuttle thing to Newark where there was a Key West flight in the afternoon. Probably our flight. But so much disruption made it OK with anyone who had tickets.

It left pretty much on time I think and we were in Key West that afternoon where there was a large contingent of Boston guys at our hotel due to return but now stuck.

As it happened, the people in our room did get out and so we had a place to stay. All in all, a miraculous journey.

A good end to salve our feelings from the mockery that we encountered trudging to the railroad station.

Fuck you. We made it and you did not.

I would be less than honest if I did not feel a little gloatful today. But our time here is long term and we have our own earthquakes and hot hot weather to compare. All in all I would take here rather than there but it all shakes out somehow.

This is Charles Street, the way we walked at just about the same time.

>

Labels: weather

A lot of decisions might seem to be life changing but we still have to make them whether we know how they were turn out or not.

You have to choose, swallow once or twice and move on, committed. To your own choice. Not the others who might be affected. Not an option to do evil. Just that any changes disturbs the equilibrium of all who are around and close.

Today's movie is about such a choice in a relationship.

Holding Trevor (2007)

One of the questions is who gets to hold him.

I liked this film quite a bit even though the outcome might not have been mine. That is one reason to watch movies. To get another perspective.

As gay films go, this is one of the best in a while. I will probably watch it again. A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, gay films

I like when researchers make novel uses of pedestrian data.

Such is the case in this NYT think piece.

Searching for Sex.

The writer compiled easily available data from Google and drew a few conclusions about what is on our minds.

While I am not sure of this, I think that it is all heterosexual data but, as it happens, almost all the date could apply to gay men as well.

If you do not feel like reading the whole thing, check this out from the writer.

Just about every study I have done relying on Google searches made me feel worse about the world. Huge numbers of people are racist and sexist; far too many children suffer from unreported abuse. But after studying the new data on sex, I actually feel better. This data makes me feel less lonely. In my previous studies of Google data, I had found the viciousness that humans often hide. But this time around, I have seen our hidden insecurities. Men and women are united in this insecurity and confusion.

Google also gives us legitimate reasons to worry less than we do. Many of our deepest fears about how our sexual partners perceive us are unjustified. Alone, at their computers, with no incentive to lie, partners reveal themselves to be fairly nonsuperficial and forgiving. In fact, we are all so busy judging our own bodies that there is little energy left over to judge other people’s.

Labels: sex

I have re-rated yesterday's film, Mr. Nobody.

I gave it a 4 out of Netflix5 but on reflection, decided that I want to own it so that I can watch it again and maybe even again after that.

I am also interested in the features.

And here is another review.

So. It is now a 5 out of Netflix5.

And here is an extend trailer.

I knew it would be fun to watch the GOP primaries.

The fun has already started.

An Iowa Crowd Had A Surprising Reaction When Donald Trump Bashed Mitt Romney And Jeb Bush

You can count on The Donald to stir the part with a lot of vigor. Saying the obvious but saying it loud. Away from the supposed party line.

Of course he is right. Neither of these people make good timber. Candidate timber. That they do not cut it at the Presidential level goes without saying.

Romney cannot cut it. A third try would be disastrous, a calamity for the GoOPers. I should be glad about this but I am not. I worry for our Democracy when the best that one major party can do is deliver up a failed candidate, proven to be unpopular (still the same 47% I suppose) and an aristocrat that never had to work. The old man did it all. And Jeb. Well, the less said the better. I am sure that he is a nice guy. The sort of clueless member of a failed royalty. The idiot son. Well, he is not that bad but he is an empty shell. He is a Bush!

It is all very interesting. Trump of course is running his own campaign but he is a spoiler and uncontrollable.

If there is something that should not be uttered he will say it way out loud. I like him actually. Politically incorrect and not beholden to anyone else. A loose cannon.

Let the games begin.

This graphic is a little hard to read but it is worth throwing in here.

Labels: Election 2016

I use RefDesk as my default web site.

Is that the right term?

It is where I tell my computer to go when I open a screen.

Today, "This Day In History", a regular bit each day, features

this item.

Odd that it is not a 0 or 5 anniversary, it is a 31st.

I had one of these rather soon after they came out. I was not interested in a computer before this but the friendly features and the suggestions of my knowledgable kids won me over. Never to be the same again.

I became a member of the Mac universe. Never to use a PC and even hostile to it. The evil empire MS. DOS. Whatever the hell that means.

In the beginning it was kind of a movement and Steve and the boys at Apple were our demigods.

Now I am on my fifth iteration. The big flat screen one running 10.9.5 or something. I have never looked much past the screen. The great MacAdvantage.

Labels: history, macintosh

Suppose that at some point in your life you were forced to make a decision and you could not do it.

Such is the case in today's movie. A child is forced to decide between his mom and dad and in an instant views all possibilities that might occur. The movie is that minute.

We do not really know this at the beginning and I probably shouldn't tell you that but I do not think it will matter. You will love this movie as I now do. Or you will fucking hate it with a passion.

There is no linear story line. We are in the mind of a child as seen from the perspective of the old man, the last living regular man alive.

I am not sure what other men and women are like in this time frame but he is the only one of "us" left.

An interviewer asks him what his life was like or some such nonsense and the movie is his answer. It takes two and a half hours to get it done.

A lot happens. A lot of bits and pieces. A couple of the actors who play the man are Jared Leto. Actually, the old man telling the story, fantastic. And his middlish age self. Even better.

I will definitely see this film again not for its insights necessarily but for its keen perception and clean one off precision of the bits and pieces. They cohere even when the whole is not really in sight. Monumental editing and acting. To say nothing of the directing. Jared Leto, great, is the middle life man and the old old man. Directed by Jaco Van Dormael. I do not know if this had any commercial success at all but I did hear about it on Metacritic or someplace, part of my broad network to sniff out special films. Films that I will like. And my system works pretty well.

This is a 4 out of Netflix5. I can't promise that I will see it again but I would not mind doing it. Maybe in a couple of years. Also, great performances by Rhys Ivins and Sarah Polley.

Labels: films

I have nothing to report today.

Morning was routine, gym, Friday shopping, nap, lunch.

I had a two part movie so that will be on for tomorrow. Nothing to write up.

I sort of vegetated for the rest of the day.

Labels: life

Today's film earnestly examines gay love between a born-again christian boy and a non-believer.

To his credit, David Lewis, the writer and director doesn't slant the case very much.

The outcome is not happy nor is it the end of the world. Perhaps a pause.

Teen romance, the first love, is very vulnerable and can't withstand the push and pull of larger forces.

The film is a little didactic. One mother is liberal and supports the boys, the other is an uptight bitch who in one scene lets her hair down, she is beautiful. Then it goes up again.

Of course, I wanted the boys to fall in love and to stay together for ever. Such was not to be the case here and, perhaps, a lot more realistically.

For the christian boy, the jury is still out but it is pretty clear that while he has to go with the flow for awhile, or thinks he does, he is touched for life and will return to his true self. We are optimists. Otherwise he will turn into one of those terrible repressed homophobes full of self hate for a teen indiscretion.

We are left to draw out own conclusions but since he is the narrator, I vote for his coming out, taking care of the mom some way and moving on with his happy gay life.

The film is good but slow and takes awhile to get "there". There is a lot of scenic fill from the picturesque rocky shore.

A 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, gay flms

I don't mean to be nasty but that is one of the ideas in this film.

Last Weekend

at a summer house on either Lake Arrowhead or perhaps Big Bear. They are a lot the same. Maybe both.

It is a vehicle for Patricia Clarkson and a rather good one. She does not disappoint. It is not a great movie but it is a close in study of a family that is breaking up, growing up, moving on.

There is even a gay son and his lover.

I enjoyed the film very much partly because it is filmed at the next dock from where we stayed. Once. But it is also a good story and rather truthful.

I don't suppose the film has general appeal but I don't care about that. I liked it.

Very nice.

A 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, gay films

Mitt Romney.

It is time to get after him again.

Tkrose sent me this today.

This "geezer" really trapped the Mitter. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. The Mormon boy trapped in his archaic pathetic belief system.

Mitt the shit.

So smooth. A walking slime ball. Jesus I hope he runs again, the bastard.

Labels: Romney

Tony Danza in a new hit broadway show.

The review is here

Good for him.

I have always liked him. He rode over the cynics and wise guys who tried to take him down.

It seems to me that the song is as much about himself as anything else. The best kind of connection.

Labels: comebacks, music

Our gym changed its name overnight from Golds to EOS.

What the fuck?

There was a letter with a lot of miss mash but no one seems to know the score. Or even whether the score is important.

They want us to exchange our key tag but I haven't done that. I "forget" to ask for it each morning.

I have read all about it and there isn't much.

Gold's here and in the Southwest is a franchise. Mostly use of the name.

Gold himself is long gone.

I am dragging my feet. No one says anything at the desk about my old key tag. So I just go in. It unlocks the turnstyle.

I suppose that when I get over my attitude and adjust it to the real world, I will get a new tag. I am sure that I have missed out being one of the first thousand who got a new t-shirt with the new logo and name.

This stirs up all my rebellious blood.

But I will get over it.

Labels: gym

Busy day today.

Started with a Meeting then on to the chiropractor which went about the same as most visits to the chiropractor.

Oommph. Umkgh. Shmrrrrz.

And then up and out of there.

I watched the ending episodes of Looking first season.

I am glad that "the gays" finally made it into series teevee and am OK that they have the same soapy problems as the rest of the world.

It is well done and not at all cheesy. The sex is not airbrushed, good solid R rated. No genitals, lots of ass.

The boys are also not perfect in any way. Not saints, not too bad in the sin department unless you draw your line along with the church ladies. Wholesome sex. Smile.

We have had our walk, Marcus and I. He is on the mend, eating full portions now. Stitches out next Tuesday the 27th.

Other than that nothing to report. That is enough for today.

Labels: health, Marcus

Two films, two days.

I rented them together and saw one a day.

Each puts some people in a closed room while shit happens all around them. That is the whole thing. Group decision making.

I spent my life working with this shit and now we can see it in two films with a lot more thunder and lighting than I ever saw in leaderless groups. And I saw hundreds of them. Live.

In Exam (2009), the group is assigned to figure out the question as well as the answer. The group dynamics are pretty brutal when it comes right down to it.

The second one, Fermat's Room (2007) is quite different premise but the dynamics are similar. Exacerbated by the fact that the assembled group is held in a room whose walls are tightening. They will be squashed if they fail. Many twists and turns here.

I must have lost my mild claustrophobia because I would not have been able to watch these early in my life. But now, it was OK. No freakout.

They are both pretty good, each a 3 out of Netflix5. And I don't want to write much about them because I am still a little shaky from the second one and they are the kind of films killed by talk.

Labels: films

I am taking it easy today.

Or a little easier than I normally take things.

I skipped the Sunday family walk and am not planning much of anything for the rest of the day. Reading, hanging out.

Yesterday was the monthly condo board meeting and I had my usual sterlingly delivered financial report. Which someone else writes for me. I do mark the yellow on it. We had a good crowd which listened attentively and, best of all, asked no questions.

Well, not of me.

In general the owners are a happy bunch. Our professional managers work with 15 Boards and had just come from a very contentious meeting the day before. Neighbor against neighbor and a free for all against that board.

The meeting was over in an hour and half, a record. We have a new chairman who came on with me and we work well together.

Home in time for lunch and a nap but not a long one. The adrenaline still runs for awhile after the meeting.

So laid back today.

For the record, Marcus is energetic and seems in good shape. We are trying different food combinations as he went "off his feed". He has lost weight. Maybe eight pounds.

My back is a lot better and my sciatica and I will go for another adjustment tomorrow morning. I guess I will be back in the hands of a chiropractor for awhile. I got away with over 6 years without it though.

Tomorrow will be back to "normal". Return to the gym, have some time with a friend after the Meeting. I like normal.

Labels: health, life, Marcus

I have stayed out of politics for the duration of Obama's presidency.

More or less.

But I miss the clamor and roar of it. And, as it turns out, we are at the exact half way point of Obama's last term and will get to pick a new President in 2016 with inauguration the following January.

Two years to go.

So it is time to start the countdown and none other than Gail Collins is here to tell us all about it. Looking ahead.

Texas is Sending You a Present

Meaning that we are getting Rick Perry to carry on about.

For example:

Almost everybody has a Rick Perry favorite moment. For 99 percent, it’s probably the dreaded “oops” debate when he announced that as president he was going to shutter three federal agencies — and then could only think of two.

And, yeah, that one was pretty good. However, I still cherish a television interview Perry did a few years earlier with Evan Smith of The Texas Tribune in which he defended abstinence-only sex education despite the state’s astronomical rates of teenage pregnancy. “It works,” Perry said defiantly and totally erroneously. “Can you give me a statistic suggesting it works?” asked Smith. “I’m going to tell you from my own personal life. Abstinence works,” Perry replied. Smith was too discreet to press for details, but let’s hope it comes up during the campaign.

Labels: Perry, republican whack jobs

A little progress for Marcus and Sherlock.

Marcus' after effects of his surgery are a little more complicated than we expected but he is under close care and surveillance with our own doctor on the case as of today.

He has an attractive sock on top of his leg sutures where he has been fussing. Not a good thing. And it has stopped him from interfering in that healing.

As far as the major item, his stomach and the removal of the stuff he swallowed there seem to be OK. The stomach. Not the stuff which is long gone. We eschewed the little baggie that had the spiked toy and the other thing in it.

He goes back for a check late this week and we are hovering some. But he has a lot of energy for walking although we are curtailing it. His appetite is not working well yet but he is taking his meds if they are wrapped in those pill things which he likes very much.

He is handling it all as though it is normal to have this shit going on. The airedale stoicism which we need to watch out for as he could be hiding symptoms. On the other hand we are not looking for trouble.

At least it is not a mobile as shown in the photo.

As for Sherlock, he is working out his cases in the series I am watching on DVD.

I am enjoying it but I need to be careful not to do them too close together or I lose the distance required.

Labels: health, Marcus

Ellen has a thing to say to the homophobes.

Labels: fun, homophobia

Today's film was the sixth episode of Looking, the gay centric video series.

It is San Francisco where anything can happen. But it is surprisingly tame and domestic. And not much happens.

Lovers come and go, some stay and quarrel, some are looking for something that isn't there. In other words, normal every day life.

The production is pretty good and Jonathan Groff is appropriately clueless with a little sexiness added. Fortunately he has savvy friends who help him along.

It is supposed to be pretty accurate about gay life these SFO days.

I doubt it. But I have not been there in a long while.

The series is enjoyable with or without the gay slant, I think. It is a soap opera. A genré that has a long history for legs, the soaps. Long running.

I have to remember that this is television. Things do not have to resolve. Nothing has to be too good. Everything is open for debate.

I am not sure I will stay for the next season or even make it through the second one.

A weak 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: gay life, television

Sick call was a happier period today than yesterday.

Marcus has improved his appetite after his operation and I went to the chiropractor for my sciatica; a second pull and jerk session. Earlier I had my stitch less left arm examined at Urgent Care and declared free and back to a normal life.

Both resulted in much relief. Doctoring is not my favorite thing but at least I am finally OK with going in promptly to get what needs to be done. It took eight decades but I am there at a time I may need it; more ready to admit defeat and ask for help.

The airedale, whose temperament is similar (I'm OK Dad) is more comfortable and will go in on Friday for an observation. He is eating some and likes a little walk for the first time.

I used to administer the sick call when I was in the Army. A safe job for a tender new second louie. So I know how to run it militarily which is to stay out of the way if possible.

Like all aspects of military life. Lie low.

Labels: Marcus, sick

A bit more normality today.

We went to pick up Marcus from the vet and brought him home.

He is a little dopey but seems to be doing fine. Hard that he can't tell us, in a way. On the other, it is obvious that he knows he is safe and with his Dads so silence might be just the thing.

When we arrived and he was brought out he was all excited and it seemed that there was nothing wrong at all. I met the vet who did the work. She is great as is the hospital.

We are home and trying to figure out what is probably not a complicated med schedule but seems so. We are kind of fucked up and out too. It all seems so hard, the new routine. But like anything we are just on the learning curve and we are not that dim bulbs.

For the moment we are eschewing the dread head cone. This may be risky but we shall see. He will be closely watched.

When we got home, the friskiness just went out of him and he mostly has slept.

Warm compresses for three days every four or five hours for five minutes. John has been assigned that one.

So this is our project for now. Not a bad piece of work given the importance of the big boy we are doing it for. Another side of love, it is not a chore.

Labels: Marcus, veterinarian

We had to take Marcus to the vet today.

He swallowed something, a hard object now identified as a toy, and it wouldn't come out.

So, they went in and took it out and at the same time cleared another unidentified object from his intestine. Since they were in the neighborhood.

The vets are very good and he has already had his operation, will recuperate tomorrow and be ready to come home Monday afternoon (another word for "tomorrow") or Tuesday. I vote for Tuesday but that is not so much up to me. The day is already very busy. Chiropractor, a meeting, a date at the dentist.

But we will do what we need to do to get him home where he belongs.

It was very upsetting at first but we have talked to the surgeon and Marcus' regular vet and they say all is well.

We don't much worry about his missing us as he will be sedated right up to the return home.

Needless to say all of the smaller toys will be removed before he arrives.

No fun for anyone but we are very happy the news is good and his return imminent. It is very quiet around here just now.

Labels: Marcus, veterinarian

Labels: gay couples, gay history, gay life, gay marriage

For a Saturday I was pretty busy.

A meeting in the morning. The second season, fourth episode of Sherlock Holmes in which (spoiler), they left him for dead in the street.

So we will all have to wait and see how that turns out.

Then to take care of some of us who are ailing. Marcus has been throwing up so it is no food for him, just ice cubes for the rest of the day and then rice and chicken tomorrow.

He is not too happy about that but he is also not feeling good. So we are giving the recommendations a couple of days to work then see whether we need to take him in.

The on line suggestions are very good and seem to make sense and he seems to be OK with a diet of ice cubes which he refuses but conveys the idea that we are concerned for him and don't want him to go hungry. Or at least that is what I am telling myself.

And I am having a recurrence of sciatica which is an old problem, held in abeyance for a long time with the help of a chiropractor. Who I had stopped going to.

So human. Or something. If something is working quite well and there are no symptoms then consider ones self cured.

Fortunately I still have a chiropractor who knows my back and I will see him Monday. Right before I get my teeth cleaned. It will be my maintenance day.

I am not happy about this but the pain meds are working pretty well without going over the recommended amount. Not that I wouldn't give that a try for a short while if it got too bad.

I do not feel bad about stopping the chiro. Meaning I will not be ashamed to return. They actually like this, it makes them feel needed. And I know the guy from the time we moved out here many years ago. I have invested in his practice!

Labels: film, health

A television series is hard to commit to.

There is so much and when I get to it finally on word of mouth, it is a mixed bag. Hard to find the gold nuggets in the pan.

I did hit pay dirt with the first episode of

Looking (2014)

A gay series set in San Francisco, of course.

The first episode of these things is always fraught. They are trying to introduce most of the series' characters so it is a series of short bits. In this case it works. Each has a bite. And leaves the desire to take another taste which I will do as I took a risk and bought the DVD of the first season.

I think that it is an honest depiction of a kind of gay life. A bit broader than bars and bushes. Rather a lot broader.

And yet they have not done much to "normalize" the life of these men. They are gay from head to toe and in-between.

It is nicely chaste, but not too much so. A nice session of making love. The people are appealing. I think that I will stick around.

At least a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: gay life, television

It is amusing to see competition for the most gay friendly cities in Texas.

Gay Rights Rivalry: As Dallas Celebrates Higher HRC Score, Fort Worth Aims toGet Back On Top

On top.

Best wishes to them both. Since they are both in Texas there is plenty of space for everyone.

Despite its general reputation, Texas has been ahead on gay matters from the beginning. So it is not too surprising that cities would compete for the rainbow flag.

Somehow, Austin has always been gay in my mind but that is probably because I have known so many guys from there who fly the rainbow flag.

Labels: gay life

We are well into 2015 and life has become more normalized.

I went to the gym then a Meeting then home and made some phone calls. A nap of course and lunch followed by a "movie".

Today, the fourth season of Big Bang Theory. First three episodes. Nice.

They are getting dressed up for New Year's Eve party at Stuart's video store.

It gets better with time. Earning a rich 5 out of Netflix5. I have a long way to go. They are in their eighth season. Well, is it half full or half empty? Half full.

Some emails are flying today about the condo association and there is a mild scuffle between a new member and the chairman. The new member is a neighbor. In fact there are two near neighbors on the Board. We will own the place! I am not in the scuffle, meaning that I don't much care how it comes out.

I do my job. Count the money, report at meetings, meet with the management company and generally work behind the scenes. I like it.

The weather is very 2014. The late summer or early fall.

This is why people come to Palm Springs to vacation in the winter months. Right now it is in the 80s, the dry 80s. Tonight it will go down to a brrrr-fifty.

Labels: routine, television, weather

I liked this

Letter to the Obama haters.

You lost that decade wailing about Obama the gay Communist Muslim narcissist dictator who was going to let the UN invade America and various hoaxes like "death panels," birth certificates, and the "Ground Zero Mosque" (remember how you wasted two years of your life over that?). Just think of what you could have accomplished if you hadn't wasted all that time. You could have gotten a college degree, you could have written a book, you could have run your first marathon, you could have built a boat and sailed it around the world. You could learned to speak another language - oh wait, you never would have done that.

Labels: Barack Obama

Back in the swing.

Gym, dog walk, second season of Sherlock, first two episodes.

Nice walk with Marcus. It is quite warm out.

John home from the Film Festival today so I will get to cook dinner. Burritos. Already cooked.

Onward and upward.

The stitches in my elbow itch like a bastard and the bandaids they were using has caused an allergic reaction. Not a big deal but big enough to feel it from time to time.

Another week exactly until the sewing gets undone.

I can take it.

Elbow bandaids must be pretty common. This one (right) is a tattoo.

Labels: life

Today was more normal than yesterday and I could not be happier.

I went to the gym, the standard workout. All cardio on Mondays.

Then to a Meeting.

Home and naps and dog walking and all the rest.

Then, not normal. John is not here for supper. It is the Palm Springs Film Festival and he has seven or eight tickets. So we are on our own for supper.

He is home tomorrow and Thursday but we will be missing him for the other suppers.

It is a good opportunity for me to work down the frozen entrees that I keep for such occasions. Mostly pasta and salad.

I watched another episode of the "new" Sherlock which I am enjoying. They are all 90 minutes and of very high quality. A movie.

I think that they are using the original stories, some of them, as a template for each show and supplying modern details. Or not. I am new to Sherlock. I never was much interested in the past.

Too formulaic. But so far these are not. Quite original it seems.

In the photo we have Benedict Cumberbatch who is the Sherlock receiving an award at the PSFestival for his work in the Alan Turning film. A nice coincidence on the photo opps. Twofer.

You might wonder, or not, why I didn't go to the film fest me being a film fan and all.

I cannot abide the people. My agoraphobia comes right out.

My last attendance was when some woman ahead of me in line wheeled around and asked what my favorite film was. An impossible question to answer. I knew then that my disinterest in small talk was more than that. I didn't want any personal attention at all. A good insight but it ruined my going to the film festival.

I know this sounds silly but not to someone who is a well structured introvert.

Labels: cooking, films, Introvert, vacation

The holidays are over and once again I got through unscathed.

By that, I mean that I was in the present, had modest expectations, and didn't indulge in wayward sentimentality.

Not an easy thing to do but age helps dampen the devils that want to rob us of a good time.

I certainly see a lot of people who want to make it otherwise.

I am grateful.

It sure helps that the weather is good. We are having cool but nicely shirtsleeved weather during the day. Nights are cold but I am in bed early.

It will be nice to return to normality. Tomorrow, first thing, is the gym at 3AM and the day begins. Friends will be there that I haven't seen in a little while, two weeks maybe. My good life can resume its routine. I love routine.

Labels: holidays

Sometimes good people get involved with bad people and pay the consequences for their niceness.

A documentary today about a guy who gets killed by his lover and mother of his child. She also kills the kid before they can get to her.

It is pretty tough going as, from all accounts, the dead guy was pretty nice.

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

But I stayed with it. The story is tragic and sad and full of injustice. Not a pleasant experience.

But as a documentary of how bad things happen to good people, it is a work of high art. Despite its sadness, it invites us to enter the situation further and we follow, trusting that we will be treated well. Somehow this works in a good way. It is hard not to be outraged at some of it but that is the point I think.

This documentary is not for everyone. We understand that there were outcomes in the laws which somehow allow a dedicated criminal to strike again.

Facts of life in these days of justice for all. Innocence before proof of guilt. Sometimes the proof comes to late and in a form that reveals the imperfections of the system.

Labels: films

Today's movie is one film about four relationships.

Cuatro Lunus (2014)

One movie, four situations in which the stories are separate but share similar themes even though the principals never meet. They show heartbreak and happiness in a fair distribution to those who try to love. Or try not to.

It is very well done and the stories are quite enjoyable.

The challenge is to see the connections. Points are being made here. But they are subtle and actually fade in comparison to the lovely and sometimes painful situations. The film is worth seeing again to make these connections and also for experiencing the shear pleasure of the men and their times together. It is anything but porn but it is very erotic nonetheless.

There is a very short film as a kind of bonus.

A five out of Netflix5 because I already bought the DVD!

Labels: films, gay films

A year in Photos by Pete Sousa White House Photographer

It will warm your heart. Souza's specialty is the candid moment. There is no posing, none.

Labels: Barack Obama

It has been a long time since I had a hangover.

The alcohol kind. 35 years.

But I am having a bit of hangover from the holidays. It is inescapable.

Even if I behave myself, others around me do not.

Or, even if they didn't get drunk, they participate in the festivities in such a way that they cancel other obligations.

This is not a complaint incidentally. I am happy to have the "time off" from the routine.

I am left alone to savor my serious joy at being out of the holiday season unscathed.

We had a nice christmas with some presents from others. We enjoyed John's birthday two days before. And, as usual, New Year's Eve was pretty much a non-event.

Now, let's get on with it.

Let's get ready for the really big day, my birthday on the 28th!

Labels: birthdays, holidays

Today, I have worked to put all my ducks in a row.

First, we saw jackets around here. Ducks.

Then we saw newscasts. Ducks.

Who are these Ducks? What kind of name is that for a sports team?

I cannot really answer either of these questions nor do I want to.

What I do know today as there are two Ducks. Hockey ducks from Anaheim, of all places. And football Ducks from Oregon. University of.

Jesus.

The sports world sows nothing but confusion for me.

It started when they said I didn't know how to hold a bat. But then I learned that to an extent and could even get some hits. But I couldn't field very well so they put me in right. I couldn't catch because the ball stung my hand even if I could get them on the ball.

Football? We didn't have it although some boys played "touch". I liked that part but all the rest, too many rules. What is a "down"?

Basketball? I could not dribble to save my ass. I could make foul shots because Butchy DeFuria and I used to wile away the hours doing that at his house.

Anyway, I am a stereotype in that department of gay lore. A sports sissy. I guess that would be a non-sports sissy as I know a few gay men who are deeply sportified.

Here I am at the other end of my life with no knowledge and no interest in any professional or amateur sports.

Oh I did run. And ran pretty well. I could finish a half marathon. But winning never crossed my mind.

Labels: sports

Today is the 11th anniversary of this blog.

My first post was a review of Rififi.

You can go back and see it for yourself. Just go to the link at the right for the first month.

A trip back shows me experimenting with various setups. I actually did a red, then green, date thing for December. Yikes.

I have loved doing this thing.

I have found it a source of enlightenment as I try to look at what goes on in my life by reporting on it.

I suppose it isn't that much different than having a special friend to talk to or a husband or a neighbor.

But here the conversation is one way. I used to get comments from some people. Even some attacks which were fun. But none of this has happened in a long time.

I know that people, friends, read the blog because they comment on it from time to time in emails or conversation.

It is a very good substitute for the email newsletter. I don't do a lot of the news breaking that way that I think some people do. In a way it is not much different than folks who do the "cc: to everyone in their life" approach.

Most of all, I just enjoy doing it.

That is reason enough to decide to continue into a 12th year. To death do us part? Who knows? I preserve the option to bail out. I tried it once and came back in three months so even that is conditional.

Labels: blog

OK, we made it through safe and sane.

I was in bed by 830 PM. I tried to stay up but no dice. I did sleep a little late but then I went to bed as "late", so no advantage.

It won't be long before the whole thing is over and we can move forward to my birthday on the 28th which is the next big date.

I will be a partly mature 78 on that day.

I am pleased that I can be here for this. I have no resolutions. Which are horseshit anyway. Not worth the time. First, few are ever kept as they all deal with future assumptions. When things change, almost immediately, every resolution is out dated.

The other thing is that contrary to their intent, such resolutions create feelings of inadequacy. "Am I not enough?"

And they spoil spontaneity. Kill it dead.

And so on. You don't want to hear it because you didn't make any resolutions yourself for the same reasons.

And it is so arbitrary. Some pope some time some where made it the construct.

It is a pretty good one. Time does need to be truncated to a periods, segments. What we call a year.

Otherwise we face infinity. Dread that.

Of course we do face infinity but lets not hasten to think about it.

What else can I offer in New Year thoughts?

I would say that I have pretty well quashed anything special people were holding on to.

I like to watch Marcus. He got up this morning like he does every morning. We went out to pee just like every morning although we stayed on the sidewalks because it was so cold (32F!). Then into the house and breakfast with Dad standing by. He somehow thinks that we should stay there and watch. So, slaves that we are, we do stand and watch.

He has been with us three months right around now and we are very happy that he found us. Now that is something to shape up the New Year. New friends.

Labels: holidays, life