Monday, June 25, 2007
Weekend
Dayum, I'm definitely addicted to other social sites because I've not been blogging lately. Ah well.
Saturday, KT & I went to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I thought it was a good movie. It could use a bit more action. I'm not crazy about Johnny Storm, aka Torch, because he comes off obnoxious and says some cheezy lines. Other than that, good movie.
Sunday, we helped a couple of friends of ours by moving their stuff into storage. They're moving to Miami for their year-long internship. Whoo, what a good workout. Now, I'm sore in my arms and legs.
But we were rewarded with pizzas, books and social with friends.
Afterwards, KT and I just hung out in Laurel and did a few errands. KT had lost his pager last week or so. So, yesterday, we went inside a T-Mobile store. Earlier, we had seen someone else who came and help moved with a similar pager to the Sidekick 2/3. Instead, it's the Sidekick ID. Basically, it's the same thing but no camera (and no phone I believe). So, it's the perfect pager...and cheaper too!
Gosh, I wish that Sidekick had quality cameras in their pagers. The photos are too grainy! Ugh!
We cannot wait for our vacation tomorrow! We'll be heading out to Austin and San Antonio for a week. So, it'll be nice to get out of DC for a while.
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Saturday, KT & I went to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I thought it was a good movie. It could use a bit more action. I'm not crazy about Johnny Storm, aka Torch, because he comes off obnoxious and says some cheezy lines. Other than that, good movie.
Sunday, we helped a couple of friends of ours by moving their stuff into storage. They're moving to Miami for their year-long internship. Whoo, what a good workout. Now, I'm sore in my arms and legs.
But we were rewarded with pizzas, books and social with friends.
Afterwards, KT and I just hung out in Laurel and did a few errands. KT had lost his pager last week or so. So, yesterday, we went inside a T-Mobile store. Earlier, we had seen someone else who came and help moved with a similar pager to the Sidekick 2/3. Instead, it's the Sidekick ID. Basically, it's the same thing but no camera (and no phone I believe). So, it's the perfect pager...and cheaper too!
Gosh, I wish that Sidekick had quality cameras in their pagers. The photos are too grainy! Ugh!
We cannot wait for our vacation tomorrow! We'll be heading out to Austin and San Antonio for a week. So, it'll be nice to get out of DC for a while.
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Thursday, June 14, 2007
Twilight Children
I just love Torey Hayden. Torey Hayden is a teacher and a specialist in elective mutism. In all her other books, Torey chronicled her encounters with memorable children/students in her past classes. Most of them come from abusive homes. With Torey, they're able to open up and share their most shocking secrets. With Torey's help, they'll address the issue and hopefully move on.
In this particular book, Torey has left the teaching environment. She is now working for a hospital. While she may be a specialist, the teacher in her emerges from time to time.
This particular book centers around 3 people:
- Cassandra is a bright 9 year-old girl. 2 years before, she was abducted by her divorced father. When found and returned to her mother, she was not the same. She was abused and neglected by her father, who was already addicted to drugs.
Cassandra isn't like any other children that Torey had. While she may be abused, Cassandra is a smart little girl. However, she can never fully comprehend why things are happening to her or why she keeps getting in trouble. Torey is forced to think if something else is happening here.
- Drake is a cute little 4 year-old boy with charming smiles. The problem with Drake is that he doesn't talk, except to his mother. This is a unique case for Torey because she has never encounter something like this with elective mutism. However, Torey has something else to deal with. The grandfather expects miracles since he has money and comes from a "pedigree" family lineage.
- Gerda is something else. Gerda is an 82 year-old woman who has just suffered a stroke. As a favor from a nurse, she is asked to assess Gerda and get her to talk once again. With no experience with geriatrics, she decides to give it a try. The thing is, Gerda can talk but she kinda goes into a trance and talks about her childhood past. Torey tries to have a conversational interaction with her but Gerda just rants about her past. Is there something in her past that Gerda is trying to tell Torey?
I just love Torey because you learn when she explains theories, diagnoses, disorders, illnesses in laymen's terms. She gives examples and analogies that help you understand better.
In this book, she talks about multiple personalities. Of course, that was the vogue diagnosis of the 70's. However, it soon became overused and overrated. These days, it's called a dissociative disorder.
However, what really jumped at me was that she explained that this is tricky. The reason being is that everyone dissociate...everyday. In fact, it is normal to dissociate. Children dissociates when they role-play, like when playing "house", "doctor" or whatever. When called on by their parents or whomever, they drop the role-playing and return/respond as children. Adults dissociate as well. Most of us do so when we're driving. We're driving but not really paying attention. We're deep in thoughts. It's usually a sudden stop or a car honking that quickly brings us back to "reality" and take appropriate actions.
So, it is normal to dissociate. It's when dissociation becomes maladaptive or destructive that causes concerns.
Anyways, great book! Torey is one of those authors whose books I just cannot put down. I have to read through the book in one sitting.
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Pride, last week, was alright. It's the same thing from last year with freebies. Of course, who doesn't love freebies.
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Saggy Pants Ban
Mayor Carol Broussard, of Decambre, Louisiana, said that she'll sign the ordinance banning saggy pants. The ordinance will penalize anyone, with saggy pants, up to 6 months in jail and a $500 dollar fine.
Broussard said she has nothing against saggy pants but that discretion is needed when worn. "Undergarments or certain parts of the body" should not be shown.
What do you think of this?
Labels: gay life, reviews, society
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Thursday, June 07, 2007
The Next American ...
What's up with these shows that you could be the Next American [insert word]?
Granted, American Idol is not the first of its kind. We already had Star Search and other shows. But American Idol really sparked all kinds of other shows where viewers phone in or text on their favorite contestant(s), hoping they'll make it to the finals.
Here are other shows that have been created since the debut of American Idol:
American Juniors
America's Got Talent
So You Think You Can Dance
America's Next Top Model
Project Runway
Top Chef
Top Designer
Shear Genius
Then, last week, I discovered On the Lot. This is about contestants competing to be the top movie filmmaker.
Then, last night, I discovered American Inventor. Contestants compete to be the top American inventor. It was just very interesting to see what people presented as their inventions. Some of them were...hmm, interesting. Others were like...what the heck?!?!
What's next?
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Granted, American Idol is not the first of its kind. We already had Star Search and other shows. But American Idol really sparked all kinds of other shows where viewers phone in or text on their favorite contestant(s), hoping they'll make it to the finals.
Here are other shows that have been created since the debut of American Idol:
American Juniors
America's Got Talent
So You Think You Can Dance
America's Next Top Model
Project Runway
Top Chef
Top Designer
Shear Genius
Then, last week, I discovered On the Lot. This is about contestants competing to be the top movie filmmaker.
Then, last night, I discovered American Inventor. Contestants compete to be the top American inventor. It was just very interesting to see what people presented as their inventions. Some of them were...hmm, interesting. Others were like...what the heck?!?!
What's next?
Labels: TV
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Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Solomons Island
Last weekend, KT took me out on a little surprise weekend getaway to Solomons Island. Solomons Island reminded me of a miniature Rehoboth Beach with sprinkles of Key West. It's just really cute, small with its own boardwalk.
We get there and dropped off our stuff at the nearby Holiday Inn Select. The hotel itself was ok. At first, it looked like...wow! But, once you get settled in, you start to notice its flaws. But I can say that they acutally have an Olympic-sized pool.
We walked down the boardwalk and explored little shops. We made mental notes of which ones to come back later that night or the next day.
When we were done, we walked back to the hotel. KT is my hero!!! About halfway walking back, KT spotted a fire growing from the mulch around a tree on the side of the road. Apparently, someone walked by or drove by and flicked off a cigarette. The cigarette cherry lit up on some flakes of mulch. KT tried to stomp out the fire but it only spread out the fire. So, he just put dirt on the fire, which doused it out and isolated the cigarette onto the asphalt.
It was just a good thing that KT saw the fire. If not, there would have been a big fire with a burnt tree.
After that, we headed back and swam in the pool. Ah, it was so nice to go swimming!!
We were supposed to go fishing the next morning but we backed out because of the weather. But, it was no biggie because we plan to go to North Carolina in July for a long weekend. We'll definitely go fishing then.
I wish I had pictures to post but KT forgot to pack the camera when he planned this trip. I only have pictures from my Sidekick. I took pictures of restaurants and bars that I posted for Yelp.com.
Anyways, it was interesting to see how many beaches there are in Maryland that are an hour or less from home. I'm sure we'll go back and explore other beaches.
Solomons Island is nice if you like small places. I'm not sure if we'll go back again. We practically touched every places there.
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We get there and dropped off our stuff at the nearby Holiday Inn Select. The hotel itself was ok. At first, it looked like...wow! But, once you get settled in, you start to notice its flaws. But I can say that they acutally have an Olympic-sized pool.
We walked down the boardwalk and explored little shops. We made mental notes of which ones to come back later that night or the next day.
When we were done, we walked back to the hotel. KT is my hero!!! About halfway walking back, KT spotted a fire growing from the mulch around a tree on the side of the road. Apparently, someone walked by or drove by and flicked off a cigarette. The cigarette cherry lit up on some flakes of mulch. KT tried to stomp out the fire but it only spread out the fire. So, he just put dirt on the fire, which doused it out and isolated the cigarette onto the asphalt.
It was just a good thing that KT saw the fire. If not, there would have been a big fire with a burnt tree.
After that, we headed back and swam in the pool. Ah, it was so nice to go swimming!!
We were supposed to go fishing the next morning but we backed out because of the weather. But, it was no biggie because we plan to go to North Carolina in July for a long weekend. We'll definitely go fishing then.
I wish I had pictures to post but KT forgot to pack the camera when he planned this trip. I only have pictures from my Sidekick. I took pictures of restaurants and bars that I posted for Yelp.com.
Anyways, it was interesting to see how many beaches there are in Maryland that are an hour or less from home. I'm sure we'll go back and explore other beaches.
Solomons Island is nice if you like small places. I'm not sure if we'll go back again. We practically touched every places there.
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Monday, June 04, 2007
Pride Week
Happy Pride!
This week is Pride Week in DC! Check out the link below for event information for the week. See you at the parade and at the Sunday festival!
www.capitalpride.org
Labels: gay life
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