Today was a nothing day; but I did take this and other pictures of a beautiful magnolia down the street from me. Now, back to my margarita! See ya’ll tomorrow! Hope you are having a great weekend!
Month: March 2006
the catch-all-egory
friday free-for-all, ya’ll!
by duane • • 13 Comments
So, I wanted to talk about a few different things today, so here it goes:
1st: Rumsfeld is obviously an ass. Let Iraqis handle a civil war if it breaks out? Aren’t they in the state they are in because of us?? We went over there, stirred shit up, said we would stay the course, and now this is our response? Please, someone justify our presence in Iraq to me; I dare you to convince me it isn’t a load of horseshit. If we aren’t even willing to fix the problems that we have our greedy hands in, then why the fuck are we still there? God, way to be there for them, Rummy. I bet the innocent men, women, and children that have died and will continue to die are just fucking pissing themselves at how happy they are America came in to save them from Sadam, who didn’t cause 9/11. (OOOO I SAID 9/11; Crikies!) Sometimes… bang zoom! Right to the moon with these asses.
2nd: Apparently, Britney’s career is completely over. I heard that she is pregnant again, and I haven’t seen that plastered all over the news. In fact, I heard it from FAB. What has happened to you Brit? Two words, sweetie: Comeback Album. Make it happen.
funnies
oy veh
by duane • • 8 Comments
That is what my head is saying today… I really need to stop going out drinking during the week. Nothing that a bunch of water can’t fix, right?! Anyway… today is just a mish mash of crap going on; I have been talking about meth use, condom use, counseling and testing guidelines, and I am spent. Sometimes I wish I could talk about what frustrates me about work on here, but as a rule, I don’t talk about work, so I will have to settle for what was just said. Also, given that so many people gave such interesting feedback to yesterday’s friend post, I want to talk more about that; just not today. Given that these thoughts are all plaguing me today, I thought I would share something hilarious that I heard on Air America yesterday… It was a “commercial”, or so I thought, where Laura Bush was talking about George’s integrity and whatever. It went a little something (meaning, I heard it a day or so ago, and I am using an artistic rendering for the purposes of relaying the humor to you) like this:
Hi, I’m first lady, Laura Bush. Now, I know that many of you may be wavering in your support for my husband, but I want you to know that he is such an upstanding man, that he never even had sex until he became president. He believes solely in this country. He told me that the reason he wanted to hold off having sex until he was president, because when he did become president, he planned to screw the entire country.
Seriously though, after this whole port deal thing, how can anyone still be supporting this person?
well?
groups of friends: real, or imagined?
by duane • • 19 Comments
Today, I was sitting here looking at some pictures on flickr, when it totally struck me; I don’t feel like I have a “stable” “friend group” anymore. The pictures I was looking at, were of a group of friends all having fun, and celebrating birthdays, new years, etc. While I do know, and am grateful, that I have many friends (some of which I haven’t had the privilege to meet IRL yet… that’s you blog-buddies!), I just don’t feel like I have that sense of a “group” that I used to. It is a weird realization, I guess, but I just wonder; was it ever really a group, or did we just happen to all hang out at the same time? What about our “group” made us go in different directions, so much so that we don’t hang out that much any more? And finally what does it take to remain “in” the group, and are we, or were we ever really, a group?
I must say, that the past 4 months or so has been awesome for me. I have done things that I have never done before socially; I have gone out on a limb to meet people, and it has actually turned out very well. I have embraced my hobbies, and allowed it to take me to meet new people; and I couldn’t be happier that I did.
venting
alright, this has gone WAY too far
by duane • • 18 Comments
Why can’t someone kill Fred Phelps already?? No, I am fucking serious. Apparently, in his demented crazy-ass motherfucking ass-head, he came up with the wonderful plan that he would picket and protest the funerals of, wait for it… fallen soldiers, because, wait for it… they serve a military that is fighting for a country that accepts homosexuality. WHAT????
No seriously… WHAT??? This boil on the butt of society has had the nerve to protest gay funerals in the past, and is generally known as one of the most evil motherfuckers known to man, but seriously dude, you have got to be kidding. I am not saying that this is better or worse than protesting a gay funeral, but the “rationale”, if you can call it that, in this case is just bonkers. I understand you hating gay people, Phelps, and that you are DEFINTIELY a closet homosexual who wants nothing more than to have his ass pounded; but boycotting and protesting funerals of the people that are risking their lives in this stupid war because they fight for a country that accepts homosexuality??? I think even the devil believes you have gone batshit crazy.
movie musings
alright, here it goes:
by duane • • 13 Comments
I know that you are probably waiting with baited breath, wanting to know what I think of Brokeback Mountain NOT winning best picture, and here it is: honestly, I am not surprised. This honestly was a typical move of the Academy, and it shows that they are predictable year after year. Films that the public usually believes should win often do not, and especially when films have sensitive or controversial subject matter, they run the risk of being shunned. So fucking what it didn’t win, it won like 100 Golden Globes (including best picture); and let us not forget that it also pretty much sweeped every award show for like the last 5 months, so, this one isn’t really that big of a deal in my eyes. Sure, it would be nice to have a story that truly portrays love between two men as the “best picture” of the year (according to the elite Academy, remember); but I honestly believe that the potential for bad press (from the “fundies” as Amber called them) and potential backlashes steered them clear of actually giving it to Brokeback, and so they settled on a nomination. I do applaud Phillip Seymour Hoffman for his win (which was long overdue) which is a victory for the gays; and don’t forget that Brokeback still won 3 Oscars, two of which were actually very important (adapted screenplay and director), and the effect will hopefully signal more wonderful films like this in the future.
Yeah, we were robbed, you can definitely look at it that way, but don’t forget that it is an honor to just be nominated, right? And hey, who isn’t going to want to at least put “Oscar nominated…” on their resume/dvd box? I honestly just cannot get over the fact that they gave it to Crash… yuck, almost any of the other ones, but not Crash. Again, it goes to show you that the Academy is on another world when it comes to this stuff, so whatever, right?
the catch-all-egory
and the Oscar goes to…
by duane • • 7 Comments
Betcha didn’t think I was going to post today, did ya? Ha! No seriously though, today has been filled with activities; many of which were in prep for the “gay superbowl” that comes on tonight, you know the one… and you know that you should be watching too. I know that I will be pulling for a certain “gay cowboy” movie to take home pretty much as many awards as possible; and I especially will be pulling for Mr. Gyllenhaal (go Jake!). I will obviously have comments on the show, but we will save that for tomorrow.
Also, I took the time to go through and take new photos of many of my paintings, and even photos of all the new 
ones that I have painted, and added those to the paintings page. The ones you see here are two of my newer ones. Hopefully, I will be adding many more to this page as time goes on over the next few months, because my painting is something that I really love, and I really want to pour more of myself into it. Stay tuned!!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend; and if you are in Georgia, I hope you bought enough liquor and beer yesterday, to carry you through tonight!! See y’all after the gay superbowl!
the catch-all-egory
bowling, hockey, where does it end!?
by duane • • 8 Comments
Today, I have been to the HRC benefit bowling, where I represented the CDC team (woot! my score was 167 bitches!). Who knew that the Bowling Express in Midtown had Blue Moon on tap?? Well, now I do! Anyway… it was a lot of fun, and it benefited a good cause. See this picture? Think of my bowling skills. Yeah, that’s right… oh yeah!
Also, James and I are slated to go to our very first Thrashers game tonight; the first, that is, of the notorious Valentine’s package of games. Here’s looking to comfortable seats, a winning score, and lots of 24 oz liquid fun (beer that is). Hope that everyone else’s Saturday is as awesome as this one has been…
This is doing a good job of keeping my friend’s precarious situation out of my mind. Ugh… I just wish it were all a dream.
venting
I still just can’t believe it.
by duane • • 15 Comments
I haven’t said anything about what has been stressing me out to the max this week (in fact, I doubt many of you knew I was stressed…), because it was highly private, and hit a little close to home; but now, the cat is out of the bag, and I need to vent a little. A really close friend of mine went missing on Monday, after a fire occurred at the place where he works. Not really connecting the two incidents, I just worried about where my friend was, and why he had gone. He contacted no one, but did send me an email letting me know he was alive; but that was all. Then, a fire marshal called me to answer some questions about my friend because he wanted to see if I knew his whereabouts, and I went from worried to panicky. Not only was I worried about my friend, but now, he was potentially a suspect in a crime that I could not believe he would commit. Needless to say, last night, before I was able to talk with the fire marshal, my friend turned himself in to the police, and admitted to the arson that occurred at his work on Monday.
I am honestly completely reeling right now. I am floored; in a total state of shock. This came out of left field, and I can’t believe that this has happened; I knew he was depressed and stressed out, but I never thought he would be capable of something like this. This is so not like my friend, and worst of all, I feel like it was a cry for help. He had been pulling away for the past several months, and I have just felt powerless to help him. I just feel awful that I wasn’t able to help him get the help he needed, so that he could have avoided something like this (even though I know that it isn’t my responsibility, I still feel awful). You never can truly know what is going on with someone, and in this case, it is especially, and sadly, true. My thoughts are with him and his family right now, and I just hope that things will work out as best they can, soon.
funnies
why, it’s chicken vi-ola! my favorite!
by duane • • 13 Comments
Last night at trivia, I told a funny story about my sister, and it kind of spiraled into an even funnier conversation; here’s an “interpretationâ€, meaning “how I am writing this up for the blogâ€, of how that went:
Somehow we got on the topic of chicken, which somehow spiraled into my story about my sister referring to the ready-to-cook chicken meal “Chicken Voila!†as “Chicken Vi-olaâ€. I was joking to Darcey, who was talking about her new catering business she is starting (GO DARCEY!!!), that she should name her business Voila!. Then, we all made the observation, based on the story about my sister’s country interpretation of voila, that people like my sister, may mistake the name for of her company as vi-ola, and that would really misdirect the message that Darcey is trying to send (class vs. “country interpretationâ€). Then, the spiral that follows: