A long absence

I'm a horrible blogger! I know Well, what to say?
Anyway, I couldn't possibly catch up the entire period since I last wrote, so the next best thing is to write about this weekend, right?

Friday night was my friend Christopher's birthday. His fabulous, epic idea was to go bar hopping in "unconvincing drag". Considering that almost all of his friends are good Portlanders with facial hair, being unconvincing was NOT a problem.

The evening started (well, for me) at my house. My good friend Tim came over and we got primmed and improper, I in my 100% Goodwill clingy red number and Tim in his frumpy left-over dress from a costume he wore several years ago (he and his partner at the time went as the main characters from Bosom Buddies. Tim also had a wig that seemed to have become the final resting place of several tiny critters. I wore no wig, just a hat. I probably looked like a chemo patient.

We then joined the rest of the gang at the Rainbow Room downtown where we stayed for a few before moving on to The Eagle, which was PACKED.

I've never been out in any kind of drag before. I was kind of surprised at how people reacted. Many, not at all and some very favorably. In fact, I wasn't feeling particularly attractive in my gender-fuck outfit, but evidently, a few other people felt otherwise. Maybe leg hair under black hose is considered sexy to some!

Anyway, the night was crazy as hell. The final comic moment of the evening was that Tim had to take one of the attendees home to his apartment in the burbs. Tim had to pee, so we walked through a couple of long corridors to the apartment at around 3:34 a.m. - not a soul stirring. After Tim had done his thing and we said our goodbyes, we were walking down the halls towards the elevator which was already in motion (TING, goes the bell!). OMG, there we are in some apartment in suburbia in sloppy drag and someone is about to step out of the elevator! We made a mad dash for the stairs in our high heels just in time to avoid what could have been a very awkward encounter. Man, did we laugh about that!

The next day, we find out that one of our party members, a tall boy with a full beard, had lost his keys while bar hopping. He ended up spending the night in a flower bed on the street in a rather nice neighborhood wearing a dress, wig and pumps! Oh, what a sight she must have been!

In the attached photo, Christopher (the birthday bunny), Jeff, Tim & Steve. There are a few more pics in my album.

Hey You Women! A great way to get rid of your old panties!

Yes, that's what I said! Your panties.

I stumbled upon this action on line and thought that it was worthy to pass on. Maybe a bra included to boot would help.

Women Send Panties to Myanmar in Protest
Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:54 PM EDT
us-news, odd-news, panties-for-peace
Associated Press

BANGKOK — Women in several countries have begun sending their panties to Myanmar embassies in a culturally insulting gesture of protest against the recent brutal crackdown there, a campaign supporter said Friday.

"It's an extremely strong message in Burmese and in all Southeast Asian culture," said Liz Hilton, who supports an activist group that launched the "Panties for Peace" drive earlier this week.

The group, Lanna Action for Burma, says the country's superstitious generals, especially junta leader Gen. Than Shwe, also believe that contact with women's underwear saps them of power.

To widespread international condemnation, the military in Myanmar, also known as Burma, crushed mass anti-regime demonstrations recently and continues to hunt down and imprison those who took part.

Hilton said women in Thailand, Australia, Singapore, England and other European countries have started sending or delivering their underwear to Myanmar missions following informal coordination among activist organizations and individuals.

"You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often!" the Lanna Action for Burma Web site urges.

"So far we have had no response from Burmese officials," Hilton said.

___

On the Net:

lannaactionforumburma.blogspot.com

VACATION! Leg 2

After Boston, I flew on down to Jacksonville, FL where my friend Dado lives with his partner, Brent. I was with them from the 10th to the 15th. While there, we visited Savannah, GA, which is a fascinating city. Like Boston, it has many monuments to both the Revolutionary and the Civil wars. It's easy to forget that Georgia was one of the original 13 colonies and was, therefore, the site of some battles in the Revolution. Luckily, the city survived that war and the Civil War, maintaining it's old-city southern charm. There are also plenty of statues commemorating Confederate generals and soldiers. It is, indeed, the Old South. In fact, it was very tempting to buy a parasol and walk around the city spouting "I do declair" in my best southern belle accent. After Savannah, the three of us drove down to St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest European-founded city on the continent. The city is full of history, interesting architecture from the 16th century on, and loads of tourist (and the traps they inevitably spawn). We ended up going back to St. Augustine from Jacksonville to spend a second day there, as well. The highlight of the town was the Spanish-founded Castillo San Marco fortress (in the picture).

My thanks to all of my gracious hosts on this trip. You are MAAAARVELOUS!

Anyone interested can view some of my pics from the trip on my flickr account: flicker.com/photos/ppix

VACATION! Leg 1

I decided to take a little vacation on the East Coast discovering the historical cities of the Atlantic seaboard. From 10/5-10/10 I visited my friend Cliff in Boston, MA. We had a great time together and I also did some exploring on my own. Besides historic neighborhoods and sites in the city, Cliff and I also took a trip up the MA coast to Rockport (most famous for the Cher/Winona Rider/Christina Ricci movie "Mermaids"), Glochester (most known for it's floundering fishing industry - no pun intended) and Salem (most famous for witch hunts in the 17th century, and boy do they capitalize on it now!)

Boston is an interesting and beautiful city and surprisingly easy to walk around. The city's distinguishing feature is the abundance of red brick buildings and sidewalks and wrought iron all over the central city. There is no lack of monuments in this city, mostly of modest proportions.

In the photo: Rolando, me, and my host Cliff.

A Message from the Dalai Lama

Message to the People of Burma
Message

I extend my support and solidarity with the recent peaceful movement for democracy in Burma. I fully support their call for freedom and democracy and take this opportunity to appeal to freedom-loving people all over the world to support such non-violent movements. Moreover, I wish to convey my sincere appreciation and admiration to the large number of fellow Buddhists monks for advocating democracy and freedom in Burma.

As a Buddhist monk, I am appealing to the members of the military regime who believe in Buddhism to act in accordance with the sacred dharma in the spirit of compassion and non-violence.

I pray for the success of this peaceful movement and the early release of fellow Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Tenzin Gyatso
September 23, 2007

Conspiracy Theories? Maybe Not!

I've been hearing more and more frightening stuff lately about the possibility of this country turning into a police state within the next year (i.e. before the end of the CHENEY/Bush administration. In fact, I'm hearing so much now that it's becoming a deafening cry. And it's not just from "conspiracy theorists". Think about it, this administration is about to end, which means Cheney will now longer be the number 1 guy pulling strings any more. We all know what a power-hungry war-profiteer he is. Should we really believe that a guy who got into power through manipulation of elections and who has sought to manipulate and change the Constitution to his will since riding W's tails into office will let himself be taken out of office by something as minor as a technicality of the Constitution?

The frightening thing is that the common word is that the administration will use an act of terrorism as the excuse to declare a state of emergency. Hmm. Who do we think will set up this act of terrorism? Now think about it. Has Dick & W, Inc. ever shown any true concern for human life? For human rights? So why start now. A few thousand people die, a state of emergency is announced, executive branch is given overwhelming powers to act unilaterally and...

Here is just one of the links I've come upon recently. You may be surprised at the source of this information, not exactly the type you'd consider a left-wing conspiracy theorist:

www.newsfrombabylon.com/story/...-1-year

Borrowed from the Internet

I never meant for my blog to be one of those theme ones, but it is leaning heavily towards the issue of sustainability, which I think is one of the biggest issues facing the world now (saving the world from environmental destruction and saving it from destruction by warfare are tied for 1st place). This pic that I found on the internet sums up so much of what I think is wrong with contemporary society - the "need" for convenience without considering the source of our disposables, let alone where these items go after they are used once.

Fill it again, Sam

Ah, the American Human, Latin name Americanus Horribilus et Wastefullus. I've gotten to the point where I can barely stand to walk into a coffee shop in this country anymore. We're a society on the go and nothing will stop us for a moment, not even getting our hot, mass-produced coffee. Evidently, millions of Americans have made it part of their daily routine to stop by Starbucks or one of the other coffee shops trying to compete with the monolithic purveyor of burn brewed beans and have their java served up in a paper cup.

Every day.

Think about it.

In the glorious coffee-culture city of Portland, that means dumpster loads of cups hauled off to a landfill 7 days a week. Do these people bother to think that those cups came from trees? That once in a landfill, they will be sealed up and interred as useless material for thousands of years? Not to mention the plastic sippy lids reminiscent of the sippy cups we had as toddlers that are destined to landfill hell.

No, paper cups are not recyclable. They are lined with plastic to keep them from falling apart well filled with hot liquid (duh). But we don't care about that, as long as when we are done with them, they go away. Away, that magical place... where what we don't want anymore goes.

The solution is obvious - use a travel mug! Duh! They are convenient, they are earth-friendly. And it really isn't that hard to clean them. They are even dishwasher safe! Buy your coworkers one for Christmas or a birthday or Beltaine or Eid. Encourage your local coffee shop to promote their use (they can sell them and make profit, then also reduce their garbage bills to save more money!)

Just say "NO" to single-use!

Top Ten Signs You're a Fundamentalist Christian

This is something I found online that I thought was amusing. So here they are:

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."


3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.

My Photo Link

So I opened a Flickr account recently. So far I've got about 250 pics up there. Some of them aren't the best quality because they're scans (my excuse). Some I like a bit better. Hm. I would sure like to have some nice fangled SLR $1000 camera (sigh)... Oh, the link is flicker.com/photos/ppix