The Puggers Made Me Do It

I received a copy of Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts for my birthday. I put off starting it because, frankly, it's a long book- 933 large pages. And I wasn't sure if I was ready to commit to serious reading.

But tonight I promised myself that I would read the first chapter. And my how I got sucked in. I read three chapters instead and am still craving for more.

How do you resist a book that begins this way?

"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realised, somehow, through the screaming in my mind, that even in the shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn't sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it's all you've got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choice you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life."

Amazing...

So, yeah...

( Thoughts Under Here )

Wow- "Sicko" is an amazing movie. The corporate media can hype and whine all they want, but Moore hit this one out of the park. I'll be curious to see the reactions of other moviegoers...

Here's one more reason I love living in Western Mass...

(The video gets *really* good around the 2:38 mark, but it's all worth watching!)

For those of you who would rather read about it (although the video is SO much more entertaining), here's a link:

Former Bush aide Card is booed at UMass. If you read the article, it mentions that "The protests were mainly contained to an area in the back of the campus arena, though many of the faculty members onstage joined the three- to four- minute outburst." As you can see from the video, that was clearly not the case.

And, as quoted on the Wikipedia page about Card,

"In 2007, Card received an honorary degree in public service from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The decision by the university administration to give Card the degree was met with protests and petitions from thousands of university students, faculty, staff, and community members. They argued that Card played a leading role in disseminating deceptive and misleading evidence to justify the Iraq War. At the May 25, 2007 graduate school commencement ceremony, hundreds of students, faculty, and staff protested the award with boos and catcalls as Andrew Card accepted the degree. Protesters, including many faculty on stage, drowned out Provost Charlena Seymour's remarks, asserting that Card lied about the Iraq war."

WTF?

I wake up to a stream running through our back yard, as well as a river raging down our street. This weather is insane and it doesn't look like it's about to stop any time soon. I'm telling you, this planet is about ready to swallow us whole. Sometimes I think that wouldn't be such a bad thing. Like Smith said in The Matrix:

"I'd like to share with you a revelation I've had, during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you aren't actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with its surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply, and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague..."

To add to my jovial mood, I heard the oddest sound a few minutes ago. It was an air raid siren. You know, the kind that starts slow and builds into a high-pitched wail? I have no idea where it was coming from, but it ended after 2 or 3 minutes. Anyone local know something about this area that I don't? (FYI- Westover is about 20 minutes from my place, so I doubt it was coming from there).


In other news... I can finally stop using the silly nickname "Crusader" for my friend Marc Adams and share with you all that I am officially a board member of HeartStrong! HeartStrong is a non sectarian organization established to provide outreach to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and other persons adversely affected by the influence of all denominations of religious educational institutions. HeartStrong is also committed to educating the public about the persecution of GLBT’s and others at religious educational institutions. You can learn more at: http://www.heartstrong.org/

The best part is that the annual board meeting is being held in Miami this year. So I get to pack my bags for a few days in April and head to the sun and surf. And Kat's coming, too! We scheduled the flights so we'd get a little bit of time to check out the local scene and enjoy the beach. God, it's been so long since I've felt sand between my toes or smelled that salty air. I can't wait!

I recently read "The Passion" by Jeanette Winterson. What a fantastic book- lyrical and intricately woven. It was a nice surprise after attempting "Sexing the Cherry" and finding it a struggle to slog through. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

They say that every snowflake is different If that were true, how could the world go on? How could we ever get up off our knees? How could we ever recover from the wonder of it?

There's no pawnshop for the heart. You can't take it in and leave it awhile in a clean cloth and redeem it in better times.

Love it seems can survive even a war and a zero winter. Like the snow-raspberries, our host explained, love is like that, and he told us how these flimsy delicacies appear always in February, whatever the weather, whatever the prospects. No one knows why, when pines are withered at the roots and rough sheep have to be kept indoors, these impossible hot-house things still grow.

I looked at my palms trying to see the other life, the parallel life... Is this the explanation then when we meet someone we do not know and feel straight away that we have always known them?.. Perhaps our lives are spread out around us like a fan and we can only know one life, but by mistake sense others.

Whoever it is you fall in love with for the first time, not just love but be in love with, is the one who will always make you angry, the one you can't be logical about. It may be that you are settled in another place, it may be that you are happy, but the one who took your heart wields final power.

Passion will work in the fields for seven years for the beloved and on being cheated work for seven more, but passion, because it is noble, will not long accept another's left-overs.

The mystics and churchmen talk about throwing off this body and its desires, being no longer a slave to the flesh. They don't say that through the flesh we are set free. That our desire for another will lift us out of ourselves more cleanly than anything divine.

Children of Men was an amazing movie. I cannot even begin to describe how or why it moved me so, but it's something everyone should see. I've loved Clive Owen ever since I saw him in Beyond Borders but this performance was just amazing... I highly recommend everyone see it ASAP.

Our new kitty has been named Luka! 

Thanks to all who voted in the poll.





P.S. Anyone who wants to stay on Kat's good side will refrain from singing the Suzanne Vega song.

My sight site has returned!

Unlike the last time I made this announcement, the site really is up and running this time- after a ridiculous amount of time spent trying to figure out why it wouldn't work in IE. I swear, I was ready to send the virus of doom to microsoft headquarters create two separate sites- one for Firefox and one for IE!

There are a few spacing issues I'd like to tweak, but it's considerably better than the old site. Brand new look, new content, etc. I'll be slowly adding more to it as the days go by. 

In the meantime, I'd love it if you'd take a peek and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism and/or requests for content are always greatly appreciated.