It's Time To Lip Synch For Your Life... Again!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Just wanted to drop a note saying that the new season of RuPaul's Drag Race starts tonight on Logo! For those of us out there that don't have Logo (or have the desire to pay for the damn channel because it never seems to be included in the basic cable package…), last season was available on Logo's website to stream usually the day after episode aired, so I'm hoping they'll do the same this year.

I loved last season. It was just a brilliant show and they did A LOT with the bare bones budget they were given. It looks like they were given a much bigger budget for the show this year after the break-out success of the show last year. Certainly they've put a lot of ad money behind it because I've seen tons of ads for the show here in Chicago. Even the bus stop in front of our condo has a giant poster advertising the show, which is both awesome and inspiring. It's also the first show from Logo that I've seen a major ad campaign for, which is great news for the show and the network.

In any case, I'm certainly looking forward to the insanity of this year's show. I have a feeling I'll be posting quite a bit about this year's competitors!

American Idiot: The Musical

Sunday, January 31, 2010

I gotta say, this was just about the last this I expected, but it's true: Green Day's American Idiot, one of my favorite albums of all time from one of my top 10 favorite bands, is being transformed into a Broadway Musical. Correction. It has already been turned into a musical, and will be coming to Broadway very soonish.

I didn't know a damned thing about this until the fiance and I were watching the Grammys last night and the cast from the musical came out on stage with the band. But it's been confirmed, and if you're interested in the plot there is also a full blown Wikipedia article for it already.

American Idiot is a fantastic album, and you should buy it from Amazon if you don't own it yet, but a full fledged musical? I suppose it's possible. It was a full on concept album with a loose story in there... somewhere. This will either be brilliant or terrible, and I want to be there to find out!

Now then, if you'll excuse me, I need to go book a flight to New York.

State Of The Wedding Address

Thursday, January 28, 2010

I've been quiet on the wedding planning front, and for good reason. Frankly, things have been chaotic and trying to plan everything is taking most of the time that I previously used for blogging about it. I know they say it in the movies, but this one they got right: planning a wedding is hard work!

Looking back at my last wedding update (OMG, I haven't written about this since October??), we were considering the possibility of marrying in Chicago because of the introduction of a marriage equality bill here. However, little to no action has taken place on the bill, so I have to still put that in my "hopefully this will pass" dreams. All that said, we are set on going to Vancouver in Canada for our wedding.

Why Vancouver?

So why Vancouver? A few reasons:

1 - We want to make sure that wherever I get married, my union will be legally recognized. Marrying in Canada means the entire federal government of that country recognizes me and my husband as a married couple, and should we ever need to provide proof of that marriage, we have a legally sanctioned, federal document supporting our nuptials.

2 - We don't want to marry somewhere that may change their minds shortly after we marry. After the debacle in California, I'm not sure I trust any state to continue to support marriage equality. Politicians, and particularly the Democratic Party, are a shifty bunch and voters are even less reliable. We don't want to think about getting married somewhere then two months later some hillbilly down the street changing their minds and revoking our legally married status.

3 - We want to marry somewhere that people actually want us. We don't want to worry about finding a particular church that can possibly tolerate us (not that we would marry in a church, but still…) or a reception hall that would be oh so kind as to "deal" with us queers. No, we'd rather reward someplace that will welcome us and be happy to have us.

4 - That said, Vancouver is both gay friendly and very beautiful. Not to mention it won't be nearly as expensive as it normally would consider the city will still be trying to recover from the tourism slump that always follows being an Olympic Host City.

So What About The Reception?

Another thing we have decided on is the reception. Our initial idea was to host our wedding in Canada for just us, then have a reception in Chicago for our family and friends. While this is a great idea and a very sweet idea, it is frankly just too expensive.

We don't have an endless supply of money to put together both a trip to Canada for our wedding day and a full-on reception, and neither of us is particularly keen on the idea of half-assing a reception. We're doing to whole shebang on our own and have to be mindful of our means. We also refuse to go into debt for this event, which would mean we'd be starting our married life out on the wrong foot all together.

So, we plan on having a small wedding in Canada and an intimate reception while there. I say small because I'm realistic. Asking our friends and family to come to Canada is a big financial commitment. Add to that that people will need to get passports. Now we know people will want to be there, but many of them simply will not be able to make that happen. And that's while that's not optimal, it's OK. Honestly, I'm more concerned with the above issues and we can always have a party in Chicago later or an anniversary party or something.

And here we are, ordering our Save The Date cards and contacting a thousand wedding planners and hotels… let the fun begin!

A Year In Pictures

Sunday, January 24, 2010

In which I reveal pictures of me throughout the year to show how much weight I gained throughout the year and have subsequently been losing in the last few months:

Starting the year with last winter.

Then comes the spring... bad t-shirt choice

Moving into the Summer and I'm hiding behind my boyfriend

On into the fall, on our vacation, right before I decided to start losing weight.

Finally, it's New Year's Eve, and I'm shedding the pounds.

Probably seems a bit self involved to post these, but I'm really proud of myself for actually being able to make a change and start losing weight again. I'm down to 169 now. When I started, I was nearly 200 pounds. Only a few more to go and I'm be in my happy "target weight."

Dear DNC: STFU And Stop Whining

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dear Democratic Officials:

Massachusetts is one state. Just on fucking state out off 50. The voters in that one state do not speak for all or the country. If you continue to act like you do not still hold a majority in both houses of Congress, there will be consequences to pay when the November elections roll around.

Right now, you're all pretending as if this one fucking vote is the armeggedon that will end the DNC's chances at accomplishing anything. Let me tell you, if you can't figure out how to make the god damned changes we need with 59 fucking votes in the Senate, then I will be first in line to vote for a non- DNC candidate because you'll obviously failed in politics 101.

Parlimetary procedure, and the interatingly quaint version we use in Congress, is an interesting beast. And philibusters are not the proverbial Fourth Horseman either. Figure it out. Pass fucking health care. The fact that you couldn't do it when you had NOT A SINGLE ROAD BLOCK is unsettling enough, but now you might think about stepping up and getting the job done.

Some are acting like the soft core porn model's election is some sort of refferendum on the DNC or Obama. If you think for even one moment that the voters on Massachusetts represent the entirety of this nation, you are far mistaken. Further, pretending to do so will ultimately be the demise of the democrats. If you flake out now on your agenda, you WILL lose seats in Nomvember. If you suck it up and deliver solid legislation, legislation that fucking means something, you will win. It's truly that simple.

In conclusion, while I know that most of you politicians that are use to getting your way and cry like 2-year-olds when you don't, you need to start acting the 40 to 80-somethings that you are. I know it's a shock for you white, over-privelged fucks over there, but take a moment and realize that your pissy moaning doesn't do a damned thing for those of us that need health care right the fuck now.

You want to make a difference? Then fucking do it. If you don't? Get the hell out of the way so we can elect someone else who will stand up to do the job.

A Quiet Kind Of Christmas

Monday, December 28, 2009

This Christmas was a really special Christmas for me. This year was the first year I was able to celebrate the Holiday with my fiancé in the two and half years we've been together. You see, the past two years I've gone either to Northern Kentucky or Florida to be with my brothers and mom for Christmas. He hasn't been able to join me due to his schedule and working retail during the holiday season (if you've never done it, I recommend avoiding it if possible). However, this year I decided to stick around in Chicago and celebrate the Winter with my boo for the first time.

It's nice because it gives us a chance to build our own traditions. My family did not have too many holiday traditions, but we did have a few (and there are a couple that my mother is obstinate about her kids maintaining…), whereas his family did not have many holiday traditions at all, so we are really able to start building our traditions together with a minimum amount of outside influence. So this year we set out to create a few of our own.

On Christmas Eve, we went out to Boystown with a friend to grab a drink and see the other Chi-town revelers. It should be noted, however, that Chicago, at least the North Side of the city where I live, is mostly full of transplants. It seems everyone I talk to is not from here. They are from Iowa, Texas, Nebraska… anywhere but near. So while I expected the bars to be full of people avoiding their families while they are in town for the holiday, I was instead reminded that this part of town is more like a college town during the summer than anything else.

Christmas morning came and we made breakfast then opened gifts. I'll eventually post pictures of my gift from Esvan (once he decides to use my gift to him to take a few pics ;), but we had a great time exchanging gifts. After the blur of paper and cardboard boxes was over, we sat around for a bit playing with our new toys and taking in some Christmas-y TV then finally made our way to see Sherlock Holmes (I'll have more thoughts on that movie later).

All-in-all it was a nice, quiet Christmas spent with the man I love. I honestly could not ask for anything much better than that.

Making That Commitment

Friday, December 18, 2009

Now that our month of non-commitment to the gym is up, we've decided to keep our memberships and accept our year-long contractual obligation.

There are a few reasons for this decision, but for me it came down to seeing results. In just a month, I've lost 4 pounds. Add that to the almost 20 pounds lost earlier this year, and I'm doing pretty good. Now I know I won't continue to lose weight at this speed, but it's nice to know that diet and exorcise really do help you get in shape. Who knew the doctors were right this time?

My trainer has me on a routine that I'm not 100% about. I like it, it works me out, but I don't feel like I'm getting a lot of leg work in. She wants to focus on "core" (trainer speak for and and stomach) for now, which is fine, but I really want to have a balance look once I've lost most of this weight. I don't want to have a defined belly, for instance, while my legs are still just there.

I also really do enjoy working out. I have been getting intimidated from time to time while at the gym because I'll see those guys doing 5,000 lb pinky curls or whatever, but I just remind myself that everyone started somewhere. Just because I'm starting latter than they did doesn't mean i'm not entitled to looking good.

Needs No Explanation

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The Case Of The Missing Insurance

Monday, December 7, 2009

Here's a fun story. A woman who works for the federal government sued for the right to have her wife covered by her employer's health insurance program. Arguing that denying her partner insurance meant that she was not getting equal pay for equal work because the costs of buying private insurance for her gal was astronomically higher than what her heterosexual co-workers paid to have their spouses covered under the company insurance program, a federal judge ORDERED the federal government to cover the plaintiff's wife.

So, you know, a Federal Judge comes along and makes a ruling against the Obama Administration, who of course follows that ruling as is required by law, right? Well, no, not really. Instead, the Administration tells Blue Cross/Blue Shield to not process the claim and then makes this quaint claim that they are not allowed to cover the woman because of DOMA. BUT A FEDERAL JUDGE TOLD YOU THAT YOU CANNOT DENY THIS WOMAN BENEFITS!!

*Ahem* Excuse me a moment, just need to … recover here…

Anyway, John Berry, who is the head of the Office of Personnel Management, or the VP of HR of the Federal Government so-to-speak, was questioned about this decision of the Obama Administration at the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute (hosted by the Victory Fund). Oh, did I mention that Berry is also the highest ranking openly 'mo member of the Administration? Yeah, that's a bit relevant. Anyway, here's his adorable response:

She was looking at this, and both her and the Justice Department, and Matt's here from the Justice Department, concluded that basically neither I nor the president have the authority to do this. Which is why Congresswoman Baldwin's legislation is so essential. And why the administration is inaudible on behalf of it it and is helping work with her to get it done. Because it will give me the authority to do it and as soon as we get it, the president will signed it we'll do it.

Now the judge has ordered me to go ahead and do it. And the lawyers are, you know, finding out what what we can do or not and they're going to tell me what I can do. And if the Justice Department says we can pay it, I'd be happy to pay it. If I can't, I can't.

To sum up, he won't because he can't. But he can, because he was ordered to by a GD FEDERAL JUDGE! Which means someone above him is telling him he's not allowed to. Hmmm…. Wonder who would have the authority, or at least perceived authority, to block a federal judge's ruling? I'll give you one guess, and it's that guy that's made lots of promises to the gays and has done his best so far to not live up to as few of them as possible...

I'll Be A Gym Bunny One Day

A few weeks back, the fiancé and I decided to join a gym. I've been on a kick for a couple months to get back into shape after one fateful day when I stepped on a scale and saw a number I was completely disgusted by. Not sure what happened to get me to that weight, other than general laziness, but I decided at that point I wanted to lose weight, so I started a diet.

15-20 pounds lighter, I decided that I wanted to lose more. Or at least get healthier in general. I had been flirting with the idea of getting a gym membership for some time but wasn't completely dedicated to the idea. Part of the reason for that is I hadn't been in a gym since… well, lets just say I haven't been in a gym for awhile. When I first moved to Chicago, I would go rollerblading on the Lakeshore Path almost daily that first spring and summer, but that was the extent of my exercising for the last many years of my life.

After losing the initial weight through dieting, I knew I'd have to do something more to lose the rest of the weight I wanted to lose. So I brought up the idea of the gym membership again and the boo was on board with it this time. We hiked our way over to Cheetah Gym in Edgewater and snagged a membership (after a trial and some haggling on the price, of course). We also decided to hire a personal trainer for the time being as well, which was mostly due to my insistence. Like I said, I'm very gym-ignorant, which meant that not only would I not know what to do with all those machines, I wouldn't know how to use them, and all that adds up to me being very, VERY intimidated. So a trainer was the best idea I could come up with.

Luckily the gym had a great deal designed for people just like me: an initial consultation and three sessions with your trainer for a reasonable price. Sure, sessions after that might be a bit pricy, but I needed someone to show my how to work out first, as silly as that sounds. After that, I can cut back my training sessions to once every few weeks or a month. I was assigned a real lame trainer at first, but switched to the trainer Esvan was assigned after his first session and have been happy since.

However, we're down to the last week of our first month with the gym and faced with some decisions. We have 30 days from the day we signed our contracts with the gym to decide if we want to keep the gym or drop it. If we say we'll stay, then we're committed for a year, and if we say we don't want to join, we only pay for the time we used and that's that. I'm very inclined to stay. BUT I'm also very money conscious. I'm thinking this is probably something I should spend money on though, as I want to get healthy and be in shape, both for purely cosmetic and selfish reasons, and so that I can live a long and full life with my man. I don't want him to have to take care of me when we're older because I didn't take care of myself while we are young. So I have to decide what to do. It's just a gym membership though, am I making too much out of this?