AFriendlyFace

Hey Nick! I know what you mean about only writing in your blog on grumpy days; sometimes I get that urge too. You're also definitely right that not every day can be awesome, but I still like to be excited about every day and hope that it will be. Was today? Hmm, yes I think it was for the most part. I did get some bad news about my cousin though. It seems she's developed Bell's Palsy , which isn't serious and should go away on it's own (though there may be Reoccurrences), but in the mean time she can't close her right eye or smile properly So yeah, I guess in that sense today wasn't good. On the other hand, not counting bad news from other people, I personally had a good day. Work went very well today Anyway yes, you're right, as Bob mentioned there's a difference between enduring and transient happiness. Take care and have an awesome day Kevin

Hey Bard! LOL, well I guess I can forgive you this time Thanks LOL, well MAYBE, but gosh I already posted pictures once this year! Take care and have an awesome day Kevin

Hey Eric! Thanks! No worries, the head successfully deflated when I woke up and my hair had returned to it's normal tangled rosebush look Hehehe, well I might just show some pictures, but you know who I am about cameras Anyway take care and have an awesome day!! Kevin

Hey Drew You're right she has some awesome videos! The video for that song (Beautiful) is really awesome! Have you ever seen it? hmm, well I guess if you enjoy being grumpy there's nothing wrong with that! ....well unless you take into consideration the people around you Have an awesome day and take care! Kevin

Hey both Things are not so simple ! To be happy is a "passing" mood, and you can be happy AND miserable at the same time. Happyness could be either a question of mood or a philosophical attitude. To bring all this in a pool isnt easy . Good luck Old Bob Hey Bob You're right, I suppose it really depends on how you look at happiness. I guess I specifically meant as a mood in this moment. You're right of course that that doesn't encompass all the other possibilities though. Thanks for pointing that out Have an awesome day and take care! Kevin

Awesome Job, Dom!

awww I'm sorry, Luc I hope everything works out. Good luck with the painting! take care and all the best, Kevin

Well I have several thoughts on this topic. Notice that it said: I think this might be due to the fact that some men (from VERY conservative) other countries have a harder time dealing with being "gay". They're still gay but they can't deal with the label. So instead, "I'm straight...I uhh just like to mess around with guys sometimes" I think this represents the gay men who really wanted to lead a traditional life and/or had a great deal of pressure placed on them to get married and raise a family. Again they're gay but probably haven't taken the label. My main thought though: people aren't designed to fit into neat little boxes. Sure there's some people for whom the labels "Gay, straight, bisexual" fit, but I think many, if not most, people would find that if they were 100% open and honest with themselves, and weren't living in a society which demanded labels, would find there's a great deal of overlapping and shades of gray. For example I think I fit better into the "gay" category than the "bisexual" category, but it's by no means a perfect fit. In an ideal world we'd all wear little little buzzers that went off when there was a mutural attraction with someone available and we'd never give a 2nd thought to the person's gender, instead trusting the buzzer to alert us when twe were each interested. Alas, however this isn't a perfect world and the best we can do is try to pack ourselves into neat little boxes, according to our general inclinations and motives, so that others will know how to relate to us. Anyway just my thoughts on it, Kevin

Hey Kitty! WOW! Well done! That is the author Thanks for the background info! He does sound intense! Yep, if I do do it it'll be a straight yes or no. I'm a firm believer that with questions like that your gut reaction says it all; anyone can find reasons to be happy or unhappy if they think about it hard enough. Have an awesome day and take care! Kevin

Everyday is so Wonderful I like a lot of songs. In fact I like almost all songs, but if I had to pick a favourite song a permanent favourite, not just a "flavour of the week", it would be Beautiful by Christina Aguilera. I really do feel like everyday is so wonderful. So I just finished that book that I mentioned in an earlier blog, Outing Yourself. Basically...I thought it was a load of crap. I guess some parts were useful, and interesting, but mostly I just finished it because I'm a sucker for case histories of real people and this book was full of them. The problem with the book is that the author literally claims all gay people are filled with self-loathing. Not only this, but, according to him, we never really defeat this demon, but instead must battle it every day (like alcoholism). He also doesn't just state this theory and move on. No, he makes it the foundation of the book. I swear he might as well have called the book, "Problem? That's because of your self-loathing". I know I'm not perfect; I have some issues, but if there's one thing I'm quite certain of it's that self-loathing, low self-esteem, and destructive behaviour aren't among them. I really really like me and I treat me REALLY well. Not only that I LOVE my life. I've thought countless times in the past, "I wish everyone could be as happy as I am", or when I'm in a cockier, more playful mood, "It's ashame everyone can't be me for a day!" Most days my thinking follows along the lines of, "What fun activity am I going to get to do next?!" I know that sounds horribly smug and obnoxious and I don't mean it to; I'm VERY thankful for the extremely blessed, serendipitous life I've led. I've had more than my fair share of kindness and generosity bestowed upon me and when I look around at all the people going through strife I really wish everyone else could be so lucky. I am beautiful no matter what they say Words can't bring me down I am beautiful in every single way So I went and had my hair done today. NO, I didn't get it "cut", although they did trim it a bit. No, I had it "done". See in Houston they put out this little phonebook thingy called "The Rainbow Pages", basically it's a guide to all the gay/gay friendly businesses in Houston. Anyway I selected the place from there. I was there for over an hour and a half! First off she trimmed it to start the new style I want (it still needs a couple months before it gets to the length I want, but it's moving in the right direction now anyway ). Then I selected a new colour. I decided to go straight blonde with no red at all. However, they did it as highlights instead of doing the whole head, but they still pretty much got everything visible...it's hard to explain, but it looks great! Anyway then she conditioned it with this AWESOME stuff (my hair feels so smooth and silky! ). THEN she straightened it all for me. OH my gosh she did such an awesome job! She totally nailed the look I was going for too. She even got the part right and trimmed my bangs to accenturate the part (and indeed the whole look) perfectly! It was just amazing! Going back to my previous topic, if there's ever been anything I didn't like about myself it's my hair. It's curly/wavy and I want straight. It has a lot of body and I want it relaxed. I've never liked the natural colour (not that I can even remember the natural colour very well at this point ). I guess it was brown. Then again some people have described it as red. Other's blonde. And this is my NATURAL unaltered colour I'm talking about. So I guess it's somewhere in the nexus of all three. I've always wanted VERY blonde though, or bright, deep red, or even black. I've dyed it every which way imaginable, and I usually really like the results....for a couple of weeks. But it's never comes out like I really wanted; it always comes out some other fun colour and I think, "well, that'll do I guess". But THIS time! WOW! When I first looked at it after it was finished it was just...PERFECT. I actually thought I could be on the cover of one of those magazines. All I could think was, "God! I look so HOTT". I looked just like the kind of guy I can't take my eyes off of. So yeah it was REALLY expensive, and realistically it'll probably only look like that when I have just spent close to two hours getting it fixed. But I don't care. I've never liked it this much and if it NEVER looks that good again I'll always have the memory of the evening I spent with "perfect" hair. (Pardon the narcissism) Actually I did go to the gay cafe' when I finished (had to show off my new do ) and I flirted shamelessly with the cute guy working and...he flirted shamelessly back ....then his boyfriend showed up to drop something off Oh well, he wasn't THAT cute anyway. He did make me a really killer desert though! Anyway while I was there I read the latest issue or The Houston Voice and there's this one section "On the Record" which is just a bunch of quotes from celebrities and political leaders. Anyway this one quote was so stupid, and it totally brought back all that nonsense the guy from the book was saying (even though the guy in this quote is clearly anti-gay and the book guy is clearly very pro-gay) "I have never once seen a happy homosexual. This is not to say there aren't any; I simply haven't seen one in my lifetime. Maybe they are all in the closet. All the homosexuals I've seen are sickly and decrepit, their eyes devoid of life." ~ Stephen P. Laffey (some Republican mayor and senate candidate). I mean geez!! What the heck! Are happy gay people really such an anomaly? Is it really so hard to think of gay people as....gay? Returning to the book there's this one exercise where you're supposed to write down all the adjectives you wish applied to gay people like, "intelligent, confident, funny, charming" etc. Anyway you're supposed to envision all these things you wish gay people were. Then of course he goes on to make the shocking revelation that GAY PEOPLE CAN BE THOSE THINGS . Is it really such a tough thing to believe that we were all supposed to gasp and say "Really?". Frankly I've always held the opposite biases, which realistically I know aren't true, that gay people are MORE intelligent on average. Are generally more sophisticated, charming, and funny. That they Are actually NICER than the average person. Now I know logically that isn't true, but that's the immediate stereotypes that spring into my head and they always have, long before I ever identified as "gay". I definitely don't mean to offend anyone. I do get that it's common for people to go through a lot of turmoil about being gay and I really respect and feel for people who've struggled with those things. I'm just surprised that according to these people that's the rule rather than the exception when I look around (here and in "real life" ) and perceive many happy gay people. You are beautiful no matter what they say Words can't bring you down You are beautiful in every single way Yes, words can't bring you down Actually there were a couple of other quotes I wanted to relate. First off: "I'm not gay damn it. I am attracted to female children" ~ John Mark Karr (the guy who was suspected of killing JonBenet) Then I read this really nice one: "I think it's really unfair that there has to be some kind of standard for marriage. Marriage should be about celebrating two people's love for each other. It shouldn't have anything to do with someone's sexual preference." ~ Christina Aguilera I've always liked her, even without taking the song into consideration. She's a hottie too! I also think Morgan Fairchild is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen (random I know, but she really is). Anyway I wanted to do a poll for this blog entry, but it seems they're no longer possible (unless I just don't see how). I was going to ask "Are you happy? Yes or no" So anyway I can understand that that's probably something many people would prefer to keep anonymous, but I would appreciate seeing how the votes go. HMMM, I may just start a topic to this effect in The Lounge. Anyway this was that "heavy" blog entry I've been talking about writing...I meant to make it heavier, but I was in an especially good mood. Anyway take care everyone and have a really REALLY awesome day! Kevin 'cause we are beautiful no matter what they say Yes, words won't bring us down, oh no We are beautiful in every single way Yes, words can't bring us down Don't you bring me down today

Well I agree that caution is wise, but mostly I want to say how proud I am of Juss for tackling this issue! It's my opinion that the best chance for true social acceptance is to change people's opinions while they're still in their formative years. I don't think people do come "pre-designed" for prejudice; if Juss and the other girl who argued for gay marriage feel that it's safe to take a positive stand among their peers then I whole-heartedly commend them! disclaimer: but yeah be safe and excerise caution Anyway, I had thought that Juss was asking for our specific experiences involving sexual prejucide (but perhaps I did misinterpret). Anyway I've been very fortunate in not having experienced much negative attention because of my sexuality. The only thing I can think of off hand is once before I moved from Lousiana I was on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and I was walking toward the "gay section" and I had to walk past these three guys. Two of them were friends and from the area and they were talking to this other guy from out of town telling him about the "hot spots". Anyway when I walked by one of them said in a very loud voice, "Don't go that way (and he pointed in the direction I was walking), that's where all the queers (may have said fags I can't remember) are!", but I just ignored them...so yeah I don't really have much of a story to relate. Good luck though, take care, and have an awesome day! Kevin

Well I don't watch TV but OH MY GOSH! I heard the best radio commerical the other day! It was for Wal-Mart and it was this grandpa telling his grandchild about the old days "before savings". It was SOOOOO funny! The person below me wants to tell the person below them something

WOW! GOSH! I wanna learn to do that! Actually where can you go to play on one of those? Have a fantastic day everyone! Kevin

oh my gosh! Poor Viv! That does sound like a really crazy, hectic week! I'm so glad you got through it and it's all over now though. And YAY about the baby! EUGHH traffic tickets suck HMMMMM what's this I've been hearing about you doing an Author Chat? Take care and may your day be as awesome as you are! Kevin

Hey Vance!! Yup, Mediterranean food is awesome! Interestingly enough hummas is about the only type of Greek food I don't particularly like. I don't hate it or anything I'm just much more passionate about the other dishes and dips. Coincidentally I had Greek for lunch Shucks, you didn't even tell me how the yardsale went when we talked last, so I'm guessing you didn't get anything TOO exciting ....either that or I talk too much and you didn't get a chance Anyway take care and have an awesome rest of your weekend! Kevin

Awesome job, Rob! It looks really great!

I'm so sorry to hear you'll be away for awhile Greg. I wish you the very best. Be safe and happy and come back as soon as you're able Take care and all the best Kevin

Well I really enjoyed that! Thank you, Jules! Take care all (and be safe) Kevin

Hey Everyone! I was just wondering who was planning on going to the author chat with Viv on the 23rd? (Haven't heard? Click here) I know I'll be there! Have an awesome day all! Kevin

Have you ever finished a story and really wanted to discuss it with the author? Have you ever wanted to tell them how much you enjoyed it or make other comments, but been too shy to PM? Well now

Have you ever finished a story and really wanted to discuss it with the author? Have you ever wanted to tell them how much you enjoyed it or make other comments, but been too shy to PM? Well now

Hey Etrain! Good picks. I hadn't really visualized the characters like that myself, but I guess most of them do work. It's hard for me to actually pick out a "real" Jude because he kinda represents the ideal in sexiness in my head, lol. Great choices though and welcome to GA! It's really great to have you here!! I'm looking forward to reading more of your posts!! Have an awesome day and take care! Kevin

Like CJ I was wondering if we were still going to get to see the original story itself play out . It looked like it was off to a promising start, but of course I understand if you just don't feel inspired to write it Have a funtastic day and take care! Kevin

The first thing that struck me about this chapter was how awful it must have been for poor Ian to write an anti-gay rights paper. It must have been completely sickening. I was disgusted just reading about a gay person having to do it . That definitely seems like awful emotional abuse.

I'm really sorry you went through that, Jimmy . I hope things are better for you now. You're right far too often the authorities ignore things like this because they take the "adult's" word over the kid's. I'm not saying they should lock people up everytime an angry, spoiled brat decides to impetuously turn on his/her parents, but they definitely need to investigate it more to prevent people from slipping through the cracks! Take care and have a fantastic day! Kevin