Double the Blog, Double the Fun?

I’m so attention deficit sometimes, really.

So, obviously I forgot about this blog. I made another one on Blogger — easier because it was more readily attached to my Google account which, at the time, I thought was going to be the only thing I needed for the Internet soon. I was really sold on how great Google+ was going to be — I hadn’t banked on the fact that the people at Facebook are clearly marketing geniuses (even though I hate their product) and that the people at Google were going to have some serious lapses in judgement (even though I love their product).

But, I came to WordPress because my wonderful illustrious mother is writing an occasional blog for her website — she’s got her books being re-released as ebooks so this kind of thing is very important. In fact, you can pre-order and “like” (and PLEASE DO!) her first one at Amazon already. That’s not the point, the point is that I saw a need to re-familiarize myself with WordPress…. only to discover I have one already!

“Well, who doesn’t need two blogs?” I thought to myself, “Even though I barely update my current one?”

Well, I’ll try to make more of an effort on both of them. My Crohn’s disease is flaring up right now, so I’ve got a lot of time on my hands…. not comfortable time, but I can use the writing to distract myself!

Changing things a lot!

A lot of things have changed in my life lately — things that I should be sharing if for no other reason than to get them off my chest and out in the world. (To some extent I have, via Facebook.)

But, I’ve found that I don’t really want to post them here. And I found that curious, as I always have enjoyed blogging in the past.

But I believe I have found the problem. I am pulling myself in too many directions with this blog — it’s not focused enough. What I need is a few separate blogs. One for my event promotions, one for my personal life and opinions, and one for my creativity to blossom.

So, look for those changes and then *finally* an update!

(Or, perhaps easier to do, I may scrap the idea of changing everything and just abandon this blog — as it pretty much already is — and start a new wordpress or blogger account with the three blogs. I gotta decide what’s gonna work best — I’m trying to link my various accounts to create a larger online presence too…. stay tuned!)

Why can’t we be friends?

You know who that is, don’t you? That fabulous and obviously fun girl is Emma Watson, the actress who plays Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies. (Apparently she was also in The Tale of Despereaux which I haven’t seen.) We don’t just love her because she’s talented, or because she’s British. Or even because she loves fashion! We love her because in her interviews, she entertains me and seems like a nice person. But mostly we love her because she is of a group of rising superstars in *my* age group — a group of people who remind me that my dreams of fame are not in vain and are not stupid. People my age do this stuff all the time.

I’ve just found out though, that she goes to Brown University in Providence. And I happen to have unexpectedly found myself living back in the Providence area?
Coincidence? I think not! (Or maybe I just hope not….) So when Brown starts up again, I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for her and hopefully I’ll make a new friend who is someone who not only has a job I desperately want but who I also admire greatly.

A big ol’ dose of geekery

I have to confess, I feel like I should be making excuses to everyone for not writing. But, I’m not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to hit you with the solid truth — I don’t like blogging when I’m not happy. And lately, I just haven’t been. Not in an angsty kind of way, cause angst is something you can totally right about. In a kind of “I’m lost” kind of way.

Because I don’t want to jinx any of the stuff that may potential bring me out of this funk I’m in….I’m not going to talk about it at all.

Brad Pitt gets bit!

So we’re going to talk about something else. Vampires! Or, less specifically, the supernatural. I’ve been a fan of the concept of vampires in the modern world ever since…well, I would say since Interview with a Vampire except that I was too young when it came out and by the time I saw it I’d already been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. At first, because mom said I was too young for even that (bullshit!), I watched it secretly. Sometimes, I would intentionally leave homework to be done until it was just starting and then I would “do homework” in the kitchen with a clear view of the TV in the family room. Sneaky, right?

Buffy and Angel

When Angel broke away into his own show, I followed. (And, of course, by this point I was watching Charmed as well, although I never fell in love with that series the way I did these other two.) To be honest, I feel like the endings of both Angel and Buffy were botched, and I don’t think that the comic book series of the “afterwards” helped any. But that’s beside the point.

This past school year, when I got the gay channel Here! OnDemand from Comcast, I got hooked on two gay shows, Dante’s Cove (less exciting) and The Lair (which I was mainly hooked on because, well, I knew some people in it from the Internet!) Neither is a stellar show if you’re looking for quality — they’re more like gay daytime soaps. And I loved them.

Actually, the Lair (which is apparently a spinoff of Dante’s Cove?) is a cast I can name-drop. Former porn stars Dylan Vox and, now singer, Colton Ford (who is a fantastic performer, I saw him at Pride RI I think 2 years ago?) were series regulars, and this past season current porn star (and someone I consider an internet friend) Johnny Hazzard joined the cast, as did another internet friend of mine Ethan Reynolds! (Who most of you know, I adore like life itself. :P) Anyways, this is really off-topic, I just like name dropping. 😛

My mom had been, while I was in college, watching some new show about vampires. I don’t know the name of it. Something that didn’t last long, though, apparently, which is sad because I’m sure I would have loved it. Like, a lot.

And movies! Practical Magic is one of my favorites, mostly because it’s Sandra Bullock and I loooooooooooove her. And, of course, The Craft and The Covenant (mostly because the latter has such hot guys!) And Twilight was great, I can’t wait to see the next one!!! I really ought to read the books…

I love reading books in this genre. (Although, the few Buffy/Angel books I’ve picked up have been less than stellar.) I’ve read Blood and Chocolate probably 100 times — did not see the movie because from what I heard it had absolutely nothing to do with the book and I was mortified that there were vampires in it.

HBO Reminds Vampires to Drink Responsibly

Of course, my favorite book series (probably ever) is the Southern Vampire Novels by Charlaine Harris. Which, as you must know by now, is being turned into the hit HBO series True Blood. And I can’t get enough of EITHER. I’m two books behind in the series, and it is KILLING me. Fortunately, I have like seven years before HBO catches up, right? 😛

Maybe the most compelling thing is that vampires are out in Charlaine Harris’ world. Which, I guess, draws the clear comparison to other minorities (which is furthered by the sign that says “God Hates Fangs” in the intro to True Blood), giving something we can relate to.
It doesn’t hurt either that I love Anna Paquin and I especially love her as my favorite waitress Sookie Stackhouse!

Recently, I’ve also discovered some games that fit into this fascinating genre. I know that the Vampire: The Masquerade game by White Wolf has been around since basically the dawn of time, but it always looked so… complicated when I was looking into it, so I never got involved. Now, however, with the onset of social networks and the further onset of social network gaming, I have discovered three games I love. The first if Vampire Wars by Zynga. The second is Bloodlines — which is sort of the same except it has a plot line and is made by Playdom. Lastly is Slayers — it’s only on Facebook and I have no idea who made it, but it is fun. I think it is anyways, you get to choose to play as a Zombie, Vampire, Werewolf, or Slayer (or all of the above, like I chose…) Anyways, it’s a good time.

All these games, also, seem to be fueling my creative juices. I’ve cooked up a few characters to use in a story or something to write up. Do I have a plot? No, but I have characters and that’s a start!

And in case any of you were planning to ask, yes, I watched So Weird on Disney well before Buffy but I don’t like to talk about because I’m still so very not okay with the fact that they changed the main character and never finished her plotline! It was just like “Ok, I’m just gonna go. You play music? Great, we can use that character trait to tie you in with the other characters and you replace me as the lead! Cool!”

The boys from the Covenant

This modern/supernatural thing should not be confused with horror. I don’t like horror, I don’t like being scared. 🙂 So, here’s what I’m wondering:

• Are there movies or TV shows I should watch that I didn’t mention above?
• What about games? On Facebook or Myspace or MAC or PS3?
• What the hell is the name of that TV show my mom was watching?
• Do you play Bloodlines or Vampire Wars? Cause if you do — my clan is calling!
• Any other thoughts about any of this? I just like hearing from ya’ll. 🙂

I’m in the mood to discover new things, and it may help take me out of my funk.

Empire State!

This is a work related post, so if you have no interest in having fun or enjoying yourself on a Sunday night, you should go ahead and stop reading now…

However, if you’re up for a FABULOUS time Sunday night then this is exactly what you want to read.

As the flyer says (it’s a good flyer, props to Bitchidence, who made it!) it is, in fact, Providence’s ONLY New York Pride party! Also, it’s Ada Adore‘s birthday! If you haven’t seen her perform, you’ve been missing out. If you have — well, this Sunday’s show will still make your jaw drop! We’ve also get the resident DJ from Therapy there — Marcus Christian, so the music should be amazing!

So, this Sunday night, come out to State Ultra Lounge in Providence. I promise it will be a good time!!

Pride is the Deadliest Sin

And that’s only because celebrating it wears us out! But we wouldn’t have it any other way!

This weekend — the weekend of Providence Pride — has been one hell of a trip. If things hadn’t happened in some sort of chronology (as things often do) I wouldn’t know where to begin. Fortunately, time has a way of being linear and that makes storytelling way easier…

So. All week Chris and I have been struggling to figure out our income. He’s been laid off so he’s getting unemployment until he can go back to school. (I say laid off but that’s really simplifying a kind of complex situation… but all in all, he’s getting unemployment.) I, on the other hand, am job hunting. That was our week, it was very boring but busy, hence no posts on here.

We only take up one seat at a party! (Credit: Bobby)

Then came Friday. We woke up. I job hunted. I came back. We left for his friend Justin’s birthday party. (You’ll remember Justin was one of the hosts of last week’s… uh…. antics.) There was a lot of drinking but Chris and I knew we had to call it an early night so we did not partake. Much… Unfortunately, being soberish means that we’re less equipped to deal with things like beer pong appearing in the kitchen. So we beat a hasty retreat.

And then we learned about karma. You see, in our hasty retreat we neglected to bid our gracious and amazing and wonderful hosts farewell. Big. Mistake. Because when you don’t do that, you get hit by 18-wheelers on your way home. Let that be a lesson!

Don’t worry. We’re fine and the Jeep isn’t damaged too badly. Of course, if we’d been in my car at the very best it would have been totalled — at worst, we’d both be dead. I would say more but since the driver is claiming it wasn’t him, I want to wait before my “full testimony” is public. You know what I mean?

So, anyways, we got home, we slept, we woke up the next morning and headed into Providence for Pride. (As Bobby said at some point, Boston is like a warm up to Providence Pride.) We got to the city a bit too early so we went to Downcity for some brunch and cocktails. Mostly cocktails…

Then we went to the festival, which had started but none of our friends had arrived yet. So then we went to Dark Lady and helped them set up their block party, then swung by Mirabar and didn’t help them set up but said hi. (We’re bad, we know.) Then we went back to the festival, people we knew were finally arriving. And Haley Star was emceeing by that point and I adore her so that was nice. 🙂

We then went back to Downcity for dinner and more cocktails. We were there for 3 hours. Then it was parade time! We had thought we were going to be in the parade but it didn’t end up happening so we just watched. Which was weird cause we’re both used to being in it at this point.

But we got to watch and it was FABULOUS.

Aw, aren't we the proud couple! (Credit: Bobby)

We meant to go to both Mirabar and Dark Lady’s block parties. Unfortunately, once we ended up in Mirabar’s it was kind of hard to leave. There was a tide at the entrance, and it was coming in — which is great for Mirabar, not so great for our plans! We left before the end of the night but not much before, hit up McDonald’s and went home to sleep.

The next night we brought out Chris’ sister Megan and her friend PJ to what promised to be the most magnificent block party ever. Y’know, until it rained…. It was the Pride finale party at Dark Lady — also Dark Lady’s (temporary) closing party — hosted by Paint It Pink and Bitchidence. It was fantastic — though no sign of the fire breathers, but I’ll let it slide cause of the weather. 😛 We ended up leaving early though, our livers couldn’t take much more.

So Monday began and we were heavily hung over. Straight up until we had to go to my parents’ house to celebrate my 22nd birthday. It was a quiet affair with no alcohol, which is precisely what I needed.

So I woke up today with no ill effects of alcohol having officially recovered from Pride. And as such I have decided to postpone celebrating my birthday (which, yes, is today!) until some later date when I think I can handle people buying me drinks. Not sure when that will be, but you’ll find out.

Happy Pride!

This weekend was Boston Pride! Because, yes, it’s that season. The best season of all — Pride season! (Ok, it’s mostly the best season because it’s summer…but the parades are nice too!) I have actually not been to Boston Pride before this year.

Chris and I headed up that way Friday night and hit up a pre-Pride party hosted by his friends Bobby and Justin — who also hosted that Memorial Day BBQ we ended up at a few weeks ago. (Did I blog about that? So don’t remember…) There was lots of drinking, because as we know the gays are the best there is at partying and third best at drinking (the Irish come in second, with gay Irish folks taking the lead — though I maintain that that’s cheating! :P) At the end of the night, Chris and I pulled out the pull-out sofa-bed and crashed.

We woke up, showered, and then Justin and Bobby’s entourage began to show up. Of course, this meant that drinking had to occur before we got to the parade — so we whipped out the blender and made strawberry daiquiris. We sat through the parade then, because apparently they decided to have an intermission, we left halfway through it for lunch. We walked for roughly a week before we got there. Then we headed to Government Center for the festival.

Kitty Litter and Sabrina Blaze atop the RI Pride float in the Boston Pride parade (Credit: Bobby)

I saw porn star Trevor Knight wandering around, but really that was the most fascinating thing going on. And since I’m not really a huge fan of Trevor Knight (which is nothing against him — he’s a very good-looking guy and those that I know that know him mostly speak very highly of him)…well, it wasn’t that incredible. Also, I was sober again, which probably had something to do with it.

Anyways, we left and returned to Bobby and Justin’s for another party. See, Boston clubs are expensive anyways unless you’re getting in for free (which I tend to do when I go out everywhere else, but not so much in Boston…), but on Pride it’s even more expensive. It’s more prudent to party at a house and save your money for the upcoming Providence Pride celebrations. (I’ll get to that in a bit.) So we partied at Bobby and Justin’s and slept there again.

How cute is Chris in this? (Credit: Bobby)

We came home this morning feeling kind of refreshed — it’s been a while since we’ve really been that social. Super, super fun weekend!

Next weekend is Providence Pride which we universally agreed is always done better than Boston. If you’ve never been to PrideRI you need to try to make it on Saturday — if not, plan to come to next years!!!!

The world has changed

I guarantee most of you didn’t realize it. But this week, the world changed.

You see, my Aunt Barbara passed away this week. Now you’re all going “Okay, your world changed…not mine.” (I mean, in your heads, you’re too polite to say it to me, I’m sure.) But, no, she was one of those people who — without anybody really knowing it — actually made a difference. She was always taking people under her wing and being whatever they needed her to be. She was actually literally, biologically my aunt but she was a mother, an aunt, and a grandmother to a lot of people who she was completely not related to at all. She really was one of those people that everyone loved, you couldn’t help it. She was an absolute saint — no, really, Mother Teresa looked like a troublemaker comparatively, I swear.

She passed away on Monday, calling hours were Wednesday, and the funeral was Thursday. It was the biggest funeral procession I’ve ever seen. It’s sad, but it’s got to be a huge relief for her. She’d been ill for the past 6 months — well, seven, she just refused to go to a doctor until after Thanksgiving. It was terrible to see her suffer like that, but it also gave us all a chance to let go which I think we needed.

Rest in peace, Auntie Barbara. I love you!

(On a separate unrelated note — Boston Pride is TOMORROW!!! Exciting!)

Ode to ConnecticutI

Okay, this is going to be a fairly controversial post.
However, according to my Statcounter, no one from Connecticut has ever even peeped at this blog. So…hopefully, I should manage to get through mostly unscathed.

Because I’m an upbeat person, I will start with good things about Connecticut:

• There’s some nice people. Fair View Sue, for example! (Her blog is in my blogroll to the right.)
• It’s nice to have something in between New York and Rhode Island. Two places that fabulous bordering each other could lead to a fabulosity overload!

Here’s the problems with Connecticut:

• It takes long enough to drive through when there is no traffic.
• When there is traffic, I would rather drive into the ocean than deal with it. Just for one recent example, during our second trip to MA from PA while we were moving, it took us two hours to go from the first exit to the 20th exit. There’s almost 100 exits to go through. (Fortunately it only took another two hours to get through the rest of the state.) Let’s total that up: FOUR HOURS. In Connecticut.
• I really don’t find there’s much to look at.
• They have three welcome centers along I-95. One is in the middle of the state. You know, when you’ve already been there for way too long and still have way too long to go.
• On one side of CT you have the part that seems to think it’s part of NYC (Stamford). On the other end of the state you have the “Let’s act like we’re as interesting as RI!” area (Mystic, Groton). And in the middle you have…uhm…Yale, which I think is like imitating Harvard? Is it really necessary for a state to have 3 identities, especially when none of them are actually from that state? I’m just saying.

Okay, I think I’m done. Point being, as far as I’m concerned, CT is not a good place. It should be evacuated immediately and all people therein should have their drivers licenses revoked. Immediately. (Or maybe I’m still bitter. Did I mention — FOUR HOURS!)

“Move” is a 4 letter word

Much like several other four letter words we’re all familiar with. Fortunately, Chris and I are moved to our temporary while-we-look-for-a-place place (which is his mother’s :-P). But getting here was ridiculous!

First of all, we have, collectively, wayyyyyyy too much stuff! And most of it is stuff that we’ll need in our next place (the place we’re looking for while we’re here) so we’ve had to pack up everything even though we’re not using it right now and store most of it. We also had to pack up stuff we will be needing while we’re here. Then we had to get a trailer to hook up to Chris’ Jeep because the towing capacity of my poor car is about -20 lbs. We couldn’t get a very big trailer though, so we had to make two trips.
Oh, did I mention that the second trip put the Jeep over its towing capacity AND it was torrentially downpouring? Cause, yeah, it was.

As if that were bad enough, just when we were trying to cut corners and save money Chris became a victim of identity theft. A tip for you all that the bank manager filled us in on: always check your bank account for like a week after using any wireless credit card scanners. Apparently it is not difficult to hack into that information being wirelessly transmitted from any nearby laptop. So be careful!!!!!
Anyways, as a result of this, Chris had to temporarily freeze his accounts while that situation was taken care of. Even less money to use on moving, making the task at hand even more difficult. If I ever find out who was responsible for this, I promise — well, let’s just hope I never do.

Lastly, that last trip took forever. Normally it’s about a 6 hour drive. Ten hours. Yes, it took ten hours. Thank you Connecticut for failing at life again. Alas, however, my gripes about Connecticut are far too long and controversial for this blog post. Another day, perhaps.

DISCLAIMER: I have to credit my Aunt Susan with the title of this post, she came up with it not me. How clever is she, for serious?