Christmas Meme

Blame Bev.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Depends. Single gifts get wrapped. Multiple gifts get wrapped AND bagged.

2. Real tree or artificial?
Okay, now starts the rant on indoor safety. GET THAT FIREHAZARD OUT OF HERE. Artificial.

3. When do you put up the tree?
Put it up? Didn’t I do my part by merely buying it? Now you want me to put it up? The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

4. When do you take the tree down?
If it’s in the box the day before, it’ll still be in the box the day after – n’est pas?

5. Do you like eggnog?
Darn tootin’! Unfortunately, booze is out, and so is cholesterol. Bye, bye egg-nog.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Erector sets. I loved ‘em.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
My ex was the hardest person to shop for. Actually, anyone who is passive-aggressive and won’t come right out and tell you what they want. I HATE people like that. I theorize that the only reason people really have for not telling you what they want is so they can blame you later for the crappy gifts you give 'em.

8. Easiest person to buy for?
Me. Ask me what I want and I’ll fax or e-mail you a list to choose from. Better still, just check my name on Amazon.com. I have a wish list there at all times.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Nah. While I love the message Jesus delivered, I believe it’s a crime that we deified him.

10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards?
Christmas cards. Nothing says lovin like a card. I try to pick cards with a message that conveys how I’m feeling that year. This year’s card was a sort of Zen message about “being that which the world is missing.” It made sense when I bought them.

12. Favorite Christmas movie?
A Christmas Carol – the 1951 English version with Alistair Sim.

13. When do you start shopping?
Right after Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Yes. Booze. Booze gifts get re-gifted.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie.

16. Lights on the tree?
The tree is pre-lighted. Thankyewverymuch.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
“Santa Baby," the Eartha Kitt version.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Every year I drive to my sister and brother-in-law’s place in Delaware. That’s where my father’s clan gathers for the holiday. I love it. It's not that big a schlep -- about an hour and a quarter each way, turnpike driving all the way.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
You’re kidding, right?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
A fancy-schmancy ornament I picked up about five years ago at the Museum of Modern Art store on East 54th Street.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Morning. It’s more “Christmasy.”

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Crowds and holiday commuters on the trains. They all walk around the east side of Manhattan, especially around Rockefeller Center and it’s ubiquitous tree, with both feet planted firmly in mid-air and totally unaware of how they’re blocking traffic.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
I got a collection of great ornaments at the MOMA store that are pretty gay. Glass red ruby slippers, a Kodak camera, etc. Tchotchkes like that.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Got it. I stayed sober for another year and got drenched in love every day.

25. Describe how you would celebrate the holidays if it was totally up to you and money was not a factor.
Fly my family and friends overseas and celebrate ‘CHRISTMAS IN TAHITI’! Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.

12 Years A-Sober

I just leapt (like the Lords in the song) through my 12th Sober Christmas. This week, God willing, I'll squeak through my 12th Sober New Years.

Not bad, considering I thought my life was over except for the dying part, 12 years ago.

That first sober Christmas was a scarey time. My friend Bev sent me an Advent package of little toys and goodies -- which meant the world to me. Every little thing in that package said "somebody cares" to me. This, at a time, when I didn't even care for myself. Bev and I have known each other since 1994 -- when we met on-line in CompuServe's Issues forum. She was a Section Leader and, later, a SysOp. I thought she was a nice lady.

She was. She is.

By the time my second sober Christmas came along, I was able to spend the day (mostly) with my family.

And now, I look forward to spending the day with them. They don't push any buttons. That's mostly because this family, which is not my family of origin, has no ideas where my buttons are -- they didn't install them.

This Christmas was the best yet. The former kids have all grown up, gotten married, and had kids. The grand-nieces and grand-nephews are at the perfect age (4-10) and still enthralled by the magic of Santa Claus.

Come to think of it, so am I. Santa brought me sobriety. Santa brought me Bev. Santa brought me hope. Santa brought me 11 years and 9 months of continuous sobriety. Santa brought me love.

It's good to be alive and to still believe in magic.

Belief

It's a really big deal at this time of year for people to believe in something. Ask anyone.

For example: certain hard-core, anti-gay, types believe that I am going to hell. Furthermore, they believe that *I* should believe I'm going to hell, too. You see, it's not enough for them to believe it. It's absolutely essential that everyone else believe it, too. Especially me. And people like me. People who don't believe what they believe. People like me who believe that there is a God, but it's not their God. People like me who believe that God doesn't make garbage, and doesn't make mistakes, and doesn't dream up various "gifts" for human beings to spend a lifetime "trying to overcome."

I believe that people are free to believe pretty much whatever they want to believe. From a guy who floats around on a cloud all day, surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim, to the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus.

I also believe that I am under no obligation whatsoever to share in anyone elses sun-drenched, half-baked, crackpot beliefs. And nobody is under any obligation to believe in mine.

But I am entitled, despite anyone's beliefs, no matter how "core" those beliefs might seem to them, to share, on a fully equitable basis, in the contractural life of America -- and that includes the ability to contract with another individual for our mutual love and protection, i.e. "marriage."

There is no wiggle-room in there for anything else. Especially belief.

Merry Whatever It Is That You Believe!

Straight to Hell - Part I

Apparently the following billboard is causing quite a stir in New Zealand. Let's see if anyone notices it here!

Christmastide - 2009

I used to blog regularly -- well, fairly regularly. Owell. I've posted this before, but it never hurts to see it again.

Merry Christmas to all.

New York State Senate - Cowardice In Action

Here's how it went down in the New York State Senate yesterday (my apologies and thanks to my friend Rob Byrnes, from whose website this is directly lifted):

Friends of the LGBT Community:

Eric Adams (D)Neil Breslin (D)Martin Malave Dilan (DTom Duane (D)Pedro Espada (D)Brian Foley (D)Ruth Hassell-Thompson (D)Craig Johnson (D)Jeffrey Klein (D)Liz Krueger (D)Velmanette Montgomery (D)Suzi Oppenheimer (D)Kevin Parker (D)Bill Perkins (D)John Sampson (D)Diane Savino (D)Eric Schneiderman (D)Jose Serrano (D)Malcolm Smith (D)Daniel Squadron (D)Toby Ann Stavisky (D)Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D)Antoine Thompson (D)David Valesky (D)

Enemies of the LGBT Community:

Joseph Addabbo (D) — NO James Alesi (R) — NO Darrel Aubertine (D) — NO John Bonacic (R) — NO John DeFrancisco (R) — NO Ruben Diaz (D) — NOHugh Farley (R) — NO John Flanagan (R) — NO Charles Fuschillo, Jr. (R) — NO Martin Golden (R) — NO Joseph Griffo (R) — NO Kemp Hannon (R) — NO Shirley Huntley (D) — NO Owen Johnson (R) — NO Carl Kruger (D) — NO Andrew Lanza (R) — NO Bill Larkin (R) — NO Kenneth LaValle (R) — NO Vincent Leibell (R) — NO Tom Libous (R) — NO Elizabeth Little (R) — NO Carl Marcellino (R) — NO George Maziarz (R) — NO Roy McDonald (R) — NO Hiram Monserrate (D) — NO Thomas Morahan (R) — NO Michael Nozzolio (R) — NO George Onorato (D) — NO Frank Padavan (R) — NO Michael Ranzenhofer (R) — NO Joseph Robach (R) — NO Stephen Saland (R) — NO James Seward (R) — NO Dean Skelos (R) — NO William Stachowski (D) — NO Dale Volker (R) — NO George Winner (R) — NO Catherine Young (R) — NO

Note the number of (D)'s who voted against us: Addabbo, Aubertine, Diaz, Huntley, Kruger, Monserrate, Onorato and Stachowski.

If you live in New York State, keep all these folks in mind the next time somebody wants your handshake, your cash and your vote.

Gay Marriage and New York State

I posted this under my real name on my Facebook page, but I think it's worth repeating in the blogosphere:

"[I] think[s] that New York State legislators continue to exhibit all the spine and rectitude they have exhibited ever since they sat out the vote on Independence in 1776."

In other words, they were wimps then, and they're wimps now.