One Personal Reflection Upon 2005

I was reading some entries from January 2005 to December. I need to mention one thing that happened in 2005.

The death of Sarah Pack, a true New York blogger who is also my good friend.

She was introduced to me by Kaybee when I first visited New York. Despite the fact that I'm gay and her being a lesbian, we click on very well. We have similar tastes in a lot of things. So it was pretty much easier for me to rely on her.

When I needed a timeout from everything, I usually went to Sarah's place in Hell's Kitchen just to get away from everyone for a day or two. I liked Sarah because she is flexible with how I communicate -- sometimes, people like to stick to one subject all night long -- I do not. I like to talk about things in very spontaneous manner. I like to change the subjects for no particular reason. Sarah never questioned me why I changed the subject if I feel like it.

It was quite difficult when I learned that she died last November. She was not supposed to die at all. Basically, the hospitals screwed her up and that is what got her killed. Her parents are Xians, they do not want to sue, only to forgive.

I am very thankful that Berna insisted that I go with her, her father and her girlfriend to New York last October and I knew we needed a place to stay so I got in touch with Sarah. Of course, Sarah took us in. Later, Berna and others went to bed, Sarah and I spent about 3 hours talking about life, school, work et al in her bedroom.

That turned out to be the last time we had a good conversation. I guess I got some kind of satisfication out of that. Not only that, when she was hospitalized, she and I kept in touch by paging each other frequently. In fact, she died 12 minutes after sending me the message via the blackberry pager. I guess it helps me to deal with the grief of her sudden death.

Even if I aged to 70, I do not think I'll ever forget Sarah. I'm grateful that Sarah was my good friend. I do. I'll miss her very much. Even tonight, I'll celebrate at some party, I'll remember her. Always.

Of course, I have many good friends, but not many are like Sarah. Sarah told me before she met me, she heard a lot of horror stories about me. But when she gets to know me more, she was grateful to know me more. That is a real friendship in the making.

Cheers,

R-

Reflections on 2005

In a year where the natural disasters seemed to make its statement on us all with the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Pakistani Earthquake which claimed more than 275,000 inhabitants all across the world, the 2005 is probably the year that many people probably wished it never existed. By golly, I'm surprised GW Bush did not declare the mother nature as a bona-fide terrorist.

Other than the natural disasters, 2005 was the year when Pope John Paul II finally croaked, a new evil Pope emerged: Benedict XVI. We have yet to see the Enron officials being judged by their peers in a court for their actions in 2001 (FOUR YEARS AGO!), whereas we already judged Martha Stewart in a swift manner. Why? Because the Enron officials are men, Martha is a woman.

Nothing pissed the Conservatives, Republicans and Xians more than the gay marriage itself -- many states went on to ban the gay marriage but there is always that hope at the end of the tunnel, Massachusetts is the only state that permits the gay marriage. Connecticut and Vermont are permitting the civil unions. Up north in Canada, it is legal to marry the same sex. Meanwhile, Spain rejected the Catholic Church's objections in permitting the gay marriage. Needless to say, Elton John married David Furnish in the United Kingdom where they approved the civil unions, much to the Xians' chagrin. More countries are starting to stretch their arms and legs and tell the Churches to mind their own businesses. By itself, it is hope unto all.

In London's Underground, the terrorists bombed the trains just like the ones in Madrid, Spain. We should expect more of that in 2006.

Among the good news out of 2005 was few: Baylor Lady Bears was the first team other than Connecticut and Tennessee in many years to win the 2005 College's Women Basketball National Championship when they routed Michigan State, 84-62.

2005 Deaflympics in Melbourne, Australia was so successful that the CISS President Dr. Donalda Ammons said that the Australian officials organized the best event in its history of Deaflympics. Congratulations, Aussies!

Desperate Housewives is still going strong in 2005. Its writers and director are gay. Makes sense. Goes on to tell how much talent the gay men has in comparison with straight men.

What about me? It is all up and down, really. I went to Las Vegas and Toronto last summertime. It was good to see Adrian in Toronto. At least, we made up for what we lost in time. I moved to Philadelphia from New York. It was quite a mistake, after all. I certainly miss New York. In time, I'd like to go back to New York eventually. But first things first, I gotta take care of myself one at a time. Yeah, I had been working out for the last two months, the results are trickling out. But it is too preliminary for me to say anything, really.

What is my plan for 2006? Of course, I aim to look good, look healthy and dream big of certain things. I'm going to keep it simple and sweet because the higher expectations, I get dismayed and discouraged. I rather to keep it simple and sweet.

To friends (Deaf and hearing alike) and readers who has been good to me, everyone else and so on, I wish you a Happy New Year and hope that 2006 brings the best out of each other.

As for the detractors and pessimistic Xians and Conservatives, I do hope ill towards your kind. Before you step back and be offended with what I say -- remember, I do not care much about yourselves, so it is much easier for me to wish ill upon your souls. Begone!

Cheers,

R-

12.29.05 Tidbits

BDA Cooler Than NAD? I'm impressed with British Deaf Association's website. C'mon, NAD, you can do better than that!

That Kid Registered .094?! Mom got in labor and went to the hospital, asked her relative to supervise her kids. Her relative got drunk and passed out. The kid drank some of his relatives' hard liquor. And he is only 2. Hat tip to Yankees Lover Roy.

Need Some Laugh?? Check this website. A friend warned that it is addictive. And I checked -- I could not stop smiling. This website impressed me to no end. But what else is new in New York? If you have an imagination that can turn into reality, New York can make it happen. Be sure to click on the suicide jumper.

Where Is Emily Muns? Just got an email from someone else that Emily Muns is doing fine and is now in Abilene, Texas. To calm your curiosities, she still has these quirky moments.

Holy Prick Faggot: Yes, there is a new blogsite called Holy Prick Faggot -- the entries will be composed of gay liberal, gay libertarian, lesbian liberal, two or three gay conservatives. I am one of these contributors. What issues will it cover on? Pretty anything, really. Why did Patrick choose that title? Long story but it was coined after I attempted to offend Patrick "holy prick faggot" (mainly because he used to have this desire to be the Catholic priest) -- he seemed to embrace this and suggested a new blogsite where different people contributed. People jumped in. He proposed contributors of different backgrounds to mesh in. Of course, I found this intriguing so when Patrick offered me to be one of the contributors, I could not resist. You can read on its blogsite.

Logo Channel's Open Bar: Tonight, after a heavy workout at the gym, I stumbled upon an interesting program about a guy who came out of the closet, then he decided to build his first business -- opening a gay bar/restaurant called "iCandy Lounge". I thought it was very cool. It was no secret that many men that were featured on TV except for Adam is not my type. Adam is -- he's charming, sensitive and attentive. Anyway, of course, all businesses has to face tribulations and triumphants -- I do not need to spare some details. You can see this website about the series on Logo Channel.

Naturally, after seeing that program, it piqued my curiosity about this gay lounge in West Hollywood so I surfed its website. I was not really happy with the way it looked. I get the feeling that they only wanted beautiful guys and gals to attend the lounge. Normal guys need not apply, that was the first thing on my mind. But again, this is nothing new with the gay community, always focused on beautiful people instead of normal folks. This is the reason why I loved East Village in New York. The gay bars in East Village is absolutely amazing. Everyone is real. Everyone is smart. Everyone is ... you get the picture. Anyway, after surfing its website, I'm not sure whether if I want to check this bar. It looks so fucking intimidating, is it?

If You Have Some Money To Spare...: Be sure to donate some to the National Center for Lesbian Rights at this website so that they can keep on putting pressures on Penn State to fire its Women's Basketball Coach Rene Portland. Rene Portland removed Jennifer Harris from her team because she suspected Jennifer was Lesbian (she is not). It is not the first time that Rene Portland did this in the last 25 years. NCLR has filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against Penn State and Rene Portland for what they did to Jennifer Harris.

Speaking of Women's Basketball: Virginia Cavaliers is now 9-1. The Fates are smiling these days.

Yeah, had a good workout today. Of course, it continues.

Cheers,

R-

Tidbits for 12.28.05

Lexington Deaf School Scammed! Carrie mentioned the embezzling incident at Lexington School for the Deaf to me last week. I thought it was interesting that not even in New York Times, NY POST or NY DAILY NEWS mentioned about that, though. Hat tip to Carrie.

Bareback Mountain? This one is simply hilarious. Trust me. I love when it said, "Only humans were abused in the making of this film." Hat tip to Vicki.

Maya Yamada Wins The Certification: Nice story. Congratulations, Maya. Hat tip to Christian.

I Was Waiting For This: Since The Family Stone was released, I was waiting for the newspaper to cover about the usage of sign language in this film. Checking with the film reviews in many magazines and newspapers, there were not much to report about sign language being used in the film. It could be that the society views us as normal to a point where they do not see the need to mention it. It could be that they were ignoring it altogether. But it was nice to see the newspaper in Seattle doing an article about using sign language in the film. Hat tip to Gabe.

Bush, Queen Elizabeth and Chirac: IN Austria, there is an uproar among the Austrian government when they saw the advertisement on billboards that featured three guys wearing the masks of GW Bush, Queen Elizabeth and Jacques Chirac engaging in threesome sexual activity. Ain't that hot? See the article and see the photo (work probably not safe).

Congratulaions, Jade! A certain friend of mine through Sarah Pack, Ann-Marie "Jade" Bryan who is the filmmaker, was chosen as the recipicent of Amos Kendall Award by Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund. Check Jade's website to see her productions.

RTD's Editorial Crucified Ann Coulter: IN a surprising move, Richmond Times-Dispatch had an editorial that rebuked Ann Coulter of her negative approach towards people who disagreed with her.

Philip Morris Distributes Free Cigs in Richmond: Last night at Capital Ale House, I had a great time with Wendy. I drank the beer that was made by the local brewery -- with 16 inch tall glass, it was easily the biggest drink for me ever. It was pretty delicious and strong. Blah, blah. After that, we were tipsy and all that and went to Barcode, a local gay pub.

I noticed that the bar was filled with smoke, huffed by these damned cigarettes. It appears to me that practically everyone else smoked in the bar. I told the bartender that I missed New York because of its no-smoking premise in bars, clubs and restaurants. I also told him that Philadelphia and the District will institute the no-smoking rule in all buildings sooner or later. The bartender said it will never happen in Richmond because Philip Morris, the manufacturer of many smoking brands, routinely distributed free cigarettes to patrons in many bars in the area. Philip Morris is headquartered in this town.

Disgusting.

Whatever happened to CMRA? Remember last July at Rainbow Alliance for the Deaf Conference in Washington, DC? CMRA & RAD Board did not want me to be there at all, so they attempted to defame me as a terrorist by telling the hotel that I intend to "bomb" the hotel? Nothing is far from the truth. CMRA and RAD resented me because I showcased the truth on the fucked-up plans by CMRA and RAD in handling the conference.

Well, I was right after all. William "Bill" Terrell and Ricky Drake resigned as the co-chairs of RAD 2005 Conference in the midst of huge debt to several groups, including the interpreters and Service Support Providers (SSPs)

According to my sources, the CMRA organization based in Washington, DC owed anywhere between $15,000 to $30,000. From what I understand, they reserved the rooms of Grand Hyatt Hotel -- in order to have a conference at the hotel, you must circle the rooms to block out and compensate for this in order to have the rooms filled out. Well, the rooms were not filled out -- the CMRA was billed heavily for that.

Where was William Terrell and Ricky Drake in this? They fled the scene, exonerated their responsibilities. In fact, William Terrell cited the "personal crisis" in his family as the sole reason to resign as Co-Chair of RAD 2005 Conference. Probably the death of her drag queen persona.

Last October (or November?), the CMRA attempted to have an election but nobody wanted to assume the responsibility as President, Secretary and Treasurer! And today, they do not have any officers at all. Nobody wanted to be President, Secretary or Treasurer. The old gay geezers insisted that the young ones should take over. But the young ones felt that this debt & financial mess was done by whom? The old gay geezers. They should clean it up themselves.

What about the RAD Board run by whom: Bob Donaldson, Barbara Hathaway, Larry Pike and Steven Schucmaher. They do not care whether the CMRA survives or not. They practically demanded the CMRA to pay for the rooms and combo tickets. The RAD Board has done one excellent thing and that is to bankrupt the local RAD organizations each time they hosted the conference. It is time to cut the losses and force the RAD Board to pay it for themselves.

As you can see, RAD Board, William Terrell and Ricky Drake totally destroyed CMRA as I predicted all along. And the RAD participants actually allowed them to do that. I tried to warn all along. Nobody was on my side last summer.

I Miss Rico & Yassine: I got this charming picture from Rico today via the email. I so wish I was with them! They were in South America.


And they'll be at Vienna, Austria for NYE Celebrations. I'm so jealous of them. :-(

I miss you, Rico and Yassine.

Workout? Of course it continues. And I'm still getting there eventually.

Cheers,

R-

Here Is Deaf Polyamorist!

"You cannot have a strong and beautiful flower unless you have a complete set of petals attached to it."

This was uttered to my female friend from Deaf Polyamorist John "Raven" Schuchmaher trying to convince my female friend to be one of many relationships. He has a wife, Sharon knew that he wanted several more to be part of his "harem". It was said, that Sharon is cool with it.

Who is he? A picture of John "Raven" Schuchmaher eluded me at this point, however he is currently student at Gallaudet, a junior majoring in ASL and Deaf Studies. He also worked as substitute Staff Resident Advisor for some dorms. Since I do not know him at all, one female friend described him as "someone in his 40s with silver hair, wears glasses and is overweight with a huge double chin. Can recognize him by wearing these yuppie dyed t-shirts."

One female student said, "He drives me nuts. He's always trying to lure me in his world. Always talking about sex. Finally I blew up and I told him he is forbidden to talk about sex with me. He uses spirituality and new age to lure in young girls."

Apparently, it was an open secret at Gallaudet as John actively searches for women to be part of his "harem". Someone said that since he is aware that it is not legal to marry more than one, it does not mean that he can not have relationships with women. Someone said that he already has 3 or 4 women and he is still looking for more.

My female friend smirked, "It was amusing to see that he wanted me. He went on to explain the benefits of being in relationship with him. I could not see myself doing that at all. He was quite persuasive, though."

Not only that, Jim Berke also wrote an article about him on his Deafness.about.com, and John also maintained a website promoting the Deaf Polyamory Life.

Interesting. I'm not sure what to say about this except that I do question John's claims that "there are MANY MANY of us who support polyamory and sometimes actually PRACTICE it."

I dearly doubt that statement, John.

Cheers,

R-

A Long Day, That Is For Sure

Today will be interesting day for me.

At 1 PM, I get to pick up the votes on some polls and turn it over to a friend of mine to tally and finalize everything before announcing the winners tonight or tomorrow for 2005 Deaf Blog Awards.

At 2 PM, it is time for another daily workout! One gal called me via the videophone last night -- she said she noticed some minor changes in me. But I cannot notice a thing. I can feel my hardened arms and I can feel the trapezius muscle doing its works. It is nice, but I have a long way to go. In a long time, I hope to look like this menace guy on your right. Gorgeous but evil. Gorgeous but melancholy!

At 6 PM, I meet Wendy for a dinner in Downtown at Captain Ale House. I hadn't seen her in months. It should be nice to see her once again.

My Dad complained that I used this blog to share with everyone else across the world, he apparently felt that I was ignoring the Deaf Virginians. Well, he is right to a certain extent, I find Deaf Virginians to be extremely boring. I try to be nice and cordial at all times, but their repeated conversations made me roll my eyes.

There is more to life than to listen to these squabbles, really. I do not care whether if Mary died or not, whether if John was dumped by Patricia for another guy, whether if Wesley is in the jail for peddling ABCs cards, whether if Joshua's son is gay! Oh, that part, I might care a little. But let's be serious. If they are interested in these local squabbles, good for them. But certainly not for me. Somewhat, Dad rationalized that by ignoring the locals, I'm being condescending towards all.

"I REMEMBER YOU KID -- SO BIG NOW!" These choruses of Deaf locals telling me what they remembered of me as a kid is ... practically tiresome. Sometimes I smiled and said, "I REMEMBER YOU SO YOUNG -- SO OLD NOW!" You should see them grimace a little when I say that.

Anyway, I told him that my blog is my own. I share whatever I think, feel or knew with my life. I will touch the subjects that seems to interest me, me and me only. These Deaf grassroots can wait, eventually. I mean, they will be always there, whether you like it or not. Dad seems to resent the fact that I have interesting friends, for some reasons. He has his own friends, why can't I?

Sometimes, I felt my parents wanted me to be someone else that they can brag to the Deaf locals. But I refused to, I even objected to the comments that they attempted to distribute to the community about my life. They wanted me to be the 'puppet' of some sorts in their community for some show and tell sessions.

I'm not interested in that. Leave me be. My life is my own. They may inadvertently fucked each other and produced me, but my life is my own. Let me be me. When I said no, you respect that.

It will take years for my parents to figure that out.

R-

Coach Debbie Ryan's Battles

Five years ago, when I learned that Debbie Ryan was ill with Pancreatic Cancer. I did not really know enough about that particular cancer. Apparently, only 23 percent survived one year after the diagnosis, let alone 4 percent after five years. Today,Debbie continues to coach.

It was pretty difficult on her during the summertime of 2000 when she is supposed to recruit abroad, she had to stay put at the hospital and at home. Which explained why her seasons did not really fare well in the next 4 years -- 18-14, 17-13, 17-14 and 13-16.

The worst aspect of being coach is to deal with the recruiting battles, I believe, because many coaches are willing to defame others' characters in order to get the best players. For instance, Penn State Lady Lions' Coach Rene Portland often told the players' parents that this school lets lesbians date each other! It was rumored that Jennifer Harris, a former Lady Lions player who transferred to James Madison Dukes after the repeated accusations by the same coach for being a lesbian, decided to go to Penn State instead of Virginia because Rene told Jennifer's parents that Virginia players "sleep" with each other. That's how bad it is in the recruiting business. It may have take its toll on Coach Ryan and Assistant Coaches in 2000 which affected the next four years, winning only 65 games out of 127 games.

But last year, they managed to win 21 games despite dealing with Teamer & Blue. This year, the team is much cohesive, fun to watch and is currently 7-1 on the season. Which is why I said that the Virginia Cavaliers are back. For real.

I was delighted to find Debbie Ryan on the front page of Richmond Times-Dispatch today as the article talked about her experiences with Pancreatic Cancer and how it impacted her vision on life.

Colossus of X-Men Now Gay? Relax, guys, relax! When Graystorm mentioned that he was shocked to learn that Colossus is gay. I could not believe it at all. He was a character that I once had a crush when I was a kid -- like Carl joked to me today, "What does he calls his penis? Iron man?" -- it is not about his cock. It is about his sensitivity that kept me piqued to his character for years. I went to the comic bookstore and check it out -- oh, I get it -- the owner of the shop said that any books that started with "Ultimate" on its titles means that it is alternative universe, not the current one. But you can see the panels where Colossus accepted the date with Jean-Paul, also known as Northstar, the only gay super-hero character in Marvel Comics. See the panels here and here. The question is ... is Colossus the bottom?

This Is Interesting ... ! Border agents fucking illegal aliens, what more could you ask for this?

This Guy Must Really Like His Cow: Harold G. Hart shagged someone's cow about 50 times alone in a year.

Now Canucks Can Fuck Like Rabbits! I cannot comment on this. I am Scorpio. I went to the gay orgies before in the past, I cringed. I tried to see what it is all about. I cannot handle it. I preferred one-on-one activity. I did threesome thrice but ... it is not that bad. But ... in a building where it is routinely being done, I just cannot do it. But at least, Canucks can do it without getting arrested by these hunky RCMPs.

Last Year ... It takes only 20 minutes to make 200,000 inhabitants disappear from the face of Earth. Yeah, that Tsunami. Remember that.

Cheers,

R-

Amusing Antics?

Today, I chatted with Dela and Darlene via the videophone -- they looked fabulous as usual. Dealing with Darlene's father regarding the Maryland Terrapins is tiresome at times. But that is so him. Her father is very amusing person to joke. However, Darlene mentioned something that made me smile about her father.

Last night, Darlene's father dressed up as Santa Claus and used the videophone to get in touch with his brother's grandchildren in Indianapolis. The kids are 4 and 2. They were bewildered and shocked to see Santa Claus on the videophone -- Santa Claus told the kids to get in bed because Santa Claus is on their way to stop by their house. Suffice to say, the kids went to bed immediately.

That was brilliant and definitely cute thing to do over the videophone! Anyone else has the quirky stories about the videophone experiences?

Cheers,

R-

Few Words From The Great One

Greetings!

Happy Holidays to ye all!

Instead of using these crappy holiday pictures, I chose Mordru to represent the Holidays. After all, he rocks!

I hate the X-Mas Weekend! The gym is closed until Monday! I do not like it! My arms are totally solid. Now I want the upper arms to grow to a point where I can brag a little. After all, when everything is done, I deserved to brag a little, do I?

The trainer warned me that the "guts" will be the last to go. I understand completely -- right now, my legs are mildly solid -- needs few more weeks to shed fat out of it. My ass is really sore from whatmacallit machine that works on muscles inside the ass. Each time I try to sit, I go "Ow ow ow!" Pain is exhilarating. Where is the vicodin when you need one?

Perhaps, in time, my body might look like Mordru on your right. Perhaps, I should tattoo my face like him as well. Nah. In other life, I might. But certainly not this one.

Oh, by the way, last night, a former porn star gave me his phone number and said to call him -- that I was cute. I wonder why is that people said that I'm hideous and there are other people who said that I'm so cute. Well, can't satisfy all, though.

Since It is Christmas Eve: My parents' hometown is very small. So basically with the gym closed, there is practically nothing to do than to watch television. I heard a lot about MTV's Laguna Beach. One thing that I cannot stand the show is that in every sentence, they had to say "like" one too many times. It gets on my nerves.

Another One On The List: Among the films that I wanted to see on big screen are: King Kong, Brokeback Mountain and The Ringer! Johnny Knoxville is so fucking hot. I'd do him in a second! I just saw the advertisement of The Ringer -- hysterical.

Shameless Promotion: Vote for me on 2005 Deaf Blog Awards in three categories. You can vote once every 24 hours until Tuesday at 1 PM. If you do so, I may mention about the encounter I had from Craigslist.org!

Facundo's Friends: The death of Facundo Montenegro, a former Adjunct Professor at Gallaudet, was certainly sad and it was refreshing to learn that there is a blog dedicated to him. Check this link.

A Simple Question: Why did not this guy, Steven DeBottis, use the teleprompter? In my opinion, he just made a HUGE fool of himself on the local TV news in Rochester, NY. Plus, let's be serious, he's not attractive. Put Manny or Alex Abenchuchan on, the world will check 'em out eventually. Hat tip to Svetie.

Cheers,

R-

12.22.05 Tidbits

A Month Has Passed Since ... I had been reflecting a lot of things when I was on the treadmill at the gym today. I did not realize that a month has passed by since the death of Sarah Pack. *sigh* I'll never forget her.

WTF? Johnny Damon for NY Yankees?! Charlotte Lewis is going to rub this in my face sooner or later. Can't believe that Damon would do that to BoSox fans. Wonder if Steinbrenner would order Damon to cut his hair?

Todd Bertuzzi Should Be Whacked! I cannot believe that Todd Bertuzzi would do this! This Canuck Jackass demanded Steve Moore to pay for attorney fees up to $161,000 -- never mind that Todd was the one who broke Steve Moore's neck and shattered his NHL career permanently! If I ever saw Todd ...

Rene Portland Being Sued In Federal Court: Good. I never liked this woman.

Deaf Girl Can Hear! ! Each time I read something like this, I cringed. Let's be serious for a minute -- even she got implantized, she's still Deaf. She is going to use BSL eventually. She is going to socialize with Deafies eventually. You know what? I'm in favor of having a choice for themselves to decide. If they want to deface their heads, fine with me. But I get annoyed with these pretentious articles that acted like cochlear implants are the "miracle", it is not. It is just another form of hearing aids. That kid will eventually turn her CI off, like many ones I knew.

Busted! SC's Fox News Racist: This is interesting stuff. And Conservative pigs often attacked CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS for being biased but supportive of FOX NEWS -- well, in South Carolina's local affilitate, FOX5NEWS, was busted for quietly promoting a racist and anti-semitism website.

Ack! Anyone Tells Me Why He Is Pope? Pope Benedict XVI is one scary guy to look at. Let's be serious. Many Catholics regarded Popes as the representative of God's Church -- and yet, his appearance is very creepy. He reminds me of Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars series.

Since I'm On Star Wars ... : Some readers are quite fond of my shock value. Some people just hated it. Some wondered if I have a hidden agenda? Some wondered if I was simply hateful person to start with. There is a scene in Star Wars III, Revenge of the Sith, where the battle took place right above Coruscant, with hundreds of ships battling each other, hurling these bright lasers in different directions.

IN that scene, you could see many things happening at one time -- a Star Destroyer beamed its laser at this particular droid ship, caused it to explode and its debris shot all over in different directions after the impact. You could see tiny ships trying to withstand the brutal battle scenes all over the screen. All in your peripheral vision, what does it makes you feel? Too much? Confused? Overwhelmed?

The sense of Chaos, perhaps? That is what I injected in this blog -- to make things interesting -- to provoke others to think, react and laugh. That is the ultimate goal. Even if it comes at someone's expense -- well, after all, everyone is subjected to be one of these collateral damages, though!

But does it reflects who I am in real person? Not necessary. I am aware that my antics has spawned such hateful responses from certain few. That is fine with me. I cannot please anyone else. I stated my opinions on many things. Sometimes I do not need to explain why I do that to anyone else because my reasons are my own. Sometimes, people wanted the dialogue on certain but volatile issues (mostly related to politics and religions) but I do not. I have a firm belief -- you have yours -- and I say it without stating my reasons. Because I do not have to tell you the reasons. Let's face the reality, I am always right and you are always wrong!

Oh, by the way, that scene where the Star Destroyer beamed its blue laser on this particular droid ship which ignited a spectacular explosion -- it is my favorite scene -- I imagined that when I disparaged someone else's comments. Their dignity just disintegrated just like that. And what did that Star Destroyer do? It moves to the next target, of course.

Just like I do.

Cheers,

R-

For Your Own Amusing Thoughts

While I'm off to the gym to work out, I'm attaching an article written by Thomsen Young regarding the growing phenomenon of Deaf Bloggers.

On another subject, Alex Abenchuchan is right on this subject. After a heavy workout, I have this insatiable appetite for drinking lots of H20. It is becoming my drug choice these days.

However, back to the subject, the article will be featured on SIGNews.org, administered by Communication Services for the Deaf for December/January edition.

I think it is decent. Yes, they got my location wrong. But nevertheless, I'll be back in the City sooner than you think. Har har!

Written by Thomsen Young

For the technology aficionados, the world has been transformed by the power of the Internet, especially with a new concept known as blogging, or blogs. Within the last few years, there has been a rising popularity of blogs within the deaf community, yet, something quite different or unexpected has occurred. Deaf blogs are beginning to unify the deaf community in an unprecedented way.

There's Ricky Taylor's "Observe But Do Not Interfere", David Evans' "Sound Off! DeafView from the Left Coast", Keri Ogrizovich with "The dream you are living is your creation...", Meryl K. Evans' "Bionic Ear", Mike McConnell's "Kokonut Pundits" and about a hundred and forty known deaf blogs on the internet.

Only a handful of 'web logs' or blogs existed during 1998 and most of the bloggers knew each other and would refer each other by linking their own sites to other people's blogs. The media didn't take notice of blogs until 1999 when Rebecca Blood wrote a book called The Weblog Handbook, in which she explores the rapidly growing trend through a collection of 34 essays. By late 2002, there were over 750,000 users posting blogs on the Internet. While there is no exact date of when deaf bloggers began developing blogs, it is reasonable to assume that soon after 1999, deaf blogs began to pop up.

The purpose of blogs is that it can be use by virtually anyone, any age, anywhere, all the while presenting various topics and issues that the writer feels is important to address. Experts estimate that there are close to ten million blogs, with a recent Technorati portal reporting that about 12,000 new blogs are being created daily at about one per 7.4 seconds. Keri Ogrizovich is one of these 10 million bloggers. Her blog, "The dream you are living is your creation..." presents a more family-oriented blog where she keeps her friends and extended family in touch with what is happening in her life, starting with the birth of her son, Lochlan. Keri explains that her interests in blogging came about from a friend who also blogged about her family as well as her pregnancy. "I had just found out I was pregnant. A friend blogged about her pregnancy experience and I enjoyed reading her blog on her pregnancy so much that I wanted to do the same. It was also a
good way to share my experience with family and friends."

Yet, Keri still wanted to share her pregnancy experience with everyone, specifically deaf women, because, "our society has a medical view of birthing whereas it is not. It is a natural part of life. Unfortunately, many women do not realize that they have choices when it comes to birthing. Women, more specifically, deaf women are not educated on natural birthing and how the epidurals used to relieve the labor pains can be dangerous for them and their babies, as well as most likely leading to a C-section."

David Evans and Mike McConnell write about political savvy topics that range from captioning to opinions about the French riots to Netflix. Evans, a resident of Los Angeles, Calif., believes that there are pros and cons that blogs bring the deaf community closer or further away from each other. "The deaf blogs I've seen so far are, for the most part, rather personal. They do bring people together in the sense that those who enjoy reading, writing, and being online are brought together and able to connect to one another...the ideas or topics bandied about may filter down and benefit the entire community eventually- who knows?"

McConnell, a native of New Mexico, believes that deaf blogs brings the deaf community together. "The Internet is a powerful communication medium, whatever the source of information that is passed on whether its e-mail, instant messenger, video-phone, blogging, or personal web pages, both deaf and hearing communities benefit greatly. It actually brings people a little closer enabling them to understand each other better." McConnell uses Blogger.com, a free hosting internet website that give step-by-step instructions that makes it simpler to self-publish on the Web.

Known as one of the most notorious deaf bloggers is Ricky Taylor's "Observe But Do Not Interfere," popular, in part, due to the high shock value of this blog. In an e-mail interview, he acknowledged that his blog was not really intended for the deaf community, but rather one that is willing to share experiences. "I think my blog, unlike many others, is brutally honest in almost everything else." Ricky Taylor, who currently lives in New York City, goes on to explain his perspective of other deaf blogs on the Internet. "It irritated me to read many blogs written by deaf people that talked about their menstruation cycles or new pants that they just bought at JcPenneys. Why can't they say something interesting about ... say, politics, lifestyle, sports or even ... sex? I guess you could say that I'm a fan of shock value. I try to touch different bases that might jolt readers to respond or not."

Whether we want to admit it or not, deaf blogs are showing strong support in unifying the deaf community in an unprecedented way on the Internet. Evans concludes: "But aside from rare instances, I don't think blogs and blogging necessarily speak directly to the deaf community- I think blogging and blogs transcend deafness, and allow the readers a chance to listen to various individuals on their respective soapboxes. Also, blogging is fairly new. As blogs mature across the board, it may evolve and have more of a sense of accomplishing something positive."

Not bad, eh?

Cheers,

R-

Tavis' Interview with Craig T. Nelson

Thanks to PJ, I was able to read the transcript between PBS' Tavis Smiley's interview with Craig T. Nelson who acted as the father of Tyrone Giordano's character, Thad Stone in The Family Stone.

It is intersting that Craig did not mention Tyrone at all. Initially, PJ and I misread that it could be the "fellow" that is Ty but apparently, Craig was referring to "Jack", whom I believe, is Marlee Matlin's interpreter -- from what I understand, he is CODA (Child of Deaf Adults). He could have taught the fellas how to sign, not Ty himself. I'm not certain about that, though.

Either way, the interview seems to indicate that Craig enjoyed his unique experience of being the parent of "deaf child".

[snipping the transcript that was taken from pbs.org]

Tavis: Let me come back as I promised I would to "The Family Stone.” There's a character in this movie who is deaf. And everybody on the set of course had to learn sign language to – (moves hands) I'm acting stupid, doing stuff that I don't know what I'm doing over here. So everybody had to learn sign language to make this happen.

Nelson: I'm with you on that.

Tavis: You knew where I was going, didn't you? I have heard from some friends of mine that you had a little trouble, challenge with the sign language stuff.

Nelson: Well, I thought I was coordinated 'til it came to...

Tavis: This does not count.

Nelson: (laughs) Yeah. Well, I was in the trailer and I was rehearsing on my own, which is a big mistake. And I got a little too...

Tavis: Wait, hold up, hold the phone. I want to just know how you do this. How do you rehearse sign language by yourself?

Nelson: What you do is, you stand in - you read it first, and then you've got with a sign language expert, Jack, who's assuming that you're a semipro, and that you know basically what you're going to do, and you're not gonna hurt yourself. So they let you go. And I'm old enough to be let alone in my trailer now.

So I go in and I'm looking in the mirror and I’m trying to figure out how I can talk and do this at the same time. And I put my finger in my eye, and I realized that I'm probably going to need help, you know, like a medic. And, so I'm really embarrassed about it. And actually the first person I see is Luke Wilson, who you don't want to tell anything to, because it gets spread. In five seconds, everybody, “you okay? Are you going to sue?” Yeah. What am I going to sue for?

Your confidence is basically - but the interesting thing is that for me, in watching the actors and watching the experts do sign it, there's short hand involved, it's a whole language in and of itself. And you just don't go to a different country and the sign language is going to be the same. It changes, and much like our slang does. So, but they have cutoffs.

So, you're doing it thinking that, hey, how does this look, and they're looking at you like, when are you going to get finished with this? You know, cut to the chase, whatever that sign is. So, I just barely, I just basically went and did my own. I figured, what the heck. The family's been together long enough. They know what I'm doing.

Tavis: I suspect that there are probably families where that happens, though. I'm sure somebody will get a kick out of it.

Nelson: I'm sure they do.

Tavis: I'm sure they will, yeah.

Nelson: The fellow that was teaching us sign language is very good. He's born of deaf parents, and yet he speaks. I mean, he's got a voice. And so, he's very interesting. It's a whole - that's a whole other world that you don't get not only involved with, but you don't see, you don't become part of, because we make it separate. It's like, deaf? Whoa.

Tavis: See, you've addressed now the funny side of trying to learn how to do this stuff. Did anything occur to you? I assume it did. Anything occur to you on the serious side of this equation about what it means to live a life where you're...

Nelson: Yeah. Being able to express yourself visually and tactfully. And without this modification of sound. And it's fascinating, because the resonance that we hear oftentimes influences - when you listen to a great actor, Olivier or Richard Burton comes to mind, because he had that mellifluous voice and that tonality. And it's not used so much anymore.

It's substance and quiet, you know. But, with those guys it was that sound. And it became like music. So, their hands in expressing themselves are so wonderful to watch, because you get a whole sense of personality. And it's a whole different - it's reality of understanding and trying to get into another person, which I just found interesting.

[snip the transcript]

Great job, Tavis.

Confidential to RT101: Please. Get. A. Clue. I represent me. I do not represent the Deaf Community. I try to entertain others. Yes, I'm being compared to Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern and I find that amusing and felt honored by that. Howard Stern RULES! Case closed. Go and whine about something else. You're good at that.

Cheers,

R-

12.20.05 Tidbits, Part 2

VOTE for Observe But Do Not Interefere

2005 Deaf blog Awards to vote for me in three categories:

Best Eavesdropping Entertainment Blog
Best Politics Blog
Best Deaf Blog

* * *

NewsFlash from CSD Headquarters in Sioux Falls: I was alerted a while ago that at Communication Services for the Deaf, 15 employees were laid off on December 15. Basically, they were offered with two choices: "voluntarily accept the layoff and receive two weeks' pay plus cashed out vacation time or be laid off regardless."

From what I understand, 15 staff were laid off out of 60 projected layoffs.

Of course, inquiring minds want to know whether if Benjamin Soukup, Patty Kuglitsch, Randy Gerloff, Jim Skjeveland, Dr. Phil Bravin and Ann Marie Mickelson will get pay cut with their six-figure salaries?

I mentioned about their outrageous salaries last August. You can read this entry.

Please remember, the one you just saw is based on 2004 Fiscal Year Budget -- I'm sure 2005 is not much different, really. Last year, the "executive officers" had the 2004 tax return of $2,126,478. CEO Benjamin Soukup has not earned less than 590,000 dollars in the last 3 years for the total of $2,022,826.

Enough? Let's compare CSD with American Red Cross, the CEO at American Red Cross made $450,000. the CSD CEO Benjamin Soukup made, in 2004, $729,596.

So? CSD's total revenue was $74,889,067. The American Red Cross' total revenue was $3,065,541,356. Yes, you got it right -- three billion dollars! While I am on that subject, the CEO of ARC's salary was .01% out of its total revenue whereas Benjamin Soukup's salary was .97% out of its total revenue!

What does it means? Simply put, CSD's pay for CEOs outpaced any non-profit organizations in terms of pay scale for non-profit organizations.

You decide.

Ooo! Joel Osteen's Naughty Wife: I always had a funny feeling that I saw Joel Osteen at some gay bathhouse before. But that is not the issue here.

Why Jane K Fernandes Must Not Be Gallaudet President, Part I: Check Jeff Carlson's link which was published last September.

Good Thing It Failed! It was reported that Stalin wanted this experiment to happen, but it did not. This just made me wonder -- what if this experiment was a success?

Brokeback Mountain Smashing Success: It was reported few days ago that the film, Brokeback Mountain, was released only in 69 theaters across the nation and ended up No. 8 on the Top Ten earning list with 2.4 million dollars out of 69 theaters. And it was mentioned that many theaters in Middle America has been flooded with calls about the film being shown in the area. The distributor said that they'll increase the distribution to 400 theaters starting in January. Xians, you've lost the war. Go fuck a sheep!

Confidential to McWeenie: 1,300 hits in a day for the Deaf Community is a record? Try mine. I hit more than 1,900 hits in a day twice or thrice before. So fuck off, coward. McWeenie, you are purely coward for deleting people's comments. Only ones that agreed with you will be kept on. Goes on to say what kind of person you are.

Cheers,

R-

12.20.05 Tidbits, Part 1

MTA Transit Strike: For the first time in 25 years, the NYC subway has come to a halt. TWU Local 100, an union who did the transit strike on MTA that enraged many capitalists including Mayor Michael Bloomberg who complained that by setting up the strike, New York stands to lose $400 million per day and its tax revenues up to $12 million. The Mayor and MTA asked the Court to fine the union $1 million per day for disrupting the transit system.

See the pattern? Your lives are not important, money are important. What do I think of this? I think the cost of living in New York is pretty high. Most people who worked for state, local, federal governments and the non-profit organizations earned less than the ones who works in for-profit organization. The gap between these two is growing at an alarming rate.

I think the Transit Workers Union was justified to do something about it. Enough is enough. They proved that by doing the transit strike, the capitalism gets rattled. People needs to realize that beneath the coat of capitalism, there are humans who needs the earning base to survive in this city.

You can find the blog which Transit Workers Union addressed the points which the MTA and the city government chose to ignore.

You can see the pro-comment about TWU local on this blog. And you can see the malicious comments against the Union by DowntownLad. DowntownLad also rightfully attacked that gook ho, Michelle Malkin and Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, for trying to get involved in a city they do not even live in. You can see why I enjoyed DL's postings. He is blunt as can be. And I love him for that.

As for Deaf Bloggers who had to improvise their ways in the city due to the TWU strike, you can find this and that to satisfy your curiosity whether if it pissed them off or not.

Bad Santas on Rampage: This is amusing.

Virginia Cavaliers 7-1!: Today, they routed Marshall 67-35. Again, Lyndra Littles and Sharnee Zoll netted the first time in UVA history to have two players to hit for double-double. Sharnee Zoll had 11 points and 13 assists while Lyndra Littles had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

It is nice to know that the team is determined to make a statement despite the fact that they are very young team. Only in time, they will pull few surprises against the teams. I'm hoping that the team gets to knock Duke and North Carolina.

It is entirely possible that Virginia Cavaliers is better than No. 1 Tennessee Lady Volunteers. Before you roll your eyes, hear me out on this one. Virginia played George Washington in Washington, DC and led 36-23 at the half, they never trailed at all, okay? Not only that, they led as many as 22 points before substituting liberally in the second half, but nevertheless won 66-53.

As for Tennessee, they played at George Washington and won 59-43. But Tennessee trailed as many as 10 points and was up by 5 at the half, 34-29. And in the second half, Tennessee steadily expanded the lead to win the game, 59-43.

I have the guts that it could be the year that Virginia Cavaliers gets to shock someone else.

I'm a fan of Coach Debbie Ryan for the last 18 years. In fact, when I approached her, she instanteously knew who I am. What else is new? I'm sure she sighed at the fact that I was harsh on her in the past when the teams struggled.

Oh, yeah, here are the pics of me with Coach Ryan, Lyndra Littles and Sharnee Zoll. Cool, is it? I need a major haircut, obviously. And I still work out, thank you very much.

Cheers,

R-

12.19.05 Tidbits

Anyone Else?? Anyone who had bad experiences of dealing with Dr. Jane K. Fernandes can submit their stories to me via the e-mail at Ridor9th@gmail.com. Why do I need this? We need to document the evidences that Dr. Jane K. Fernandes is not the suitable choice to replace Dr. I. K. Jordan as the next President of Gallaudet University.

Suicidal Cat: My sister, Lily, has a white, puffy cat that seems to be suicidal these days. She sat on the middle of the road -- I had to yell at her to get off the road each time I visited her place. She won't budge. I tried to scoop the car closer to her -- my sister said the cat is still next to the car -- then I slowly rolled by, she refused to move -- it took someone else to get out of the car to remove her around. Maybe she's tired of the Taylors' clan?

Elton John Should Not Turn It Down! It was such a mistake for Elton John and David Furnish to turn the offer from American media for 10 million dollars to cover their wedding. If it was showed, it'd make an impact on Americans' attitudes that the sky won't fall if gay marriage is legalized in this country!

The Rise of Darth Vader: I'm not a fan of Star Wars when it comes to novels. But last Friday night, I skimmed the Star Wars' novel about the rise of Darth Vader -- the period that happens right after the Revenge of Sith took place. I was hooked on it. I may end up buying it to indulge my thoughts.

GW Bush Is Amazing When It Comes To Compassion: GW Bush actually authorized the government to spy on us all when it comes to terrorism. Where is freedom of privacy? Please do not use this excuse to say that freedom comes with a price -- that is what Nazism is all about!

I watched 60 Minutes last night about this particular Muslim who had no ties to the radical Muslim organizations but that does not stop the CIA from abducting him and flew him to different places -- Afghanistan, Morrocco, Jordan, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Macedonia and Egypt to torture him. The CIA agents also taunted him that he will never be found. Nobody will ever know that he existed because the CIA is going to make him nonexistant. But when the CIA made a mistake, they simply dumped him in Albania with hopes that he'll be killed by someone else.

My question is: Why? This is not freedom. This is not what the Americans are all about. Yes, the terrorists are monsters but again, so do ours. Please do not act surprised or shocked if someone decided to bomb the American city eventually. In fact, this particular victim was asked by his son who did this? The father responded, "Americans."

Of course, this will fan such hatred amongst the Muslim Youths. We gloat about our freedoms but do not care about theirs, even if they are in Spain, Italy or Germany. Condeleeza Rice refused to comment on this subject but she also mentioned that rendition is part of the "war on terrorism". By her translation, she was turning the accused ones to the countries to be tortured whereas she can say that the United States never engaged in any form of tortures but are willing to turn them over for few hours, days or months. It does not exonerate the United States from claiming that they do not torture, they knew these countries that did not ratify with the Geneva Convention on torture -- they were apostate for doing the rendition in the first place!

It was such a noble for GW Bush to admit the mistakes. It was so comical, really, for him to claim for months and suddenly, admitted that it's all based on a lie, really. Now, with the reports coming out that Dr. Germ of Baghdad, Rihab Taha, has been released from the prison with *no* charges (Where is the due process for all, remember GW Bush claimed to free Iraqis and to restore justice and peace to Iraq but continues to deny the due process for many!) at all. Rihab Taha was imprisoned for 2 years and suddenly, she is free.

Bush argued that Iraq "is the beginning of something new: constitutional democracy at the heart of the Middle East." If he wants to defend that, then act like one! Stop tortures, imprison people for years without any due process and spying on people. It ain't democracy at all.

Where Is Xians' Compassion? Thanks to Neil for telling me about this article. This is perfect example of Xians who claim to defend the "sacred marriage" from gays by destroying gay people's lives. It is amazing that Xians actually claimed that the current law will not "discriminate" gays, they claimed that it protects the marriage itself, not discriminating. It is shame, really.

Confidential to Kurzetard: Get a therapist. You really need one more than I thought.

Cheers,

R-

"I Need A Fork!"

At Regal Short Pump Cinemas, about an hour northwest of my parents' house, has an open caption of The Family Stone, despite the fact that they showed the film at very unorthodox time -- early mornings or very late night showings. The Regal Cinemas probably felt that showing the open captions will not make money. This is the classic example why capitalism failed Deaf people in general. They were quick to tell me that not many Deaf people showed up at the showings "anyway!" -- I was quick to point out that their unorthodox times made it DIFFICULT for anyone to show up on a consistent manner. But they won't listen.

However I made it a priority to check it out because my good friend, Ty Giordano performed in this film. Despite the fact that the reviews of the film was not bad nor good, I still had to check it out because I wanted Ty to succeed. Anything to contribute that for Ty is good, in my opinion. And you should do the same.

I was not disappointed with the film. Ty performed as a deaf, gay character named Thad Stone. He was one of five siblings (with Luke Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Dermot Mulroney, Elizabeth Reaser) coming home for the Holidays with their parents who were performed by Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson. Oh, yeah, Thad has a boyfriend who is African American. Practically, everyone signs in the house including the cute boyfriend of Thad.

I was impressed with Rachel McAdams' conversations with Ty. In one scene, when Amy talked about Meredith Morton's quirky habits of clearing her throat loudly, Thad was intrigued as Amy signed, "TRUE BIZ" to indicate that she was telling the truth. You do not see that in films these days.

It appears to me that Ty made others look good -- I mean, the actors/actresses' signs did not seem to be crispy at all. Even Diane, Craig, Luke and Dermot! I was jealous that Ty got to sit on Luke Wilson's lap -- that ought to be me. But again, I probably would break Luke's legs. And seeing Ty touching the hand of Dermot Mulroney (whom has VERY nice ass that I saw on another film) just fucking enraged me. ;-)

I loved the scene where Sybil Stone (Diane Keaton) actually threw the fork at Thad's dinner plate to get his attention -- I had to snicker because I hadn't seen a film where someone does the little things that pinpointed the Deaf/hearing interaction tendencies. It was nice to see ASL/spoken English transcend with each other in the household. At least we did not have to deal with cued speech or cochlear implants, really.

I thought Ty did a great job of acting as Thad Stone. I still find it hard to believe that he TRUE BIZ acted as a gay character. I know he told me that he does not see any problem with it at all -- I certainly understand that but it is still amusing to know that a fella that I knew from college days acted as one. That is his job as an actor. And damn, he's enjoying himself as much as can be. I would be if I was in his shoes.

The Family Stone is drama-comedy film that will delight your hearts, even in the end.

Good job, Ty!

Cheers,

R-

Me & Virginia

Yesterday in the afternoon, I failed to drag my parents to the Robins Center for a game of Collegiate Women's Basketball between Richmond Spiders and Virginia Cavaliers. That is alright, at least, I get to go by myself.

The last time I saw the Cavaliers in action was when I was in New York. They defeated Long Island 76-59 but it was such a sloppy game. At that time, they had players like Brandi Teamer and LaTonya Blue.

This time, the Cavaliers does not have Brandi Teamer and LaTonya Blue at all. What a difference! The quickness of Cavaliers' perimeter defenders were astonishing. Sharnee Zoll is so quick with ballhandling skills. In fact, Virginia roared to a 16-2 lead with 15 and half minutes left to go in the first half.

But again, the Cavaliers has only one senior. In fact, 8 out of 12 players are either Freshmen or Sophomores. After taking a 14-point lead, they squandered the lead to 4. The team regrouped to expand the lead to 10 at the half, 31-21.

In the second half, I enjoyed watching Lyndra Littles crashing the boards and taking baskets for her own. Suffice to say, Virginia Cavaliers routed Richmond Spiders, 66-45 to improve the season at 6-1.

After the game, I get to meet Tanzania Williams, the sister of Tamika Williams, a former player at Connecticut. It was good to see Coach Debbie Ryan once again. Then I finally got to meet the dynamic Sharnee Zoll and Lyndra Littles. Talked a little -- Did not realize that Sharnee Zoll has gorgeous eyes. Lyndra Littles was easy for me to lipread and follow what she has to say. Needless to say, there were pictures taken. It shall be posted one way or other.

Go Cavaliers!

Cheers,

R-

Just Because One Is Gay, He Is Out!

Thanks to DowntownLad for making me resent the American soldiers more than ever.

This guy, Kyle Lawson, is being driven out of the United States Army in Sierra Vista, Arizona.

Sierra Vista is hometown of Brad Dale, the current President of Gallaudet's Rainbow Society of Gallaudet University. Sierra Vista is roughly 75 miles southwest of Tucson and about 185 miles southwest of Phoenix, Arizona.

I do not see any of my friends in Phoenix and Tucson object to this harassment of Kyle Lawson!

Veronica Kozlowski? Chlms? Philip Mecham? Do make a call to that fucking place to show your displeasure of your fucking country, willja?

R-

Say No to Fernie!

I have created a petition as a way to get the message to the Board of Trustees at Gallaudet University because the rumors persisted that Dr. Jane K. Fernandes was expected to be the next President of Gallaudet University.

By itself, it does more harm than good to the welfare of Gallaudet Community. Dr. Fernandes has not set up a good relationship with faculty, staff, students and alumni. She created a lot of bitter resentments amongst the groups at Gallaudet. I heard the stories about how she has done to students, parents and staff at Hawai'i and in DC.

And in the last few years, Dr. Fernandes has done almost nothing but treat the student body with contempt. She and Paul Kelly has done nothing to improve the Department of Public Safety's communication access. It is well known amongst the faculty and staff that Dr. Fernandes is the puppet of Dr. Jordan's team of "Yes-sayers".

I acknowledge the changes that Dr. Jordan has done for the University, it is time for a fresh start. A fresh perspective to energize the Deaf Community and usher Gallaudet University into a new era.

How can you help this out? By signing the petition online to let the Board of Trustees that Dr. Jane K. Fernandes is not the right candidate for Gallaudet University!

Here is the link and be sure to spread the word around the world since Gallaudet affects practically everyone who is Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing!

Cheers,

R-

And There Is Another One

I never liked the Holidays. The Holidays seemed to be the favorite period for the Grim Reaper to target the loved ones of others. There are too many for me to mention of people I knew that died between November to January.

I just learned that Mary Kiser has died of Alzheimers yesterday morning in Staunton. She was 89 years old. She had a simple life, really. She can be bashful when she snickered so loudly. She and her husband, Ralph Kiser, has been together for 62 years.

Why am I talking about her? When I was a student at VSDB, Mary Kiser often visited Bettie Creasy at the dormitory during the evening time. They would sit and chat with each other along with Kathy Hughes. At that time, not far from them, the students would do their homeworks for an hour or so. When the students are done, they can resort to do whatever they wanted for the remainder of the hour or so. Meanwhile, I tend to join Bettie, Kathy and Mary for these interesting tidbits.

Mary Kiser once told me an unbelievable story that happened to her in early 1980s. I could not believe what she said. Bettie confirmed that story and insisted that what happened is real. I turned to look at Mary as in, "Are you serious?"

She smiled out of bashfulness and said: YOU THINK I MAKE THIS STORY UP?!

Here is the tale that has not been told by many:

Once Upon A Time ... in Staunton's fabled VSDB campus, some houseparents used to reside in dormitories -- some dormitories has apartments for the houseparents who preferred to live on the campuses until they are ready to move out of the campus.

The Kisers was no different, really. They used to reside in Darden Hall for some years. During the summertime, the VSDB campus is virtually empty. Practically nobody is on the campus between June to August. Naturally, during the school year, the Kisers always locked the apartment to keep their lives private, away from the students who resided in Darden Hall as well.

But during the summertime, nobody is in the building, Mary and Ralph occasionally left the door open to catch the drifts because it can be hot in these buildings. One night, Mary had a small dog who were startled by something. It barked at something beyond the door -- something in the hallway.

Suddenly, her dog got off from the couch and ran into the hallway outside of her apartment. Mary knew that the front door of Darden Hall was unlocked. Mary then walked out of her apartment into the hallway -- suddenly, she saw a caucasian naked guy running towards her. She ran back into her apartment and slammed the door and locked it.

She was terrorized by this odd-looking guy, she said he seems to be wild -- has wild eyes. She was terrified and ran to her son's bedroom, Jim Kiser, and woke him up. Jim Kiser is hearing fellow whom I knew as Physical Education teacher at VSDB. He was such a hottie but hot-tempered guy. Easy on my eyes, though.

Mary's husband was nowhere to be found, in fact. He was at the Creasy family's place for a while. He was due to be home. At that time, the Kiser household did not have a telephone. There was a window right above the door which Jim Kiser climbed to peek at this lunatic guy who kept on slamming himself against the heavy oak door (Yes, Darden Hall has these magnificent thick Oak doors which you can slam it and it created these magnificent vibrations that shook the building!)

Jim saw this guy running amok in the hallway of Darden's first floor chasing their small dog. Jim told Mary about it. She freaked out. Jim dressed up and went to jump out of the first-floor apartment by window and ran to get some help. Yes, Mary was virtually alone, barricaded in her own apartment with this nut running amok. She was terrified.

About 15 minutes later, the cops flooded the building. They located this maniacal guy on 3rd floor hiding under the desk. The Kisers looked for the dog that hides in 2nd floor.

Mary smiled at me, "IMAGINE ME BEING ALONE! ME SCARED SILLY!" She then laughed at herself as Bettie tugged her shoulder and said, "YOU SO FUNNY!" I asked Mary about this naked guy -- who is he?

Mary smiled and said, "ME NOT SURE. COPS SAID THAT BOY ON DRUGS. HE FLIPPED OUT OR SOMETHING. BUT IMPORTANT IS ME OK! JIM OK! RALPH OK!"

Now that is very odd story to tell, is it?

Bettie Creasy died in 1990 few weeks after her husband, Olin, died of heart attack. Now I guess Mary is reunited with her close friends, after all.

Meanwhile, I still wondered whatever happened to Jim Kiser ...

Cheers,

R-

What About Facundo Montenegro?

It was reported to me today that Facundo Montenegro, MFA -- he used to be the adjunct professor at the Department of Television, Film and Photography at Gallaudet, now the whole department is shuffled into something else -- has died of Lung Cancer.

This was a certain surprise for me and it may break few's hearts like Ryan Commerson and Allison Aubrecht -- in fact, it was he who inspired them to do something about the audism that occurs at Gallaudet and beyond Gallaudet. Despite the fact that he can hear, he was the instrumental figure that pushed for the production of Audism Unveiled.

I never took classes under Facundo Montenegro. From what I knew, he was quite popular figure with his students. But yes, Facundo and I talked once in a while. In fact, there was this legendary tale that a certain fellow caused me, Helmuth Boy and Jacques Girl to score one of the most embarrassing moments in our lives.

What happened is that there was a subtitled film sponsored by Reel Affirmations at Lincoln Theater. It was sold out. Helmuth Boy was determined to get in, one way or other. We met a well-known local boy by the name of Robert Mason who led us to someone who works within the theater.

Some miscommunication occurred from that point, the guy pulled me, Jacques Girl and Helmuth Boy into the theater -- led us to the backstage, told us to wait as we watched the seats being filled up to 1,500. Among the 1,500 was Facundo Montenegro.

Suddenly, this fellow who runs the theater pushed me, Helmuth Boy and Jacques Girl onto the stage in front of 1,500 spectators to give few words about the film. I realized at that point, this fellow thought we were some kind of contributors that financed this fucking film.

I stammered. Helmuth Boy smiled and said, "HELLO! MY NAME IS MARK HELMUTH AND I HOPE YOU WILL ENJOY THE FILM!" to the audience without an interpreter. Then he raised his hands to wave as in applauding -- then 3,000 hands waved back at us. I stammered like Hell. Jacques Girl crept back into the backstage. Suffice to say, I nearly pissed in my pants.

Apparently this fellow who runs the theater realized that something did not transpire well, he turned the stage floor off. After the lights glared on our eyes, it was all pitch black. Needless to say, Mark fell off the stage by accident. I had to vamoose to the bathroom because I was laughing hysterically and crying so hard.

Few friends of mine, including Erin Wilkinson, was in the balcony area when they saw us on the stage and could not believe it. In fact, one of our hearing friends heard my voice via the microphone -- then he turned to see me on the stage, he was horrified and baffled to understand why I'm there onstage. I was the closest to the microphone. I stammered.

The next day, Facundo Montenegro caught me at Ely Center and said, "What the heck were you doing on the stage last night?!"

I told him all about it. He smiled like Hell.

Bon voyage, Facundo!

Cheers,

R-

P.S. Check for Jenna Bush's thingie (Not Safe at work). Bleargh.

Thoughts for the Day

Sore, Sore and Sore! Whew! I just noticed something today. The pounds that I lifted at the gym has increased tremendously in the last 4 weeks. From measly 25 lbs to 55 lbs. The trainer said that I should expect to see changes in me within 2 to 3 weeks. I can't wait! But today, my upper body is fucked up! I used to hate feeling sore. But for the first time in eons, I enjoy it. I know it will lead me to the one I wanted all along.

The Story of Brokeback Mountain: I caved in and read the story of Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx which was printed in The New Yorker. Thanks to DowntownLad's entry, I finally got to read it. I liked the story. It is only 17-pages long. It was kinda sad but I gotta admit that Annie Proulx wrote very well. The idea of her writing a sex scene is odd, but reading what she described -- it made me spring a boner.

Ennis ran full throttle on all roads whether fence mending or money spending, and he wanted none of it when Jack seized his left hand and brought it to his erect cock. Ennis jerked his hand away as though he'd touch fire, got to his knees, unbuckled his belt, shoved his pants down, hauled Jack onto all fours, and, with the help of the clear slick and a little spit, entered him, nothing he'd done before but no instruction manual needed. They went at it in silence except for a few sharp intakes of breath and Jack's choked "Gun's going off," then out, down, and asleep.

Whew! That was hot one.

There Was One, Now There Are Two! Remember the last entry I talked about having a blog that dedicated to disparage who I am. I just learned that there is another new blogsite called I Hate Ridor, created none other than Amy Kurz also known as Kurzetard of Tampa, Florida. This woman is psycho! I once met her at Gallaudet and always thought she was wacko. But I kept it to myself because it is polite thing to do. But after I left Gallaudet (I only knew her for a semester), she actually thought she's my best friend. She ain't.

Later, she insisted that I am her best friend despite the fact that we hadn't talked in years! I made it clear that she was never my best friend. It appears that on her blogsite, she still THINKS I'm her best friend. Kurzetard, get this through to your brain if you have one -- you ain't my best friend. You're fucking nuts. Go and fuck your mini-schnauzer dogs for all I care.

I Dare You To ...: This happened in Jacksonville, Florida. And Christopher Lemay is cute, I think.

According to Times-Dispatch: Stephen B. Johnson was inadvertently pushed out of the closet -- for years, he was openly gay only to his friends but not to professionals. That is until the newspaper exposed him. According to The Washington Blade, someone who is close with Stephen B. Johnson retaliated on him by telling the information to the newspaper. I guess it is typical of gay men to do that, eh?

Ford Backpedals! Ford Company has announced that they will not fold to the demands of American Family Association and will remain to advertise and sponsor gay-related newspapers and communities. Good.

Someone Please ... Will anyone else bomb Syrians? I mean, they bombed Lebanon too many times! What they needed is a payback.

Cheers,

R-

Tuesday the 13th Tidbits

This Is Hot! It'd be heaven for many gay guys to watch these four players in action.

Bad News For Lee Trevathan: A dear friend of mine, Lee Trevathan, did not make it to the Top Three for MetroWeekly's Coverboy of the Year. But look at the bright side, he was in Top Ten.

My Workout Regimen? My trainer insisted that I start to work out 3 times per week because I hadn't been doing a workout in years. But after three weeks, it has been changed from 3 days to 5 days. I expected that I'll be exhausted and sore in days to come. In time, I should see some changes in my body.

There is a framed with some wise comments from the owner of the gym regarding our appearances. I cannot quote the exact comments but it was saying that if we have a great body, we should not brag it to others. Basically, the keyword is humility. As for me, the goal is to get healthy, to look good and to feel good about myself. I am also aware that even when I lost pounds, people will still complain about the way I look. Either way, they will always complain. So do I care? No, not really.

Brokeback Mountain Captioned or Subtitled? This is getting frustrating for me. As the film continues to pile up on the raves from many critics regardig two cowboys in love with each other, the film has been released to the limited theaters. Which means what? The chances of seeing the film on a big screen is very remote. I had been trying to find information on this film being subtitled, captioned or even rear view captioned! NO luck. Of course, I knew better than that. Even in 2005, they fucking still ignored us. They will make subtitles for foreigners, but not for their own Americans! How great is this?!

On related note: The Xians organization, Focus on the Family, claimed that the film is not successful because it only produced less than $600,000 on opening night. That was misleading information. Actually, they made $544,549 in FIVE THEATERS! And the film will be expanded to include more cities across the nation. And the Xians are squirming in their seats ... stay tuned.

So-Called Built Tough Ford Caves In: Another Xian organization, American Family Association, announced the victory of convincing the automobile company, Ford Company to stop advertising and sponsoring events associated with gay communities. The same nutty Xian organization is also the responsible ones that intimidated the stores, Target, from selling the morning-after pills for women! This is the same organization that is still attempting to stop the Food & Drug Administration from approving a vaccine that was already tested 100 percent safe to prevent two strains of HPV viruses. This vaccine would have saved thousands of women's lives. In other words, these nutty Xians who supported the American Family Association are murderers, hateful bigots and you tell me that I was too harsh on Xians?!

Rocco And I? For some months, I enjoyed reading Rocco's blogsite called I Probably Hate You -- his blog is funny, vicious and all that. Rocco is very opinionated person. He is not perfect guy. But he has a heart. And his own mind that is considered to be lethal. He often fired some snappy comments that offended, pissed and enraged some gay people.

He is not the best looking guy in the world. But he has a heart. He has a cadre of loyal friends around him. As you can see the picture of Rocco (in yellow shirt) being playful with his teammate, he plays on gay rugby team in New York.

But not everything is good. Rocco also has a stalker who sets up a blog to discredit, taunt and offend Rocco on every turn. The stalker also attempts to tarnish his reputation as well.

This reminds me of my stalker who is operating a blog solely against me, trying to defame me with inaccurate information, false ideas and to ruin my reputation.

After seeing Rocco dealing with this crap, I felt much better. In fact, I felt flattered that there is someone else out there that wants to talk about me. Trying so hard to discredit me at every turn. Go ahead and do it. What you try to do will only make me stronger than ever. Just like Rocco.

Rocco, you rock!

Virginia Cavaliers Update: At 5-1, the Cavaliers will visit the Spiders here in Richmond on Sunday at 2 PM. I'm going to haul my parents to the game so that they will see why I am a fan of Virginia Cavaliers for the last 18 years.

When I was at Gallaudet, I occasionally took friends to Charlottesville, College Park, Morgantown and few places where the Virginia Cavaliers squared off against different teams. Suffice to say, many friends enjoyed themselves, I hoped.

They get to see the real side of me that was not often demonstrated in public. My friends who witnessed me at these games, you are free to describe how I behaved at these games.

Ooh. As for Chlms, my fag hag from Phoenix, Arizona, many years -- since '91 -- 14 years! My god! Christie, whom I affectionately called her as Chlms, and I first met when I barged in Cogswell Hall and I saw her walking on the second floor, I noticed that she looked like someone else that played for Virginia Cavaliers.

I exclaimed to her that she reminded me of Tammi Reiss (pictured on your right). She was perplexed then quickly dismissed me. And even today, I showed the pictures to her, she still dismissed the similar looks. Tammi Reiss played for four years with Dawn Staley at Virginia and they did it very well.

Ever since, Chlms and I became good friends, despite the fact that I probably gave her few ulcers. She did the same, though.

Anyway, it'll be my first time to see the Cavaliers play up front in 2 years. The last time I saw the Cavaliers play was in New York when they played Long Island. Needless to say, the Cavaliers routed Long Island.

Cheers,

R-

Mondays Suck, Especially in Winters!

Tookie Williams To Be Executed Tonight! I'm not a fan of Death Penalty but guess what? I am not passionate enough to care about Death Penalty to whine about it. But this is interesting. Tookie is scheduled to die tonight. It may set off the riots in Los Angeles. Or it may not. Why? Because he is the founder of LA Crips, a well-known violent gang in Los Angeles.

Once Again, Ty Giordano In Press: My dear friend, Ty Giordano, was mentioned in EntertainmentWeekly No. 853 December 9, 2005 on Page 37. It talked about his character being deaf and gay and that his character was in an interracial relationship with African-American man -- these three punches could make people talk about it. Perhaps it will, perhaps it won't. Only time will tell.

Wow! This Must Be So Good Christian Way! An anti-gay organization, Focus on the Family, based out of Colorado Springs, Colorado -- spreadheaded by Dr. James Dobson who once accused the Spongebob Squarepants of being gay. However, I was alerted to this article which nearly made me shot my snots out of my nose.

Apparently, a teenager wrote a letter to Dr. James Dobson about his struggles with homosexuality. Dr. Dobson responded back that he was touched by this teenager's struggles with homosexuality and went on to quote an anti-gay doctor to help this poor little teenager to deal with his homsexuality, check this:

Meanwhile, the boy's father has to do his part. He needs to mirror and affirm his son's maleness. He can play rough-and-tumble games with his son, in ways that are decidedly different from the games he would play with a little girl. He can help his son learn to throw and catch a ball. He can teach him to pound a square wooden peg into a square hole in a pegboard. He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger.

Boy, that is SO pervert of Dr. James Dobson to make a suggestion. His organization, Focus on the Family, is heavily pro-Xian group that contributed heavily to defame gays in general.

Any Suggestions About 2005 Deaf Blog Awards? You're more than welcome to email me at ridor9th@gmail.com

Israel & Iran? What do I make out of this? Israel reserved the right to defend itself after hearing the repeated threats by the President of Iran regarding wiping the nation of Israel off the map. If Israel bombed Iran's nuclear power plants, I would not complain of that at all. In fact, go for it. Iran has changed a lot in the last 25 years but is it good enough? No. So go ahead, Israelis.

Santorum Is Finished! And he knew it. The polls in Pennsylvania has been steadily widened between him and his challenger, Bob Casey. Rick Santorum shot his foot out when he wrote his autobiography with a bizarre tale that he took his dead baby home and passed it to their children. Eww. Rick Santorum is conservative Republican who is also Xian. Bleargh.

Anyway, Santorum claimed that people are against him these days. Actually, it was himself that did this.

Remember GW Bush's Katrina Comments? Remember the comments that GW Bush insisted that they will not lose New Orleans. Well, Congress just resisted to pay $32 billion dollars

Last Night ... I was livid that Desperate Housewives was not on at all. Then I stumbled upon PBS, remember ... I'm a fan of these channels: PBS, Discovery Channel, History Channel and National Geographic Channel. They had a program called, The Appalachians. I knew my father would watch it -- mainly because he was practically raised in that. So do I. Shortly, I was stunned to see the panorama view of Powell Valley where my father's family hailed. The panorama view took place on High Knob, just above the valley.


It was nice to see Powell Valley and High Knob being mentioned on that program.

Paramount Pictures Buys DreamWorks SKG: Ahh, for $1.6 billion, Paramount Pictures bought Dreamworks SKG -- expect the local amusement park, Paramount's Kings Dominion to spring new rides associated with War of the Worlds, Shrek, The Ring, Gladiator and yeah, A.I.

Why Deaf People Do Not Like Hospitals: When a friend told me about what happened in the hospital, it made me chuckle a little. It did not shock or surprise me at all. In fact, it is very common that many Deaf patients deals with this crap.

See the black folder? It was placed right next to the hospital bed where my friend laid herself in. In fact, she did not notice the folder until her friend told her to look at what it was written on that folder, right before she was wheeling into the surgery room.

This place happened in the heart of Washington, DC at Washington Hospital Center. AS many of you knew that Washington, DC is also home to one of the nation's largest Deaf Communities!

Here is the next picture.

It is scary to know that the registered nurses cannot spell "deaf" to start with!

Good thing my friend did not freak out before she was wheeling into the surgery room. Probably from the fact that she was used to the idea that the idiotic registered nurses would label Deaf patients as "death" or "dead" patients.

Go figure.

R-