1.7.06 Tidbits

Religious Extremists, Y'all Deserved To Die! Few days ago, I mentioned about Rev. Pat Robertson and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad talking about Ariel Sharon's massive stroke as an act of God's punishment. Then I got amused after reading an entry by that pea-brained blogger who wondered if God (Allah) willed the building in Mecca to collapse and killed 76 people? Actually, it was sort of a tradition that someone has to die in Mecca annually but I digress. I'd have to say that God willed this building to burn down as well!

Good Riddance, Tom DeLay! Republican Conservative pig Tom DeLay resigned from his position as the House Majority Leader in the wake of Jack Abramoff's scandal. It appears that with the guilty plea by Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay is doomed, for sure.

How Nice Is He? This Republican conservative pig Jack Abramoff got the funds from Louisiana tribe for the purpose to lobbying and help the tribe to protect its casino. But Jack Abramoff pretty much robbed them and distributed the monies to many Republicans and Conservative-related SIGs. Abramoff did not really help the tribe when it comes to lobbying. Is that all? No, it was revealed that the emails from so-called compassion conservative pig Jack Abramoff has portrayed the Louisiana tribe as "monkeys", "morons" and "troglodytes". I rather to be Liberal where I can be honest with my feelings and say it out for the world to read, hear and see rather than to be a conservative where they manipulated and lied their way around to get what they wanted.

The Harveys: This is big news these days in Richmond other than the debacle of Marcus Vick's career. The Harvey family with two daughters were killed in their homes on New Year's Day. What startled the Richmond folks is that the Harveys were supposed to have a cookout at 2 PM with friends. Someone dropped the daughter off and met the mother in the morning. The mother was nervous, very pale and seemed to be jittery and gestured a sign to indicate that it's crazy here. The family friend assumed that the mother was talking about the illness she had few days prior to that. But apparently, the mother was trying to say that someone is holding them in the basement. Then few hours later, they were slaughtered in a brutal fashion that shocked the police officers. I'm curious about this -- My feeling is that it was someone else they knew who. Probably a friend or a relative. Only time will tell.

Who killed George Allen Smith IV? My bet is on this three men. And Royal Carribean Cruise Line should be indicted for negligence. I saw on ABC's PrimeTime which one PR director said it was "common" that each year, 10 people disappeared from the cruise lines without a reason. My first reaction was, "WTF?"

Connecticut versus Tennessee: Today, I watched the women's basketball game between Connecticut and Tennessee. Tennessee Lady Vols won 89-80. After that, I was bit bored and surfed on www.utladyvols.com -- I stumbled upon this interesting piece of information.

It appeared that Tennessee Lady Volunteers once played Tennessee School for the Deaf Lady Vikings on January 16, 1909 in Knoxville. Of course, that means what? 96 years ago. Unless if you want to be technical about it, it will be 96 years ago in two weeks. It baffled me to know that a college basketball team played a high school team, let alone a deaf team. But TSD managed to tie the game at 12 at UT. Yeah, TSD can claim that its lifetime versus Tennessee Lady Vols is 0-0-1. Don't believe me? Check this and look for Tennessee School for the Deaf.

Cool, is it?

Cheers,

R-

Bitch Session XVI

Disclaimer: The comments were written by many readers. I simply copied and pasted the comments on the entry. You may defend your turf by firing back. As always, names and email addresses will be removed. Only comments will be posted. Enjoy! You can compliment or offend anything or anyone else. Confidentiality is assured 100%.

I'm a frequent visitor to your blogsite- I have attached a picture of Alex- he think he's all that just because he looks good. My ass, wait until you see this picture!!!

Alexander Naro Abenchucan is KG wannabe. ;)

The Radfords are well-known for talking cheap. Thank God they aren't part of Gallaudet's Administration!

Where is the fucking etiquette manual for fucking leeches who throw themselves at someone else s boyfriend, especially when they know full well they just broke up less than a month ago? Where is the goddamn RESPECT???

Duva Boy. We all know that you beat Matt. We may be deaf but we aren't blind.

I hope your holidays went very well. Mine did not.

Awww, Marby. You always hurt and make fun of other people, but that's okay if you need to boost your own ego and self-esteem. After all, you're Poz!

Wait! You English not understand?

Fine, fine! Me explain simple:

Pity Marby. You insult hurt put-down people. You make self feel good.
Permitted, allowed. Why? You Poz! Now, you fucking understand?

Jason Gervase is the hottest man alive. One of those days I'm going to get into your pants.

What happened to the picture on the DeafDC.com website where Tamara Suiter showed off her fake boobs at December’s DPHH event? It was there but now it is gone!

I *hate* it when someone flirts with you and you think everything is coming along smoothly and BAM! They stop all communication and won t even tell you what went wrong. I actually feel kind of used like that. Ugh! Be fucking sincere, people! I am just so glad nothing happened...

Rob Voreck, you still alive these days? Amazing.

Angela Trahan is a cunt!

May 2006 brings the best out of y'all!

Steven Gagnon! You have lost a lot of weight and you look so SEXY. I want to fuck you so bad!! where are you, Steve???!!!

Of course! What did we all learn and expect after Katrina?! Land development IS hazardous to our livelihoods, health and homes!

Laurie Miskovosky: You should know that Jane Jonas has been telling the world that you guys are an item. If that is true, congratulations. If not ... oops!

It s so pathetic when deaf weirdos IM me and try to squeeze information about Rickums without identifying themselves. Get. A. Fucking. Life.

No, Paul Glaser, pranks are reserved for April 1st! Make sure you try
to do it the right time, not 3 months early!

It amused me that Tim Rarus would not mind if his kid is being implanted with CI. Whatever happened to his so-called Deaf identity that he boasted during his college years?

I wish people would acknowledge everything that is genuine within our community, instead of flabbergasting over the scandalous. By the way, buy your 'Know Thy Enemy' shirt today!

Whatever happened to CMRA? You guys should listen to Ridor in the first place.

Do NOT tell me shit like, "Let's get together for coffee!" if you re not gonna bother to show up or follow through on plans. Hate flakes like that.

Larry bitchin' about his feet hurting after walking all over NYC. If he lose those weight, he wouldn't be bitchin' about it. Get a grip!

Rebecca: SHAME ON YOU for fucking Joey. Jasmine was only your best friend?

Why is it that we always find out who our true friends are when we hit rock bottom? At least they pull us up back on our feet...

Buck, Buck, your attitude is what got you out in the first place. Now, next time, try to be nicer than normal. After all, you are not pretty one as you used to be.

The foreign language dept. at gallaudet has a huge loss of letting go Buck Rogers! One big mistake. Almost all foreign professors are hearing! What's up with that? What happened to 50/50 percent of hearing and Deaf fac and staff? Unspeakable language going on!!!

I dislike drunk guys who do not have any manners towards women! Valeriy from California, you are disgusting!

Sarah Pack, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. You'll be missed by many.

Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You, My Mona
Happy Birthday to You!
Now you're 27 years old!!!!!!!!
For ever your marsboer!:)

Katie Roberts: You really suck. Don't think what you say about one person and then act like there's nothing wrong when you talk to that person. Word gets around. You can't do this with new and old friends. And don't practice what you preach. None of it is true.

Also, since we all know how you're supposedly smarter than the entire lot of us. Fine, with your witty intelligence and how no one can be really better than you. We get it. You're smart, you've got brains. You exceed most of the people in the entire deaf community. No one can do a better job than you. Then, how come your blog is at the 7th grade level?

It bothers me to learn that Gallaudet's Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures only has 1 Deaf out of 11 members after the dismissal of Buck Rogers. Wake up, Gallaudet students! Hearing people still dominated Gallaudet faculty -- do something about it!

Congratulations, Jade on recognition of your Amos Kendall Award! You deserved it!

Well, that is it for the day. Seems to me that the Holidays brought the worst out of each other. Hope the dull month of January will bring more positive comments for the next Bitch Session on February 3, 2006.

Cheers,

R-

Marcus Vick, You're Pathetic!

I am not a fan of Virginia Tech Hokies. I am a fan of Virginia Cavaliers. Naturally, the Cavaliers were quick to define Hokie as an emasculated Hokie. Which means what? A castrated turkey, really.

Virginia Tech Hokies' football team seemed to hit the chord with its fans, media and school this week after its 35-24 triumph of Louisville Cardinals. In fact, the Virginia Governor-elect Tom Kaine said, "It made my heart sank," after seeing Virginia Tech's Quarterback Marcus Vick stomped his right feet on the left knee of Louisville's All-American Elvis Dumervil. The VT fans overwhelmed the local media in Roanoke, Richmond, Norfolk and its Hokies websites, demanding that Marcus Vick be reprimanded. (See the video of Marcus Vick stomping on Louisville Cardinal's Elvis Dumervil via the link!)

It was not the first time that Marcus Vick did something like that. In fact, I was surprised to learn that the VT fans seemed to be fed up with its players' behaviors, especially with Marcus Vick. The repeated calls to reprimand the players that deemed to behave like "thugs". In fact, the referee for 2005 Gator Bowl said that the behavior of VT players were pretty "out of control".

The image of VT football team is at stake, really. Consider this:

Sept. 2, 2003: Suspended for one game by coach Frank Beamer for undisclosed reason.
Feb. 17, 2004: Arrested without incident and charged with four misdemeanors -- three for allegedly allowing underage girls to have alcohol and one for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old at a January party. Released on $2,500 bond.
May 14, 2004: Convicted of three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $2,250. Found not guilty of having sex with the 15-year-old.
July 3, 2004: Charged with reckless driving and possession of marijuana after a traffic stop about 25 miles east of Richmond, Va. at 2:30 a.m. Police said he was clocked at 86 mph, 21 mph above the speed limit, and that the vehicle smelled of marijuana.
July 6, 2004: Indefinitely suspended from football team for off-field problems.
Aug. 3, 2004: Suspended from the university for the 2004 season on same day he pleads guilty to reckless driving and no contest to marijuana possession in New Kent, Va. Is fined $300, has driver's license suspended for 60 days and is placed in a first offender program on the marijuana charge, requiring that he perform 24 hours of community service, undergo drug counseling and random drug tests, and give up his driver's license for six months.
Sept. 13, 2004: In plea deal, pleads no contest to one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Receives 30-day suspended jail sentence, is fined $100, ordered to perform 24 hours of community service and stay away from the teenage girls.
Jan. 17, 2005: Cleared to rejoin football team and re-enroll at Virginia Tech.
Oct. 1, 2005: Leads No. 3 Hokies to 34-20 victory at West Virginia, and makes obscene gesture to fans who have been calling him names related to past problems throughout the game. He apologized a day later.
Dec. 17, 2005: Pulled over by police in Hampton, Va. for driving 38 mph in a 25 mph zone and driving with a suspended license.
Jan. 2, 2006: Leads Virginia Tech to a 35-24 win over Louisville in Gator Bowl. In the game, he stomped on the left calf of Cardinals All-American defensive end Elvis Dumervil, the NCAA sacks leader. Claims the incident was accidental and that he apologized to Dumervil, who denies ever receiving apology.
Source: The Associated Press

One VT fan snapped, "I rather for the football team to go 4-8 and have some dignity than this!"

Boom! Virginia Tech President Charles Steger has announced that the football team dismissed Marcus Vick today after the series of inappropriate behaviors. Marcus Vick shrugged and said, that it is no big deal. He's turning professional, anyway.

Either way, I compliment the school to kick Marcus Vick off the team ... permanently. People needs to know that people like Marcus Vick has no place in collegiate football to play as a thug. If you wanted to be a thug, go to The Bronx or East Los Angeles!

Cheers,

R-

Book of Daniel

The new comedy-drama series on NBC-TV called The Book of Daniel ignited a silly controversy by the American Family Association which piqued my curiosity to check the series out. Matt Drudge picked up the article about two NBC affilitates boycotting the series in Little Rock, Arkansas and Fort Wayne, Indiana. The American Family Association claimed that the TV series were making fun of Christianity.

Thanks to the brutal cold weather outside, I came home from the gymnasium and was in time for its brand-new series at 9 PM for its two-hour special show. I thought I'd watch the first 20 minutes to see what it is all about. The first 20 minutes hooked me up. In fact, the debut of that series probably made the AFA look like fools.

I came off being very impressed with The Book of Daniel. Once again, this show was created by a gay man, Jack Kenny. The popular show, Desperate Housewives, also was created by a gay man, Marc Cherry.

The series started off with a great cast of characters that has their worst tendencies: The Episcopalian Priest, Rev. Daniel Webster has an imaginary friend, and it is none other than Jesus Christ himself! Not only that, he has an addiction to vicodine, he kept on popping it all day long. The dialogues between Jesus Christ and Rev. Daniel Webster was great. I grinned when Rev. Daniel Webster joked with Jesus Christ, "I'm OK, but you're divine!" Jesus chuckled and slapped on Daniel's back and said, "Oh, I liked that!"

Reverend Daniel Webster's wife, Judith, is addicted to Martinis when problems arose, she always ran to get her fix of Martinis. Together, they have three children -- all are teenagers: Adam, Peter and Grace.

Again, this is interesting. Adam is Chinese who was adopted by the family -- that boy loves to chase after women and is now infatuated with a 15-years old girl. Peter is gay conservative (a future Log Cabin Republican, really!) whom the family seemed to enjoy teasing him about it. Grace inhaled weed and sells it as well. She was recently arrested for possession of marijuana.

Confusing? Actually, there is more to this, Judith's sister is lesbian. Daniel's mother has Alzheimers disease, Daniel's father, out of frustration that his wife do not recognize who he is, is having an affair with Daniel's boss at the Episcopalian Church! Daniel, as of now, is not aware that his father is humping his boss.

Oh, yeah, their housekeeper smokes weed outside of the house.

Actually, this show already spinned more subplots in less than 2 hours that can be addressed for a long time. Suddenly, two hours of shows are done. I wanted one more hour of that show.

You can bet that The Book of Daniel is going to be on my list each week along with Desperate Housewives and The Family Guy.

The Book of Daniel being on Friday night is not good idea -- but heck, you never know. It may surprise many. Or not.

Cheers,

R-

Sago Mine

For the last few days, I was not comfortable in talking about the Sago Mine Disaster which killed 12 coal miners and maimed 1 miner in Tallmansville, West Virginia. There was an explosion that ended up trapped 13 miners in the Appalachian mountains, the prospects of them surviving was slim because the levels of carbon monoxide was three times high, good enough to put people to sleep and die.

Then two days ago, my father told me that all miners were alive. I was surprised. Then the next morning, I woke up to learn that no, all miners except for one is dead. Why? Don't be so surprised, my friends.

This is the way of life for coal miners. In fact, the corporations that employs these miners enjoyed one huge advantage: good pay and subjugation. I know because I am part of that culture, whether you like it or not.

You see, my great grandfather was crushed to death in a coal mine not far from Norton, Virginia -- then few weeks later, my great grandmother killed herself because the property that my great-grandfather worked hard to provide a shelter for his family was merely owned by the company. The heartless company evicted my great-grandmother since the house is owned by the company. She had nowhere to go. It was pretty hard life. Totally unnecessary but that is what the corporations enjoyed the most: subjugate the lower class in the Appalachian mountains in the last 100 years.

Not only that, my father's father was also a coal miner and became the victim of Black Lung. He succumbed to that man-made disease at 67. One guy spoke on ABC's PrimeTime that it is sort of a culture for coal miners to stick together when bad things happen. He is right. Even I do not work in coal mines, a part of me cringed and groaned when I heard of people being trapped under the tons of Appalachian mountains. It is not right but that is part of coal miners' lifestyle, really.

It was disgusting to learn that the owner of Sage Mine has homes in Manhattan, Palm Beach and the Hamptons. And that he just issued his company to provide only $2 million to the victims and is hoping that people will donate money to help the families. Never mind that the owner of International Coal Group, billionaire Wilbur Ross, has not donated a cent to the families devastated by the disaster in West Virginia. But I was not surprised at all. That is what capitalism is all about. Subjugate others to enrich yourelf.

Not only that, the Bush Administration is responsible for what happened to coal miners in West Virginia, since the Bush Administration forbade the inspectors to be assertive and close the mines if needed. The Bush Administration has been cozy with the mine industry to relax the rules. And the result is what? We have this disaster that can be prevented in the first place.

Jack Spadaro, a retired employee of the Mining Health and Safety Administration, complained about the Bush Administration's negligence, "The inspectors have been forbidden from being as aggressive as they need to be, they can't go ahead and close the mine and use the authority that they have to do the job that they've been charged to do."

Was I ever surprised? No, not at all. When I heard that GW Bush expressed his sorrow about the deaths of 12 miners, I chuckled. That man is lying through his teeth. I'm curious to know whether if GW Bush is going to donate $ to the Sago Mine Disaster. Or will Wilbur Ross?

Or just ignore the coal miners in the next few weeks, like they always do for the last 100 years?

These men worked hard than Wilbur Ross or GW Bush did in their lifetime -- GW Bush spent 2 hours of his lunch breaks running up and down the park in Maryland. These men in coal mines are not allowed to work out for two hours during their lunch breaks.

Goes on to say how much wonderful this country can be.

Of course, it disgusted me to my core. And you should be.

R-

See Why I Hate Extremists?

In Virginia Beach, Virginia: The Xian nut Rev. Pat Robertson claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent massive stroke may be the sign of God's punishment for giving up the lands to Palestinians. Check this link for further information.

In Qom, Iran: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the radical Islamic extremist, hoped that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dies as well.

See any difference between two nutty religions? Not so much, to me.

Which is why I do not like religions at all. Their job is to defame each other as much as can be in order to prove which one is the best of all. Pathetic, is it?

On another hand, Jose Padilla finally made his first court appearance in three years (1,095 days) regarding his alleged participation with Al-Qaeda. Whatever happened to the Amendment VI for Jose Padilla?

According to the Amendment VI, it stands for:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

It is nice to know that the Bush Administration attempts to circumvent our very own constitution to subjugate the accused ones without providing them the right to have a speedy trial by any means.

Don't tell me that they are evil and they would not do that to us if given an opportunity -- but let's face the reality, we (our government) are supposed to be better than them. Therefore the government needs to put up with them and do the right thing. So far, we are no better than them. In fact, the Al-Qaeda got what they wanted us all along -- to be stuck in quagmire where they can say, "See! They are doing it to us!"

In order to be better than anyone else, we have to rise above the rest with dignity and pride. To deny Jose Padilla of his speedy trial, we simply shamed ourselves as Americans.

R-

2006 Seems To Be Cool So Far

1. I got in touch with a long-lost friend of mine, Will Sharpe.

2. Jack Abramoff's Scandal with Republicans. Democrats may have gotten $$ from Abramoff's associates but not from himself. Republicans did get money directly from Jack Abramoff.

3. My workouts are going well. I look forward to that magical number sooner than you think.

4. The anti-gay pastor from South Tulsa Baptist Church, Lonnie Latham, from Tulsa, Oklahoma was arrested for propositioning to a male undercover officer with oral sex at Habana Inn. You see, Lonnie Latham serves on the Executive Committee of Southern Baptist Convention and he criticized the gay people as "destructive lifestyle". Well, well, he was arrested at Habana Inn. Know what Habana Inn is? Check this link. I love it when I heard people like Lonnie get arrested. Such a hypocrite figure, but that is very common amongst the Xians, trust me.

5. No. 1 Southern Cal Trojans lost to No. 2 Texas Longhorns, 41-38 after they condescendingly led 38-26 with 6 and half minutes left. After that, it was all Vince Young as Texas pulled the red carpet from its floor. I'm so glad that USC Quarterback Matt Leinart was denied of picking up another trophy. And I look forward to read a blogger named BoiFromTroy whine about his so-called great team losing to Texas Longhorns. Congratulations to Texas Longhorns for doing something that not many teams did, beating Southern Cal in Los Angeles.

Cheers,

R-

Abramoff and Republicans

Jack Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist, made a plea bargain with the Department of Justice about his contributions to the political corruption in White House and the Capitol Hill. It is interesting to note that Jack Abramoff donated $261,918 to Republicans and special interests. And no dime was spared for Democrats.

In time, with the agreements of plea bargain, Jack Abramoff will identify the list of who's who that he contributed -- that will make Republicans squirm in their seats. Good.

It goes on to prove that Republicans are greedy and liars and will do anything to win the elections and votes -- if it takes money to do that, they will do it. For years, the Republicans accused the Democrats of many things and denied that they were equally bad. It is interesting to note that the majority of Republicans that were involved are Conservative pigs. When Abramoff's willingness to identify the participants -- we shall know whether if the Republicans were really patriotic or just greed who is in to enrich themselves with profits.

Did they vote for American's interests or just for themselves? My bet is that the majority of Republicans are doing it for themselves.

In that case if you want to read who's who that Jack Abramoff contributed, check this link.

UPDATE: Washington Post has the graphic that mentioned the list of Democrats being involved with the Jack Abramoff Scandal. But the majority of corrupted Congressmen are Republicans, though. They all have to go, but the problem is that the average American (in one poll, 71%) believed that it is typcal cultural of political corruption in Washington. Which indicated one thing: Will the Congressmen leave? Or will they fight to stay?

Stay tuned.

Cheers,

R-

Few Tidbits for 1.3.06

MICA Runway 2006: Ann Marie "Jade" Bryan launched the website of MICA Runway 2006 and she also announced the new scholarship in honor of Sarah Marie Pack. The MICA Runway 2006 will be held in New York on June 17, 2006. Check the link and be sure to read the press release and donate some to support Sarah Marie Pack's scholarship.

'Memoirs of Geisha' Criticized: Some hearing people are amused that Deaf people complained about hearing actors trying to portray as Deaf characters in many films. We try our best to educate or bash them that it is inappropriate to use hearing people to act as Deaf persons in the films and television shows. Some hearing people insisted that there are not enough Deaf actors to portray one. Excuses, excuses and excuses!

Well, this particular film called Memoirs of Geisha, there is an uproar about using Chinese actors to portray Japanese characters. Many people were offended that Chinese Director chose Chinese actors because they claimed that there are not "good" Japanese actors to fill the roles! If you try to google the title of that film and add controversy on the search engine, you'll see many blogs talking about it. But among one critic is Deaf himself, check this link for further information.

Sycamore Street? There was an article featuring about Sycamore Street in Staunton, Virginia. That particular street sits right behind the campus of Mary Baldwin College. It is unique neighborhood. A good friend of mine, Kevin, still lives on that street along with his family. Must be dull day for Staunton News Leader to mention about Sycamore Street!

Vote for Ronda Jo Miller! To some of you who do not know who Ronda Jo Miller is, she was the best basketball player (male of female) in Gallaudet University's history. She averaged 24.4 points per game and 14.4 rebounds per game. I had the pleasure of watching her play for four years at Gallaudet, including the most dominant game I ever had witnessed, Miller's 38 points and 13 rebounds against No. 2 College of New Jersey in the second round of the NCAA Tournament which Gallaudet shocked TCNJ by 10, 81-71 in Ewing, NJ.

Today, Ronda Jo Miller is still No. 1 in NCAA Division III in career rebounding leader and No. 3 in career scoring leader. And the NCAA is now conducting the votes to select the players to be part of NCAA Division III Women's Basketball 25th Anniversary Team. Ronda Jo Miller deserved this spot. She was one incredible player ever to play for Gallaudet's hardwood floor. Please pick Ronda Jo Miller in this link. Hat tip to Christian.

Confidential to Tim Kettering: Still bitter at me just because I offended your prick friends many years ago, pizzaface? Get a spine and move on.

Cheers,

R-

Two Deaf Schools Boycott Barry Strassler

California School for the Deaf-Riverside's Athletic Department has joined Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf's Athletic Department in protesting the owner of DeafSportZine by declining to share the reports and game highlights and to "opt out of the national sports rating system", according to DeafWeekly News' January 12 2005 edition. The owner of DeafSportZine is none other than Barry Strassler.

Citing the lack of professionalism, Barry has engaged in threatening and degrading behavior towards CSDR's Athletic Director, Len Gonzales. He mentioned, "What disturbs us the most, is that this is a one-man show and that you are incapable of being unbiased, fair and nonjudgmental."

I have to applaud Len Gonzales and Randy Shank for standing up to Barry Strassler. It is an open secret in the Deaf Community that Barry Strassler tends to behave inappropriately towards people that disagreed or even attempted to discuss over a simple thing.

In fact, one person in California has termed Barry Strassler "Strassholer". That is how bad it was/is for many.

I once had a spat with Barry Strassler when I suggested that he picks ten Athletic Directors of deaf schools to do the polls, you could see his face turning red as he bombarded me with insults instead of thanking me for making a simple suggestion. Later, I learned from different people who underwent similar experiences of dealing with Barry's malice.

This is the reason why CSD-R did not win the National Championship this year after its 10-1 run. So DeafSportZine's pick of Maryland to win it all is not really credible, to say the least.

I'm sure there are many readers who complained of Barry Strassler's tendencies. If you want to share your experiences with Barry Strassler, you may do so in the comment section.

Cheers,

R-

2006 Starts With A Bang!

It appears that 2006 is off to a good start, at least for me.

A long-lost friend of mine -- since 2000 -- has resurfaced and got in touch with me last night. You do not know how excited I am to get an email from Will Sharpe. Suffice to say, we have to catch up with everything else in our lives.

Last night, I went to the NYE party. It was alright as can be. Except that Richmonders tend to smoke. They think it is cool to smoke. It is not. They pulled their pack of cigarettes and pulled the cigarette as if it was the coolest thing to do. Fuck it. It sucks. We need to change that attitude. I rather for you to snort cocaine than to inhale these shit because snorting cocaine does not affect my air that I breathe! Leaving the party en route to Hopewell was surreal. I never saw a cop -- normally, the NYE parties tend to have roadblocks where the cops employ the sobriety tests around the country.

Speaking of that, few weeks ago, I freaked out when I left the bar -- I was not drunk but I drank enough. The road that I drove on was one-way and it led us into the sobriety test roadblock. I quickly took the mint candy and inserted in my mouth. And waited for the cops to come to my car window. I told them that I'm Deaf. They told me to go ahead and leave -- apparently, they did not want to handle Deaf drivers or that they might think Deaf people do not drink at all? So ... either way, whew!

Another good news is that ... the Insight Cinema has announced that they will show the open captioned film of ... Brokeback Mountain. But when and where? It will be determined at a later date. I'm still waiting for it. They better do it soon, I do not want to wait for months. Hat tip to Deaf258.

I got this funny email from McFly regarding this link (be sure to scroll down to find "Just Criminal"). It makes you wonder about Carl Wayne Denney, really. They did not include that infamous John Wayne Bobbitt who got his dick chopped off by Lorena Bobbitt in Manassas, Virginia some years ago as well. By the way, Carl, Happy New Year! Hat tip to McFly.

I checked www.deaf.com few days ago when someone told me about it -- guess who the author is? Matthew S. Moore. I was irritated that this person included the religion on its website but chose not to mention about Deaf GLBT community at all ... despite the fact that everyone knew that the author himself is gay. Is he ashamed? Or what?

I'm hoping that my conservative Libertarian friend, DowntownLad, will not quit blogging. I'm quite addicted to his blogsite. Even though he is conservative in many areas, I have enormous respect for this guy. I really enjoyed his snappy comments from time to time. He feels that being occupied with blogging has consumed his time with dating life. I could not blame him, really. DowntownLad, I would suggest you to limit your time with your blog instead of quitting. I think I'll miss DL's presence if he just stop it all together.

Any comments, positive or negative, for Bitch Session XVI is due on Friday, January 6, 2006. E-mail me at Ridor9th@gmail.com -- of course, confidentiality is assured at all times.

I want Sonny Wasilowski to read this: Virginia Cavaliers 34, Minnesota Golden Gophers 31. I emailed him of this score, so far, no response from this Minnesota guy. Maybe he is a loser? ;-)

As for 2005 Deaf Blog Awards, it was no secret that my blogsite won three categories in Best Eavesdropping Entertainment, Best Politics and Best Deaf Blog. I kinda knew that my blog would dominate two of three categories. And I have come to this decision -- that the next 2006 Deaf Blog Awards, I will continue to moderate the contests but will not participate in that as well. I firmly wanted the Deaf Blog Awards to be neutral as well as pick up some sponsorships to legitimize the contests once and for all. I plan to include several people to be part of the contest team who can contribute to the development of this concept for the Deaf Communities across the world.

I appreciate the last-minute support to set up the 2005 Deaf Blog Awards. It is successful, pretty much. Thanks so much.

I can't believe I'm saying this but I dearly hope that Southern Cal loses to Texas in Rose Bowl, I'm tired of Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Nick Lachey and Pete Carroll's attitudes -- they think they own everything else. I want the Longhorns to shatter their spirits. It would be so delicious to see Matt Leinart fucked his last collegiate game ever. And I'd smirk at that BoiFromTroy for talking incessantly about USC's successes. When you are at the top all the time, there is nothing to go but down. And that is where I wanted to see USC -- go down.

Cheers,

R-

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-