Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Oh, ye poor Astros & Cardinals!

Oh, my poor lost Astros and Cardinals -- the professional baseball teams embarking on a trip to World Series are not getting any attention in the media. The Astros and Cardinals are waving their hands frantically to get some attention to them -- that they are in the finals of NLCS. But nobody cared. The media is saturated with the mystical rivals between Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees in the ALCS.

The rivals between these teams are ridiculous. I am not a fan of both teams, but I really feel for Boston Red Sox who struggled to reach the finals of World Series, only to be blocked repeatedly by New York Yankees since 1918. That is not 20 years ago. That is 86 years ago. Of course, I'm going to root for BoSox just to see what it's going to be like in Boston when they finally beat New York. Of course, just to see Char's reactions when the Yankees finally lost.

The passion between these two teams are ridiculous. One BoSox fan admitted that he sacrificed a goat, trying to break a curse that was started 86 years ago. That is pretty silly, don't you think? But that is how it is.

I was at a local pub, Dempsey's Pub which caters to Irish folks in Manhattan. Last month, there were some games between BoSox and Yankees. When BoSox hits for a home rum, you cannot know how loud the pub endured with these Irish folks -- even for me as Deaf person, I was startled by their passion.

You know, when the professional football team, New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, its fans went out on the streets, they chanted, "YANKS SUCK! YANKS SUCK! YANKS SUCK!" Why did they mention Yankees in the football celebration?

This simply proved that baseball is the American institution, a level above the professional football, like it or not.

Like someone said earlier, if the BoSox finally beats NY Yankees in the ALCS, the riots on the streets in Boston is going to make the recent victory of Super Bowl like "your grandmother's tea party". I agreed with that particular person.

So this time, I'm going to root for BoSox just to see how it turned out in the end. You know me, I love the drama.

I'm not fan of professional baseball -- but I enjoyed hearing the tensions between these two teams. As of now, you know what will happen to a wet towel when you keep on twisting for a long period of time? Eventually, it will snap.

So, the curse shall be ... like that.

R-

Gotta Love These Norwegians!

The Norwegians bought the advertisement page in The Washington Post and it's to tell the swing voters to say "no" to Bush and his foreign policy.

I got few friends from Norway and the most important of all is Berna, my Eurotrash pal -- she's from Norway as well.

Their website is clever -- I love it! Here is the link: www.tellhim.no

Har har! Their flag colors are dark blue and red -- so I'm honoring 'em.

Way to go, Norwegians!

R-

You Go, Girl!



I learned that Stefan LeFors is the quarterback of Louisville Cardinals, who is slated to play against No. 3 Miami Hurricanes on Thursday night. I hope Stefan LeFors will be able to lead the Cardinals to an upset.

Why him? Stefan is the CODA, thus I'm inclined to root for him to beat Miami Hurricanes.

To Hearies, CODA means 'Child of Deaf Adults'.

Stefan's parents are Deaf from Baton Rouge. He also had a Deaf brother, Eric who played the quarterback at Gallaudet for a long time.

Stefan is hot, I admit. That is a bonus to root for him. Stefan mentioned that the deaf community in Baton Rouge knew him and probably is rooting for him -- he is tad wrong on this subject. Many deaf communities in the nation are going to root for Stefan LeFors, because he is one of us.

Beat Hurricanes! Go Stefan!

R-

Monday, October 11, 2004

Absurdity Is Jason Lamberton's Middle Name

The comments by Oscar reflected on his narcissism and his lack of knowledge beyond himself. Oscar's arguments merely focused only on his needs, himself and his surroundings. His perception of welfare programs are appalling. Yes, some people abused the system. But there are millions of people who depended on the welfare programs.

I work in mental health services, I can attest that the monthly checks the clients received are incredibly vital to their survival. Most of the people who has mentally illness has a difficult time in getting jobs, let alone hold the job for months or years! Is it their fault? No, they do not know what is wrong with them. Most of them were raised in a dysfunctional household -- they were never disciplined, taught or explained by their parents. So when they stepped into the real world, they were completely blown away. To make things worse, they find out that they have mental illness. It is such a struggle to maintain their living standards. I will not describe my job position but the whole point is that, there are millions of people who cannot hold a decent job. They are unable to start, and roll their sleeves and compete against millions of persons who holds the BA degrees in search of a decent job -- they are completely at an disadvantage in this capitalistic society. If not for welfare programs, they might have to work double or triple shifts at fast food restaurants, flipping burgers and ... yet, still cannot meet their monthly bills!

It was never a case of spoon-feeding as Jason or Oscar would like it to be -- the truth is that Oscar and Jason were spoon-fed more than the recipients of welfare programs. These programs were placed in to facilitate the solution somehow and somewhere in the middle! Oscar and Jason abused the system, simply put.

When Oscar said, "just my 2 cents. all lofty aspirations aside--i know i'd want to grab that spoon and feed myself." What does it says? Only for himself. What about millions of people who do not have BA degrees, have mental illness and unable to hold jobs? Should we say, "Too fucking bad, roll your sleeves and look for the job!"

To say that the senior Bush was responsible for the passage of Americans with Disabilities Act was an attempt to distort the facts -- it was the Democrats-dominated Congress who overwhelmingly passed the ADA and the insiders warned the senior Bush that if he vetoed the bill, it will make him look bad.

Jason, I know you and your family -- your parents are well-educated, they spoon-fed you from day one, lavishing you with everything, preparing you for what you have on the table -- the result is that you lived a sheltered life. Or should I say 'Spoiled All-American brat'?? You do not live the way many millions persons struggled to live -- your parents helped you to buy a home. Millions of people do not have the luxury of that, including mine. You see, you were pretty much spoon-fed from day one. I work with a large group of disadvantaged people. It is mind-boggling to work with them everyday. You work at a liberal arts university, you study at a good school, you got a home of your own. Did you ever volunteer or work with mental ill people, preferrably ... say ... DeafREACH in DC?? Working at CSD-F does not count, thank you very much.

Keep in mind, it is not about the case of jealousy, it never was. I care less if you bought a house -- but I do care about the struggles of others.

The problem with this country is that lots of people tends to think about future, future and themselves rather than to help each other and deal with the situations right now.

Jason, about the Log Cabin Republicans. They do not hate Bush. IN fact, they endorsed him, defended him and supported him until Bush proposed the amendment to the Constitution to ban the same-sex marriages. That is where the LCR decided not to endorse that ignorant prick. There is no hatred in this, Jason. Don't distort this, thank you very much. You are right that the marriage amendment will never pass, but the whole point is that Bush endorsed it. He fuckin' endorsed the ban on marriage amendment.

Kerry does not support the same-sex marriages, but he supported the civil unions. Bush has none of that, he has been kissing the shit-stained asses of right wing religious nuts.

The reasons why many Deaf students used SSI rather than to work in local businesses is that the businesses would hire hearing people to work as waiters, whereas Deaf persons would be relegate to the kitchen and wash dishes. Meanwhile, these waiters get tips, the workers in the kitchen do not. So it is sensible to rely upon the 'monthly check' to support themselves in college, though.

Again, not all Americans are suitable for higher education. They try their best all the time. You just had an easy time running around with your parents standing behind you all the time -- millions do not. Consider yourself lucky, Jason.

Not all Americans are like you or Oscar -- when the shit hits the fan, you probably cannot tell which one is reality.

Benjamin Franklin once said that freedom itself is not worth it when the rights are being put aside in the name of security. The whole point is that Bush captured the opponents and held them for years without the legal counsel and crafted the Patriot Act to erode our rights -- then our freedom is meaningless. It is inhumane, simply put.

If I was in control of the country, the first thing I will do is to take Bush to a dungeon. Strip him naked, make him lay on the floor, chain his arms and legs to each corner -- ensure that his legs and arms are wide open. Then release the thousands of spiders onto his body for hours. And deny him the right to have a legal counsel. That would be a great experience for Bush. Let's see how he enjoys that!

R-

$$ for Nanc!

Two years ago, Nanc and I had a long chat about everything else, really. One time, she nearly made me blow the coca-cola soda out of my nose when I heard this story.

It was during the Super Bowl party in Baltimore, Nanc participated in a contest that will give money to the winner who predicted the right score or very close score. In the second half, Nanc felt bad about her friend, I believe it was Sharon but I'm not sure, who cheered that she won the prize with few minutes left in the 4th quarter.

Suddenly, an interception occured during the game in the last minute -- and scored a touchdown. That means what? This girl just lost the contest. She was depressed and felt sick. Nanc felt bad and tried to console (Thanks, Amy!) with her.

About an hour after the game, she drove her SUV truck to her parents' house. She got paged by Barb to check the scores (hers and the actual score). During the drive, she attempted to read the actual score with her predicted score -- but she cannot because her light in the jeep was broken. She had no choice but to wait until the intersection where there are stop lights. When Nanc found a red light on the intersection light, she quickly hopped out of her SUV truck and ran into front of her truck to use the headlights to read the actual score and the predicted score.

She won. Nanc blinked and read it again. Nanc won some hundreds of dollars. She won.

She jumped and celebrated wildly by her truck on the intersection while people stared at her like she's crazy. Nanc rushed back to the house to collect the prized money.

Boy, is she crazy as usual?

R-

Stuff To Blah, Blah and Blah

Every Sunday night, I seem to set up a schedule to hang out in my living room! I thought the television programs on Sunday are the best of all week-long. I don't watch Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I'm frequently out on these days, though. I usually watch The Simpsons, Malcolm In The Middle, Arrested Development, Boston Legal and now, Jack & Bobby.

I love the mother of Jack & Bobby. When the mother fixed up a sandwich for a homeless dude, Jack asked his mother, "Great. When was the last time you made a sandwich for me?" His mother stared outside, waving at the homeless dude who just left -- she didn't flinch nor turn her head to Jack, "When was the last time you ate cat food?" That was a good punch line.

I surfed Lookingforsam.com, and I was certainly impressed with his thoughts and his comments about Sam, his great-great uncle. It is evident that Sam could be gay. The classic symptons are there but none of us will ever know. Of course, I'm gonna add Sam to the hearies category.

Related to the blogs, I stumbled on my cousin's friend's blog, I find it heartening that there are some guys who are still infatuated with their loved ones even after they got married. I can find the affection in his words in regard to his wife -- and the best thing is that Mike is hot firefighter. Nice to know that there are still romantic guys out there, doing the hard labor and maintaining some kind of an erection for his babe.

Speaking of marriage, I forgot to mention that in Springfield, Massachusetts en route back to Manhattan from my vacation in New Hampshire, I purchased a local newspaper to keep myself entertained in a 4-door sedan car. I stumbled on the weddings section and was stunned to see a picture of two men together as a part of wedding announcement. That was so cool of the local papers to do that and guess what? The sky did not fall when they legalized the gay marriages in that state.

I watched the DVD flick called "His Secret Lover" last Sunday morning. The movie was made in Italy and it rattled me a lot. It talked about a widow who had to deal with the sudden death of her husband, only to find out that her husband had a 7-year long affair with another man. The death scene which the husband was struck by an automobile was absolutely horrifying. Something to VEE VEE. But the whole film is good, it left few questions unanswered -- but again, what do you expect from European films? They always left few questions unanswered. Hey, y'all Eurotrash, don't do that to us. I hated that!!

Some people asked me why I tend to have "9th" on my email addresses and AIM/YIM. It is because my family members seem to have some kind of attachments with nine. Many of my family members' birthdays are on 9th. Mom's birthday is on October 9th, my younger brother's July 9th, mine is November 9th (hint, hint). So you can see why I attached 9th on my email addresses and AIM/YIM. So you now know why.

Virginia Cavaliers football team jumped to No. 6 in the country after defeating Clemson, they will travel to Tallahassee to deal with No. 7 Free Shoes University. I'm very worried. I rather to be ranked less than FSU, to give us the edge to beat them somehow.

Today is National Coming Out Today. Go and OUT someone else and cause a drama! It is much fun that way. I came out in December '94 -- when I returned home from Gallaudet, and my mother was not happy that I took a course called "History of Africa" under Dr. Joseph Kinner. She is pretty narrow-minded, ignorant woman when it comes to races and racism. She said, "Why study black people?" I said, "I"m not studying black people, I'm studying the history of Africa."

"But Africa is hotbed of blacks."

"No, not entirely true."

"But the television proved that already!"

I sighed. But that is Mom. We were arguing about it in Arby's Restaurant -- Roast Beef sandwiches, I love 'em -- then a hot redneck guy walked by me. I looked at him, he turned to look at me. Bingo, he has to be gay -- suddenly, Mom slammed her hand on the table.

"Why did you look at him? Who is he? Are you gay?"

"Yes, I'm gay. I think he's cute. I don't know who he is. I just got here from the Amtrak station, gimme a break!"

Mom flinched and said, "I knew it! I knew it! God will send you to Hell -- "

"Go ahead and send me to Hell, I don't think I want to deal with people who are against me."

"But you cannot tell Dad about it, he'll be angry. Pissed off. Blow up at you!"

"I will tell Dad, watch me."

An hour later, I told Dad. Dad was watching TV. He sighed and verbally talked to himself, "I knew it. A fruit."

After that, nothing happened. It's back to square one. One day, Mom would ask me if I have a boyfriend? One day, Mom would say that I'm going to Hell. One day, Mom said it's OK. Just like a roller coaster. But Dad, nothing ever happened out of this. He never asked me if I'll marry anyone else ever again. Thank God for that. There is nothing worse in the universe than having your parents asking you when will you marry. Such a guilt trip. By coming out, it's done deal. No more questions about marriages. Unless the government legalized the gay marriage.

R-

The Actor and the Athlete

Few weeks ago, I mentioned that Petru was dead because his neck was of no use to him any longer. I knew he does not want to live the way Christopher Reeve do, mainly because he cannot use his signs while being paralyzed from the neck below. He's better off dead. And Christopher Reeve was still quadriplegic when he dropped dead last Friday or Saturday. Thanks to Christopher, his doctor is rich, siphoned his money based on false hopes that Chris, someday, will walk.

Now he shall wheel down to the coffin. One question: Can his wheelchair fits in his coffin as well?

One lame joke: "It is a bird! No, it is not a bird! It is a plane! No, it is not a plane! It is Superman! No, it is not Superman! It is some guy in a wheelchair flying!"

Ken Caminiti is dead at 41. Who is he? He used to be a professional baseball player. When he first joined the league, he looked hot. He was perfect. But he shot the steroids up and he became some kind of hideous monster. He hooked up with blow all the time. Let this be a lesson to all MLB players. Go ahead, do it. And be like Ken Caminiti!

R-