Saturday, December 31, 2005

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-

Thursday, December 29, 2005

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-

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

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-

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

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-

Monday, December 26, 2005

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-