Feedback Friday 2

“Tell me why is it I’m digging your scene?”- The Blow Monkeys

Okay folks, this is only the second installment of Feedback Friday, but boy is it inclusive. Just consider it a holiday edition. I hope you all have a great Independence Day weekend. Now, without any further yammering on my part, I present to you, Feedback Friday 2:

Feedback for Tuesday, 6/27:

Hey buddy!!! Have a good day. Couldn’t see the picture, was it Kelly’s flag?
Posted by john

John: You’re not the first that hasn’t been able to see pictures at my blog on various occasions. This would be another reason I’m thinking of moving to ClearBlog. Yes, indeed, it was Kelly’s picture.

Thanks for the reminder, Brad. I am going to be out as much as possible. I’m a married bisexual guy. And I’m proud of it.I want to be out to straights. Out to gays. Out to anyone who thinks they can define anyone except him or herself. So that I can show other people it’s OK to be proud of who you are. Have a good day.
Posted by Flip

Flip: I’m really glad you understood and appreciated exactly what I wrote on this day. I did write that we should all be out as much as possible. That does not mean to for one to put their marriage or job, etc., in jeopardy. It means just to let folks know, even if it means in a subtle way, that we are a larger thread in the fabric of life than they ever could have imagined. You know what, Flip? I think you’re a great example of a gay man. You’re finding your way as a person and trying to do what is best for you and your family. Soldier on, friend.

You said it perfectly Brad! Hugs, Kevin
Posted by Hypoxic

Kevin: What can I say? Your flattery gets you everywhere with me! Thanks for always being on my side.

Feedback for Wednesday, 6/27

I am so happy I have dogs girl dogs at that! Damn bird haha!
Posted by Spencer

Spencer: Be damned grateful that you have dogs. If anyone ever asks you if you want a cockatoo, tell them “HELL NAW!”, and immediately run the other way!

You heard what I did to my cell phone… I can understand your anger Bro…
Posted by Spider

Spider: Our similarities constantly amaze me. There really is something to being born on the third of, um, our month? (Didn’t wanna just throw it out there, you know!) I’m really hoping to see you soon!

Oh mister, I understand your rage. You, however, handled yourself much better than I would have. Had a bird done that to me…mama would have had a brand new feather boa!
Posted by Earl

Earl: I must say that Elvis has been the biggest test of the theory of unconditional love that I’ve ever experienced in my life. Come to think of it though, he would make your mother an awfully nice boa. Maybe we can talk?!

Oh gawd, sometimes pet love is a pain in the arse. My dogs have eaten hundreds of dollars worth of shoes, ruined furniture, floors, rugs… but they outgrow it. Sounds like birds never do. BAD BIRD, ELVIS! BAD!
Posted by goblinbox

Mush: You are exactly right. He will never outgrow the “terrible twos”. I’ve read that cockatoos do tend to get more docile and calm in their twenties. I don’t believe it though, my neighbor has one that is twenty-eight and he is still a wild-child. Oh, and I know you’re missing your babies right now. Doggie-kiss to you!

Hmmmm…perhaps I am better off with my stuffed animals? Glad to hear that there wasn’t any fried “chicken” that night!
Posted by Michael

Michael: You just don’t know! Stick with the stuffed kind. They are almost as lovable and far less trouble.

see…that’s why i call those birds “lunch.” as for a picture of the miscreant, isn’t that him on your shoulder in the picture on your blog? makes me glad we have fish. i don’t wake up with scales on my pillow, puddles on my keyboard and they tend to leave the furniture alone.
Posted by dykewife

Naomi: Yep, that’s a picture of the a-hole, right there on my shoulder. I was going to post a larger, more angelic picture of the little devil!

How did he get to the CD drive? Yeah, I would have been so pissed I would have killed the damn bird. Which is one of the reasons I enjoy NOT having a pet right now.
Posted by Larry

Larry: He got to the CD drive by pulling the front cover off of the computer first and then going to town with his beak. It will no longer open and close. Eh, I wanted to kill the little bastard, I just couldn’t. Hell, I have problems with killing bugs.

I’m not sure exactly how I would have reacted – but I’m fairly certain it wouldn’t have been pretty. Sorry to hear that all your hard work got destroyed. Good luck with trying to get things back to “normal”. Just a thought … maybe Elvis is sexually frustrated and needs a mate
On second thought – think of how much damage TWO birds could do.
Posted by Hypoxic

Hypoxic: These birds actually behave better without a mate. They consider their provider a surrogate type of mate. Besides, Elvis did have a mate with his previous owner which he continually attacked. It did not work out at all and the poor girl bird was given to a better home.

Brad, you know how I can definitely relate to your reaction. I am so sorry you went through that. Pets are great, and then they are evil. Sounds like you have Damien.
Posted by Gumby

Gumby: You know, I thought about you after the total meltdown was over and understood exactly the place you were in a few weeks ago. But, I suppose I am only human as well. (Despite all evidence to the contrary!)

Brad,I’m really sorry to hear about this. Hope your blood pressure has stabilized now. It sounds like upon his escape Elvis knew exactly where to attack to cause you the most pain and suffering. He is smart. And a life span of 60 years so he potentially will always be with you. Reminds me of….a child. Love and hate, evil and good, all in one little irresistably appealing and repulsive package. Well, at least you won’t have to pay for his college education. Take care.
Posted by Flip

Flip: Thanks for the concern, I was truly exhausted after all of this. I suspect it was because my blood pressure was indeed so high. Justin thinks the reason he decimated my computer and not his is because the damned bird is jealous of the time that I spend on it. (Even though many times he’s on my shoulder while I’m at it.) Go figure.

Think of this(the cost not the destruction)as having a child.Can this bird open doors?
Posted by brian

Brian: When he starts opening doors, he dies! (He does scare cats, though.)

Pets are funny beings.But you can’t help but love them.I wonder if he was doing this for lack of attention or if he was angry at you? Or is just part of their nature?
Posted by john

John: This is just a part of their nature. This is their way of keeping busy. Cockatoos are constantly doing something. But, you’re right. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, I love the baby bird madly.

Feedback for Thursday, 6/28

Brad, have you tried using a image hosting service like Photobucket? It’s what I use and I’ve never had any problems with it. I’d be glad to explain it. It’s pretty simple.
Posted by Larry

Larry: Thanks for all of your help. (Larry and I had a few email conversations Thursday after his initial comment.) For those that don’t know, when I first started my blog, Larry was right there to help with any questions I had. He’s still helping, just like Thursday, when I run into a brick wall. (Larry calls me “tiger”, as well. It makes me feel good even when I’m frustrated to hell and back!) If you aren’t reading the Love Lemming, perhaps you should, it’s a great read from a good guy.

I will definitely buy the book and see the movie, too. Thanks Anne and Brad for raising our awareness of this grim situation.
Posted by Flip

Flip: It was great to be able to use my space to give Anne a voice. It was a surprise for her, because I didn’t tell her in advance that I was using her comment. Justin and I are going to find time to go see this movie. Everyone that sees it seems to be motivated by it.

i use imageshack. it’s always worked for me.anyway, onto activism…there’s a reason why i quote chief arvol looking horse…”Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind. Did you think you were put here for something less?” i truly believe that we all are here to decide the future of humankind. though our actions and inactions we influence how the world works. personally i’m going for a nicer place.
Posted by dykewife

Naomi: I really love the quote. Thank-you.

Brad–Thank you for the big posting. Absolutely–friend. We’ve maintained our friendship since 1986. I just found out today that Dana Rohrabacher is a man, which demonstrates just how uninformed I’ve been. Jimmi, I read your comments on the film. What a wonderful entry. You write beautifully. I thank y’all for your warm reception. You know, I’m so computer backward that I had never read a blog before this one.
Posted by Anne

Anne: It was my pleasure to help. I stumbled across something concerning the environment that I’m going to post next week. It’s gonna blow your mind… So stay tuned. By the way, we’ve been friends since ‘87. It’ll be twenty years next September. I wouldn’t want the lovely people that visit here to think I would lie about my age!

And now, a general comment to Sorted Lives: I can’t believe you got a blog up at Clear Blog that quickly. Dude, you work fast!

Once again, this post appears in its entirety at my other blog: http://clearblogs.com/southernexpressions/.

A message from Anne…

Late last night, I received a comment from my friend Anne, in California. With a slight amount of editing, it appears here in its entirety.

I am so sorry. That is one smart, canny bird. I know how much you love him. Maybe he should live outside?

Changing the subject–have you gone to see Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” yet? If not, I can’t encourage you strongly enough to go while it’s still at the Malco 4. It has truly changed me. I’m reading the newspaper every day now. I wrote to Fabian Nunez (assembly speaker in CA) to congratulate him for sponsoring AB32. It would require that all companies report their carbon dioxide levels and bring than back to 1990 levels by 2012. I expressed that this is too little and too late. Seems to me a year to report CO2 levels would be more than generous, and the levels need to be brought back to 1970 levels, not 1990. I also wrote to the Governator. ( I never would have believed that I would ever write to him.) I wrote to Dana Rohrbacher, my district representative. I really like her and she has been one of the only Democrats to speak out against a lot of this administration’s policies. In my opinion, Democrats have been skulking cowards for quite awhile now. I’ve also written a letter to Al Gore offering to volunteer to work in any capacity, to aid in his work to save the Earth. The movie has changed me from being a disillusioned and apathetic citizen to becoming an active and vocal citizen.

Please, please y’all, go see the movie. If it’s not playing anywhere near you , you could buy the book. All profits are going back into raising public awareness and inspiring the populace to demand change. If you haven’t watching the news in the last week: Bush’s own commission (headed by Michael Mann) has returned the finding that scientists have reached consensus that global warming is a fact, and that it’s being caused by people. In addition, a case is pending before the Supreme Court (to be heard this fall) that would require the EPA to enforce the Clean Air Act of 1970.

-Posted by Anne (Brad’s freshman English teacher) And I might add friend, as well.

I haven’t seen the movie yet Anne, but I certainly intend to go soon. You are not the only one to recommend this movie to me. My fellow blogger and friend, Jimmi at Jimmi Chronicles, saw the movie and was moved, as well.

I’m proud that the film has brought out something of an activist streak in you. It’s exciting for me to see you so passionate about a cause. As soon as I see the film, you can expect my thoughts to appear here.

You know, I’ve been an Al Gore fan for many years, and he would have been my choice for President in 1992, (I think I recall telling you this at the time.) although I did come to adore Bill Clinton. Al didn’t run in the 1992 primary, but he did in ‘88. What a shame.

Anyway, thanks for your (first) comment. I’ll be seeing more of you here on my porch, I suspect.
Love,
Brad

I’m really upset that I still cannot upload pictures to Blogger. I’m SO frustrated, people!

This development has me so dejected, I’ve created an alternate site for my blog: http://clearblogs.com/southernexpressions/ just click on the link, there you will find the complete text from this post and the picture I would have posted here if it were possible.

Keep in mind, I just started working on this alternate site yesterday, so it is not fully complete, but it is very similar to what you are used to seeing over here.

Is there a move in the near future for SOEX? Maybe. We’ll have to see. I cannot continue being this frustrated. Blogger is taking all of the fun out of this for me.

—–Addendum—–

With help from Larry, my good blogging buddy, I was able to post the picture here. It’s a different method than what I’ve been using, and doesn’t allow for sizing of the picture, but I did get it to post. I suppose one would have to edit the picture in their picture host site before posting the picture, which would not allow one to resize manually like you can when you post the picture to Blogger instead of HTML. The main thing is, it did work. I still haven’t decided if I’ll switch over to ClearBlog or not. Blogger was awfully slow switching between pages earlier today. Maybe all of the problems are from the fact that Blogger is growing so quickly. It seems ClearBlog is a small little hosting service, with very few blogs, so far. I’ll keep posting at both addresses for a while and see which one I’ll keep.

Larry, as always, thank you for being so kind and helpful!

Seeing red

Tuesday night, Justin and I finally got our dual computer system up and running. It was fabulous… For about 12 hours. Wednesday, I got home from the office late and stood in the neighbor’s yard talking to him for a few minutes. Justin got home a little later and joined us as well. Justin was the first to walk in the door and yells for me to come home immediately because the bird is out.

I walk in, and it becomes apparent the bird has devastated my computer. Now, you all know how long and how much work I’ve put into both of these computers, all with the idea for each of us to have our own. To see the total devastation before me was just too much. I snapped. I yelled. I threw the damaged parts (including the computer chair) from my front door to the street. I really do not remember the last time I was so angry. I vaguely recall Justin trying to calm me down, but I was oblivious. I wanted Elvis’ head on a platter. The rest of him could be slowly simmering in a pot for all I cared.

The damage:
(Keeping in mind all of these items have been purchased in the last month in a half.)

- Computer chair
- Keyboard
- Mouse
- CD Rom drive (I had JUST installed the fucking thing!)
- Computer table (I’m still going to use it, but it is stained with various inks from pens.)

There are many other items, not the least of which is the cases for many of Justin’s DVD’s. I know I’m forgetting stuff, and I may not have seen everything yet.

You might ask, “How did Elvis get out of his cage?” My answer is, these birds are escape artists. Given enough time, they will find a way around almost any security measure on a cage. The only foolproof way to keep this creature in his cage is with a keyed lock. (Be sure to remove the key, he will unlock it himself.) He has even opened a 3 digit combination lock.

He finally discovered a way to get through the opening where his food and water are inserted, even though the latch system, I’m sure, was very difficult for him to open. Today, they are wired shut, and I’ll be replacing the wire with chains and padlocks.

Since I’ve owned the bird, he has cost over $1000 in repairs and replacement for things he has destroyed. Linda had bought a new recliner last year, had it two weeks and the bird ripped huge, gaping holes in it within two minutes of unsupervised play. That incident alone cost me close to seven hundred dollars. It is no wonder in Northern Australia that these birds are shot and killed as pests. They travel in flocks and if a flock of these were to descend upon your home, they could do terrible and expensive damage in a very short time.

Of course, I can’t give Elvis away. We’ve bonded and that would be cruel to him. But, today, knowing these birds can live well over sixty years, is a particularly disturbing thought to me. It seems like a life sentence, without parole.

Note: I was told that I didn’t make it clear how Elvis managed to wreak this much destruction. Elvis is a large cockatoo with a powerful beak. He could take off a person’s finger if he wanted to. He simply tore into all of this stuff with his beak. I keep trying to post a picture of him, but once again, I can’t download photos!

Thirty-seven years

It’s been thirty-seven years since the Stonewall riots.

Thirty-seven years, stuggling for tolerance and equality.

Much has changed in that time, but still there is much more work to do.

Be out as much as possible. Show everyone the similarities that we all share, not the differences that divide us.

Be proud.

Photo by Kelly Stern

Ohio Pride

In honor of my Ohio friends and their celebration of Pride this weekend, I post this picture. Special thanks to Gumby of You Can’t Handle the Truthiness for explaining how to bypass the picture posting problem I’ve been having at Blogger lately. This Bud’s for you!

Get down with Pride, y’all!

Feedback Friday 1

Okay folks, today is the first installment of Feedback Friday! I’m setting aside this day to respond to your comments that you’ve made throughout the week. Because without you, regular reader, what would Southern Expressions be? Nothing but a private journal with rants from a lunatic. Consider this your “fan appreciation day.” If you have a question or need clarification on a particular post, please post to the comments section, and on Friday I’ll respond.

First, I’d like to thank K. at Sorted Lives for naming the feature. I couldn’t think of a catchy little name, and I’ll be damned if he didn’t pop right in with a comment yesterday and suggest “Feedback Friday”. Hell, why couldn’t I come up with that? Anyway, hats off here at SOEX to you K.!

CKB: Thank you for the joke contribution. I thought it was cute. I’ll have to get out before long. I haven’t seen you since you returned from your trip. It’s been over a month, I think! Glad you’re back and I hope to see you soon!

To all of those that tried the link on the “type of drug” post: My apologies. For some reason the link wouldn’t function even though I reloaded the html twice. Go figure. Oh, Skipper and dykewife: I don’t know about y’all, but I was insulted by the acid description of my personality. To hell with them! I’m pleasant damnit!

Spider: I rarely run around the house in the altogether. Maybe when I’m getting ready for work in the mornings. Justin, on the other hand, likes to clean house in the nude. BTW, I would never cook without clothing. It’s far too dangerous. I might damage my favorite appendage, you know!

Hypoxic: The damned bird is most likely screaming whether we’re clothed or in the nude. He is a complete attention whore. If we scold him for screaming, he will start saying “I love you”, as if that makes everything better.

Gumby: Most hotels are much nicer than my house. And, hotels don’t have all of the animals like my house does. It’s more like a visit to the zoo with a friend than a hotel. Trust me.

Flip: That must have really been a special person that lived with your family. I think you’ve written of him at your blog before?

John: Maybe I should make that bumper sticker!

This is the first installment, don’t know if I should include your comments here or not but if you would rather see that as the format, let me know. It’s all brand new to me, as well.

In other news I was able to get both computers running last night, and one of the desktops is, indeed, wireless. Yaaay, Brad. A little more fine tuning and we will be set for our dual computer usage! Well, some of you might not care, but I’ll bet Mush is proud!

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

AND IF SOMEONE KNOWS WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH BLOGGER OR THE REASON I CAN’T DOWNLOAD PICTURES TO MY BLOG, PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, LET ME KNOW!

What’s goin’ on…

Today I’ll fill you in on what’s been going on in my world. (I’m feelin’ a Marvin Gaye vibe. I love that man’s voice.)

It seems Justin and I have a roommate. A friend of ours is having troubles with her fiancee. (This guy really doesn’t have a clue. I won’t go into details about the situation but suffice it to say, said fiancee is a damned moron.) Anyway, she’ll be staying with us until she finds a place of her own. It’s kind of like having a sister staying with you because we’ve both known her for years. We just have to remember that we can’t run around the house in the altogether. (Not a big problem for me. I rarely do. Justin, however, does tend to have a bit of a nudist streak when the urge hits him.) She and Justin have been having mock slumber parties, staying up late and talking.

I’ve been working on another desktop computer that I have procured. It’s an old jalopy, of the Compaq variety, but it does have a Pentium III chip. So far, I’ve replaced the old hard drive, it was 8 GB. That’s right. 8 GB. The computer was practically useless. I installed a brand spanking new 160 GB Western Digital that I got on sale for fifty some odd bucks. I was also going to make this particular computer wireless. (Might as well since I purchased the wireless router a few weeks ago, because it too was on sale. Can I get a hell yeah?!) But it doesn’t seem to want to accept the software. Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to make the current computer wireless and the Compaq jalopy will be connected. All that is really left to do is upgrade the ram. The whole idea for all of this is that Justin and I have our own computers, so there is no stepping on toes. Both of these computers were free, and for less than 500 bucks, (and a lot of work) we’re going to have two decent and fast computers.

In other news, tomorrow I’ll begin a new feature for Fridays. I haven’t decided what to call it yet, but I’m going to post replies to some of your comments here. I used to respond to ALL comments in the comment section, but with constraints on time I’ve had to abandon that practice. So, if you have a question throughout the week or you leave a comment that requires additional information, expect to see that here on Fridays. Hell, I’m open to any sort of question that you could come up with. You know me. If it’s none of your business, I don’t mind telling you!

That’s it, folks. Hope your week has been lovely.

Had a cool pen and ink of Marvin Gaye to attach to this post, but guess what? Bloggers being tempermental again today!

Note: I was able to post the pen and ink two days later. Totally worth it.

Is it live, or is it Memorex?

Your Personality Is Like Acid

A bit wacky, you’re very difficult to predict.One moment you’re in your own little happy universe…And the next, you’re on a bad trip to your own personal hell!

What Drug Is Your Personality Like?

It’s Memorex, folks. I’m out of the office today, as I was a good portion of yesterday. But, once again, I have stolen an idea from my blogging buddy: Weighing In Without the Cookies and drafted it Tuesday so that I wouldn’t leave all of you good folks in the lurch. I know, I know, you just couldn’t possibly make it through a couple of days without a post from me. (Yeah right! I’ll be missing all of you much more than you’ll miss me!)

So, go ahead. Take the test. Tell me what kind of drug you are. (I’m suspecting that Spider might be LSD as well! We’ll see.)

Joke off Monday 11

Don Rumsfeld attends a quick meeting in the Oval Office to update The President and Vice President on the situation in Iraq.

He reports that the day before 3 Brazilian troops were killed during heavy fighting just outside of Baghdad. The President’s eyes begin to fill with tears and he puts his head on the desk and weeps softly.

This goes on for a minute or two and Rumsfeld excuses himself, to leave The President to his thoughts. The Vice President waits in the Oval Office to comfort the President. Finally, he says, “George, are you okay?”

The President raises his head and dries his eyes and says: “Dick, how many troops is a Brazilian, anyway?”

Drum roll, please.

Now, just a quick plug for a new blog I’ve been reading: As I Recall…, by Wilde. The writing is really good and is reminiscent of JJD’s writing at Gay Empire. If you get the chance, stop by, read and say hi. I’m sure you remember how good it felt when your blog was new and people started commenting.

I hope you all have a great week.

Photo courtesy of Flickr, by Skrivanet

A thousand schoolmasters

Wednesday, I received a couple of gifts from Flip. One of them was “Touchstones – A Book of Daily Meditations for Men.” Each page is dated, the idea being to read one of the meditations each day.

Many of you know of the relationship that I have with my father. (If you don’t know the back story, click here, and scroll down to the post from April 25th. This is a post I made during my gig as Flip’s guest blog host.)

The reason I bring all of this up, and the way it all ties together is this: the June 15th meditation is very appropriate, given the fact Father’s Day is Sunday.

” A father is a thousand schoolmasters.” -Louis Nizer

We carry our fathers within us in ways we may not notice. When we do notice this in our thoughts and actions, we can use this relationship as a source of strength. When we hear a critical mental message saying we didn’t perform well enough, is it a father’s voice? When we feel a sense of strength and peace, are we in touch with our childhood knowledge of fatherly love?…

… Perhaps we can recast our father-son relationship in adult terms. Were our fathers too removed from our lives for us to know them? Maybe we can see now that a father’s love was there but was overshadowed by the demands of survival or a misguided life. If we are forever seeking our fathers’ approval, we may need to find the ways in which they are truly human and imperfect like us. Making peace with them -whether face to face or in the memory of a relationship- empowers us with their strengths and grants us the adulthood we deserve.

I will make peace with my father in my mind, and his strength and that of his father will be a well-spring in my life.

I’m determined to make peace with my father in my mind. His imperfections and mine will become a source of strength, not a painful reminder.

Give your father and yourself the gift of peace this weekend, even if it is just a mental exercise.

Happy Father’s Day.