Moving In The Right Direction

Today was a momentous day for the gay & lesbian community. With the overturning of DOMA (Defence of Marriage Act) & the overturning of Prop 8 in California the pathway to full equality is not far away. As a gay man living in the United States, the simple right to love fully & not have the fear of being labeled "unconstitutional" brings tears to my eyes & a pep in my step.

For years now I have marched for our rights. I have given of my time & income in our pursuits. I have even stood on my soap box & begged people to listen. All this is for one simple reason...acceptance for all by all. For me, it's not so much just for gay rights but for ALL humankind's rights!! I preach of PEACE! I preach of UNITY! I preach for us to stop HATE & IGNORANCE! I preach TOLERANCE! I preach LOVE!!!

There are many more out there that need our support & therefore I will continue to do my part in helping those individuals & groups be heard. Remember, it's not enough to just say "whatever"....it's time to stay "I understand". It's time to be known as the human race & not as people divided. Whether it's about religion or race or sex or sexuality...it's truly about ALL of US.

I hope that one day, I will find myself walking down the isle to Kelly Clarkson's "Moment Like This". I hope to have a romantic kiss in public without fearing other's reactions. That one day is not that far away but let us also give the same feelings & rights toward all humankind. We are divine individuals & we ALL as precious!! So.....here's to US & the greatest of all things...ONE LOVE!

Pets

What is it about our natures that drive us to wanting to have a pet? I would say that it might be because we love the furry & cuddliness of them but that would be one sided. I personally have had birds for pets and they sure aren't furry. I have also had fish for years & they are far from cuddly. Although I've never owned a reptile, they also are neither furry nor cuddly either (well except maybe a snake but then you've got to be careful in knowing the difference between cuddly and strangley). So what is it?

I can't speak for the world as I personally know people that don't have any pets & simply think of them as a nuisance & just something else to clean up after. So those types of people aside...I believe it has a lot to do with companionship. A pet needs us as much as we need them. They need us to look after their health, keep them well fed with plenty of water but beyond that...they need our personal touch as much as we need their personal touch. Our friendly canine that lays at our feet & protects us from harm. Our feline friends that curl up on our laps & purr us to sleep when we're not well. Our fine feathered friends that sing to us good morning & pick through our hair keeping us free of pests (although we laugh thinking they are "styling" our hair). The sleek reptilians that watch us & provide us with all kinds of new knowledge. Even those 6, 8 & multi legs critters that are just fascinating in many ways. All these pets, in their own ways, give us much joy & keep us from feeling "alone". Even in the times when we are mad at the world & hate everyone in it, we still will turn to our pets in a much kinder manner.

Now, I know that there are people out there that just don't get that. They use pets as money makers, or as punching & kicking bags, or even for sick amusement. As a member of the ASPCA, I will go out of my way to stop any form of animal cruelty & have no problem turning someone in for abuse of any animal. It's pretty pathetic to me to take out any aggression on those that can't fight back, especially animals that have nothing to do with it in the first place. That also goes for those that don't have their pets fixed. It may not be cheap but if that's your answer, you don't need to have the pet in the first place.

So next time you look into your pet's eyes, take a moment to see what they see. I know that there are those rogue pets that go bad but for the majority of them...they simply love you. Each in their own way but deeply & preciously. Every time I'm petting my cats or playing with the family pooch or whistling songs with my bird or even gazing into my salt water aquarium, I can see & feel something special from each of them. I know for a fact that they have enhanced my life. I hope that you all have a special pet to lavish love & affection on, or if you are like me...several pets to lavishly love!

Painting Through Written Imagery

Recently, while going through a bunch of my old stuff, I found a treasure trove of things that had been tucked away & long since forgotten. As I was going through these things, I came across an old school binder overflowing with my writings. I found poems, lyrics to songs & partial writings galore. As I was going through the mass amounts of scribbled words & typed lines, memories flooded my mind with each piece of paper. Some I remembered the exact moment the lines came to me & some I could barely make out what I was writing or where my mind was going.

Some of what I wrote was pretty good....actually....really good! Matter of fact, some were so good that either I or my teachers had entered them into different poetry contests. Of the 12 different entries that were submitted over the years, I placed 1st three times, 2nd Place three times & 3rd Place two times & have been published 6 times! My first time submitting a poem, I took 2nd Place & I was only 12 years old at the time.

Besides the poetry, I've written a lot of lyrics/songs. Back in the late 80's, I started up a rock band with my friends. I was the going to be the lead singer & therefore I took it upon myself to write the lyrics to all of our songs. Over those next few years, my bandmates changed as did our band name & by the time I was in high school my current band was doing pretty good. My writing was also getting better & better. I even had quite a few songs copywritten! By the time I was in my Junior year of high school, the music scene had changed, the band broke up & so ended my days of writing lyrics although I continued to write poetry throughout the rest of my school days.

Upon reading these poems & lyrics & scraps of written lines, I'm amazed at some of the subject matter that I was writing about. Now keep in mind I started writing when I was 11 years old. I wrote some really great pieces about love...being in love...falling in & out of love...all the pain that's associated with love. I wrote about death & despair...deception & revenge. I also wrote A LOT of sexual stuff. All of which are great writings but surprising in the maturity of which I wrote them. I very much intend on posting some of those songs & poems on here...so keep your eyes open for some fun & interesting writings from years ago.

Interestingly enough, I stopped writing altogether by the time I finished high school. The 1 exception was a poem that a friend & I wrote in 2004 although that was more of an accidental writing then a planned out decision. My friend submitted it to a writing contest & it went on to be published in a poetry book. Minus that poem, I have not written in over 10 years...until I started my first blog in 2008. That blog was dedicated to my culinary endeavors & to keep family & friends up-to-date on my life but it still was more fun factual writings based on events. Last year I ended that blog as my journeys started to lead me down different paths. Now I'm writing much more fun & interesting blogs allowing my mind to fully stretch the boundaries & write what's inside & even some fantastical stuff too...just like my writings of yester year. I guess that I've always had the creativity in me to paint great written & verbal imagery. It's good to be writing again!

Mourning The Loss of A Childhood Idol

Since I was a baby...I have been going to & enjoying a place entitled "The Happiest Place On Earth". I own films by this mega giant & have enjoyed them to the point that I know them word for word, song by song, start to finish. I have gone to the parks & spent countless amounts of my hard earned money supporting the company. I considered myself extremely lucky to be able to perform in the parks & actually sing in the studios. I dreamed of the day that I would be employed by this sweet dream of a company & proudly wore the costume I thought I had earned when I was actually employed by them. I even became one of their most prized employees. I fought word wars in their honor & gave up a huge piece of me to the eternal "happy place".

Now...I am completely broken hearted & in deep mourning over the loss of the dream that used to be so true to me. It's like waking up Christmas morning & finding no special presents under the tree from Santa Claus. It even hurts just as much as walking in & finding that special love of your life bedding someone who is not you. At first, I was in total denial. I blamed myself...I blamed the media...I just simply could not wrap my mind around the thought of something that I held soooo true & dear to my heart ultimately revealing itself to be a company that was just out for itself no matter what.

As one day led to the next, the realization started to settle in. The denial became a reality & now I find myself in complete dismay that something that claims to be such a great thing is absolutely no better then the one that takes candy from a baby just to turn around & throw the candy in the gutter while spitting in the baby's face & walking away laughing. I know that sounds really bad & I'm pretty sure that there are MANY out there that would have harsh words for me in retaliation...hell...I USED to be that person! Not any more. My eyes are very much wide open now & yet I'm STILL being punished by the company even though I'm no longer directly a part of it.

As I sit in this pained place of hurt & dismay...I'm constantly being reminded of how bad this company has gotten. In the past 3 weeks, the company has been in the news in not so flattering a light. They recently lost a law suit where they denied earned benefits to their employees. They are currently fighting against giving benefits like sick time & maternity leave. They are also battling against the FMLA standards. They are sinking their employees financially via over priced medical costs & even having employees pay back health benefits that they earned while working for them. Tonight I even heard on the news about this company being the second largest employer on this planet to be completely under-paying their employees.

Now what I'd like to know is....how can we continue to support a company that purposely has it's employees lie to it's patrons & yet takes total advantage of their employees in the process? They have their "Cast Members" smile & create "magic" all while also snapping the employees' kneecaps in the same breath. Do they not realize that without those employees...there would be NO "magic" in the first place?! The company now has several billion $$ empires but won't put that money into its own employee benefits. There are many employees that have spent their entire working lives there, only to be told that they are not fully vested when the time comes for retirement (yes this IS true as I'm partnered with one).

The "happiest place on Earth" should be relabeled "the worst company to work for on Earth". I want to make sure that you all know that I'm not simply a disgruntled ex-employee who has a bitter taste left in his mouth...but a person who is truly mourning the loss of his childhood idol. I make this plea to Disney: FIX THIS!!! You are ONLY as good as those whom you employ! Keep them happy so that the phrase "happiest place on Earth" also goes for "happiest place to work".

Quotables



This Is How I Feel Everyday

Gotta Wreck A Little Havoc Every Day

Remember This When Ever You Feel Ugly

Always Reach For Your Dreams Even If They Feel Impossible

Give Your Personal Wings The Attention They Need

Songs Convey What Most Won't Say

Love Comes In All Kinds Of Ways

Always Hold Dear Ones Closest To You

For All Those Times When Life Looks The Bleakest

Say It & Wear It Proudly

No Matter What...Just Be YOU

Don't Ever Just Give Up...Life's Worth The Fight



Yes....This One Is For You



Miracle

A penny for your thoughts now baby
Looks like the weight of the world's on your shoulders now
I know you think you're going crazy
Just when it seems everything's gonna work itself out
They drive you right back down

And you said it ain't fair
That a man walks
When a bird can fly
We have to kick the ground
The stars kiss the sky
They say that spirits live
A man has to die
They promised us truth
Now they're giving us lies

Gonna take a miracle to save us this time
And your savior has just left town
Gonna need a miracle 'cause it's all on the line
And I won't let you down
The river of your hope is flooding
And I know the dam is busted
If you need me I'll come running
I won't let you down... no, no

You're looking for salvation
You thought that it'd be shining like an angel's light, yeah
Well, the angels left this nation
And salvation caught the last train out tonight
He lost a hell of a fight

He said: "I'm just one man, that's all I'll ever be
I never can be everything you wanted from me
I've got big plans so big that any blind man could see
I'm standing in the river
Now I'm drowning in the sea

Gonna take a miracle to save us this time
And your savior has just left town
Gonna need a miracle 'cause your heart's on the line
And your heartbeat is slowing down
Your feet are grounded still you're reaching for the sky
You can't let 'em clip your wings 'cause I believe that you can fly

Well my eyes have seen the horror of the coming of the flood
I've driven deep the thorny crown into the soul of someone's son
Still I'll look you in the eye 'cause I've believed in things I've thought
And I'll die without regret for the wars I have fought

Gonna take a miracle to save you this time
And your savior has just left town
Gonna need a miracle 'cause your heart's doing time
And your conscience is calling you out
It ain't all for nothing
Life ain't written in the sand
I know the tide is coming
But it's time we made a stand with a miracle

Gonna take a miracle, I need a miracle
I need a miracle, I need a miracle 

A miracle..........JBJ

 

Jurassic Terrors

June 11, 1993...a film "65 million years in the making"...smashed, trampled & terrified us all the way to the top of the box office. It held the title of Biggest Film Ever until the story of a behemoth ship sinking took over the spot. Up to that point in the time of film making, we only knew stop-motion & go-motion mixed with puppets & merkets. Something very special happened in the hands of a director with an incredible vision, super thinking computers, a script full of science & scary truths, massive machines & dozens of workers. To this day, I am still tortured, tormented & all around terrified during deep sleep thanks to the extremely realistic Jurassic Park.

I remember being unimpressed with the thought of sitting through a movie filled with sad claymation...especially when it comes to dinosaurs since I've been a an enthusiast since I first gazed down at drawings of these massive creatures at age 4. I started hearing A LOT of big buzz about the movie & was not so against being taken to see it by 2 female friends. We ended up getting our tickets at the right time, well the right time to be taken to a line that wrapped around the building...TWICE! So we waited briefly as the next theater opened & the line started piling in to see the show. Unfortunately we didn't make that sitting BUT we were 5th in line for the next show. So we finally were let into the theater & I was dragged down to the 3rd row from the front & we sat in the center of the screen.

The movie opened up with that bone rattling boom...BOOM! Within the opening 2 minute scene...I was already a HUGE fan! I was loving everything I was watching & the moment when we first saw that huge dino walking across the screen... I was just blown away! Here in front of me was a real dinosaur...or so it felt. We then would go on to meet a sick
Triceratops, thanks to Stan Winston & all his creative genius (he was the creator of the Alien Queen in Aliens as well!), I truly & honestly felt that these creatures that were thought to be long since extinct...could actually be living amongst us!! I soooo wanted to jump up & put my arms around the sick Tric...& just be in the presence of such an astonishing beast! Of course, soon to be seen...a dinosaur that would haunt me forever!

I can honestly say that I have never felt such terror in life as I did when the T-Rex came walking in front of the vehicles in the torrential down pour. The entire time she was on the screen, I was just beyond terrified! Then it happened....the T-Rex opened its mouth & let out a scream that truly chilled me strait to the bone! I was frozen stock-still & I swear to you...I peed myself....not really....well...maybe just a little. At the end of the scene, I remember the realization of where I was, what was going on & how I felt. I was squatting on my seat as one of my friends was clinging in behind me, apparently using me as a protective shield. My other friend was on the ground & holding onto my legs as she peered out between the edges of the seats, AND...the middle-aged father sitting next to me had my other hand pinned to the arm rest as he was squeezing it in fear. So even if I had wanted to run....I simply couldn't!! After the scene, he realized what he was doing & apologized to me, only to continually repeat the pinning of me to the arm rest with his superman grip. Of course there were A LOT of those times in the movie all the way up to the last gigantic bellow from the terrifying & surprising hero of the movie!

By the time the movie ended, not only was I a believer that dinosaurs could actually be genetically engineered & roaming the planet, but I also became terrified that they truly are walking amongst us RIGHT NOW! I swear I could see Raptors in the shadows & T-Rex moving through the trees with each blowing wind. I have had over a dozen dreams about dinosaurs & I'm usually running/hiding/escaping from them but they just keep on coming. I have very vivid dreams in which I can see color, feel cold, smell food & even feel pain...so these dreams are very realistic & very terrifying! Even though it's been 20 years & I must have seen the movie truly hundreds of times, I'm still both in love with & terrified by dinosaurs. So what do I go & do...see it in IMAX 3D where my honey & I sat in row 3 front & center!! I still was frozen stone-cold when T-Rex called out directly at us! I still came outta my seat when the Raptor jumped up after Lexi's leg! I still sat with tears streaming down my cheeks as I first witnessed a sick Tric! I cracked up laughing in all of those "juice" moments that provided laughter after terror & held my breath in anticipation of what might be coming!

I am such a huge lover of the Jurassic Park series, that I alone account for at least 15% of it's total gross earnings. I dragged everyone I knew to the theaters to see each of the movies! If you hadn't seen it, you'd be sure to know that you soon would be! I have gone both alone & in large groups. To this day...there is nothing more terrifying to me then looking up at huge meat-eating machines with chompers packed full of teeth! Basically the land version of Jaws.

My personal favorite dino is the Stegosaurus. After reading the book, I was disappointed that it was replaced with the Tric for the part of the sick dino in the movie. I was then THRILLED that it showed up large in the second film. I even have my own little stuffed Stegosaurus that my cat used to drag around the condo while meowing about it.

I also became such a fan of dinosaurs that I have sought out my own fossil piece & have several dinosaur books. Now there is a Jurassic Park IV--Extinction coming in June, 2014! Well...you know I'll be there opening weekend, sitting front & center in that 3rd row! Although I seriously doubt I'll be having any popcorn!

Long Live The Terrifying Gift of Jurassic Park!!!