DKStories

Isn't it funny that as we get older, people expect us to stop wanting to do stuff like play video games? Yeah, okay, I turned 40 a couple of days ago. Big deal. The party was small, limited to family and just how I like it (along with a great german chocolate cake my hubbie baked for me!). Today my best friend visited and we had a great couple of hours spent playing Zombies on Black Ops. I almost don't feel like I'm 40. :) Actually, I kind of wish we'd had a game console when we lived together. (Yeah, my best friend is also an ex-boyfriend. We were together for two years back in the 1990's). It would have been a lot easier than us competing for time on the single computer that we owned at the time. Also, I'm better than he is at the shoot'em type games, so I would have won more. Unfortunately my nephew came home from visiting his mother and was quite capable of showing me that I'm really old with really slow reflexes. Okay, at least I still had fun. (Yeah yeah, no real point in all that, but not every blog actually has to have a point...right?) Gods, tomorrow is Monday, meaning I have to get back to work on that project that I'm behind on, get the kids off to school, get Tyler to baseball practice in the afternoon, and oh crap, there's an election Tuesday in LA county so tomorrow is going to be real busy. Guess I should get to bed then...good night all.

I remember reading this back in 1992, and listening to the speech that night by Pat Buchanan. It was after that speech that I changed my political affiliation from Republican to Democrat. Many of the points this opinion piece makes helped me to lay to rest the last bits of self-hate that a religious upbringing brought me. The section on Sodom and Gomorrah and the failings of those cities being focused more on the treatment of the poor and the hungry won quite a few arguments for me with my father, a baptist preacher, and very baptist family members as well. What is truly sad though is how much has remained the same since this was written in 1992. The christian conservative base still uses gays as the punching bag for all the ills of America, and they have gone so far as to rewrite parts of the bible to make sure it says homosexual=bad. In many ways there has been a great deal of progress, but it is progress that is limited and tenuous at best. In California our State Legislature votes twice to allow same-sex marriage only to see it vetoed by the Governor. Then the Supreme Court declares same-sex marriage legal only to have the people of California vote a change into the Constitution making it illegal. Now the state's Supreme Court has held up the legal case against Prop 8 for the better part of another year while a federal appeals court waits for their answer. In Idaho, three Supreme Court Justices that helped vote same-sex marriage into place were recalled by the people of that state. Now anti-gay jurists are being put in to replace them, threatening the status of marriage in that state. What will happen next there is anyone's guess. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has been dealt a death blow by Congress and the President. The military branches are each moving forward with the steps necessary to bring about full repeal. Meanwhile conservative officers are figuring out ways around the repeal, such as kicking out a sailor found in bed with another sailor because of 'unprofessional behavior". In Ohio, a bill that was put forward to bust unions in that state also contains a Defense of Marriage Act provision preventing recognition of out-of-state marriages. Meanwhile in other states there are efforts underway to prevent recogntion of civil unions or domestic partnerships. Other states have considered recriminalizing homosexual acts, and numerous state political parties are calling for criminalizing statutes in their states. 1992 was an important year, and while the good Reverend's words are as true today as the day they were written, it is also a sad truth that they are as largely ignored today as they were then.

thanks Cole. I use to write fairly regular blogs but fell out of the habit a year or two ago. It was when we were really starting to get into dealing with my husband's leukemia that I think things slowed down quite a bit. Now he's back to work and going strong, and I think we're finally settling into the fact that we have kids with all the comittments that entails. Although I still got to play Killzone 3 for an hour tonight and poor Tyler just had to sit there and cheer me on...the privileges of age. :)

Yup, so it's like the big 40 birthday has come, and pretty much gone here. Overall, it was a quiet, normal day with tons of work from a client, kids coming home from school and Tyler's baseball practice all needing to be coordinated. Then a nice dinner at my favorite restaurant (Sizzler!), and now a nice, quiet evening at home, relaxing. Nope, the world hasn't ended, and I've made it to 40, an age that there were times I thought I'd never reach, and that scared me. Only, well, now that it's here it's not as big of a deal as I feared. There is so much going on in my life, so much that is absolutely positive and wonderful that I'm far happier than I was ten years ago, and I don't fear the next decade nearly as much as I did once upon a time. Oh, and this is the first blog entry I've made here, and anywhere, for a long, long time. Yes, I am the same DKStories that was a member at GA for a while and whose stories are still posted there. You might find future blog posts and forum posts from me here in the future - but no promises. Life's very busy and I don't always have the time, or uninterrupted concentration to write out a blog post. A quick update on the last six months though - My partner and I now have full custody of my nephew and niece. Tyler is age 12 and Kaliann is age 10. We bought a much bigger house now that we have kids, and got a very good deal on it at the same time. I work from home doing political consulting work regarding data operations for a variety of campaigns. Oh, and I just love so many of the stories on AD that it only seemed fitting to have an account here. Now, how about a Nexus chapter for a late birthday present? Oh, and maybe another story about those baseball players in Triptychs - couldn't get enough of those! Hmmm, time to go do some reading...although I think the husband and kids want to do the cake and presents thing before it gets much later...

regarding Newt - he's the guy who pushed DOMA in the first place, so where's the surprise there? On New Hampshire, they kicked that can down the road to 2012 - when they can use it as a divisive issue during a presidential campaign year.

It is encouraging, and a bright spot in a very dark year. :)

I am so happy to see a new Nexus. It's one of my favorite stories on the web. :)