Praise God, Damn it! Ring Around The Graceland - TAG! YOU'RE IT!

At this point, in my up-hill battle for Gay Rights, equality and justice, I feel that I have only 2 choices:

It's either:

1) "Cuss and pray" at the same time - which may, or may not send me to straight to Hell in a handbasket.

2) or I can fall flat on my back on the floor, with my eyes rolled back in my head, eye lids fluttering, my body stiff as a board, yet flopping around, babbling incoherently, while foaming at the mouth.

At this point in my fight, I don't know whether to "Shit or go blind", or to "Wind my butt or scratch my watch!"

Speaking of 'praying and cussing' at the same time, I heard from a reliable source that the OTHER king, Mr. Elvis Presley, was good at doing that, too.

I once dated a fella (Jim) that was an immediate next-door neighbor to Elvis' Graceland in Memphis. Jim told me the tale of when Elvis was actually home at Graceland, and he ventured out of his seclusion, he would often play Tag with the neighbor kids - including Jim - in his yard.  For the life of me, I can't imagine Elvis running **AT ALL** but, there are witnesses to the fact that he did have the occasional urge to play the with neighborhood kids, and get a little exercise. 

There is a Chapel on the Graceland estate grounds.  Elvis, the King of Rock 'n' Roll, and Tina Turner, the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, were both raised in Pentecostal churches.  

Elvis, the poor tortured soul, could not free himself of the residual guilt that he carried from that 'Pentecostal Past', so when he was home in Graceland, on Sunday morning, he would hold his own 'Church services' in Graceland's chapel.  Not only were any and all Graceland Grounds staff required by Elvis to attend these 'services', but also were Priscilla and Lisa Marie.  Elvis not only carried a 'burden' in his tough little heart for his grounds staff and his family, but neighbors, including my ex-boyfriend, Jim, were also required to attend these Sunday services.  

Jim said that Elvis was standing at the pulpit, with an open Bible in one hand, the other hand pointing to Heaven, and at the top of his lungs, and with all of his energy, he was 'preaching' - with as much sincerity as he could possibly muster.  The only problem was, that, if you knew Elvis personally, as a part of his everyday vernacular, you would know that these 'sermons' were peppered with every swear word in the book.

Jim reported that Priscilla and Lisa (and others in the Chapel) would take about as much of the cursing / preaching combo on-slaught as the could swallow and still maintain a straight face, without laughing out loud at him.  Any big smiles, giggles, or laughter out-bursts would result in the sermon being interrupted by Elvis, "The Preacher", and the offending individual being reprimanded in front of the congregation in the Chapel.  Once Elvis gave the laughing offender a verbal lashing, he picked up where he left off: Cussing and preaching at the same time!

On August 16, 1977, the day Elvis died, my Ex was standing on Graceland's lawn, and watched the EMTs put his body in the Ambulance.

(When I worked as a nurse, one of my fellow nurses sang and played in a Jazz band that often opened for Elvis, Ike / Tina Turner and Chuck Berry, to name a few.  The stories that she too, could tell, ranged from endearing to jaw dropping!)

- Michael

Con Ti Partiro

JUST when my number of FB friends start to rise, I realize that it's time for me to do some FB House Keeping.


(Can't ya'all hear the thunder and see the lightning bolts crack as my little fat fingers are pecking away at these keys?)


Yesterday, I kicked a bigotted relative off my list, and today, another bigotted ass followed suit, even while the screen door was still swingin' !


I know..... I know....  I was the one that opened the door to them in the first place, no?  The explanation is simple:  I am the Eternal Girl Scout!


I want to say, "Contrary to popular belief, I really do want to give people the benefit-of-the-doubt, and I want to believe that people are more good than bad."  In reality, I am not nearly that benevolent.  I give people enough rope to hang themselves. Unfortunately, most of those people that I have given "free rope" have taken me up on the deal.  


My interest in anything I have ever acquired in my entire life has been "quality" over "quantity".  Since I DO have a choice and a say-so in the matter, I would rather have very few QUALITY friends than an abundance of people of lesser character on my list - and in my life, in general.


Translated:  Numbers don't mean anything to me.  A lot of people on FB will deal with crap - BAD crap - from people, just to keep those indiviuals on their friend's list, so they can have higher numbers. High numbers of fake friends holds no charm for me.  A low number of good people in my life is much more important in my belief system.


These people are not welcome on my FB Friend's list, or in my life, in general:
* hate or bigotry in any manner
* people who need a "token fag" on their list.
* people who think they are "doing me a favor" by keeping me on their list.
* people who "tolerate" me. (God, do I hate that word and it's association!)


To "be tolerant" means, "I don't like you or what you're doing, but to 'keep the peace', I will put up with you."  No, baby.  Not this one.  In no way do I want to be attached to anyone who thinks they have to 'just put up with me."


Contrary to what many people believe, our lives are getting shorter - not longer.  Every day you live is one less day you will spend on the face of this Earth.  Since my BIRTH, time has been the most valuable currency in my world.  With each day that I live, I have less time left.  With that consideration, time becomes even more valuable.  I am already angry enough with myself for wasting that precioius gift - time - on such individuals.  Minimally, I will consider it a "lesson learned", and I will know well enough not to repeat it. 


Just a little "Head's Up":


Not long ago, in one fell swoop, I dumped 35 FB friends. (Mind you, my total number of FB friends has never been over 140, so 35 is a fairly large percentage!)


I don't care who the Hell you are, if I catch even the slightest whiff of Hate or Bigotry from anyone, my trigger finger will click "Unfriend" and "Block" faster than CBS dumped "Jimmy The Greek!"

- Michael

St. Louis World Naked Bike Ride 2013

Info gleamed from FaceBook
re:  The World Naked Bike Ride St. Louis 2013

Saturday, July 27, 2013

6:00pm until 10:00pm

Location:
South Grand Parking Lot, Grand and Hartford

Come bare as you dare to protest oil dependency, raise awareness of cyclist rights and vulnerability on the road, and promote positive body image for the 6th annual World Naked Bike Ride in St. Louis!

WNBR Festival & Rally, 6 p.m.
Live music, live art, expo of bike shops, bicycle, environmental, and body positive organizations in the St. Louis region. Contest for best creative covering, slogan, body-paint, costume, and best-dressed bicycle. Rally at 7:45 p.m.

Ride, 8 p.m.
Join us for a 10 mile bike ride throughout the city. Route will be available in June.

WNBR post-ride Celebration, 9:30 p.m.
As usual, our partners HandleBar and Atomic Cowboy will be hosting an after-ride celebration in the Grove. More details to come.

We will also be hosting a WNBR teach-in for folks interested in starting a WNBR in their own city. Details TBD.

Questions? Want to be involved? Contact wnbrstl@gmail.com.
____________________________________________________________

In this pic, I dunno if I was looking for the Mother Ship to return, or what I was eyeballing, but I do know:

1) I am thankful for Psoriasis!  The tanning bed that I use to keep the lesions at bay makes me several shades darker than those pasty-white people behind me!  :)
(There ain't much that looks better than a snow-white jock against a tan bod!)

2) You can't see it in this pic, but I have on hot pink raspberry glittery men's All-Star Converse tennis shoes that I bought from the Journey mall shoe stores to match my wonderful hand-made bow-tie!  

3) The Erb's Palsy in my right arm makes that arm a full 4" shorter than my left arm, and it also makes for some interesting positions when holding onto and trying to balance and keep bicycle handlebars pointing straight ahead. (And my left leg, from the knee down, is twice the size of my right leg.  That makes pedaling in circles EASY, but pedaling a straight line is somewhat challenging!  he he



My nephew and myself are at the 13:00 point in this video:

But of course!  I participated in 4 out of the 5 St. Louis World Naked Bike Rides that we have had in St. Louis since 2008, and I will definitely ride next year.

The World Naked Bike Ride is an annual event in 20 countries, and in 70 cities world wide.  For more information on this event, in general, click:http://www.worldnakedbikeride.org


Required reading:
Famous world traveler Rick Steve's article, entitled:

"European Nudes and American Prudes":http://www.ricksteves.com/tms/article.cfm?id=230
- Michael

This guy was told by his homeowners association that he couldn't fly the american flag.....

I'm sure you've seen this circulating the internet:



While I am strongly opposed to HOA's, I have to say:

C'mon, people!  Take the time and energy to use your own head, instead of random crap that gushes forth from the internet all too frequently!
This is the best response for the situation:

I’m not buying it. Sure, I believe someone really painted their house to look like an American flag, I just don’t believe they did it in protest towards their homeowners association.

For one thing, the home appears to be quite old. Homeowners associations exist almost exclusively in newer, planned neighborhoods. It wouldn’t surprise me if the home in the photo is one-hundred years old. I imagine getting people who live in older homes to retroactively join a homeowners association would be a lot like herding cats.

Secondly, it’s illegal for a homeowners association to bar someone from displaying the American flag. The federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, makes it illegal for a homeowners association to restrict homeowners from displaying the American flag on their property.

It’s literally a federal offense for a homeowners association to restrict flying the American flag.

Lastly, homeowners associations generally always have restrictions on what color or colors you can paint your house. If they have one rule, it’s that. The idea that a homeowners association would forbid someone from flying the American flag, but allow someone to paint their home like a flag, is absurd. It was made-up by someone who has never lived in a neighborhood governed by a homeowners association.

I see something like this on Facebook and wonder how anyone could believe it.
The moral of this saga:
Believe none of what you hear, and only half of what you see.

:::Jumping off my huge soap box:::::

- Michael

Tightening up loose ends....

‎(Stick with it, the animation takes a few seconds to 'get off the ground'. The sound effects are spot-on. They match the mood of the animation.

After watching this animation, I have this realization in the back of my mind that tonight, I am going to have the 1,099th re-run of a nightmare that I had for *years* on a weekly basis as a child.

In that dream, there was nothing but a slick, nylon clothesline. *I* was this clothesline! This clothesline has a huge knot in the middle. (This knot is my HEAD!) Somebody would pull both ends of the clothesline, increasingly tightening the knot, causing my head to ache both in the dream and in real life. As the knot grew tighter and tighter, I could hear the nylon squeaking as it stretched over itself. I always woke up with migraine.

There is some salvation, however. If I think about a subject for quite some time, it won't revisit my tortured little head in a dream. If I bounce the subject off my mind just for a few seconds, and I don't dwell on it any longer than that, I am guaranteed to revisit it in a dream that night....or the next night.

I think I have thought about it long enough to ward it off! :)

Short abstract film called F L U X. Really unique...

andrewprice.tumblr.com

Short abstract film called F L U X. Really unique animation style. Sort of a fusion between abstract art and motion graphics. I honestly don’t know how half of it was done. Created by Candas Sisman.

Put on your shades! It's BRIGHT out here!

Welcome, Anderson Cooper!

That Closet is getting increasingly bare as more people step out, realizing that this is their planet as much as it belongs to anybody else.

When it comes time to do so, every individual is going to do their dying themselves, so, indeed, they should also be doing the living for themselves, too

At any time an individual believes that he or she deserves their freedom and comfort than any other individual who has done no harm to others, it is at that point that they should lose that right.

- Michael

Where's My Purse?

 ‎

"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said 33 children under the age of 13 died in the United States in 2011 after being left in hot cars."

Can you believe that a local TV station was interviewing a 'parenting expert' regarding this subject. The 'expert' recommended that a mother put her purse in the back seat of the car with the baby, and that a father put his house keys in the back seat so they won't forget the baby in the car.

WHAT THE SAM HELL IS GOING ON ?????

Whatever happened to "The fact that you have a helpless human life that you are caring for. What else does a person with a child really need?"

Sorry if you don't like that, but a child should **always** foremost in your mind. What the person in charge of this small life wants to do or find important comes secondary to being at least aware of the child's existence.

If you treat your kids as though they are part of your routine instead of as living beings who depend on you, then I can see you forgetting them. So I would suggest anyone who does this type of thing to reevaluate the way they view their children and life itself.

This quote comes to mind: "Procreating isn't for everybody!"

Humans might be the first living being to dumb themselves down to the point of driving themselves into extinction. 95% of all other species that have ever lived on this Earth are extinct. Silly is the person that tries to fool themselves into thinking that humans are exempt to this rule. According to George Carlin, humans are nothing but a mere temporary parasite on the face of this huge rock that is traveling - honestly - at 67,000 miles an hour through space!

I think ole George made a good point. Actually, he made SEVERAL good points!

- Michael