nothing, absolutely nothing

I have nothing to say today. Nothing at all, I went out to get lunch to Wholefoods as usual and then perused the card section at Barnes and Noble and still have not come up with more cards for all the people in the list I mentioned yesterday. So far I only have 16 cards ready, ahh anyway. Such is life. So I bought a sandwich – its turkey, so do not worry my darling Scientist, not that unhealthy, plus it’s the first carb of the day. And then came back to the office, and perused the news, and still have nothing to say, nothing at all. So I am going to talk about the scarf I am knitting, yes knitting is somewhat back, I been doing 20 minutes or so before bed time, as I drink some tea and try to get myself ready for sleep. I picked up the scarf I was knitting during the summer, and now I am just knitting it, no purling, and no ribbed effect any more. For once I just want to finish the project and move on. I intend to finish next week, so that at least I have something to show for one year of blogging consistently.
Sadly these are all the news I have, no presents have been bought. Hopefully tomorrow I will have a mad dash of inspiration and will be able to offer some form of interesting commentary.

Trimming the Christmas card list

I am one of those gays that likes to send Christmas cards. It is time consuming, and it is he kind of gesture that probably makes some people cringe and think that I have way too much time on my hands. But as you all know this is not the case, it is not that I have too much time in my hands, it is just that I like to send cards with handwritten messages to the people I care about. I think that they are the best way to say in a meaningful way I care about you, and I want you to be a part of my life. I might not see some of the recipients often, other I see almost every day, but they are all important to me and I want all of them to know that I am thinking of them even in a month when we are all running like headless chickens trying to get shopping done, attending parties and just hanging on to the few threads of sanity we have.

This year, I went and bought cards in November, hoping to start writing during the thanksgiving weekend, well as usual the cards are there waiting. I have started the list of recipients and this year I am trimming down. It is kind of sad when you make a list of all the people you want to write and send a card to, and then you end up putting question marks at the end of someones name. The question mark reflects my thought on where the friendship is, and more, it asks the question does this person even give a damn if I send them a card. They do not mean that I do not like the person or enjoy their company, but ask a real question that in this day and age is important, should I invest 15 or 20 minutes in writing a personalized note to this person, knowing that they will not care. The answer to this is no, absolutely no. If the person doesn’t care, then why bother really. So the hard decisions made, people were definitely nixed from the list.

I feel bad about it, at some level it reflects badly on me, because maybe I have failed to remain close to some, or I have failed to spend time with others. It is worth considering am I the one pushing people away, but then in the end, no is the answer again. I have no t pushed people away and I believe that life is a two way street, and when a relationship with someone becomes a huge one way street (like 15th street for instance, the fastest way to leave the city by the way) then it is not worth keeping. That was the revelation of today, well more of last week when in between breaks and meeting I came up with the list of people I need to communicate with. When time is of the essence, then it is better to spend it on the people who care about you than on the people who do not.

^{PS. A picture of a cute playful otter, to remind us that we are all young at heart or something like that.}

back from a long weekend

I am sitting at my desk, a little overwhelmed with all the things that need to be taken care off plus all the work that needs to be done. But I just went to get lunch and get groceries – as usual it is better to go get things while at lunch than try and get into the city and do it before swimming or spinning.

Life is good, a bit quiet lately due to work mostly, but had a good weekend, saw movies, went out, socialized a little, you know the usual. It was low key and we had great weather so we could not complain. This week we are supposed to be in the 60’s so it is nice in D.C. now. There are some challenges as usual, but we will plow ahead with the same determination that we have had in the past and hopefully this last month before Xmas, aren’t y’all stressing about it already, less than a month before Xmas I repeat, 1 month. I have not done my shopping, the cards are not yet written – the recipients list has not been finalized in my mind, plus I have to get all my papers ready for the new visa and do the various things we all need to get ready before we go anywhere in December.

I have to wish a happy b’day to the soccer mom, out in the suburbs, her b’day was yesterday and we are celebrating tomorrow, so yay !!!

And in other news I have been giving an ultimatum to stop calling myself Minke next weekend. Not sure why, maybe I can start calling myself humpback or some other type of whale then.

Thanks

This is the second thanksgiving for knitting, and so here is a list of the things that the knitter will be saying thanks for tomorrow:

• Friends, amazing friends that do not happen over night. Friends who are there through thick and thin. Friends to laugh and cry with.
• Family, they are far away but they are here and they embrace me and help me keep going.
• Work, because even if I am tired and overwhelmed, it reminds me that I am somewhat useful and productive and I rather be busy than a member of the leisure class.
• Swimming, because in the end joining a certain swim team is the best thing I have done so far in the last 7 years.
• Coffee, not sure what I would be able to accomplish without it.
• Struggles, because even if it makes little sense when we go through it, it reminds us we are alive and we have a purpose. It keeps is moving, forward, backward and sideways and the point is to never stop.
• Brunch, it is the carrot at the end of weekend practices and the social binding that keeps my group of people together.
• Internet, without it this blog and most of the things we do would not be possible.
• Mornings, glorious mornings, when even if I have to drive 1 hr to work I get to drive through rolling hills and beautiful parks by a river.

Well I could go on and on, but then this would turn into one of those *gasp* entries that is better filled under corny and unreadable. I wanted to post, because even as I am busier than I have been in a long time, and I am crabby and depressed at times, I am still thankful and I still realize how lucky I am to have the life I do. I might play the jaded and bitter card like Judi Dench plays Queen Victoria, but that is just a character, a mask that protects me from disillusionment, a wall that protects my inner core. Inside, in my mind, I realize all I have done, and all I have yet to do. But for now, I am content. Tomorrow, I will make the roasted sweet potatoes and a cold corn salad, and go to dinner realizing that I am lucky.

PS. Work is hectic so read the scientist, he has time to post, I will not. But I promise to continue posting a little every week until I am done with this project.

Still here ...

Still alive, just so much work I can barely have time to think about interesting things to post.

Maybe this weekend.

Because I have little to say, my head is aching and I need to be here till 5, I am posting some pretty pictures:





No gym for me today ...

Yesterday

My schedule yesterday:

3:00 am --> wake up time
5:00 am --> train left Union Statin
5:15 am --> get a sit and spill coffee all over me as I get the tray table up
5:20 am --> get more coffee after cleaning myself up and getting rid of the coffee infused Atlantic I was going to read on my way to New Jersey
7:30 am --> arrive in Newark
9:00 am --> first meeting at customer site
12:30 pm --> first break from meeting to get lunch
1:30 pm --> second meeting at customer site
5:00 pm --> call a cab to get to airport
6:05 pm --> get to the Newark Airport's train station to realize the only feasable train was the 6:45 pm regular train to DC
6:45 pm --> no train
6:55 pm --> train get in
7:00 pm --> train leaves station
9:50 pm --> arrive in DC
9:58 pm --> get cab and go home

So doing all these while sick, was quite the challenge, having two succesful meetings and being able to talk to the customer ... priceless.

Mexico and the Gays

Mexico City, my home town, just passed a Civil Union law. I think it is the first of its kind in Latin America, and it makes me terribly proud. Not that I am in touch with the gays in Mexico, but the fact that it is my country, which is thought of as backwards, and third world, made this bold move is impressive.

There are many caveats to the importance of this law, one of them is that Mexico City is ruled by the PRD – a liberal or leftist party in Mexico, but they are mostly populist – and the fact that it has 20 million people and many other problems makes the passing of this law easier. After all it is small minded people in countries where they have nothing to worry about that focus all their energy on banning gays from marrying, sorry Virginia, but I am talking about you. Still even in this climate where a very “progressive” majority rules Mexico City’s legislation, passing such a law is very moving and effective. It also goes to show how even the all powerful and wealthy Church in Mexico could not stop this, I am not sure how much they applied themselves to oppose it, but I am sure they tried. This is a lesson that us liberals in the US, need to learn, we can not be afraid of the evangelical and the Christians, in Mexico they were able to fight and they won. It helps that there is only one Church (I use capitalization because it is a 2000 year old institution that for years and years dominated Latin America).

So there we go, Viva Mexico!

Disclaimer:

I am no legal expert so I think the law only applies to Mexico City, not sure how marriage is regulated in the Mexican legal system. Hence the lack of analysis of the changes it presents or the way it impacts gays in all of Mexico.

Phote Tease

Because I am lazy, and I have nothing to say, I am uploading some pictures for you to peruse
1 - a little parable, selective trash ?

2 - Remember all the complaining I did about the shoes for the High Heel race, here they are:


3 - Today and yesterday I took some pictures of the end of fall in DC, most of the leaves have or are already falling:

Mind is out

Remember that project I failed, I took it again and I passed. I am happy, but after 3 days of mental exercises, carb loading like a 15 year old, and then a swim practice that was mostly fly last night, I am exhausted. Yes I know this is a run on.

Lots to talk about, but will have to wait until my neurons are connected again.

Took some pretty pictures and the Miss Adams Morgan Pictures are on Yahoo! some need to be edited and rotated.

The meeting and the blogger

Hey there, I know I skipped one day! This is not a daily task, but that is how my mind works, need to do … and then go and do. Every morning when I come into the office I make a list of what I need to get done that day and I tick the done things like the control freak I am as the day progresses and I get more and more things done. Yesterday I had planned to do a series of menial tasks and then use my lunch hour to come up with a good entry. I did I had even thought about a great subject. Then in the middle of the morning, the shit hit the fan at the office and a meeting was set for 12, with pizza brought in for our delight and nourishment (I seriously question, why companies bring pizza for lunches, unless the hidden agenda is to fatten up people so they can stay in the cubes longer). The meeting went on and on, ad infinutum, or until 6 pm and by the time it was all said I had forgotten what my post was going to be about.

That is the sad tale of this blogger right now, meetings and meetings and work and more work. Apparently no one here got the memo that I need to keep a blog and I need to read the press to know if there are any interesting stories to talk about. This is my lame attempt to post today, cuz I am as busy as yesterday, just sitting at my cube trying to deal with things one at a time.