Vibrant.(Still) Unrepentant. Badass. Old. Queer

Love me. Love my sofa. Love my pussy. Pet my pussy. Stroke my pussy. More exciting photos to come tomorrow. *smooch*

I attempted to do my taxes last night. First, I tried itemizing my deductions. Unfortunately, even with 2 months of interest payments on my home, they were not greater than the standard deduction ($5000). So, I took the standard deduction. After calculating my adjusted gross income and doing all the fancy-schmancy math (y'know addition and subtraction) to determine my paid taxes, I discovered that for the first time in years I will be getting a refund. Woo hoo! How much refund you ask? $41. I'll try not to spend it all in one place.

In his blog this morning, Shigeki wrote about the plum trees starting to bloom in Tokyo. It reminded me of something my friends and I used to do in Japan. Several times a year, we would hop on a train to Dazaifu (near the city of Fukuoka) to eat umegaemochi (plum-flavored sweet bean-filled rice cakes). Every trip was fantastic, but the best time was in mid-to-late February when the plum trees were blooming. We would wake up early in the morning and ride our bikes to Futajima Station (It's the fourth station from the left on the bottom row in the picture). The train was a local and stopped at every station. We didn't care, because we would pack our bags with dried squid and chocolate and wasabi peas and cookies and, best of all, self-warming cans of sake [jus t press the button and -voila!- hot sake in a few minutes]. We would eat and drink and laugh and look at the country scenery all the way to Fukuoka/Hakata Station. There we would change trains for a quick trip to Dazaifu....

I'm a big stats whore. And, I noticed that I've had a visitor or 2 from Singapore. Woo hoo! Singapore! Home of the Singapore Sling! No, pervo, that's not a sexual device, it's a drink ! And a yummy one at that... I visited Singapore in 1998. After leaving Japan, my friend, Anne-Marie and I, spent a few months traveling around Southeast Asia - Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore ... We actually spent more time than we wanted in Singapore because as we were preparing to go to Indonesia, the rupiah collapsed and people were rioting in the streets. We opted not to go, so we spent extra time in Singapore getting our plane tickets sorted. Then, we travelled back to Malaysia, ending up in Kota Bahru and the Perhentian Islands ... which was awesome. But, back to Singapore, we did all sorts of fun things - drinks at Raffles Hotel , the Night Safari (which was a happy exception to most disastrous Asian zoos), and many many nights of eating out with friends and drinking Tiger Beer . ...

It's been a Mush -less morning. So sad. In fact, because there was no Mush to remind me, I completely forgot to go to lunch during my break. Durf. I'm holding her completely responsible for my current low blood sugar crankiness. I guess I'll go eat now. I'm thinking of tomato basil soup from Adega. Mmmm. Soup. Catch ya on the flip side.

While I'm waiting for my tax forms and booklets to print (ACK! It's taking FOR-ever!), here's a rundown of my weekend: Friday night, after dinner, John picked me up. I made brandy alexanders (1 part brandy, 1 part creme de cacao, 1 part Haagen-Daz vanilla ice cream, 1 maraschino cherry, splash of maraschino cherry juice). We watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith . Brad Pitt. So hot. Angelina Jolie. So hot. Lots of hotness to be had. *drool* and EXPLOSIONS! Saturday, John dropped me off at my place on the way to the gym and I waited for my sofa to arrive. It was scheduled to be delivered between 12 and 4, so I was expecting it around 3:59. Lo and behold, the truck pulled into the parking lot at 12:30! WOW! I LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE my new sofa! Everyone is invited to come sit on it! The rest of the day, I blobbed around on my sofa, knitting, reading, and eating. That evening, I fixed a nice dinner, had some wine, and watched Sahara . Matthew McConaughey. So hot. Penelope Cruz. So hot. Lo...

I suppose some of you already know this, but Diary-X , where I have kept an online journal for the past 4 or so years, is no more. I'm a little sad. At some point last year, I did back up my journal, but it's on my dead laptop. Hopefully, when [if] I get my tax refund, I will be able to repair my dead laptop and my journal's archives will be saved. Last year is a wash though. *sigh* *sniff* I cried a little about it last night. But, then, John and I had sex and I felt better. The Diary-X administrators have posted a keep-in-touch database, so if you are a former Diary-X user, I urge you to add yourself. Your journalfriends want to know where you've moved. Those of you who have linked to http://enviroboi.diary-x.com should change your links. Enviroboi is no more. *sniff* In the meantime, to help people deal with their Diary-xXdepression, I've decided to unveil my secret diary . I think some of you know about it. I only kept it for about 6 months or so. It...

Storehouse called this morning. My beautiful new sofa should be arriving between 12 and 4 tomorrow. YAY! So I guess we all know what I'll be doing on Saturday: Preparing for Sofa Arrival, Waiting, Waiting, and Waiting until 3:59 when it actually comes. Then, relaxing on the NEW SOFA. Then, maybe inviting John over to help christen the NEW SOFA. Very excited. Woo hoo! NEW SOFA! Maybe I should name it. I don't really have many other plans for the weekend. John wants to go see Madea's Family Reunion (*gag*) on Sunday. I will probably go with him. That way, I'll have some ammunition for the next "high brow" film I want to see ( The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada , anyone?). I still need to buy some new shoes, so I'm thinking of trekking over to DSW in Pentagon Row after the movie [John wants to go to an early showing]. Possibly meeting up with Ray for a late lunch/early dinner and giving him the mittens he asked me to knit for his roommate/b...

A co-worker sent me the link to this totally evil game . Let me know how you do. The first time I played, I lasted 3.28 seconds. I'm up to nearly 12 seconds now (I ROCK!)

... and there was much rejoicing. The first selection is another song by that supercute boyband, SMAP: Dainamaito [loosely translated as "Dynamite"] Not much to say about this song. It triggers no special memories, although it may be one of the first SMAP songs I learned to sing in karaoke! And all SMAP songs make me think of the supercute, and you know he has to be gay, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi. yum. The second song for today is by Sorimachi Takashi (OK. I'll admit. He's yummy, too): Forever [loosely translated as "Forever"], and, yes, that is Richie Sambora singing backup vocals. This song has a special place in my heart for two reasons. One, it reminds me of the drama Beach Boys that my friends and I watched when we spent two weeks frolicking on the Okinawan island, Tokashiki . Two, it's the first (and only) song I've ever sung in front of a band. The story is this: One of the small communities where I used to teach had an international group. They ha...

I've already posted 8 gabillion times today, so what's one more? AND, I still have yet another fun little tidbit to post, but I think I'm going to hold off on that one until tomorrow (oooh. suspense). John gave me a $25 gift card to Borders for Valentine's Day and I had a 30% off coupon and a $5 reward certificate (from my Borders Visa). Armed with $39 of free money, I trudged over to the bookstore. Perhaps, given that it's sunny and 50 here, trudged is the wrong word. Strolled? Sauntered? Moseyed? Anyway, after browsing among the new releases, I finally chose Shakespeare: The Biograph y by Peter Ackroyd. Several years ago I read his biography of London [cleverly titled London: A Biography ] and enjoyed it immensely. The book (after the 30% discount) was only $23.89! So I still have $6.11 of free money to spend on books. YAY! I don't think I'll be able to read this one anytime soon though. I already have two books ahead of it in my pile o' book...

OK. Don't let me down on this one people. The new poll is over there --> (hopefully)

An astounding 67% of you think FEET ARE OK ! Don't you know that the correct answers are either a) GROSS or b) the most disgusting things EVER or c) ew. get them away from me ? Nice to know that 67% of my loyal readers need some serious psychological help though. I'm busy creating a new poll now. Stay tuned.

Hallelujah! Thanks to the most marvelously magnificent Mush , I can now access most of my Firewall'ed blogs through Bloglines! YAY! I can read Dykewife, and Faggoty-Ass Faggot, and Shigeki, and Scott-o-Rama to my heart's content (except for some reason I can't get Mr. o-Rama's entries to expand, but I'm working on it). Hm. Three updates in 2 hours. And, I actually have work to do today. I suppose I should get started on it.

from the WaPo : S.D. Abortion Bill Takes Aim at 'Roe': Senate Ban Does Not Except Rape, Incest South Dakota lawmakers yesterday approved the nation's most far-reaching ban on abortion, setting the stage for new legal challenges that its supporters say they hope lead to an overturning of Roe v. Wade . The measure, which passed the state Senate 23 to 12, makes it a felony for doctors to perform any abortion , except to save the life of a pregnant woman . The proposal still must be signed by Gov. Mike Rounds (R), who opposes abortion. This sort of thing makes me so mad I could spit. I can't even formulate a clear argument and want simply to insult the fuckers who voted for this bill. I tell you one thing, if I were a pregnant woman living in South Dakota after this bill passed, I sure as hell would move. Freakonomics should be required reading for all of the Pro-Life folks. If you haven't read the book, the author -an economist- puts forth an interesting theory: The d...

As some of you may know, my work life is now ruled by a cruel master, the Firewall of Doom, which prevents access to some of my favorite sites . One of the reasons some of these sites are restricted are because they deal with "gay and lesbian issues" (*gasp*). I was doing a little research about the Sonic Firewall of Doom yesterday, and this is what I discovered: from Sonic's website : Gay/Lesbian: Sites that provide information, promote, or cater to gay and lesbian lifestyles. Does not include sites that are sexually oriented (from the Content Filtering Service Premium Edition Categories). God ... er ... Firewall ... forbid that gays and lesbians actually receive information whilst on the job. from an old news.com article : Another threat to virtual visibility for gays and lesbians online is blocking software--originally conceived as a way to mollify parents and political leaders anxious to prevent children from seeing sexually explicit material online. "We know th...

I was just looking over my blog stats and noticed that I've had a visitor from the Netherlands . FUN! So, in honor of our Dutch friends, I will share my two Netherland Stories - one of which I told a friend yesterday. 1. When I lived in Japan, I met a Dutch woman, named Jacoba. She and her very unpleasant British husband had been in Japan for many, many years. Jacoba was your classic free-spirited, sharp-tongued artist. One day she told us about an experience she had in Oxford. She was walking down the street in a very short skirt and tight top. When she passed by two women sitting at an outdoor cafe, one woman turned to the other and said, in Dutch, "Look at that slut walking by now." Jacoba turned to them and said, in Dutch, "Be careful. Everyone in Oxford understands what you are saying." Ha. 2. My first semester of college , I took World Civilizations I: Beginning of Time to the Middle Ages (or something like that). The course was taught by a Netherlander,...

Dykewife , I think I like Eye of Horus better. Sorry it took me so long to respond. Ah. I feel better. Oooh. I just noticed. My little site has had 400 hits. You like me. You really, really like me. Yes. I realize that probably 50% of those hits are me checking my site. Not much going on here ... I stayed at my place last night, watching movies (really) and knitting. I've finally finished with the ribbing on the back of the Sweater of Doom . So, in two weeks, I've knitted about 3 inches. Sad. Good thing I didn't sign up for the Knitting Olympics . Tonight, I'm going out for happy hour with Tomoko and Nida. Yay. I think John might come out too. Maybe. We're going to Halo - Yay for 2-for-1 happy hour specials that run until 9PM in a smoke-free bar! Yay! It's snowing cats and dogs outside. The weather person said we'd get maybe 1 inch of accumulation. Then, it will warm up and all melt. I guess I've rambled enough for now. *happy snowy ...

Look! I'm famous! John and I are quoted and appear in this article in the Nikkei Shinbun. For those of you who do not speak Japanese, I shall translate the important parts of the article for you: "Steven, the stunningly handsome one in the orange jacket, said the movie, although sometimes inaccurate in its portrayal of geisha, provided a good introduction to Japanese culture. "John, the other guy, said something not as important, so let's get back to the supercute Steven ..." And there you have it! Aren't you glad I can read and translate Japanese for you?

Curse be the dreaded Firewall which my company has installed. I have constructed the following table to list some sites which I would check daily (or hourly, if I got really really bored) prior to them being blocked by the evil Firewall of Doom. Website Reason for Restriction Scott-o-Rama Personals and Dating Somewhere in This World Games Faggoty-ass Faggot Gay and Lesbian Issues Dykewife Chat/Instant Messaging The Traveling Spotlight Gay and Lesbian Issues Cute Overload Saccharin Causes Cancer [um. ok. I'm kidding about the last one.]

I'm having a grammar issue. It's too early to think about the subjunctive mood, but here it is ... "If my life was any more exciting" or "If my life were any more exciting?" Hmm ... i'm thinking "were" ... I'm going to change the title ... some Grammar Goddess out there tell me if I'm wrong. Please. OK. On with our regularly scheduled entry ... Yesterday was John's birthday. I still haven't bought his present. BUT, we slept in (until a little after 10 ... I'm sure Oscar's bladder was about to explode ). I got up, let the dog out, started the coffee, and mixed together some cranberry pancake batter. When John got up, he grumpily made the pancakes. I'm sorry, but I'm a pancake-making disaster. It's best if I leave the flipping to the experts. Later that afternoon, we got out the convertible and drove to Arundel Mills Outlets. I needed to buy a new pair of shoes or two. Did I? No. I think I experience...

As it turns out, today is John's birthday! Ack. I haven't bought his present yet - mainly because over the weekend Metro has been doing repair work. On Saturday, it took me an hour and a half to get to Dupont Circle to meet friends for brunch (normally the trip is 30-40 minutes). I decided I couldn't deal with all the extra time sitting on the train. We 're going to shopping today so -hopefully- I can buy it then. I'll write more later - including steamy details of our birthday "movie-watching" and our Saturday night adventure out (two hints: lesbians and country music). Plus, the fun of moving furniture. Type to you tomorrow when I get back to work. *Happy Presidents' Day smooches*

Friday Random 10 (borrowed from Pesky Apostrophe ): When You Need a Laugh - Patsy Cline Punjabiyan Di Shaan - Hansraj Hans Tonari no Heya - Shibata Jun Ukelele Lady - Bette Midler Theme of 015 - SMAP (I think) I Love You So Much It Hurts - Patsy Cline Heartaches - Patsy Cline Rock With You - Michael Jackson The One - Jennifer Lopez Roxie - Renee Zellweger ( Chicago Soundtrack)

Your results: You are Spider-Man Spider-Man 70% Green Lantern 65% Superman 60% Supergirl 45% Iron Man 45% Robin 42% The Flash 40% Wonder Woman 35% Catwoman 30% Batman 10% Hulk 10% You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility. Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Bahrain. Georgia. Iraq. Afghanistan. and, now ... Hawaii. John could move back to Hawaii for 3 years. Will somebody make a fucking decision already? On a happier note, I have my iShuffle back. Yay. If you didn't know, I somehow managed to delete all the songs on it. Then, because my laptop is dead, I couldn't use it to reload iShuffle. So, I tried to do it at work, but since iShuffle is an E-drive and my work computer already has an E-drive, I couldn't do it. *sniff* Then, Robert came to my rescue. He offered to upload songs off of his playlist. I got iShuffle back from him this morning. Now, I can listen to Madonna and disco all the time . Life. Good. Well, except for the whole Boyfriend Uncertainty Principle .

Just like a Venti Caramel Macchiato, Life is sweet. Life is caffeinated. Life is milky. Life is warm. Life comes in a paper cup. I think I'm losing my grip on my metaphor here ... Although, I had plans to stay at home and knit the night away, John's sudden announcement that he might be moving to Bahrain changed that. Instead, we went to dinner with his realtor. John is thinking of selling his house ... or renting it while he's gone ... or leaving it empty for the year. Everything is still up in the air. It's the uncertainty of it all that is driving me crazy. I wish a decision would be made - Bahrain for a year, Georgia for 3, or staying in DC- and then I could start dealing with it. Coming up with an endless supply of hypothetical situations and responses is emotionally, and physically, draining. Dinner was yummy. We went to some little Mexican place in College Park. Spinach enchiladas rock my world! His realtor is a nice guy. Later, John said, "whenever I...

Please take the poll. It's over there --> Thanks, vuboq

They 've restocked the Coke machine . Life. good. [pause] Well, gooder than it was.

We interrupt today's normally scheduled fun blogging for more Where the Fuck is John Moving. Previously on Where the Fuck is John Moving , our hero (me) was worried that John might be sent -suddenly- to Bahrain/Iraq for 4 months. That "career move" was nixed by his supervisor, who then was transferred. The new supervisor re-opened the possible assignment. Fortunately, February 13th came and went with John still safely in the Good Ol' U. S. of A. Next, John's entire department was reorganized and people there less than a year had to find new assignments. One of the options: Bumfuck, Georgia for three years, rotating 8 months in GA and 4 months in Iraq and/or Afghanistan every year. THIS MORNING, John calls and says that he may be going to Bahrain for ONE YEAR , possibly leaving in June or July. He would be able to take a trip or two back to the States, and he would be allowed to have visitors. (Would I want to go to Bahrain? I checked out the State Departme...

Not very politically correct, and I didn't say it to his face, but I was getting frustrated ... And when you're immature like me and you're getting frustrated, you lash out by calling people names. It's how the world works, yo. Last night, after work, John and I took Christal to Jackie's . Our waiter was new and ... um ... frazzled. To start, I ordered Jackie's peach martini. John ordered 4 Elvis mini burgers. The peach martini tasted like it came out of a can. Canned peaches. blurgh. The mini burgers looked YUM though, and John and Christal polished them off quite quickly (once they arrived). Christal ordered a raspberry martini, which ROCKED! So, I had to have one too. Our waiter disappeared. We had to send the water-pourer-guy on a mission to find him so we could order our food. The waiter came back and said, "your mini burgers should be right out." "Um. We've already eaten them," John told him. He looked confused. He took...

Our office drink machine is out of Coke! AUGH! I NEED caffeine. I HATE diet Coke (gag). I had to buy a Sprite. Sprite! Do you know how much caffeine is in a bottle of Sprite? No? Well I'll tell you. None. Zip. Zilch. Ze-FUCKING-ro! My afternoon break/coffee run isn't for another TWO HOURS ! I might just die. [If I do -die, that is-, in lieu of flowers, please send bottles of Coca-Cola arranged tastefully in delicate bouquets. Thank you.] [*heh* "tastefully" *heh*]

So far, two of my regular reads on Diary-X have found me. Yay! I've added the Diary-Xer formerly known as GaijinGirl to my links over there --> She's now Token Asian . Stop by. Tell her I sent you. Dykewife, I'll add your link if you give me permission :-) I wish I knew what happened to my other regular reads: Brain Surgeon, Dragonfly Dreams, Tamarisk, Stephany Sleek, Hwy14Writer, The Fat Lady Has Sung, Marvy Mei, and more ... Where are you? How am I to live without you? How? I think tonight, I need to send out a mass email to all the Diary-x'ers with whom I usually communicate. I miss you. *smooch*

I left work at 4:30 yesterday, and metro'ed over to John's. He met me at the door with champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. Mmm. Chocolate. Champagne. Strawberries. He gave me some presents (even though we had said we would only exchange cards) - a singing and dancing stuffed monkey in raingear and boxers and a gift card to Borders. Yay! Books! He seemed to like the card I made for him :-) We then settled down to watch some TV, order Chinese food, and get a little busy on the sofa. There was some serious "movie watching," yo. My back hurts. Fortunately, even after all the champagne, I'm not hungover (much). In other news, I think the book I've been asked to review has arrived. UPS left a message saying they had a package for me. I won't be able to get it until tomorrow though :-( Because tonight, John and I are taking Christal out to dinner. We're going to Jackie's . Christal is moving to Atlanta next week. She got an awesome ne...

or How I Spend the Workday Hot Olympians Models Maybe I need a new hobby.

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone has fun and exciting romantic plans today! Remember even if you're not with a special someone, you can still do something special for yourself! When I was in graduate school, several of my [single] classmates and I used to go out to dinner on Valentine's Day. We called ourselves "The Lonely Losers." We'd eat loads and get drunk. It was a lot of crazy good times. This year, John and I are ordering Chinese delivery, exchanging cards, and "watching movies." [and, might I add that I look very cute today?] I'm a little unsure of how the card I made him will be received. I bought some very nice handmade paper for the body of the card. Then, I folded 5 small origami heart cards , using pretty Japanese washi (like this , but prettier). On each card, I copied a verse of the poem I wrote. For those of you with short memories, here's the poem: Will You? Will you be mine? My Valentine? My evening star? My bri...

My regularly scheduled journal, Enviroboi , is down because Diary-X is experiencing "massive drive failure." Not good. This will be my substitute site. Here's today's entry. My back hurts … for all the wrong reasons. On Saturday night, we had about 8-10 inches of snow. I volunteered to shovel John’s walk and deck. The snow was light and fluffy, so it was easy to shovel. Unfortunately, “easy to shovel” doesn’t mean “easy on the back.” And, what we had been doing prior to my shoveling wasn’t “easy on the back” either. Before I forget, I have some exciting news. A few days ago, I wrote an entry on EnviroWonk about a book I saw in Borders, Lost Mountain. I couldn’t find any reviews online, so I mentioned that I might review it myself. On Friday afternoon, someone who works for the book’s publisher left a comment saying that they would like me to review the book and would send me a review copy. Sweet. I immediately sent my mailing address. I’m so excited. I’ve...