Blogomatic 5200

Pet Shop Boys ARE awesome… however I’m not sure they deserve to be awesome for quite as long as they have been on this blog.  To this end, I must have a new post.

This weekend I tried an entirely legal (at least in CA) psychoactive drug called Salvia.  It was really interesting.  If anyone ever wants to try it, you can get it at your local tobacco shop.  If you DID want to try it, please do some online research so that you know what to expect, and DEFINITELY try it in a safe place, with some people you trust. (Really, this is not something you want to do around people who like to screw with you…)

The whole thing lasts for MAYBE 20 minutes, and I can’t imagine anyone getting addicted to it.  It’s not an uncomfortable experience, although I can imagine that it COULD be if you were in a bad mental frame to begin with.  That being said, it’s not really a relaxing experience either.  You really do go on a pretty intense trip for a few minutes.  It is NOT a party drug.  You are not going to get buzzed on this and attempt to interact with ANYTHING.

All in all it was fascinating.  I would totally recommend it although I hate the fact that I had to smoke it.  Blech.

Ok, so in other news.  Went out to Hollywood on Saturday with my lovely wife Jennifer and my great friend Aaron.  Crazy crazy crazy good times.  Most fun I’ve had in… geez… probably years.  Can’t stop thinking about it.  Aaron’s Dr. Horrible Costume was awesome, and my wife was absolutely stunning.

Only one drawback to speak of.  We didn’t get to bed until 4AM on either Friday OR Saturday, and I just can’t hang anymore.  My body was SO very displeased with me on Sunday.  Don’t care.  Would do it again tomorrow… Maybe just leave the club a bit earlier!

All in all:  Epic weekend.  Thanks Jenn!  Thanks Aaron!

Check out their new video!  I dig it!

I usually like to steer clear of mocking anyone’s spiritual beliefs, if for no other reason than that it serves no real purpose other than annoying those who would be listening to me.  This week though, I’ve just got to address my good Catholic friends.  To those folks, I have to say (calmly, and with no malice), “what the fuck?”

Most religions that I’ve looked at have some skeletons in the closet… some thing(s) that maybe happened 25, 100, maybe 500+ years ago that the modern practitioner has to do some mental gymnastics to work around.  With the religion I was raised in, there is racism, mysticism, and polygamy.  With others there is much the same.  Actually, there is stuff that goes on in many if not most religions today that most people not of that particular faith would probably characterize as “bat-shit crazy”.  It’s pretty amazing the way the brain can work around cognitive dissonance…  I guess when you finally go all-in with the whole “great sky wizard” thing, resolving a few dozen or so blatant doctrinal contradictions or logical fallacies is not that big of an obstacle.

That being said, there are times when I wake up and I read something, and I just think, “That’s it!  That religion is done.  There is no way that anyone is going to THAT church anymore after this…”  It happens whenever it comes out in the news that some pastor had 20 mansions and a mistress, etc…  Even in those situations, I know deep in my heart that there is a immense population of kind souls who can forgive even the most egregious betrayal of trust and will dutifully continue to donate their pension money to help the poor sinner through the hell of drug rehab… which will undoubtedly be administered in one of the 20 mansions…

Now then, back to my “WTF Catholics”-point:
According to a recent Time magazine article, “Archibishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho of the coastal city of Recife announced that the Vatican was excommunicating the family of a <9 year old> local girl who had been raped and impregnated with twins by her stepfather, because they had chosen to have the girl undergo an abortion. The Church excommunicated the doctors who performed the procedure as well… ” Apparently the rapist himself was NOT excommunicated. Child abuse just doesn’t rank up there in the churches sin scale.

So once again… to my good Catholic friends… I say again: “WTF?”.  How many times does this church have to literally and figuratively screw your children before you find another place to hang your hat on the Sabbath?

A quick way to quit blogging is to promise that the next time you write I will address a particular subject…  Thereafter, although I may wish to blog, I will am unable to do so without feeling that I must talk about said topic, even if my zeal for it has faded somewhat.  From now on, I think I will try to keep my posts “in the moment”…

(Afterthought: I realized immediately after publishing this that I am essentially promising that in future posts I won’t promise anything about future posts… hooray irony!)

It is your right to hate. You can spew forth the most vile vitriolic refuse that you want, and I will defend your right to make an ass out of yourself.

It is not your right to impose your hatred on others arbitrarily.

Usually, I’m quite proud to call California my home. While I don’t necessarily embrace far left hippie culture, I do lean more left than right. Although CA has its share of problems, we are often at the front of the push for progress, and that makes me happy. That being said, I was embarrassed that on a day that marked a huge step forward for civil rights, my state took a big step backward. I was further embarrassed by the fact that the church I was raised in had a substantial role in pushing the legislation.

I think my next few posts will be devoted to discussing exactly why the arguments for prop-8 are fundamentally flawed…

I have a problem…

I can’t actually do anything.  Oh, it’s not that I’m unskilled.  It’s just that I get an idea in my head… and then I get to thinking…

Hey, but it would be even better if I did it this way…

OH!  And I could do that too!!!

… all of which is true.  Unfortunately, when I think about all of the things that need to be done to bring my perfect vision to fruition, it just becomes overwhelming and I end up doing nothing.

This blog post, for example.  It has been running around in my thoughts all week.  “What would the perfect kickoff post for my blog be like?…” And you see how long it’s taken.  It is only for fear of my friend Aaron’s head actually exploding (he told me that it would if I didn’t post something soon) that I finally sat down to just get something out there.

So there it is.  I think my approach to this, at least in the beginning, will be just an imperfect mess of thoughts.  But wait… what if I…

Behold!  My descent into narcissistic bliss has begun.  I has blog!