David's Tangled Thoughts

Now that's a pig! h/t Drudge Report

There is an interesting article in the June 2007 special edition of the magazine, Discover . The title is “Born Gay?” by Michael Abrams if you are interested in looking it up, which I would recommend because I won’t do it justice here. But it begins to answer one of the biggest questions that I have: Why am I gay? At first, I refused to even think that I was gay. I thought that I had normal adolescent feelings and that everyone goes through it. I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t anything more than admiration of guys that I wanted to be like. Progressing in my religious studies, I understood homosexuality to be a sin. Since everyone is born with original sin, there is a burden that everyone has to overcome. Homosexuality was my burden and I thought it was a burden that every person probably had. I was just weaker at suppressing my sinful desires. Finally, when I finally admitted it to myself that I was gay, I clung to the belief that God made me this way. The problem is t

Yesterday, wanting to get out of the house and avoid the job search and LSAT prep for one day, I tagged along with my sister up to Kalamazoo. She had to go back to campus for a meeting. While she was off doing that, I spent time in the library with an internet connection so fast I wanted to cry. Then I set off to do some site seeing of the campus. I didn’t get far before my sister called me. Her meeting was done rather quickly. After finding each other, I had her walk me around the campus. Here are some pictures that I took. The Seal of Western Michigan University. I don’t know if they have a superstition about this—I suspect they do—but you’d probably do yourself a world of hurt if you step on this seal. The tower of the insane asylum. The Rocks. At least I assume that’s what the Broncos call them. MSU has something similar which we call The Rock. MSU’s rock is about four feet or taller by now and is rumored to have started off as the size of a tombstone. Not

My sister, Kris, got a wireless contract with Alltel the other day. She’s got a nice little phone and a service she’s agreed to keep for two years unless she wants to hand over $200 to break it. When I made the leap from prepay to contract, I was spending about $35 a month in phone cards. I figured that with another $10 a month, I might as well go with a contract. I did and I largely don’t regret it except that I now pay $52/month now. Damn those taxes, fees, and other fine print. Yesterday, when I went to the Y , I forgot to bring my cell phone with me. Honestly, I get freaked when my phone is not on me or is in a place that I can’t get to it. I mean, what would I do if when my car breaks down? I’d have to go searching for a pay phone . (More than likely, though, someone would probably let me use their cell.) So I walk into the place and scan for the public phone. There isn’t one. I’m stunned. This place needed a public pay phone, I think to myself. Where could I find

WARNING : If you don’t like looking at ears, do not proceed. This means you, JADE. Pretty much everyone has issues with something on their body. I have more than a couple but recently, I got to noticing people that I really respect and how they are different from me in the ear department. Odd, I know. But I remember back to high school where we were talking about ear lobes and how it had to do with intelligence. Someone said that the more a person’s lobes were attached to their heads, the more intelligent they were. Josh didn’t hesitate to say, “Then [David] must be retarded.” I have humongous ear lobes. It has bothered me for the longest time and it still does. So much so that I wonder if I should bother, someday, with plastic surgery. You know, lobe reduction surgery. I know, while I’m at it, I can get my nose done too! Going through my picture collection, I was surprised to find out that there weren’t that many close up shots of my head that could illustrate how far my lobe

The other night I had an interesting dream. I dreamt that my neighbors from across the street were moving out of their home in the middle of the night and that when they were done, they held a goodbye party on the deck of my house even though in real life, I don’t have a deck. Many years ago when I was in high school, one of my classmates was killed in a car crash. It was soon after school had started the new school year. On the way back into town three of my classmates and one from the year ahead of mine were traveling by car. The driver, K., was driving under the influence and she crashed killing two, including my classmate and the one that I said was in the year ahead. K. was sent to jail but it wasn’t long before she was released and joined us at school. She sat at my table during art class. My friends talked to her and sometimes it seemed like they got on like nothing had happened. I held my tongue but I felt that she got off with barely a slap on the wrist. I may not have

The TV is on in the background and some British chef is cooking up a turkey. He put in a truffle--just one truffle at a cost of £50. He said, "It's a bit expensive but well worth it." Like hell it is. If' I'm going to have a $100+ meal, it better damn well feel like an orgasm in my mouth. Wait... that did not come out right. Anyways, call me a cheapskate but there's no way in hell that I'm spending that much on my food unless it was an extraordinary occasion.

I was driving by the University of Notre Dame the other day and I got to thinking about how accessible it used to be during its early years. I wondered how hard it was to get in then as compared to how difficult it is now. Michigan’s top two schools, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University , have upped their admissions standards. A GPA of 3.5 got you into State, 3.7 got you into Michigan. Now, applicants with those numbers are finding themselves wait listed and even rejected. I feel fortunate that I got into State when I did because it doesn’t look like I’d be accepted now. I suppose that it is something to be proud of. Who doesn’t want their alma mater to be more prestigious? I want people to look at Michigan State and think, “Now that’s a great school.” I want high school juniors and seniors to look at my school and want to go there. Yet, at the same time, it makes me sad that people who are in a similar situation that I was in won’t be able to experience

I intended to make a blog post about Jerry Falwell soon after I first heard of the news reports about his death. Pure laziness is there reason why I didn’t. I have had a chance to read many other blogs and their take on news. I won’t make this long. Just enough to throw in my two cents. I noticed was the willingness to celebrate his death. I didn’t like Falwell when he was alive and I certainly did not like what he preached. If he had is way, I and a whole host of others should be “eradicated.” But even with his toxic mouth and wide reach, I can not bring myself to piss on his grave. I have no desire to see this man “burn in hell.” While I may be willing to entertain some sort of cosmic justice for him, I would not damn him for his beliefs. I am content to let God be the judge of him and his imperfections. h/t to Mr. Bugg which got me going on this particular post. BTW, congrats to him and Calvin for getting hitched. I love hearing about news like that. UPDATE 17 May 2007:

Minge just tagged me (sort of) for this: Pick and tag five bloggers that make you think. Simple, right? Rules of Engagement: 1. If, and only if, you get chosen, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think. 2. Link to this post so that people can easily find th exact origin of the meme. 3. Optional: Proudly display the Thinking Blogger Award logo. Of my picks, only Robert and maybe Byron actually comes to my blog every so often, but here are my picks: little voice The Malcontent Inside Stephen Byron J. Flitsch Duane Moody This is not to say that everyone else's blog doesn't make me think. I enjoy every one that I visit. These make me think about political/social issues from different perspectives (Malcontent, Duane), subjects I don't know much about (little voice), or just things going on in my own head and that I'm not aware of until someone mentions something (Stephen, Byron). But you know I love you all.

Doug's blog alerted me to a tournament of college mascots. Currently, the Michigan State Spartans are up against Wyoming's Cowboys . I'm asking every one of my readers to go and vote for the Spartans. Click here . Go on. Right now. Sparty won the National Mascot Championship again. Help him win this tournament and prove that the Spartans dominate. In case you missed it, vote here .

Hey, does anyone have a copy of Mat Kearney's Undeniable ? I'd like to borrow it.

Happy Mother's Day! Not sure there's any mothers reading this blog but just in case... Dad took us out to Pizza Hut for lunch after church today. They were having a buffet special where moms eat for free. Actually, a free lunch with the purchase of another adult lunch. Although my mom got her lunch free, I teased my sister by saying that maybe we could pad her belly. Then we could get hers free as well. When we got the check from Giggles (yes, that is her name), we found out that my sister did get her lunch for free too. And we didn't have to pad her belly.

After seeing the fourth blogger with this "meme," I thought I had to join in on it too. You are the Hanged Man Self-sacrifice, Sacrifice, Devotion, Bound. With the Hanged man there is often a sense of fatalism, waiting for something to happen. Or a fear of loss from a situation, rather than gain. The Hanged Man is perhaps the most fascinating card in the deck. It reflects the story of Odin who offered himself as a sacrifice in order to gain knowledge. Hanging from the world tree, wounded by a spear, given no bread or mead, he hung for nine days. On the last day, he saw on the ground runes that had fallen from the tree, understood their meaning, and, coming down, scooped them up for his own. All knowledge is to be found in these runes. The Hanged Man, in similar fashion, is a card about suspension, not life or death. It signifies selflessness, sacrifice and prophecy. You make yourself vulnerable and in doing so, gain illumination. You see the world differently, with almost mys

I've been working on a 100 Things list for the past couple days. I've been adding a few things every now and then to the list. A few of the points got me to thinking about on one of the moments in my life that I am ashamed of. I was living in Key West in the late 80's where I attended kindergarten and first grade. In kindergarten good students would get slips of paper that had a bee on it ( Sigsbee was the name of the school). These slips of paper were the size of a 1/4 sheet of paper. If one was really good, you could get the 1/2 sheet. My bottom dresser drawer were full of these bee certificates and I was very proud of it. One of my classmates was an asshole. I'll call him "Robert." I wouldn't say he was a bully, but he was definitely a trouble maker. I remember getting into a few "fights" with him but I remember us generally getting along. He never got those bee certificates. Back in the day, no one thought anything of letting six

Today I got a shot at riding the new lawnmower that dad got. When I say new, I mean used. When I say that dad got it, I mean that he borrowed it. Still, it looked pretty slick and I was a little eager to try it out. Let’s be honest, I don’t volunteer for yard work often. Old Blue (shown below) quit on us the other week. I’m hoping that the repair shop will call back saying that Old Blue will never roll again. ‘Cause I’m liking the Deere. Even if Uncle Art does want his mower back, maybe Dad will want to get a like model.

The other day it was hot as hell in Niles. Actually, it wasn’t that hot but it was warm enough that when I got in my car, I used the air conditioning. That day, I had to print off my resumes and cover letters for some court positions that opened up. The Niles library has a laser printer which is better than using the ink jet one at home. The district, circuit, and probate courts each needed to clerk so I am hoping that I’ll get one of them. Applications needed to be handed into the personnel department at the admin building. Since the county seat in Saint Joseph, I had to make the drive up there. When I left Niles, it was warm but when I opened my door up in Saint Joseph, the outside air was cooler than the air inside my car. That’s how much of a temperature drop there was moving towards Lake Michigan. Before heading back inland, I went to the beach to enjoy nature’s free air conditioning. If your beach plans did not include getting into the water, then that day was a great d

My mom and I went to a job fair yesterday. It wasn't like the job fairs that I'm familiar with where employers come to one area and you interview with them. We went there and there were three women interviewing us. They worked for the temp agency whose building we were in. I interviewed with this nice lady named Holly. Then there were skills tests and then a butt load of paperwork. It took us three hours to get out of there. Ugh. If I was interviewing with potential employers, I think I'd feel better about it. One of the girls that was waiting with us said that her friend went to one of these and got a job soon afterwards. I hope that she's the rule rather than the exception.

Although I am interested in international relations and politics, I rarely give a strong opinion when it comes to another country's internal policies or their politicians. That is especially true during an election. So I haven't been talking much about the French elections. If I had any French readers, I definitely wouldn't be telling them to vote for Nicolas Sarkozy even if I really wanted them to. As an American citizen, it's not my place to make such a request. Now that the elections in France is over and M. Sarkozy is the President Elect, I think I am free to say a couple things. The newscasts in America are, unsurprisingly, not focusing much on this election. I'd estimate that the US's 2008 presidential election coverage still has France beat 10 to 1. However, what little is being covered covers two points: 1.) Sarkozy, a conservative, has won the election over a socialist. 2.) This may mean that relations between France and the US may improve. My

I’ve been tagged by Minge to make a post about my Top 20 movies. I won’t attempt to do them in any particular order though. Bend It Like Beckham I had heard of this movie when it came out but I didn’t give it much attention until I was in the Philippines and John wanted to see it. So we went through the markets looking for a pirated copy. Hell, when we went to Manila I even looked for a legitimate copy. I never did find one and I never did see the movie until it came on MSU’s campus movie station. I then wrote to John and told him that he should see it. This movie is one of my favorites because it touches on family issues that are very close to me. Familial expectations and pressures. A mother that seems insufferable. A sister who is another social circle. Racial and sexuality issues. It’s all there. Bridget Jones’s Diary Oh this plays to my fears of winding up as a spinster who will eventually be eaten by wild dogs. Take out the smoking the drinking, and I’m practically her

The Queen of Canada is in the United States on a six day trip. According to the news, she is here to mark the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown (located in the Commonwealth of Virginia ), the first permanent English settlement. Towards the end of the trip, she'll also make a trip to The District where she'll meet with the President. Although I'm no fan of monarchies (I am a republican , small-r) I think that this is one positive story. Considering the cooling relations between us and practically all of our inner allies, it's nice to at least pretend that we still like each other, right?

It has been warm these past few days with temperatures flirting with the upper 80’s (around 30-31C). With the humidity factored in along with that post I did a couple days ago, I found myself yearning to return to the Philippines . Truthfully, I haven’t spent that much of my life there. Totaled up, my time would probably be a little over a year and a half. Still, I consider that place my second home. Don’t get me wrong, Michiana will always be home to me no matter where I go. But another part of me exists on the other side of the globe. Every time I see the setting sun set, I also see it as a rising sun. I wonder what the new day will be like for my distant relatives. Then I wish that I could be there to see for myself. Since Nanay’s death, there hasn’t been a real reason for me to go back. At least that’s what I told myself. What’s left of my mother’s family seems so removed from my life that they might as well be strangers. Still, there’s some kind of blood bond and I think that as