Category: Personal

Happy Anniversary to me…

IMG_0058Today, August 22, 2013, marks the third anniversary of my life as an Ex-Pat.

In 2010, on this date, I packed up some of my belongings into one too many suitcases, loaded a dog into the hold of an airplane and headed off for a small town in Hungary, with absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. Now, I’m one year past my original expiration date – my original contract being for a single year with a one year extension option. I didn’t exercise it and instead, headed north to Lithuania (I didn’t know where it was, either) to take up my new life as a university docent (associate professor). I’ve been in Lithuania now for a little over two years, having moved to Vilnius for a few months in June of 2011 and into my flat at the beginning of August that year. I’m also a few days away from beginning my 3rd year at VDU. Continue reading “Happy Anniversary to me…” →

My mother has a 46 year old son

Birthday BoysMy birthday celebration really started on Friday when I saw some friends and got some nice gifts and cards and a visit from my friend Anna from Budapest. I also saw Pacific Rim, but I slept through a good deal of it so no review just yet.

Saturday, the actual anniversary of my birth, was a blast. Continue reading “My mother has a 46 year old son” →

Separating art from artist

There is an ethical conundrum I’ve been curious about for a while. The problem is this: If I don’t agree with the politics of an artist or businessman, can I still buy their art or patronize their establishment? How do you draw the line?

For me, this first came up with Carl’s Jr, a fast food burger joint primarily in the west and southwest of America (in the east,  Hardees stores are basically the same). Carl’s Jr. was started and, until he died in 2008, owned by Carl Karcher, who was a well-known conservative and supporter of anti-gay legislation – something to which I am violently opposed.

Continue reading “Separating art from artist” →

Not Just a Princess – Goldie Blox

The world is such an amazing place. At the same time we have this crap going on in places like Ohio, we have people like Debbie Sterling at Goldie Blox trying to do the right thing for the whole race.

Sure, Pink is a great color. I love it. Even very big masculine guys like Penn Jillette love it . So it’s not just for girls. The same way blue isn’t just for boys. This is a globe filled with all sorts of people, wouldn’t it be great if we could let them all do whatever it was they wanted to.

And here, just for fun – Ten Historic Female Scientists you should know.

David Magazine

July 13

I was wondering today, as I was finishing an article, how often I should put up a real blog post. I mean I’ll do reviews as I finish books and see movies. I get that frequency. And when I go to Scotland in two weeks, those should be nightly posts, or summary wrap-ups. I get that, too. But the rest of it, the real stuff, how often do I do that before you get bored of reading it and I get bored of writing it? To ourselves, for the most part, our own lives are boring. While I know I would be excited as hell to meet a favorite actor or singer, for them, it’s part of the same ol’ day in, day out routine. When I was in Hollywood or Vegas, to people who weren’t there my life could have seemed glamorous or cool, but those of us who know what a grind the entertainment industry can be, we know that glamor is certainly in the eye of the beholder. Continue reading “David Magazine” →

I am Nothing

I am not republican. I am not democrat.
I am not right wing. I am not left wing.
I am not conservative. I am not liberal.
I am not rich. I am not poor.

I subscribe to no one political philosophy.
I think everyone should have the right to live in peace.
I think you should take care of yourself, but if you can’t we should help.
I think if you take without giving, that’s theft.
I think education is more important than weapons, but both are important.

If you are an asshole, I won’t like you, no matter your race, religion or sexual orientation.
If you judge someone based on your preferences, you are an asshole.
If you think being able to piss standing up gives you some sort of privilege, you’re wrong.
If you believe in god show it, don’t tell it.

In the eyes of the world, really, I am nothing.
But I’m all I got, and I’m gonna keep going

I forgot how to write

I’m sitting down to write something and I think I forgot how to do that. My mind is whizzing, but sitting down to the keyboard and actually picking a project is a chore. I used to be able to crank out material at a prodigious rate and while I think I know what happened, why that changed, that doesn’t excuse it. I need to get over it and just get the job done.

With that in mind, I’m sitting down today to start work on a fantasy adventure story which is in need of a title. This is a new piece. I had thought about going back and picking up the thread of other pieces I’d started some time ago, but I think a fresh start on something new is what I actually need at the moment. By putting it here, in the open, I’m hoping to shame myself into working on it on a daily basis. I can talk the talk, time to get back to walking the walk.

(and yes, I’ve shamelessly stolen the graphic – Thank you!)

Famous Authors’ Handwritten Outlines for Great Works of Literature

This is a great glimpse into process but as I sit down today to outline my new writing project, I sit down with a computer and a tablet and a piece of software designed to make these notes. There are places and slots for all these notes.

It’s like email. We still have correspondence, sure, but there’s something sad about not having the “Collected letters of ….” to look forward to anymore. At least the art itself lives on.

Blogging?

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So I’m wondering why we blog and what particular point this particular blog has. I was reading this morning a couple of news-feeds and there were blog posts with interesting bits of information on them, but a lot of it wasn’t sourced and a lot of it was rather inflammatory and it got me thinking about the blogger back in ’07/’08 who wrote, with no foundation of fact (and he said so later) that Obama was a Muslim. This was picked up and widely disseminated by major news outlets with no one bothering to vet the information. Of course, here I am, passing on bits of it as news myself, with no sourcing or validity whatsoever. I remember reading the information, but I’m nowhere that I can search and verify what I remember. Continue reading “Blogging?” →

Croatia

So after much deliberation and hemming and hawing, I decided spring break would be in Croatia, where I had NOT gone during the winter break. And it would be a part of Croatia I hadn’t seen when I was here in 08. So I was looking at Split and Dubrovnik. I was also looking at going with some fellow Americans, Chris and Laurel, and a Lithuanian, Rolanda, decided to join us as well. Continue reading “Croatia” →

Vienna

The trip to Vienna, like all my trips since I’ve been in Hungary, really started on Thursday night. See, my bus to Austria left from Budapest at 7am which means I needed to be there by 6:45 which means I needed to spend the night in Budapest since there are no trains or anything else which will get me there that early. This also held true for any trips which had me leaving the country. Continue reading “Vienna” →