Catching up

Yeah, I know, I haven't posted in a while. This heat and humidity is just sapping everything out of me. At least the A/C works good! Too bad it doesn't reach the bedroom...it's been very difficult to sleep the last few nights.

Last Friday we went and saw Melissa Etheridge at the Long Beach Terrace Theater. What a show! This is the third time I've seen her in concert, but the first time I've seen her in Long Beach where her career began. She had a blast, the fans had a blast. She played a lot of her old stuff, and new stuff too. There was one whole segment that did me in though - she started with "Legacy", which I've always thought is the most powerful message she has ever written - and continued into "Scarecrow". As soon as I heard the opening chords to that one, I started to cry. I always cry when I hear that one, remembering the hours waiting to see if Matthew Sheperd would survive or not, and the disbelieving, bitter tears when he did not. My friend Keith (a UU minister) was at Matthew's funeral. As if that wasn't enough, Melissa went right into "Flight 93", a song in honor of a gay man who helped prevent the terrorists from reaching their target, and the US government who does everything in their power to avoid admitting that gays can do anything heroic or positive. For more on the concert, and a great review: click here.

Saturday afternoon, I presided over a gay couple's commitment ceremony. Sort of last minute, but fun none the less. A very nice couple, seemingly mismatched on first thought, but then you realize how much they ground and center each other. This Saturday I'll be meeting with another couple to start planning their ceremony for this winter. I love presiding over weddings and handfastings. I like the ones that take place in someone's backyard even better than the ones that take place on a harbor cruise or in a posh country club. There's something much more "real" about them.

Sunday, my parents and brother came over. Andy (my bro) built us a new computer, the one I'm using right now. Our old computer was running on Windows 98 (eek!), and running much more slowly than it should have been. Eventually, once we transfer the files to the new computer, we'll bleach the old hard drive and reinstall everything, then let the kids use that one. This new computer is lightning fast! We've got a DVD burner, 1 gig RAM, 80 gig hard drive and Windows XP with Office 2003. We're finally making use of the high-speed internet service we've had for a year - the old computer just couldn't reach the speeds that the modem was channeling. Thanks, Andy!!!!

The 4th of July was alright. We took the girls over to Jo's for BBQ and a movie. Fireworks are illegal in Long Beach, and after going one year to the City's fireworks show, I swore I would never deal with those drunken crowds again - wall to wall sots. The kids are old enough now that they weren't disappointed. Did I mention fireworks are illegal in Long Beach? Then can you explain the load noises I hear all night, and every night for the past week? Firecrackers in trash cans, mostly, and a few Whistling Petes. Every time I just dropped off on Tuesday night, another trashcan would "BANG!!!!" and I was awake again. Not a very restful night.

And now we're back in the grind. Work, drive, eat, sleep. Sigh.