Another Year Gone

As of 12/29, this blog is officially a year old. What a year!

A lot of other blogs I've been reading are loaded down with "Top" and "Best" lists, and even a few "Worsts", but I don't have any of that. We're all grown-ups here, so I'll leave opinions of good and bad to those who want to have them. My personal experience is a seemingly random jumble of good and bad. It was a good year for family and friends, but a bad year for work. I tried to move forward in my transition by coming out at work, but I was whacked on the nose with an employee handbook and forced to take two steps back. Acceptance and tolerance turned into rejection and prejudice.

This year is ending in uncertainty, but I find myself looking forward with longing to next year. Changes are coming, big and small. I've talked a little recently about moving to Florida. For a while, I dreaded the idea of moving again, away from all I know and love, but the prospect of beginning again in a (really) new place has an attraction that I wasn't prepared for. Yeah, I'd be moving away from all my friends, but what is this internet thing for, if not for maintaining contact between friends over long distances? It's not as though I'll be gone forever. For all my love of home, I am also cursed with the urge to wander. I think I'll give this thing a year. If things don't come together to my satisfaction within a year's time, I'll come back.

I Saw Avatar Last Night

You'll find no spoilers here. I've had nearly two weeks to soak up assorted reviews and criticisms, but I set aside all that as I went into the theater. Dismiss it as fluff if you want to, but I enjoyed it. I didn't get to see it in IMAX or 3D, so I think I'll try to save up for another go, but it was a veritable feast for the senses. Thus far, I think I've only dared to say this once, but it's good here: "See this movie!"

Happy Holidays!

I just want to wish everyone a happy holiday. I'll be spending most of mine at home. I get to watch my nephews unwrap gifts (I will take pictures, I promise), then crash till sometime in the evening, when Nate has promised a magnificent feast. Then it's back to work again. I get to work all this weekend and next, so no New Year's parties for me. I'll just have to appreciate what I've got.

Anyway, I hope all of you enjoy your time today.

PS - I was going to write something about religion, based on a quote a friend posted on Facebook, but I'll wait until after the holiday. I'll leave everyone in peace for another twenty-four hours.

The Muppets Do "Carol of the Bells"

Well, sorta.

RIP: Brittany Murphy

I woke up last night to the news that actress Brittany Murphy had died. In truth, I hadn't seen a lot of her movies, but I always enjoyed seeing her work. She especially caught my attention a couple three years ago when she did vocals for Paul Oakenfold on the track "Faster Kill Pussycat":



I used to put on music while I was putting on my makeup. The summer of 2006, the album that most often went into the CD player was Oakenfold's A Lively Mind, and "Faster" is the first track. So I heard her voice a lot.

A little while ago, I watched her most recently-completed film, a horror picture entitled Deadline, with Thora Birch. I enjoyed it, though the ending threw me off a bit. Wikipedia says it's slated for a 2010 theatrical release, but it's already available to stream on Netflix.

Brittany, we hardly knew ye. You'll be missed.

Let It Snow...Not!

The blogosphere has been alive the last couple of days with writings about the nor'easter which churned up the East Coast the last couple of days. Other places got anywhere from three inches to a couple of feet of snow. Here, we got maybe an inch, and as of 0600 this morning, it's hard to tell that it snowed. There are patches and clumps of whiteness in areas that are alee, but most of what fell yesterday appears to be gone, at least around my job. There might be some stuff sticking around when I get home, seeing as it's closer to the river. Time will tell.

I'm going to walkabout the neighborhood after I get home. I'll take my camera. I was hoping there'd be more snow for photographic purposes. We'll see.

Blue Because I Can

I was off on Tuesday, and I had a little extra money left from paying the bills, so I treated myself to the works at my local nail salon: manicure, pedicure and eyebrow wax. I last got a manicure in October, and had my brows done around the same time. My last pedicure was in August, before the flap at work over my nails and my earrings.



The lady who took care of me remembered me from previous visits. She joked with me about how thick my brows had gotten. "This is your fault," she said, as she stripped away all the excess. They were running a special, so I got the "deluxe" pedicure for the same cost as the regular treatment. The pampering felt nice. I haven't worn any color on my toes since sometime in September, so I wanted something different. I picked a China Glaze color called "Rain Storm". You can see it here:



http://sterlingnails.blogspot.com/2009/03/china-glaze-rain-storm.html



Blue isn't really seasonal, but I liked it, and it looks good on my toes. I didn't realize it at the time, but it's almost the same shade as the Na'vi people who appear in the promotions for the movie "Avatar" which opens later this week. I didn't think of it this way myself, but someone else has tried to make this film a transgender issue.



There's another blog, somewhere here on Blogger, which proposes that trans people protest this film, because it's set in the future, but doesn't depict any sort of alternative sexuality or gender expression. Uh, hello? How many other films are out there that depict a future that's more or less just like today, except that there are aliens, or robots, or whatever? There are a lot, too many for this poor blogger to count.

I believe that we have to choose our battles carefully. As i write this, President Obama's big health care reform proposal is circling the drain. ENDA is set to come out of committee sometime after the first of the year, and I'm not as confident as I'd like. If the Republicans, and Conserva-Dems and whoever else manage to torpedo the health bill, they might feel they have carte blanche to block the passage of anything else. These are my biggest concerns beyond my day-to-day life.

I look to film for an escape from everyday cares and woes. At two hours and forty minutes, "Avatar" will make a nice break. I like everything I've seen about "Avatar" impresses me: the actors, the director, the incredible computer-generated effects. Nothing can take that away from me. Not even the off-topic whining of some of my brothers and sisters.