GatorUptown’s Blog

For those readers that don’t follow my antics on Facebook, let me assure you that I am not dead. I’m sure the lack of a blog entry for a couple of consecutive days had you worried.

What can I say? It’s been a hectic couple of nights in New York City. At 1:45am on Saturday morning, I’m finally taking a moment to post.
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It occurred to me this morning that while I mentioned my dilemma about Thanksgiving several months ago, and I even suggested the possibility of seeing Carrie Fisher’s show Wishful Drinking in a subsequent post, I never announced my intentions to my faithful readers.

My bad.
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In need of a good “date night” yesterday, we went to the Epicentre for dinner and drinks at Mez, followed by an evening showing of the second Twilight movie New Moon.

C’mon, you knew I’d go see it. And you knew I’d write a New Moon review for you. Didn’t you?

I went in expecting a very polarized reaction. Just about everyone that I’ve talked to (or reviews that I’ve read) either LOVED the movie or HATED it. Actually, nearly all of the people I know who have seen the movie hated it too – for the most part, it’s the general public that has reported loving it. To give you an example, Rotten Tomatoes records the consolidated critics’ response as 29% favorable, while 93% of Flixster users who rated the film gave it positive marks.

So yeah, you can imagine that I went in there bracing myself for a strong reaction.
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Earlier this week, students at the University of California’s Santa Cruz campus seized an administration building on campus, barricaded the doors, and refused to leave for three days. Kerr Hall became a symbol of the students’ opposition to a 32% increase in tuition, approved earlier this week by the regents board. Early Sunday morning, they finally relented and fled the building after police threatened them with arrest.

Call me a sell-out to “the establishment,” but I think these stupid bastards deserve to be expelled and arrested, one by one.
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We’ve been surrounded by adorable children these past couple of weeks. Visiting Sal’s family in Texas, he had a young niece and nephew that were such a joy to be around (when they didn’t have neighborhood kids to show off for) On the flight back, there was a delightful little baby boy that kept looking back at Sal and me and laughing when we made silly faces.

And this weekend, our friends Kyle and Christina brought their magnificent daughter Sophia up to visit, on their way to Kentucky for Thanksgiving.
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Traveling over the holidays is often a tedious and frustrating process… If you’re driving, you’ve got to deal with congested roads, oftentimes long bouts of time in the car (which can make anyone cranky), and if you’re like me, the inevitability of something going wrong with your car. Or if you’re traveling by air, you have to deal with crowded airports, screaming kids on airplanes, cancelled or delayed flights, and limited options when choosing flight times.

And now, air travelers need to be wary of hidden surcharges added AFTER the fare has been quoted.
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I had my complaints about my 32nd birthday — there were great surprises and visits from friends in Charlotte and beyond, but there were also some major frustrations and disappointments — but I woke up this morning determined to make today a new day. I started work with a fresh attitude, was professionally productive, and even managed to finish off the M Street Thanksgiving leftovers.

And then tonight, my kind upstairs neighbors stopped by with the birthday present that Sal has apparently been cleverly hiding with them for quite some time. It is, to put it mildly, wonderful.
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A dear friend of mine shared with me today that I remind her of the company representative in this video:
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Today was my birthday, and I have some apologies to issue because of it.

First, I apologize for shutting off the birthday reminders on Facebook and MySpace – frankly, I just didn’t want dozens of “Happy birthday!” messages from people that I met once and hardly ever speak to, or from people that I knew fifteen years ago and haven’t shared a conversation with since. I just wasn’t in the mood for social niceties from a ton of near-strangers.
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A gay nineteen year-old in Puerto Rico was burned, decapitated, and dismembered on November 14th. Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado was reportedly a well-known member of the gay community on the island, and it certainly appears that his notoriety cost him his life.

Angel Rodriguez, the police investigator for the case was publicly quoted as saying, “people who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen.” This, of course, is the gay-bashing equivalent of, “Did you see how she was dressed? She was clearly asking to be raped.” Jackass.
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