My Oyster

Whoaaa... That was bad.

Today I saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.  The play is by Tom Stoppard.  It was at the Studio Theater.  It was directed by Kirk Jackson.  I was not amazed.   I was not amused.  I feel asleep at one point and was so agitated I was in physical pain at another.

According to Wikipedia, "the play concerns the misadventures and musings of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern , two minor characters from William Shakespeares's Hamlet  who are friends of the Prince, focusing on their actions while the events of Hamlet occur as background. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is structured as the inverse of Hamlet; the title characters are the leads, not minor players, and Hamlet himself has only a small part. The duo appears on stage here when they are off-stage in Shakespeare's play, with the exception of a few short scenes in which the dramatic events of both plays coincide. In Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are used by the king in an attempt to discover Hamlet's motives and to plot against him. Hamlet, however, mocks them derisively and outwits them, so that they, rather than he, are killed in the end. Thus from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's perspective, the action in Hamlet does not make much sense."

I guess it is meant to be some kind of existentialist statement of some sort.  All I know there were a lot of words but precious little sense.  No plot.  Some character development - but not much.

I have seen other plays by Tom Stoppard performed at the Studio Theater, including Indian Ink and the Invention of Love.  I loved those.  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern just are not my cup of tea.

 

If you lived in China - you would have to work for two full years and save every penny...

...to buy me this TV.

It's my new 40inch Sony Bravia flat screen LCD TV.  And yes, it cost twice the per capita GDP of China.  It cost 4x the per capita GDP of Cameroon.  For the cost of this TV in my new living room, I could support the per capita GDP of a person in Mozambique for more than 10 years.

Clearly I have mixed emotions about this bundle of consumerism.   It stressed me out all the while I was shopping for it.  I hated the whole experience. It's the best of technology, which I love, but the worst of consumer shucksterism.  If I am paying all this money for the TV, should I really have to buy all the expensive cables and power purifiers to make it all work right?  And that's not even including paying for the high def programming.  Ugh.

Luckily I had friends to support me every step of the way.  Despite having worked in the technology industry for more than 15 years, I have no ability to put this all together and make it work.  Arino and Jean did.  Gott Sei Dank!

I do have to admit, the picture and sound were both amazing.  :-)

HELP...I need to shake up my diet...

I eat the same food.  Every day.   I eat a ton of these Trader Joe's chocolate covered raisins.  I eat tons of TJ's choco almonds, choco banana chips, and even choco covered clumps of ginger - yum.

Not the best diet though.

Cooking is hard and boring and too time consuming for me.  I am halfway through my life and I still don't get it.  Why or how.

I need help.  Advice.  Suggestions.  Inspiration.

This is an exhaustive listing of my current diet.

Breakfast:
Yogurt & fruit & granola or oatmeal & fruit or egg & cheese bagel sandwich.

Lunch:
Spinach salad with veggies and chicken or frozen veggies and meatballs from Trader Joe's.

Snacks:
nuts and cookies and peanut butter and vanilla soy milk.  Every day.

Dinner:
Rarely eat dinner - usually keep snacking or frozen rice bowl from Trader Joe's.

Help me.

Mean Girls...

Wow.  Are teen girls really that bad?  I was nearly accosted today by a small gaggle of them. 

On the short walk from the bus back to home after work this afternoon, I saw a group of four teens girls - likely from the high school across the street - coming toward me.  Much like the pic above.  Not quite so attractive or stylish, but same general concept.

I was happily listening to my Ipod (Joshua Radin playing - of course) and walking on the sidewalk in front of my building.  The 4 mean girls were headed my way.  They spanned the entire breadth of the sidewalk.  I figured that at some point they would reconfigure themselves to allow me to pass - as there was nowhere else for me to go - there were trees and dirt on my side of the sidewalk.

As they got closer, it was as though i was invisible.  Not only did they not look at me or move in the slightest to allow me a even a few measly inches of sidewalk to continue on my way home - BUT one of them actually dropped her shoulder, like a running-back executing a key block, threw her forearm into me and said - "get the f**k out of the way.

Oh.
My.
God.

Am I so insignificant that four teen girls can push me around?!

I was stunned.  How was I to react?  Run after them?  Shake my fist as they continued on their way - without even so much as a quick glance back?

I opted to keep walking and thought to myself - "Dang - I am glad it wasn't four teenage boys".

Sunday in the Park(s)...

This is the way Sundays should be.  This is why I love living in Washington.   Strolling around the city.  Soaking up the beauty and diversity.  Reconnecting with friends.

The pic above is in my favorite public space in DC - Malcolm X Park.  On Sunday afternoons during the warm weather months, people gather here from 3:00–9:00 p.m. in the upper park to dance, participate in a drum circle, and provide food for the homeless. They have been doing that in this park since the 1950s.

It was a great way to end the day.  I could sit there and listen to the amazing beats and people watch for hours.  More from Malcolm X Park...

 

Before winding up at Malcolm X Park, I hung out in Dupont Circle for a few hours.  The beautiful thing about Dupont on a sunny Sunday is that you can sit there and watch the world go by.  People from around the world.  People of every shape, size, religion, and economic situation.  I think I was not the only one with this idea today - I ended up seeing just about everyone I know there.  That's the other cool thing about the Circle.  Even though the demographics of the neighborhood have changed and DC's homo center has moved to the east - Dupont is still the magnet that draws us in.

Me and Atul eating sushi in Dupont.

Atul, Adi, me, and Agus - then Dr. David, Gio, Jose, Jorge, and Rodrigo.  Everyone looking pretty in the park.

Washington has so many great spots to spend a Sunday.

What's Going Down?

DSC01077.JPG, originally uploaded by dcjay64.

I woke up from a nap today and saw this outside my window.  Three cops.  Two different flavors.  DC Metro Police and Protective Services.  Who are they?  I had to look them up.  PSD provides security at all DC government facilities.  I am not sure why they are on my corner.  Maybe cuz there is a school across the street?  Maybe they got lost?

It was a pretty sedate situation.  The guy sitting on the stone wall was handcuffed but very quiet and still.  He was there for at least 30 minutes.  The cops didn't seem in too much of a hurry to move him.  They looked relaxed and actually were just chattin' away with him.

I wanted to holler out the window to find out what was going on.  Not out of concern but curiosity.  The whole thing looked so civilized.  I don't think they would have appreciated that.  I didn't do it.

Points to the DC Metro Police car (white, blue, red) and not the PSD car (brown, yellowish, white) for most authoritative and sexy coloring.  The PSD one looked like a sweater I had in 1974.

I can't stop listening to this...

I kept hearing his version of one of my favorite songs, Only You (originally by Yaz) on a JC Penney commercial during American Idol week after week.  I loved it.  I always loved the song, and nobody does it better than Yaz - but I really loved his version - even if it was being used to push JC Penney - of all things.

I went to Ask Yahoo and asked Yahoo about the song and JC Penney.  Out popped Joshua Radin.  I had never heard of him.  I downloaded (legally) his album, We Were Here, and have been listening to it non-stop.  and...BONUS...there are two versions of Only You on the album.  Yippee.

And he is cute to boot. 

I am 63% Gay...

According to the UK's Channel 4 Gayometer Quiz.  Yesterday I was 70%.  I am not yet a gay cliche, but apparently I am well on my way.

It's quite scientific. 

It asks questions like...

Do you own a pair of leather pants?  (no)

Do you own a pair of lucky underwear? (yes)

Do you pluck your eyebrows? (of course)

Have you ever been involved in a fight in the street (yes - with a taxi driver)

The rest are kinda R and X rated.  (mostly yes)

I think 63% is respectable - but clearly room for improvement!

A JIHAD FOR LOVE

That is the title of an amazing film telling the story of gay Muslims around the world.  Parvez Sharma, the director, and Sandi DuBowski, the producer, were in DC tonight to show part of the movie and raise funds for its completion.  They are in the final stages of editing and will be releasing the film in the summer at a major film festival in Canada.   

Jihad was filmed in twelve different countries and in nine languages.  It is the first-ever feature-length documentary to explore the complex relationship of Islam and homosexuality. The movie presents the hidden lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Muslims and goes where the silence has been loudest in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh, as well as in Turkey, France, India, South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom.

In some Muslim countries being gay is against the law and can get you executed - legally.  Even in Europe and North America, being gay and Muslim is not easy.

It was great to see a good DC turnout at the Left Bank in Adams Morgan.  Both Parvez and Sandi have ties to DC.  Both are gay film makers.  Sandi also directed Trembling Before God, a movie about the lives of gay Orthodox Jews.  Sandi and Parvez have created Halal Films to support their important creative work.  If you want to make a tax deductible donation to this film, you can get information at the Halal website.

A mattress is a mat or pad, usually placed atop a bed, upon which to sleep or lie.

I need a mattress. 

The word mattress is derived from Arabic words meaning "to throw" and "place where something is thrown" or "mat, cushion." During the Crusades, Europeans adopted the Arabic method of sleeping on cushions thrown on the floor, and the word materas eventually descended into Middle English through the Romance languages.  

Nice history.  Cute story.  But really...could the mattress industry makes things any more difficult and mind-boggling?  These guys make used car sales look like an honorable and transparent business. 

One indication of just how bad things are is that Consumer Reports receives more inquiries about mattresses than about any other product except cars. Unfortunately, there are no reliability data for specific models or even brands.  Model names differ from store to store, making it impossible to comparison shop. Prices can vary so much that the same mattress can cost twice as much one day to the next - or half as much.  A lot of the time, retailers are getting paid commissions to push a certain brand or model.  Thanks for that.

Today I went to Macy's downtown and Mattress Discounter in Dupont.  I must have tried 20 mattresses.  I think I like softer rather than harder.  Beyond that, who knows.  More research to be done...

Why are these so fricken expensive.  Ugh.  Help.