Books I've Read: StreetChild

One thing I've always liked about memoirs is that you are reading something that actually happened. No matter how mundane the story is, you're getting a slice of someone's life, someone's brain. StreetChild by Justin Early is anything but mundane. Here is the story of a ten year old child who ends up on the streets, left to himself, except for the family that he's able to make from the other street children. This book completely pulled me in. Here I was, reading about Justin's life, and something bad would happen to him, like when he's picking up a trick, or he's getting high, and I'd forget that he was only just a kid. My childhood wasn't like that… Then suddenly, a well-placed photo would appear, and there he was, immediately reminding me that hey, he's only a baby. His whole narrative was great. The way he described his life with his street family alternated jarring things like the photos and realities of living on the street with normal scenes of hanging out with friends and the bonds they formed, which in a way made it more harrowing. Reading this book, I felt like I knew Justin. I started caring about him and what was happening. I cared so much that I'd have to take breaks from the book, and read other books. I cared so much that I started dreaming about things from the book. He'd be doing good, then something bad would happen, and I'd actually get mad at him. I'd tell my friends, 'Justin is so stupid! How could he do that?!?' I'd go from sad, to proud, then in awe, then mad, back to proud… literally an emotional rollercoaster. I admit, I can get overly into books, but it's not every book that will be able to affect me that way. The storyline was reminiscent of Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle, with the writing style more like Michelle Tea, but still different.
All I can say is that I'm impressed with this book, and this man. He was able to overcome street life, addiction, his family's prejudices, his own homophobia, coming out, HIV, and the loss of countless friends and family and pick himself up and become successful and write a book. That's just awesome. If you have time, and you're in the area, he will be coming to speak at the Different Light Bookstore here in Castro in San Francisco at 7:30pm on February 18th. If you can't make it (maybe you live nowhere near here) to that or his other stops, pick up the book.

aaah to L word mania

It's that time of year again. No, I'm not talking about the inaguration or any other important thing. It's L word time again. Every year at this time, mostly here in SF, the L word begins a new season, and suddenly, I hear way too much about it. I never saw it the first seasons it was on…it's a Showtime show and back then I didn’t know how to see things on channels I didn’t get. After I moved here and started witnessing the L word mania, I found the episodes on YouTube and various other places online and started to watch it. It wasn't bad… I didn't have a tv and it was a good way to pass the time. I managed to watch last year's season pretty much on time, with the help, once again, of our friend the internet. But I started to notice that over time, as happens with most tv shows, it got tired. Writers run out of amazing things for their characters to do, and it starts getting stupid. Add to the fact that the show was never stellar in the first place…. But fine, it's in its last season. I'm sure I'll go online once again and watch the ending, since I've got this far. But I'm not going to obsess over it. I don't need to watch it in a loud bar where I can't even tell what anyone is saying (although it would be a blessing to not hear that HORRIBLE music they play or the MARATHON touchy feely emotion talk sessions those women can get into). I don't need to meet the stars. I don't need to have a discussion group about it. I don't need countless parties to celebrate that it's here again (it's not Christmas). I get it, it's the #1 lesbian show in a world where most shows are straight, or have barely any lgbt characters (especially ones that aren't there for a comedic break), but really that's the only reason people are watching it. There are WAY better shows out there, and I wouldn’t go through all of this for even my favorite shows like Nip/Tuck or Heroes or even the comedy ones like 30 Rock or It's Always Sunny (although those people might actually be cool to meet, they're probably talented and funny). Sorry for being a stick in the mud, but I'm so over the L word. :)

Kylie Minogue's Boombox Review on Outimpact

I was asked to write a review of Kylie Minogue's new album Boombox. I was a little scared, because her music is normally too "gay" for me, but it was better than I thought. Here is the link to the review over on OutImpact. Plus, Kylie is an awesome woman, from what I've seen on interviews and such.

http://www.outimpact.com/entertainment/music-entertainment/album-reviews/kylie-minogue-boombox-1779

A belated new year's blog..

It's never too late to finally write a blog about new year. My actual new year's eve was very fun. I had to work that day and I had a pretty bad cold. My boss called me up for something, and when he heard my voice, he told me to make sure to leave even earlier than the regular early so I could take a nap and get better to go out that night. LOL. I did leave early and after tanning, did manage to sort of take a nap. Sometimes I'm bad at naps when I'm trying to take them. Anyway, I went to adonis at space 550. They had Djs Alexander and Twisted Dee. Alexander was good, and lots of people I knew at the club. We had the countdown and all that, it was fun. By the time twisted dee came on I was already feeling much better and she was really great. That was the first time I'd heard her live, and the whole night reminded me why I like going to clubs, which I thought maybe I was getting bored of from the past few not so great dj performances. It was an awesome night.

But new year is also a time to make resolutions - right? But I don't have any… I know you're supposed to… but I just can't plan like that. I think last year I said the usual - dress better, work out more, try to be more friendly, find someone to date, be more healthy, blah blah. I guess I'll just go with that. Anything more concrete just doesn't work, and anyway, I think each year I do end up looking and feeling better - healthwise, lookswise, clotheswise, peace of mindwise. The only thing I always fail at is dating. So this year I'm not adding that. I can be single all year again like last year and that's fine. Yay no pressure. I will try to work on this blog this year though..

What Merri's Watching

Another week down, and more shortest ever reviews of the movies and shows I saw in the past week (although they're a bit late). Yay meh or boo!
double shot of love - meh how could they keep that one? and it was dumb to let that one go
house bunny- yay this movie was so funny! I need a makeover like those girls. Watch this!
Avatar the last airbender - meh
desperate housewives - yay I really like edie
the visitor- meh it was just too smart for me and the girlfriend was so annoyingly rude.
Robot chicken -yay funny as usual
american idol - yay I only like the audition shows...funny catfight with stuck up bikini girl and new judge is a good addition cuz she's easy to look at (pretty and those eyes)
nip/tuck - yay I can't believe they slept together and that whole baby thing was hilarious.
kath and kim - yay this show is so funny in a trashy way
the office - yay it's back! and he finally knows! i dont know why anyone would fight over her..
30 rock - yay so funny in a wrong type of way i love it

What merri's watching

work's getting me down so I have to put more effort into my blog (and today it's not so much effort..). Welcome to the new weekly what merris watching where I give the shortest ever reviews of the movies and shows I saw the past week. Yay meh or boo! Ready???
not another gay movie two - boo! was that a bad commercial or a movie?
game plan - yay hey its cute for what it was...
robot chicken - yay always a yay
avatar the last airbender - yay a new to me anime cartoon pretty good so far
desperate housewives - yay drama is better when its not real life
nip tuck - meh my fav show but didn't see much of it with all the commercial breaks
dexter - yay finally saw the season finale some ppl think its gotten worse I think its gotten better
hancock - meh wasn't expecting anything outa it so better than I thought. Sucky ending but charlize was hot
mummy 3 - boo omg so much talking soo boring couldn't focus...
30 rock - yay they're always funny
mtv true life - meh the new epis up weren't too good kinda boring but love snooping in others' lives
double shot of love - yay so figured out one icki really likes girls and the other likes guys...should pick xoe.
rock of love 3 - yay wow these new girls are the trashiest yet!

i love cranberries

This is just a mini note to share a snack I've been loving - dried cranberries! I LOVE just about anything cranberry so when I noticed these at walgreens for only $1 I had to have them! Fast, easy, cheap, tasty, and they at least pretend to be healthy…pick some up today!

At the end of the day of work...

You know when you work and work and work all day long and you sit and sit and are focused and focused…then suddenly, it's over. You can't do it anymore. That's what happens when it's too busy at work. I only have so much focus in me and if it gets used up, BAM! It's over. No amount of good will or trying will get me to be able to do anymore work for the day. I can try and try, but my brain just won't stay at it. It's like when you're at the printer, waiting for your stuff to finish printing, or copying. You know it's just a couple of minutes to wait, but just those couple of minutes you start feeling jittery and anxious and randomly leave. It's like when you're supposed to be listening to a voicemail then you realize hey you forgot you were in the middle of something and you did something else. It's like when you're at a club and you're waiting in line for the bathroom and its SOOOO long and OMG what a great song is playing and oh no I can't sit here and you leave the line, only to realize, oops I lost my place, oh well, I'll pee later. It's like when someone is talking to you and they are telling you a story or talking to everyone in a group and they are all going on and on and hey what's that in the sky and over there by the wall and I wonder what we should have for dinner tomorrow and what should I wear and what do I need at the store. Oops no idea what they were saying oh well smile and nod. And when you like the show or movie you're watching but you are compelled to check your email and your text and talk to your friends and oh no you watched it too long and now youre asleep. That is what the end of the work day is like. I can't wait to leave.

Books I've Read: Enemy Mine and Amanda by Kay Hooper

Enemy mine and amanda are not the type of books that I've been used to reading by kay hooper. Her books I'd read before these two were more supernatural…people with psychic powers solving crimes…learning to use their powers… instead what I got was a romantic adventure and a romantic mystery. Emphasis on the 'romantic.' I don't mind romance in books, but it should not be sooo obvious that it is gooshy and ewey. Enemy mine, especially, is almost as bad as a stephanie meyer twilight series book. That book had potential… two specialists in antiquities working together, while chased by people, to obtain a special chalice that alexander used. It had the whole laura croft angle. You can't really remember that that is what the story is though, cuz they are just oozing it full of mush. Amanda was slightly less mushy, with a little more character development of the members of the family that amanda was supposively the long lost member of… but it still was mostly a piece of fluff. I hope the next book by this author that I read will be back to normal.

Celebrating xmas this year

This year, my house decided to celebrate xmas. I had not even had a tree for six years I figured out. I went to my parents house on Xmas and that's it. The past two years I didn't even do that, since I live far from their house in NH. This year I was more in the christmassy spirit than probably since I was 19 or 20, even when I did have trees in the house. This year for xmas we went to the tree lot and my roomies and I picked out a really pretty live (well, dead) tree. We brought it home and we went out and got decorations and decorated it all xmassy. I even got us some extras like xmas potholders. :) Besides looking christmassy, there were holiday parties. We had a nice one for work at a really pretty hotel, there was Sam's xmas cookie party, locoya's pre christmas friends dinner (tasty!), the gloss holiday party, black xxmas dance, our special roommates dinner at house of prime rib… Even with all the build up, christmas came before I knew it and ya, I wasn't ready with all the presents, oops. Christmas eve I went to work and was busy the whole day till I was let out 2 hrs early. No time to go home before dinner so I poked around the stores in the holiday crowd and did some errands, carrying way too many bags. I finally gave up being thrown around in the crush and went to my xmas eve dinner (I was early, the first one there, what a record!) at diana's house. Locoya's dinner had a lot of people, and I was expecting something like that, but this was small just six of us, so it was way easier to talk. I can't believe that two people both brought brussels sprouts. Ew. What posesses people to do that. Lol. The rest of the meal was yum though (the first bread pudding I ever liked) and I got to play a new board game, a different cranium game. I lost. I hate losing. But it was fun. Strong winds blew me home just in time for midnight, where the guys were waiting at home for our present opening. Merry christmas! It went well, very relaxed and yay in our jammies (yay homemade preserves from my mother!). We woke up on xmas morning and got ready to go to the first family type holiday I've been to since I moved to sf. We went to stephen's parents house up in napa, and there were brothers and sisters and a baby and it was so homey and nice. They gave me presents (wow a homemade scarf!), which I never expected, and were really just so welcoming. I'd actually never been to another family's house on xmas day before besides mine. This was overall the best christmas I've had in a while and it's certainly brought back a lot of my lost xmas spirit. Happy holidays! PS for many more fun holiday photos, go to the xmas flickr album.