All Mixed Up- The Cars (3/1- w/ Moving In Stereo; better version!)

She shadows me in the mirror
And never leaves on the light
Some things that I say to her
They just don't seem to bite
It's all mixed up.

She tricks me into thinking
I can't believe my eyes
I wait for her forever
She never does arrive
It's all mixed up.

She says to leave it to me
And everything will be alright
She says to leave it to me
And everything will be alright.

She's always out making pictures
She's always out making scenes
She's always out the window
When it comes to making dreams
It's all mixed up.

Odds and sods (while hoping the "new" Blogger account works alright...)

Wimbledon to pay men and women equally
Interesting, as I had always believed that women and men received equal prize money at Wimbledon already. I've always believed in equal pay for equal work; I've never understood any rationale for paying equally-qualifed women (or any "minority") less than men. This is not to be confused with phony "equality" whereby women, or any group, are allowed to meet a lesser standard of proficiency, of qualifications, yet are granted equal status (incl. equal pay) with those who do meet a higher standard. But this clearly is a case where women are competing on equal footing with one another and where the interest generated by the women's game is equal to that of the men's (unlike, say, the WNBA vis a vis the NBA) hence the participants are deserving of, and should receive, equal compensation as that of the male participants. About time!

The Antidote to Human Rights Campaign
Much of the reason I like and admire much of Andrew Sullivan's writings (apart from the similarities between his views and my own) is his willingness to skewer sacred cows and conventional wisdom when deserved. I've never understood the mindset among- too- many people within the broad LGBT "community" to align themselves wholesale with Left/liberal Democratic politics. And I will say here- yes, the Democratic Party as an organization does pay better lip service to, does give better rhetoric toward, LGBT-specific issues. No question. Their record of results, of actually carrying out the agenda they claim to represent for LGBT folks, is much more mixed (and I can cite chapter and verse if necessary.) And my quarrel isn't necessarily with those members of the LGBT community for whom a Left/liberal agenda serves them. I will- and do- take issue with those who simply choose this as their "default" political setting, and moreso, those "leaders" elected and/or self-appointed who purport to speak for "the community" who consistently espouse and endorse the Left/liberal agenda wholesale, on issues totally unrelated to LGBT rights. Limited government, lower taxes, federalist principles (ie, "states rights"), 2nd Amendment protections (gun rights), pro-growth economic policies, limiting abortion as a method of birth control, punishing criminals, individual vs. "group" rights, strong defense, school choice, and many, many more; while the current incarnation of the GOP may have fallen short on many of these (and don't get me started on them, either!) these issues have seldom been part of the Democratic agenda. Might not many within the LGBT community be better, or at least equally, served by endorsing candidates that advocate these as well? Just as not every Democrat (and Democratic voter- I know more than a few, even TG/TS folks, and I would describe many of them as moderate, simply leaning slightly left where I might lean slightly right) is a neo-socialist, not every Republican (nor Republican voter) is a cultural conservative. The LGBT community, and those who purport to speak for it, would do well to practice the tolerance of diverse, differing views that they preach.

Off of my soapbox... At the gym today, there were these three kids working out. Hadn't seen 'em before (and by "kids" I mean probably in their early 20's.) This one kid- every third word out of his mouth was "dude!" I mean, it was "dude" this and "dude" that! And they were the kind of kids who were loud, who seemed to need to draw attention to themselves! I don't get it... there are other guys their age who work out there who aren't obnoxious... and even in my day when I was more of a musclehead, I was never a meathead! Yikes... dude.

"Hit me with your best shot/Fire away!"

GRRRRRR! I hurt my foot again! I'm really not sure what I did. I didn't do it running (because, apart from today, the temps- and worse, wind chill- have just been TOO cold for me to run @ 5:30am, when I have the time to, the last two weeks or so...I've run maybe 4 times tops; not good.) But I hurt my foot somehow last Saturday while @ the gym on the StairMaster! I don't know how; I didn't take an awkward step, nor lose my balance or anything...and I do the StairMaster a few times/week, so it's not as if I was doing/trying something new or different. And it's not an especially jarring exercise (if I was going to re-injure my foot, I'd have figured on doing it while running.) I've had recurring problems with my left foot for years- I originally broke it my sophomore year of high school, and it has been an occasional problem ever since. Not often, not all the time, but on occasion. But it hadn't acted up in, gosh, close to two years or more, and usually when it does, it's from a jarring kind of thing- running, jumping up and down hard on it, rope skip, those sorts of things. NOT from the relatively impact-free effects on a foot that most cardio machines (StairMaster, LifeStride, EFX, etc...) provide. I babied it yesterday, hoping that it might feel good enuf to run on this am, but no. Still very sore. Surprisingly, I had my- right- knee operated on my senior year of high school (a scope, plus a little more) and it has been virtually trouble free going on close to, well, close to many years since high school! I'm just disappointed because, the last two weeks or so aside, the weather this winter here had been such that I was really able to maintain consistent running and mileage.

Dang.

"What a drag it is getting old..."

Johnny Cash - Sunday Morning Coming Down
I first heard this song back around my sophomore year of high school, I think, on what was- then- a country music station nearby (and to fully appreciate this song, you hafta hear the original studio version by its author, Kris Kristofferson.) I can remember more than a few fuzzy Sunday mornings when I was younger when this song rang so true- waking up worse for wear, rooting around for a half-clean shirt, splashing some water on my face, slipping out of the house early, ostensibly to go get the Sunday papers and doughnuts but in reality just to get some air to try and clear my head from the 4 or 5 or 15 beers I'd had the night before...there was a park up the street from my house where on a Sunday morning little kids would be playing and such, and next to the store where I'd go to get the papers was an Episcopal church and hall where their kids would occassionally be singing songs (us "Papists" didn't have Sunday School- we had weekday CCD!)...In college, I had a job at a local pub as a prep and line cook, and frequently worked the Sunday brunch shift...leaving my house to get there around 9am on a Sunday morning, after spending the night before (usually at that same pub) doing what many (or, in my group, all) college kids do on a Saturday night, walking thru the truly empty streets of a college-town on a Sunday morning...and even after college, on my own, an "adult," always an early riser, no matter how late I'd gone to bed the night before, for many years spending those early Sunday morning hours, when few places are open and what ones are you don't feel up to going to, too often still whiling away the morning in self-inflicted misery and slow recovery...All the time looking for what, covering up what, trying to forget what...who knows? (And hey- sometimes it was just fun, too!)...I believe I've finally matured (to a degree!) as those days have been far fewer in recent years (Been gettin' a bit too introspective of late, tho'...)

This song still speaks to me.

"Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday..."