I feel like this guy

"Write One Paragraph Per Day."

This was my mantra for this blog, but I seem to be slacking off. Things in my life are amping up for the holidays, and I'm suffering from a rather sullen mood as of late.

My checking account is in the hole, my internship at the newspaper is ending, and work seems to be getting more insane each day. I am grateful for the respite of a week off next week, but I have two stories I need to write for the newspaper before I'm done.

There seems to be a brick wall around every corner, and there is very little I can do to console myself.

So that's enough for the pity party, back to work.

On Racism

So, yeah, this is quite a departure from a review of BSG, but I had to mention it. I went to the battery store and Chad and I found the battery he needed for his cell phone. It's not been holding a charge longer than a few hours, so he decided to try getting a whole new battery.

We matched one at the store in the cell phone battery section to the model number and make of his phone and then went to check out. It was very simple, no hassle.

As we were checking out, the clerk asked us if we were sure. We said that they had the same model numbers as his phone and the clerk said:

"Them Japs make it too easy."

Chad paid the man and we got the frak out of there.

I abhor racism, and it totally freaks me out when people are so flagrant about it. I suppose that flagrant racism is much better than the subtle racism of "White flight" and De facto segregation, but in the twenty-first century, I just don't understand why people are so hateful and mean.

On BSG Razor

[SPOILER ALERT]
[Apologies in advance. I'm using an iBook with a tiny keyboard, so I may have some typos.]

The gang and I watched BSG Razor at Dave's house tonight.

I could do without the negative stereotype of the psychotic lesbian, but it did make sense in the plot. It was kind of as though you saw it coming when you saw how brutal cane was with Inviery in Season 2.

I loved the space action scenes and the original series Toasters were a very welcome homage to the old days.

The hybrid model 1: I am really disliking the direction they seem to be going with the whole matrix loops in time. Of course, it's kind of in keeping with the life here began out there premise.

I miss the ancillary characters like Dee and Geta, but I was happy to see the President put in an appearance.

In which I admit to my Achilles Heel

I was looking for one of my favorite webisodes, Mr. Deity, when I stumbled across this at crackle.com. It's kind of bizarre how they've chopped up a 40 minute show and made it six minutes long, but I guess that way they don't have to pay Pam Anderson royalties or something.

I used to watch this show a lot. I actually miss it now that it's no longer in syndication. I must admit that this does not seem like the show I would be interested in, i.e. the women, but part of it was nostalgia for me. It was a lot like Charlie's Angels with its dopey plots and beautiful women with guns who can kick a lot of butt. It also has a nostalgic factor because it has the hot Asian guy from 21 Jump Street.

Also, sometimes I just want a little mindless violence, like this show, the A-Team, or college football. It's my version of the perfect Thanksgiving.

The Long Grift

Now, I must tell you, I do not support fraud, but I find that criminals can be very interesting and compelling characters.

That leads me to a critique of "Other People's Money," the latest true life scandal from Radar magazine.

Elliot Castro was a working class gypsy/scot from Aberdeen who found his way into the fast-paced life of international credit card, identity, and wire fraud. Sounds kind of dull, right? Wrong.

Elliot Castro amassed an estimated $1 million in a Swiss bank account from his exploits, which included jetting around the world, from Glasgow, to Aberdeen, to London, Dubai, Dublin, Ibiza, Toronto, New York and LA.

He was a loner type of kid who loved looking at maps and atlases and was a geography whiz, and he was gay. He sounds very similar to me. This guy was living the kind of posh life I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams.

The most amazing part of the story is that Elliot had accomplished all of his international crimes by the age of 21. This guy has more chutzpah than I could ever dream of having.

I can't find the story online yet, but Radar is notoriously badly managed. They have gone under twice and come back bigger and badder than before. If you can find the magazine in stores, buy it and save these poor people from themselves.

What have I done for you lately?

The answer is, not a whole heck of a lot.

I have been lazy and selfish this weekend. I forked over $75 for my allergy meds on Saturday morning, and then I picked up breakfast at the BK. I have to say that the sausage croissanwich is still the bomb. Their new BKJoe line of coffee seems to be pretty good.

Then it was off to mom and dad's for my grandmother's 91st birthday party. Oy Vay, so many relatives. I got rolls specially made from the Bagel Station. They were the rosemary parmesan style that Henry's serves. I finally left about 3:45 p.m. and headed home. I forgot the leftover rolls and my iPod, so I called my mom and asked to pick them up today.

Last night, I had tickets to the Philharmonic, which was ghastly. I left with a throbbing headache from the screechiest violin concerto EVER. Then it was drinks at my friend Larry's until 1 a.m.

At Larry's I connected with a lesbian best friend of an acquaintance of my best friend. My Diety this town is sooooooo small. Anyway, Sara the lesbian regaled us with tales of gays openly serving in the military, which was heartwarming in a way. There are apparently several "stress management" support groups in which everyone is totally cool with you being homosexual, so long as you are physically fit and aren't a sissy. That leaves me out. Twice.

Then today, I slept in because of the headache from the symphony and the obscenely cheap wine. I watched a TiVo of Doctor Who from last week that I hadn't yet gotten around to and then I went to brunch. I then headed out to my parents and I explained how bad the concert actually was. I was after all using their tickets. I explained that I probably spared them a fate worse than death because it was not a good piece of music. The violinist is a regular and I knew from before how good he was, but I had to warn my parents to avoid anything by that composer ever again.

I got home and started working on articles for the newspaper. It's going to be hard getting everything in for tomorrow, but I got it. I also finished my essay for my philosophy of art class and watched a surprisingly decent episode of the Simpsons. They have all pretty much sucked out loud for the past two years, but this one saw homer get a stomach stapling, so it was funny.

Then I sat down and read Radar magazine.

They Don't Cry

The Fort Wayne Derby Girls are having the first-ever flat track roller derby tournament in Indiana next Saturday (11/24). I am going to interview someone from the team tomorrow so that I can write a preview story for the newspaper.

I have only been to one Derby Girls event, the first one, Apocalypse Pow. It was back in May of 2006 and it was a lot of fun. I used to watch the TV show Rollergames as a kid, and the DGs are a lot more interesting. Sure it's a bit campy, and the idea of women battling it out may seem anti-feminist, but it was all done for a good cause. They have given over $20,000 to charity.

So check out the Derby Girls' site and get rolling.

Things that I learned at 1 a.m. Tuesday

Thing One: Godaddy.com is annoying as all-get-out.

Thing Two: tomboyer.net is now live.

There is no I in Team

I just had a meeting with my mentor from IPFW. He suggested that I overhaul my résumé.

The first thing he noticed is that there are too many uses of the word I. Of course there are. I am the most important person in the world, doesn't he know that?

Kidding aside, my résumé is completely self-involved. I think I confused self promotion with self affirmation. I think I'm, telling myself I can do all this stuff, not letting them know that the prospective employer has been looking for me all along.

Now I must focus on what I can do to make myself sound better, but not too self important. Onward and upward.

Celebrating Five Decades of Decadent Drag

Fort Wayne's own TULA who really should be written about in all caps, is celebrating 50 years of drag tonight at After Dark in Fort Wayne. The local Whatzup event paper did a story on her and her much less successful alter ego Charles Miller.

I'm including this because I think it's great anytime the local 'press' covers gay events. I recently joined the NLGJA so I'm keeping an eye out for stories like this. Too bad that drag performers are all anyone ever talks about when they cover Fort Wayne, well other than the brilliant Emma Downs who had a 3000 word project covering the growing acceptance of gays in fort wayne. Check the archive of the Journal Gazette to buy the story.

Sill 50 years of drag is quite an accomplishment, especially in this town, so I have to give TULA her props. There are now better drag artists out there, but TULA was out there doing it before most of them were even born. So I say congratulations to TULA.

By the way, if you didn't catch it in the first photo, the article IS next to the rail ad for C2G Coffeehouse, the Christian, pseudo-hipster dive downtown that has bad Christian artists doing their best God rock. I found it deliciously disjointed, so I had to point it out. I want to say that the editors of the Whatzup knew EXACTLY what they were doing.



If you're in town, TULA's anniversary celebration begins at 9 p.m. at After Dark at 1601 South Harrison. Cover charge is $3. Stay away from the pear-flavored vodka. It gave me nightmares, or maybe it was last night's featured drag guest who was a bit lopsided.

UPDATE:
Emma Downs of the Journal-Gazette had an interview with Tula, published on the eve of the party.

New Title

It totally SUX that I had to change Tomorrow's Coffee, but I'll get over it. I'll have to take some photos of some of the more interesting corners in my house and maybe use those in a new header photo.

This is my Working Title for my blog. Keep your finger's crossed that no one has it yet for a title. At least it's not in Google's first three pages of search results, but we'll see. It's kind of appropriate, seeing as how I had written myself into a corner, especially the weary possessive plus noun construction. I doubt I am alone in my thinking that it was getting ever more lame every time I tried to write something.

"Today's aggravation"

this blog's title

Bad news y'all. "Tomorrow's Coffee" is already a podcast.

OH MY DIETY. I thought it was an original title. I didn't even bother with a google search first. I was just in the mood for coffee one night, and I opted to wait for the morning. It was one of those times I wasn't feeling well, but I knew that in the morning, I would have coffee, so it was something to get myself motivated.

I've got to think of a new idea, and fast. At least this time, I will google it before I make the same mistake.

tomorrow's dinner and last weekend's beverage

Tomorrow, I am supposed to go to Red Lobster to celebrate my friend's birthday. I haven't set foot in a Red Lobster since 1998, so help me Diety.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what to order? I at least know that white wine goes with all seafood. Maybe that's why I'm not too keen on it. I prefer red.

Speaking of Red wine, (and I'm not being paid for this) I was at Andy's last weekend for Battlestar Galactica and wine. I picked out a Yellow Tail Pinot Noir. It was sooooo good and it was the first time in a long time I hadn't gotten sniffly from alcohol.

We also watched Torchwood from BBC America. It's the lame spinoff from the reinvented Dr. Who, complete with Russell Davies' over-the-top affectations. I didn't quite care for it, but the plot point that all of the secret agents are randy bisexuals was an odd, literally queer, twist. The name of the episode was, I kid you not, "They Keep Killing Suzie." I must agree with Andy that it's the best title ever for a television episode.

today's legislative victory

The Human Rights Campaign e-mailed me today to let me know that ENDA has passed the U.S. House.

I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that it doesn't include transgender people. I am thinking that we should take whatever we can get.

today's announcement

My Comcast personal website is back online. Check out the link at the bottom of the page or click here.

today's apology

So much for my goal of writing a paragraph per day. Sorry.

Most of my writing has been at the newspaper lately. It's such a nice distraction from work.

Look for the byline S.T. Boyer at www.news-sentinel.com.

Back to the electronic grindstone.

today's news

Excuse me while I brag.

tonight's disappointment

Pink Five has finally released the second volume of Return of Pink Five, the hysterical Star Wars Fanfilm that follows Stacy, the valleygirl Jedi(tm). The fan film series has actually become part of the Star Wars canon.

I will warn you before you click the link, Volume 2 is not the conclusion. It's still hysterical.

my favorite band

The Scissor Sisters and I have intertwined destinies. Last year, Ta-Dah came out just before my birthday. The year before that, Chad took me to see them in Indianapolis for my birthday. Now, "Hurrah" comes out just before my birthday again!

If you haven't heard their music, go get it. I'm not going to burn any CDs for you. You need to support this band.