Just a Thought in the Form of a Picture

I didn't say I didn't have obscure thoughts represented enigmatically. ;-)

A Milestone or a Millstone for Democracy?

Somehow, this doesn't look like democracy to me. It looks like the U.S.-sanctioned lynch mob that it is. They don't even execute them this quickly in Texas, and that's saying something.

So what was the crime that brought on this state-sanctioned murder? Oh yeah — it was State-Sanctioned Murder.

Next!

Okay, so is my phone line fixed NOW?

Unbelievably, my eternally difficult relationship with Bell (well, eternally since this fall, after many many years of harmony) took another repair turn this week.

In the face of our big snowstorm on Boxing Day (okay, a tiny amount of snow fell), the connnection 'repaired' by the fourth repair person to visit me since September began to short out, giving me a lot of noise on my phone line and taking our my new high-speed internet connnection. I was, as you might imagine, most pleased indeed. :-(

Well, a fifth visit may finally have solved the problem in the long term, as the offending wire to the outside, broken and patched all those years ago by the former landlord's work crew and then deteriorating inside the wall ever since, has now been replaced.

Cross your fingers for me. After all, my past salvation has been short-lived, so I am a bit leery about getting on the celebration bandwagon until I see that my phone and onternet connnections continue to work for at least a few weeks.

*Sigh* At least this time I didn't have to miss any work for the repair visit.

Shopping postponed!

Okay, so I didn't really make it out the door in time to participate in the madness yesterday. We'll file that one in the 'not being too hard on myself because that wouldn't be healthy' file. (This is a file that can be traced back to December of 1997, when I had PCP — AIDS-defining pneumonia — and was diagnosed with HIV and AIDS as a consequence: take it from me, I wouldn't recommmend waiting for a health catastrophe to be kinder to yourself.)

But getting back to the shopping, which is, after all, the more important topic right now...

I did go shopping today, minus the crowds and minus a few of the better deals. Being most practical indeed, I shopped at the office supply store (yes, I do lead a life of unparallelled excitement!). I managed to buy a little memory stick to carry around my digital info, a web cam (this was a HUGE bargain) and a new office chair. Then, all carried away as I walked back through the mall, I impulse-bought a black cotton sweater.

Hold me back next year, I'll be lining up at the crack of noon on the 26th and elbowing through the harried crowds to get at the REAL bargains. ;-)

New Experiences for the Season

I'm trying out new experiences for the season this year.

Since I haven't been feeling very social, I managed to rebuff any invitations to participate in Christmas dinnners or réveillons, although I used to be the person who took in strays and cooked all day. I suppose that I am not really dealing all that well with my neo-hermit status.

So this year, I did what so many of my Jewish friends do on Christmas Day: I went to see a movie with a friend. And we took it up one notch by seeing TWO movies!

First up was Queen, a very good film about how Elizabeth II and family reacted to the death of Princess Diana. Helen Mirren did a wonderful job of portraying a monarch trying to understand irrational change in her subjects. (I, for one, will never understand these new phenomena of depositing decaying plant matter at sites of tragedies or points of interest or becoming emotionally overwrought in connection to tragedies to which we have very little connection.)

Then we had an amusing experience of discovering what a little goodie-goodie I continue to be, as I made us exit the cinema and pay again instead of sneaking in to see movie number 2. I went so far as to accuse my friend of trying to make me spend Christmas in jail like Myriam Bédard!

Number 2 was Volver, Pedro Almodovar's latest, with Penelope Cruz. Considering that I don't get a lot of sleep at the best of times (we can thank one of my HIV meds for that, but that's another story), it may not have been the best idea to see a subtitled movie as the second part of a double-header. I am reasonably sure that I missed a few lines near the beginning, but that is really no reflection on the film itself, which was most entertaining indeed. Almodovar is always kooky and entertaining, and Penelope Cruz seems to have recovered from her close call with the fate of Katie Holmes.

My next new experience of the season will come this afternoon, should I manage to shower and dress, when I venture out to participate in the madness of Boxing Day sales for the first time in my life. I am not actually desperate to buy anything, so it should remain entertaining for me. I'll let you know.

Another Voice in the Din

Here I am, finally starting the blog that I have been thinking about for a while now. The computer and internet connnection upgrades, along with a little time off to try to figure this out, make this the time to start, although I don't necessarily have a lot to say at this very moment.

Why am I doing it? Just to add my voice to the din, maybe to share whatever might be unique about my own experiences of life as a gay man living with AIDS in the privileged developed world.

Sounds pretty serious so far, but let me assure you that I laugh almost every day and I hope to share a bit of my twisted sense of humour as well as my sarcastic commments, my naive observations...all that stuff. And be warned that from time to time I will add a comment or a whole post en français, because I do, after all, live in Montréal and this is a big part of my reality.

How about if I challenge myself in post number one by attempting to embed one of my favourite clips from The Family Guy?



I guess that should tell you how I feel about my own personal health situation — if you can't laugh at yourself....