Job Woes

I've been pounding the pavements for months, checking job listings in about 20 sites everyday, applying for things that I think I was qualified for but at most I get an email weeks later saying that they are considering "candidates that more closely match their needs" or other more polite ways of rejection. Others doesn't even bother to make a sound.

From all the applications, I've seen a trend that mostly 90 percent of all posting on the online job boards are from placement companies that post positions that may or may not exist. They are mostly fishing for information of where the candidates might have interviewed or applied before and their former employment information, so they can contact those people and ask if they have any employment needs so the employer can hire through them and they will pay job seeker's 50% to 75% of what the employers are paying them. With one of such company, I have gone through a lengthy employment process including a drug screening just so I can work for 3 days and get $200, then never heard from them again.

So more vulture-like companies post fake job ads and then call you to say that I should pay them for trainings to increase my chances of employment, which is not guaranteed. When I tell them that I don't have any money to give them, they say that unemployment will generally compensate for the trainings and I should really invest in myself. Of course, they don't care whether I do learn or not, they are only interested in money. They don't really care if I'm desperately in need or a job and don't have time to entertain them.

I thought the retail stores would need some holiday help, because it's the case for past years and so I applied for a job at a clothing store and despite being a minimum wage job, it's some income. But after going a questionnaire, a phone interview and a face-to-face interview, the person told me that all the holiday position had been filled a while back, she's just doing it for protocol and the next day she has a job fair to hold that was scheduled months back even though she doesn't need people anymore. Well, thanks for nothing. I've considered taking a loan from the bank but I have nothing for them for collateral. Friends did offer to loan me money but while not having much, I do have my pride.

Through it all, I did learn some lessons. I used to spend everything that I earn and itching to find an excuse to spend and treat people to meals when my bank account grows. Now I know the importance to plan for a future. At the same way, I understand my importance to invest and be strategic in my professional development. I didn't know better to set a goal or to plan a career path for myself. I was comfortable in a moderately well-paid job that didn't go anywhere. I confess my sins.

Now, the clothing store has contacted me for a full-time position that pays next to nothing and another friend has called me about working temporarily in a coffee shop that pays even less but the friend told me that I can take off anytime when a job interview comes up. It's a good thing I have considerate friend that understand my situation and my needs. I reckon, I can perhaps work both jobs to get a passable income. It would mean working 65 hours a week and not getting paid nearly as much as before or the unemployment that I've been getting but I'm trying to shoulder the responsibility of being self-reliant and becoming an adult. At least I can be doing while keep on applying for a steadier job.

Between all this, I'm worried that the relationship between me and the boyfriend will strain because of the hours I'll be keeping. During the two years that we are dating I have been largely available because of my unemployment. If I'm working 65 hours a week like I'm planning to, I will be missing out on a lot of quality time between us and if I'm ever off, I'll probably be exhausted. I probably won't be much of a boyfriend and it could be quite unfair to him. I'm worried that we might grow distant. I know that it's probably me and my own anxiety and at this cloudy point of my life, I don't know what kind of future is available to me and the ones I love and for that I'm saddened. I guess I have to remain optimistic, persistent and take things one day at a time. It's part of growing up, even though it takes me all these years to realize and get started.

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Wearable Foods

Since my life has been pretty much about food all week since last Tuesday, let me bombard you with another food post - Wearable foods. Designed by Korean artist Sung Yeonju.


Lotus Root


Eggplant


Banana


Bubble Gum


Bubble Gum Again


Winter Mushroom (Enoki?)


Tomato


Tomato Again


White Radish (Daikon?)


Spring Onion


Red Cabbage


Shrimp

Obviously these are very unpractical and might change color, decompose or break off at any minute, not to mention the foul odor they will be emitting but they are still very interesting to look at. I wonder if I can borrow the concept for Halloween next year.

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Thanksgiving Meal: A Photo Essay

I'm continue to be baffled about cooking for parties, in which I'm unable to understand how much food I have to cook for the amount of people participating. I'm sure there's a standard something saying 1 serving of meat plus 2.5 sides per person somewhere, some experienced caterer probably know but not me. Every time there's a party I go hog wild thinking the things I can cook and most of the time I end up with leftovers but then it's usually ok, since people would take stuff home.

Apparently I don't know how much ingredients cost either, we started out saying $15 a person and expected 20 but at the end it ended up costing about $450 just for ingredients and booze and we got 25 attendees. If I were ever to open up a catering business I would most definitely go lose money.

I do enjoy cooking and the planning part of it. Every time I create a cheat sheet for it and it's most fun. It reminds me of academia which I used to take these notes that is more or less a paper saving game for me.



If you're interested to recreate the recipes, do enlarge the picture to read from it, I might suggest to be slightly generous on the salt and pepper end. The twice baked potato involved some piping action that is both messy and enjoyable. I altered the recipe and put some smoked turkey in it and they turned up pretty good. I also tried a new roast beef technique by just salting it and put it in the fridge uncovered for 24 hours to day up the meat. It's called "dry brining" and the beef turned out juicing and softer, it worked!



I try my damndest to put some vegetables in my friends so that they can have a balanced meal but the people I hang with go crazy with meats and not much else, so I have to resort to bacon wrapping them. We didn't have a chicken or a turkey because from experience, no one seems to know how to cut and after cooking a whole day I'm not going to be serving as well.



Even though they don't go for vegetables, they would go for this lobster fruit salad. We bought a big lobster for it but it didn't yield much meat at all. I much rather buy shrimps, they are more meaty and plentiful. Gutting the lobster was a bit of a hassle too, and the lobster was so fresh that it was quite dirty, some hazard of being a cook.



That's the spread here: Mushroom sherry soup, spiced roast beef, pineapple baked ham, popovers, pumpkin orzo risotto with scallops, green bean bacon rolls, cauliflower gratin and twice baked potatoes





A benefit of having Asian friends is that there's bond to have a few photographers around. My friend's father who was present was an award winning photographer and another younger guy has a very stylized iPhone app that got a close up of the roast beef here:



For dessert, one of them made tiramisu and another made a cheesecake that uses sponge cake as the base and then a layer of red bean cream cheese and a layer of green tea mousse on top that was marvelous. I'll try to recreate it sometimes.



After playing til 5:00 in the morning, everyone was quite exhausted and some turned into drunken messes. All around, we had a very merry time. 27 days til X'Mas.

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Happy Thanksgiving 2010!

It's Thanksgiving again, the year when by pretty fast. Hope you're enjoying your family and expecting an exciting feast. Be careful on your travels!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Movie Review: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt. 1

It's hard to believe that Daniel Radcliffe was 12 when he acted in the first ever Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone back in 2001. He has surely grown up fast, now he's of age and legal playing a 17 year old in this latest installment. I wish the movie releases were closer together so that 1) Dan and his gang of friend looks younger, 2) I can still remember the plot of the previous films. Not having read the books, I'm not too familiar with the plot points and I get lost sometimes.

In this final 2-parter, Harry is still on a campaign to destroy the absolute villain Lord Voldemort and during his journey, he lost a lot of his allies, notably Professor Dumbledore. The story is getting gloomier and gloomier to the point that is quite uncharacteristic of a children's novel. How do million of kids handle lost, death and vengeance? How could we expect parents of these kids explain all these issues to them?

The mood of the whole movie is dark and every scene is gloom and doom, the wonder of magic tricks has turned into killing spells with light blood and gore. It's not your "Wingardium Leviosa" anymore. It's kill or be killed. While the connection between Harry and Voldemort is still strong, Harry must find Voldemort's horcruxes and find a way to destroy them. With Voldemort's cohorts getting into power, Harry must evade their pursuit and look for clues left by Professor Dumbledore.

Harry is playing the fugitive this time so there's a lot of outdoor living scene, but since this movie act as a build up for the grand finale, it is quite anti-climatic. I come out of it feeling the general gloominess and a bit unsatisfied. Don't get me wrong, the story-telling is superb, the acting and the special effects are great but nothing much can be expected from a build-up movie.

I heard that the finale is going to be in 3D and I mourn that it'll be the end of a fantastic story but I guess it's time. Only great story seems short and the guys are not getting any younger.

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Asian Artists Introduction: Far*East Movement

I have always feel sorry that there aren't more Asians in the spotlight, it seems like whenever they have an Asian movie star, they had to know Kung Fu or well established overseas in order for the American audience to embrace them. Bruce Lee, Mr. Miyagi, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li all knew some sort of martial arts, it's not until lately with John Cho, Lucy Liu, Ken Jeong and Tim Kang that we see Asian actors mainstream.

Musically, it's even fewer. Cibo Matto was popular for a second, Miho Hatori from that group transformed into Gorillaz' Noodles for a minute. Some half-Filipino action with N.E.R.D's Chad Hugo and Black Eye Pea's Apl.De.Ap but other than that there's practically nothing. Classical music doesn't count. So I'm really excited when the group Far*East Movement was brought to my attention.

Four Asian guys with different background managed to produce a hit single that reached No. 1 of the US Billboard 100 chart. Merits aside, I'm not sure that any other Asian group has managed such a feat. It's an United Colors ad of East Asia with members Kev Nash being of Japanese decent, Prohgress who has Chinese ancestry, J-Splif being Korean and Filipino DJ Vermin, they started doing club gigs while they were in high school. Later on one of their song "Round Round" was featured in The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift soundtrack. After some collaborations in 2008 with budding stars like Bruno Mars, their song "Girls on the Dance Floor" was featured in America's Best Dance Crew, So You Think You Can Dance and CSI: Miami.



Last month, their debut album Free Wired came out and features collaborations with artists like Snoop Dogg, Bruno Mars, Keri Hilson, Lil Jon and Ryan Tedder from One Republic. Their single "Like a G6" has 24 million views since 5 months ago and left lots of remix and parodies in its wake.



The follow up to "Like a G6" is a cute ballad featuring Ryan Tedder called "Rocketeer":



I'm quite glad that have spiffed up their image and going with geek squad on the weekend look. I didn't even mind them wearing sunglasses indoors and at night to hide their "Asian features". Honestly, their looks on the original video during their Tokyo Drift phase makes them look like wannabes. Personally though, I still have a slight problem with J-Splif's pony tail, his "evil Asian" mustache, or his slight slime ball looks. If I'm managing a boy band, he'll probably be the first guy I cut but if it works for them than that's all that matters.



Hip Hop dance music is still on trend even though there's no much substance to it but it seems like they do have some skills. One of their claim to fame, I found, was that when they first started out they organized a concert in LA and gave all the proceed to a local youth drug rehabilitation center which is quite admirable in my book. I hope they will managed to hang in there for a while. It's not everyday that we see a group of Asian artists making it. I hope their success will inspire record companies to pick up more Asian artists and audiences will learn to accept them as well.

Speaking of which, whatever happened to Jersey Shore wannabes "K-Town"?

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Let The TSA Feeling Up Your T&A

So airport security has implemented new protocols for travelers just in time for its holiday seasons. For the selected few, they will be put through a full body scan. Apparently they have finally developed x-ray vision that those kids magazine had long promised and now they can truly see through your clothes. Since no one really want to be humiliated and be seen naked and no one know whether the technology used would cause harm to the human body, you can choose to be humiliated in another way which a TSA agent will come and do an extensive pat down which includes a groin check.

That's our freedom here, one idiot put a bomb in his shoes and everyone have to take off their shoes when they are traveling by plane; one stupid asshole make an underwear bomb and now everyone is at risk to go through more and more invasive procedures. The whole thing is annoyingly stupid. Terrorists wanted Americans to be paranoid and now we are, it is almost like they aimed to take our freedom from us and they have succeeded.

Out of all that, this guy have coined the next "Don't tase me, bro!":



"If you touch my junk, I will have you arrested!". You can either be filmed naked or get groped, not much of a choice there and if you refuse to do both, you won't be allowed to travel and you'll be sued for $10,000. How can the US of A who pride ourselves for being the Land of the Free forces its citizens to go through that?



Apparently it has became an international joke.





There's got to be a smarter way to work this, no? What if the next terrorist put a bomb up his butt, does it mean that we'll all be selected for a douche and a cavity search? Even being selected 50% of my travels, I've never minded racial profiling much. It is definitely irritating but never this invasive. You can already find hundreds of videos on Youtube about old ladies, little kids and cancer survivors being physically molested, no doubt this bad feeling will be heightened during the holidays and then the right will put this on the Obama tab.

The new measures make me want to travel less or at least use other means of travel if I can. Airline companies should fight this, travelers have rights too and not being groped should be one. At least not until a shoe bomb or an underwear bomb made it to the plane and killed someone. Sorry someone have to die to justified the humiliation and inconvenience of millions others; If they have caught the bombs before, it means that the prior measures work and there's no need for additional invasive security procedures.

That being said, how does one go about getting a job to be a groper?

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Mr. Gay Aftermath

Last week, Philadelphia hosted the 2010 Mr. Gay USA pageant at Club Voyeur which apparently rendered a small attendant. It's no wonder, nobody could really be that interested in a pointless pageant with an entrance fee of $40. Honestly, we're going through a difficult time and few of us have the extra bucks to go see a contest for a meaningless title.

My friend, a budding local journalist, Nicholas went to the show and ranted in an article he did for PhillyGayCalendar.com about how utterly purposeless to have a Mr. Gay competition. Especially when the mission statement of the organization is to "...advocate international equal rights by confirming the essential nature and contributions of gay men to a healthy society where gay is not a stereotype." while the event is basically a hot body contest with hairless twinks walking around in speedos and the whole thing happens in a gay bar. Talking about stereotypical, I mean, can you spell irony?

His article was reblogged by some other blogger who agreed with Nick's point of view and both the article and the blog entry received some slacks from the organizer who stated that they are creating more hate in our own already hated community.

Nick advocates for the winner to do some social work like helping with preventing teen suicide, I mean some responsibility should come with the title to make it more meaningful, right? In practice, that might be a bit difficult to do. We don't exactly have a gay Donald Trump or Hugh Hefner that looks for young things for playmates and they don't exactly receive a job or a living stipend for them to invest a large amount of time to do community service. Do they get anything more than a sash?

Another issue with the competition is the lack of inclusion. From what I can see, they are all hairless muscular lean twinks representing a few gay hot spots like D.C., Asbury Park, Virginia Beach. Out of the 20 contestants, 4 are from California 4 are from Pennsylvania and 3 from New York State. No one came from San Francisco, Boston or Seattle. Only one came from middle America. The two only blond ones got 1st and second place. Obviously the contest is not meant to be taken seriously.

It's USA Mr. Gay like how the World Series is representing the world, it doesn't represent all of USA or all spectrum of gay people for that matter. If there was ever a Mr. USA contest, I think it's best to emulate the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show right down to the cupping of the balls. (Can I apply for the ball cupper position?) Rent out a conference center and hold a brief event/house battle of each individual stereotype groupings and select the best one for each: Frat/jock, gay nerds, gym bunny, roid pigs, bears (of all kinds), wolf, cub, chubs, hipster, man in suits, slaves, masters, kink, daddy, smaller stature (boy toy), fems, twinks, freaks and the what have you's. And then from the champion of each group select the best in show. Now that kind of competition I'll pay to see.

There is no need for the competition but were there any need for any competition or a dog show for that matter? It's a distraction, a form of entertainment for the few who finds this kind of stuff interesting. Though I don't think it's $40 interesting since obviously there's no $40 worth of substance in it anywhere.

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Weekend Meme: Thanksgiving Food Meme

There won't be a turkey or any cranberry sauce for me this year. I'm a little bummed but I guess it's not gonna be too important.

1. What are the traditional favorites?
Turkey and cranberry sauce, it's a good combination.

2. What new recipes will you try this year?
A cauliflower gratin and a dressing with chestnuts.

3. What part of the meal do you never compromise?
I rarely give up desserts for other people to make, but there's a first for everything.

4. Who gets to carve the turkey?
I usually do, but it's not a tradition for me or something that I particularly enjoy doing.

5. Family style around the table or buffet style and everyone sits wherever there’s room?
I'm fine either way but there's something about sitting around the table as a family that brings people closer together as a group.

6. How many will be at your table this year?
About 20, though people might brings friends and extras.

7. Three best pies for Thanksgiving dessert?
Apple, pumpkin and pecan. They are more fitting for thanksgiving but I don't particularly enjoy pumpkin or pecan. My favorite pie is banana cream, but that doesn't have anything to do with any holidays.

8. Cranberry sauce… yay or nay?
Yay with turkey. There's something about a chunk of cranberry sauce with the grooves from the can that add a bit of decadent trashiness to the whole thing.

9. What time do you eat Thanksgiving Dinner?
I usually have a problem eating holiday meals in late afternoon. This year for me will be 8pm.

10. Favorite leftover?
Any leftovers are good leftovers. After cooking a big meal, I'd like to have enough food around so I don't have to cook anytime too soon.

Have a great weekend!

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Musical Talent of Jimmy Fallon

Other than the two fake news shows from Comedy Central and E!'s Chelsea Lately, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is pretty much the only show I look forward to watching. Ironic, since when it first started I fought it tooth and nail. But with the help of The Roots and the light-hearted skits, I grew to like the show and appreciate his kind of humor. Even though he has sung some silly songs on SNL, his act seems to be a lot more mature and more polished now and his musical talents seems to be able to shine through.




Somehow it is Springsteen that seems out of place here.

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Dancing With The Stars As A Metaphor

Ever since the latest results of Dancing With The Stars were announced on Tuesday night, it had been non-stop Palin coverage again. I was gonna do a summary on the subsequent events but I was just a tad too late and Jon Stewart had done it for me. That's convenient.



Yes, despite mediocre performances Bristol Palin is in the top 3 of Dancing With The Stars. So how did she manage to stay in the contest despite being in dead last score-wise week after week? Apparently the same rings true for her as it is for her mom, their supporters don't care about abilities or merits. They will blindly support them, which led me to believe that her claim that she can beat Obama in the upcoming presidential race to be true.



Given how Democratic support has been weakened by the perceived inaction and even though Sarah Palin did quit midway through her gubernatorial term to go for the more lucrative reality TV and Fox News career. The Democrats, on the other hand, seems to be allergic to negative campaigns that point out their opponents weakness. The poll did indicate that there were less Democratic supporter coming out to vote in the last election. To make my argument more solid, I always refer back to 2004 when W. got reelected. Anything could happen no matter how undesirable it might be.

After an episode of Sarah Palin's Alaska, one of Willow Palin's classmates Tre put a status update on Facebook in which triggers the Mama Grizzly within Willow and she lashed out with gay slurs to defend her family.



It would have been admirable if she could have cleaned up her language, but then the Palins weren't exactly known for their intelligence or making good decisions. On top of it Willow is a 15 and her sister is an unwed mom, it would be somewhat unreasonable to expect little Willow to be polished. Within this exchange, Bristol Palin also chimed in to say to another boy named Jon: "You'll be as successful as my baby daddy, And actually I do work my ass off. I've been a single mom for the last two years." Disillusioned much?

Bristol Palin is hardly a star and we are still scratching our heads on how she qualified for the show, her dancing abilities are mediocre at best and let's not use the word "talent" to measure it. Just because she made the tragic mistake of bearing a child and giving birth before she's of age or married doesn't get her the honorable title of a "single mom" even thought technically she is one. It makes her an "unwed mom" or a "teenage mom". A "single mom" is usually reserved for a person who is below poverty line and has to work a couple jobs in order to provide for herself and her kid. I don't think that applies to Bristol Palin.

For a show to have Bristol Palin on their 11th season to increase ratings from the right, Tea Partiers and their spawns but while that might be true, the show has also lost the rest of America. It is quite an analogy of right-wing panderers and our democracy, isn't it? Good thing I'm not so invested in DWTS, I don't own a gun and I love my TV too much to shoot it. Too bad for Brandy, she should know that in most voting competitions, minorities go first, just look at Margaret Cho.

Where can a show goes from here? How does it retain any credibility and its viewership from this skewed point of view? Are they going to have Levi Johnston on next time, or Ann Coulter? One thing that we learned for sure from all this is that voters aren't always right AND that television in general is moving towards the right. Scary.

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Thanksgiving Plans 2010

This year, I got invited by my former colleague and her vegetarian friends to go for a thanksgiving celebration but I'm feeling a little ho hum since the last time I saw them was a year ago when I didn't have a job and another year has gone by and my situation hasn't changed one bit. I cannot possibly seat through a meal feeling that way, I think I rather be at home. Well, that and the fact that they are vegetarians and they wanted me to bring a vegetable dish. How could I live up to the expectation when vegetables are all they eat? And to be politically incorrect, I'm just not excited about eating vegetables on Thanksgiving.

For Black Friday, my Straizian friends have invited me over to their place in hops that I will cook a meal for them and 20 something of our closest friends. It'll be a lot of work but I don't have a problem doing that. It's fun for me. But as the counter extreme from the vegetarians, my Straizian friends are carnivores especially for red meat. In the past two Thanksgivings, I have roasted turkey and chickens but they find carving their own piece of meat out of something with bones to be too troublesome so we won't be having any birds unless I sneak some turkey sausage in the form of a stuffing. As a rule when I cook for them, they always request dishes that I cook for them last and it usually bore me just a tad. So I decided to forgo the paella and steaks for a more traditional and earthy fare:

Sherry Wild Mushroom Soup
Cheddar Biscuits
Rib Roast
Glazed Ham
Turkey Sausage & Chestnut Stuffing
Pumpkin Seafood Orzo
Twice Baked Potatoes
Bacon Green Bean Bundles
Cauliflower Gratin

As in each and every gathering, someone will make a fruit salad with grape, apple, orange and a big amount of mayo and put lobster in it, which is quite a peculiar thing. It must have been an Asian thing since when I grew up these mayo/miracle whip salad was popular. My grandma used to make one with boiled eggs, potatoes, ham cubes, canned pineapple and everything else under the sun that I adore. I was proud to take that dish to every school picnic and parties. Now I realized that it might not have been the healthiest thing. Though the lobster fruit salad might just be on the sweeter side. Others will bring tiramisu and a cheesecake for dessert which will alleviate some work, though I do like making desserts.

All I have to do now is just have to write out all the ingredients I need so we can shop for them. Wish me luck, next week is going to be a busy week.

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The Flip-Flopitty-Flopetting of The McCains

To say that Senator McCain doesn't care about gay rights is an understatement. Not only does John McCain doesn't care about gay rights, it seems that he will do anything to be in the way of progress. He wanted top military general to come out and state their point of views on DADT and when a few of them came out and say it wouldn't be a big deal to have openly gay soldiers serving, he opt for a study. And when the study show sign that the soldiers supported repealing DADT. He says the first one didn't asked the right questions, clearly when things don't go his way, he will say and do anything to discredit it. What question should be asked? "If an AIDS ridden homosexual wiggles his butt in front of you in close quarters, do you think it will affect morale?"

Senator McCain is very invested in the issue for some reason and he's doing all he can to filibuster and block DADT from being repealed which is very suspicious since he won't be serving in the military again in the near future.



Seen here twisting the facts about how Major Mike Almy was booted out of the armed services after the government snooped into his private emails. So what could McCain possibly gain from lying and being on the wrong side of history? Is he receiving a huge of private donations from right-wing homophobes for being the spokesman of their crowd or is it his own military pride and homophobia talking?

And then what's this?



A closeted man overcompensating by marrying a much younger Cindy McCain and texting random guidette old enough to be his granddaughter?

While Cindy McCain surprisingly come out in support of the NoH8 Campaign and desperately holding onto it like it's her only claim to fame, she also stands by her husband's stance on DADT like she's some kind of gay rights authority.



So gay shouldn't serve in the military but "no hate"! It's like people who hate gays but loved to watch "Will and Grace". But then who really cares what Cindy McCain thinks? We know her because she married John McCain, not because she's a great American thinker or social commentator. But then what do you do when you found out that you've married a bigot?

With people like John McCain raising his personal requirements on the repealing of DADT at will, we can see why activist group GetEQUAL is upping the ante and chaining themselves to the White House again. The truth is though, there's no pleasing McCain and others; top officials came out and they did not persuade him, nor would the survey findings or the hearings about the study (or another study or a study about the study). McCain lost the last election and he will do anything to discredit any progress happening under Obama or make himself heard as much as possible over the most trivial things. McCain is clearly unreasonable and Dan Choi should just give up.



---

Here's a better version from Rachel Maddow:

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Music Invasion: Elaine Stritch's "Ladies Who Lunch" & Patti LuPone and George Hearn's "A Little Priest"

Continuing with my obsession with Sondheim and being a bit drunk on a Saturday night, I bring you a brilliant performance by the original Joanne of 1970 Broadway musical Company in a 2000 encore performance.



Other than the song and the singing itself, Elaine's gesture and expressions are also spot on. It's just great.

As I was working part time for these few days I've being humming showtunes like A Little Priest from Sweeney Todd. What is happening to me?



After hearing the same songs, same lyrics and same puns again and again, do people laugh out of politeness or do they really find it funny still?

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Weekend Meme: The Fire Meme

I have been very busy looking for jobs lately and it is not easy. I went to Macy's for an interview for holiday help which I wasn't really excited to start with mostly because of pride, but I really wanted a consistent income. I didn't expect that they only pay $8 an hour which is merely higher than the state minimum wage and at the end it turns out all their positions were filled already. Seriously, how does anyone live on $8 an hour? I am working on a 3 day tech support project and I'm sending my resume everywhere. Spending a lot of money printing things out and faxing paperwork at Kinko's and Staples. Maybe I should invest money in a cheap all-in-one, that said I'm still not getting any response. I wonder why.

Today's meme is from The Queen's Meme and it has to do with fire anyway, let's get started.

1. You are stranded on a desert island. There is only one match left in the matchbox. What would you use it for?
Light a fire to keep warm, cook and keep wildlife away.

2. Do you burn bridges in relationships?
I do tend to do that. I don't know why. I guess in some way I'm intense and I don't do well with slowly fading relationships.

3. Name one thing you'd like to set on fire today.
Paperwork. I'm accumulating a lot of job seeking paperwork and it's cluttering and getting on my nerves.

4. Have you ever burned a cupcake?
Nope. When I'm in the kitchen I usually watch things like a hawk.

5. If you had your choice and could change nature's ways, instead of smoke and lava, what should spew out of volcanoes?
Melted gold.

6. When is the last time you used a Fire Extinguisher?
Never. Really I don't remember ever using one.

7. Have you ever known anyone with a fiery uncontrollable temper? How did you handle it?
I don't think I know how to calm people down. I can fix problems but I can't handle people who goes out of control. Usually just avoid the person until they calm down.

8. You are with your significant other. What song are you singing around the campfire?
I don't think we are campfire people. There's a pretty good Chinese campfire song called "The Moon Represents My Heart".



You ask me how deep do I love you
How much do I love you
My feelings are true, my love is true
The moon represents my heart

You ask me how deep do I love you
How much do I love you
My feelings won't go away
My love won't change
The moon represents my heart

A light kiss has my heart moved
A deep love have me feeling until now

You ask me how deep do I love you
How much do I love you
Go think about it, go look
The moon represents my heart

*** The song, as romantic as it might be, won't work on any other time than the night with a full moon. ***

9. What is the one thing you'd gladly leave IN your house in case of fire.
There's a drawer of old speakers, telephone and wires inside my closet that I don't need at all.

10. When is the last time you got fiery fighting mad?
It was when a stupid drunk picked a fight with me on the dance floor. I poured my drink on him but I was upset for days.

11. Do you believe in hell?
Not as a real place. I believe in living hell.

12. Do you or have you ever smoked?
I tried but never got hooked.

Anyway, have a great weekend!

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What The Kids Are Wearing

During "Ally Week", three students at St. Charles North High School wore "Straight Pride" t-shirts with a little excerpt on their backs quoting a bible verse from Leviticus: “If a man lay with a male as those who lay with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination and shall surely be put to DEATH." This, of course, transpired an outrage from fellow students because of its plain offensiveness. But even though the school have a rule about how students should not disrupt the educational process or interfere with a positive learning and teaching environment through clothing, they have not disciplined the boys probably due to their first amendment rights and the legal implications.

It is true even bigoted imbeciles have rights. Although not clothing items are equal.



Coy Sheppard, a soccer player from Mendenhall High School Mississippi has been kicked off his high school soccer team last month because he showed up in a match wearing pink cleats which he was later ridiculed by his coach and when he showed up at practice wearing those pink cleats again, his coach threw him off the team. Since Coy needs the credit, being kicked off the team might mean him not being able to graduate.

It turns out those pink cleats are given by his 82 year-old grandmother who was a breast cancer survivor and the cleats are supposed to be a token to raise breast cancer awareness during Breast Cancer Awareness Month like all the NFL players were doing. Americans are overtly sensitive on what can be construed are homosexual behavior. Coy is suing the school and he planned to donate any judgment to the American Cancer Society but before he could do that the school had already sat him down and agreed to put him back on the team and apparently the coach hugged him out.

So as long as you dress in gender-specific colors, you'd be ok.

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Teabaggers & Alaska

Tea Party candidate and sore loser Joe Miller is trying to sue the state of Alaska for counting Lisa Murkowski's misspelled votes. Since Lisa Murkowski lost in the Republican primary election, she campaigned to be a write in candidate where while she's not on the ballot, people can still write her name on the ballot to elect her and as a result she won at 43% while Joe Miller lost by 7%.



While Murkowski is not the easiest name to spell, to reverse the decision will require about 13,500 misspelled votes which Lisa Murkowski had took the precautions of handing out handbands with her name on it, spelling bee contest and various commercial and sign to assure the locals spell it the right way. It's also worth noting that her father was a former governor preceding Palin, so people should really know the name.

But the focus is Joe Miller's attitude on this is that by hook or by crook, he wants to be the one in charge. He doesn't really care what the voters want, as if a vote for "Merkowski" or "Murcowski" does not state the voter's intention clear enough. Miller is going to pull a fast one just like Bush and his lawyers did during the Florida recount in 2000. It stays true to Sharron Angle's sentiment about when things don't go their way, they will try any remedies.

On another Alaskan teabagger news, apparently the long awaited TLC Sarah Palin show is going to be on air soon.



Not that I'll watch it, I can barely stand the promo but I find it plenty ridiculous. A governor resigned because she got more profitable offers for being a mouth piece on a right-wing news station, writing books and being the star of a reality show. All of this would be okay if she is not running for presidency or if she's being honest and factual but she is neither because she is not smart enough.

My fear is that she will be humanized and seem relatable to the average American voter. From the fact that Bristol Palin is still competing in Dancing With The Star, it tells you that they do have a tremendous amount of supporters. This new show is just going to be a political tool for Mama Grizzly there to spew her nonsensical wisdom written by Fox News propagandists to recruit a new base for her. That combine with dancing Bristol, Levy who's running for Mayor on a Republican ticket no doubt and perhaps a crawling baby or two, we've got a perfect little family.

I'm swearing off TLC. It used to stand for The Learning Channel but between this and (Jon &) Kate Plus 8, what are we exactly learning from them? That any dumb fuck/whack job can be for governor or president? That you can say any stupid thing you want without consequences as long as you're louder than your critics?

Frustrating.

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The 2 Billion Dollars Trip

Last Wednesday, The Press Trust of India had reported on NDTV an article about Obama's visit to India. In the report It was estimated that the president will be spending around $200 million a day, with 3,000 people including Secret Service agents, US government officials and journalists accompanying him. US Secret Service had been sent there ahead of time to take care of security measures. Air Force and Navy had intensified the Indian coastlines and the Taj Mahal Hotel had been cordoned off completely during his stay.

Since the cost of the trip is kept secret, there's no way to verify any of this information, so the news provided a great building block for FOX News et al to have a great time and make stuff up. The most important number here being the 300 people entourage. I have a hard time believing it will require 3000 people to take this trip, but I guess if it is true it will require 40 planes to transport that many people abroad and 700 cars to move them from venue to venue. But 34 warships and 30 bomb sniffing dogs?

This is Rachel Maddow's take on the issue:



I have no doubt that a lot of this entourage are local officials and international press that will pay for their own way and I'm sure a President as conservative as Barack Obama knows better than spend $200 million a day on a trip during a recession in our country but this is going to be a reality for him now. A reality that no matter what he does or suggest, the fact is going to be skewed to something horrible as to discredit him. There is no way he could win, even if he said the trip only cost Americans $50,000 for 10 days, people will still whine that half a million dollars are going down the drain for something as trivial as Indian and Asia. And we know that it's going to be a heck lot more than $50,000 a day. My problem is more of the PR and damage control around the President seems to be non-existent, much like how no one knows about his accomplishments or how every Democratic candidate this year seemed to avoid mentioning Obama at all cost like his name is a plague. What is the DNC doing?

I sincerely doubt that there will be any progress in the congress for at least the next two years with the Republicans gaining in numbers and doing anything they can to oppose the President. Unless through some kind of trickery we can get them to think that the nation is progressing towards equality and they will be in the wrong for not supporting it. If one think we know the Republicans, unlike the Democrats, do fervently adopt and adhere to the values of their voters but all that was expected. All we can hope, is that the Democrats will understand the anger of their base and understand that there are consequences from their inaction or settling for less. If anything voters are tired of is promises from politicians that end up not being delivered. We're living in the age of the internet and instant gratification, our attention span is getting shorter and the drawn out process that is politics does not fit our lifestyles anymore.

By the way, there is really a Taj Mahal Hotel and this is how it looks like:

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Candies Are Bad For You

I have always believe that in order to lose weight, you must do something harmful to your body to hinder its growth. Back in the days when I was taking biology class in high school, I was told that in order for a plant to growth in its maximum capacity and speed there are a few elements that needs to be there: water, carbon dioxide/oxygen, temperature of around 37 degrees, light and nutrition. If any of those conditions turned out to be lacking, inconsistent or too much, the plant might yellow or wilt. So my theory is that if we need to either eat less or do something harmful in order to lose weight. Well, that or exercise...

Yesterday reading Yahoo! News I saw this kick in the nutsack:



Nutrition professor from Kansas University, Mark Haub, about the same physical attribute I am now eating nothing but Twinkies for two months and losing 27 pounds. His diet is based on the theory that calories intake is the most important element on a diet and understanding that allows him to eat basically anything he wants as long as it's less calorie intake than spent.

He's having one Twinkie every 3 hours and to add variety, he's introducing powdered donuts, Oreos and Doritos. For realsies. Exercise-wise, he's doing 60-80 minutes a week. And for roughage, he's eating a can of peas and carrots or a raw vegetable every night. He's drinking coffee and drinking milk for protein. He's losing weight but still can't determine whether there will be any harmful consequences. This could be a diet that I can get behind, though I have yet to realize that it's not an all you can eat dessert cart.

On other weird dessert news, I have stumbled onto this video yesterday and can't get my head wrapped around one fact:



The average Armenian eats 88 pounds of chocolate a year!? That's roughly 7 pounds a month, 1 pounds every 4 days and 4 ounces everyday. We're not talking about a small kitkat bar, we're talking about 3 of them or a big baking chocolate bar every single day. How is Armenia not the fattest country in the world? Do they eat nothing but chocolate or are they a cold country that doesn't have heat and their citizens just burn calories to stay warm? I don't get it.

Well, I couldn't possibly believe anything I read online. Maybe it was a typo and it's really 8.8 pounds instead. Or like many other European countries, Armenians have the sensibility of eating very small meals and drink red wine to help process the amount of chocolate consumed. Or there's a loveless culture there and the nation needs to compensate and reach euphoria by eating chocolate. Anyhow, the chocolate kingdom of Armenia is on my list of places to visit now.

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Music Invasion: John Barrowman and Ruthie Henshall's "Unworthy of Your Love"

I think it was a few years ago on PBS where I saw this brilliant Sondheim review which featured Bronson Pinchot, Carol Burnett, John Barrowman, Ruthie Henshall and George Hearn that was so good that got me buying two copies. The long version is that I lend the first copy to a colleague who lost it and I have to go out and buying another one to replace it. In turn, I love Sondheim. The review is brilliant, it's funny, witty and touching at times. Of course, having the top tier musical actors in the act make the whole thing so much more decadent.

There are some great performance in the revival but right now this one is sticking to my head. It's an one-of-a-kind love song from the musical Assassins. Instead of showing the two characters here singing to each other, it is originally about a craze gunman assassinating Ronald Reagen to prove his love for Jodie Foster and female gunman Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme attempting to assassinate Gerald Ford for Charlie Manson. Instead of "Darlin', darlin'" in the lyrics, the original were "Jodie" and "Charlie" respectively. It's slightly crooked and unhealthy, but that's what makes it interesting.



Unworthy of Your Love

I am nothing, you are wind and water and sky.
Darlin', tell me darlin', how I can earn you love?
I would swim oceans, I would move mountains,
I would do anything for you, what do you want me to do?

I am unworthy of your love, darlin', darlin'
Let me prove worthy of you love.
Tell me how I can earn your love, set me free.
How can I turn your love to me?

I am nothing, you are wind and devil and God,
Darlin', take my blood and my body for your love.
Let me feel fire, Let me drink poison,
Tell me to tear my heart in two,
If that's what you want me to do.

I am unworthy of you love, darlin', darlin',
I have done nothing for your love.
Let me be worthy of your love, set you free.

I would come take you from you life...
I would some take you from your cell...
You would be queen to me, not wife...
I would crawl belly deep through hell...
Baby, I'd die for you even though I will always know:

I am unworthy of your love, darlin', darlin',
Let me be worthy of your love.
I'll find a way to earn your love, wait and see.
Then you will turn your love to me, your love to me...

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From One Scam To Another

I've been very actively looking for work for the past 2 weeks. Last week, I happened to get calls from 2 staffing agencies who enthusiastically scheduled me for interviews. Wearing my one good suit, I traveled 3 hours roundtrip out to the suburbs by bus in the rain, walked across a major highway to a non-descript building to a medium size office where two gentlemen tried hard to sell me to join their staffing agency where they will find me employment with major companies for short term contracts. They will help me with training, they even have insurance available for purchase. It all seems too good to be true, so when they asked me if I have any questions, I asked "What's the catch?"

They told me that they get commission from companies for handling their HR process, but after getting home and searching for these company, it turns out the way it works is that these staffing agencies create fake job postings to lure candidates to apply and interview with them. They request the candidates to bring professional references with them which the staffing company will use them to identify potential staffing opportunities.

If there are really jobs out there, the staffing company will only pay the candidates half of what they are charging the companies, which I find ironic since one of the interview I went to is for a staffing agency called Robert Half. On average, they are only paying workers about $14-16 an hour and they don't pay any benefits, the health insurance is pretty much a scam. For that kind of money, I could be an administrative assistant and get more from it. And if the company I work for happen to see me as an asset and wants to hire me, I could be sued for jumping ship. I guess the company will have to pay a premium fee to the staffing agency before I could be released. The reality is that in order for a staffing agency to survive they will have to contact more candidates than they have jobs and most candidates will be ignored after they got enough information from them.

All the job boards online is filled with fake positions created by these staffing companies and it's more than unethical in my books. Why would any companies buy into these scams? If people are willing to work for $14-16/hour while the companies are paying $30/hour to staffing companies to locate candidates, don't they know that they will be able to find cheaper labors? Too bad I'm at a time where I need the work and can't choose who I'm selling my soul to.

Cross my fingers that I'll get something soon.

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Weekend Meme: Name Meme

I have been pounding the virtual and actual pavements these few weeks trying to find a job and it's not easy. Most applications I sent out doesn't get me even a reply email and I don't know why. It might be because I worked in an HIV organization which implied that I'm either a carrier or gay, which could be perceived as undesirable. Or that my real name is overtly feminine which implied that I could be a FTM transsexual, but what's in a name really? It leaves me a bit dismayed and worried, not getting any younger here.

I've been putting off doing today's meme for a while because if reassembled carefully, I might have revealed more than I wanted. But I have handed my resume to more people than I care to, so what's a few more details?

Your Real Name: Paul

Your Gangsta Name (1st 4 letters plus izzle): Paulizzle

Your Detective Name (favorite color + favorite animal): Blue Bunny - Just like the ice cream brand.

Your Soap Opera Name (middle name + childhood street): Yves Beaudoin

Your Star Wars Name (last 3 letters of your last name + first 2 letters of your first name + first 3 letters of Mom’s maiden name): Ongpacha

Your Superhero Name (2nd fave color + favorite drink): Brown Black Currant Cosmo

Your Witness Protection Name (Grandma/Grandpa’s first name + Jones): Lancy Jones - I don't know the names of any of my grandpas and my grandma insists that her name is Lancy and not Nancy.

Your Goth Name (Black + name of one of your pets): Black Dragon

Your American Idol Name (favorite car and favorite seafood): Lotus Shrimp

Your Movie Star Name (sibling’s middle name + mother's maiden name): What if you don't have a sibling?

Your Alter Ego (name of one your childhood pets + popular brand of clothes when you were young): Dragon Bossini

Your Lawyer Name (favorite actor’s last name + favorite hard liquor): Manganiello Rum

Your Hip Hop Name (favorite candy + fruit): Riesen's Mango

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In An Attempt To Scam The Scammer

Business first, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has put an indefinitely stay on its DADT ruling yesterday, which timing-wise is decidedly suspicious. Were they throwing the fight for the Democrats? I'm still a bit dismayed by the situation where us gays have to be loyal to Democrats and in turn they get to be wishy-washy about us. If we keep on supporting the bunch no matter what, when will they ever learn to support us back? But I guess a tease is better than a definite no, so vote Democrats!

Speaking of scams, about a month ago I went to our biggest mall around the area in the suburb and saw a pretty nice car in the middle of it given away in a drawing. So I signed up in hopes of getting a car that I don't know how to drive. Resale value, right? Anyhow, about 2 weeks ago I received a call from the Wyndham Resorts group telling me that because I signed up, I can join them in Atlantic City for a 2-hour presentation and at the end of the presentation I will get a $25 casino cash certificate and 2 3-night stays at any Ramada in the country other than North Dakota. "But who wants to go to Fargo, right?" says the charming lady.

I didn't see any harm in that and I'm also tempted by the potential hotel stays so I can go somewhere with the boyfriend. So instead of going to DC supporting the Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear like any good liberal should on Saturday, I scheduled to go to Atlantic City and see what's up. I have talked to a friend who had gone through similar stuff and while he swore that he'll never do something like that again, he did say he got what he was promised at the end so how bad can it be?



It wasn't at the nearby Wyndham Towers but a nearby office building which I thought it was a tiny bit suspicious. I arrive 15 minutes early and brought my credit card as requested, signed up and waited for the presentation. I see a lot of families or couples attending and soon, they are all scooped up by sales agent in their late 30s to 40s. I was the last one to be swept away to another room where they socialized waiting for the actual presentation. A high-energy, enigmatic presenter comes out to present to about a dozen of families. He started by asking why people goes on vacation and where they'd like to go, starting to built up our travel fantasies. At the same time, he tells us how traveling relief stress hence reduce our chances of stroke and heart attacks. Mmm, okay...

The presentation goes on describing how Wyndham Resorts is one of the Fortune 100 companies and it's in the top 10 most ethical companies. I'm always highly skeptical with claims like these. Turns out, they are selling an inheritable timeshare that you accumulate points in exchange for nights in their resorts around the world, the points can also be changed into flights and other accommodations. After sitting through a 15 minutes commercial with boring sleepy music with their CEO and consumers talking about how great the resorts and the program are.

The presenter told us about a little anecdote about a huge football player who was there with his wife and twin daughters investing in the timeshare. His daughters were thrilled about the opportunity to go to Disneyland. A year or two later, the football player came back to the office and showed our presenter his travel pictures and afterwards, he told him that the wife and daughters had died in a car accident and in a shaky voice our presenter told us the moral of the story is to treasure the ones near us because they could be gone one day and the time share is a commitment to those near us that you will spend quality time with them. Hello, single here! And are you telling me the poor sob invested on your program and is reminded that his family is gone everyday by a vacation program that he's still paying for and won't get to use it anymore?

After that brilliant end of the presentation 75 minutes in, my dedicated salesperson came over for an one-on-one which he took me on a tour of some room models. "It's not your traditional two beds, a bath and a bible" Dan says. "There's a kitchen, a living room with a sofa bed, a small jacuzzi in the bathroom." At this point, I'm curious on why the cost of the program were still unmentioned. After leading me to a huge touchscreen TV and showing me how the resorts around the country look like, Dan took me to the cold patio to tell me how great the value of the program is and then back to a table to seat me down. Retrospectively I guess I needed to seat down, because as he revealed the price, he asked me for a $67,000 down payment for 30-40 days a year of resort time. Seriously Dan? For the price of 4 cars?



Of course, I refused the outrageous notion that anyone would have that much vacation time and for a single person renting an apartment, I would rather use that money to pay for a down payment for a condo somewhere. I started to see Dan's wise guy edge as he pressure me into giving him reasons why I can't do it and all the reasons I give him seems to be not good enough for him. After refusing again, he called over the sales manager who is obviously playing for my team. Let's call him Scott. Scott seems to be your regular car salesman says he's going to find me some better deals while Dan tries to pressure me some more. A second deal of $15,000 for 10 nights a year which I rejected and a third deal of $2000 for 5 nights a year, which I said I'll have to go back and research some more before I can respond because I'm not an impulse buyer. They told me the offers are only valid if I bought into it right there and refused to give me copies of their information. Just as well.

Dan further pressure me to give him some contacts in order to get into another raffle for something else and then he past me off to another guy who asked me questions about the performance of the salespeople and again, my reason for not participating. Then, it's prize time. I got a $25 cash voucher that I successfully cashed in at a Trump Casino. The vacation package that I was set to receive including some dinner compensations from an entity called Spirit Incentives turned out to have very weird and scammy rules.

1) You have to send them $100 good faith deposit. They will give it back to you 30 days after travel is done, but if you don't show up, they will keep it.

2) You have to mail in your dates to them within 45 days and 45 days before departures to see availability. The dates have to be Sunday through Wednesday and you have to pay $25 if you want them changed. Not valid for 7 days before or after any major holidays.

After researching online, it turns out tons of sites equate Spirit Incentives with the word scam. You will never get the time you want to travel and the cost of it will end up surpassing your expectation even though it was meant to be a free gift. You either have to complain to the Better Business Bureau or purchase the timeshare for it to work, and good luck getting a refund.

At the end, I did sorta got a free trip to Atlantic City and a free lunch. Assuming they didn't trick me into signing up for anything I didn't want. It wasn't too bad and a little interesting. I was conscious of not giving out information too sensitive, though it makes me question businesses like Wyndham and Trump Casinos now.

I left Atlantic City slightly disappointed but unscathed. I wonder if anyone had really put out $67,000 that day to a company they barely knew was legit.

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