The iPod Game

Mindless piffle alert! Actually, it's kinda fun and everyone gets to take a peek inside my iPod. Which is something I know you've been dying to do.

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The iPod Game

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INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Put your iPod or other music player on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.

Unless you don't like it, then you can keep shuffling until you get to something you like!

(I added this variance to the game)

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WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? Return to Oz (Scissor Sisters)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE? Only When I Lose Myself (Depeche Mode)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? Simple Kind of Life (No Doubt)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? Cherish (Madonna)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? Turn Me On (Norah Jones)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? Damaged People (Depeche Mode)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? Intuition (Natalie Imbruglia)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Criminal (Fiona Apple)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? Twinkle (Tori Amos)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? In Too Deep (Dead or Alive)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? Relax, Take it Easy (Mika)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? Man! I Feel Like a Woman! (Shania Twain)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? It's Not Right, But it's Okay (Whitney Houston)

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? I Don't Feel Like Dancin' (Scissor Sisters)

HOW WILL YOU DIE? Piece of Me (Britney Spears)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET? Cowboy Romance (Natlie Merchant)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH? I Can't Help It (Bananarama)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? Nothing Ever Changes (Donna Lewis)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST? When the Money's Gone (Cher)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? Newborn Friend (Seal)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW? Rent (Pet Shop Boys)

YOUR ULTIMATE FANTASTY? Forbidden Love (Madonna)

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The Jason Show Dot Com

Because it is just too hard to type "blogspot dot com"...

the producers of The Jason Show proudly present:

www.thejasonshow.com

You don't have to do anything. There's nothing to buy. Don't worry about changing your readers, your favorites, or your bookmarks, unless you want to. Blogger will do all the work and forward the old blogger URL to my new home.

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Q & A With Your Token Gay, Vol. XIII

Your question is important to us. Please stay on the line. Questions will be answered in the order in which they were received.

thevinylvillage asks...
Is that YOU on the terlit there? What on Earth??

Finally! I was wondering when someone would asks about the photo I've been using for Q & A With Your Token Gay! This photo was when I was 18 (age of consent for nudity on film) in San Francisco on choir tour. One of my friends and I were goofing around, taking silly pictures of each other, and wrastling half nekkid on the bed. In a purely heterosexual way, of course. Hmmmm....last I heard this friend of mine has eight children and lives in Idaho.

Tami W. asks...
My question to you: What was the most wonderful moment of your life?

When, at the age of 28, I had my first drink.

Tammy asks...
Love the Q & A, I am learnin so much!I have a couple of questions....I always wanted to have a gay best friend like Karen has Jack to go shopping and stuff....so do you like to shop and if I asked if my butt looked big in a pair of pants would you tell me the truth? Just wondering..

The truth is, I probably wouldn't notice. JLo and Pumpkin Delight are always on my case about being such a bad gay best friend. I tend to not notice haircuts or new outfits or shoes or beautifully done nails. If I do notice them, I usually don't think about it much, at least not enough to comment. See! I don't fit the stereotype 100%. But, if you asked me directly? I don't think I would tell you if your butt looked big. I wouldn't want to make you feel bad.

Biddy asks...

oh i have a question! When ya'll got married, did you take each other's last names? I've always wondered how that works.

We did not take each other's last names. Sometimes we'll hyphenate, but we did not make the change legally. However, Diego's last name is legally hyphenated: Giancarlo's Last Name-Jason's Last Name.

Katrine (Jason's sister) asks:

Back the truck up...beep, beep, beep... You're a nudist? A nudist?! You've got to be kidding! There's no way!!!

Just when my sister thought she finally knew me! No, I am not a nudist. I have stated before here that I have nudist tendencies, and given the opportunity, I would most likely explore the option more fully. I like being naked! Sue me!

TheVinyl Villager asks...
Do you and Giancarlo share clothes?

When Giancarlo and I got together, my wardrobe quadrupled. I had a blast trying on all the new combinations of shirts, jeans, slacks, and sweaters. For a while, we shared all of our clothes, except shoes. His wears an 11 and I wear a 9 or 9 1/2. For a few years, we even shared underwear. (TMI? TMI anyone?). But then Giancarlo decided he didn't want to share pants or long sleeve shirts anymore because his legs and arms are a bit longer than mine. And now we also have our own underwear. Are you glad? Or do you care?

Pumpkin Delight asks...
Wait! What!?!?! Clothing optional? Palm Springs? A few years ago? I don't think I knew that. I'm shocked! (kind of)

Yes, Pumpkin, a few years ago I convinced Giancarlo to go to a gay clothing- optional place in Palm Springs for the weekend. I found it very interesting, and I enjoyed myself quite a bit. Giancarlo? Not so much. We haven't done anything like that since. I think this was before I knew you.

Pumpkin Delight asks...
Mormons aren't allowed to swim? Plus, I'm wondering what kind of underwear you were wearing that were not conducive to swimming? (referring to the question about swimming naked in a baptismal font)

Silly Pumpkin. Mormons are allowed to swim. But Mormon missionaries are not. And Mormon underwear is not conducive to swimming because it consists of an undershirt and a pair of long boxer briefs.

Martha asks...
Here's a question for ya handsome, do you use prepackaged water bottles or refillable water bottles? Thanks so much.

I buy prepackaged water bottles, but then I refill them two or three times before I put them in the recycle bin. And I drink a lot of water, about eight bottles a day.

Ree said...
hahhhahahahhahaahhahaa. Dude. Hilarious. I have a question. How many of your labels say Organic on the front?

Hardly any at all, unless it's cheaper, which it hardly ever is. I'm all about the lower price, especially "in this economy." Sorry, TJH.

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Your question is important to us. Please stay on the line. Questions will be answered in the order in which they were received.

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The Human Turd--Redeemed?

Driving away from Maggiano's, we saw that parking lot security and the police had approached the woman that had plead to me for help. Were they responding to a complaint from a restaurant employee? Had another patron called security? I'll never know.

The next morning, at breakfast, we were sharing the story with two of our other coworkers who had been dining with us the previous evening. Apparently, the same lady had approached them in the parking lot. They told her they were sorry and got in their car. She got angry with them and stood directly in front of their car and flipped them off.

Your comments on the original Human Turd post have been very enlightening, and I've been thinking about them extensively. Many of you have arrived at the same conclusion that I came to so long ago: It isn't my place to decide anything about the person asking for help. I have no understanding of what it could be like, what someone has to go through, to become homeless and without any other recourse than asking for help from people on the street. Are there scammers? Sure. Have I been scammed before? Certainly. But have I helped someone genuinely in need? Yes, I have. Not that night in front of Maggiano's, but that has served me as a strong reminder that people all over the place need help all of the time, and that I need to be prepared, at least mentally, to help out in some small, respectful way.

This morning I went to the market to pick up a few things. On my way back out to the car, I noticed a clearly homeless woman sitting under a tree in the middle of the parking lot, rummaging through her things. I put my groceries in my car, grabbed a box of Quaker Oatmeal Squares, and took it to her.

"Would you like this?"

She studied the box closely. Without making eye contact, she asked, "What is it?"

"Cereal. It's really good."

"Uh, okay." She took the box with her weathered hand and set it beside her other belongings. Then she continued rummaging.

And then I told her something that I never say. "God bless you."

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Yet Another Bowl of Single Sentence Soup

Each week The Jason Show sends scouts out into the blogosphere, scouring blogs both well-known and yet-to-be-discovered for those single lines that are attention grabbers. Single sentences that resonate for their element of humor, touch of the bizarre, or ability to provoke thought are prestigiously linked to their author, in hopes that viewers of The Jason Show like you will be able to savor a serving of Single Sentence Soup just as our scouts have.

"He required surgery, as this foreign object, a can of air freshener, was firmly lodged up his lower intestine. "

"You put your hand in the toilet and pulled a feather out of your poop?????? "

"…then she slapped me across the face and instantly I stopped laughing and started crying…and yes, the funeral came to a pause so that we were center stage."

"And how disturbing, that I can go to the internet and find photo's of goats in veils? We are a grand country, are we not?"

"I poured the tiny bottle of mouthwash on my head in the shower and used the shower-cap as a prophylactic device.
The former was an accident." (see comments)

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The Human Turd at Maggiano's

Lately, in the blog world, I've been reading about random acts of kindness. Every time I do, I say to myself, "Absolutely! I need to do more things like that. I need to be more aware of others as I go throughout my day, and do those small, easy things that will make someone's life better in some small way."

Keep that in mind. Now read this:

Our leisurely dinner at Maggiano's was delicious. There was an abundance of food, good conversation, and lots of laughter. Afterward, the four of us made our way to the car, and as usual, we were laughing. Out of nowhere an ordinary looking woman approached us and said, "You guys look like you've had a good time. Can I talk to you for a second? I just got out of the hospital and I really need some help. Please?"

We kept walking, but I turned around, walking backward, with the grin from our earlier joke still plastered on my face. She continued pleading. My mind froze. I didn't want to turn my back on her, so I kept walking backward, grinning at her, glancing over at my friends, pleading at them with my eyes for some counsel or support, with my Maggiano's bag of leftover gnocchi in a divine vodka basil cream sauce in my hands in front of me.

I finally turned back around. We reached the car and as soon as we got in the others burst into hysterical laughter. They weren't laughing at the woman; they were laughing at me and my ridiculous response to her pleas for help.

I felt like a complete turd of a human being. Why did I freeze like that? Why didn't I just hand her my silly gnocchi or, since I had no cash or change on hand, ask my friends to give her a dollar? Why did I just grin at her instead, as if in mockery?

We all find ourselves in these kinds of situations from time to time, if nothing more than passing a panhandler on the sidewalk. Unless we have some predetermined plan of action when we come across this kind of situation, then we must go through an on-the-spot mental struggle as to what to do.

When I lived in South America, this kind of thing was a daily occurrence. Only the poverty I saw there made our homeless people seem like the Rockefellers. I was a white, rich American backed by the power of the Almighty Dollar. Giving them a dollar would be like me getting a hundred dollars from someone on the street. It was nothing to me. So I would give. Until I was chastised by the native Peruvians with whom I worked, saying it was all a scam, they're just going to go spend it all on booze, etc., etc. Still I felt badly and tried to find an answer.

I eventually did come up with a solution to my problem. But somehow, reflecting on the Maggiano's experience, I realized that I had forgotten that place of balance in my mind that I had discovered years ago in a third world country.

I'm not going to tell you what my solution was, because I want to hear your feedback. When confronted with this kind of situation, what do you do when someone on the street asks you for money? Why do you react that way? What do you do when you walk past a homeless person with a cup in front of them, asking for handouts? What is your overall mindset when it comes to dealing with homeless individuals, panhandling, and people standing at freeway exits with cardboard signs, asking for money?

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Moving Cadavers

Pumpkin Delight, pal extraordinaire, bestowed me with this award. She is my real life buddy and a blog buddy. She joked on her blog about how this award is great to give to friends that would be willing to move a dead body with you, if necessary, and even have a fun time doing it. She mentions that we would just laugh and laugh as we did it. And she's right. Pumpkin Delight, JLo, and I are currently spending two days together at a conference and all we have done is laugh, laugh, laugh. But we haven't really had to move too many cadavers.

Over the last 463 posts I have made some great blog buddies. I'm passing this award along to three of them for the sheer appreciation of their friendship:

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Suz, the Florida Suz. I think she's right up there in the top ten as far as amount of comments goes; she's always there for me!

Day by Day with Suz

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Rebekah, from Waffles Waffles All Day Long. I actually hate waffles, the breakfast food. But I love this one. Rebekah and I grew up with very similar upbringings and cultures, and both of us have since departed from them in some ways.

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I've actually only known Misty from My Road Less Traveled for a few weeks now, but I'm giving this award to her now because I want her to know that I'm here if she needs a friend. She's going through some unimaginably difficult things right now, and she is being very courageous and insightful by writing about it.

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The Rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Award some other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Let the other bloggers know they received your award.
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Bean Assault

Picture this: A tall, sweet, mild, next-top-model-beautiful elementary school teacher with sparkling eyes and a smile that will cheer up any day.

Picture this: She's sitting in her nice new pick-up truck at the train station, waiting for her husband's train. She has just picked up dinner.

Picture this: Two people approach the car next to her and BAM! A woman from the passenger's side of the car flings her door wide open and puts a deep ding into the door of the new truck. The woman doesn't notice that a tall, sweet, mild, next-top-model-beautiful elementary school teacher is sitting right there in the driver's seat. Until she rolls down her window.

Picture this: Nasty Door Dinging Lady gets angry at tall, sweet, mild, next-top-model-beautiful elementary school teacher, and blurts out, "Your truck is too BIG!"

Picture this: Tall, sweet, mild, next-top-model-beautiful elementary school teacher, who incidentally has had kind of a rough day, loses it.

"You blankety blank blank blank!!! You just blankin' dinged my blankin' truck! I blanking was blanking well inside the blanking lines, you blanking blank blanker! Do you have blank for brains or something? I'm calling the blanking cops you stinking blanking blank blank blank-hole!"

Picture this: Tall, sweet, mild, next-top-model-beautiful elementary school teacher pauses to wipe the froth and spittle from her lips and steering wheel.

Picture this: The husband of Nasty Door Dinging Lady quietly pulls his wife into the car and pulls the car away.

Picture this: Tall, sweet, mild, next-top-model-beautiful elementary school teacher's rage has subsided a bit. She calls the police to see if this can be reported as a hit-and-run. Apparently, it can't. But she can call her insurance company, give them the license plate number, and have it reported to their insurance.

Picture this: As a "by the way", tall, sweet, mild, next-top-model-beautiful elementary school teacher asks the cop on the phone if, by chance, she had thrown her pinto beans at the car as it drove away, would that be considered assault?

Picture this: "Uh, yes ma'am, throwing beans would be assault."

Baby Frankenstein Runs

Hi, It's The Queen here! (Not Jason, the "queen"; I'm Claire, the Queen)

I have hijacked The Jason Show to take you all for a look at some exclusive Castle video.

Welcome and enjoy!

This is the best little video clip EVER.

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Agnostic Blessings, Episode Nine

Blessing # 601

The Garlic Press

How is it possible that I have lived my life thus far and not really known about the glories and wonders of a garlic press? Of course, I always knew what a garlic press was, and I had seen people using them before, but I had never really experienced the joy of a garlic press until just a few weeks ago.

If my MIL is out of the country, which is about six months out of the year, I do most of the cooking in our family. I love cooking with garlic, and I love eating it. But I always prepared garlic the hard way---peel and chop, peel and chop, peel and chop. Why? I don't know--because nobody ever gave me a garlic press? Giancarlo's father, who is Italian, and his mother, who is Italian by marriage, never use a garlic press. They peel and chop, peel and chop. Are all Italians like this? Is using garlic press one of those things that Americans do that Italians look down their nose at, along with eating cold pasta salad, mac n' cheese, and cilantro?

Then along came Pumpkin Delight with her clever, observant, and thoughtful gift-giving ways. This last Christmas she gave me--you guessed it--a garlic press, among other things. And not just any old garlic press, this was a high end garlic press. I had mentioned to her earlier in the year that I didn't have a garlic press, and she couldn't believe it.

Well, not really knowing what I was missing, I didn't use my new gadget for a few weeks. Then, after Pietro and Elsa left for Mazatlan, I pulled it out of the drawer, took some garlic out of the fridge, placed a clove inside, and pressed. Yes, I pressed my garlic with my new garlic press. And then I came in my jeans.
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Valentine's Day Special Someone Tag

Our love can be romantic,

our love can be routine,

Our love can be a message

On the answering machine.

Our love can be a whisper,

our love can be a touch,

Our love can get us through the days

That we don't like so much.

Our love can be "I'm sorry,"

Our love can be a smile,

Our love can even be

"I need to be alone a while."

Our love can be imperfect

Our love can be ideal

But most of all, our love can last

Because our love is real.

1)Husband's Name: Giancarlo

2)How long have you been married? Married? 7 months. Together and committed? 12 years.

3)How long did you date? A year and a half. And he almost dumped me because he felt that was too long. He almost dumped me many times.

4)How old is he? 44

5)Who eats more sweets? Giancarlo does. For sure. I only eat sweets at night right before bed, and usually it is a little bit of dark chocolate.

6)Who is the better singer? Me, hands down!

7)Who is smarter? We both gottses the sames smarts.

8)Who does the laundry? Giancarlo. Almost always. And I'm grateful.

9)Who pays the bills? We share the responsibility; he's in charge of some bills and I'm in charge of others.

10)Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does, because the clock is on the left side and I get up earlier. And I'd say we equally get up on the wrong side of the bed.

11)Who mows the lawn? The gardeners.

12)Who cooks dinner? I do, if Giancarlo's parents are in Mexico or Italy. If they are here, then his mom almost always cooks.

13)Who drives? It depends. I'd say we equally share this responsibility, too.

14)Who is the first to say they are wrong? Uh....I guess that's a toss up, too. If Giancarlo feels he is wrong, he will admit it. If I feel I've been wrong, I will admit it. But in his own words, "I'm always right! Why can't people just see that?"

15)Who kissed who first? It was a very exciting tie. So we had to go for a tie breaker.

16)Who asked who out first? I answered his personal ad in the LA Weekly. We spoke on the phone for a couple of weeks and then we mutually agreed to meet for coffee. I was immediately hooked! He wasn't quite as certain.

17)Who wears the pants? Well, sometimes Giancarlo likes to wear a dress. Kidding! Again, we both take charge in our own way. I often let him be the boss, but often he lets me. It depends on the situation.

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Busy Bee Suz kinda sorta tagged me with this meme. And I'm kinda sorta tagging anyone out there who wants to do a Valentine's Day post about their special someone.

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Please Help Us

"Pushing open the doors to the nursery, we saw one little dark-haired baby bundled up tightly, frowning against the bright lights of the world, and we knew he belonged to us. Over the course of the next two days, we sat in a family visiting room and gazed at this infant boy wondering who he was, and how the stars all lined up correctly to make him so suddenly ours.
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When the day arrived for us to take our little Dieguito home, hospital policy required him to ride down to the car in a wheelchair. He couldn't exactly ride in the chair by himself, so I got to sit in it to hold him.
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As we rode, Giancarlo, Amelia and I chuckled at the surprised looks we got from other hospital patrons, and I marveled at the maturity and selflessness on one young woman's behalf that put me in that wheelchair with that amazing new tiny person."

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The above is one excerpt from the life of our family. Like your family, ours has many such excerpts, meaningful events, life-changing experiences, things to remember forever. Isn't this enough? Do we really have to do any more to be considered just as important as everyone else's family?

I didn't think so. Chances are you feel the same. If you haven't already, please do just one little thing to help give our family and 18,000+ other California families the chance for equality. This comes from the Courage Campaign website. There is a bittersweet little video there for you to watch if you haven't seen it already. Then...all you need to do is sign the petition. Please.

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"We, the undersigned, share President Barack Obama's view that "for too long, issues of LGBT rights have been exploited by those seeking to divide us. It's time to move beyond polarization and live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect."

Yet, on December 19, 2008, Ken Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund filed legal briefs defending the constitutionality of Prop 8 and seeking to nullify the marriages of 18,000 devoted same-sex couples solemnized before Prop 8 passed.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this case on March 5, with a decision expected within 90 days. We, the undersigned, ask that the Court enforce the equality promised to each of us by our constitution and invalidate Prop 8. So doing will protect all loving, committed couples in California -– including the 18,000 who said "I do" last year –- and prevent the initiative process from being a tool for stripping vulnerable minorities of precious constitutional rights.

As Americans who believe in the rule of law and fundamental civil rights, we know that Ken Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund's shameful attempt to nullify equal protection and all these bonded unions will be condemned in the eyes of history. We know that, ultimately, love will prevail, no matter how hard they try to fight it."

SIGN PETITION HERE

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Spend a Day with Jason

6:30 a.m.

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