PERS - The Staredown

Do you want a huge 35" x 23" version of this hanging on your wall?
Go to my CafePress shop and BUY IT!

PERS - Fairly Huge Hobnob update!

The Hobnobbers now has a total of 3 new comics this weekend!

Also, I've added a "Comments" section as well as an "Ask The Hobnobbers" area.

Just check the left panel to access both new sections.

In case ya haven't done it yet, JUMP!

PERS - 50th Post Blowout Spectacular!

I just realized that I've reached my 50th post!

50 posts is not an easy feat. That's why it is important to use filler, such as links to other places and announcements about updates to my Hobnobbers site. It's really no different from a 22-episode tv show that uses plots that go way off the main storyline. Consider this post to be a recap episode.

Ahh. Memory lane. From Mint Chocolate to American Idol to Bathroom Dysfunction.

Now American Idol is over, my bathroom has long been fixed, and the price of Pot of Gold Mint Collection has returned to its regular price since stores cleared their Christmas overstock.

What will the rest of the year bring?

More filler! Yay!

PERS - Hobglobbobnob update!

That's right.

It's been a while folks, but a new Hobnobbers comic is out!

JUMP!

PERS - Fast Times at Ranting High

I'm realizing now that this will no doubt be my longest blog entry EVER.

So I was recently on Torrentspy when I fell into a forum that had a topic called "Gay Marriage".

As I read through each page, the discussion kept getting more and more heated. I did, however, find that one important piece of this complicated puzzle was missing.

NO GAY CONTENT.

I mean, no gay persons were involved in this heated debate.

I don't know exactly what got into me, but next thing I knew I was writing an epic reply to the nonsense going on in this forum. I could have let sleeping dogs lie, but I felt so compelled to add my two cents.

Here is my first reply:

After sifting through 16 pages of some "interesting" discussion, I think I can safely say I'm the only gay guy who will have posted on here up to this point or at least the only one out of the closet. I don't plan to outwit any of you with expansive research on homosexuality or religion, I just want to speak as a gay guy who's living in today's society.

I live in Canada. I'm in my mid-twenties and have a boyfriend of close to a year. I grew up as a Roman Catholic, but I don't remember any point in time being told in church that if I'm homosexual, I will burn in Hell. I still, however, struggled with being gay. Through school, the gay bashing was severe, so I kept my sexuality on the down low until after I graduated. Little comments made by my parents, friends, and relatives throughout the years gave me the understanding that I could not tell them I was gay or they would abandon me. For me, little to none of this turned out to be true. I lost a few "friends", but my family accepted this part of my life.

Up here in Canada, we seem to be breaking away that horrible - and unacceptable - connection between Church and State that is superglued together in the US. We're in the process of passing a bill that legalizes gay marriage on a federal level. I couldn't be more excited. Of course, the act of marriage itself is very much attached to religion. But the legal contract signed to prove this matrimony is only, and should only be, a state issue. ("...the purest form of love: a binding legal contract." - Simpsons ;})

Currently, I will want to get married to my boyfriend at some point in my life. I didn't always have the desire to be married, but I firmly believed that anyone who wanted to should have the right to do so. Aside from the legal benefits of marriage, for me it is a powerful symbol of monogamy to my partner, letting them know I am in this for the long term and I want to share my life with him. It's not that we don't trust each other in our current status, it is just another phase in our lives that would further prove our love for each other.

...Also, if I'm extremely ill in the hospital and only family members can visit me, I want my partner to be considered part of my family.

I don't feel like, by being in a gay marriage, I'd ruining the sanctimony of marriage. If we're worried we're ruining the "sanctimony", I think the US statistic of 60% of heterosexual marriages ending in divorce should already let you know that marriage in itself is not held as sacred under the current American regime.

The courts seem to be working in my favour up here in Canada, and I hope that soon I will have the opportunity to get married and be considered a married couple no matter where I go in my country.

...So I guess the short of it is, yes I support gay marriage, and even if I had no desire to get married, I deserve the right just as much as straight guys can get married to their girls.

P.S. If you're still looking to the Bible to condemn my sexuality, please go to http://www.truluck.com for a little insight on such misused scripture.

---

I then had two eager responses to this post, one asking me if I would want to be accepted by any religious groups, and my thoughts on divorce/annulment. The next guy basically asked me if I would take "Pancakes" or demand "Hot cakes" (accepting a "civil union" with all the benefits of marriage, or demanding "marriage").

I soon responded myself:

I guess you could say that - because I do not consider myself a believer of any one religion - I would not be too bothered if no church recognized my marriage. I would, however, be bothered if those same churches chose to aggressively condemn my marriage. Many religions do not believe in the saying "To each his own", otherwise everyone would have their own religion, thus there will always be groups out there bashing me because I'm gay and I'm married to a guy (Aka GodHatesFags.com).

Thinking about it, I view marriage as not so much a spiritual or religious occurrence, but simply a vow between two people to be with each other and experience life for a very long time.

I say "very long time" and not a "lifetime" because it's obvious that people change. Nothing in this world stays the same. People can either adapt as a couple, or go their separate ways and get an annulment or divorce. This is no new concept as heterosexuals are divorcing more than they are staying together. I have given it thought, and I have accepted that divorce is an option when no other option can be utilized.

Will the percentages of divorces/annulments be higher in homosexual marriages? I strongly doubt it. It will probably be a lower percentage - at least over the next 20 years. That's right. I said it. Now prepare for a wild tangent here.

Being a straight guy, you have so many more venues to meet, flirt, and marry women. School. The library. Clubs. Church. On the bus. The Internet. Walking down the street.

In current North American society, all gay guys have is Gay Bars and The Internet. Let's just say I could not walk into a library, flirt with the male librarian, and ask him out on a date. I would risk getting my ass seriously kicked...

Oh who am I kidding, all male librarians are gay. It was a bad example. But I'm sure you get what I mean.

I will be frankly honest and say that most forward guys in bars and the Internet seem to be looking for sex. When you do find that one guy who interests you, has the same interests as you, and *shock* actually might be attractive in your eyes, I would call that a miracle. Not a religious miracle. OK all miracles are religious. Ahh, forget it. It's like finding a needle in a haystack. Ahhhh, much better terminology.

So you find this guy, and you work things out, fall in love, and possibly get married.

Now, this may be a shot in the dark, but - speaking in computer terms - if a program is easy to use, more people will use it. If a program requires a steep learning curve, only a chosen few will take the time to learn it. I guess what I'm saying is that if a gay guy is going to marry another gay guy, they'll probably stay together much longer than a heterosexual couple, because it is so difficult for us to find that special someone because we have to hide in the dark all the time. I can't wink or flash a smile at a guy on the street if I think he's cute. He'll probably yell at me or kick me in the stomach. And even if none of this were true, I'd still believe it. Most gay guys feel this way.

Bah! When did I give myself permission to blabble on?

[In reference to another person's comments] "Civil union" and "marriage"....one term is two words, the other is one word. They are only words, but you know what? I will fight to have my union be called a "marriage" simply because heterosexuals are allowed to have the term "marriage" to describe their union. Once again, while it is only a word, it still deems us as something else, to most only a second-class citizen. I don't want to be "something else", I want to be equal. That's all.

Equal rights.

Equal benefits.

Equal legal standing.

Equal terminology.

Even if we separate the definition of these unions only by mere words, they will still always be deemed separate when assigned different terms, and frankly, I don't want that and I won't stand for it.

I don't want to be "civilly unionized". I want to get MARRIED.

---

This saga will no doubt continue as I'm sure to be hit with more questions, seeing as I am now considered the leading expert on homosexuality in this forum. And if I'm not, I damn well should be. I'm currently the only open homo in there!

If you want to go straight to my replies, head on over to Page 16 of this bloated post.

PERS - Speed 3: Stay Under 50 Or Your Dog Gets It

There was an incredible number of people on the bus this afternoon as I traveled to work for a late shift.

The driver, obviously desperate for attention, proceeded to flirt with the women in his peer group (70 and up), all sitting at the front of the bus. I've never seen this particular driver maintain this level of friskiness before. I can only assume that his personality jumps out in correlation with the amount of passengers present.

In a classic piece of Shakespearean comedy, he jokingly proposed to one of the crippled old ladies, then asked how much she saved up for their honeymoon.

"$2000!" she responded after much thought. The driver said it wasn't enough for what he had planned.

The passenger behind me let out a slight chuckle, while I maintained a stone face. I wasn't particularly in the mood to fain a giggle or a smile. I can theorize that this was funny in some way only because of the reaction of others. And no, I am not a robot.

When the bus started to move to its destination, I thought the "fun" was over. That was until the bus veered off route and stopped in a furniture store parking lot, the most exciting of all commercial lots. No one quite knew what was going on, nor did anyone bother to ask. Initially I thought this was a cross-promotional scam between the Fredericton Transit Commission and Worrell's Furniture store, in some sort of desperate attempt to advertise their wares; However, another bus eventually pulled up beside us and we were instructed to switch over to that bus. We were soon back en route, but I did leave that parking lot with a mysterious urge to buy a discount futon.

All this "fun" caused me to arrive to work later than anticipated.

I was hoping to see Chris on the ass end of his lunch break, but the delay cut that down to 2 minutes.

POP TV - Off the Bubble!

I'm happy to find out that NBC's British show ripoff, "The Office" has officially been renewed for the fall season!

If you've not seen the US version of The Office, I suggest using any resources you can to see this show; it's hilarious.

Fox's "Arrested Development" has also been renewed when it had been struggling so long to stay afloat. I've only seen 2 episodes of this show, but I've found those two episodes to be seriously funny.

And finally, and unfortunately, Fox's brilliant comedy, "Life on a Stick" has been cancelled. I don't know how I'll ever get through the rest of my days on Earth without this witty and intelligent sitcom brightening my Thursday nights.

OK, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

PERS - Oopdate.

Just thought I'd let you all know out there that about an hour after I wrote that ghastly post, I was already feeling much better.

I'm still really anti-productive for some ungodly reason, as you can tell by this entry.

PERS - Blah.

I'm having a really really really really off day today.

I had a terrible sleep.
I bent my routine out of shape due to my tiredness.
I tried to power nap on the bus, but everything was keeping me awake.
I haven't started work yet, but it sounds incredibly busy.
I tried to get the day off without pay today, but there were no openings to do so.
I could have just called in sick, but I did that for half the day yesterday and I would feel embarrassed to do so today.
I've been unproductive for almost a week now.

I know what you're saying.
"Think of the positive!"
"The day will go away soon enough!"
"Be glad you're not in the hospital!"
"Remember: Bo's going to win American Idol!"

...Ok, actually that last quote - just typing by it - is making my day worse.

Anyway, what's the purpose of a blog if you can't vent every once and a while?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I will now proceed to make my day a living Hell by taking my first call.

GAH!

POP TECH - The Next Big Thing.

I don't and won't generally call things "The Next Big", but I have to make an exception here. I've been raving about it to a few friends and Chris, so forgive me guys if I'm repeating myself.

I think that Indy will explode in popularity in the next year. It's a FREE program that allows you to listen to free independent music available online.

But it goes beyond spewing random music at you.

The more you listen and vote, the smarter the program gets when it comes to your personal tastes. If you vote 1 or 2 (stars) on a song, the program skips it and moves onto the next one.

The way it gets smart is in the way it compares your choices to that of the other users of Indy. If you liked Song A, and someone else who also liked Song A also likes Song B, it will give you Song B on the idea that you will also enjoy it.

Currently, I'm still working at getting Indy to understand my tastes, and in the process there are growing pains. There's just a lot of music that I wouldn't ever listen to normally. Thankfully, the second you tell it you hate it, it moves on quickly. I'm also being exposed to music I've eliminated from my playlist, and forgot how nice it can sound (such as smooth jazz).

It's also very addictive because I always want to know what the next song is going to sound like.

Anyway go to www.indy.tv, get the program, and start listening to those great unknown artists out there! And NO SPYWARE or ADWARE is involved! It's great!

P.S. I added a couple of my old Pzuto tracks in there, let me know if you get them along the way!

PERS - Whoa. An update.

So I haven't really updated much lately. I decided against any American Idol updates solely due to the fact that I don't feel the urge to comment on this week's shows.

The truth is that the Amazing Race was er, uh, fantastic and - if I should be so bold to say - amazing. Anthony getting elminated - while very welcomed - was not nearly as exciting as the underdogs getting the million dollars.

Moving on, my new position is growing on me. At first, I believed I would hate it as much as being on the phone, but the truth is that nothing could possibly be as painful as being on the phone. I just felt overwhelmed, confused, and stupid. Now that I have a good grasp on the tools (the filthy-minded can ignore what I just said) I am much more comfortable and feel qualified.

I guess the only issue I need to work on is my anti-social tendencies. Now that I am high profile and everyone knows my name, I have to keep up appearances or so I think. I now feel obliged to say Hi to every Tom, Dick and Mary working there. I look at this as a negative, but in the end it will probably help with my lingering shyness and being prone to avoiding conversation.

Also, I've updated Hobnobbers a few times but neglected to tell you I did here. So yeah...I updated it...so do the jump to see the new comics!

POP TV - "The Body" is removed from the scene.

Have I been right once about what person would be voted off American Idol? It's safe to say NO.

Fortunately, the one who was eliminated damn well deserved it. Scotty "the Body"'s pompous comments probably did not sit well with the public, and with Simon praising his performance, it proved my theory that pity votes are what kept him in the competition last week. Thank God I don't have to listen to Seacrest saying "Scotty The Body" anymore, that was awful.

For once the people who deserved to be on top were on top, and just for the record, I'm still not a fan of Bo, but I don't dislike him as much as this week's bottom 2.

Anthony definitely needs to go away next week.

POP TV - Scott's Friends aka Beautiful Women that would never talk to him in reality.

This week's performances on AI might finally get Scott or Anthony out of the competition. Thankfully, Simon didn't allow too much room for pity votes, although he gave harsh critique to Vonzell, which may actually make her safe from being voted off.

At this point, the only one I still have an attachment to is Vonzell, so this season will be a lost cause to me if she is eliminated in this week's results show.

I noticed that Paula - who is in the middle of the contestant scandal - had a very simple, straight hairstyle. On top of that, she appeared less intoxicated. These are all probably done in the hopes of being low profile.

This week is probably Anthony's week to disappear.

PERS - And now a message from our sponsor.

I've spoke about this in a post a couple months ago, but I'd just like to clear up one thing with all of ya:

If you are trying to invite me to be added to some sort of online contact list, whether it be sms.ac, bebo.com or any other bullshit excuse for more SPAM, I WILL NOT join it.

These websites are only out to create a massive list of emails, which - in case you are not aware - is making them a lot of money. They are selling these lists for thousands of dollars to sneaky advertisers who wish to rape your inbox with unsolicited messages. Every policy I've read on these websites leaves a lot of room for them to do this legally as you're agreeing to it.

So if I don't respond or agree to be added, don't take it personally. Just the fact that you've given them my email address only for the purposes of inviting me to join means that they probably already have my address. I have noticed an increase in SPAM since receiving these "invites".

If I want discounts on viagra or penis enlargement pills, I'll let you know. If I want a company in Nigeria to rid me of debt, I'll let you know. If I want help paying the mortgage on my house (which I don't have), I'LL LET YOU KNOW.

And if you want me to be added to your address book/spam list, don't hold your breath.

PERS - Hobnobbers AGAIN!

Another Hobnobbers strip is out!

Now jump Jump JUMP!

Comment about it right here if ya like.

POP TV - I'm Miss Cleo Darlin'

After making a half-assed joke about Paula being eliminated from American Idol, it seems as though this just might be the case.

In a recent article on Drudge Report, Paula's dealings with a certain contestant may have her in hot water now that there is audio evidence that may prove it happened.

The article is right here.

POP MISC - Bits and Bites

Here are some newsbites that have been semi-interesting to me in the last while:

Bo knows Blow
Bollywood Honours Baywatch Wash-up
Constantine Gets Cut
Human-Animal Hybrids

On a big sidenote, Good Luck Chris on your educational adventures in Accounting! (He starts classes today.)

PERS - New Hobnobbers! WooHoo!

A new Hobnobbers is out!

Before you jump, I strongly suggest viewing Episode 3 of the original animations that introduced the characters.

Ok, now JUMP!

Feel free to comment right here.