I've made some changes to the site that will hopefully be well received.

I decided to turn the Guestbook on again.  I originally turned it off almost a year ago because I had other areas of the site that I wanted to focus on.  As fate would have it, I finally realized that the Guestbook could be a great way for people to communicate with me in a more public manner than the contact me page allows.  I'll watch it for now and, if it turns out to be unnecessary, I'll turn it off again.  Please note that, due to its having been turned off for so long, I cleared the original Guestbook entries so that there wasn't such a large date range with no activity.

I've also created a new Archives block on the left side of the site pages that should show links to the previous 10 articles (those which have most recently been bumped off of the front page).  I hope this is an easier way to see recent posts without digging through the whole Archives section or the individual Topics trying to find recent articles you may have missed while they were on the front page.

Finally, I've turned the comments function on again.  This enables you to leave public comments on my posts.  I'm hoping this will provide another public forum for discussing or commenting on the site content.  I'll watch this closely to ensure that it doesn't get abused.  If it turns out to be unnecessary, I'll turn it off — again.

Note that comments will only be available for new articles as I have no intention of editing all of my previous postings in order to turn it on.

I finally got a chance to get another gallery update done.  This time it's Kako's turn for a makeover.  Read on to see the highlights.

I'm still working through the pictures I have and am updating the galleries as I get a chance.  I just finished going through all of Kako's pictures and have put plenty of new pictures in her gallery.

Kako likes to get on the refrigerator and the cabinets above it.  Almost every time she gets up there, it's to get attention.  Once I go over there, she'll eventually jump down to my shoulders for some up-close and personal attention.

Here she's dancing on the refrigerator.  Dancing is what we call it when she kneads while standing up.  It looks like she's shuffling her feet, so it must be dancing!

Kako and Grendel are the only two who actually sleep in the kitty hammock.  Here she is hoping to be undisturbed.

Kako likes to sleep on my lap when I'm sitting on the couch.  She normally attaches herself to your legs with her claws until she's sure you're not going to throw her to the ground (referred to around here as being evicted).

When we first started using the fireplace, Kako hated it.  She would run from the fire and would go as far out of her way as possible in order to avoid being near it.  Well, she eventually learned to like the fireplace and to enjoy roasting herself in front of it.  Here she is in her favorite position (on her back) in front of the fire.

Once again in front of the fireplace, this is one of those pictures where it's difficult for me to know for certain what it is that she's doing.  You see, Kako likes to look at herself in reflective surfaces (mirrors, glass, etc.).  I can't decide if she's enjoying the warmth of the fire or if she's looking at that supa-fine kitty looking back at her in the glass.

Here she is sleeping in the tube at the top of the cat castle.  She and her brother Kazon are the only two who will sleep in the tube.

You can see many more new pictures of Kako starting on page 3 of her gallery.

I'm not an activist.  Let's get that out of the way right now.  I don't march in parades, there's no rainbow bumper sticker on my car, and I don't go to political rallies.  Having said that, understand that I do believe in full and equal rights for everyone.  But I'm going to lay aside my normal apathy toward the "gay agenda" and take a moment to voice my opinion on the whole gay marriage thing.

As a gay man living in America, I've grown up with the understanding that I am less than a fully protected citizen of this country.  Until the US Supreme Court struck down the sodomy laws in Texas (along with every other state with similar laws), I lived in a state where my private sexual activity was illegal despite the fact that it harmed no one and took place between consenting adults.  And that's only one example.

What about hospital visitation rights for a loved one who is ill?  What about making health care decisions for a partner who was no longer able to make them?  What about a whole list of rights denied me simply because I'm not heterosexual?

If we are all truly equal under the law, then we are all equal and this is a moot point.  Alas, we are not all equal under the law — at least not yet.

I cannot expect white heterosexual males to understand what this is like.  Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, homosexuals, Arabs, women, and other select groups will have a much easier time comprehending this point of view.  We have, after all, been raised in a society where we were clearly never equal.

So I have been thrilled to see much court action of late specifically targeted at removing this discrimination from our law books.

Then President Bush opens his mouth and dispenses a most disheartening announcement: a constitutional amendment would be the only way to "prevent the meaning of marriage from changing forever."

He also said, "Unless action is taken, we can expect more arbitrary court decisions, more litigation, more defiance of the law by local officials — all of which adds to uncertainty."

How Pat Robertson of you, Dubya.

The right-wing conspiracy to create a perfect society is more than Nazi-esque.  But the Democrats have nothing to say in this matter given their perpetual lies to gays just to get votes.

Look at Clinton and the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.  Gay men and women have been serving in the armed forces for as long as the armed forces have been in existence, and thus far it has not forced the downfall of our society.  After all the promises of equality, the Democrats could only give us more inequality.

Both John Edwards and John Kerry, hoping to be the Democratic presidential candidate, seemed to waver on their support for gay rights as the issue of gay marriage became more heated.

With all the political pandering on this topic, I have yet to hear a valid, cogent and consistent argument against gay marriage that doesn't rely on either a religion that not all of us actually believe in or on sheer bigotry.

Bush's inference that gay marriage would mean the downfall of civilization as we know it is as offensive as it is laughable.  Edwards' and Kerry's backpedaling from the topic is typical Democratic deceitfulness and spinelessness.  Typically disingenuous politicians I say.

Why not simply extend the right to marriage to same sex couples?  Then everyone has the same rights and nobody need feel excluded.

It's impossible for me to put into words what I truly think about the constitutional amendment idea.  It would be the first time in history that we have added discrimination to the Constitution — a document that at its heart is designed to ensure equality under the law.

The chances of an amendment being fully ratified are slim to none.  How can you modify the Constitution in such a way so as to spit in its face?  It does promise equal protection under the law, so any such amendment would be a direct contradiction and violation of that guarantee.

And why is gay marriage such an issue in the first place?  Does it interfere with heterosexual marriages?  Does it cause harm to someone?  Does it truly mean the downfall of civilization?

The honest truth is that anti-miscegenation laws were on the books until 1967 when the US Supreme Court struck them down.  Those laws made it illegal for people of different races to marry.

As with all discriminatory laws, they are based on bigotry and ignorance.  With the anti-miscegenation laws, we believed different races were separated by more than just color differences — we believed they were separate kinds of people who could not biologically mix genetic material without creating some kind of monstrous offspring.  We also believed that mixing races would lead to the downfall of our society.

Despite the fact that there are still people in this country who believe that way, the majority of us have long since realized how truly ignorant and discriminatory those laws were.

Once they were struck down, society began to realize they were wrong, so the mindset behind them began to fade from popular culture.  You can only find support for them now by looking in the most ass-backward places (usually with no electricity, running water, or educational facilities).

The same can be said about any attempt to legalize anti-gay marriage discrimination.  This is truer with a constitutional amendment in that we are attempting to use the document which protects all of us to do harm to a very specific group of people.

What kind of society do we want for our children when we are trying to teach them to hate, to discriminate, to treat those who are different as unequal and unprotected?

We are telling them that those who are different are not even human as they do not deserve basic human rights or protections.

Hitler would be proud.

Here's another update to The Kids' gallery.  This time it's Kazon and Loki — The Buds — who get their own gallery along with a few new pictures.

Kazon and Loki have been buddies since we adopted The Twins (Kako and Kazon).  Loki took it upon himself to try to teach Kazon how to be truly evil, but he didn't realize that it's nearly impossible to teach Kazon anything.

Despite that significant hurdle, Loki and Kazon became quick friends and spend much time hanging out — either playing or sleeping or grooming each other or any number of other activities that they share.

Now there's a new gallery specifically for pictures of The Buds.

You'll find some new pictures in their gallery.  For example, Kazon and Loki always help me when I'm in the bathroom.  Regardless of what I'm doing, they'll both be in there with me trying to assist.

You can undoubtedly imagine this isn't always the activity most conducive to actually accomplishing anything, but it is time together with The Kids and something I would not trade for the world.

That's a photo of Loki and Kazon coming out of the bathroom.  In this particular instance they had been playing in the cabinets under the sink.

If I'm in the bathroom but not in the shower, this is where you can find Loki and Kazon — on the counter helping.  Whether it's brushing my teeth or shaving or anything else, they'll be there to provide whatever assistance I might need.

In fact, here they are waiting for me to get started so they can help.

You can find more pictures of The Buds in their new gallery.

I've had a chance to get some additional updates done in the gallery.  This particular update includes new pictures and some organizational changes to The Kids' gallery.

What I decided to do is reorganize all the pictures of The Kids into more specific categories.  For instance, I've moved all of the pictures of Grendel and Loki together into a new gallery called The Boys and all the pictures of Kako and Loki together into a gallery called The Ladies.

I've also started new galleries called The Stepbrothers (Grendel and Kazon), The Twins (Kako and Kazon), The Buds (Kazon and Loki), and The Lovers (Grendel and Kako).  As soon as I finish getting these galleries organized and populated, I'll make them public.

In the meantime, here are some highlights from the most recent gallery updates of The Boys and The Ladies.

Some of the original pictures from The Kids gallery have been moved to the new galleries.  You'll see some of the oldies like this picture.

You'll also see some new photos like this one.

Those are from the new gallery of The Boys.

I then took the same idea and created a new gallery for The Ladies.  You can undoubtedly guess that Loki won't appreciate being called a lady since he's a male cat, but he's always been a prissy cat who spends quite a bit of time worrying about how he looks.  Since he is a beautiful cat and he is quite concerned about his personal appearance, we simply assumed he was gay and therefore wouldn't mind being called female.

In this new gallery you'll once again see some of the original photos like this one.

But you'll also see some new photos such as the one below.

What makes that photo so interesting is that Kako and Loki are not known for being nice to one another.  In fact, any time they get that close, there's normally some ugliness between them (some hissing, some slapping, some growling, and so on).  The fact that they could both fall asleep so close together without a cat fight erupting is a rare event indeed.

Part of this reorganization of the galleries is to help me stay better organized and to help you more easily find specific pictures of The Kids.  It's also going to allow me to begin removing some of the older pictures that were originally posted out of a lack of other options.  I want to make the galleries more entertaining by reducing the clutter and leaving the better content in place.

So, take a look at The Boys and The Ladies and stay tuned for more updates and other new galleries.

A recent news article on SPACE.com provides fascinating new information on the true dietary intake of black holes.  Using information gathered from three space-based X-ray telescopes gathered over the course of about a decade, scientists were able to provide the first solid evidence of a star being destroyed and at least partially consumed by a black hole.  The idea that black holes could draw in then destroy and consume celestial bodies such as stars has long been a strongly held belief in scientific circles, but little proof has been available to strengthen that belief.  "This is one of the Holy Grails of astronomy," Alex Filippenko, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said at a briefing at NASA headquarters.  You can read the entire article and view artist illustrations of the evidence here.

the wind blows through my broken heart
casting away the memories
of a life gone by
the rain falls on me like lead
knocking me to my knees
in absolute fear of sorrow
emotions paralyze me
making me immobile
I try to run
but am unable to escape
the lightning flashes blindingly around me
the thunder rumbles through the darkness
putting fear in my heart
the ground shakes
the windows rattle
you step out through the door
and I never see you again
now only the storm
brings me comfort

[circa 1994]

One of my friends at work sent this to me yesterday.  I nearly wet myself as I read through it.  I think you'll find it as humorous as I did.

Rozonda LaQueeta "Pookie" Jenkins
2036 South Side Skreet Projects
Compton, CA 11122
Phone: Cut off right now but will be back on by the 15th.

OBJECTIVE
To one day fulfill my dream of becoming a SoulTrain Dancer and, you know, just gittin my life togetha and stuff.  I also hope to one day be the best cosmotologecalist in the 'hood.'

SKILLS
I do hurh and nails in my kitchen and I use my glitter and weave bonding glue for arts and crafts and stuff.  I do braids in any texture or color; synthetoc or human hurh.

EDUCATION
The "GET YOURS" Home Correspondence Course, INC.
Big Mamma's House of Hair 'N Nails 'N Fried Chicken 'N Stuff (Gradiated with honors for the most extensions don in a year's time)

WORK EXPERIENCE
January 10, 1999-January 30, 1999
Big Daddy's Motel Motor Lodge Bar & Grill Pool Hall & Bait 'N TackleShop
Reason for leaving: I got sick 'n tired of Big Daddy hittin on me.

March 1, 1999-November 1, 1999
The Golden Tooth Dental & Jewelry Emporium
I loveded this job cuz they gave me a free toof ary monf and now I can spell my baby daddy name but they done up and fired me cuz I let one of my homeboys sniff the laughing gas.  He just smelt it, he don't do drugs no mo.

November 2, 1999-November 10, 1999
My Baby Daddy's Day Care Center Car Wash & Barber Shop
Reason for leaving: They tried to work a sistuh ta deaf and I got thangs ta do.

November 12, 1999- November 14, 1999
Kim Fung Toi's House of Rice & Skrimps and Stuff
Reason For Leaving: You don't even wanna know.

Jimmy's Jheri Curls & Motor Lube
Reason for leaving: Hospitalized for spine injury when I slipped on an overflow of activator.

The Ike Turner Pimp Slap Recovery Center (They have lovely commodations; yes I worked there and was a patient too.)
Reason for leaving: Center closed down cuz Tina Turner done refused Ike's request to give a benefit concert and donate the money to Ike.  Ike say Tina done got beside haself since she a big star and arythang.  He say he remember when she was Anna Mae Bullock from Nut Bush, Tennessee.

REFERENCES
Lawanda Jenkins (from up the skreet)
Hezakiah Clevestus "The Playa" Jones (my homie's cuzzin's babydaddy)
The Right Reverend Aliza Benjarmin "ineedadrank" O'grady (pastor of the Greater Mt. Carmel Church of God in Christ Kingdom Hall of Our Lady of Saints Holy Rosary Latter Day Seventh Advent Saints Episcapaleen Sanctified Non-Denominational Baptist Church Inc., a not-for-profit agency.)

Kako's vet visit yesterday was uneventful outside of her general unpleasantness when outside of her element.  I'm happy to report she's in good health overall and is doing well on the prescription diet that I have all of The Kids on.

She's now caught up on her vaccinations.  Actually, she only got a rabies shot.  I only do other vaccinations every three years as scientific evidence supports the notion that, outside of rabies, yearly shots overmedicate animals and should therefore be done on a more limited basis.

Luckily my vet fully agrees.

There was no sign of abnormal pH in her urine and no signs of infection (debris, blood, etc.).  That's all very good news.

The vet agreed that the diet and lack of stress are both essential in preventing the urinary tract infections that she's had in the past.

So the lady of the house is healthy and legal (it's the law in Texas that pets have yearly rabies vaccinations).

Now if we could only find a way to fix her attitude problem…

There are times when I must remind myself of that which I often stress to others — don't believe everything you see or read or hear or … well, you get the point.

When I received an email from my Mother with this seemingly innocent message, I failed to do any background checking to ensure the message was what it was purported to be.

Alas, how often must I learn the same lesson?

As I made mention of in that article, I am notorious for derailing chain letters.  Chain mail is one of those things in life that pushes every button I have.

Well, now I remember why I always take chain letters to task — because they're always garbage.

This one is no less so.

The partial text in the email is an excerpt from A Story To Live By, written by Ann Wells, Los Angeles Times.  As Ann Wells is not 83 years old, I apologize to her for inferring such.

You'll notice by reading below that the text was heavily modified through very selective slicing and dicing (sloppy editorial work, actually).  In fact, the message had been so modified that it no longer told the same story as the original.

And since the email didn't contain the entire text of Ann's message, I'm including it here for your enjoyment.  This isn't something I would normally post here given its religious overtones, but I do owe it to you to correct the record.

My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister's bureau and lifted out a tissue-wrapped package.  "This," he said, "is not a slip.  This is lingerie."

He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip.  It was exquisite; silk, handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace.  The price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached.

"Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago.  She never wore it.  She was saving it for a special occasion.  Well, I guess this is the occasion."

He took the slip from me and put it on the bed with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician.  His hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me.

"Don't ever save anything for a special occasion.  Every day you're alive is a special occasion."

I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores that follow an unexpected death.  I thought about them on the plane returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister's family lives.  I thought about all the things that she hadn't seen or heard or done.  I thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were special.

I'm still thinking about his words, and they've changed my life.  I'm reading more and dusting less.  I'm sitting on the deck and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden.  I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings.

Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to savor, not endure.  I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them.

I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event — such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom.  I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like it.

My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries without wincing.  I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my party-going friends'.

"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my vocabulary.  If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now.  I'm not sure what my sister would have done had she known that she wouldn't be here for the tomorrow we all take for granted.  I think she would have called family members and a few close friends.

She might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles.

I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food.  I'm guessing — I'll never know.

It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew that my hours were limited.  Angry because I put off seeing good friends whom I was going to get in touch with — someday.  Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write — one of these days.  Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them.

I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives.  And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special.

Every day, every minute, every breath truly is… a gift from God.