Today is the anniversary of Shar's death. As soon as I'm done with school I'm gonna go home and get Monster and go for a walk up in the mountains.

 

Hopefully Shakespeare won't mind a little paraphrase to honor Shar's memory:

Went shopping yesterday to get Monster some new squeek toys. We went to Petco, which is so neat because you can bring your dog into the store. As we went down the dog toy aisle Monster could sniff each toy. What surprised me was that he had obvious preferences. He really connected with the soft plush squeek toys and didn't much want the hard rubber toys. So we have six new Monster toys all over the living room rug!

 

When I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, there was squeeking all over as I inadvertantly stepped on them, which Monster took as a sign to come out of bed and play. So we were up for a half-hour playing with the new toys in the middle of the night. The only thing that would have made it perfect would have been to have little Jennalise throwing the toys to Monster. Soon Monster will have his toys and Jennalise will have hers! I can't wait.

I went with Paul Gracie last night to the Family Pride Foundation National Awards dinner at the Bel Age hotel in West Hollywood. They were honoring Bishop Gene Robinson, the gay bishop who's caused such a stir among Episcopalians, with part of the church threatening to split off from the American branch of the church because of its ordination of a gay bishop.

 

I'm glad I met him. We had a good conversation before dinner, when I learned he had to wear a bullet-proof vest under his ordination vestments the day he was consecrated as bishop. Turns out there had been many credible threats against his life if he went through with the ceremony. He said that for a year his partner had to worry and would scan church balconies. Only recently have they both calmed down. A really neat part of meeting him was meeting his daughter, who made everyone in the room cry with her teary eyed introduction of her dad. She also recounted a story that was widely circulated at the time of her fathers ordination, accusing her father of having abandoned her mother and sister to "run after boys." She said that her father had always been there for her and that story was particularly untrue and hurtful to everyone in her family.

 

Many religious leaders were there, including Ed Bacon of All Saints Presbyterian Church, folks from St Marks, and the bishop of the LA branch of the Episcopal church. Two of the major rabbis in LA were also there. Conspicuously absent was Archbishop Roger Mahoney, who I suppose was off protecting pedophile priests (okay, okay...I'm a little bitter about the harm some religious bodies still do to gay folks and their families). Kio and Paul had told the organizers that I was taking Kio's place at the banquet, so I found myself being unexpectedly introduced in this long list of religious dignitaries as "The Presiding Clerk of Pacific Yearly Meeting of Quakers." First time that's happened! I think it left me in shock, especially later when Robinson referred to me in his acceptance speech and then talked about how important the Quakers had been, forming a line of non-violent marshalls at his ordination.

 

The funniest line all night was when Bob Smith, the comedian, said that he knew that Chaney's daughter was gay, Anita Briant's son was gay, Ronald Reagon's son was gay, etc. He thought our response to religious fundamentalism then ought to be that by becoming one you can be sure of getting a gay child. Smith had the roon in stitches all night.

 

Another interesting thing about last night was the number of very wealthy folks there. One fellow at my table there pledged $100,000. The guy next to me pledged $25,000. The guy who had invited Kio and paul to his table had bought the table for $2500! I had forgotten Kio and Paul both belong in that league. They've always just been friends and I don't often think about their money. I think they were courting Paul to be on their Board of Directors and so the invitation from Paul's friend who also sits on the Board.

 

All-in-all a thoroughly interesting and enjoyable evening...

I had a long meeting of Ministry and Oversight last weekend, and by the Meeting's end on Saturday night I knew I was coming down with a cold. By Sunday morning I was feeling terrible. Stayed in bed all day Sunday and Monday and finally made it to school on Tuesdya functioning on only 2 cylinders. Can't tell you how many mistakes I made in the first class! By this morning I was starting to feel human again. I'm at the point in the cold now where it's starting to break up. UGH!

 

And why do they call it a "cold"?

 

Which brings up other questions...

 

Why do they call it a black light when it's not black?

 

Why do they call it a hamburger if there's no ham in it?

 

Why do they call it a blackboard when it's green?

 

Why do they call it cool when they mean it's hot?

 

Why do they call it hot as hell in summer and cold as hell in winter?

 

Why do they call it a tv set if there's only one of them?

 

Why do they call it a near miss when it misses the target?

 

Why do they call it lipstick if you can still move your lips?

 

Why do they call him a running back when he's moving forward?

 

Why do they call it self-help if you have to read about it to figure it out?

 

Why do they call it a leap year if you add a day instead of leap over one?

 

Why do they call it the help desk if the guy says "beats me" when I ask him stuff like this?

 

Things you think about when you stay in bed for two days....

 

All the work I had to do this weekend is done! Tests are graded, yard work is done, Quaker work is done. SO I'm gonna give myself a treat today. I'm gonna stay at home, take a nice leisurly bath, read a little, work more on the animation I'm working on, see some movies (I bought the SICK AND TWISTED FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION yesterday) and just generally kick back with Monster.

 

Every once in a while you just have to close the door, turn off the phone, and take a Sabbath time. The photo below is of Shar at Yosemite taking her own Sabbath time before all the misery began...