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Thursday, September 11, 2003

Regrets...
I've had a few.
But then again,
Too few to mention!
--"My Way",
written by Paul Anka
When I hear that song, I think of Frank Sinatra, and sometimes Elvis or Sid Vicious -- all of whom have been known to perform, in their own unique manner, that wonderful song. Wonderful because -- though I don't always enjoy hearing it, I've heard it so much -- the song is a wonderful personal anthem. That's something we all need: a personal anthem. A song that praises our individuality; a mark of devotion to oneself. After all, they say you're going to have a helluva time loving anyone else unless you've first learned to love yourself, right?

This is not to replace your love for your God, or your spouse, or your family. I'm simply saying that we all need to give ourselves a bit more self-love at this time of year. (No, not that type of self-love !) Too many of us beat up on ourselves throughout the year, and then nearly destroy ourselves at year's end. No wonder there are so many suicides during the Holidays; the messages bombarding us are to Buy Buy Buy and to Give Give Give -- but what if you have nothing to give but love? If you have a dearth of that good stuff, then you'll have a bitch of a time spreading it around to your neighbors.

So be good to yourself, whether you're Christian, Pagan, Wiccan, Athiest, Hindu, Islamic, Mormon, Podcastin, or otherwise. Don't take the pills, they won't do you or anyone else any good; you'll simply miss out on the Next Big Thing (which may turn out to be Your Next Big Thing). Just do things your own way, singing that little hymn as you do so:
For what is a man,
What has he got?
If not himself,
Then he has naught.
To say the things,
He truly feels,
And not the words,
Of one who kneels.
The record shows,
I took the blows
And did it my way!

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

This is becoming a comedy routine: With lawyers in San Francisco arguing over the same-sex wedding spree currently taking place in the city, conservative groups have issued an order commanding the city to "cease and desist issuing marriage licenses". Yet the order itself has now become the subject of interpretation, and because of a grammatical discrepancy in the document, judges have delayed taking any action to stop the wedding spree. [Brought to my attention via Biz Stone, Genius.]

Apparently, Superior Court lawyers spent yesterday afternoon debating over the placement of a semicolon in the document, while gay couples lined up across the street from the courtoom outside City Hall to get married. Picture the scene:
Conservative Lawyer: Your Honor, this whole wedding scene has got to stop.
Judge: San Franciscans must be complaining.
Conservative Lawyer: Uh, no...
Judge: Then a lot of Californians must be upset.
Conservative Lawyer: Well, not exactly...
Judge: Who wants it to stop, then?
Conservative Lawyer: Well, uh, Your Honor...a lot of folks in the midwest don't want to see this kind of thing.
Judge: Well, thankfully for them, they don't have to, since they live in the midwest.
Laughter in the courtroom.
Conservative Lawyer: (chuckling) Good point. Still, Your Honor, we've got a document that says the city has to stop these weddings...
Judge: Let's see that document.
Judge reads the document.
Judge: I see...
Conservative Lawyer: You see that the weddings have to stop?
Judge: I see that your writer needs a style manual. This document doesn't make any sense!
More laughter in the courtroom.

I find the way the courts are handling this incredibly amusing--and yet, at the same time, suitable. It's good the judges are taking their time to decide the matter appropriately, rather than simply allowing a hastily-written document decide the matter. This is an interesting moment in history, and one that could have serious consequences for folks of all sexual persuasions, since there are some serious issues at stake here--mainly, whether or not gays should be entitled to the same marriage benefits as same-sex couples. And that's money we're talking about, folks. Livelihood.
posted by Harold  2/18/2004 03:24:00 PM
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I once posted, in this space (this right column), the following:

If I had friends they would be listed here

That particular bit o' text, that silly and idiotic phrase, was repeated a dozen or two dozen or so times and was intended to be temporary. I had been working on a project -- a new layout for this blog -- and had intended for that text to be placeholder content. That is, the text was supposed to temporarily replace the content that had previously occupied this column (which was a list of links to friends -- that is, other blogs and web sites I linked to). I didn't know what content I was going to place into that (this) space, so I placed a bunch of duplicate phrases here as a placeholder so that I would remember to fill in this space again later.

At the same time, I thought I was being cute with the heading:

NEW & IMPROVED FRIENDS!

The fact remains: I still don't know what content to put here, in this column. Links again? Pictures? Video? Audio? Ads? Oh, hell no! It hasn't come to me yet, but I'm sure it will eventually, and when it does it'll come quick and (as usual) with consequences.