Getting ready for vacation...

Today was kind of a strange day for me at work. I felt like I was leaving the company. I'm not of course. I'm just not used to being away for so long. When I take a vacation, I usually take a long weekend up to Maine or something like that. This time, I will be gone a week and a half, and not just to Maine. I'll be going to the U.S. Virgin Islands. Before I leave, I'll post a basic itinerary of where I'll be while I'm there. I don't know if I will be posting to this blog or not. In fact, I don't even know if I'll have internet access. It's not a hot issue for me. If I am in the mood to post and if I do find a place that has internet, I will probably sign in and make an entry or two. If the place I'm staying has access, I might even keep a daily log, but don't count on it.

I'm getting excited about it. The only thing wrong is that Kent won't be with me. He is going on a short business trip, and then on his way to Idaho where he will attend a graduation ceremony where his dad is accepting an award. The odd thing is, I'd rather be there with my family instead of going off to the U.S. Virgin Islands by myself. I know, you probably think that I'm crazy. The thing is, family is very important to me. Life threw me a curve recently, I suppose to just remind me that life isn't something that any of us have complete control over and that family is.... well, let's just say it's usually not what it's cracked up to be. I don't want to get into the details in this public forum, but I've become very disappointed in some people that I thought I knew and that I thought loved me as family. You see, you can never really know people. That's the lesson. It's like that scene at the end of the movie Ordinary People. The boy wakes up and hears a noise out his bedroom window. He looks out to see his mother stepping into a taxi cab and leaving. He goes downstairs and sees that the door to the back yard is open. He looks out and sees his father sitting down on the lawn. He grabs a jacket and goes out and asks his dad where his mother went. His dad, who is a stock broker, said "She went to stay with her brother for awhile." The boys father assures his that it's not his fault, that sometimes bad things just happen. He then looked at his son and said, "Don't put too much stock in people. They'll disappoint you."

I saw that movie many many years ago now, and that one scene is still fixed in my mind. And, sadly, it has come true for me. So, I suppose I'm going away to find out who I am again, because of all the people I've been able to count on in my life, I have always been there. That's right -- me. I can even pat myself on the back if need be. I have had to be there for myself and I have been there for my friends. I'm just taking myself, my camera, some books that look interesting, some guy magazines, if you get my drift (and if you can't "deal" with that, stop reading this blog!!!), and a few other odds and ends. I'm not taking a computer, any kind of music, or anything like that. It's going to be a time that I come back to what I am and discover myself again. I'm going to think a lot of friends who are no longer here that have long since passed. Even death won't make me leave a friend behind. I like to think of all the good times that I've had in my life. I also think of the times that I held my friends when they needed me to be there. Those were happy and sad times, and that is what life really is. Some day I will join them. If I'm successful at this thing we call "life", perhaps I will leave someone behind who will keep me in their dreams. What an achievement that would be!

My gay son: Nats MP bucks the party line. A National Party MP, Russell Turner, spoke in Parliament yesterday about his adult son's homosexuality, in a bid to explain his decision to defy his party and support changes to age of consent laws. More than 20 MPs chose to speak on the reforms, but it was Mr Turner, the MP for Orange, who seized his colleagues' attention and quiet admiration. The National Party Leader, Andrew Stoner, a vehement opponent of the changes, had said his MPs would vote as a bloc, but Mr Turner was allowed to speak freely on the reform and he told Parliament he wanted to give some detail about how personal experience had shaped his understanding. "My son has a partner, a business and a home in Orange. He is accepted by friends of my wife and I, and he is accepted by the vast majority of people in Orange who have a reasonable understanding of the issue," he said. Visibly shaken during his speech, Mr Turner said that society may have come a long way, but it still needed to work through the issue of homosexuality and learn to stop discriminating and "treat homosexuals as normal human beings". "People can live what appear to be normal lives, but a scratch of the surface reveals that they have not been able to acknowledge their true sexuality . . . importantly, [homosexuals] are the sons and daughters of parents who agonise about how to handle the situation." His hope, he said, was that the legislation would help in this process.
National MP to cross floor over gay consent vote
MP to cross floor over gay consent
National Party MP Supports Gay Son

Candidates spar over gay-rights stance. The two women vying for the District 10 City Council seat are both working hard to secure votes in the gay community - and are in a nasty dispute over who is a stronger gay-rights supporter.

Phelps Clan To Disrupt Gay Student's Graduation. As dozens of seniors graduate next week from Des Moines' Lincoln High School one student will be under police protection. Julius Carter, the senior class president, member of the football team, and part of the school choir is this year's recipient of the Matthew Shepard college scholarship and that has America's most rabid anti-gay group raging. Rev Fred Phelps, who runs the infamous God Hates Fags website and whose followers demonstrated at the funeral of Shepard, the Wyoming college student who was tortured and killed in 1998, announced Wednesday that his followers will stage a demonstration at Carter's graduation. The scholarship was created to help gay students who have shown leadership. Carter said he came out about two years ago. He applied for the Matthew Shepard scholarship to help pay for his pre-medicine education at the University of Iowa. The scholarship covers tuition, books and fees for four years. "My friends are very protective of me, even more so now," Carter said after word spread throughout the campus about the demonstration. "By this happening, (Phelps) is going to see that no one in Iowa cares because the way he presents himself is wrong."

Buenos Aires recognizes gay partnerships. Buenos Aires on Monday became the first city in Latin America to allow same-sex couples to register for legal recognition, Agence France-Presse reports. Couples who can prove that they have lived together for at least two years will be able to share labor and social security benefits under the new law. The measure, which was passed by the municipal legislature in December, was signed into law by Mayor Anibal Ibarra.

Michigan - A Gay-Straight Alliance Club at Hazel Park High School has some parents trying to convince school officials that student club memberships should be possible only with parental permission. The lobby by parents started a few months ago when the parents learned about the nearly two-year-old Gay-Straight Alliance Club, said Pam Baker, 43, whose son is a senior at the high school but not a member of the club. Baker said issues like sexuality should be discussed among parents and their children. "If a child can't talk to a parent, that's what counselors are for," Baker added. "I've talked to a few parents who are very concerned about it. When you are of high school age, you are vulnerable and have mixed and confused feelings," Baker said. "Should they be talking to homosexuals? Are there straight persons helping to run the meetings?"

Judges and gay rights. When Senator Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican, delivered an ugly attack on gay Americans last month, President George W. Bush rushed to defend him. The president called Santorum, who had just equated homosexuality with polygamy and incest, "an inclusive man." At the same time, the Bush administration has been appointing federal judges who are hostile to equal rights for gay men and lesbians...

U. of Scranton, other Jesuit schools create gay-support programs. PHILADELPHIA - Administrators at the University of Scranton have spent the last few years grappling with a dilemma familiar to many religious institutions. They wanted to add more resources for gay and lesbian students, but they also needed to remain consistent with the school's Jesuit and Catholic ideals. Now, the small college in northeast Pennsylvania is putting the finishing touches on a campus-wide support program for its homosexual students. Under the "Ally" program, scheduled to begin next fall, interested students, faculty and staff will be trained - though it's not clear by whom - to listen and sensitively respond to concerns and questions from gay and lesbian students.