It Means the Clams are Local…

Round two of the musical Improv group:

Enjoy

My Destiny…

I received this email from Staples last night:

Who knew that I had such a future in office supplies?

Kanye or Hitler:

A great skit by two of my favorite comedians:

SPAM my brains out

I always look through my SPAM box to see what the titles of the emails I will not be reading are. Today I paused for a good moment when my eyes caught this particular SPAM message:

“I Want A Baby From You!”

It was almost good enough to open, but alas, I did not.

*story end*

Let’s Squish Our Fruits Together…

If you are not already familiar with Improv Everywhere, they are basically a hidden camera show that does good to unsuspecting passersby.

For example:

Watch and enjoy, it will brighten your day as it did mine.

Sweet Connections…

This video is beautiful, sweet and simple.

Where would you wake up?

Fifty People, One Question: Brooklyn from Fifty People, One Question on Vimeo.

Well?

Since we just came out of 80 or so days of 100 degree weather, what better/logical thing is there to do besides buy 3 sweaters, one cardigan and a jacket?

Cloth Logic

Shining a light on my embarrassment…

I am currently sitting in Genuine Joe’s coffee shop, taking a much needed break from my resting on this day of slothfulness. It is 7:30 and this is my first time out of the house today. This, of course, has nothing to do with my point.

I realized that in order to blog, think or enjoy myself, I would need to go to the restroom. The one that I normally use is in a room where there is a meeting going on. I decided to get up and look around, proving to everyone there that I do not, in fact, have any idea where the bathroom is. Why is this something embarrassing? I don’t know, but it took effort to do. I found the bathroom right next to the registers at the coffee bar. I walked into the dark room looking for the switch, and before looking like a fool that couldn’t find the switch (which I couldn’t) I shut the door, enveloping myself in pitch black. I sat there for a second or two trying to find the switch with my hands, looking in all the usual spots. There was nothing by the door. I also managed to knock down a broom and dustpan while searching for the switch. I eventually thought that I might just pee in the dark, no one would know, or would they? They would be able to look at the door and see no light emanating from beneath. They would know I am a fool!

I finally had the brilliant idea to use my phone to search for the switch. I looked all around every wall and found nothing, I was horrified. Eventually, I found a sheet of paper saying “Please turn out the light (outside the door).” Shit! Surely they would know that I could not find the switch, because they could see it, turned off! I quickly opened the door, drew the attention of the baristas behind the door with my not-so-sneaky moves, turned the light on, shut the door and peed, shamefully.

I think the world will continue turning and that life will go back to normal soon. Actually, I think they already forgot I am here. Oh well.

Beautiful, inspiring, gorgeous!

Check out this gorgeous video that a fan of the band “Grizzly Bear” made for their song “Two Weeks.”

Beautiful!

Two Weeks – Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

On literature…

I have a weakness for books:

• Owning them
• Renting them
• Borrowing them
• Collecting them
• Identifying with them
• Having them speak for me

It is hard for me to pass up a good book store, but these days, it isn’t so hard to avoid buying them full price because the bank account continues to drop digits quickly. I am finding, however, that it is really hard for me to pass up a good bargain like Half Priced Books.

I have gone through many phases of what is piquing my interest in the literary world. For a year and a half (2007-2009) I only read young adult literature because I did not feel capable of enduring the reality of adult stories, depth and sorrow. My life had enough at that point and reality was not a place that I cared to dwell in my free time. During this time I read:

• A Series of Unfortunate Events
• The Twilight Series
• Everlost
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series
• And many others…

When I am not on a particular one-track place for taking in a certain kind of literature, my standby category is fiction. I have always loved a good story with a lot of character, a little bit of quirk and beautiful writing.

In the past several years, I have also been drawn to books that help inform me of things that I am passionate about . This seems far from abnormal. I feel that everyone has an interest in things that pertain to them. For me, I was slightly ashamed of those things for many years. Being a gay man growing up in a Christian culture prevented me from feeling comfortable in the gay and lesbian section of Barnes and Noble in Katy, Texas. I discovered these helpful and liberating pieces of writing while in California. On days off, I would drive to Fresno and spend a lot of time at the Borders book store, quietly reading and realizing that there were books that would be so helpful to me. I would order books from Amazon.com and have them delivered to camp in big, ambiguous yellow envelopes. I would go into my room with my roommate gone and eagerly await the information that waited for me. Over my time at camp, these books went from being in drawers and behind other books, to scattered throughout my bookshelf, to organized altogether in one big, obvious collection of literature.

Some of the most influential books I have read on the subject in the past many years have been:

• Taking a Chance on God
• The Church and the Homosexual
• Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys (I know, but still…)
• Prayers for Bobby
• One Teacher in 10
• Dry

I thought about all of these things today while I was in Half Priced Books looking at the fairly large selection of gender study and LGBT books. I was sitting on the floor flipping through books, pulling them out, barely aware of the people passing by. This may seem small, but this is BIG, HUGE, VICTORY!

I narrowed my purchases to 2 books:

There is definitely something that I love connecting with when it comes to gay and lesbian authors reminiscing on their youth, coming out, trials of adolescents. Maybe it is the fact that I didn’t really connect with people on that level when I was a teenager. Maybe there is still a need for that young boy/man to not feel alone. I am forever grateful for the people that take the courage to put pen to page and allow anyone that has access to pick up their words, memories and lives, and connect to try to not be alone.