At 1 am the phone rang. I had just gotten to sleep. I got up and groggily answered it. It was a technician from Trend Micro to help me with the difficulties I’m having in configuring the program. I had told them what time zone I’m in, but, no matter, he thought I must be awake at 1 am. I told him to call on Monday at a reasonable hour.
That must be why I’m dead tired now. Nah, it couldn’t have been…
(friends-locked because you never know who’s putting your name into a search engine)
The day did not start auspiciously. I got up, made breakfast as usual, and settled down to read my tweets and blogs. At 9:45 I heard a chime, which turned out to be my mobile phone’s calendar reminder: today was Diocesan Synod day, and it started at 10 am. I had totally forgotten!
So, quickly jump in the shower and get dressed, take a bus to Waterloo, and sneak into St. John’s church and take a seat in the back. Bishop Tom was just finishing his Presidential address. He only has two more Synods to go before he retires (he just turned 69 and he must retire by his 70th birthday) but I’m sure he will keep his hands on the reins of power until the very last second.
Then into bumpf about allowing priests with Permission to Officiate full access to synodical government. Visions of former area bishop Colin Buchanan coming back to haunt us filled everyone’s mind as we busily voted this down.
Finally we got to the meat of the Synod. A motion by Richmond and Barnes Deanery that stated that permanent, faithful, and stable same sex unions were to be valued by the Church and that people in such unions should not be discriminated against when it came to preferment or ordination.
Now to most of you this will be uncontroversial. However, everyone went on and on about it. The Bible-bashers did that, bashed the Bible. One gentleman (I use the word advisedly) said that if we were to pass this, approval of incestuous relationships would be next. What tripe.
One amendment calling for “celibate” to be added to permanent, faithful, and stable was introduced and voted down. Another amendment that would have noted the Bishops’ document on civil partnerships was also voted down.
I then got up to speak. Right after I said that I was in an 11-year same-sex partnership, 3 year civil partnership, and served on many bodies of the Diocese, though whether that was preferment I wasn’t clear (and perhaps we should ask the Diocesan Registrar), the bell went off and the bishop declared “Time” and asked for us to move to next business rather than vote on the resolution. We did that, and everyone except me breathed a sigh of relief.
I have been mulling it over and I think that what I want to say to anyone who is faced with this kind of resolution (that doesn’t DO anything for LGBT people) is: Don’t touch it with a 10 foot pole. Bishop Tom has demob fever, and dearly wants his last year in office to be controversy-free. Thus, a resolution of this kind had no chance of passing. The Area Dean of Richmond and Barnes, who introduced it, was happy to move to next business (he must be straight) and leave the question that he had just declared was very important hanging on the vine, unplucked.
From now on I’m not going to participate in a gay-bashing party of this sort unless there is both a tangible good at the end (clear path to ordination being a right for all to explore, for example) and a willingness on the part of the leadership to take it through. Southwark is a liberal diocese, but I can imagine what it would be like in, say, Southwell and Nottingham or Liverpool.
I feel bashed, even though I’m not physically hurt. I shan’t abandon my faith, but I have to recall that the Church is full of people, many of whom I might not like very much.
The point is, I don’t want legislative bodies to be discussing my junk like this. Straight people just don’t get it.
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I am comfortable around those who cross-dress, who are transgender, or who break gender barriers in any way possible. This video is very sweet on the subject.
The video below is of a Japanese TV show in which older teenage boys get a makeover that changes them into older teenage girls. Apparently there’s quite a few clips of this sloshing around YouTube.
I found this one quite touching when the madeover boy was kissed by another boy on screen. It would make an interesting subject for an essay on how transgender people are related to by same-biological-sex people.
I don’t know why this is Toilet Day on teh intarwebz, but it is. Note that this place uses artificial human waste: 1 pound of soyabean paste packed into casings. No blenders full of gummi bears.
CBC Spark: Nora visits the Toilet Lab from CBC Radio: Spark on Vimeo.
We have been having a few problems in the powder room downstairs—it does not always completely dispose of the contents thereof. This is embarrassing (although not as embarrassing as when the pipe in back would without warning give way and flood the floor).
The video below is of a toilet of which I can only dream. After seeing the video, however, I do think there were probably some raised eyebrows at the sewerage plant.
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Thanks to
Joe Godlewski is a retired barber, but he knows a business opportunity when he sees it. You’ve heard of kosher salt? Well, he’s selling Christian salt. Blessed by an Episcopal priest, no less.
I suspect that the ladies and gentlemen of the AMIA and various other far-right separatist Anglican organisations may want to come out with their own alternative, blessed by Bob Duncan and called “Straight Male Christian Salt”.
…some sartorial splendour for you.
As you may remember, I bought an Asus EEE when in Singapore. It works well, and I plan to start taking it out to Starbucks occasionally to surf and Tweet.
Asus has another product that is even more interesting. I have seen computer that were fitted into the back of a flat-screen monitor (quite common). I have never seen a computer fitted into a keyboard.
My initial impression is that the monitor is not well placed and is a bit small. But, you decide!
…and many happy returns of the day.
After
The phone rang. It was an interviewer. Her telephone connection (perhaps the fact she was calling from some Gawd-forsaken place where furrin languages are spoken and her accent was heavy) was bad and the background noise in the interviewing room was pretty loud. I had to ask her to repeat herself regularly. All this time the Elmer T Lee was sitting in the living room and being diluted by the ice.
It took me 5 minutes to get back to my drink. Interviewer, nothing personal, but I don’t like you.
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Our friend Chaz went to the Metropolitan Opera to see a production of an opera called La Somnambula by Bellini, and has transcribed a review from the Associated Press. I thought you’d be amused.
To: British Film Institute, Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
From: Disgusted at the Elephant
Re: Your unfortunate booking website
Dear BFI:
We have been remiss at actually coming to the National Film Theatre in the last few years. Renovations, our own busy lives, and basic laziness have meant that we haven’t even bothered to book for the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in donkey’s years.
This year, we pored over the catalogue and decided on a couple of films. When I went to your website I thought it would be relatively easy to book, given that this is not rocket science and lots of other organisations manage to sell their seats online.
Boy, was I wrong.
First, actually getting to the film one wants to book is difficult. The first film that we wanted to see was the only one that was cancelled in the entire festival. Hard cheese, one might say.
When I went to the second and third ones, even though online booking had only begun around an hour before, nearly all the seats were taken. Of those that were not, two showed as available but caused an error when I chose them. This was Milk, of course, so bound to be popular, but a full NFT1 (the largest auditorium in the National Film Theatre) in less than an hour?
When I went for a third showing of another film, I discovered that the entire theatre had been sold out within one hour. Oh, I tell a lie, there was one seat left. HWMBO probably wouldn’t be interested in this show, but I didn’t want to go without him, so I passed on it. Now, where did I put that shopping basket. Oh, yes, there is a link for it in the heading. I clicked on it. Nothing. Clicked on it again. Nothing again. Looked around for something else. Went back a few screens. Nothing. No way to get to the shopping basket without actually purchasing tickets.
So I “bought” another seat for Milk, got to the shopping basket, removed the seat I just bought, and then continued checkout.
I am glad that I am not responsible for building or testing your website, as it would make me ashamed of my work and I wouldn’t like that. Were someone not as persistent as I am to encounter the obstacles I did, they might just give up and leave lots of seats in their shopping basket, unbought.
There may not be very many seats left for anyone by the time public booking begins in a few days’ time. I suppose this might give you some more members, but it will piss off lots of people who would like to see these films but who can’t afford to join.
Yours, as ever,
Disgusted at the Elephant and Castle
NFT member for more than 10 years.
Sermon delivered at St. Matthew
…and many happy returns of the day.
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Yo! Sushi and other such sushi restaurants, especially in Japan, put each dish on a conveyor belt that winds its way slowly around the restaurant. Diners pick the dishes they want, and at the end of the meal they are billed by the plate. Sometimes there are several different colour plates, each of which carries different types of sushi with different prices.
Imagine if you took a video camera, placed it on the conveyor belt so that it faced the diners, and let it make one circuit around the restaurant. This might be what you’d see.
No, this doesn’t have anything to do with the mouse, although it could have. Over the weekend we were sitting in the kitchen and the mouse emerged from behind the stove, toddled out on the counter, and looked us right in the eye, cool as a cucumber. I clapped my hands and it jumped in the air, spun round, and went back into the bowels of the cabinets. Haven’t seen it since. Perhaps I scared it to death.
I use a Microsoft Natural Keyboard. I know they’re shaped funny and all, but I like them and they work well with my hands and typing style.
The one I was using gave up the ghost just now. Every once in a while it would start to repeat random letters, or stop and refuse to work. I thought it might be a virus of some sort, but got no joy in that. So, I tried replacing it with a wireless MS Natural Keyboard I have, and it works perfectly.
So one keyboard goes into the trash, and I have to order another to ensure that I’ll have one or two spare. I have another but it only has a PS2 plug and that’s not very good, even with an adapter. I’ll save it for HWMBO’s computer, which still has a PS2 socket. My current computer only has USB sockets.
…and many happy returns of the day.
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