Got Pride?

Every year Kelly does a pride month challenge. He posts a pic asking people to post the pic on their own blog or website, thus spreading the rainbow. This year, he is taking the challenge one step further. He wants you to post the pic and tell your story. Whether its your coming out, why you haven't come out, why you posted the pic, or just why you felt it was important to spread the rainbow. Now let me say, Kelly is one of my favorite bloggers. I check out his blog on a near daily basis and if you've never checked it out, you really should.
Anyway, back to the Pride month challenge. I don't particularly feel the need to re-hash my coming out, but I did have stuff that I wanted to say. I went back and forth several times on whether or not I should do this post. In fact, even as I sit here typing it I am hesitant of the final outcome. I just know that I feel how I feel and I need to put it into words. So let me put this out there up front... if anything I say in here upsets anyone, that's not my intention.
I feel like alot of how the GLBT "community", particularly in my area, presents itself does not represent me. In general, I feel a huge disconnect from the community. In spite of that, or more accurately because of that, I felt it was important to post the pic and spread the rainbow. I love the idea that the rainbow celebrates both our diversity and our unity. So I'm posting it here as a way to say, "you know what, I disagree with alot of what's going on these days, but I respect our differences, cherish our similiarities, and hope to find a way to bridge the gap."

HNT

Work has been super hectic lately and I realized that I didn't even post my HNT or Biggest Loser results for last week....so welcome to a super-sized two weeks HNT/Biggest Loser.

The first pic is just a closeup of my two eyebrow piercings..thought I'd continue with the piercing theme after the success of last week's nipple ring. (Btw Beth, thanks for the comment on both my nipple and my nipple ring, they were both very appreciative to have received kind words here in the blogosphere..lol)

The second pic is of my awesome calf muscle. It truly is my favorite body part on me, and it is one of the first things I notice on girls and guys. I'm gonna have to start taking some more pics otherwise next week's HNT will have to be a pic of my butt. I think that's the only pic that I haven't already used...lol, don't worry, I won't make you suffer through that.

Now for the biggest loser update.....

Starting weight: 210

Week 1 - 201 (-9)

Week 2 - 201 (0)

Week 3 - 203 (+2)

Week 4 - 198 (-5)

Week 5 - 199 (+1)

Week 6 - 195 (-4)

So last week's +1 was definitely frustrating, but everyone else gained that week too, and I actually gained the least, so I just tried to move past it. I've entered into a semi-delusional state in which I believe that gain was from muscle growth and I'm clinging tightly to that story. Now for this week's weigh-in... 195 which is a four pound loss!!! I'm not entirely sure where I fall in the rankings this week. Alyssa and Missy have been out of town and haven't weighed in, Shane lost 5 pounds so I'm hoping that he was the only one who beat me. Overall, I've lost 15 lbs or 7.14%.....only 4 weeks left! Alyssa and I have gotten super competitive about it and have decided that after the initial competition is over, her and I are going to continue it for the whole summer. We found a fitness test on Men's Health.com and we are going to take it at the beginning of summer and again at the end to track our progress. I've also joined Slim.com, which looks like it may be a cool little website to help stay on track. You can put in your exercises and food intake and also your weight goals....its kinda nifty.

HNT

Alright for this week's HNT I'm putting up a pic of my nipple ring. Its not my favorite pic, but some people asked about it so here you go. If seeing my nipple and ,desperately in need of a tan, surrounding area is not your thing...you've been forewarned.

Now on to the really important news...The Biggest Loser Challenge update. As you may remember, last week was particularly upsetting. Everyone else lost weight while I, on the other hand, gained 2 lbs!!! I was fired up and really put the focus on for this weigh-in. I did pretty good for the week, I followed my eating plan almost to the letter. On the work out, I got in 4 of the 5 that I had planned. Cut to the weigh-in, Missy was up first and lost 0. Alyssa, up next, lost 5 lbs! Then we move on to Shane, he lost 6 lbs! As I was getting ready to step on the scale, my inner monologue sounded like I was actually on the show. I was nervous that Alyssa and Shane had pulled such big numbers. After last week's gain, I was really just hoping to maintain. Now I was feeling all this pressure to pull a big number. So I step on the scale..........I lost 5 lbs!!! Not enough to make me the biggest loser of the week, but I am super happy with that number. So here's the recap....

Starting weight- 210 lbs

week 1- 201 lbs

week 2 - 201 lbs

week 3 - 203 lbs

week 4 - 198 lbs.....I fell below the 200 mark, about damn time

So over all I've lost 12 lbs or 5.71% or my starting weight. Overall challenge to date I am in second place. Shane is winning with 12 lbs lost, but since he had a lower starting weight, it is a higher percentage. Alyssa is close on my heels with 10 lbs lost, but she is only like 3 tenths of a percentage behind me. Ahh competition!!!

Not another meme!!

I was going to try to do some more regular posting on here and I was going to try to not resort to the meme, but alas, that has not been the case. What can I say? I like memes. I'm a little on the OCD side so the structured format of a meme is appealing to me. Also, you know its about me, so any chance to go on about myself...hooray! (just kidding, sorta). I swiped this meme from the always delightful Cup of Coffey. She was one of the first blogs I started reading on a regular basis and is one of my favorites to this day.
One thing about this meme, the number scheme in it really messed with my OCD tendencies. There are 6 categories, 2 of them didn't have a set number, 3 of them are 5, one was 3.... grrr, arrgh! In spite of that, however, I will try to work through it. I wouldn't want to deprive anyone from the opportunity to learn more about me (haha!)

1. Ten Years Ago
I was 21, living in a crazy resort town. I was a manager for Polo Ralph Lauren. I had a great group of friends and we were an insane group. Literally, everyday was work all day, drink all night, and often we were getting home in time to shower, change our clothes, and go back to work. Some really fond memories of that time, but I couldn't (and wouldn't want to) keep up that pace now.

2. 5 Things on Today's to do List
A. Workout - didn't get the full workout in, but I walked my entire lunch break today
B. Put Away laundry - one of my least favorite chores, but its mostly done
C. Grocery store - done
D. Catch up on my email - done
E. Make a posting on here - when I'm done with this, this one will be done

3. If I were a Billionaire
The original meme didn't have this one numbered, but I'm gonna take cup of coffey's idea and run with it. So I've made this one a 5 things also...
A. Debt Free anyone? I'd pay off all of my debts, and those of my family, and a couple of close
friends.
B. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. There'd be some going back to school.
C. Take this job and shove it. I'd quit my job. Not that I don't want to work, and not that I
don't like my job, I would just want to do some other things first (like focus on the school
thing)
D. Roam if you want to. Before I went back to school, I would love to take a year and travel.
E. Oprah's Big Give. Would love to just be able to give some money to the organizations that I
try to support. Also, would love to set up some organizations of my own. While we're at it,
the financial independence would allow me to give alot more of my time.

4. 3 Bad Habits
A. Smoking - I know, I know...enough said
B. Procrastination - Let me tell you some stories about how bad my procrastination habit is..
actually, I'll just tell you later
C. TV watching - I'm not saying tv watching is a bad habit, I'm saying the amount of tv I
watch is excessive. A light night of tv for me is a night that I only have 3 hours worth of
shows

5. 5 Places I've Lived
A. Kansas City, Missouri
B. Branson, Missouri
C. Columbia, Missouri
D. Osage Beach, Missouri
E. Jefferson City, Missouri
Alas, I've never lived out of the state

6. 5 Jobs I've Had (in no particular order)
A. Waiter, Ruby Tuesday's
B. Assistant Manger, Polo Ralph Lauren
C. Merchandising Manager, Old Navy
D. Call Order Processor, MBS textbooks
E. Sales clerk, Hallmark store

As always I'm not gonna tag anyone, but if you do this one let me know.

A meme for those sleepless nights

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Share six non important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. I wasn't tagged, but I swiped this from Idle Eyes and A Dormy
2. See above.
3. Because you didn't ask and never will:
A) Of all the superheroes in all the land I love Batman most of all. I am already counting down
until the new Batman movie The Dark Knight comes out (july 18th! woot!)
B) Buffy the Vampire Slayer is quite possibly my favorite tv show of all time. I still re-watch
episodes (of which I own them all), randomly quote them (just today at work I said "that
makes me feel better about me, worse about Giles, and sort of shaky about you", it was an
appropriate response in my head, but not so much for my non-Buffy watching co-worker),
and just generally reference things from the show as if it happened in real life.
C) My favorite color is blue, but only when I want a compliment. My eyes are blue and any
time I wear something blue it really brings them out. It never fails that if I wear something
blue, someone will complement me on my eyes. So whenever I'm having a bad day (feeling
blue some might say...pun intended), I just throw on something blue.
D) You know when you're making macaroni and cheese, and you're stirring it all up at the
end? That wet, sorta sticky noise?...I call that glarpy.
E) I love, love, love to have a cigarette with my morning coffee. I know its a horrible habit, but
it is truly for me the hardest cigarette to give up.
G) I hate waking up so I have to set the alarm all the way across the room so that I have to
get out of bed to turn it off each morning. Also I have to set 3 alarms, 5 mins apart.
4. I will not tag any one, as some people hate being tagged and I don't want to offend but all are welcome to play along, so if you do this one let me know.

HNT

So here's another edition of HNT (Half-Naked Thursday) and my biggest loser challenge update.

Starting weight- 210

wk 1 -201

wk 2 - 201

wk 3 - 203 (gained 2 lbs...wtf?)

Yeah so I was really not happy with those results, particularly since everyone else LOST weight. So I may be dooming myself here, but my goal is to get below 200 at the next weigh-in. I'll settle for 199 (heck w/ the gain I would settle to be back at 201)...but I'm just striving to be below 200. Let me apologize in advance for my ugly competitive side that you may see making an appearance in the upcoming weeks. While I never played sports or anything growing up I definitely developed that sport mentality of competition.

No seriously though it's all just about encouraging each other to makes some changes and get healthier (as long as I win...lol)

HNT (Half Naked Thursday) on a Friday

My how time has flown! I completely lost track of the blogging. Here's a brief rundown since last I blogged. I survived the birthday weekend...hooray! It was fun, but it wore me out. Then I came down with one of the worst colds I have had in forever. It was literally 2 weeks of going to work and then heading home straight for the couch and bed.

Anyway I'm all recovered and ready to jump back into the blog. And oh what a way to return! A group of us are doing our own version of the biggest loser. I'm hoping that it will get me motivated to get back into a more regular workout schedule. Shane and I are following an eating plan from Men's Health that is actually been working out pretty good so far. Anyway to keep me motivated and hold my self accountable I'm going to post a pic and my weight on here each week. I figured I would do it on Thursday's since several of the bloggers I read participate in HNT (Half Naked Thursday). So just a warning....if you don't want to see a shirtless picture of me each week steer clear of my Thursday posts. Okay, so here is my biggest loser results so far. My starting weight was...gulp!...210 lbs. We did the week one weigh in (which I won, thank you very much) and I was at 201 lbs. Week 2 was not nearly as successful as I again weighed in at 201. To be fair, I didn't really work out so I was happy that I maintained. Anyway, here is that current pic....try not to be too horrified.....

Who's a birthday boy? It's me...It's me

So I'm giving T-shirt Tuesday a week off, but not to fear it will be back next week. Today, as you may have guessed by my post title, is my birthday. I'm the big 31 today. Not much planned in the way of birthday celebration today. I got up and worked out. I have to work today and then I'll be hanging out with Shane. My birthday feast will be leftover Shepherd's pie that I made for Shane's birthday since our birthday's are so close together. He's making me a chocolate/peanut butter cake for the big day (although we've barely made a dent in the mocha cake I made for his birthday). The big highlight of my day will be my tv-shows. The Idol results show and America's Next Top Model. I know they are cheesy reality shows but I like them.
The big birthday celebration will actually be taking place on Saturday. What started as a small going out seems to be growing by the day. In order to accommodate all of my booze hound friends random schedules my birthday celebration has seemed to turn into a mini-pub crawl.
5:00 Campus Bar and Grill (good drink specials)
7:00 Flatbranch (great microbrews and the Flat Branch burger is a thing of beauty)
9:00 On the Rocks (I've never been, but supposed to be a more low key sit around and chat bar)
10:30 A&C (typically I can only handle about 1 drink here but we'll see)
11:30 SoCo Club (so everyone can shake their groove thing)
That's really about 2-3 places more than I wanted to go to but hopefully I survive Drunkaroo '08. If I have time this morning I'm gonna do a 31 things about me post in honor of the day of my birth. If not I'll post it up tonight after the shows. Have a great day everyone!

The lyric meme

The other day I did a meme where I mentioned the movie All Over the Guy. One of the things that I really liked about that movie was that they used several Maroon 5 songs. Of course, back then they were called Kara's Flowers, but I loved them just the same. Anyway, that got me thinking about how much I like Maroon 5 and also about a meme that I had done years ago. I was finally able to track it down so here goes. This one is harder than it looks and takes some time, but I'm interested to see if anyone else does it. Let me know if you give it a go.

The rules: Answer the questions using only lyrics from one band/artist.

I'm using Maroon 5

1. Are you Male or Female?
"It makes me burn to learn
You're with another man
I wonder if he's half
the lover that I am" - If I Ever See Your Face Again

2. Who are you?
"I live on raw emotion baby
I answer question never maybe
And I'm not kind if you betray me" - Wake Up Call

3. What is your outlook on life?
"Its not always rainbows and butterflies
It's compromise that moves us a long" - She Will Be Loved

4. How do other people feel about you?
"This city's made us crazy and we must get out" - Must Get Out

5. How do you live?
"But things just get so crazy living life gets hard to do" - Sunday Morning

6. How do you love?
"I'll fix these broken things
Repair your broken wings
and make sure everything's alright.
My pressure on her hips
sinking my fingertips
into every inch of you
cause I know that's what you want me to do" - This Love

7. How do you hate?
"Does it kill
does it burn?
Is it painful to learn
that its me that has all the control" - Harder to Breathe

8. Have you ever been in love?
"If I fell in love with you
would you promise to be true
and help me understand?
Cause I've been in love before
and I found that love was more
than just holding hands" - If I Fell in Love with You

9. Describe your 1st kiss.
"Sometimes you move so well
It's hard not to give in.
I'm lost, I can't tell
where you end and I begin." - If I Ever See Your Face Again

10. Describe you ex.
"I still don't have the reason
and you don't have the time
and it really makes me wonder
if I ever gave a fuck about you.
Give me something to believe in
cause I don't believe in you
Anymore, anymore
I wonder if it even makes a difference to try
So this is goodbye" - Makes Me Wonder

"Oh I want so bad to pick you up
but you're still too reluctant to accept my help
What a shame, I hope you find somewhere to place the blame" - Nothing Lasts Forever

Two different exes, two very different lyrics

11. Describe your significant Other
"I never knew perfection til
I hear you speak, and now it kills me
just to hear you say the simple things.
Now waking up is hard to do
and sleeping is impossible too
everything is reminding me of you
What can I do?" - Better that We Break

12. Describe your best friend.
"I'll never leave you behind
or treat you unkind
I know you understand" - Sweetest Goodbye

13. Describe your worst enemy.
"How dare you say that my behavior's unacceptable
so condescending, unnecessarily critical
I have the tendency of getting very physical
So watch you're step cause if I do you'll need a miracle" - Harder to Breathe

14. Describe your greatest joy.
"How does it feel to know you never have to be alone
when you get home" - Sweetest Goodbye

15. Describe your greatest annoyance.
"I spend every hour waiting for a phone call
That I know will never come" - Through with You

16. What is one thing that hurts your feelings?
"I asked her to stay
but she wouldn't listen.
She left before I had the chance to say
The words that would mend
the things that were broken.
But now its far too late, she's gone away" - I Won't Go Home Without You

17. Describe your happiest moment.
"Sunday morning rain is falling
Steal some covers, share some skin
Clouds are shrouding us in moments unforgettable
You twist to fit the mold that I am in." - Sunday Morning

18. How do you feel at this very moment?
"Now every evening is a bitter fight
and I'm eating home alone on a Friday night" - Back at Your Door

19. How did you feel exactly one month ago?
"Every night you cry yourself to sleep
Thinking: Why does this happen to me?
Why does every moment have to be so hard?
Hard to believe it" - I Won't Go Home Without You

20. What are your absolute favorite lyrics from this band/artist?
"What you are doing is screwing things up inside my head
you should know better you never listened to a word I said.
Clutching your pillow and writhing in a naked sweat
hoping somebody someday will do you like i did" - Harder to Breathe

21. Leave us with some words of wisdom...
" Though we have not hit the ground
doesn't mean we're not still not falling" - Nothing Lasts Forever

A different middle name meme

Since my Friday is not really playing out like I had planned, here is a meme to pass the time. I swiped this from Swim, ski, and renovating our home. Enjoy!

A different Middle Name meme

The rules:
Use the first letter of your middle name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things…nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person you took this from had the same first initial. You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.


Middle name letter: R
Famous artist/band/musician: R.E.M. (how'd u like that coffey?)
Four-letter word: rain
U.S. state: Rhode Island
Boy name: Ryan
Girl name: Renee
Animal: Raven
Something in the kitchen: recipe
Reason for being late: road construction
Body part: retina
Drink: Rum
Something you shout: Run!
Something you eat: rolls

Fantastic Fours

Yet another meme. I swiped this one from Idle Eyes and a dormy. And just to save you the comment Shane, yes it does bother me that its about 4 and it has 9 categories...I'm a weirdo.

Four Jobs I Have Had In My Life

1. Waiter
2. Delivery driver
3. Textbook order processor
4. retail clothing store manager

Four Movies I Would Watch/Have Watched Over And Over

1. All Over the Guy
2. Reality Bites
3. Singles
4. Scream

Four Places I Have Lived

1. Kansas City, Missouri
2. Branson, Missouri
3. St.Louis, Missouri
4. Columbia, Missouri

What can I say? I'm a Missouri boy

Four TV Shows That I Watch

1. The Biggest Loser
2. Dirt
3. The New Adventures of Old Christine
4. Lost

Four Places I Have Visited

1. Chicago
2. Orlando
3. New York
4. Dallas

Four People Who E-mail Me Regularly

1. Shane
2. Alyssa
3. Men's Health
4. Dad

Four Favorite Foods

1. Pizza
2. Sesame chicken
3. Coffee
4. Beer....it is it's own food group right?

Four Places I Would Like To Be Right Now

1. London
2. New York
3. Starbucks
4. bed

Four Things I Am Looking Forward To This Year

1. Continued physical improvement
2. Getting my new bike
3. Going to see the Gin Blossoms
4. Actually taking a trip on my vacation

T-shirt Tuesday...err Wednesday

What a hectic day it has been! How could I have forgotten T-shirt Tuesday? This will technically post on Wednesday but since I haven't gone to bed yet we'll still call this T-shirt Tuesday. For this week's t-shirt we're going old school. This is the t-shirt that started it all, and to this day it is one of my favorite sayings.......

In other Tuesday news, one of my favorite bloggers, Cup of Coffey, is celebrating a birthday. Happy Birthday lady!! You should check out her blog. Her mixed tape Fridays are truly a thing to look forward to each week.

Bi Bi Buffy

So as I may have mentioned I love love love Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was saddened when it ended its tv run, but have been overjoyed at its return, in comic book form. I just finished reading "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #12 Wolves at the Gate pt.1" (i'm sure that there are comic book types out there who will tell me I didn't name it right so I tried to just include everything...lol).
There were things I liked in this issue and things that I didn't so let me start with the good. First off, I really like Xander and Renee. Don't get me wrong I'm a huge HUGE Anya fan. I always hoped that Anya and Xander would end up together. That seems unlikely since, you know, Anya died and all, but still. I feel like they wrapped up their story on the show so I am happy to see my little Xander find some happiness, or at least the beginnings of happiness. Speaking of Xander, I love that they sent him to Dracula to find out info about the new vamps. Xander around him is hysterical.
Andrew is back!! I assume he's back to help with the whole Dawn-is-a-giant saga. He always brings delightful humor to the Scoobies. The bit of Willow flying him to the castle while he quoted Lois Lane had me rolling with laughter.
The Japanese vampire goth gang really got my attention. What's with the transmogrification abilities? Why did they take the scythe (the scythe scythe as Buffy said)? You know the one that Willow used to cast the spell to turn all of the potentials into actual slayers.
Now for the bad. I really didn't like the whole Buffy hooked up with a lady (Satsu, one of the new slayers). I get it, Buffy's had a run of bad luck with the men in her life (Angel, Spike, Parker, Riley) and its been awhile since she's had a wonderful night (her words). It was supposed to come off as a shock, but for some reason it seemed predictable to me. Although, on the flip side to that, its nice that seeing the main character having a bisexual experience was just merely predictable. There was a time when that would have been unheard of (be it in the comics or on tv). So maybe it wasn't so bad after all, I guess it was just the one storyline that didn't wow me the way so many other Buffy storylines do. Who knows maybe it will turn into a story that I really like? Stranger things have happened
Speaking of a storyline that I think I would really like, in "Buffy the Vampire Season 8 #9 No future for you part 4", they indicated that Faith and Giles (2 of my fav Buffy characters) will be working together away from the rest of the gang. I would love to see that story arc played out in the comic. I could even see that spinning off into its own comic or (hope beyond hope) a tv show. Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku are set to do a new show together anyway. Maybe they can make it happen for me.
Well I'm off to read the new issue of "Angel: After the Fall." Night Buffy fans...and the rest of you too.

Crazy 8's

Alright several days later and I am finally getting around to the Crazy 8's meme that I swiped from Cup of Coffey. This one was more time consuming than I thought it would be but I really enjoyed it.

8 Things I'm Passionate About

1. Working Out - I know when you look at my profile pic your first thought isn't "hey this guy is super in shape," but you have to look at where I started. Here is a picture from my heaviest weight. I know its blurry, but you get the idea. Now after seeing this, look at my profile pic again. I've lost 70 pounds so far and would like to lose 30-40 more.
2. The Biggest Loser - My fatty picture on the right should be a pretty good indication of why I'm so passionate about this show. I know its just a dumb reality show, but the results those people achieve are really amazing. That show always makes me a little emotional.
3. Cooking - Again my weight loss probably plays into this answer. My mom always believed that her sons needed to know how to cook, so that was something that we did together. I've always enjoyed cooking, but now I'm really into finding ways to make my cooking healthier.
4. Books - I love to read. My parents read to me alot when I was young and it has always stuck with me. I typically read a minimum of one book a week.
5. Music - Wow, isn't music amazing? One song can change your mood completely. I love when you find a song that just perfectly describes how you are feeling.
6. My friends - They are more important to me than I could ever even begin to describe.
7. Road trips - I really believe that its the journey not the destination.
8. Coffee - I can't imagine a day that doesn't start without coffee

8 Things I want to do before I die

1. Write and publish a book
2. Live in London for a year - My mom says that when I talk about London my eyes sort of glaze over and its as if I've found my mothership
3. Skydive - I really want to do this. Here's my problem with the concept. For me to actually do this I would essentially be saying to someone" Hi, I would like to pay you to take me up in a plane. Then instead of safely bringing me back down, I want to have to jump out of said plane with a device ,that may or may not open, strapped to my back as my only method of safe landing.
4. Run a marathon
5. Travel to all 50 states
6. Watch all the Godfather movies in one sitting - I like these movies individually and I don't know why this is on my list. For some reason, I'm intrigued by spending an entire day watching all of these movies back to back.
7. Learn to play guitar well - well being the key word here. Enough said.
8. Get a tattoo - I know I want one and I know where I want it. I'm just so indecisive on what tattoo I want

8 Things I say often

1. I know right
2. Well hello
3. Dag yo!
4. Hey lady face
5. Cool cool
6. Glug glug good times
7. Its a thing...it could be
8. Drunkaroo

8 Books I've Read Recently

1. Love Monkey
2. The Best Life Diet
3. Fight Club
4. The Catcher In the Rye
5. Soon I'll Be Invincible
6. The Scarlett Letter
7. Bitten
8. Stolen

8 Songs I could listen to over and over

1. "Walkin on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves
2. "Hang" by Matchbox20
3. "Crazy" by Patsy Cline
4. "I Will Survive" by Cake
5. "Bother" by Stone Sour
6. "God Bless the Broken Road" by Rascall Flats
7. "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinead OConnor
8. "Hey Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms

8 Things that attract me to my best friends

1. their senses of humor
2. their intelligence
3. their kindness
4. their unwavering devotion
5. their ability to take the smallest moment and turn it into something hysterical
6. the way they know which "i'm ok" means I'm ok and which one doesn't
7. the way they want me to be in a relationship, but don't push me on it...not just yet
8. the way they tease me about Buffy the Vampire Slayer

8 things that drive me crazy

1. People who don't use their turn signal, or use it at the last moment
2. When people leave up posters/flyers/signs for events that have already occured
3. People who lie (particularly dumb stuff)
4. People who ask too many questions during a movie
5. People who travel, but then avoid the experiences of the place they travel to
6. My cell phone
7. Text messages
8. Insomnia

8 People I think should go all Crazy 8s on us (the celebrity edition)

1. Sarah Silverman
2. Tim Gunn
3. Hillary Clinton
4. Joss Whedon
5. Chuck Palahniuk
6. Rob Thomas - the television writer not the singer, although the singer too, either or really
7. Joni Mitchell
8. Anderson Cooper

Tired town...more memes to follow

I realize now that is nearly 2 in the morning so I am just leaving you with the Middle Name Meme for the evening. Tomorrow I will be continuing on with some more memes....Crazy 8s and 6 word memoir.

Middle Name Meme

My posts have been somewhat lacking as of late and I'm really too new at this for this to be the case. Anyway, I'm trying to re-energize myself a bit with some meme's. These all come from the wonderful Cup of Coffey. Hopefully, doing these will get me motivated to post more. I'm gonna skip the part about tagging people, cause I'm still pretty new at the whole blogger world, but enjoy the rest.

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The Rules
1. Post the rules before you give your answers.

2. List one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother's maiden name.

3. At the end of your blog post, tag one person (or blogger of another species) for each letter of your middle name. Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged.
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My middle name is Ray so this should be pretty easy right?

R - Reading is my activity of choice when I can't sleep. I can't sleep alot so I tend to read at least
one book a week. I've done this for the last couple of years.

A - Alchohol. My beer of choice is Rolling Rock. My drink of choice is vodka tonic. I used to not
like wine at all, but this year I've become a fan of Yellowtail Merlot. It is a cheap wine that
my wine snob friends make fun of, but I enjoy it.

Y - Yoga. I have to admit I always thought of yoga as a little too hippy-dippy for my taste, but I
received a gift certificate for a yoga class for Christmas and I really like it. Some of it is a
little corny to me, but I love the way I feel after each class. I try to do it at least once a week.

T-shirt Tuesday

This weeks T-shirt Tuesday is brought to us from Tabitha on "Shear Genius". I don't know if anyone else even watched or remembers this show. It was on Bravo and it was like Project Runway for hairdressers. Anyway, Tabitha had the nickname figjam for Tyson (one of her cocky competitors). No one really knew what it meant, but when finally asked she said it stands for "Fuck I'm Great Just Ask Me." What can I say? I just couldn't resist.

T-shirt Tuesday

I'm going to have to take a day off from work soon and catch up on these t-shirts. My list to make greatly outweighs actual t-shirts made. For now, here's one more on the to make side.

"Being just gay enough is the new black"
-Torchwood, "Greeks Bearing Gifts"

Lunch Lady Land

You know, I find that life would be much more interesting if it were more like a musical. Not really, but I still find this clip hysterical. Imagine if you're lunch was like that.

What I'm worth in bed

They really do have a quiz for everything don't they?






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T-shirt Tuesday

Since last week's T-shirt Tuesday was just an idea for an upcoming t-shirt, I thought that this week I would show you a t-shirt that I already made. There was this line of greeting cards (wish I could remember it) that made these hysterical cards. One in card came into my life during a particularly over-worked time in my life. I remember receiving this card from my friend C and reading it one night after having worked for about 16-20 hours (really who knows?...i was delirious). The card had a one panel cartoon on the front that was hills and cans of corn all throughout the picture. The caption..."Its sad really, cause back in the day cans of corn roamed the hills as far as the eyes could see" Well, that did it for me. I was thrown into a fit of laughter that was the exact therapy I needed at the time. The line on the inside was simple "Life's weird, enjoy it" (this was actually what every card in this series said on the inside) and C wrote a note saying I should check out the back of the card. On the back of the card was a much smaller panel and it had the following poem.....

A Poem About Corn

I like corn.

Corn is good.

Corn in a pan.

Corn also.

Well, I just lost it. If I was laughing before I was in tears now. For some reason that struck me a the funniest thing ever. Over time, this was shared w/ most of our group of friends, and like things often do w/ friends, this took on a life of its own. For awhile, if someone was having a bad day we would call and recite this poem into their voicemail. Eventually (and still to this day), it is a mini-SOS for us to use. When you have a bad day, you call one of us up and simply say corn also, and I guarantee we'll be laughing in a second.

Cold Weather Blues

The expression "If you don't like the weather in Missouri, wait 5 minutes" is going to be getting much use today. This weekend was absolutely beautiful. It was sunny and 65 degrees. I was wearing shorts and t-shirt yesterday. This morning however is a different story. It is 34 degrees and that is the projected high today. In addition, we are expected to receive 2-4 inches of snow by the end of the day. This sort of inclement weather never occurs on my day off when I could just stay in curled up on the couch watching movies or here on my computer. No, instead it always occurs on the days that I need to be a grown-up: work, gym, grocery store, assorted other errands. Oh, glorious snow days of my youth, why have you foresaken me? For real though, I'm done with the cold weather but apparently the cold weather is not done with me.

The Amazing Race

I do love me some online quizzes. I think that this is a pretty accurate result. This is one of my favorite reality shows. I would love to travel and see the world, but I'm pretty sure that I'd suck at some of the challenges. Also, I'd probably be that player that stresses out and yells at their partner...haha. My favorite is when contestants are in another country and they don't speak the language and they try to communicate with one or two equally stupid methods.

1. continue to speak English only do it slower and louder. Slower and louder apparently helps people who don't speak English to understand it.
2. continue to speak English, however, on key words add el to the beginning and o to the end, and always use rapido to mean fast. Ex: I need to get to el airporto rapido. I need el doctoro rapido I am el sicko <--haha

Sidenote: Seeing el sicko reminded me that in high school Spanish class we all went by Spanish names. There were several Jasons in the class, so my Spanish name was Frederico based off of my last name. One day the teacher had a student passing out a quiz that she had graded. Everyone else had received their quiz except me and the student was walking around w/ one quiz left and a confused look on his face. Finally, he stops in the middle of the room and asks "Who is Freak-o?" The teacher hadn't felt like writing out my entire Spanish name so she wrote F-rico. I thought it was hysterical and somewhat appropriate, so that became my Spanish name for the rest of the year.

Which Reality Show Do You Belong On?

Created by BuddyTV

...and her name was Veronica

Which Veronica Mars Character Are You?

More on Veronica Mars. Created by BuddyTV

Oh how I miss you Veronica Mars. You were such a good show. But alas you are gone and crap like Jericho is still alive.

Further proof that I'm destined to be single

How funny is this? I watch both of these shows and these are literally two of my least favorite characters on each show. So of course it would make perfect sense that they are my ideals. Note to self: re-think your entire approach to interacting with everyone...lol.

Who is Your Ideal TV Boyfriend?

More on Gossip Girl. Created by BuddyTV

Who is Your Ideal TV Girlfriend?

More on Desperate Housewives. Created by BuddyTV

The 5-Night Stand

I'll be honest I don't really get relationships. I'll save the specifics of that statement for another post where you all are free to analyze my broken psyche to your hearts content. That being said, I am actually making an effort to make myself more relationship friendly. Just when I thought I was making some progress, I had to go and take this quiz. I believe the results speak for themself, and if they didn't my friends did. It amazed me how dead on the results were according to my friends. My one bright spot? My friend Chris says that I was previously probably a one-night stand and now i've upgraded to 5- night stand. Baby steps Jason, baby steps.

Note: I tried to post the quiz results on here, but I couldn't get it to fit in the post, it kept cutting off part of it. So here is my result and the quiz itself.

Oh Yes It's Ladies Night

So the ladies were up tonight and the theme was the 70s, just like it was for the guys. I have to say I feel like the guys had a better night than the ladies, but regardless, here is my ranking of the performances.

1. Brooke White - "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon...My friend Shane is sick of hearing about this one. From the beginning I have said that Brooke has a very Carly Simon/Carole King vibe about her. I also said that I wanted to hear her sing this very song. Brooke is hot, talented, and seems very genuine.
   
2. Carly Smithson - "Crazy on You" by Heart...two of my least favorite Heart songs were performed tonight, but this was the better performance of the two. Carly is Irish and I feel about her the way I feel about Michael Johns.
   
3. Ramiele Malubay - "Don't Leave Me This Way" by Thelma Houston....This song always puts me in a good mood and Ramiele's performance was no exception. Plus she is smokin hot.
   
4. Syesha Mercado - "Me and Mr. Jones (changed from Mrs.)" by Billy Paul... She had really good vocals, but I just didn't like it. Sung by a guy I really like this song, and part of the reason is that it is a little bit provocative since it is MRS Jones, a married lady. Mister on the other hand does not necessarily mean married in Syesha's version and that took away from the song for me. I know that's a dumb reason to not like the song, but its my blog.
5. Kristy Lee Cook - "You're No Good" by Linda Ronstadt.... She improved a lot over last week. This seems to be closer to her as a singer. I bet she'll do good at country.
6. Alaina Whitaker - "Hopelessly Devoted to You" by Olivia Newton John...I love this song and this girl reminds me of Carrie Underwood. Me and my friends call her Carrie Light. I liked it, but it reminded me that I really liked it when Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies) sings it. The entire scene on Pushing Daisies is really cute, with Kristin's performance being interrupted throughout.
7. Asia'h Epperson - "All by Myself" by Celine Dion...I am always nervouse when someone on here tries to pull off a Celine (or a Whitney), but she did alright. She didn't knock it out of the ballpark, but I don't think she needs to worry about being sent home...there was definitely worse.
8. Alexandrea Lushington - "If you Leave Me Now" by Chicago...Like her, like the song, didn't love the performance. This didn't seem to be a good fit for her.
9. Kady Malloy - "Magic Man" by Heart....I'll say this for her, she does a FIERCE Britney Spears impression. Other than that, I don't like her attitude, don't love this song, wouldn't mind to see her go.
10. Amanda Overmyer - "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas...I really like this rocker chick. Love the crazy hair. Her outfits are a little over the top and not in a good way. This was a really bad performance. I hope she stays in the competition, but wow was she off her game.

Idol Update - I was completely wrong on the girls cuts. I predicted Kady Malloy and Amanda Overmyer, but the girls sent home were......Alexandrea Lushington and Alaina Whitaker (my little Carrie Light....no!). Oh well, better luck next time.

Where the Boys Are

I admit it....I love American Idol. I have watched it from the beginning. That first season I was away from home training for a new job for eight weeks in St.Louis. I was immersed in a very confusing bizarre love triangle (love that song btw). It was the height of my do i like boys or girls crisis. I was still convinced that I had to make a choice one way or the other. The three of us were inseparable and one of our favorite things to do was curl up on the couch and watch the Idol. The craziness of that time in my life has long since faded away, but I still love to curl up on the couch and watch the Idol.
This week's theme was the 70s. Tuesday night was the boys performances. Here is my ranking of performances from best to worst:

1. David Archuleta - "Imagine" by John Lennon..... I really love this song and I thought he did a great job with it, even though he got a little theatrical with it in a couple of places. It was my favorite performance of the night. However, my favorite reality show performance of this song will always be Jordis Unga on Rock Star: INXS I'm not gonna lie, both versions made me a little emotional and I'm already imagining the duet in my head.
   
2. David Hernandez - "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" by The Temptations...I don't like this guy that much. For some reason his eyes really creep me out. They say serial killer to me, but that's just my take on it. I also hate the hoodie/blazer combo adopted by the too hip and cool set. However, if you are gonna do it, wear an actual hoodie AND blazer, not the blazer w/ sewn in pseudo hoodie. Those problems aside, he was a hundred times better than the week before and had a really strong vocal this week.
   
3. Chikezie Eze - "I Believe to My Soul" by Donny Hathaway...Another performer that I really don't like. If it were up to me he would have been gone the first week, but it wasn't up to me and he was back again. Admittedly he was also vastly improved over the previous week and was much more relatable this week.
   
4. Jason Castro - "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" by the BeeGees...I like this guy. He seems nice and genuine. His performances have a sort of Jason Mraz vibe which I like.
   
5. Danny Noriega - "Superstar" by Leon Russell....To me this kid looks like he could be Jessica Alba's kid brother and his performances border on drag queen-esque. That being said, I think he has a good voice and I love this song.
   
6. Michael Johns - "Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac...Oh Michael Johns. I think he is dreamy (yes, I said dreamy). He is beautiful, He is Australian (love the accent), and he's.. well did I mention that he is beautiful and Australian? This was not my favorite performance of his, but I like him so much I don't care. I would listen to him read/sing the phonebook and be happy.
   
7. David Cook - "All Right Now" by Free...Reasons why I like David Cook. He's a Missouri boy too, his pre-performance interview (he's a word nerd), he has cute gear, he pulls off the rocker guy thing.
   
8. Luke Menard - "Killer Queen" by Queen...He's very milquetoast to me. He's so pretty its not interesting. I thought this week's performance was better than the previous' weeks and he was able to pull off the theatrics needed for this song, but really? Trying to pull off Freddie Mercury? Everyone who can pull off performing a Queen song step forward...not so fast Luke
   
9. Robbie Carrico - "Hot Blooded" by Foreigner....Ugh, boring. I don't by the rocker thing from him and I'm not that interested in his performances.
   
10. Jason Yeager - "Long Train Running" by The Doobie Brothers....On the show, it lists him as being from Texas, but seeing his performances always reminded me of something. I grew up in Branson and he seemed very Branson show guy to me. So imagine my delight to discover that he does indeed currently reside in Branson. I am so ready for him to go back to Branson.

Idol Update - I started this post on Tuesday, but life got in the way, and I am just now finally getting to post it. Its Thursday night and the results are in....and I called it right. Robbie Carrico and Jason Yeager were both cut from the competition. The ladies are up in my next post and I have to say I didn't do nearly as well calling those results.

T-shirt Tuesdays

I like to make t-shirts. Okay, I don't actually make the t-shirt itself, but I like to iron on different random sayings on to t-shirts. So each Tuesday (its past midnight, so technically its Wednesday, but I like the sound of T-shirt Tuesday better) I am going to put up one of my t-shirt sayings. Some will be new upcoming t-shirts and some will be ones that I've already made. I'll try to include photos of the ones that I've made. To start things off, I'm going with an upcoming t-shirt:

I still like dirty words and ice cream

Brought to you by Barb (Wanda Sykes), The New Adventures of Old Christine

The New Adventures of Old Christine

My name is jason and I'm a tv addict. That being said I think you'll find that a lot of my posts will end up being tv related. Monday night is actually a pretty light tv night here in the jf household with my only real tv viewing being Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and The New Adventures of Old Christine. While I like spending time with both Sarah and Christine, the idea of a new episode of Christine is really what gets me through a Monday. Sure Sarah is out there kicking ass and taking names, but Christine is more like me. She may have a list of names of the asses she would like to kick, but she's too tired to actually do the ass kicking, and she probably misplaced the list anyways.

Let's Blog it out!

So it begins...I've toyed with the idea of having a blog before, but I've never gotten around to it before today. I haven't really decided where I'm going with this thing yet, but hopefully it will be a fun journey.