News From The Gay Underground: December 2006

Return

When are you planning to return and when is the proper return date?

The Curse of the Golden Flower

Wow.

I have NEVER seen such generous use of color - such an expansive, saturated palette. The interior corridors of the palace is drenched in opulent rainbow in such an amazing way. The costumes are remarkable. The sound editing is peerless. The story is adequate, although lackluster - but on a visual basis alone, this film is worth seeing.

Be Proud of Your Lesbian!

I bought the "Hedwig" DVD from the Borders in Santa Monica yesterday, and the girl at the checkout was really hot and really gay (and got more bold in her conversation with me when she saw my wallet). And I managed to not die, smiled a little, and sort of flirted back a tiny bit. Be proud, your lesbian is making progress.

Christmas At The Kirks

The House
I have always loved my grandparents house. This sprawling ranch house is one of my favorite places in the world. I don’t have the time to go through the pictures of the house in detail, but this house is filled with treasures from their travels.

The Living Room

Zebra skin in the Family Room (I thought it was an elephant when I was little)

The Library/Piano Room

My Grandmother’s office

My Family

My Dad

My Dad as an ornament

My sister Sara, and my Aunt Heather (Seattle)

Sara’s friend and co-worker Greg who joined us because he was alone this Christmas. (Greg is also gay—Well, just a hair below flaming, and my parents were surprisingly welcoming to him (Sara told them before she came) My parents really wanted to make sure that Greg wasn’t coming to see me)

My aunt Julie (Petaluma) and Heather

Jeff and Heather (Seattle-Microsoft)

My Grandmother, Heather, and my Grandfather

My Mom, Heather and my Grandmother

The Party

(misc. cousins)

My grandfather found this horrible portrait at a garage sale. I found it with the other portraits on one of the Pianos

Heather (Marina), Allyson (my sister)

David (Dental Hygienist, Marina)

Lauren

An Impromptu Recital

Heather and her daughters

Blair-Orthodontist, Petaluma (Guy on the couch with Grey hair)

It's the most wonderful time of the year...?

Last year, Christmas fell during Channukah and was held at my house, with both sides of the family (well, my mom's dad's side and my dad's side). The previous two years, I was in Israel over winter break and was praying at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, more or less unaware of Christmas, but getting lost in the Arab Quarter with Steve and Ezra after touring the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Christian Quarter. This was my first "normal" Christmas in three years, and I'd have rather spent it in Jerusalem.

It started out fine, though now at my grandmother's boyfriend's house since she sold her own (where it had always been) and moved in with him just over two and a half years ago. We didn't sleep over and do stockings the way we used to (usually lacking the pretense of Santa), but Kaylie is the youngest grandchild and turning fourteen on Friday; we're arguably getting old for that. The family was mostly as it used to be, though plus Dale and minus the uncle (Greg) who divorced, remarried, and moved to Maryland: me, my parents, my sister, my grandmother (Peg), and my aunt Mary, uncle Brian, and cousins Meg and Tacy. We opened presents in this group; I got a few gift cards, a giraffe shaped candy dish, and tickets to Wicked for over Spring Break. It was nice, as I remembered it, aside from being the wrong house.

After gifts, my grandmother piled a bunch of food on the table--including everything from appetizers to desserts--and said there was no official meal, just eat what and when you want. A far cry from the old sit-down meal she had to get my mother's kosher approval on. Then she went and got Dale's four granddaughters form their house, brought them over, and they had a second present opening session, separate from us. Kaylie played with one of them, since they're the same age, but the rest was more or less orchestrated ways of Peg's granddaughters vs. Dale's granddaughters. We played Apples to Apples separately, watched movies separately, and ate separately.

And Dale's oldest granddaughter has got to be UCSB's stupidest student, or else I can't see how they get higher rankings than we do. She insisted that she got a B in Astronomy, and so must be right in telling her grandfather that our Sun is the only one that is a "sun" (the rest are "just stars"), we can see other galaxies with our naked eye, and that "red giant" and "white dwarf" are terms that are assigned to stars based on distance from the earth. Then Dale offered to let her sit in his [massaging] arm chair, which would "send her to Mars, because it has vibrators and feels good."

The evening really felt like a depressing end to a good Christmas morning. Luckily my dad suggested that we just all go out and see DreamGirls, which was the best thing all day. I highly recommend it, and if you see it, stay through the credits--my dad's name is on there. It was very well acted, and will definitely be up for several Oscars. Even Eddie Murphy was amazing; it's his Punch Drunk Love, I suppose, though he's not the main male star. I really enjoyed it.

But I think I like Channukah better.