Twitter Tweets
@LukeVernon my favourite song ever, and its my alarm on phone. Wakes me up in a good mood!1 week ago from Twitter for iPhone
@LukeVernon gimme shelter gives me the urge to watch my favorite film #goodfellas1 week ago from Twitter for Android
Or GLASTONBURY even. Not sure where Galstonbury is, but Im sure it doesn't have the worlds biggest festival. Sounds Texan.1 week ago from txt
In a restaurant in the middle of the US and the song with the best intro ever came on, Gimme Shelter. Which reminded me, in 3 weeks....1 week ago from txt
I shall be seeing one of the greatest live acts of all time, The Rolling Stones, @ THE greatest festival ever, GALSTONBURY! Yes, Im shouting1 week ago from txt
Random acts of human kindness
In all honesty, I was considering not writing anything. I feel that I don't have much to get off my chest, or share with you. I mean, well....
blogging. It can be a bit egocentric when it's about yourself. How do people who write a column manage it?
Well, those who write a column that's interesting, I should add :-P Duh Moment This week saw the continuation in a lack of T Force. Not that it stopped me driving out to Chameleons..... and then back again, when I realised it wasn't on.
facepalm Still, on the positive, it wasn't like I'd made an effort with a chin sizzlingly close shave (bet they don't use us T folk in a Gilette ad), nor packing a hernia inducing bag of outfits. Being lazy, has its benefits. Humankind Midweek, the Jones Massive were enjoying a late afternoon stroll out in the local country park.
So far, so typical. All was going well and we were overtaken by a young lady on a mountain bike. A few moments later - and pretty much as we rounded the corner of some rather tall bushes - said biker was stood, her hands shaking, chin bleeding and her knee was a mess of dirt and blood.
She was - understandably - very shaken, so we stopped. I write this next bit with a mixed emotion. Not so much the ooo-aren't-we-kind BS, but more, why do some folk not stop?
We asked if she was okay - and no, we still don't know her name - and noting the shaking hands and the limp, we stopped our walk and offered to help. A lift home? Use of a phone?
A drive to a shop for medical supplies? While I offered my phone, so said biker could call her husband, the Every Lovely Mrs J agreed to take the dog a bit further on, while Wee Man wheeled the bike along, During this, some others - perhaps another six or so folk - strolled, or ran by, and while a few had a good gawk at what was going on, no-one offered to help. Funny that.
Not even a "can be help?" or the offer of a tissue / wipe to deal with the bloodied knee. Ten minutes or so later, we were all back at the main gates, and hey presto, biker lady's husband turned up looking rather worried (natch). When I used to ride a motorbike, I would stop when people were broken down.
Sometimes people wanted a push (to get off the road), some needed to make a phone call, while others were just fine. I don't do it so much now, mainly because I'm in a rush so much and also because I'm conscious my car isn't as easily parked up as my bike was. Looking back to last year - when I had my accident - a chap I've never met and never seen since - he took the time out of his day, to keep the kids safe and keep an eye on my while the Emergency Services turned up.
Indeed, he even called back in the evening, to see how I was getting on. It's a small regret of mine that I didn't thank him enough. It was a basic, but very welcome offer of help.
Take care, Lynn
Continue readingIt’s Grim Up North
Not so much that it's a surprise expose - OMG! Tubby dude in a dress! - but more that I don't really have any burning desire to get anything off my chest. I mean, the week has been good to me - all things considered (half term and all that) - and we're edging ever closer to the warmer rays of summer.
There, that's the obligatory weather comment out of the way too. :-) I 'd like to talk a bit about the recently BBC article on my home town, Nottingham. According to this article , it seems one of the poorer districts of the city, namely The Meadows, is hitting rock bottom. It is, if the media and certain southerners are to be believed, It's Grim Up North . :-) Really?
Well, Nottingham isn't The North, it's the Midlands. Honestly, what do they teach in schools these days? ;-) Mind you, for years, I thought Essex was really the Isle of Dogs, but that's just a weak gag at the expense of breast exposing, orange faced, fluffy haired, over-groomed, barely literate tarts...... and the women are as bad. :-) At least, if your only frame of reference is the cast of TOWIE.
Iffy north/south jibes aside, Nottingham does not have a good press. I like the city and I like the people here. It is a place that can't quite make up its mind over being a city of the north or the south.
For anyone who's lived/worked in more northern climes, there is a different attitude - I hasten to add the words 'in general'. Friendlier, or at least chattier. Please note I'm not saying that you can draw a line from the Wash to Bristol and on one side, one half will invite you for tea & biscuits, while the other half will snub you.
As I said to Wee Man the other night: 90% of people are okay, 5% really cool and 5% are twits. Neither 'side' is better, just different, I guess. So, The Meadows - or if you live locally, The Medduz - is an inner city council estate for the most part.
If the story is to be believed, it is one of the poorest parts of the UK. Nottingham City Council are saying the figures aren't accurate and have posted a response, which makes for interesting reading. Which one is true?
Both? Neither? I can't say.
I will say that there are some very deprived areas and from past experience working with the Councils - we have two and I don't know why, but we do - they do try to push resources into those areas. Like most of local governments right now, they're feeling the pinch of the cuts and while I'll not debate such reductions are a good or bad idea, we have them and that's that. What I will say, is that it can't be easy living that close to the breadline.
In some small way, the Jones Clan is a bit like that. On one hand, a set of relatives are very well off and although there's a bit of grumbling about how the firm - BTW, not the firm as in organised crime, okay? :-) - isn't doing so well, said family chap (Lord Jones?) is still very flush. Compare that to another branch of the Jones Massive (not us I should add), who were for a time struggling to keep food in the cupboards.
Christmas for them was rather tricky and although we set a rule of 'no more than a tenner' for presents, we cheated and hid extras in their stockings. Mind you, if you win something or someone else gives you it, you didn't pay, so strictly speaking, it's not against the rules is it? :-) So where is this wandering post getting to? Really?
I've no idea. Maybe I should enjoy what I have right now, which isn't a bad start. Maybe, if things go a little pear shaped, it would be good to remember that there are folk not so far from me, who are not as well off.
Take care, Lynn Continue reading
Eight UK Footballers Say "we’re gay" But Fear Coming Out
Football in the United Kingdom - soccer in this country - isn't wi ... Continue reading
"A life to call our own, That is ours alone, Is as hard as hell to come by these days."
If I had any more, I guess they'd be around the word mate . ;-) I was a little thrown by this and me being me, I was in a bit of a spot over to accept or not. Seems silly now I look back. Not so much the outing that happened back then, but more me taking the time to consider accepting.
I guess I was thinking forgive & forget but at the same time, I was worried that if I did, would he have another pop at outing me again? Sure, once bitten and all that. I think - no, actually, let's go with know - that some of my non-trans friends, a) wouldn't be really surprised and given the reaction my social circle has against articles from the Daily Heil... (Ed: to overseas readers, it's a stereotypical right wing tabloid that frequently prints alarmist and homo/transphobic articles.
It is in no way bears any resemblance to any real newspaper :-P ). .... wouldn't be too bothered. Hell, a few of them already know and it's a total non-issue.
Which, I think, shows how cool some folk are and that we've come on a long way. But as I've said before, there's more than just me living at Chez Jones. There's the Ever Lovely Mrs J, Wee Man, Little Miss and the Hound.
I'm not sure the Hound would be too bothered about the gossip.... being a dog and all, but the others may well be affected and there are times when I try to take my gung-ho, eff-you, take-me-as-I-am hat off (bet you didn't you could get one of those on Amazon! ;-) ) and think about how they fit within this mess we call life. So, I asked the Ever Lovely Mrs J on her thoughts (she said she'd just ignore him as he's not part of my life) and then I asked some Facebook friends.
Okay, not on my Richard account, I should add. That would be a be self-fulfilling really wouldn't it. :-) Various answers came back and all of them interesting. For me, the themes were could he be trusted , why now (after all this time) and how did I feel about the contact ?
I'd like to think that someone might be a bit more sensitive, but then that's a weakness of mine. I do look for the best in people - even..... even when it might not be there.
You'd think that someone who projects such a sceptical (even cynical?) nature in his working life, would be a bit more discerning in his private life? Ah well. So, no.
I doubt the trust element and lastly, the feelings? Mild concern , disinterest and also an overall feeling of why ? It's not like we've not bumped digital shoulders through mutual friends before.
With those thoughts in mind, I clicked ignore and put the past a little further behind me. I guess you could dwell on what happened and be angry about it. Really, it was so long ago and I really cannot be bothered to work up an emotion either way.
Best just let it go. I think I've learned a little from what happened and now, I can leave it all behind. I'm pretty sure it would be a waste of neurons picking over what I could have done differently and really, in the long run, would I be here as I am now, with my lovely wife, cute kids and good friends, if it hadn't have happened?
There's a thought. Our Different Journey On a more interesting note, Amanda and Jonathan were both kind enough to put a few words together for the Our Different Journey project. You can read their respective stories here and here .
Take care, Lynn Today's lyric: The Devil You Know by Jesus Jones Continue reading
"If ever I would stop thinking about music and politics"
I'm the LibDem option of gender! :-) Too late to say hi? Hello, it is then. It has been a rather eventful week and pretty much all in a good way.
Well, mostly, but we'll come to that later on. Stop Press! After last week's dysphoric disco of distress I would like to report that I had a very good day today.
That may not mean much in the great scheme of life, but to Yours Truly, it means a great deal. There was no rush to school - it's the Easter holidays - and the drive in to work was smoother than a posh pair of tights. Top that off with a meeting being cancelled, meant I had a morning back to catch up and dare I say, all has gone well.
Chams If part of my good mood is due to the very pleasant evening I spent with the Chams crew, I'm certainly not going to inspect the proverbial horse's orthodontic situation. :-) Sometimes, you've just got to enjoy things as they are..... Which brings me on to a Only Now Do I Get The CBT Concept moment. Feel free to sing that last bit or make up your own Intel-esq tinkly musical bit.
I shan't. I couldn't hold a tune in a bucket, but you can't have it all. :-) So, 'The Moment'.... It was down to me getting into a bit of a flap about setting off to Chameleons late and arriving about half past eight.
To me, I look at the clock, add an hour on for getting ready and then there's a little drop of the shoulders, as my mind works out how long I'll actually be there before it's pumpkin o'clock and I have to de-fab. The (now) obvious thing is to enjoy the moment. Not to worry too much about how long I'll take to get ready (Ed: the journey, not the arrival, Lynn.
Or more poetically: 'to travel in hope' as a wittier person once wrote. ) and that it'll be 'just two hours' of Lynn time. I found last night, that although I was late getting in. It wasn't really the time that was the problem, it was my interpretation of it.
I wonder that with the previous years of taking Little Miss to Granny's house, has meant that I've been lucky to arrive earlier than I would do (by an hour at least) and that I've got used to doing so. Now I'm arriving at a more typical time, I'm panicking over clock watching. Which I think, is not a good way to spend an evening.
It makes me very tense and not very pleasant. Soooo...... deep breath and try to think of the good things.
Think of the times when I've done my make-up and felt happy with the look. Also, when my over-packing has somehow paid off, and for me, my outfit is working. Those moments, the ones when you look in the mirror and think, That'll do, pig .
No, that's not right! Ack! :-) Those moments when for just a moment, you look and are content - even happy - with your image. Music...
Two things about music this week, three if you count the usual lyrical reference. Firstly, and more a personal one, I'm a little surprised at how my mood affects how I listen, or more accurately, interpret lyrics. Two good examples are Nine Inch Nail's Leaving Hope and Katy Perry's Just Like the Movies .
Yeah, I know. Katy and Trent on the same playlist, it is unusual, but so it goes. Yesterday it was Public Enemy followed by Lady Gaga.
With both songs, if I'm in a good / steady mood, I find NIN's track beautiful and haunting. The piano parts lift my soul and while I'm not usually a fan of the slower, more ambient tracks, I keep coming back to this one. Likewise, with Miss Perry's number; sure, it's a little poignant here and there, wistful, but not sad.
However, on a downer level, what was haunting, becomes melancholy and the words of Just Like the Movies , somehow they twist and turn in my head so they become about what I'm not feeling so good about. Take for example, this... and I hope there's no issue with copyright.
It didn't fit, it wasn't right Wasn't just the size... Also: The fairy tale feeling, no Am I a stupid girl, for even dreaming that I could? A body that doesn't always fit the way I feel and dreaming that I could?
Sometimes, those words hit hard. Melodramatic? Maybe :-) But when things aren't going well, it doesn't make them feel any less true.
But, if I put my feeling to one side and think about what I really want and where I am now, they're just words. They're not a siren call to me, they're about something else entirely and just maybe, it isn't just like the movies. There are dull bits where not much happens and the long, slow burn of good things, peppered with great events.
Get the girl and kill the baddies? Maybe I have and I'm riding this one to the end credits. Again, to travel in hope and all that. ....and Politics For those of you who've been living under a rock this week, one of the UK's former prime minsters passed away.
It's been a long time since Margaret Thatcher was in power, but judging by the vitriol - from supporters and detractors - you wouldn't have thought so. I can just about remember the Labour government from the 70s, I guess I would have been at primary school, but I don't remember the strikes, nor the power cuts. Skip on a few years and we had the Miners' Strike, the Poll Tax and - to a lesser extent - Clause 28.
All of those, from my sheltered middle class rural backwater upbringing, have shaped who I was. I could then, as now, see both sides of the arguments about the economy..... and that doesn't win you many friends when it seems that there are two camps: those that loved her and those who hated her. :-) As to Clause 28, I might be straight, but why shouldn't teenagers be educated about different sexualities / trans* people?
This was the era of AIDS and it seemed to me, that everyone was protesting against the government. Gay people wanted acceptance, rap was trying to break into the mainstream, ravers wanted to dance and most of us didn't want to pay the Poll Tax. ;-) Things have (thankfully) moved on since then and society is very different as it was in the 80s. In some ways, the teenies and the noughties seem a lot calmer....
well, at least to me, but it's quiet out here in the sticks. Are the battles of equality all won? No, I think we've got a little way to go yet, but we're getting there.
There are two things that amuse me - in a wry way - about the whole affair. The first is the attitude that she was universally reviled and while she certain gave people a figure to fight against, the Conservatives won many elections with her at the helm. In the end, her own party turned against her and managed one more term, before losing out to Labour in the 90s.
The other element is this attitude that you shouldn't speak ill of the dead. Yes, I think there is a time and a place for comments, and yes, what about respecting her family's grief, etc. True.....
and yet, here comes the other side. :-) Margaret's supporters are busy proclaiming what good she did for the country. Then there are her policies that had a great deal of an effect on people's lives in the 80s. To some, she let them ride the economic boom (was that government policy or a world thing?) and become upwardly mobile.
To others, her policies drove them further down the wealth ladder and many folk argue that those who worked in manufacturing / the coal industry, never recovered. I'd like to say, history will show us the facts, but what is the truth in those situations? It is possible to look beyond your own memories and views, to look at the event as they happened?
Should you let go of the past and move on, or are some events just too hard to forgive?
Take care, Lynn Today's lyric: Music & Politics by the Disposable Heroes of HipHoprsy Continue reading
Meme: "SAGA" Banned From iOS For Gay Sex, Benedict Cumberbatch Beefs Up, and Kellan Lutz Brings the "Java Heat"
And on the really bright side, we have a Days of Our Lives liveblog today. John Barrowman is guest starring on an episode of Scandal , but there are no details of his character. It's not the first time Barrowman has been part of a Shonda Rimes project.
He was slated to star in Gilded Lilies , which didn't get picked up to series. Sorry, UK, I don't think we're going to give him back now that we've got him. France's Senate has voted 179-157 to legalize marriage for all.
The first article of the bill is approved by both houses, without changes, making it extremely likely that equality is coming to France. Other articles of the bill are still pending, and I don't know enough about the French system to know if one article can become law if the others run into trouble. What is a virgin?
It's a relevant question, since even the British parliament can't seem to define consummation for same-sex couples. While filming Townies , Zac Efron and Seth Rogen were spotted standing shirtless outside an Abercrombie & Fitch. Half of that makes sense.
Brian K. Vaughan's popular comic SAGA won't be available on any iOS platform when the new book releases today, and it's all because of gay sex. The comic has always tackled racy subjects, including straight sex, bloody violence, bare breasts and more in the past, but thanks to two postage stamps size scenes of gay sex, Apple has banned it for being too racy.
You can still get it in print and on other platforms. NBC is reportedly talking to Alec Baldwin about a thirty minute late night talk show, possibly replacing Carson Daley . While this is interesting, would Baldwin really do a show that airs in the middle of the night when few people are watching?
Or do DVRs make that whole thing moot? Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has been denied his en banc appeal of the state's sodomy law. Even the judge who wrote the dissenting opinion in the original case that overturned the law denied the appeal.
It's unknown if Cuccinelli will attempt to appeal to the Supreme Court. My friend Brett Berk tackled an interesting problem that I didn't know existed. The number of young people who have driver's licenses has plummeted, which shocks me, b ecause I couldn't wait to get mine.
So he took a teenage New Yorker to California and put him in exotic cars, like a Rolls Royce to the hotel, a Lamborghini to a desert track to go off roading with an X-Games winner, put him in a Porsche with a Le Manns winner. Did he succeed in whetting the appetite to drive? The answer may surprise you.
I'm hoping to meet up with Brett later this year, and I hope he treats me to something similar. Hint, hint. Which celebrity has the most literate Twitter feed?
It's not Justin Bieber . And I'm shocked that number two is Katy Perry . How were the dinosaur sounds in Jurassic Park created?
If you guessed things like the sounds of tortoises mating, take a bow. We also have hissing geese and puppies eating. Fans of trim Benedict Cumberbatch , I have bad news.
The actor really bulked up for Star Trek Into Darkness . "It was the first time I'd really intensely shape-shifted. To go up from a 38 chest to a 42, eating 4,000 calories a day, and training two hours a day, as well as stunt rehearsals and fight choreography, it was the most physical demand that's ever been made of me for the screen." New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez really hates gay people. After going with a pocket veto of a bill designed to streamline the processes of getting professional licenses like hairdressing, nursing, etc.
for military spouses, she then signed a bill that was identical, but only for straight military spouses. Women like men with bigger penises. And science has proof.
An Australian research team created 49 unique computer generated male forms that varied in three aspects: height, shoulder-waist ratio, and flaccid penis size. They then showed them to women, who picked the bodies with the biggest Johnson as the most attractive, and was as important as previous top traits like stature. I have a feeling replicating the study with gay men would yield similar results.
The details of the study are fascinating, if not expected. Continue reading
Meh.
Ho hum. So..... I'm a bit meh really.
How's things with you? _____________________________________ Don't ask why, but I stumbled upon the quote (see image) the other day. I was going to pop it on Facebook, but for some reason, the broadband pixies had other ideas. I will be honest with you and say that many times, I forget the above.
I would like not to, but I do. Should I be a walk over? No, and I don't think that's what the saying means.
But, I think I should be a little more forgiving (Ed: look out, Brit understatement approaching team ) when it's required.
Lynn x Continue reading
Stephen Colbert mocks Jeremy Irons’ gay remarks
Immigration: The wailing banshee of racism haunts the land where even the Queen is an immigrant.
In Britain of late we have seen the beginning of the race to the bottom on this issue.
All parties and most disgracefully, the Labour Party have now decided that whipping up sentiment against immigra ... Continue reading
"Spartacus: War of the Damned" Recap: Snow Day
Olaf snow globe? Because you can only see snow, and nothing else. That, as the great Rose Nylund teaches us, is what a Minnesota town looks like in the middle of winter.
We then focus on a pile of dead bodies (which is probably more of a Crystal Lake snow globe) and a pair of frantic rebels trying to climb up them. The Romans hack them down with spears and add to their grim collection. It appears the opposite side of the trench is heavily fortified.
No going through that way! Welcome, rebels, to your very own snowmageddon: Snowstorm Crassus is coming. The rebels gather, all still wearing their summer peplums.
People, please! Didn t anyone remember what their mothers taught them about dressing in layers, hmm? You d think with all that driving snow and bare leg someone would have invented leg warmers a little earlier than 1982.
The Romans advance, but pause, pinning the rebels between the trench and their camp. Why? They re waiting for Daddy to come home.
Speaking of Daddy Crassus, he pauses to act like a father and tells Tibby he is proud of how he has been behaving lately. Proud of rape, attempted murder, various intrigue, and double-talking back to dear old Dad? Well, no doubt about it: Crassus is a Roman, through and through.
He tells Tibby that he needs him to complete one more task: to rearrange his box. Tibby sniffs, remembering when Sabinus used to ask him to do the very same thing. Tibby opens the chest and, voila, his armor is restored.
All is well, and now Tibby gets to fight alongside dear old Dad. Oh, and he also now ranks above Caesar again. That s going to go over like a dead rebel in a ditch, let me tell you.
As for Caesar, we get a gratuitous scene of him engaging in a m nage a quatre with three lovely, nubile young ladies. Uhh, is it just me, or has Spartacus: War of the Damned been marked lately by a sharp incline in female nudity while simultaneously experiencing a sharp decline in male nudity? Does anyone else find something wrong in this?
Wouldn t we all just prefer a sharp increase in all forms of nudity across the board? When was the last time we saw Crixus crack? Or Nasir s rear?
Or Gannicus err umm Gannicus annicus? Maybe everyone was shy of the full frontal this week, given all the shrinkage in the snow. Next time, Spartacus: War of the Damned , have your battle on the beach more chance for a swim trunk accident where something festive can pop out.
As the Romans set up camp, the rebels fret because a big storm is coming. Saxa tries to snuggle up to her man for warmth, and Gannicus wonders aloud if having so many Roman soldiers nearby turns her on. This is Saxa; oxygen turns her on.
But Gannicus lets her down gently saying they have other matters to tend to. Elsewhere, the rebel-of-the-day Brictius, though we should probably call him Bitchius hammers on a chained up Castus because he is a pirate. Okay, yes, the pirates went to the other side; seriously, that was like two weeks ago.
Nasir stands up for Castus, and Brictius says that if Nasir wasn t Agron s boy then he d really show him the bizz. Nasir says to never mind about Agron, that if Brictius thinks he is man enough to show Nasir the bizz he is welcome to try. I think poor Castus hopes that the bizz is rebel code for booty, but, alas, the two men are only preening.
Nasir sits beside Castus and he immediately gets his flirt on. Damn, that boy does have good game and great pecs! (And, I ve noticed, weirdly painted-on eyebrows. I once had a seventy-six year old auntie with the exact same painted-on eyebrows.
Just saying.) Castus asks Nasir for a sword, so he can fight Crassus, but Nasir says that decision is not his to make. Continue reading