A Shift in the Fabric of Bakerality - GayinOh8's Blog - Bakotopia

Where Do You Stand?

www.politicalcompass.org/test

If anyone is interested and has about 5 minutes to spare: The above link has an interesting series of questions which will ultimately yield a graph indicating where you stand politically. You don't have to sign in to anything, sign up for anything or provide any more personal information that your browser already does.

My resulting graph came as no real surprise other than I thought I was a bit more "left".

I truly do hope everyone is taking time to educate and inform themselves on who they're voting for and why. It's true- either McCain or Obama are destined for the White House. But you can send a message by voting for a number of other candidates who more accurately represent YOU. Don't be misled by slanted media coverage, commercials or flyers. I believe that voting blind is a bigger dis-service to this country than not voting at all.

Don't vote blind.

Do vote informed.

Thank you.

Soap box, anyone?

Terrorist Driver in Bakersfield

I am getting so fed up with the driving habits of some people. The woman who drives the car pictured ought to have her license revoked immediately! After blazing past myself and a dozen other cars at break-neck speeds she cut me off with barely a foot a clearance and no turn signal. I honked only to receive the middle digit for my concern. Interestingly enough I recognized the frizzy, over-bleached, white/blonde hair as that of a "waitress" (coughpoledancercough) from my one and only visit to The Tilted Kilt. And wouldn't you know it? That is where she pulled off into. Must've been late for her shift or something.

Sorry, folks, but these driving habits need to be addressed. So I've taken it upon myself to let everyone know who she is (to the best of my knowledge), what she drives and where she works. Maybe this will get her thinking that her actions do, in fact have consequences.

Oh, and the tattoos, the ones pointing to her cootch... How nice that they match the decals on her windshield. Nice in an oildale Barbie sort of way.

I Think I've Had Enough....... For Now.

Been a while, eh?

Not much has happened in the World of Johnson lately. Mostly working on the house (we are ALWAYS working on the house). But I've decided to start making some changes in my (our) life.

See, Stephen and I have really been beating our selves up for being fat, lazy, spending too much money on nonsense and in general not living the way we'd like. So I've decided to start making some plans and make some changes:

Plan #1: Stop eating out. Period. Ever. I estimate the we spend $200+/month eating out because we are just too damned lazy to cook. That's $2,400/year- or two whole house payments. Enough already!

Plan#2: No more soda. Even diet. I haven't had a beer in like 4 days! It's killing me.

Plan #3: Start getting into some sort of better physical condition. I'm not talking gym and working out and all that crazy talk. Maybe just walking around the neighborhood every evening for a while. Maybe a cute little pink tandem bike- that'll get the neighbors a-chattin'!

I'm still working on the rest. We don't have a plan for the future- like when Stephen retires and all that. We have no idea where we'll be in 5 or 10 years and not knowing has really started to bug the crap outta us. I just feel like maybe we could be more in control (not complete control- that's weird) of where our lives are going.

Maybe my "old age" is finally catching up with me. Dunno.

Leave In Love

Finally managed to upload my one-and-only song I'v ever recorded to some conclusion. Here's the information in case some of y'all care:

Miles Johnson: Writer, producer, piano, vocals and keyboard (bass line)

Percussion by the owner of Spectrum Studios, Ft. Lauderdale

Accoustic and electric guitar by someone FAR more talented than I could ever be.

Comments welcome- just know that this is not a passion nor something I even do anymore. It merely represents a time- oh, about 12 years ago- when I still had passion for doing something I loved. Now I just care about paying bills. So the score is:

Life:1, Miles:0

Thanks for listening.

What If.........

I've really got to pull myself together. This whole Prop 22 / Ann Barnett / Jean Fuller has begun to take more of my time, passion and energy than I thought I'd care to give it. But some comments have continued to needle me in unsettling ways. They got me to thinking- you guessed it- what if we all got our way? Either in tandem or as seperate issues.

What if gay marriage were here to stay, upheld by the CSSC? If the November vote kept gay marriage, what would happen? What would you do personally? What would happen to the county? Thet State?

What would happen if same-sex marriage were voted out of law in November?

As one person suggested, why don't the gays just go somewhere else and get married? For that matter (and taking that logic to it's ultimate conclusion) why don't the gays simply leave Kern altogether?

What about the Jews, or blacks or hispanics?

Describe a Kern County to me where everyone get's their way. Isn't that the essence of a kind of "Bakotopia"?

Remember This Face!

Look at this picture. Committ it to memory.

This is the face of the enemy.

As many of you already know, Ann Barnett has put her foot down and decided (on behalf of all Kern County residents- she is an elected official, you know) that if gays are allowed to marry, by gosh NO ONE will. Well, not in her office anyway. Can't you almost here the tantrum now? Sadly, she also controls who has the ability to officiate over ANY weddings. Quite literally, this person has the ability to decide who can get married and who cannot. Apparently California Law stops at the Kern County border.

SIGH

Good morning all. I debated with whether I should start a new blog since my attitude has somewhat changed from yesterdays crappy one. But I think I will be addressing some of the thoughts expressed in my last blog so here goes:

I didn't know Chris Page. And after much thought yesterday I have resigned myself to the fact that I have, in fact never really dealt with death and the dying. In fact, my friend and I were just talking about this a couple days ago: I come from a relatively small family and people only die when they're like 90. I've only attended two funerals in my life so my experience is kinda minimal. Why bring this up? 'Cuz I have this preconcieved tv-like notion about how people (I?) should act towards others in instances like this.

Very recently, my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (breast cancer). Her prognosis, truth be known, isn't good. So lots of dark things have been going through my mind in the past couple of months. Let's toss in my own chronic/manic depression (I take meds for it) and a bevy of other, less-important issues... I guess it all adds up to my lack of experience and some bad timing.

Despite my pessimistic nature I have rare and fleeting moments when I think people (average everday people like me) "should/could" do the right thing. If for no other reason than it's what the heart and soul begs for, no? I believe I now go through life relatively guarded, definately jaded and somewhat medicated against the ills that pervade our culture. But sometimes, a tiny little spark of "something" goes off in me and I wonder (and rage) about what could've been; what should be. Silly? Perhaps. But I think if that spark ever really goes away, I'll be dead inside. Yet another reason why I completely understand why Chris did what he did and how easy it can be to get there.

My recent reaction to Chris' passing stems from a surprisingly deep affinity I feel for the man though I never heard of him until recently. We are both writers, similar age, similar interests, passions and struggles... Assessments of his writing are exact duplicates of the critiques I have received all my life. It's like I'm looking at myself and I wonder: Could that have been me? Could it still?

Maybe this news and subsequent internal revelations are harbingers of bigger hurdles yet to come. Perhaps I am being warned, or prepared in some way. Perhaps I'm thinking too much on it. Perhaps.

From this dead-weight shark to anyone interested in receiving it: My apologies for the ruckus.

So Much To Do...

Well, ya had to know it was coming. I don't think two minutes passed after the California Supreme court wisely overturned the vote to ban gay marriage before I was looking at china patterns and color schemes.

So before that inevitable referendum is put before our Governor (something he publicly promised he would not endorse) we- Stephen and I- are planning on getting hitched. I'm tired of living in sin.

But there is sooooo much to do.

Where to tie the knot? I know I don't want to get married in a church...

Who to invite? Do you think Harvey Hall will come?

Where to register? Besides the obligatory Home Depot and Macy*s...

Where to hold the reception? I know who I want to have as my Best Man, but I think Stephen might have a tough time choosing.

Fall or Winter wedding? Should I wear white?

This Ship

Remnants of the old Bakersfield barely peeking through.

A thinned-down glaze of the almost-new

Hanging up in the crevices to show the real depth and character of a city

with much conflicting identity.

Paint slathered on old brickwork.

Over unhealed wounds of thoughtless repairs to electric

and windows

and awnings.

Skeletal remains of what used to be important.

Reflections of what was follow each window, reminding us that memories sometimes outlast the physical structure.

Behemoths of dessert architecture

seem almost resigned to a fate

less than half of their builders' intention.

So there might be coffee shops, and clothiers

and blasphemous prophets that spew humility while sipping $4 coffees.

Downtown Bakersfield- an amalgamation of inanimate memes that are fading,

scaring over with time.

Crumbling under the kindness of owners and patrons,

but will outlast us all.

On a Scale of 1 to 10.....

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the least, 10 being the most....

How close do you feel to your immediate family?
How "connected" are you to your community in general?
How intune with the current trends, culture and events do you think you are?
How globally responsible do you feel you behave?
How do you rate your own "uniqueness"?
How "on track" are you in your life?

Feel free to add your own questions.

Enjoy!!