My True Passion

Movies and movie theater popcorn. Way back in the day there was a $1 movie theater near my childhood home. Growing up we were in fiscally tight times, so this was the theater we visited most frequently. Usually just me and my mom. Cheap movies, cheap popcorn and sode (if you can believe that), and all the refills my tiny tummy could muster. Those were good times.

I carried this love into high school. The ideal date for me was a rented flick and a night on the couch. Better yet, throwing a mattress in the back of my dad's pickup truck and heading to the drive-in. Better than that? The drive-in theater had self-buttering popcorn. I found I had enough of the delicious butter on my popcorn when it started to float. Let's pretend I am kidding.

Then to college. I saw movies about every other week. RELIGIOUSLY. Hooray student discounts.

The law school happened. The time and costs associated with seeing Hollywood's finest (in Toledo at least) got to be out of hand. I saw few movies. Those were the dark days.

BUT ALAS, I am now gainfully employed and face the prospect of an endless stream of summer hits. This list will be amended and added too, I am sure, but here are a few I have seen and still want to see:

1) Iron Man
2) SATC
3) Indiana Jones
4) The Incredible Hulk
5) The New CGI Star Wars Movie
6) Hancock
7) Batman

I know I am missing some. Boy I hope the budget can handle this :)....

Back from Germany

And surviving to tell the stories.

A few highlights:

1) Seeing my friend Eric. Eric was a college roommate, fraternity brother, and a groomsman at my wedding. Eric pointed out that in a few months we will have known each other for ten years. Time flies far too quickly. At least half a world and the Atlantic Ocean did not prevent us from staying friends.

2) Doing shots in a bar made entirely of ice. The bar, the shot glasses, the statues, chairs (with a fur seat), and the entrance.... all made of ice. The apple cinnamon vodka looked just like cider and tasted like it too. What a treat!

3) German "clubs". These places crack me up. They large play "haus musik". Techno/electronic music to us. It is crap in my book, but those wacky Germans seem to like it. Who am I to judge? They dance and dance and dance all night to it, and love every second. And their dancing is not the grind your naughty parts on some else's naughty parts. No, they keep their space and spin around alot and do not touch all that much. In fact, because Eric and I do not dance to haus, his girlfriend would go off for songs and songs at a time dancing by herself. She totally loved it. We loved watching her shut guys down that tried to creep up on her and lay their best mack down.

4) Seeing Hamburg for the first, and likely only time. It was pleasant but nothing spectacular. My red light district experience with Eric was funny. No we did not partake, we were just seeing what it was and what it was like. No women allowed, so Eric's girl had to find a local bar and hang out. Nothing like scantily clad women-of-the-night sitting on barber shop chairs at windows. If we even got SORT of close, the window would fly open for, no doubt, intellectually stimulating conversation. We stayed in the center of the road, for sure. The best part? These oh-so-clean ladies sat on towels in their chairs. Heaven forbid that a women who gets paid to have sex with random dirtbags sit an unprotected chair.

5) Rolling out of a gentlemen's club at 5:00 am. Crickets cricketing and birds chirping. Our emergence from the club was like that scene from Varsity Blues. You know the one. The details of this event cannot be safely, and g-ratedly, chronicled here. Ask me if you dare. Let's just say that the idea to visit said club was not mine and not Eric's. Let's also say that there was intimate contact with a stripper. And not by me. I REALLY do not like it when they touch me.

6) Meeting with some law firms that we work with. The reception had tons of GREAT German food (read: pretzels, potatoes, sausage, and beer) and great conversation. It was a PR adventure that I was on, and it seemed to be successful. The reception had its share of prizes too, but I did not win any. Maybe next time.

It was a GREAT trip! I look forward to returning to Germany.

Gay Marriage

Let's get a little serious here. A little political. Ooooooh, scary stuff, I know. Let's talk gay marriage. As you all know by now, California's Supreme Court recently ruled that gay marriages are legal. What do you think? Good thing or bad thing?

My thoughts, as succinctly as I can possibly muster:

1) Like abortion, this affects so damn few people that it sickens me the disproportionate amount of attention it gets from the media, activists, Bible thumpers, etc. What is the percentage of the American public that is homosexual? Ten percent? How many are of age to get married? How many WANT to get married? We are talking single digits here people. Is it really worth all the attention? Methinks not.

2) There are two very pragmatic reasons to get married. One or both may apply to you. You get married for religious reasons or for tax reasons (I awkwardly lump health benefits into this category). This is strictly a utilitarian view that ignores the love, companionship, and friendship sort of reasons. Speaking from a very black and white legal sort of way there are two: taxes and relgion. Well we all know *cough* there is a separation of church and state, right? So as far as the government is concerned, religious reasoning should not enter into the equation. What does that leave? Tax implications. That is no reason at all to prevent two committed, loving people from enjoying the legal and societal reprecusions of marriage, good and bad.

3) The sanctity of marriage argument. Oh, this is a doozy. Over 50% of marriages end in divorce. Everyone clearly respects the committments, promises, and vows they make. The selflessness and work associated with marriage. Til death do us part. In good times and bad. In sickness and in health. That means the world to me. To 50%+ of the married folk, it does not. How sanctimonious. For Christ's sake, people get married by a damn Elvis in Vegas. In Lord of the Rings themed ceremonies. By a damn judge in the local courthouse. THIS is the sanctity of marriage? A $99.99 "special" that includes a crappy bouquet, 10 complimentary pictures, and a witness that is on the staff? Really? THESE marriages are ok and perfectly legal and acceptable, but a gay marriage is not? Shove the sanctity argument, I say. Either these mockeries of marriage are made illegal, or all marriages between two people of ANY sex are legal. You just cannot have it both ways.

And with the removal of myself from the soapbox de tolerance, you may now return to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Off to Vegas for five days, then back for three days, then off to Germany for five days.

Life is grand as a jetsetter.