Countries I've been to

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States I've been to

My sister and I used to talk about who between us had been to the most states. Now I have an easy way to see which states I've been to(not counting layovers):



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My first overnight call

I thought I should mark this milestone by writing a post. Tonight is my first overnight call ever. I got to the hospital this morning at 5:20 AM and I won't be leaving until tomorrow morning, probably around 9 or 10 AM. So that's a long time. I am on ob/gyn right in Labor and Delivery. Things are going well and I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. It's really amazing being there to help deliver a baby. I'm not saying I want to be an ob but it has opened my eyes a little to being something other than a radiologist. I've especially had my interest piqued in anesthesiology because they do get to see patients and talk to them and be in surgeries, but don't have to deal with clinics or stressful procedures.

Nothing's going on right now but I'm hoping to see some deliveries tonight. I'll have to wait and see.

Shakira concert

I've waited for six years to finally Shakira in concert and it was amazing! Our seats were on the floor right in the center, 19 rows back. I can' believe how close I got to her. At one point she came into the audience, down the right side and she was probably within 10-15 seats of me. She sang mostly in Spanish and sang most of my favorite songs from all of her albums. Her part lasted about an hour and 40 minutes. These are the songs she sang:

Estoy Aqui
Te Dejo Madrid
Don’t Bother
Hey You
Antalogia
Inevitable
La Tortura
Si Te Vas
No
Ciega, Sordomuda
Para Obtener Un Si
Whenever, Wherever
Underneath Your Clothes
La Pared
Pies Descalzos
Ojos Asi
Hips Don’t Lie

My birthday week

Last Tuesday was my birthday so I celebrated with different activities all week long. It was nice to celebrate in Columbus for the first time.

On Tuesday I was supposed to shadow a physician at the MS clinic, but the program coordinator forgot to tell me that the physician was in India. So I had the morning off and in the afternoon I arranged to shadow a radiologist which was fun. I got some pointers on applying for resideny and stuff. I still like radiology a lot. I had lunch with Julie and Lindsey before heading over to the radiologist. After Kip got done with work he picked me up and we went to Chili's for my birthday. I wanted something fast and had been craving Chili's for a while, so it was good. We met Julie at Graeter's and got delicious sundaes. Kip gave me a lot of thoughtful gifts-a massage gift certificate, a CD, a Pound Puppy and a shirt from Abercrombie. I was really impressed. I was impressed with my family. Everyone except the oldest remembered my birthday by emailing, calling or sending a card.

On Wednesday I got my board scores back and was pleasantly surprised by how well I did. I'll be able to do radiology now, so I'm really excited about that.

On Thursday night I joined the boys for their weekly Union Station night. We started at Aaron's and had a fun time playing kings and quarters. They got me a birthday cookie so that was fun to blow out the candles. We went to Union Station where Julie requested Hips Don't Lie so I got really excited and started dancing on a chair. They told me to get down so I went up to the stage and started dancing. Some lesbians started putting dollar bills down my pants so I took my shirt off for them and ended up making five dollars. We didn't stay too late because Kip, Julie and I had to work the next day.

On Saturday I had a birthday dinner at Buca di Beppo with Erika and all of our med school friends. Erika's birthday is next week so we decided to share our birthday dinner. The food was really good and we got a big jug of wine to share. Kip's friend made me a delicious rasberry filled cake with this cream cheese frosting. Everyone loved it. After dinner we went to Gasworks, but they wouldn't let Sean in because he was wearing a jersey so we went to Novak's. Julie and Lindsey bought us all two shots and then a tequila shot for our birthday. It was really hot in there so we went outside to the patio for a while. We left there and went to Lodge Bar. We sat at a table for a while then they started playing good music so we went to dance for about a half an hour. It was really fun. The highlight was Julie and I dancing dirty to "Hang On Sloopy." Everytime the said O-H-I-O we would grind into each other and then bust up laughing. It was nice to get to dance with everyone and it was a good way to cap off a great week.

Sorry for my long absence

Sorry to all my readers who've been anxiously awaiting another post. Things have been crazy around here while finishing up my second year of med school, taking the boards and starting Med 3.

We were to start Med 3 on Monday but when I showed up at my assigned Neurology clinic the nurses told me that the doctor I was supposed to be working with wasn't seeing patients that day so they told me I could go home and they'd call me. I went home and called the coordinator of the program and she told me that I could take the day off and start on Wednesday. Monday also made nine months since our first date, so Kip and I went out to eat and then to see the big fireworks show that Columbus puts on.

On the Fourth of July we went to two barbecues. One was with my med school friends at Brad's house where we ate hamburgers, brats and I made strawberry daquiris. We shot off some fireworks. At night we went to another barbecue at Sanjida's apartment. We grilled chicken and had mojitos. We went back to Kip's apartment and watched more fireworks from his window.

On Wednesday morning I went to shadow a neuro-oncologist which was interesting. We saw a good number of patients with brain tumors. I did more at my first preceptorship last year than I did with this doctor so that's not what I expected from third year. He gave me a packet of articles that he wrote to read. Thursday I was in the neurology clinic but I only saw one patient all day and it was with a resident. Friday was better, I saw three patients with memory loss with an attending and got to see a full neuro exam for the first time. I've had every afternoon off except for Wednesday when we had a lecture, so it was a pretty easy week to start off my third year.

LDS church encourages members to support the marriage amendment

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I'm studying for Step 1 of the boards right now so that's all I've been doing.

I had to post today though because I came across this article and it literally brought tears to my eyes, I don't know why it hit me like it did, I know the LDS church doesn't support gay marriage, but maybe it's because I just went to my sister's wedding and thinking that my family belongs to a church like this, it makes me really sad. I'm considering emailing them all and telling them my feelings, but part of me just says leave them alone. We'll see.

The article says,

"Voice your support for a federal marriage amendment, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints urges in a letter to be read in LDS sacrament meetings Sunday.
The letter, sent to priesthood leaders in the United States, calls on Latter-day Saints to contact their senators to support a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment that would limit lawful marriages to those between a man and a woman."

The church is actually encouraging all of its members to actively support the marriage amendment and they're announcing that during the Sunday services. Words can't express how upsetting that is to me.

Protestors arrested at BYU

The Soulforce Equality Riders visited BYU's campus this week. They are visiting conservative colleges across the country to protest the treatment of gays. Here's an article about the visit from today's Salt Lake newspaper.

Five BYU students participated in the demonstration and were arrested for trespassing(I guess). I don't really understand how they were trespassing at their own school, but I don't really know the legalities of it all. I thought it was interesting how the Honor Code deals with homosexuality, I don't remember ever reading it before. The Honor Code says, "Brigham Young University will respond to student behavior rather than to feelings or orientation. Students can be enrolled at the University and remain in good Honor Code standing if they maintain a current ecclesiastical endorsement and conduct their lives in a manner consistent with gospel principles and the Honor Code. Advocacy of a homosexual lifestyle (whether implied or explicit) or any behaviors that indicate homosexual conduct, including those not sexual in nature, are inappropriate and violate the Honor Code." So I would have gotten in trouble for even saying that it's ok to be gay. No wonder I lived in fear of getting kicked out while I was there.

This story appeared in the Utah County section of the newspaper on Tuesday. It deals more with the aspects of being gay and a BYU student. It quotes a story recounted by a gay student that after an accident his mother told him, "it would have been better if God had taken [you] from the Earth rather than leave [you] here to be gay." This is the kind of thing gay Mormons have to deal with. Luckily my mom would never say that to me, but she definitely isn't ok with it. But I'm glad that Soulforce brought attention to BYU's discriminatory treatment of gays.

Spring Break '06 "wooh, wooh"

I had a great trip to D.C. for Spring Break. It was a lot of fun to be able to spend so much time with Kip. I was really glad that we went. Sarah was our gracious host again. Kip and I drove down in my car and Brad, Erika and Lindsey drove in Erika's car. Julie flew down on Sunday so we met up with her in D.C. The weather was bad most of the drive to D.C. so that wasn't fun. When the storm hit in D.C. it blew off a lot of the cherry blossoms that were in bloom, but they were still pretty when we were walking around the monuments. Monday night we went to eat dinner in Dupont Circle at Front Page. While we were eating dinner, our friend Ryan called to tell us that another med student in our class has been missing since last Friday. None of us are really good friends with him but we all know him and have spoken to him before. We were all pretty freaked out and it was hard to think about anything else all night and we kept talking about it the rest of the trip. We called all our other friends to see what information we could find out. We tried to get on with our night, so we headed to Buffalo Bills to play pool and watch the NCAA championship game.

On Tuesday we went to the Holocaust Museum which I hadn't been to for eight years, so it was touching to see everything again. We ate lunch at the Old Post Office and then went to the Spy Museum. It was interesting but I don't think it was worth 15 dollars when there is so much else to do in D.C.(like shop at H&M which I didn't get to do). Dinner was in Dupont Circle at a Mexican restaurant. I was impressed because they had some Spanish dishes and the first song I heard there was "Las de la Intuicion" by Shakira. We had lots of margaritas and sangria. After dinner we headed to a bar in Adam's Morgan and had some "booty fun, booty fun" before heading to another bar for karaoke.

On Wednesday Kip and I were supposed to wake up to stand in line for tickets to the Washington Monument. I was too tired though so we stayed in bed. So I still haven't been up that yet. We had lunch at Capitol City Brewing Company near Union Station. The food was delicious but the service, as we experienced throughout D.C., was awful. After lunch we began our marathon walk from Union Station to the Capitol to the National Museum of Natural History to the Jefferson Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial to the Vietnam Memorial to the World War Two Memorial and then back to the metro near the Washington Monument. It was a sunny but windy day and we were all tired and freezing by the end. Still the museum was interesting and it was fun to see all the memorials again. We went to dinner at Rhodeside Grill, Julie's favorite D.C. establishment. We had a large group of Julie's friends from med school, college and high school. Kip and I went to bed early while the rest went out to a club in Georgetown.

Thursday we packed, ate lunch at Cosi and headed back to Columbus.

Off to DC for Spring Break

Well on a sort of last minute decision, Kip and I have decided to head to our nation's capital for Spring Break with four of our friends from school. We'll see if I finally make it up the Washington Monument. Today is also the six month anniversary of our first date, so I'm excited that I get to spend it in the car with him and then in DC together. This is our first trip together so that's exciting. I'll let you know how it goes.

Botellones in Spain

Spain has been on my mind lately since it was exactly a year ago that I was there last for Spring Break. I was pleasantly surprised when Yahoo! News posted this article on Friday about 25,000 people at a botellon in Granada to protest a new law aimed at stopping these drinking binges. I knew the date was around when I had my first botellon in Granada, but it wasn't until I looked at my journal that I saw that it was the exact same date, just one year later, so I thought that was an odd coincidence. The one I went to probably had less than 200 people at it, but it was a lot of fun to be hanging out in a mall parking lot drinking Tinto de Verano with a whole bunch of Spaniards. I was hoping to do one again the next time I go, so I hope this law doesn't put an end to them.

The likes of him ain't welcome in these here parts

My little sister is getting married in May. She's my last sibling to get married. We were always close growing up and were often referred to as "The Twins." The only negative thing about our relationship was that I couldn't tell her what was going on in my personal life since I wasn't out to her. I hoped that our relationship would be made stronger when I came out to her last year. But as you can read here, she didn't take it well at all and our relationship has deteriorated to the point that I've only spoken to her once since Christmas.

When I found out she had chosen the date of her wedding I called her to ask if I could bring Kip. She didn't really think about it before saying yes. She just wanted to make sure that I really cared about him and that I wasn't bringing him to try to make my parents upset. I told of course I cared about him. I asked Kip if he would come with me and he agreed. I was so excited that Kip was going to meet my family and Dave and see where I grew up.

Fast forward a couple of weeks to last Friday. I was calling my dad back after he left me a message to call him. My mom answered and we chatted for a minute before she blurts out, "We don't want Kip to come to the wedding." I should have seen it coming, but I wasn't even sure they knew I wanted to bring him yet, so I was caught by surprise. Over the next twenty minutes she proceeded to explain why:because they weren't ready for it yet, because Katie changed her mind and I can't take attention away from her on her special day, because my mom doesn't want Kip to come and she not be able to be nice to him. She says she's trying to understand the decisions I made but hasn't been able to deal yet. Keep in mind I came out to them eight months ago. I think a normal family would have been able to deal by now. I don't see how she's ever going to be ok with it because she believes I won't be happy in the long run and that I'm ruining my life. I'm reminded of why I hate the fact that my family is Mormon.

So Kip's not coming with me to the wedding anymore and I have to face my extended family all alone. I'm sure he's relieved and I guess I am too a little just because I don't think my family could have treated him the way he deserves to be treated just because they don't approve of our relationship. I thought about not going at all but I know I'd regret it. It just won't be very special if I don't get to be there with Kip. After the wedding I don't know if I'll ever want to go back.

Who I'm rooting for at the Oscars

I'm attending an Oscar party at Chris' and I have to say I'm excited for this year's show because of all the gay movies up for awards and the opportunity to see Dolly Parton perform "Travelin' Thru," her nominated song from Transamerica. It will be fun to watch the show with a lot of my friends and Kip.

Here's who I want to win for some of the awards tonight:

Best Picture-Of the nominated films, I've seen Brokeback Mountain and Crash. I thought Crash was an amazing film. But I think and, of course, hope that Brokeback Mountain will win for getting the nation to talk about homosexuality.

Best Actor-I hope Heath Ledger wins just because he portrayed a gay cowboy, but I didn't think he did an amazing job, and his accent really annoyed me. I saw Walk the Line and I thought Joaquin did a great job of portraying the "Man in Black."

Best Actress-This will be a tough race between Reese and Felicity. I loved Reese's bubbly personality, vocals and the way she helped Johnny Cash through rough times. But I hope the Oscar will go to Felicity Huffman for playing a man transitioning into a woman. Transamerica was an amazing movie that impacted me even more than Brokeback Mountain did and Felicity deserves to be awarded for the way she made me appreciate the difficulties of being transgendered.

Best Supporting Actor-I liked Jake's character much better than I did Heath's, so if only one of them gets the Oscar I hope it's Jake.

Best Supporting Actress-I love my Jen Lindley from Dawson's Creek and I'm so happy she has a hot man and had an amazing role in this movie. I hope she wins. Of the others nominated, I also saw Rachel in The Constant Gardener. It was a good movie and she was certainly beautiful, but I don't think she should beat out Michelle.

Animated Feature-I'm not that big a fan of animated movies, but I saw Corpse Bride and enjoyed it.

Original Score-Brokeback Mountain

Original Song-"Travelin' Thru"

We'll see what happens tonight!

Another update on Utah bill to ban Gay-Straight Alliances

The Utah legislative session ended at midnight last night. According to the Deseret News, "lawmakers, by not voting, killed a bill that would have allowed school districts to ban student clubs that deal in some way with sexuality — the goal to get rid of the current gay-straight-alliance clubs."

So it looks like this bill will have to wait until next year unless it is brought up again in a special legislative session that may be convened at a later date.

Leaving the church

Thanks to all the people who leave comments on my blog. Elbow left this comment on my blog: "I think that leaving the Church is just as huge as coming out to your parents." It made me think about my reasons for leaving the Mormon Church and I decided to create a post about it since I've already talked about coming out to my parents.

It's kind of hard for me to explain just how big a deal it is to leave the church. I was raised Mormon until I left home at 23, so it's all I knew growing up. My parents and seven siblings are all still in the church and believe that I will not be able to live with them forever if I don't follow the teachings of the church. It is a huge disappointment to them that I no longer attend church or have a testimony(belief that the Mormon Church is true). When I go home I feel like an outsider with my family members.

At the same time for me it was not a big issue at all. I never developed a testimony like so many other gay Mormons out there, so I didn't have to ever reconcile my testimony with my feelings for guys. Not that I didn't go through a period of self-doubt and wishing I could be straight and normal, but that didn't take too long to resolve. It just didn't make sense to me that the church could teach that acting on gay feelings could be wrong since I didn't choose to be gay.

Eventually I came up with the plan that as soon as I came home from my mission and moved away from home that I would stop going to church. When I moved to Ohio in 2004 I went to church here for about two months and then I found gay friends to hang out with so I stopped going to church because I didn't need the instant friends that I gained by going to church. I also had to stop caring about what my Mormon classmates thought about me, which wasn't that hard since I had just met them a couple of months prior. As soon as I was ready to not care about what my family thought of me, I came out to them and told them what I thought of the church. I knew I had to do it because making them happy was not worth lying to them anymore. I am really happy with my decision to come out to them. I am so happy now that I don't have to waste my time going to church. I still believe in God and will always try to be a good person, but I don't need to go to church to do that.

Go Huntsman!

According to The Deseret News Governor Huntsman plans to veto a couple of bills sponsored by Sen. Buttars including the one that I wrote about in my last post that would ban gay clubs in high schools.

Regarding these bills Governor Huntsman said, "If they look and feel like they did in earlier incarnations, I will veto them. We'll have to see what they look like when they reach my desk."

Update on Utah bill to ban Gay-Straight Alliances

The Utah legislature is in session now and I just read an article in The Deseret News that talked about a bill sponsored by Sen. Chris Buttars which he hopes will put an end to Gay-Straight Alliances in Utah high schools. He's not even a representative of Utah County where the Provo High School Gay-Straight Alliance was formed, so I don't know why he felt it was his obligation to get this law passed, besides being a self-righteous bigot.

Here's part of the article:

A bill to tighten controls on clubs at Utah high schools passed out of the Senate Education Committee on Monday, prompting tears from students who fear the bill would effectively shut down Gay-Straight Alliances in public schools.
SB97, sponsored by Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, directs schools to deny clubs if their charter or activities would encourage criminal conduct, promote bigotry or involve human sexuality.
Buttars altered the definition of human sexuality Monday to a toned-down version saying any club "advocating or engaging in sexual activity outside of legally recognized marriage or forbidden by state law." Previously, the bill also disallowed "self-labeling" by students as to sexual orientation and "disclosing attitudes or personal conduct" regarding sexual orientation.
But Buttars made it clear to the committee, which voted 4-2 in favor of advancing the bill to the Senate, that Gay-Straight Alliances were still a primary targets of his legislation. Those groups, he said, are indoctrinating students with a "new morality."
"It's pulling down the traditional pillars of morality," Buttars said. "If you say there is no morality because we can do anything we want to do sexually, that's not something we want to do in America."
Buttars, who had missed weeks of the session due to an undisclosed illness, also had a parent speak about how his niece was "targeted, recruited and indoctrinated" by a Gay-Straight Alliance.

What an awful man! He's trying to ban a support group for gay people in high schools because he feels like it would ruin America. Isn't that a violation of church and state and also discriminating against a group of people? I hope that if this bill does pass that somehow the club will be able to continue at Provo High. We'll wait and see.

Traveling meme

Aaron tagged me to do this meme, so here it is:

Here are four items for each category:

Four Jobs I've Had in My Life:

* Paperboy

* Lifeguard at Scera Pool

* Cashier at SuperTarget

* Phlebotomist at a plasma center



Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over, and Have:

* Latter Days

* Eating Out

* Mean Girls

* The Princess Bride



Four Places I've Lived:

* Orem, Utah

* Sevilla, Spain

* Granada, Spain

* Columbus, Ohio



Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:

* Grey's Anatomy

* Desperate Housewives

* ER

* Survivor



Four Places I've Been on Vacation:

* Spain

* Yellowstone

* New York City, New York

* London



Four Websites I Visit Daily:

* soapoperafan.com

* OSUMC mail

* Hotmail

* shakiramedia.com



Four Favorite Foods:

* enchiladas

* paella

* hamburgers

* mashed potatoes and gravy



Four Places I Would Like to Visit:

* Africa

* Australia

* France

* Florida



Four People I am Tagging with this Meme:

* Mathiew

* Sanjida

* David

* DC

For those who say the Bible condemns homosexuality

I came across this hypothetical letter:

Dear President Bush,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I
have learned a great deal from you and understand why you would propose
and support a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage.

As you said "in the eyes of God marriage is based between a man a
woman." I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can.When
someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply
remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an
abomination... End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements
of God's Laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and
female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend
of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you
clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in
Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair
price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her
period of menstrual uncleanness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I
tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus35:2
clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill
him myself, or should I ask the police or someone else to do it?

5. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an
abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality.
I disagree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?

6. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair
around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by
Lev.19:27. How would you chooses that they die?

7. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me
unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

8. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different
crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of
two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to
curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the
trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16.
Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we
do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy
considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and
unchanging.

In Jesus name, Consolidated People Who Are Less Than Pure in America

You Know You're From Utah when...

You Know You're From Utah When...

Green jell-o with carrots mixed in doesn't seem strange. You can pronounce Tooele. The U is not just a letter - Neither is the Y. You have actually eaten funeral potatoes. You've gotten both heat and frost burns off your car's door handle in the same month. You are not surprised to hear words like "Darn, Fetch, Flip", "Oh, My Heck" and "Shoot". Your tulips get snowed on three times after they come up and twice more after they bloom. Hunting season is a school holiday. The largest liquor store is the state government. You can go skiing and play golf on the same day. 30% humidity is muggy and almost unbearable. Somewhere in your family tree is a polygamist. You know the difference between a 'Steak House' and a 'Stake House'. The elevation exceeds the population You've broken down on the highway and somebody stops to help you You can see the stars at night You have a bumper sticker that says "Families are Forever." You were an aunt or uncle before you were three. Your family considers a trip to McDonald'd a night out.. You feel guilty when you watch Monday Night Football. You drink Coke from a brown paper bag. You consider a temple recommend a credit reference. You believe that you must be 18 or older to order coffee at a restaurant. There is a similarity between a ward basketball game and the L.A. riots. You think Jack Daniels is a country western singer. You can make Jell-O salad without the recipe. You've heard about BYU football in a testimony meeting. You have two gallons of ice cream in your freezer at all times. Your father-in-law thinks Ronald Reagan was a liberal. A member of your family wrote in Lavell Edwards for president in the last election. Cars in the slow lane are traveling the fastest; cars in the fast lane are traveling the slowest; cars in the middle lanes are always trying to exit. Sandals are the best-selling shoes. You have to ask for the uncensored version of "Titanic." Hotel rooms all have the Book of Mormon. You buy your wardrobe at the local grocery superstore. You learn about the Mormon Church by taking history in elementary school. You live in a state where Democrats always come in third place, unless a zoo animal is running. Then they come in fourth. You're on your own if you are turning left. Schools stay open, even if two feet of snow falls overnight, but close for the opening of hunting season. People wear shorts and T-shirts if the temperature rises above 32 degrees. There is a church on every corner, but they all teach the same thing. The most popular public transportation system is a ski lift. People drive to Idaho to pick up a gallon of milk so they can play the lottery. In-state college football rivalries are bigger than the Super Bowl. Beer drinkers don't shop on Sunday. You don't have to breathe cigarette smoke until you walk outside a building. The cost of living rises while your salary drops. Every driveway has a minivan and a pickup truck. When you buy a new vehicle, cigarette lighters are optional equipment but gun and ski racks are standard. Every time a new family moves into your neighborhood, the local elementary school has to hire a new teacher. Your paycheck has an additional 10 percent deduction. "Temple recommends" is acceptable identification for cashing a check. More movies are filmed in your town than in Hollywood. You've never had a Mormon missionary knock on your door. Your neighbors complain about where they live, yet refuse to return to the state they moved from. You make a toast with red punch at your wedding reception. You have more raw wheat stored than some Third World countries. Your idea of a good time is playing Pictionary in the cultural hall. Your idea of a wild party is a six pack of Pepsi and a PG-13 movie. You and all your friends come to your mother for a haircut in her kitchen. You measure Kool-Aid by parts per million. You think "You're a 10 cow wife" is a compliment. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Utah.

Get Your Own "You Know You're From" Meme Here



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Sarah's Weekend Visit

I wanted to put up a quick post while I take a break from studying for my GI test on Friday.

This past weekend Julie's friend Sarah who we stayed with on our trip to DC came up to Columbus to visit. She is hilarious, so we had a great time. We went to Brazenhead on Friday night for apple martinis, then to Axis where we did some booty droppin' and got our free CD. On Saturday we went to eat at BD's Mongolian BBQ and then to Spice Bar. Julie's brother came down from Cleveland to hang out with us too and kept buying me shots. On Sunday we went to an all-you-can-eat German buffet in German Village that was delicious. I had my fill of sausages, meat loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy and apple sauce. After dinner we went to have a few drinks at Zeno's. Kip came back from Pennsylvania on Sunday night so on Monday Kip, Julie, Sarah and I went to Union Station for lunch before Sarah left for the airport.

I love you, Sarah!

Brokeback Mountain

Others have already posted about the movie theater in Utah that decided against showing Brokeback Mountain but I wanted to add my two cents on the matter since I haven't blogged in a while. Thanks to Chris for emailing me some quotes about this issue.

So Larry H. Miller, a prominent Utah businessman decided to pull Brokeback Mountain from his movie theater that had been set to show the movie. The ensuing media attention caused the only theater(a small artsy theater) in Utah showing Brokeback to get a lot of business. The GLBT community in Utah called for a boycott of all of Miller's businesses(which includes the Delta Center where the Utah Jazz play). Heath Ledger even spoke out about this issue: "I heard a while ago that West Virginia was going to ban it. But that's a state that was lynching people only 25 years ago, so that's to be expected. Personally, I don't think the movie is (controversial) but I think maybe the Mormons in Utah do. I think it's hilarious and very immature of a society. If two people are loving . . . I think we should be more concerned if two people express anger in love, than love."

I of course think that it's awful that Miller decided to pull the movie from his theater just because the movie is about a gay love story. Mormons aren't allowed to watch rated R movies(although this rule is kind of like drinking Coke, it's followed by a lot of Mormons but won't keep you from getting into the temple if you don't follow it), so if Miller was being a good Mormon and not showing the movie because it was against his beliefs he shouldn't show any rated R movies at his theater. He was just being a bigot. Still I don't see why it was made out to be such a big deal(although it turned out to be good for that little theater that got all the resulting business) because think of all the theaters that decided not to show Brokeback in the first place. We aren't calling for a boycott of all those theaters. It comes down to what the theater owners thought would be good business and in Utah showing a gay movie probably was seen as not good business. But I'm happy to report that the Cinemark 16 at the Provo Towne Center Mall is now showing Brokeback Mountain, so all those repressed BYU gay boys can drive down the street and see the movie.

I saw the movie with Kip(yes, we're back together) and enjoyed it a lot. It was amazing(and hot) seeing these two famous actors portraying a gay love story. It wasn't my favorite movie though because somehow I wasn't impacted as much as I thought I'd be, I didn't cry, for example. Still, I thought the scenery and acting were amazing. I was a little weirded out by seeing The Princess Diaries' Anne Hathaway and Jen from Dawson's Creek show their breasts but oh well. I'm glad the movie was made and that this powerful gay love story was brought into the mainstream.

Trip to New York City

I got back last night from a fun trip to New York City for New Year's. I drove with Chris and Nate in my car on Thursday, arriving at about 8:30 PM to our hotel which was right off of Times Square. The drive was great until we had to wait in traffic at the Lincoln Tunnel. Thursday night we hung out in Chelsea after meeting our friend Will in the hotel. We ate at an Italian restaurant and then had dessert at another place called Rafaella's with two of Chris' friends. On the way we passed by Sarah Jessica Parker's brownstone apartment, so that was cool. We got to bed early at around 2:00 AM since we had had a long day of driving and knew that Friday would be a long day.

On Friday we ate lunch at a pizza place with some of Chris' blogging buddies. Then Chris, Will and I headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Van Gogh drawings. It was fun to see all those works of Van Gogh. I wish we would have had more time to see the rest of the art in the Met, but we had to rush off to meet our other friends from Columbus(Rob, Aaron, Sanjida, Amy, Donny and Steve) for dinner. Dinner was at a delicious Cuban restaurant called Havana. No one wanted to split the paella with me but I had to get it even though it was really expensive. Chris and I shared a pitcher of delicious strawberry mojitos. The paella was amazing(as good as I've had in Spain) but I could only eat half of it, but I took the rest back to the hotel. After dinner most of use went to see Avenue Q. It turned out to be a really fun musical. There was especially one song that I really like called "There's a Fine, Fine Line." After the musical we went back to our hotel to get ready to go out. We got our drink on with rum and coke and then headed to Opaline on 39th. It was an awesome club with five floors and lots of people. We had a fun time dancing until we left at about 3:30 AM.

We woke up late on Saturday morning and Will and I rode the subway to meet everyone for lunch at a sushi place on 7th and Christopher St. We sang Sanjida happy birthday and the brought her a cake with a candle on it. The food was delicious. It was snowing/sleeting by the time we left. I stopped at Jamba Juice to get a Mango-a-Go-Go drink while everyone else went to Starbucks. Then Aaron, Chris, Will, Sanjida and I headed to Ground Zero. There's not much to see except for a big hole in the ground, but I'm glad I got to see it and reflect on what happened there on September 11th. We headed back to the hotel to relax and get warm before going out for New Year's Eve. We walked to the end of our street and listened to a band play and saw the crowd at Times Square so we could at least say that we had done that, although Aaron and I and apparently Sanjida wanted to come back to watch the ball drop. We headed out to dinner which ended up being at a tavern with Middle Eastern food. I enjoyed my chicken kebabs. We split from the other group after dinner and headed to a house party of one of Aaron's friends. The party was fine but I didn't know anyone but Aaron, Chris and Will and had no interest in the guys that kept talking to me about stuff I didn't care about. I also wasn't drinking because that morning I had decided to eat the rest of my paella from the night before after it had sat out all night and so my stomach was a little upset(but it was totally worth it because it was so good, even cold). I also knew I had a long drive ahead of me the next day and didn't want to have to do it hungover. One of my goals though was to drink a glass of champagne on New Year's and I did get to do that for the first time ever. I found out that Sanjida and everyone else had gone to Times Square and I regretted not going there to see the ball drop. It was a little ridiculous seeing the ball drop in New York City on a TV screen instead of in Times Square. I got back to the hotel room after an interesting cab ride at about 2:00 AM. I didn't sleep much though because everyone kept coming in and leaving the rest of the night as people arrived home, packed their bags and left for the airport.

I drove back with just Nate since Chris is going directly to Connecticutt for work. We got lost trying to get on I-76, but other than that we had a nice trip, arriving home at about 7:00 PM. I was glad I got to spend time with my friends in New York City for New Year's. I only wish Mathiew and Kip were there like they were supposed to be and that I had gone to Times Square for New Year's Eve. Time will tell if 2006 is better than Jan 1st was.