Cool mode of transport

In the past, I always loved taking the train to places (not counting the NYC subways, of course). It gave me a sense of adventure and mystery, a chance to interact with people, and to enjoy the real scenery which you would never get to see if you were flying. There were also something intriguing about the train stations in each city I have been to, no matter how large or small. My overnight train trips through the mountain and small towns in Thailand were always interesting in one way or another. The rides on the infamous Japanese Shinkansen "Bullet Trains" and the French TGV were thrilling. But for some reason, my train rides in the US have been kinda lackluster, and occasionally downright scary. The cars are often dirty and stinky. The trains are really slow for the fares you pay for. It is sad the "train culture" never flourishes here in the US. I got totally envious after seeing the news of the new TGV which can reach the speed of more than 350 MPH (just imagine a trip from NYC to DC in about an hour and LA to SF in less than 2 hours!!). Call me weird, I think that new TGV train is pretty darn sexy!!

The Spring Is Here!

Last Saturday was quite nice. I just want to share a few pictures taken during my leisurely walk in NYC Central Park this past weekend.

Adios, Roxy....

Another legendary dance club, the Roxy, in NYC has fallen prey to real estate development. Next weekend (Sat March 10th) will be the last. I hope the Gotham nite scene will stay viable for the everyone: circuit queens, muscle marys, daddies, club kids, tourists, fag hags, freaks, or just anybody who like to have a good time on a Saturday night.

Bam ! you are cured!

Religious beliefs are so powerful. The society can benefit from organized religions. I just wish they kept things in perspective and realized people do have different viewpoints and ways of life, and most of all held of on cramming their beliefs down other people's throat. It's a shame the religious figures abuse their power and waste opportunities in teaching tolerance. Oh well enough with my own preaching. If you follow the news of Ted Haggard, the ousted (and now "cured" of his homosexuality!!) evangelical leader, who advocated ban of gay rights but got busted for hiring a male hooker, here is an example of how one's faith can lead to such a ridiculous claim:

Gay therapy. Psychiatric view-religion: NYT article. (nothing cures an illness so effectively like denial.)

After reading that, I happened to see this really funny piece of satire from the Onion: Believe what you want, define your own happiness. (just stay the fuck out of my way!!!)

News can be weirder than fiction

There has been news about weird stories recently. Real lives are often stranger than fiction. The Anna Nicole Smith news is one. Her story/death and the deaths of people around her are just sad and seem like they are taken straight out of bad movies (and I am sure her story will become a TV movie.)

Another extremely creepy and almost intriguing news is the story of sex offenders who fooled a bunch of people in Arizona. One guy disguised himself as a 7th grader (I guess he looks young enough) and tried to lure boys into the house he shares with a few other sex offenders who operate as a team in deceiving the school by acting like his guardians. The background of how these creeps met are also weird. It sounds like they prey on other innocent boys AND on each other.

Best of all is the story of the bizarre love triangle of NASA space shuttle astronauts. The female NASA aerosapce engineer drove hundreds of miles in a diaper so she didn't have to take bathroom stops to harass another female captain vying for the same male astronaut. The more you read the story, the better it gets. It feels like some sick trashy drama written for really bad Hollywood production.

returning to blog...

Hello all,

Sorry for the long absence from my blog--The past few months have been eventful with my trip to Hawaii to celebrate my big 40th birthday which led to my illness that took me a month to recover. Since then it had been hectic and I just couldn't find time or energy to put any entry in my blog.

Now that things are back to almost normal--I will try to post regularly.

Sexy guy dancing

mmmm....so cute--makes me wanna dance too.

"Holy" tax benefits--what a concept!!

Have you ever looked at your paystub and felt enraged by the huge amount of taxes taken from your hard-earn money? You might even resent having your tax money being spent on things like the war in the middle east or on social programs like public assistance for people poorer than you. Taxation is required to cover the functions of our society--whether or not you agree with the individual programs. But when religious organizations abuse their tax exemption perks like this, it pisses me off to no end. (basically the news article covers examples of religious groups claiming tax breaks on things like luxury housing commonuities, etc.) These are probably the same people who oppose other people's right to marry, sex education for schoolchildren, abortion rights because it does not agree with their "spirituality" and "family value". Well, if they want to legally cram their religions down other people's throat, they should not be tax-exempt in any thing they do/own. Worse yet, when they abuse their tax breaks like this, I wish all their basic rights were stripped off and they all got sent to jail.

Congratulations you have a boy, oh wait!.....

another excellent article from the NY Times this past weekend:

What if It’s (Sort of) a Boy and (Sort of) a Girl?
By ELIZABETH WEIL

I have a doctor friend who once was called in an emergency to do a test on a newborn baby due to "ambiguous genitalia". This condition is not common but is well known in a small group of medical specialties. If you want to see what this looks like and read more about the medical background go to this picture and this article. This friend of mine, who at the time was not in the specialties, had little familiarity with this condition and was therefore quite surprised getting called in the middle of the night to rush in to do a test for such a thing. He was told that they needed to know the sex of the baby right away or otherwise it would create a lot of psychological stress and anxiety on the baby (while growing up). He posed a question, somewhat inappropriately but understandably, if this was a stress on the parents or the baby? (a dismissive and irresponsible response would have been: why dont you just name the kid "Pat" and went back to sleep!)

This is an interesting condition that raises a lot of questions about human sexuality requiring discussions in medical, ethical, religious and social aspects. For decades, doctors have performed gender (re)assignment surgery by hacking off infants' and young children's' small penises and large clitorises, and created all kinds of "reconstructive" surgery like vaginoplasty (making a vagina out of a piece of bowel.) Needless to say these procedures are not perfect and the patients become adults with severe sexual dysfunction and self image issues. I tend to side with the Intersex Society opinion of opposing surgery without the patients consent. But this also raises a question about circumcision and other procedures done during childhood, as discussed in the NY Times article. (cleft lip repair is easy--I think it should be done--by a good surgeon, of course.) Sadly many unfortunate parents (and doctors too) are left with little information on how to deal with these issues. So kudos to Cheryl Chase who pioneered the Intersex Society.

Showdown at the United Nations

This week the UN assembly so far has shown us the points of view of several of world's leaders. Regardless of one's opinion in the international conflicts, a few of the remarks are surprisingly off the wall, including the Venezuela Pres. calling Pres. Bush "the devil", and the Iranian president questioning the truth of the WW2 holocaust. US representative to the UN sort of ignored these comments totally. All I see is the lack of trust and reflection of the smaller and poorer countries, feeling alienated and oppressed, in turn react by behaving against the "conventional" rules set by the majority of the world. This obviously pisses of the US even more and they enter a vicious cycle of ego bashing on both sides. The response from the Bush administration seems somewhat dismissive and arrogant to me, and I think this is a very dangerous way to deal with these "rogue" groups. History repeats itself and this situation is reminiscent of how Germany and Japan were treated before the WW2. What the western world calls "the axis of evil" does have their own arguments and reasons, and these should get the attention. (it seems like the Iranian president is trying to express his, whether the ideas are right or not.)

The more I think about this, the more depressed I get.