Waldorf to your Astoria

I am sorry to hear your second marriage hasn't been working out.

However, I'm sorry to tell you that you will not be able to get divorced.

Divorce is the Number Two enemy of Traditional Marriage (I know I don't need to tell you what Number One is), and by divorcing, you are undermining the sanctity of the instituation, and destorying the instituation of marriage is tantamount to destroying this country.

And I know you wouldn't want to do that, would you?

I have to wonder if your marriage failed because of someone's successful gay marriage? Mine, perhaps? (Oh, right. I have a Civil Union, aka Starter Marriage). I have been hearing for some time that gay marriage is a threat. If so, I'm really, really sorry.

I got an e-mail from a woman who has put together a list of the Top 100 Gay-themed Novels of the 21st Century. She said she considered the number of owned copies based on the book networking site librarything.com, and adjusted based on logevity and some other factors. Also, she only picked the "top selling" book for each author.

Out of the Pocket came in at Number 35! I was pleased to see this.

I will answer Rage with Love.

I will smother Hate with Kindness.

And when I forget to do so, I will remember: there are an infinite number of second chances in the world.

And that is a type of Love, too.

Bill: Hey, Peggy. You look real pretty today! It must be your inner beauty. Hey! Loved that column you wrote about The Adam Lambert Problem. So ... incisive.

Peggy: Thanks, Bill.

Bill: I loved how you pinned all of society's ills on Adam. I mean, after all, he's gay, and that one time he was quite profane.

Peggy: Well, yes. I mean, the downfall of our morals and all.

Bill: Indeed. Remember the 50s? Weren't they wonderful?

Peggy: They were, Bill, they were.

Being a writer means being a waiter. And not in the same way that being an actor means being a waiter.

While you might find yourself serving food to strangers (btw: ask me sometime for the story of what made me the world's WORST waiter), I'm mostly referring to the time you'll spend waiting to hear from agents and editors re: your manuscripts.

I have gotten a lot better about this in the past few years. Here are some of my secrets:

1) Create dolls that look like said agents and editors.

I got mailed a copy of a review of Out of the Pocket from the reviewer this weekend. It's in Outwords, Montana's gay newspaper. He posted a sticky note on the front of the paper that said: "Page 5. No idea where the Latin came from."

It took me a while to figure out what that meant. I read the review, which was very nicely done, and then, at the bottom, this is how it ends:

"If only I'd known sooner how different life might have been.

I thought I'd weigh in on the story of the moment. Ah, Tiger Woods.

To be honest, I tried not to pay attention to the coverage at first. Then, it became impossible not to, since ESPN is devoting hours to it, not to mention CNN and Fox News, etc.

Here's my thought: while it's fair game for us to moralize about how folks in the public eye live their lives, I'm really only interested in the private lives of famous people if they are being hypocritical.

I refer to my current attempt to break up with my computer. I really do believe that in this case, "it's not you, it's me." I tend to get addicted to stuff pretty easily.

We're on Day 5 of the breakup, and it's been, well, rocky. I can't say I've adhered to the absolute rules of using the computer two times a day. I have, however, significantly cut back on computer usage. I went to the library yesterday to work on my current writing project, and I didn't use the wireless connection.

I am aware of the irony that I am writing this entry on a blog, but what are my options? Here's the deal: I am done living my life by computer.

I have been pondering recently how the computer impacts my life. And what I found was that I spend most of my time in front of it. I'd hate to put a number on it, but let me try: 70-80 hours a week?

Not including sleep, that's about 75% of my life.

It feels like I orbit around the computer, always coming back to it.

A little good news: I just checked the status of DPBO (The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act), and apparently it made it through a key committee in late November by way of a 23-12 vote.

Next up: Congress. If it gets through congress, President Obama promises to sign it into law.

This is a simple piece of legislation that states that LGBT employees should get the same benefits as their straight counterparts.