Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Tagged

Moving and traveling has made me neglectful of memes. CoG has been tagged several times for an assortment of them, but I have not had a chance to respond. Thus, this entry will address two memes.

First, let me extend my appreciation to those who selected CoG for the Thinking Blog meme (Ragnell, Tenured Radical, Atari Age, Diary of a Goldfish, and Slaves of Academe). You all make me blush. Plus, you left me with a problem of not being able to decide which five blogs from my blogroll to choose in return. They all make me think in some way or another. If I were forced to choose, it would probably just mean that I would crush on my usual suspects who get the most mention on my blog already (You know who you are).

I am, therefore, taking the lame way out and changing the Thinking Blog meme to my own rules. Yeah, I am a rebel like that. Rather than choosing blogs that already have tons of readers, here are five blogs that I think should have more readers/commentators. They all have GayProf’s Magical Seal of Approval©:

    1. Un-Cool – I only recently found this blog, but I adore it already. Lina, a British woman currently at work on a MA thesis, takes a distinctive and irreverent view of everything, but especially towards sex and gender. Hate it or love it. Either way, she should be having hundreds of comments on her provocative entries.

    2. Mercy O. Warren – Truth in advertising, I knew Mercy when neither of us had a blog. Still, she is bringing sexy back to the eighteenth century. Looking for arcane knowledge about the drafters of the Constitution? Have you ever wondered what an elite Massachusetts woman would do with a blog if such things existed in 1789? Mercy is your gal (though she should update – ahem).

    3. Earl Cootie – When I think of a gay 1950s gas-station attendant crossed with an imaginary childhood aliment, I think Earl Cootie. Sure, he has a peculiar obsession with the Aves world. What gay man doesn’t? Well, okay, I don’t. And, come to think of it, none of my friends do either. Still, Earl has a sense of humor that I adore, even if he is a birder (which always sounds more dirty than it should).

    4. All Things Bitter – Have you wondered what gay life is like in Nebraska? Neither did I –- until I read All Things Bitter. It turns out that gay life in Nebraska leaves one, well, rancorous on pop-culture issues.

    5. V.U.B.O.Q. To my mind, VUBOQ updates his blog at an ideal level. Usually he posts more than once a day, which means that you can count on him as a return-visit blog when you are “working.” His real-life cousin will soon be my neighbor, as well.

    Finally, this man clearly has good taste as he won the CoG prize for knowing a [disturbing] amount about me:



DykeWife and Screw Bronze! (Maybe others?) Also tagged me for the “Eight Facts” meme. The rules for it are pretty straightforward:

* each player lists 8 facts about themselves
* the rules of the game appear before the facts do
* the player ends by tagging 8 people

So, here are eight things that you might or might not know about little GayProf:

    1. I am color blind. This realization first came when I was in third grade and was tested in school. The nurse gave me one of those books with multicolored dots and told me to trace the maze or name the shape/image on each page. I thought that she was nuts. All the pages were just a jumble of dots. She seemed so adamant, though, and I was eager to please. So I just made up a path through the dots in order to placate her her. She then told me to inform my parents that I was color blind.

    Funny thing when you tell an eight-year old that they are color blind, they only hear the operative word “blind.” I therefore concluded that I would soon be as feeble as Mary Ingalls from t.v. Out of bravery, I decided to conceal this information from my parents lest they worry. I was resigned that I would slowly lose my sight, but do it quietly and without complaint.



    The nurse exposed my lie of omission when she phoned later in the week as a follow up (I guess to make sure that my parents weren’t enrolling me in flight school). My mother was fairly confused as to why I burst into tears over it.

    My form of color blindness is not the most severe version. I can tell the difference between primary red and primary green. If, however, red or green are mixed with any other color, they “disappear” from my vision and I only see the other color. Therefore, the color purple is more of a theoretical than a reality to me. For my eyes, it just looks blue. Take note: If I say anything about pink, turquoise, or purple, I am just bluffing.

    2. I have never gotten tired of the view from the Red Line when it crosses the Longfellow Bridge. Indeed, it is my favorite part of the whole T system. There is something great about seeing the Charles River and the Boston skyline after you emerge from the subway tunnel that always makes me smile. It could be sunny, raining, foggy, or snowing, but the effect has been the same.

    Now that I am moving, alas, I will have to watch the reruns of Spenser for Hire to remember these good times (Though the actually journey from Kendall Station to Park Station is oddly much longer in the intro than it really is in life. Inexplicably, the train also skips the Charles/M.G.H. Station in Spenser's version of Boston).



    3. I use clothes dryers very sparsely. For one, clothes dryers take up lots of energy and are, therefore, bad for the environment. Two, they are also rough on your clothes. I much prefer to allow things to dry on their own. The exception would be sheets, towels, and underwear.

    4. I have a list of cities in North America that I consider my ideal places to live. Currently, the top four are Boston, Chicago, Montréal, and Albuquerque. I have applied for jobs in all of those cities at one point or another, but nothing permanent has panned out.

    5. My credit rating is in the crapper right now. I probably wouldn’t even qualify for financing on a Vespa. Eighteen months of trying to pay both rent and my part of a mortgage meant that I often missed payments on other things. Though I am starting to get things under control again, it will take some time to fully fix everything.



    6. I am very allergic to juniper (a coniferous plant). Because junipers require less water than many other plants of their size, they are frequently used in New Mexico for landscaping. This meant that Spring was hell (HELL) for me when I was growing up. It also took a significant amount of time before I figured out why gin made me instantly ill. Gin’s flavor comes from juniper berries.

    7. During my undergraduate years, I took one semester of Russian. It was a heady time. The Soviet Union was collapsing and I thought it would be a diplomatic gesture for me to learn more about our former national enemy.



    It turns out that I have zero (o) talent for learning foreign languages. All that I remember from that class was how to say, "Excuse me, please, where is the Bolshoi theater?" On the plus side, though, learning to write with a different alphabet improved my handwriting in English (true story).

    8. I have surprisingly strong feelings that Michael Gambon should be fired from the Harry Potter movies. I don’t begrudge him his distinguished acting career, but he has made a terrible Dumbledore.

    I know that Richard Harris died. It would be unseemly, and possibly illegal, to dig up his corpse and reanimate it using robotic technology. Still, that would be preferable than watching the abysmal Gambon, who has ruined every scene in which he has appeared in the Potter movies. Luckily, he had very little screen time in the most recent film (though still did a terrible job).



    At first, I was confused about why Gambon portrayed the wizard as a hippie or a bizarre beach comber when that was not, in any way, implied in the books. Then I learned that he didn’t really work very hard at the role. "I don't have to play anyone really,” the actor told the press, “I just stick on a beard and play me, so it’s no great feat.”

    By his own admission, Gambon is simply not doing his job. Acting requires work and dedication in learning a character. His attitude about not needing to bother with that for Dumbledore has shown in his wretched performances. Warner Brothers should fire him immediately and replace him with Ian McKellen.


Given my slowness in responding to tags, it would seem hypocritical to tag other bloggers. You will know if these memes are right for you.

24 comments:

tornwordo said...

Does that mean you can't see the 26 in the image? Or is that the kind of thing you CAN see. And is grey a color? Furthermore is black or white a color?

I think my four cities would be Montreal, San Francisco, Key West and Tucson. But I've never been to Chicago.

Josh said...

Amen on the red line view. I always manage to maneuver myself so I'm on the left side of the train and can see the full expanse of it.

vuboq said...

gosh. the GayProf Seal of Approval. I am touched. Really. *sniff*

The juniper berry allergy is very disturbing. A life without gin, that's terrible ...

Anonymous said...

Awww, there is something so touching about you as a little budding gayprof nobly resigned to your Mary Ingalls fate of slowly becoming blind.

I am very envious of Vuboq's T-shirt.

Doug said...

I wholeheartedly agree about Michael Gambon. I never liked him. I'd bet there isn't a law about digging up and re-animating Richard Harris. Maybe he left something in his will about emergency revival conditions.

Steven said...

The view from Chicago's Red Line isn't that bad either, as long as you're coming from the north. ;-) Any more limited editions left on the t-shirt? Glad to see Chicago made your list.

Mercy O. Warren said...

dear gayprof,

i heart you.
i made a post, as commanded.
i thank you for the shout out.
i did not know that you had studied Russian.

besitos,
M.O.W.

Marius said...

Yeah, I want that GayProf T-shirt. vuboq is so lucky!

Off topic . . . I just noticed that picture of Juan Cortina. He and my father are from the same general area (northern Tamaulipas). I also know various members of the Balli family who still live in Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy counties. And, if my memory serves me right, Cortina's mother was some how affiliated with the Ballis. I'm not related to him, but some of my ancestors, landowners in Cameron and Starr Counties, probably knew Juan personally.

jaclyn said...

Do you find your color blindness makes it harder to be fabulous? How do you manage?

And I'm pretty sure we can't get Richard Harris back. He apparently had a bit of "signer's remorse" after committing to all seven films. His agent told him the only way out of the contract was to die. SO ... I'm pretty sure reanimated Richard Harris would not be obligated for the next three films. Dammit. Sir Ian, on the other hand, would be fantastic.

Anonymous said...

Dude, that's so sweet! Thank you!

GayProf said...

Torn: Indeed, I didn't know the "answer" to that test until you told me it was 26. To me, it just appears as a jumble of blue dots in different shades.

People often have fun at parties asking me to identify different colors for them. There are many that I get wrong. It's humiliating, but they seem to enjoy it.

Are colors open for debate, though? I hope grey is a color because that is how most greens appear to me.


Josh: I always choose my seat with the view in mind as well. It usually takes me a couple of seconds to think about which direction the train is heading.

VUBOQ: I hear gin is quite lovely when it doesn't make you want to vomit.

Cooper: Apparently I had a martyr complex early in life.

Doug: I can only hope that Gambon won't appear in the last two films. He made Goblet of Fire basically unwatchable in my mind. All that screeching and yelling he did was horrific.

Steven: Chicago and Boston always vie for my title of chosen city... New Mexico, though, will always be home.

Mercy: I probably never mentioned the Russian thing because I retained almost no knowledge.

Marius: I would be more than happy to clothe an army of people in GayProf t-shirts. We will need to come up with other contests for people to win them, though... I am open to suggestions.

To me, the Rio Grande Valley is the only place in Texas worth anything (Nope, not Austin). My brother-in-law is originally from Hidalgo County. My sister and he currently live in Edinburg. Perhaps we are distantly related through marriage.

Jaclyn: My other fabulous senses have compensated for this tragic disability.

I didn't know that Harris disliked the role that much. Still, I am sure he wouldn't mind being dug up -- He's dead.

Lina: I am sweet, aren't I?

Anonymous said...

Very!

Tom Paine said...

You've discovered our Little Witch, Lina. She and C. are, well, you'll have to read her blog to find out.

ChristopherM said...

I believe both Gambon AND Harris have been horrible. Where is the humor in either portrayal? Dumbledore is not just powerful and intimidating, he has a wicked sense of humor that neither actor has ever displayed in their portrayals.

Clearly I need to get a life.

lost in france said...

Hmm. So you are red-green colorblind, too? They say we make up 5% of the male population. Add that to the other obvious minority and we get down to 0.25 - 0.5% of the male population. Nothing like being outnumbered!

gwoertendyke said...

classic gay prof...i needed a good smile and of course more knowledge about you.

you were nearly tagged by me for being a rocking girl blogger but thought i might offend you or others. the point is not gender but that you rock.

Elizabeth McClung said...

Yeah, I think we all wanted to be mary on Little house in the prairie - she even made blind cool (or maybe you didn't feel that way).

I guess right now I am wondering if I am allergic to juniper - are you allergic to other plants - since I don't think I have ever seen a juniper plant the mind wonder if you can be allergic to something you've been exposed to. Bummer about the gin though.

dykewife said...

thanks for doing the meme. i'm surprised that you don't include socks in the items that must be dried in a dryer. for me it's socks, underwear, towels and my undershirts. i chafe easily.

i'm crushed that i didn't get the "gayprof seal of approval". i'm going to have to lament upon the altar, rend my clothes and become a hermit who yells at kids to keep off her lawn.

*sigh* <---see? it's starting already!

Earl Cootie said...

You forgot to mention that new readers should approach my blog as slowly and silently as possible; I dart into the brush at the first sign of unknown commenters. But thanks! And thanks for reminding me to read your readers' blogs. You do have the best readers around, and I always mean to check them all out, but then I forget. And did you know VUBOQ is my cousin too? It's true. We have the same last name. (No, Cootie isn't my real last name. It's Queen!)

GayProf said...

Tom Paine: Britain will have to share Lina with the world now.

Christopher: Since I saw the first movie before reading the book, Harris sort of formed my impression of Dumbeldore. Still, I stand by McKellan as being able to have both the gravitas and the humor needed for the role.

Lost in France: I didn't know that men who were color blind were such a small percentage of the population. I feel so alone -- Hold me.

Adjunct Whore: I have been jealous of those tagged as a Rocking Girl Blogger. Alas, that is a challenge for another day.

Elizabeth: Well, you could either see your doctor about allergies or you could go to New Mexico in the Spring when the juniper is tossing out its nasty spores. If you find yourself choking, coughing, sneezing nonstop, and rolling around around as if you were on fire, you might be allergic to juniper.

DykeWife: But you already know that I crush on you...

Earl: I don't like to think about what your real name is. To me, you will always be Earl.

lost in france said...

Don't worry, GayProf, I am here to hold you and I am colorblind!

To boot, I spent some time myself in a Midwestern Gay Funky university town.

lost in france said...

OOPS! The "Gay" must have been wishful thinking.

dpaste said...

Gosh, I've never read any of the books, so maybe that's why I've never had a problem with Gambon. In some ways, I liked him better.

Anonymous said...

A belated hi to GayProf. I also share that particular type of color blindness. For many years of childhood, I thought the allegation of purple was a mysterious conspiracy. If someone held a gun to my head and insisted I had to discern a number out of those dots (a somewhat clouded memory of getting my driver’s license), I would be torn between 30 and 80. Gee, I was so close. If god is purple, that would explain a lot.

Nice to know someone else views the world as I see it, but I suppose I already knew that you did. Best wishes in MFT.