Friday, March 29

here's a nifty little IQ test...find out what's wrong with this picture...


posted by Paul at 1:43:00 PM

Tuesday, March 26

curiouser and curiouser

JC Penny Catalog Fall/Winter 1980

Celery + Gravity = Art






posted by Paul at 1:03:00 AM

Saturday, March 23

Went and saw The Others with "the Chad" and loved it. Scared the muthafunking carp out of me. (i know... that last line sounded fishy.) I have a question. Any Catholics out there with ghost stories? The main characters of the movie were catholic and saw ghosts... which leads me to a theorem of sorts... that catholics are a bit more inclined than the rest of us to see/hear/feel/ ghosts. I have an ex whose latino and catholic (as many latinos are) and his entire family saw ghosts... seemed like lots of his friends as well. Anyone want to take part in my study? Anyone have any particularly good ghost stories? Go ahead and e-mail them!
posted by Paul at 11:34:00 PM

Wednesday, March 20

Andrew Sullivan, Heroic Homosex, and my own private fight club... these three axons come together to form a synapse of sorts.... now what does it all mean?

First, my friends, Justin and Michael, and I have been fantasizing about having our own pared down version of a fight club. Really we just want to do some boxing and take some hits. In a grassy lot covered with ice from last weekends snow, behind the retirement center next to Justin's apartment, we had our first trial run tonight. I was taken down twice, took a good one to the nose and then had a couple of really sweet takedowns on both of them. My favorite of the evening is when Michael came at me with a punch, I saw his legs were vulnerable and then swept them right out from under him.

Three things I've learned:

a) this will be better with gloves, headgear, mouthguard, and a cup.
b) I really need to quit smoking
c) I can be scrappy when I want to be.

Second. Choire posted a link to HeroicHomosex the other nite. I went to it and found not only a website dedicated to frottage enthusiasts but a whole critique of the, as the site describes it, "Buttfuck Dictatorship," an example:

"This growing movement of men into frot who disown anal sex is not simply a matter of sexual taste. It goes farther than that, for it's a rejection of the overly and unhealthily feminized self-image of gay men that has dominated our lives for generations. As such it is, I believe, like other masculinist impulses among the gay masses, a manifestation of the collective unconscious correcting a psychic phenomenon that has lingered too long in one direction...

...Why, we ask for example, is it better to dominate (or be dominated by) your partner? Doesn't make sense for guys into frot. What we value is the intense and complete equality we feel with our buds and lovers, the face to face, heart to heart, cock to cock contact, in which neither partner is controlling the other. What we seek, as I've said often in my own writing, is the union (or contest) of two equally strong and noble beings, not a master and slave. If that's romantic, so be it. For many of us, frot is the ultimate expression of romance. "

Intriguing. While I myself don't see why we need to layer MORE guilt on people for the sexual practices they prefer, I find the sexual equality argument rather beautiful and romantic. Then there is this whole side of the site dedicated to the interplay of wrestling and erotic sport. (maybe this is where the synapses meet?) Truly hot.

I know Andrew Sullivan fits in here somewhere. I'll figure it out. Until then, he has a truly great article on coping and surviving being HIV+
Check it out.


posted by Paul at 3:14:00 AM

Tuesday, March 19

On Touch (part II)

from Healthy Pleasures, by Robert Ornstein, Ph.D. and David Sobel, M.D:

"Touch metaphors help us grip reality. We speak of being, 'in touch' or, 'out of touch.' Some people are 'touchy' or 'rub us the wrong way,' while nuturing is 'a healing touch.' We extol special attention as a 'personal touch' and save 'untouchable' for the lowest rung of society. Most importantly, our language links touch and emotions. Happiness and joy, sadness and melancholy are emotions yet we cal them 'feelings' to ephasize the almost physical and palpable quality of emotions. We may be 'touched by kindness,' or 'get in touch with our feelings.' We may be 'thin-skinned' or 'thick-skinned,' referring to our emotional sensitivity. While touch may be well embedded in language and thought, it has become somewhat disembodied in our daily life. We touch so little that we're out of it."

......

from UCMT's Infant Massage Handbook:

In the 1920's, a majority of the institutionalized infants under the age of two died. The word marasmus was used to describe this phenomenon. Marasmus is defined as "wasting away", "shriveling", or "shrinking." Rocking and cuddling did more to prevent marasmus than any other physical care remedy.
posted by Paul at 10:14:00 AM

Monday, March 18

On Touch

both of these quotes were taken from my UCMT Infant Massage book. I thought I would share...

from, Touch Starvation in America, by Denny Johnson:

“It is said that one in eight Americans will have a mental breakdown requiring hospitalization within his or her lifetime. It is also estimated that 25% of all families produce incestuous relationships and that 50% of all children will, at some time, be abused. Our hospitals are full, our prisons are overflowing. Technology and money cannot solve the problem because they are not treating the cause. The answer lies buried in our hearts and hidden behind a wall of fear: millions of people are suffering mentally and physically because they cannot give and receive touch."



from, Touching, The Human Significance of the Skin, by Ashley Montagu:

"Tactile sensations become perceptions according to the meanings with which they have been invested by experience. Inadequate tactile experience will result in a lack of such associations and a comsequent inability to relate to others in many fundamental human ways. When affection and involvement are communicated through touch, it is those meanings, as well as the security-giving satisfactions, with which touch will become assosciated. Hence, the human significance of touching."


and a link to the International Association of Infant Massage (I gave the U.K. link because their site seemed more informative than the US site. Go figure.)



posted by Paul at 1:14:00 AM

Sunday, March 10

(sung to Rod Stewart's "Infatuation")
Oh no not again
I've so much work
I don't understand
Procrastination
Procrastination
Procrastination
Procrastination

Ugh. I have a resume and a "personal commercial" and a HUGE Anatomy Final and Shiatsu final ALL this week. There is a huge job fair at my school this week AND one of my best friends growing up is here in Salt Lake City skiing with his stepdad all this week. If only I hadn't waited until the last minute to do all of this... sigh.

posted by Paul at 9:30:00 PM

Saturday, March 9

the best website... ever.. no words can describe...
posted by Paul at 11:49:00 PM

Friday, March 8

More than you ever needed to know about the sex lives of gay penguins
posted by Paul at 10:12:00 PM


Are you pretty? I'm sorry, you're just deformed. However, if you want, you can still be a rockstar; here's how.
posted by Paul at 6:33:00 PM

Thursday, March 7

Have you seen Waking Life? You should.

Amelie should get an Oscar.

Why Johnny Joined the Taliban... Makes my heart hurt. (sniff)

Why you shouldn't masturbate. Thank god I don't! (Thanks, Choire)

A dissection of love.




posted by Paul at 2:23:00 AM

Wednesday, March 6

"it's not... meant to be a strife... it's not meant to be a struggle uphill"

Love the Bjork, worship the Bjork... "Undo" is such a perfect song, it really works well with my massages. :) (if you haven't picked up Vespertine yet, I highly recommend it.)

Faced with a lot of possibilities right now. My ideal would be to move to San Francisco and have a really successful private massage practice, especially since, with my schooling, I have ten times the required amount of hours of training to get licensed!! (In San Francisco, that is.) But San Francisco is SOO expenisive... Philo, Aaron, I just don't know how you boys do it!!

Too many choices, too many, "what if's?" What kind of practice do i want? I'll have to work for someone else initially to build up a client base, but do I want to work in a Resort or a Day Spa, or with a chiropractor? If I decide SF is the place for me... I'll need roommate's, I've got one (Chad) but he alone is not going to cut it. Do we move in with strangers or will the few kids in my class who also are eyeing SF wanna get a place? It's all a little overwhelming.

(inhale) One day at a time (exhale) one day at a time...
posted by Paul at 10:05:00 PM


"Gay Ass Operation", "Boy Band Blast O Rama" and "Bulimic Blowdown at Noon?" Why it's Zooass.com! More inappropriate fun than anyone should have!
posted by Paul at 12:46:00 PM

Tuesday, March 5

and I'm back yall and Im back yall

I let my account with Earthlink expire so I was without an ISP for a while. It's for the best, I didn't like them anyway. So now I have a new ISP (Xmission) and 50MGs of space for a personal web page. I also have all kinds of new toys to work on my website. Now if that damn Front Page for Dummies wasn't written for just dummies instead of just plain idiots like myself... we could get crackin!


posted by Paul at 12:18:00 PM