Gay education

Last Friday I saw Men Alive, the Orange County gay men’s chorus, performing at the Barclay Theater. It was inspiring, it was hilarious, it was jaw-dropping — I loved the choreography, the music, and the drag queens (natch). I’m definitely going to see if I have room in my schedule to catch their next show (with Bernadette Peters!) at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

My friend that I went with, who is also gay, asked me who Bernadette Peters is (*gasp*). I know, right? What are they teaching in schools nowadays?? But then later he was shocked to find that I have never seen many of the gay classics, including “The Wedding Banquet” (supposedly a must-see for me), “The Birdcage”, and “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.”

We ended up renting “The Birdcage” and watching it. All in all, I liked it. But referring to Nathan Lane’s character as the “mother” seemed a little dated — a lot has changed between then and our post-Will and Grace, post-Brokeback Mountain world. At least, it seems that way to me. Right?

Anyway, maybe now I should get my friend to watch “Into the Woods” or “Sunday in the Park with George” on DVD.

Testing my limits

Oy. What a day.

Electric company said they were going to turn off our power. I had to call and tell them (again) their bills haven’t been getting through. Finally figured it out — the city was giving them the wrong address. But I still have to pay the stupid late charges (because the last two times I called they had told me how much I owed, and I should have paid then).

Have to fix my car. Not sure how long that will take, or how I will keep them from ripping me off, or myself from looking stupid (should I make an appointment? what’s the protocol?).

Trouble a-brewin’ back at the Casa de la Familia. Fighting again, taking it out on my sister (the only child that’s unmarried AND no longer in college, and therefore obligated to live at home). She can’t take it anymore. Guilt guilt guilt.

And, as always, a ton of studying to do, and no time during the day to do it.

But you won’t knock me down that easily.

Jazz, southern food, and friends

Had dinner last night to celebrate the birthday of two friends of mine. We had a HUGE group (20-30 people?!) at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen over in Downtown Disney.

The food was good (I love Southern food, y’all), but Disney-priced (if you’ve ever had a meal at Disneyland you know what I’m talking about).

And there was live music, and the place had great atmosphere. It’s so nice to go out to a nice restaurant once in a while, and play the part of a grown-up young adult, drinking my $7 Cuba Libre and making witty banter at the bar with my sexy lady friends.

I got pretty tired as the night went on. The reason for this is threefold:

1. I slept three hours the night before, cramming for our test. I was ready to crash out at our table, right into my Andouille grits.
2. I was there with a couple other people at the reservation time, but people kept trickling in later. So food was still coming out after I was almost finished eating. It was the longest I have ever been at a meal, excluding banquets.
3. Now, I love my friends, but with such a big party, and people coming in late (some over two hours late), and asking our poor server to take their orders, and moving tables around, and standing around to talk to people, and walking on the stage to get around a table (while a pianist was playing) — I found myself getting more and more irritated at their lack of decorum.

But I think a good time was had by all. I’m just not the type who likes big group gatherings, I suppose.

Now to find a recipe for those grits.

One way to make pathology more exciting (than it already is)

(Note: Release date is not last November. It’s this April, right around Boards season.)

Is anyone else as perversely excited about this movie as I am? Makes you think twice about those bookish types who go into pathology.

Other thoughts:

• We actually had a pretty gruesome lecture last week from a forensic pathologist. It was, simultaneously, the most horrific and the most hilarious lecture ever — he kept cracking these morbid jokes (”I have a colleague who calls these cases no-brainers”) and making us laugh despite ourselves.
• Sure, a pathologist might be able to muddle with the autopsy findings — but how will they fool the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies? Especially those from an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit?
• When it comes to movies, you can definitely get more disturbing than this. I could never stomach Funny Games, for example. Maybe it’s the medical setting that makes this more palatable.
• Milo’s character is “Dr. Gray.” As in “Gray’s Anatomy.” Just thought I’d point that out. (But if they make one McDreamy joke I’m asking for my money back.)

OK, enough blabber from me — go watch the trailer.