The Net Dog Blog

Greetings from sunny Spain! After spending the last two day in damp, slightly nippy London, Madrid has been a pleasant change. It's currently 66 degrees here and I'm wearing shorts although I seem to be the only person in the city doing so. They are wearing long pants and jackets! I felt so out of place shopping at El Corte Inglés (a department store on par with Macy's or Dillards). Blake had forgotten to pack black socks to wear during his business functions here so he asked me to pick some up for him. Luckily the store was right around the corner. I searched the Información guide and saw Hombres which lead me to the second floor where I found the socks. After a few minutes of trying to pick out the right socks (I wanted a high cotton percentage and a large size since Blake has really big feet), a saleslady came over to assist me. She probably thought by the way I lingered around the area and by the way I was dressed I was going to steal something! Anyway, I panicked. I didn't understand a word she said. It sent me back to my trip to Greece when I got lost from my group and a man wanted to take me in his car to where they were. I thought he was trying to sell me into white slavery! Anyway, I calmed down and said to her "I'll take these." Fortunately she knew English and she asked me was I sure I wanted the large size. I assured her that person I was buying them for had really big feet and she proceeded to ring me up. One adventure down!
Then I decided I would try to venture a little further from the hotel for some lunch. I figured there had to be a McDonald's or something nearby. I know I'm in Spain and I should try some Spanish food but my spirit of adventure was starting to wane. The only thing I could find in a few blocks radius was a Subway. Now I love Subway but I didn't want to have to figure out how to tell the girl what toppings to put on my sandwich so I chickened out and came back to the room hungry.
Maybe there's a 6 Euro candy bar in the minibar.
P.S. I want to wish my good friend Jay a belated Happy Birthday. I hope it was a good one! Don't worry. I'm trying to find you a present in Spain!

You have no idea how glad I am to be getting out of town this weekend. Saturday is Thunder Over Louisville, the opening day celebration for the Kentucky Derby Festival. For those of you not in the know, Thunder Over Louisville is a day long event down at the award winning Riverfront Park. It bascially begins with a military air show and ends with what is touted each year as the "World's Largest Fireworks Show!" Yee haw!
I've always believed that there's nothing better to get the white trash out of their trailers than blowing the shit out of things. They congregate on the grassy knoll and eat deep fried goodness and turkey legs that are larger than your arm and drink beer. Lots of Beer. So much beer that it's no wonder the lines to the famous "Thunder Pots" are so exceptionally long. They end the night Oooing and Ahhing over fireworks set to broadway musicals or patriotic songs and then flood the streets on what will most certainly be an hours long trek home.
I know I'm a stick in the mud, but I hate all that crap. I don't like crowds, especially drunk crowds. Also, Fireworks don't thrill me like they did when I was a kid.
I guess growing up a stones throw from Churchill Downs has made me jaded with the whole Derby season. There was always too much traffic, too many drunks passed out in the bushes, and way too many Jesus freaks waving their Bibles at the gambling sinners for my liking.
Now I know what a boon Derby is to the city and I'm not saying that I would do away with it. I'm just saying I enjoy it more when I'm not there.

Once again with nothing on TV I find myself catching up on some DVDs. Right now I'm finishing up the second half of the sixth season of "Sex & The City." Carrie is dating the Russian and contemplating moving to Paris with him. It got me thinking about my big move. Not that I think I'm the center of my friends' universe, but I wonder what things will be like here without me. The birthday dinners I'll miss. My friend Darren's plays. The dinner parties. The lunches.
My best friend Jim told me the other day that he couldn't believe that in less than two months, I'll be gone. That we'll never be able to just pick up the phone anytime we want and just talk about nothing. I think that's the first time I realized how different my life would be. The thing is all my life people have left me. Some moved away. Some passed away. But I was always here.
I know I'm making the right decision to leave. Moving to London is a dream that I never thought would come true. Moving to London with someone I love is something I never could have imagined.
But all my life I've defined myself by the circle of friends I chose to surround myself with. Even though the faces have changed, my friends have always been my touchstone. The one constant I could count on. I worry that I won't make new friends. Friends that will get my jokes. My obscure TV and movie references.
I keep coming back to something my mom told me when I was a kid. "It's harder to make friends as you get older." Of course, I never really remember her having any friends so she's probably not the best judge.
So, although I'll never be able to replace my friends (and who would want to?!?), I know I'll make new friends. It will be scary and challenging, but I guess that's what life is all about.

Even though I'm not moving for another month and a half, I've decided to start boxing things up now so that I won't feel rushed to do it at the last minute. This has its own pros and cons. obviously it's good to get stuff out of the way but some of the things I've packed up I find that I still need ... or want anyway. This past weekend, I bought a gigantic 45 gallon Rubbermaid storage container and proceeded to fill it with the majority of my DVD collection... after taking out the ones I planned to take with me to London of course. Well, it didn't take long for me to realize that I had made a mistake. My mom calls me and asks me about a movie she had lent me. Neither of us could remember what I borrowed only that I borrowed something. Of course, whatever it was I had packed it away with my DVDs. So I had to practically empty the entire container to find the DVD ("Finding Neverland" by the way) which was at the very bottom. This left me to fill it back up again.
If you've read anything else I've written in this blog you'll know that there has been NOTHING on TV lately which is another reason for all the early packing so I've been catching up on some of the DVDs I've bought and never watched. This week I've been watching the 6th and final season of "Sex and the City" which I remembered to save from the Rubbermaid. However, what I neglected to remember was that the wise folks at HBO, wanting to squeeze as much blood from their viewing turnips as possible, decided to split the season into two halves ... each costing the same as what you would pay for an entire earlier season. I could bitch about that but I won't... especially seeing as how I gave them my money. Anyway, of course I forgot to set the 2nd half of season six aside and once again found myself diving through the Rubbermaid. I probably don't have to tell you that it, too, was at the bottom.
It's funny that this sorta reminds me of those huge bins at Wal-Mart which house the "2 for $11" DVDs which I always have to look through. This bin is like the Island of Misfit DVDs. This is where has-beens go to die. Hello there, Jean-Claude Van Damme. Nice to see you again, Pauly Shore. Lately there are a lot of Mexican movies in there. Buenos Dias, Charo. I laugh, but I have found some good movies in those bins. Well, "good" is a relative term I guess.
Anyway the point is I felt like I was diving through one of those bins to find one movie... which tells me I have entirely too many DVDs in my collection and I need to stay away from Wal-Mart.

Maybe it's because I'm really anxious about the big move or maybe it's because there is still hardly anything worth watching on TV, but I've been feeling very restless this week. Restless and bored out of my mind. I've actually contemplated ... GASP ... going for a walk!
I really need to get back into exercising. When I cancelled my membership at the Y way back in September it was under the assumption that I would join another gym. But before I could, Blake informs me of the whole London thing. Since I had no idea at the time when this would take place, I put my gym plans on hold. Believe it or not this was not a trajedy to me. I've never been one of those people with a hard on for working out. I've never had (and never will have) what you would call a "gym body." I did it because I felt I needed to not because I enjoyed it. And, boy, do I need it! I've put on probably 15 pounds since September.
I know there are many, many benefits to exercise, not least of which is being able to put on jeans without having to lay down and taking a coat hanger and a pair of pliers to button them. I always feel better after I've worked out and I'm not so stiff in the mornings (and I mean my back is stiff ... get your minds out of the gutter!).
I keep telling myself that I will lose weight when I get to London. Surely all the walking will help but I also plan to take my bicycle and join the gym that Blake has joined. Judging from my last UK visit, there won't be anything on television there to distract me so maybe I can actually do this.

Last night I watched Closer starring Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Clive Owens, and Natalie Portman. What a disturbing movie! The characters in the movie were brutal and desperate and selfish in their treatment of each other. They lied and cheated on their lovers all the while demanding honesty. It could be said that these people sought out all this drama because deep down they didn't feel worthy of happiness or love, but I think that, in a way, they enjoyed beating the shit out of each other emotionally.
God it was really hard to watch at times ...

I like movies based on comic books. There. I said it. X-Men, Spider-Man, Blade, Hellboy, Superman (I & II only), Batman (also I & II - what were you thinking, Joel Schumacher?!?). Hell, I even enjoyed Daredevil! Now I'll admit that some comic book movies are total shit (I'm looking at you, Halle Berry) but most of them are a lot of fun.
Before I continue I feel I need to explain something. I go to my local comics shop every week and spend way too much money on comic books. I do plan to cut back a lot once I move to London because 1) I won't have a job and 2) where the hell would we store them? Anyway, I've been a fan for years but please don't think I'm like one of those unbathed, overweight, greasy-haired 36 year-old fanboys who still live with their mother and have never been laid. I've seen these guys. I know they exist. I'm just not one of them. I rarely talk comic books. I never post messages on comic book bulletin boards ranting about the death of a certain creator because he killed off my favorite character. I just enjoy reading them. Really. I swear. Don't look at me like that ...
Anyway, you might think that the comic movie I'm anxiously awaiting this year would be Batman, and I'll admit that the Christian Bale in a tight rubber suit does have certain appeal, but I'm really looking forward to the Fantastic Four. I love big, flashy special effects movies and, judging by the trailer, this is gonna be a pretty cool movie. I'm not too thrilled with the way they made The Thing look (where's your eyebrow ridge, Ben?!?) but I think that overall everybody looks the part. Oh and Chris Evans, aka Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch, is shirtless. 'Nuff Said.

In August of this year, the city of Jerusalem will host WorldPride, a 10-day event organized by the International Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Coordinators which will include a film festival, arts exhibition, conference for religious leaders and a parade through the city. Home to more than 630,000 people representing a wide range of national, religious, and socioeconomic groups, Jerusalem was chosen because the organizers believed that there was no better place to demonstrate "that human rights transcend cultural and ethnic boundaries, that our differences can be respected peacefully, and that love knows no borders."
Jerusalem is also the home to three of the world's most influential religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Although these religions are fundamentally alike they rarely seem to agree on much of anything.
This week, however, they united to show their condemnation of WorldFest in the Holy Land. One Islamic leader said that the event "is very ugly and very nasty" and will "make the Holy City dirty." (I suppose all the war and bigotry there makes it the happiest place on earth.) Undaunted by this, the festival organizers pledge that the event will be held as planned. I say, good for them!
Isn't it sad that once again religion seems to fuel hatred and divisiveness instead of love and unity? What are these people so afraid of? That the only difference between us is who we sleep with? That the lesbians will show their hairy ankles in public? That without somebody to feel morally superior to they would lose some of their power? Are gays the Christian Kryptonite?
Surely with all the other crap going on in the world a couple of drag queens marching down Main Street Jerusalem wouldn't be one of the signs of the Apocalypse. Shouldn't they be focusing their attention on more important things like hunger, disease, war or at the very least explaining how Jessica Simpson manages to be so popular without having one ounce of talent?