Sometimes, my brain is just too full to even try to write anything, ya know what I mean? Like, how to decide what to write? How to sort it all out, make sense of it all.

Today was chock full o' news. . . the California recall "en banc" deliberations; the U.N. speeches; Phils on a losing streak; Katz vs Street for mayor; blah, blah, blah.

A few points of interest, my mind seems to have focused on:

Got an e-mail announcing that Michael Hinson, the mayor's so-called Liaision to the LGBT Community, will be awarded a Human Relations Award from the Philadelphia Human Relations Committee in October. Isn't it interesting how a City Agency feels compelled to honor a City Employee for, basically, Doing His Job (for a pretty nice salary, too). The Same City Employee who sued his employer, The City, for police brutality. . . and won. And Kept the Money. (Personally, I would have at least donated it to a victim's rights group.) Ah, Election Years.

Went to msn.com to get info about today's U.N. session, and right there at the Today on MSN section (where the "important" stuff is) - are these four topics:

. . . Bush-Annan showdown at the U.N. (yes, that's how they worded it)
. . . John Reed to take $1 to run the NY Stock Exchange (now there's a story!)
. . . Snoring aids tested (no comment)
. . . Are you a metrosexual?

So, since I've recently written about "straights who are gay wanna-be's," I thought I'd click that link (see how my mind gets easily muddled?). Wonder of wonders, I'm taken to the ESPN web site! Blah, blah, David Beckham, shaving/waxing, etc. Hmmm. And just last night, while perusing a recent issue of "Out," I came across that Fag Stag label again. Can't it all just let me be?

So, then, I switch over to CNN.com and, while they have a full section on the U.N. thing, their secondary headlines include the one topic my mind cannot pass up: Ben and Jen. What can I say? The world (and I) want to know. . . are they "on-again"? "Off-again"? I feel for Ben. You know she'll just dump him after the marriage. Look at her history. Ah, love is blind.

And, my latest gripe: Why doesn't my local public library branch ever carry the books I want? It's always another branch that has whatever book(s) I search for. Even My Girl was surprised recently when she went to borrow a new book by a local author, Tanya Barrientos, and our branch did not have a copy. Shouldn't ALL the branches at least support local authors? At least they carried both Jennifer Wiener books, albiet one copy of each and I had to be on the waiting list forever to read "In Her Shoes."

Just what are my taxes going towards, anyway?

Been wondering where I've been, haven't you? Well, recently, I spent some quality, family-time in Las Vegas - the strangest place on the face of the earth (and, like a car wreck, impossible to not get involved with).

[By "family" I mean my wild 'n' crazy, extended family : mom, dad, assorted aunts & uncles including the gay aunties and their friends, who I hung out with as a young baby dyke in a small town. The Girl and The Banana are not Vegas fans.]

Here's what I like about Vegas:

You can pretty much smoke ANYwhere - which, I'm pretty sure, is one of the last American freedoms we'll be seeing under John Ashcroft.

There is no separation of day and night, just hot and hotter. A good get-a-way for east coast blues (although I flew right back into the impending Isabel).

No one sleeps. You can, literally, find something to do at any hour of the day (which New York City used to boast about, but I've found really isn't true).

Food is cheap. And abundant. [Just check out any buffet in the casinos.]

There's nothing like flying into Las Vegas at night; the lights suddenly appearing in the desert. It's breathtaking. [Unless you allow your mind to think about all the water and electricity the city uses - endangered species both, out west.]

There are loads of gay folks. Who knew? I guess I never really noticed it before, but they're everywhere. In town as tourists. Working at the casinos. Hanging at the bar (bummed a cig from a Patriots fan, a gay boy I'm sure!, during the Big Game). Sigfield & Roy. 'Nuff said.

I should also mention I was much impressed by all of the application forms I completed at the casinos, for Player's Cards (slot cards). Under marital status, I had the option of selecting "domestic partner" in many cases; or, at the very least, "not married, living with a partner."

My gay aunties were solicited, as two women who live together and can show a relationship (i.e. joint bank account, will, mortgage, same address on driver's license), to win free show tickets for spending time listening about a timeshare opportunity.

And one of those guys on the street actually handed me a girlie strip club flyer! [Finally! i always ask when I go there why they only give them to the guys!]

Even the "Pocket Guide" book I checked out of my local branch of the public library had a section on Gay Vegas, including where to get "hitched" (ceremony only, as gay marriage is not legal -- in Vegas of all places!).

So, today I'm dropping off The Banana for her first full-day of Kindergarten and we're coloring at a table when I overhear two other moms talking. About what, you say? What's for dinner tonight? Noooooo. What T.V. shows they let their kids watch? Noooooo. They're talking about struts and brake pads and how quickly their tires wear out. [And these were Straight Moms!]

It got me thinking about all the Cool Moms I've met recently . . . balancing work, kids, laundry, school, activities, grocery shopping, and... well, Life. If we lived in Suburbia, they'd be The Soccer Moms. Since we don't, I'll make up my own label (ala yesterday's posting): The Mega Moms.

You know them : they're the cool, crunchy-granola version of The Soccer Mom. They Know About Cars. They Get Out the Vote. Take All their Neighbor's Plastics to Recycling. Organize the Block Parties. Join the Co-op Babysitting Club. Read Consumers Report, The Nation, and the Weddings & Engagements section of the "New York Times." Find Time to Jog in the Woods. Have Their Own Special Parking Spot at Home Depot.

And I was worried yesterday about the straight-gay blending going on with men (as reported by VH-1; however I have yet to be convinced this is occuring in the straight male community). It's really happening with straight moms. . . blending their Yin and their Yang, their Alpha Male and their Mother Earth.

I know more Straight Women with stereotypical "dyke" characteristics than I know lesbians. Women who can patch a screen door, change a flat tire (on the Excalibur!), carry heavy loads in a single bound (babys, backpacks, and grocery bags). Women who are proud of the flannel they own, the dogs that they love, and the dishwasher they fixed by themselves (with a little help from the Time-Life series).

And, they still find time, somehow, to have their weekly French Manicures. Yo Go, Girls! I wanna grow up to be just like you!

Just when I thought that T.V. couldn't get any stranger, I tuned in last night to the ending of a VH-1 program called "Totally Gay".

At about the time I tuned it, the program was addressing such news-worthy items as straight men who "act" gay (i.e. like getting massages and manicures and facials, shaving a variety of body parts, etc.) - a.k.a. Meterosexuals; gays in "straight" arenas such as professional sports (Billy Bean, now retired) and hip-hop (Cashaun); and straight women who "check out" the lesbian lifestyle, ala "Kissing Jessica Stein".

[John Waters, who was interviewed in the episode, called the actions of young, straight kids who experiment with or tell their parents they are gay as a way to upset them, "the new rebellion." I quite enjoyed that.]

I do confess, however, that "Kissing Jessica Stein" is a recent favorite movie of mine (I even have it on tape). In my weird lesbian mind, somehow, those two straight women actresses/writers becoming interested in each other and kissing (like, once in the whole movie) was soooooooo much better than, say any part of the lesbian-written and produced flick "Claire of the Moon".

Come to think of it, Mariel Hemingway was pretty hot in "Personal Best," as were Patricia Charbonneau and Helen Shaver in "Desert Hearts", Alison Folland and Tara Subkoff in "All Over Me", and Laurel Holloman (soon to be in that Showtime lesbian show) and Nicole Parker in "The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love."

Hmm. What does that make me? In the show last night, besides terming Metrosexuals, they also clued us in to the labels Hasbian (which, as any person who has ever hung out around a Bryn Mawr alum knows, is a woman who used to be a lesbian - i.e. while at Bryn Mawr - but no longer is); and Stag Fag: a straight man who hangs around gay men.

I, for one, slept soooooooo much better having learning these interesting things about straight people who wanna be "totally gay"!

Lots going on these days, eh? Bushie asking for, what, like $90 billion for Iraq war. Phils on a roll. School is starting. Blah, blah, blah. And what is the big news in my 'hood? The new Trader Joe's that opened in Center City!

Is it closer to the neighborhood than Jenkintown? Is there parking? Is it too crowded still to venture out to? Ya'd think that no one ever saw a new Trader Joe's before!

I know, I know -- for the vast, sorry majority of you all, you haven't! We are mighty lucky 'round these parts to have a selection of stores to travel to. I, for one, could not live without my chocolate-covered soy nuts; nor Hannah, without her TJ's mac-and-cheese.

While reading about TJ's this weekend, I noticed that it is a privately-held company. I began to worry that my purchases were making 2 rich men even richer. My gal pointed out to me that the prices at TJ's are quite low (for most items), they pay their employees well and provide good benefits, and many grocery items are organic in nature.

So, as supporting businesses go, let's just say, it's not Wal-Mart (which, techinically, makes about 4-6 very rich people extremely rich)...

Speaking of new, local businesses - a "shout-out" to the new gals who've opened my new fave Mt. Airy hang-out, the Rinker Rock Cafe on Emlen at Mt. Pleasant. Great food (can you say "diverse"?), good prices, neat concept, nice women. If I made more money, I'd go there even more often than I have thus far.

Go. Eat. Support. Enjoy.

Well, hello there. Back from vacation. Lots of day trips, reading, relaxing, fun with the fam. Almost forgot to get back to the Blog, but of course, I listen to public radio all day at work !

Thus, yesterday I got a full Terry-Gross-hour of Mr. Al Franken, he of the Fox News lawsuit for using, as his latest book's title, some words "they" (Fox News) think they control: "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (A Fair and Balanced Look at The Right)."

Personally, I think, if Fox News would like to align themselves with the "lies and lying liars" part of the book title, now that would be interesting. [It's the "fair and balanced" phrase that Fox News was challenging, saying they "owned" it. They lost. Hee Hee.]

Anyhoo, while I have not yet read the book, I can say this much about the interview: he is very funny and Terry Gross asked good questions. He mostly talked about The Right Wing Media and how facts are often ignored or misinterpreted in their coverage of... oh, whatever.

Now, this got me to thinking how even the so-called-Liberal-Media i.e NPR, or any media coverage we expose ourselves to i.e. The Inky, USA Today, MSNBC, BBC, Christian Science Montior, The Nation, etc.... is in someway biased. It's all from a point-of-view (whomever's), and the real trick is to not only read between the lines but try to figure out what's missing.

In a lovely converstation with train-buddy Bryan this a.m. (who plans to start his own blog soon), he pointed out that, for instance, no one is reporting the number of casualties (not deaths) that occur each day as a result of our post-war occupation of Iraq.

It's just so hard . . . keeping up with all the news, trying to figure out what's right and what's wrong . . . No wonder people blindly follow cults, er I mean, organizations like the Catholic Church, or the Republican Party - who tell them what is right and wrong, what to believe or not, and why. It's so much easier than figuring it out for yourself.