Again, apologies from me for not having written much lately. Have been very busy with work and life. You know how it is. I'm here, today, however to share some trinkets of my life with you all, once again.

Woo hoo. Go St. Joe's. The Hawk Will Never Die 'Nuf said.

Feeling old lately. A co-worker recently asked me what "slash/femme fanfic" was. Had no clue. Looked it up on the 'Net. Intriguing.

From the pages of "feeling old" pt. II. . . went to a local pub last night, didn't know half the songs being played on the juke box. When I was young, I vowed I'd never get too old not to be up on all the current tunes. Waaaaah!

That new Brittany Spears tune is catchy, though. Does anyone else think the electrified string riff sound like something out of "Revenge of the Nerds" ? (You know, when they form a band and win over the campus, taking power away from the nasty frat boys)

Can you tell I've been watching "I Love the 80s" on VH-1 lately?

I know, I know. I haven't written in a while. Am kind of getting burned out on the whole Gay Marriage thing. Not quite into hoops yet. Have kind of been distracted by the Mass Media.

And, I think I'm addicted to "American Idol."

I just had to watch the 2-hour, final-12-contestant special. I can't explain why, but I really like Jon Peter. Maybe it's the Elvis thing. But I think the really good voices belong to Amy (but she didn't show it last night), Fantasia, and LaToya (my pick!).

Also, I've been spending time reading a great book lately, "Angels & Demons" by Dan Brown (of "The DaVinci Code" - next on my reading list). A thriller! And, I just finished a good one, "The Anthrax Letters." (Guess who I borrowed that one from!)

Plus, we've subscribed to Net Flix and have to make sure we make time each week to watch the DVDs we rent, including "Kimba, The White Lion" (1966 versions), which The Banana just adores.

For us adults, I just went through the first season of "MI-5" ("Spooks" in the U.K.) - awesome - and we have "Lost In Translation" to get through this week. . .seeing as, like most parents we know, we hadn't seen any of the films up for Academy Awards (except, of course, "Finding Nemo") and now feel like we need to go back and rent them.

So, that's my life right now. It's cold, it's snowing, I'm being a Couch Potato.

So, I've been so busy writing about from my Activist hat, I almost forgot it's March. And that means . . . March Madness !

It's been hard to get excited about college hoops these days, as my Marquette boys lost in their conference tourney (N.I.T. here we come); as did the Marquette women (bubble team for NCAA ?).

St. Joe's men just lost last night; and the St. Joe's women dropped another close one to Temple, for the A-10 conference championship. The Hawks needed that win to be the automatic bid into the NCAA tourney. Another bubble year.

Plus, my high school girls team, Villa, lost in the western PA quarterfinals. No going to Hershey this year.

But, on the other hand. . . the Phillies are lookin' good this year!

Happy International Women's Day! What am I doing to "celebrate"? Well, besides having the day off from work, I'm . . .

. . . pondering this Martha Stewart thing! I mean, is this rampant sexism and celebrity-ism or what? Are any of the rich white men involved in this insider trading looking at 20 years time? Noooo. How 'bout that assistant of her broker - the one who made the phone call to her telling her the "inside information" on ImClone - HE'S getting federal immunity from prosecution!

. . . preparing for tonight's Indigo Girls concert. How you might ask? As usual. Listening ONLY to IG music today. Caught their appearance on the "Today" show. Tyring to select which concert t-shirt I will wear. Salivating over my 12th row, end-seats.

. . . sewing. Really. Just 'cuz I'm a lesbian doesn't mean I can't sew. I went to an all-girls high school; I took Home Ec; I can set a table with the best of them. Actually, I'm "mending." Five-year olds who go to kindergarten in the woods come home with lots of holes in their clothing!

. . . wondering where the rest of the high-profile lesbians are re: this whole Marriage thing. Poor Rosie; getting bashed again for being public about being gay and going to S.F. to marry. Where's Martina? Where's Melissa? Where's Ellen? k.d.? Jodie Foster (wait! she's not gay!). Senator Barbara Mikulski (wait! her too!). Or, how about somebody who might actually have some sway with this administration (no, not Barbara & Jenna). . . Mary Cheney!

San Francisco. New Paltz, New York. Multnomah County, Oregon. Forget Massachusetts, these communities are paving their own way in the Great Gay Marriage Debate.

Act Up! Fight Back!

So, there are some activists left in the community. I thought we had all shriveled up, gotten old, had kids, and nested. But, we are the graduates, after all, of ACT UP! and Queer Nation and The Lesbian Avengers.

We're Here! We're Queer! We're Out 'n' Proud, Get Used to It!

Funny it takes a little thing like the denial of our basic civil rights (and a few decades of debate) to get the ball rolling again.

= = = = =

Meanwhile, on the Homefront, Montgomery County (PA) District Attorney (running for state Attorney General) Bruce Castor had this to say when his Register of Wills asked for an opinion on issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples:

! Castor told Pierce (Register of Wills) that she and her office would potentially face criminal liability in issuing a marriage license to a gay or lesbian couple. !

! Castor also noted that any couple holding themselves out to be married for the sake of receiving marriage-related privileges available in Pennsylvania could be charged with fraud in a criminal prosecution. !

“There should be no ‘Rosie O’Donnell’ weddings in Pennsylvania, and there won’t be if I’m the Attorney General,” Castor said.

What a Butthead with a Capital "B."

By the way, he's a Republican (surprise, surpise)!