It’s been quite the busy weekend. I brought home work from school Friday and spent Friday night, Saturday morning, and Sunday afternoon and night making out semester exams and study guides for those exams. Saturday night a friend of mine had a belated birthday dinner for me and an early birthday celebration for another friend. They grilled steaks, each was huge and cut two inches thick. It was more than I could eat. We had a wonderful time though.

Sunday morning, I went to my niece’s baptism. It was at one of those huge Baptist churches, where my sister and her family attend church. My brother-in-law refuses to ever attend church with us because he says the singing is terrible, and while we don’t use music, I always find our singing, with all voices, and only voices combined, to be the most beautiful sound. However, the singing I heard yesterday morning was pitiful. The one song that they allowed the whole congregation to sing was merely drowned out by the orchestra and most of the music service was solos and duets. One of the joys of going to church, for me, is being able to sing, and at this church no one was encouraged to sing except those whose voices they deemed worthy.

The rest of my Sunday, not involved in making exams was spent baking. A friend of mine gave me a KitchenAid stand mixer for my birthday, and I’ve been dying to try it out and I always love baking for Christmas gifts, so I made four dozen cookies and a dozen mini loaves of bread. The cookies I usually make are very simple: refrigerated cookie dough, a cup of dried cherries, and a cup of pistachios. When they are done and cooled, I dip them in white chocolate. Everyone loves them. It’s an easy recipe, but kneading the pistachios and cherries into the cookie dough takes a while to get a good mixture, so I decided to make the cookie dough from scratch this year. What has always taken about 30 minutes to put together, took less than five with my new mixer. I was amazed and the cookies look beautiful, but I will wait and dip them in white chocolate tonight. I ran out of time trying to get everything done.

I was up late watching a movie with a friend and didn’t have time to write a descent post. A friend of mine had given me The Normal Heart for my birthday, so we watched it together. My friend lives about 500 miles away, so we sometimes have a “movie date” where we text each other during the movie. It’s a fun way not to watch a movie by yourself. I will write more about The Normal Heart tomorrow, but let me just say that if you haven’t seen it, you really need to watch it.

Benjamin Franklin famously said in Poor Richard’s Almanac “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Last night, I went to bed pretty early, and I always have to get up early for work each day. I’m not so sure about the healthy or wise but I’m certain that it hasn’t made me wealthy.

Just as my shoulder began feeling better, my lower back began to hurt. I’ve been having some back spasms. Nothing too severe but it has limited my movements. I’ve had back spasms much worse, but this has been a nagging pain off and on for a week. So last night, I took some medicine that my doctor has prescribed in the past and went to bed early.

Hopefully, it will be better today.

The kitties and I are snuggled in and sleeping late. No Black Friday shopping for us. It’s too cold to get out of my warm bed.

I had a particular post in mind for either Wednesday or Thursday and then I thought I’d post it today, but I haven’t really had the time to get it written not have I felt like it. I am feeling better though; my shoulder still hurts some but not nearly as bad. Plus, last night I couldn’t miss watching “How to Get Away with Murder.” However, I will tell you that the three men above play a major part in the post.

Yesterday seemed to be the day from hell. First, my shoulder was still in a lot of pain when I woke up and I had the worst time trying to get dressed. Next, my phone died, and I mean completely died, and I had to go get another one, which took forever. When I finally got home, and my shoulder and neck pain seemed to not be able to get worse, I had to take out the garbage because of course it’s garbage night. I was then finally able to take some medicine to help with the pain and go to bed. Therefore, I was not able to write the post I’d planned to write.

I woke up yesterday morning with my shoulder and neck very sore like I’d slept on it wrong or something. Usually, it gets better as the day goes on, and it seemed to do just that until last night. About 7:30 last night, the pain got exceedingly worse. I took some Aleve, then a muscle relaxer, and neither helped. I ended up going to bed early with a heating pad. I hope it will be better today and a good night’s sleep will help it.

I was kind of at a loss for what to write about today (Mondays are often hard to find a topic for), so I turned to my trusty friend Google for help. I simply typed in “ideas for blog posts.” Literally hundreds of ideas popped up on the first page, but many of them were basically the same list of 101 blog post ideas. I’ve had this blog for over four years now and since I post daily, that’s a lot of ideas already used. Many of the suggestions were things I’ve done in the past. One that I haven’t done before is a list of my top posts. So I looked at my all time statistics and these posts are my top posts that have been viewed on my blog.

1. Naked Male Camaraderie
I published this post on Aug 24, 2010, and it has been my most popular post so far with 149,818 page views as of last night. A fellow blogger reported this blog post once and said that it was one of his top blog posts as well. By the way, this post probably has more nudity in one post than all of my other posts combined, but I loved the pictures of YMCAs which showed such casual nudity in the days when it was a men’s only organization. Seeing these pictures, it’s no wonder that the Village People sang a song about it being “fun to stay at the YMCA.”

2. Gays and the Old West
This post was published just over a year later on Aug 25, 2011. With 7,070 page views it is a very distant second to my post on “Naked Male Camaraderie.” However, I have always liked this post. Whenever there is a lack of women, there is often a rise in homosexual behavior, whether that is all male boarding schools, all male colleges, the military, etc. The Old West was no different.

3. Just Because You Come Out…
I have a feeling that this post, published the day before “Naked Male Camaraderie” on Aug 23, 2010, has reached 6,464 page views simply because people click to see “older posts” on my most popular post. However, this post holds a great deal of meaning for me. It was part of a series of posts about coming out. It was largely my personal experience with coming out and this one in particular was a bit melancholy because, even though I have been out for nearly a decade and a half and have been mostly back in the closet for the past five years, I am still a single gay man, who is not very good with relationships.

4. Naked Warriors in History
This post from Aug 13, 2010, which has garnered 5,030 views, is one of those posts that I found fascinating to write. Since I was an undergrad and first studied the Picts of ancient Scotland, I have been fascinated with these warriors who went into battle naked and painted blue.

5. Naked Sleeping and Relationships
This Aug 20th post from this year is a bit of a surprise. In less than three months, it has been viewed 4,708 times. It probably has more to do with the title than anything else.

6. Smart, Studious, Involved
I am almost certain that the reason this post has had 1,589 views since it was posted on Jul 7, 2011, is not because it is about gay guys being better students, but because the pictures I used are of the very hot actor Colton Haynes kissing another guy. Since I love Colton Haynes (and I do think he is gay, even of his publicist wants to hide that), I had to add a number six to this list, when my personal aesthetic would have preferred to keep to the top five posts.

As many of you know, I also have a mirror/back-up blog on WordPress. The same content is published their daily and it links with my Twitter account. It has only been in existance for about a year or so, but it does have all the same posts. Surprisingly, the top five most popular posts on that blog are mostly different.

1. “Nude Equestrianism and Pot” with 7,704 views
2. “Panic in the Locker Room?” with 1,775 views
3. “Two-Spirit, The American Third Sex” with 1,251 views
4. “Naked Male Camaraderie” with 1,201 views
5. “Gay Camping?” with 1,185 views

Part of the difference here as opposed to my blog’s Blogger version is usually this blog gets link to in different ways. Often the page views for Blogger comes from Google keyword searches, whereas many of my WordPress page views come from either Facebook, Reddit, or other discussion boards.

There were several things I could have written about today, but none that I either felt strongly enough about or had the energy to write about. I had a great professional development meeting yesterday. It was very interesting. As a friend of mine said, I was in hog heaven. However, my cold seems to only be getting worse, and after I got home, I watched the Country Music Awards and then I just wanted to go to bed. So the question marks for the title are for two reasons: I had no idea what to title this post as, and I had no idea what to actually write about. I wish I could just stay in bed today, but there is a ton of work waiting on me at school, so maybe I can get enough rest this weekend.

The St. James hotel stands watchful over Selma, Alabama from its perch on the Alabama River banks. Both the St. James and Selma went through a spell where much of the area was depressed, dilapidated, and forgotten, but local groups and the government have been working to revitalize the area, and their diligence seems to have stirred up more than they bargained for.

The St. James Hotel in Selma, Alabama, is considered to be one of the most haunted places in Alabama. Many visitors to the hotel have reported accounts of hauntings and paranormal events. Located in the center of the historic district, overlooking the famous Alabama River, the building was constructed in 1837 and opened as The Brantley.

During the Civil War, the Brantley was occupied by Union troops during the Battle of Selma. Due to its concentration of Confederate arsenals and factories, the occupying army burned much of the city. Fortunately, the St. James and other structures on Water Street were spared. Together they form the heart of the revitalized historic district and represent one of the finest collections of antebellum industrial buildings in the South.

Following the war, the hotel was operated by Benjamin Sterling Turner; the first African American ever elected to the United States Congress. He reportedly hosted the legendary outlaw brothers Frank and Jesse James in 1881. In 1892, the hotel fell upon hard times and ceased operations.

The doors were closed on the building, and were not reopened for a century. A group of investors purchased the old hotel and after putting in approximately $6 million in restorations, they were able to officially reopen the doors of the establishment in 1997 as the St. James Hotel.

Since its reopening, two of the most reported “hauntings” in the hotel include Jesse James and his girlfriend Lucinda. Several have claimed to have seen the apparition of a man dressed in attire that was common for a man in the late 1800s. He is most often seen in the rooms in which he typically stayed – rooms 214, 314, and 315. However, he also has been sighted at a certain table in the bar.

Many things are known about Lucinda. For one, she enjoyed the scent of lavender so much that when someone smelled the scent, they knew she was near. Today, several witnesses claim they are able to smell lavender with no logical explanation. In other instances, a full apparition of Lucinda is said to be walking the halls of the structure.

In the area of the courtyard, many strange events have been reported. First, several witnesses have observed what appears to be residual hauntings of individuals who are fully clothed in dress that was common to the 1800s. They seem unaware of the “living” surrounding them.

Additionally, the sounds of apparent ghost dogs can be heard in the area. Jessie James, some have said, once owned a black dog that was his companion for many years. Many guests at the St. James have reported hearing a dog running up and down the halls. Also, guests in the hotel would often complain about a dog that would bark non-stop in the courtyard. When management would look into their complaints, no dog was ever found in the courtyard.

Psychics and investigators have been brought into the St. James to give the current management a better idea of what is happening in the hotel. Interestingly, they have picked out more than just these 3 entities. Psychics have described groups of apparitions in the inner courtyard, dressed in 1880′s clothing, going about their business and unaware of the living. Perhaps it is these ghosts of the past that cause the odd, inexplicable sounds heard from that space. Mischievous entities will bang glassware together until told to stop, a man has been seen sitting on a bench in the drinking room, and in room 304, a cook who was staying in the room complained about the curtains moving for no logical reason and bright flashes of light. A psychic claims to have spoken to that specter and discovered that the entity was angry that he passed away before finishing some business he wanted to do.

The most amusing occurrence happened in the Brantly Ballroom. A team of paranormal investigators had been tape recording the room hoping to get an Electronic Voice Phenomenon. They asked the question “Is anyone here?” When playing the tape back later on, they quite clearly heard a gruff voice reply “Well, that’s a stupid question.”

Whether you believe in the supernatural or just enjoy visiting beautiful historical landmarks, the St. James Hotel should be added to your list of must-see Alabama locations.