Thank you for your patience the last day or so.  Blogger has been undergoing maintenance for about the last 24 hours. During that time, all of my posts since Wednesday night were deleted during this maintenance. Also, the comments were deleted as well. I had been in the process of answering comments when Blogger shut down.  Hopefully, the comments will be recovered, but I am not holding out a lot of hope.  I have re-uploaded the posts that were saved to my computer. Blogger seems to be up and running again now, though it still has a few problems.

I hope that we all think of our mothers today. I love my mama, but like all mothers, she drives me crazy sometimes. She has been in a long, five year period of depression since she found out I was gay, but that was relieved somewhat by the birth of my niece, so she now has the grand-baby she always wanted. She is still convinced I am going to hell, but she doesn’t say it as much anymore. As long as it is a “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t discuss” situation, we get along great.

So even if your mother drives you crazy, I hope that you still have a good relationship with her and tell her how much you love her today.

I love you, Mama.

(She would surely die if she ever saw this blog, but I did choose a picture of sunflowers because they are her favorite.)

Please keep the people of Alabama and the Southeastern and Eastern United States in your thoughts and prayers.  We are experiencing severe weather.  Numerous tornadoes have hit Alabama with reports as high as 58 dead in Alabama.  The tornado in Tuscaloosa was reported to be a mile wide and hit along along MacFarland Boulevard; which if you know anything about Tuscaloosa, this is one of the busiest area of the city.  Many restaurants, stores and the mall are along MacFarland Boulevard.
The storms have been widespread throughout Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia.  Reports are that up to 80 or more people have died as a result of these lines of storms.  If the storms have not reached you yet, I am thinking of you guys and you are in my prayers.  Where I live, we still have a few more storms to pass through later tonight, but we are hoping that the most severe weather is passed us.

“The class distinctions proper to a democratic society are not those of rank or money, still less, as is apt to happen when these are abandoned, of race, but of age.“ 

“In a land which is fully settled, most men must accept their local environment or try to change it by political means; only the exceptionally gifted or adventurous can leave to seek his fortune elsewhere. In America, on the other hand, to move on and make a fresh start somewhere else is still the normal reaction to dissatisfaction and failure.“ 

“A doctor, like anyone else who has to deal with human beings, each of them unique, cannot be a scientist; he is either, like the surgeon, a craftsman, or, like the physician and the psychologist, an artist. This means that in order to be a good doctor a man must also have a good character, that is to say, whatever weaknesses and foibles he may have, he must love his fellow human beings in the concrete and desire their good before his own.“ 

“A daydream is a meal at which images are eaten. Some of us are gourmets, some gourmands, and a good many take their images precooked out of a can and swallow them down whole, absent-mindedly and with little relish.“ 

“Evil is unspectacular and always human, and shares our bed and eats at our own table.“ 

“America has always been a country of amateurs where the professional, that is to say, the man who claims authority as a member of an ?lite which knows the law in some field or other, is an object of distrust and resentment.“ 

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/w-h-auden#ixzz1FsjyxXez

So what do you think the guy with his eyes covered by his hand is thinking?

I was sitting at my desk when he walked up behind me.  He leaned over to ask me a question, placing his right hand on my desk.  His chest was close enough to my right shoulder that I could almost feel its hardness, and I could feel the heat from his body.  Then I smelled his cologne, subtle with a touch of sweetness and manliness.  I turned my head and looked at him as he asked his question.  For a brief moment my body was electrified.  The room was silent, at least in my mind, though I know in reality it was anything but silent.  For a very brief moment, I almost melted in that moment of bliss.  I had to concentrate on what he was asking, but all I could think of at the moment was “What is that cologne you are wearing?”  The moment passed, and I answered his question.  The room returned to normal, the noise and chaos around us resumed, the reality set in, the tingling sensation throughout my body went away.  I returned to my senses. The moment had passed

WAR EAGLE (FIGHT SONG)

WAR EAGLE (FIGHT SONG)

War…Eagle, fly down the field, Ever to conquer, never to yield.
War…Eagle fearless and true. Fight on, you orange and blue.
Go! Go! Go!
On to vic’try, strike up the band,
Give ’em hell, give ’em hell.
Stand up and yell, Hey! War…Eagle, win for Auburn,
Power of Dixie Land!

War Eagle is the battle cry of fans of the Auburn Tigers football team of Auburn University, and fans of other Auburn teams and sometimes Auburn University in general. It is also the title of the university fight song (see below). It is a common phrase in the city of Auburn in general, along with the variation “War Damn Eagle”. Since 1930, and continuously since 1960, Auburn University has also kept an actual eagle as a second mascot for Auburn athletics. However, the official mascot is Aubie the tiger, and Auburn does not have teams called “eagles” or “war eagles”.

I can’t believe that the State of Alabama has had it’s top two football schools win the National Championship and the Heisman Trophy for the past two years.  I wonder if any other state has done the same.

Well, tonight we fucked the ducks.

I didn’t have time to set up a substantial post for today, so I thought would give you guys a quick post to say that I will try to post more for tomorrow.  Right now, I am totally drawing a blank as to what to post.

BBC Symphony, Chorus & Singers – Auld Lang Syne

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

Champagne and kisses for everyone.