Weekly Inspiration - Rob Thomas

It's no secret I adore musicians.  I have the absolute highest respect for people who can sing, play instruments, and perform well.  And so for my inspiration this week, I thought I'd put up one of my favorite performers, Rob Thomas, lead singer of Matchbox Twenty and solo artist.  Inspiration comes in many forms for me, and I think with his boy-next-door cuteness, Rob Thomas one of those guys who's naturally sexy ;-)

Song of the Week - "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga

The Song of the Week goes to Lady Gaga this time around, for her efforts in trying to bring an end to DADT.  Sadly, many politicians didn't seem to get her message or the ones from the people.  It's a tie for me between "Poker Face" and "Bad Romance" for what song I like best by her, but I decided to go with the "Poker Face" vid because I think the dogs are cute :-) 

 

Land of the Free

It's not often when I go on a rant. When I do step up on my soapbox, it’s because something has genuinely upset me. Such is the case now. A couple days ago, my disappointment in my government reached a level even I wasn’t aware it could hit when Republicans banded together to stop the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, denying thousands of men and women the right to be themselves while fighting for the freedom and protection of our country.

I don’t understand how it is that so many politicians “serving” the people don’t have an understanding of, or maybe have never even read, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. As stated in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness…” These are the basic principals of America. Yet, many politicians have fallen so far from understanding these truths, they’ve corrupted, insulted, and have made a mockery of what has always made The United States a strong and unique country.

I have to say, the state of things here have reached a sad point when a pop star is doing more to bring awareness for equality than any of our representatives in government. And I don’t say this to take anything away from Lady Gaga. In fact, I applaud her for stepping up to make a difference. What I mean is, it shouldn’t have to fall on her shoulders. It belongs on the shoulders of our representatives in Congress. America is a diverse country. That’s something to be celebrated, not segregated.

What politicians don’t seem to understand is when they made the decision to represent the people, with it came the responsibility to represent ALL people. Just as American soldiers aren’t given the liberty to protect who they want, but selflessly defend all Americans and our freedom, politicians don’t have the right to pick and choose who they represent. And they certainly don’t have the right to deny any American citizen freedom, which is exactly what they’re doing in not allowing homosexual soldiers to openly be themselves. If those in Washington took a long hard look at our soldiers, maybe then they could see what it truly means to serve the people.

I find it beyond shameful that politicians like John McCain would so disrespect men and women who at this very moment are fighting for his safety, to protect him and all the homes he can’t keep track of, and he can’t even extend them the humanity of letting them be who they are. Homosexual military members, like all military members, fight for us to live in a land where we can be free. And how are they repaid? By bigotry and discrimination. And despite this, everyday they continue to risk their lives for people who refuse to grant them the most basic of human rights to be treated with respect and dignity.

This country is supposed to be a home of the free and land of the brave. And I still believe it is. But it’s only free because of every single man and woman in our military fighting side by side to keep it so. And the brave, those are all of our military people and each individual who continues to stand strong and be proud of who they are.

And now, since I know everyone’s not used to seeing such seriousness out of me, I’ll turn things over to Jon Stewart, who summed up the despicable actions of Congress in the way only he’s capable of.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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Weekly Inspiration - Akihiro Sato

For this week's inspiration, I offer Akihiro Sato, a model of Japanese Brazilian descent.  Yeah, I think I could write a character who looks like him ;-)  He's been a cover model for many magazines and appeared on Survivor Philippines: Celebrity Showdown.  I couldn't track down a website for him, or anything that seemed like an official Facebook or Twitter.  Sorry!  I tried to make it easy for everyone to stalk...learn about him.  But a Google search will bring up plenty of pics and articles for those who are interested.  Enjoy!

Song of the Week - "So What" by Pink

And for this week, my Song of the Week goes to Pink's "So What."  I heard it on the radio this week and it reminded me I still haven't downloaded her last album, Funhouse.  I gotta get on that!  And no, I didn't pick the image below to be the freeze frame for the video.  Actually, it's not even my video.  I'm not tech savvy enough to know how to upload music videos to YouTube, so I borrow from others :-)

So without further ado...Pink! 

Weekly Inspiration - Men in Kilts

I've been ill the past few days with a sinus infection, topped off with a pretty high fever.  I have drugs now, so I'm happy, but I will say my mind goes to curious places when I have a fever.  This time, I got an idea for a story and it involves kilts.  Let's face it, kilts are sexy, and there's something that's just so erotic about them.  Am I right?  Or is it my fevered delirium making me think this?  Nope.  Even when not sick, I still think kilts are hot.  And so, to help my sluggish mind get rolling again from this illness, I'm looking to the kilt for inspiration.  Hope you enjoy them, too!

*Update* For more Men in Kilts, I did a second edition of Weekly Inspiration which can be found HERE.




Vin Diesel rockin' a black leather kilt. 

Song of the Week - "Secrets" by OneRepublic

Since it's no secret I'm a huge music lover, I was thinking every week, I'd like to post a song I'm loving.  It might be one of my old favorites, or whatever's got my ear at the immediate moment. 


For this week, I'm going with OneRepublic's, "Secrets."  All week, I've been catching the tail-end of this song, and it's been tormenting me because the DJs never announced the band.  Huge pet peeve of mine!  Just a couple days ago, I finally caught enough of the song to make a guess at the title and was able to track down the band.  Somehow, OneRepublic has gotten under my radar, but if they have more songs like this, they're a band I'm going to quickly fall in love with. 

New contract! Woo hoo!

It's official!  My m/m vampire erotic romance novel will be published through MLR Press!  The contract is signed, sealed, and ready to be delivered.  The current title is Natural Instincts, and I have a feeling that'll probably be the final.

I'll admit, I'm really excited about this novel.  Having never written vampires before, it was a super fun experience, and I'm hoping to do more in the future.  I mean, the world can always use more vampires, right? 

Curse of the Tech Gods

So yesterday was my first day on Blogger, and I didn't kill it!  Yay!  But, I must've been feeling too cocky about my blogger skills, because the tech gods deemed it necessary to give me a lesson in humility.  How?  By crashing the template on my website.  And I mean, big time crashed.  I'm not sure how or why it happened.  I tried to do an update, and it was like I opened a vortex to Hell.  All my free reads, all my sub-menus, all my links, got sucked in and vanished.

After live chatting with a techie, I had to reinstall the template.  Not such a catastrophe, other than the hours of resetting everything.  The sub-menus still look a little funky, and for some reason there's a big gap between the title of a page and the content, but at least it's functional. 

Since I've upset the tech gods somehow, I'm now looking around my house for a sacrifice to set the balance right.  Should I sacrifice the toaster?  But then I wouldn't be able to have my morning bagel.  The DVD player?  Eek!  Then I won't be able to watch the gay romance movie I just got from Netflix!  The stereo is totally out of the question, and while I'd be happy sacrificing the stove, I do need it to cook food for my child.  Hmm, hubby has lots of electrical and technical thingys in the garage that I never use...

Well, until I get things back in balance, I offer an apology to those who visit my website for it being a little rough around the edges.  Here's hoping I get the curse lifted soon!

Very First Post!

Hold on to the Internet, folks, I'm launching my blog!  No really, hold on to it.  There's a very real chance I may crash the entire thing trying to figure out this whole blogger deal.  Seriously.  I think I've crashed it before.  Have you ever had moments where the Internet died on you?  Yeah, that was probably because I was trying to do something and messed it up.  Sorry!

But enough about my technical ineptitude.  This blog is what you're stopping by for, so let me tell you a little bit about what I hope to do with it.  One of the main goals is to let my readers and friends know what I'm up with my writing and books.  And since I'm a fairly slow writer, you may also find posts about songs I'm loving, movies I've watched, books I'm reading, and pics I like.  Above all things, what I want for this blog is for it to be a place where everyone feels welcomed and free to be themselves.  Hate, discrimination, those things don't exist here.  I'm an author of gay erotic romance to help combat those very things and to show how all individuals in this world are deserving of love, kindness, and respect.    

And now for something fun to mention in this very first post.  In honor of launching my blog today, amazing author, Nix Winter, was kind enough to have me over on Yaoi Kisses for a very cool interview!  Thank you so much, Nix!  Here's the interview linky for those who'd like to check it out:  Interview at Yaoi Kisses. 

So without further ado, I declare this blog live!  And to kick it off right, here's a lovely pic showing what my writing is all about; love, passion, and romance.