AtomicMrX

It took four hours Sunday but I got the blue xmas lights hung all the way around the roof line of the house. It was a pain in the knees and back doing it. I never spent so much time scooting around on my butt! Hook a light into the clip, slide the clip onto the roof, and scoot my butt to the next few lights, then repeat all the way around the house. I feel it today. My right knee is not happy with me today. I treated it to some Icy Hot this morning.

I also got our big lit wreath hung up on the side of the house in the middle of our peak. It’s on a timer so it will come on at 4:00 PM and go off in 8 hours - battery operated. We got two small wreaths hung in the back of the house and they are light sensitive so they are on dusk to dawn like the blue lights on the roof.

I had to replace 27 burned out lights on the blue strands. We used 7 strands of lights to go around the house roof line. I scavenged the “new lights” from an unused strand of lights we had in the basement. When I left the roof and walked around the house to make sure I got all the burned out bulbs replaced; all the lights were working. Wait for it….. About an hour later Shannon and I went out to eat and a whole strand was out! I think it’s a fuse on the actual plug for the strand so I’ll try that tonight and if that doesn’t fix it then I will have to replace the strand. It’s not because of a burned out bulb because these strands will work even if a bulb is missing from a socket. What a bummer! This morning I saw two more lights had burned out so I’ll need to pick up some extra bulbs too.

Shannon worked on the front and back yard and got all the leaves blown/mowed/picked up. Our yard is very pristine looking (for now).

Jaki spent her time in the house barking at me making all the strange noised on the roof. It was way too cold outside for her to spend any amount of time out there. It was in the 50’s but that is way too cold for her thin little frame and coat.

Friday at work I was working away like usual and Kim (not their real names) tells Sarah that “Tom said that my stuffed Halloween spider is so gay!”. Sarah replies with “Yea, well Tom is gay!” - followed by chuckles and laughter by all parties overhearing the conversation (except for me). These are co-workers with the ages of: 20, 23, 43, and overhearing it - 50. So we are not talking about teenagers here.

I was suddenly filled with feelings of disrespect, unwanted, unsafe, and anger. I am not completely out at work but I think everyone “knows” but just chooses to “over look it.” Now I don’t know what to do or say. I remembered seeing some videos on this exact topic and I can’t remember what they said in response. So I become 10 years old and pretend I didn’t hear it and say nothing… letting the homophobic remarks appear acceptable.

Here are the 30 second TV Ads:

Here is the Ad campaign web site: ThinkB4YouSpeak. Here is the New York Times article A Push to Curb the Casual Use of Ugly Phrases. Finally, here is the GLSEN and Ad Council Launch First Campaign to Address Anti-Gay Language Among Teens.

So, my Friday ended early with me taking a half day of vacation so I could escape what I had experienced at work because I couldn’t come up with the words to address the situation properly. Hopefully next time (sad to say there will be a next time), I will handle the problem better.

I took a long nap with Jaki when I got home and she put me in my happy place but not quite. I’m non-confrontational by nature so I hope I will be able to stand up for myself (and others in the department - I’m not the only Gay in the village at work) when this all rolls around again.