Matt Alber "End of the World"

The Reader

We saw the movie The Reader last night. Fantastic movie. Kate Winslet is spectacular and really deserves the Oscar if she wins it tonight. I think SlumDog Millionaire will win best movie, and it deserves it. Still, I would not be surprised if this movie somehow managed an upset and won that award. I loved the scene in the courtroom where her lover first hears of her past and has to accept who she really is and what she has done. I recommend everyone go see this movie and get lost in this story of Hanna and Michael.

Can't Wait For Summer

Irish Sunset Ocean

Rights Of A Gay Fetus

SlumDog Millionaire

Last night we saw the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" which is expected to win the Academy Award tomorrow for Best Picture. I have to say it was a very good movie and the actors all gave great performances. If you could give an Oscar for best cast in a movie this cast would win hands down. Tonight we're going to see the movie The Reader with Kate Winslet and if we get a chance we're going to see Benjamin Button tomorrow.

Smile

Howth Harbour Beacon

Irish Ocean

Irish Snowman

Dublin Pub

One Of Those Days

This was a rough week. I got accepted in the Africa aid program and have been getting everyting done for that and at work we've been busy getting the ship ready for the new season. I havn't had much time to myself and definately no time to post anything. I do hope everyone else is having a good week and today is Friday so at least in that we can all celebrate.

Stretch

My Valentines Day

Yesterday we rented a nice hotel room for a romantic getaway for Valentines Day. We checked into the room and put a bottle of champagne on ice. As I opened the curtain to check out the view, Gareth fell onto the bed and started talking sweet things about what he wanted to do on that bed. I laughed and fell onto the bed with him and joined in that conversation and just as I went to give him a kiss, his pants started to vibrate. I quickly realized it was his phone, not my kiss that made his pants move. Gareth got paged to the hospital for an emergency and I was left to sit alone on the bed in the hotel room. Happy Valentines Day.


Fortunately I've grown used to this since being with him, so I was prepared and brought my laptop along. I spent the time watching the telly, reading a magazine, and the food menu of the hotel, and playing on my laptop. It was late at night when I got a knock on the door and asked who it was. They said room service. I had not ordered anything so I opened the door expecting to tell them they had the wrong room when I saw Gareth standing in the hallway with a rose clenched in his teeth and a couple others held in his outstretched arm to me. I grabbed him by his shirt like he always does to me and pulled him into the room.


As we kissed and I started to mess with his pants. He told me we had better hold that thought because he really did just order room service and they would be here soon. I laughed and told him I was just getting the phone, don't get so excited. I took his phone and wrapped it in a towel and stuck it in the bathroom and shut the door. I told him no more phone calls tonight.


After we ate some dinner, Gareth took his shirt off and laid across the bed watching the sports news and I finished up writing to a friend on the internet with my legs propped up on his back. As I put the laptop away, I realized Gareth had fallen asleep. I sat beside him and took his belt off and laid down beside him wrapping us in the blanket the best I could. I grabbed the remote from his hand, turned the telly off, and kissed my man on the head. As I put my arm around him and went to sleep, I thanked Cupid for my Valentine.

Lovers

Happy Valentines Day

If you're single, may cupid find your heart this year. If your heart is already taken, may your love for each other be renewed. Either way, you know I love you, so Happy Valentines Day!

Hypnotic

I Heart You

Loving Kiss

Style

Jamie Bamber

Passion

Closeness

Winslet and The BAFTA's

Kate Winslet won the BAFTA last night for her performance in The Reader. I'm going to see that in a few days along with Slum Dog Millionaire which won best movie. I love Kate Winslet, she is a great actress and always plays challenging roles. She is quickly becoming her generations Meryl Streep.


I'm also glad to see Heath Ledger winning for his role in Batman. That was the best movie I saw last year and his role was the one I remember most from any movie. Heath has won everything now and if he doesn't get the Oscar later this month, than something is wrong with that academy.

Life And A Snowball Fight

This morning I awoke to the sounds of children playing outside in the snow. I went to the living room to find Gareth sitting on the couch drinking a beer. He had gotten an emergency page to the hospital last night for one of his patients. A sweet little girl who I had seen the last time I visited him at the hospital. As I sat next to him, watching him peel the label off his beer bottle, he told me she didn't make it through the night.


This isn't the first time he's lost a patient since I've been with him, there have been quite a few and I've been by his side with a few words of comfort. Still this was the first one I had met and shared a laugh with and it brought tears to my eyes when I remembered that moment with her and the smile on her face that day and it left me without words. I took his hand in mine and we just sat there for the longest time not saying a word.


I've lost several people I've loved in my life and I know that feeling. Yet. until I started dating Gareth and listening to his stories, I never gave it much thought to the doctors and what they must feel at those moments. I always thought they kept themselves detached from the situation and in most cases that is probably true. Yet, for someone like Gareth who works with children, how can you not become attached to the hope that you can do some good for them. When it works, he comes home ready to celebrate and talks fast and non-stop about how good it went and how great it was to bring relief to a family. When it doesn't, in a case such as this, he sits quietly alone with his thoughts and all I can do is try to bring him some comfort and pull him out of those thoughts.


I took his hand and pulled him off the couch, got his coat and scarf and led him outside to where the children were playing. Before long we become embattled in a snow ball fight. During a lull in the battle he looked over at me and we caught eyes for a moment. He stood for a moment and smiled and I smiled back at him. As the snow ball fight resumed, he got hit in the side of the arm by one of the kids which made him laugh. I joined back in the battle standing next to my man defending off the neighborhood kids. Life continues.

My Wedding Kilt

I finally decided on what outfit to wear for my wedding day. I chose the one on the bottom. Now I just have to decide if I want the white or black socks and wait for gay marriage to become legalized, which they promise will happen this year.

All Dressed Up

Karma

My girl cat, pictured above stealing some of Gareths ice cream sandwich, loves to hide in a tub we have under the kitchen sink. I've learned from experience that when you are washing the dishes and you turn on the garbage disposal, you need to stand back because it startles her and she comes running out the door and slams it into your knee or a more painful body part. The door has the handle on it that feels like a hammer hitting you when she slams it open. For myself I've learned to check and see if she is under the sink before hitting the switch. If she is there I leave it go until she is out of her spot.

Last night Gareth was doing the dishes from the great chicken, pineapple, and rice dinner I made. I was reading a book for work and suddenly realized that I better warn him about the cat and the switch. Just as I started to say the words, he hit the switch. Before I could do anything my cat came flying into the room and jumped up on the couch next to me as if she wanted me to save her life. She was followed by Gareth who was holding his crotch and fell into the chair moaning.

Since I already knew what happened, I did what any caring boyfriend would do in my situation, I hid behind my book and laughed. When I pulled the book back down, he was sitting in the chair giving me and the cat an angry stare. I went over to him, crawled onto his lap and talked him out of killing me and the cat.

Once that was accomplished, I went into the kitchen and told him I would finish the clean up. He came to the doorway of the kitchen chatting with me as he grabbed an ice cream sandwich and I wiped the counter and rinsed out the sponge. I was deep in conversation with him when I hit the switch to the garbage disposal without thinking and without realizing the cat had gone back to her spot under the sink. All I remember was a sharp pain and lots of pretty stars and everything went sort of black. I stumbled over to the couch and laid there face down in pain. As I did this I could hear the faint chuckle, no not a chuckle. It was the He He He of an evil man laughing contently over my shoulder.

As I rolled over, still in pain, I saw Gareth sitting in the chair with a wide grin on his face and my cat sitting next to him sharing the ice cream sandwich. As Gareth mumbled something about karma and how it can be a bitch, my other cat who was now sitting in front of the television looked at me and winked and seemed quite pleased with the entertainment.