Religion or no?

I really want to know... what is the problem? Why is there so much animosity between those who believe this, that or the other thing, and those who do not?
Yes, I am an atheist, and yes I would very much like it if those around me stopped believing on those gods and churches they do? I say "gods" because, in the case of catholic christianity for example, I do choose to see god, Jesus and the holy spirit as three separate entities. For the record, I capitalize the name Jesus because I see that as a name. "God" and "holy spirit" are in my mind titles, and not necessarily proper nouns.
Anyway - why do I care what religious people believe? Why does it bother me that my family had to wait for me to sit down in order to carry on with their prayer at thanksgiving dinner? Yes, it bothers me a great deal when people tell me that I should say, "Merry Christmas" rather than "Happy Holidays." I personally find this attitude to be offensive.
While I am talking about christians here, I would like you to understand that my remarks are also about persons and groups belonging to most other faiths as well. It is merely that christians seem to be the most vocal group in the United States, and in the media. I generally hear very little of Jewish opinion and Muslim opinion on these matters. While I know that Jews and Muslims do have an opinion on these matters, I cannot really speak to persons whose attitudes I am not familiar with.
There is a great campaign in the political right that is based on the belief that there is a war on christmas. The very idea seems insane to me. I agree with every secular humanist and every atheist who wants to see religious displays removed from government sites, including state houses, courtrooms, federal office buildings and schools. I believe that there is a very bug difference between wanting the government to cease honoring any god at all, and asking individuals to cater their own expressions of faith, or their own manner of worship, praise and celebration. No one that I know of wants to stop anyone from praying, or even congregating for religious purposes. No atheist that I know of cares if you want to praise Jesus, light candles in honor of Hanukkah, or if you want to prostrate yourself while facing Mecca at a certain time of the day.
I certainly don't care about these things. I never have. Nevertheless, I do care when the government sponsors or hosts this type of activity. This seems like preferential behavior, and whether the religious recognize this or not, I think allowing these behaviors in what are not private or religious settings is a form of pressure, especially in schools. Children are impressionable, and I don't know that anyone will deny that. To allow religious activities to become routine in a classroom is a form of social pressure. I think this is true for many people when it happens in the classroom.
There is a movement in some places to have non-religious displays placed next to religious displays in government locations during religious times. I do not think this is really wise, either. I think that the religious displays should be removed, but I also think that having atheist displays placed there for the holidays next to the religious ones is a shallow compromise.
But this is just my opinion.
On the other side of the question, I can't really comment much, but I can state what it seems to me that others are thinking and feeling.
It seems to me that some christians are offended by atheist placards in the state house, and by signs and billboards saying that some people do not believe in god. They [the christians] seem to think that simply saying, "If you do not believe in god, you are not alone" is an affront to them and an attack on them. They [the christians] seem to think that implying that people can be good without believing is god is an affront and an attack. I do not understand this attitude.
It seems to me that christians want to keep a power in this country that they sort of had in the past, but didn't really. It is largely religious groups who have led the charge against stem cell research, the teaching of evolution, the Arts, women's productive rights, gay rights at every stage, climate-change related regulation, and a plethora of other issues. Of course I recognize that it is not all religious persons who do this, and indeed not even all christians. Many religious people of all stripes are on both sides of every issue, regardless of how vocal they might be.
That being said, I really just want to find out why. In several churches that I have had the pleasure and honor of being involved with, there is a clearly stated movement to encourage others to say Merry Christmas rather than, "Have a nice holiday!" I hear this from many people every year.
In my mind, this is nothing more than an attempt to force other people to support your own religious views. Atheists don't do this. They will argue with facts, and data, and experiments, and logic to support their opinions, but they do not try to stop anyone from disagreeing. We may try to get people to defend their beliefs with facts and evidence, but that is in part because people are trying to get us to belief in what seems like nonsense without any evidence.
And by evidence we do not mean revelation (people have used that with me personally, so don't pretend it doesn't happen,) nor do we mean testimony. We mean evidence - repeatable and verifiable.

Next Blog, my ass !

So, I read in the blogging mews section of the website you are now looking at that the "Next Blog" button, when licked on (if you are not signed on as a member, perhaps you don't see it) is designed to take me to other blogs that demonstrate similar interests and topics to those I write about. This seems like a fairly nice little feature. However, as in so many things, the practice is so far from the theory as to be worthless and laughable.
Think about it, blogger.com, I am a gay atheist, whose primary interests are really music, literature and atheistic writings. So, please explain to me how somebody, or some piece of computer software, thinks that I would be interested in blog after blog featuring little more than baby pictures and diaper advertisements. Id this simply some really bizarre glitch in a program, or is it a rather nasty and UN-subtle homophobic joke?
In any case, I am not amused. It isn't that I hate babies. I don't. To cite a rather droll joke commonly repeated among many of my real peers, "I love babies, usually with Hollandaise Sauce."
But seriously, don't you think this could just possibly be taken as an insult? To whom do I complain?

Well, 1 down, two more to go...

That is, two more weekends of Willie Wonka, the show I am working on now. We have three shows (Friday & Saturday @ 8; Sunday @ 2) next weekend, and two (just Saturday & Sunday) the weekend after that. Then, of course, I get paid the balance. Not that I will get to actually enjoy the money.
Tomorrow, I will be at the High school first in the a.m. for a rehearsal for the elementary shool concert, then later in the afternoon for auditions for their spring show (Grease.) In between, I need to make sure I get the cover letter and resume to the County Library.
More of the same type stuff throughout the week.
I got a message from the guy at the Episcopalian church. He asked me to do their "Carols and Lessons" service next Sunday, so that's another $100. I can count on. That will please the family.
Not much else really going on.

Traffic problems predicted...

My hometown is predicting a traffic jam, and it is therefore deemed wise to avoid a certin intersection at a certain time. The web post that warns us of this potential problem does not mention the particular reason that they are expecting this traffic problem. Our town is to be bleesed with a visit from our friends at the one and only Westboro Baptist Church.
My first reaction upon hearing of this pending visit was to check to make sure my camera batteries were all charged. My natural inclination is to go there and start some trouble. But no, it is not to be. For one thing, I do not see how any trouble I could cause would do any good for anyone. Besides that, I am sure that the asshats at the WBC would like nothing more. They are, after all, simply a collection of attention seeking wing-nuts, so any response they get will only validate their own desires for notoriety and feed into their neuroses. So upon further consideration, I have decided to sleep in that day (which I would probably be doing anyway.)
Then, of course, I saw this. While I can ill afford to give money to anyone, I will do it just the same. A dollar for every minute the WBC spends in front of Cherry Hill HS East. The actual protest is scheduled to last for 45 minutes, but I do not know how long it takes for them to set up, and remove themselves. I do know that they are expected to appear elsewhere in town very shortly after the East appearance, so if they are as prompt as they are f**ked in the head, I will probably not have to spend much more than 45 dollars. I will gladly do it, though. I think these people are well deserving.
I would like to see this sort of response continue. If the Matthew Shepard Foundation then sends a thank you note to the WBC for their efforts in fund-raising for the MSF, I'd really get a good laugh out of it.
And isn't that, after all, the point?

Please, America...

...listen to this story. THINK. Do you really want Bishops, or any other religious figure, dictating public policy?

Perhaps you simply don't care enough that churches are leading and financing the fight to keep gay marriage illegal. Perhaps you believe that abortion is immoral, and that it is therefore only right that every effort be made to make it illegal as well. Perhaps you are not in favor of stem cell research that will very likely save the lives of many of your descendants. Perhaps you do not think it is important that there are religious people who do not want your children to think critically - that it is much more important for them to blindly believe in nonsense like "Intelligent Design."

But don't you realize that this is not where the religious will stop.

How will you feel when the authorities decide that YOU are immoral. Marriage is a divine mandate, and divorce is unacceptable. Women should submit to their husbands. These are also beliefs that many religious people still hold. Do not, for a minute think that your own rights cannot be abrogated. Where, in the constitution does it say that women were created equal? It certainly does not say so in the bible. Divorce? An aberration

Birth control? You know the church does not approve of that, either. Can you seriously believe that life was simpler, or better fifty years ago?

Did you know that women had equal rights in Southern France prior to the 11th century, but that the crusades obliterated almost an entire population there, only to enforce the church's and the Northern French King's power there? Did you know that they had a thriving culture of equality and peaceful co-existence with their arab neighbors in Spain and Africa? A peaceful, thriving, enlightened society in the "dark ages." It was the church, and the government that destroyed that.

Did you know that all of the philosophical, artistic and scientific discoveries of the ancient world were almost erased, and would have been had the arabs not controlled a large part of the ancient world?

This is called history, and it is a history that our founding fathers wanted to avoid. You can pretend that the political right is just that, right, but you are treading a very dangerous path, and it can and will turn on you to bite your ass.

Don't listen to me. I am nobody. I know that I am not nearly good enough a writer to convince you.

Read... think... learn... have faith if you must, but not in the churches. Have faith in each other. Let gays marry. Let people have control of their own bodies and their own destinies. It was said somewhere that what you sow, you shall reap. Life is funny that way.

Please, America. Do something.

fb chat

I spent some time on facebook tonight chatting with a friend who had some personal problems he needed to talk about. Not being a professional, I tried to offer what advice I could, and what seemed sound to me. He seemed to find it helpful, and I hope it was. I mention this only because I was also talking to a career counselor this (well, technically yesterday) afternoon, and we were discussing various job options and even jobs I would like to be an option, even if they weren't. One of those jobs, which I doubt would be feasible, requiring as it would years of schooling, was counselor.
Now, I do not want to pretend to actually know anything about what a good counselor does, but this is not the first time in my life by a long shot, that someone has come to me to talk about their personal issues. It is not the first time I have listened, and offered what little advise or insight I could; and it was not the first time someone has said to me that I was really very helpful and that I would make a good counselor. I've also been told I'd make a really good teacher.
I know this sounds vicious, but sometimes I wonder if people are off their skulls.

YouTube II

The Being Human videos that I was watching on YouTube were removed, so I am very disappointed. I was hoping to watch another episode or two tonight (or this morning) before retiring. I guess I will have to find another way of viewing the series.
I have an appointment with the optometrist tomorrow. While I am grateful to my younger sister, who has kindly offered to pay for said visit, I am really rather annoyed with my oldest sister's husband. Not only did he insist I should see his optometrist friend in Pennsylvania (meaning I have to drive an hour to get there,) he won't tell me the address. He apparently feels I must be accompanied to the place.

YouTube

I am in the middle of Series 1, Episode 2 of Being Human, a british show about a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost who share a flat while trrying to control their baser natures and form a bond in the face of great peril. It's rather entertaining, actually, not least of all because the vampire is totally hot. It does have quite a lot of funny lines in it, and of course the british accent is charming to an american like myself.
While I have not seen or read any of the Twilight series (and am not in the least tempted to do so) I have always been enthralled with vampire films and shows - ever sinve 1966 when dark Shadows came on the air. Even as a child I found Barnabas Collins to be attractive. Now I look back and think otherwise. I was also very much taken with the series of vampire novels by Anne Rice to a point. I don't remember which of her books was the last I read, but I think I am rather satisfied with the first two. Her witch novels only marginally kept me satisfied. The Mummy, which was a completely "romantic" story about (what else) an eternally living (and apparently completely sull of the sexy) Egyptian pharoah who was changed into a mummy by some witch in a cave. It was rather trashy, basically, but I certainly did enjoy it anyway.

Tech Week for Willie Wonka...

...is not going too badly. Not, in any case, as badly as some were predicting. The first "orchestra" (Read: 6 piece band) run-through did go on for about 4 hours, which did not exactly thrill my band-mates. Sorry, guys. There are some issues, still, but there almost always are in community theater.

The show itself is piffle, but it isn't nearly as horrible as some I've done recently. I will not mention any in particular, but only because I am getting ready to go to bed, and I don't want to have that in my head. There are some very talented young people in this production, and that is refreshing. The adult cast members are a talented lot as well, so that's all good.

I am looking forward to it's completion, but mainly because I need to get paid.

Next week, we are doing auditions for Grease at Lindenwold HS. Again, not a favorite show, but so few of them really are. Grease does have some almost decent music in it, if you are into the whole 50's thing. Regretfully, the choreographer is very excited about adding the two songs from the movie version that I really hate - "hopelessly devoted" and I forget the name of the other one for the moment. It was just on the tip of my tongue, but I do have a tendency to quickly forget things that make me want to shudder. I do, however, really enjoy working the Lindenwold shows, so I am looking forward to it, even if I can't stand the actual show. And there are so many I hate much more.

Live: Obama Signs the Hate-Crimes Measure | Washington D.C. | Advocate.com

Live: Obama Signs the Hate-Crimes Measure Washington D.C. Advocate.com

Saddened again

I am saddened

Mary, my cousin, is the girl sitting on the right side. As best I can figure, the picture was taken in 1960 or early 1961. The baby is either my brother of a cousin, born 9 months later than he. My brother would have been missing from the picture in that case. The woman holding the baby is not my mother. Perhaps she is my Aunt, looking much younger and different than I remember her.

    My cousin was called earlier today (or yesterday) by the police who found his sister in her apartment. She had been dead for some days - possibly 5 of them. My cousin's brother (also my cousin) called me this morning to give me the news. The cause of death is unknown. Mary had complained to a friend that she wasn't feeling well about 5 days ago, and said she would call the doctor. The friend received no answer when she tried to call the next day. 

     As sad as this is to me personally, I feel particularly sad for Mary's son. He is an actor living in a different city. I have met him two or three times in as many decades, but I can't say I know him well at all. I rarely spoke to Mary. The last time was my Uncle's funeral 4 years ago. I believe that was the last time I met her son, and likely the only time he'd remember meeting me.

     He, being the only child, and without a father, will have to make all of the decisions regarding the remains and whatever estate there may be. It will no doubt be tough for him, and my cousins. I know that Mary will not be buried from a church, and since her son and at least one of her brothers, live in cities far removed from her home, it remains to be seen what will be done in her memory.

     I will of course be awaiting news.

Why say it when it's been said?

Well, two weeks ago my laptop was out of commission, as was of course my collection of digital images, so it was impossible for me to have posted this picture of my late lamented mother (which I would have done in honor of her birthday.) She would have turned 80 this month, and I have no personal recollection of her looking quite like this picture, but I can attest to the identity of the pictured and to the authenticity of the spirit of the lady in question.

     In a month and a week, it will have been 3 years since her passing, and yes one does still think of her from time to time.

     In other news, rehearsal for 'The Fantasticks' did not go quite as quickly as I'd hoped, but nothing went badly, so that's alright. The car is still in the shop (will be until at least monday). I had arranged for rides for the weekend (to rehearsals) and I notified the manager of Helloween to alter the schedule so that monday morning would be covered. I offered to work Saturday morning instead, which I am sure made her day.

 I was so proud of my nephew when I received this picture of him in his Halloween costume some time back. Partly, this was because I was pleased to see him expressing himself creatively, although I do not think (nor do I believe HE would) that I would normally consider my nephew to resemble a piece of shit - neither physically nor spiritually. I was also amused at how distressed my sister was by the costume and the picture. The nephew's girlfriend was similarly be-costumed as "Pee."

     I might also add that it is the first time my nephew really reminded me of (and I mean specifically his eyes and not because of the costume) my brother in law.

Earliest and Latest on me...

The picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but in it are myself (the baby) with my older siblings (except the eldest, who presumably was taking the picture,) my parents, and my grandmother. My other grandparents had all died before I was born, and this one was my father's mother. She died when I was 7 years old. I believe the picture was taken in my great uncle Len's basement.

     Things have been going fairly well this week. I have been working at the Halloween store, and I am in rehearsal for one show. I got the check for the auditions I played for another theater, and I got two functioning laptops on Monday and yesterday. I got paperwork to Lindenwold which will mean I get a half-stipend in addition to whatever I bill them for rehearsals, which might double my pay for their show. I also got a retainer to do another show in three weeks. Also, I am thinking I may get a more permanent position with the company that owns the Halloween store if I play my cards right.

     Of course, my shoulder has been seriously bothering me for the last few weeks (it has been bothering me for two years, but has gotten much more insistent lately) so I suppose I will have to do something about that soon. Also, my car brakes have started grinding a little as of yesterday.

     Oh well - I suppose nothing can be all great. I decided to start manhunting soon, too.

Working, more or less...

More less than more, but still better than nothing.
I started at the Halloween store last friday, and while I am not getting many hours, I am getting some, and will get more by Halloween. Then the fun (there) will stop.
I am also in rehearsal for a December show.
Got called in to play auditions and call-backs for a theater, which was nice.
Was asked to sing for Halloween concert at a church.
Not much (read: Nothing) from the substituting, but that's okay until Halloween is over.
Anyhow, I'm off for now.

Henh - a friend posted this somewhere, and I just love it.

     In other news, my friend's ex called to say she's gotten my laptop back into the land of the living. Miraculous? Perhaps not, but certainly more than I could have ever done. I will be grateful for quite some time.

     Alas - I think I must go home now to eat before a meeting I have to attend.

She is so nice and thoughtful, and kind...

I'd like to drop kick her across the grid. But then, it's obvious I'm talking about family, so why not just leave it out for the day. I'm too tired for this crap.
I did, however, enjoy seeing my nieces and nephews, as usual... and B-I-L was trying to be helpful, until sis decides she needs to be involved.
~sigh~

Late reading

Still having no functional computer at home, and therefore no internet, I am not really planning to write much here for a bit. However, I don't want to forget my password, so I will log in from time to time just to write something.
Lately, I've been re-reading some Dashiell Hammett stuff - 'The Thin Man' and 'The Contintental Op' - and enjoying them as always. I still haven't finished 'Ripley Bogle', but I will before I return it to the library. I've also been thinking about sampling some H. P. Lovecraft, not having read any of his stuff before.
Not much else to say.

New Neighbor

I met the woman who was moving yesterday into the building next to mine, and I met two of her friends, who were helping her move in. To make a long story short, the woman is the director of the Christian Family Counseling Center, of which I am (ironically) a client. This was actually the first thing she told me, after her first name.
Her friends were telling me about her husband, who is some sort of conservative political radio talk-show host locally. Already, I am missing my old neighbors, a couple who bought a house in a town nearby - probably with the intention of breeding. They were a nice enough couple.
In the five minute conversation I had with the new neighbor and company, I found at least five things to make my mind water and my tongue bleed (because of the biting.) Not least of all was the one guy who told me (after I told him that between my seven siblings and I we ran the full gamut between political and religious outlooks) that his family was similar because his younger brother took a much more literate interpretation of the bible than he did himself. I did not bother to mention the Jewish/Catholic/Agnostic/Atheist members of my family. I did not want to make the guy dizzy while he was doing all that work.
Still - they were nice enough, and presumably will continue to be if I keep far away from them. I hope I don't run into the woman when I show up at my next session.
By the way... the counselor I am seeing, while certainly a Christian, does manage to keep his religious views to himself for the most part. The one time he started to bring it in was when he cited St. Paul to support a comment I had made. I just stared at him, and I think it was the last time he did that.
Another time he told me that since one cannot disprove the existence of God, one might as well believe. I told him the same cold be said for unicorns. I did not mention that were I to believe in any god, it wold be Thor. At least I can see lightning.

Ripley Bogle. The first novel by Robert McLiam Wilson. The story is about an indigent and homeless man from Belfast, in London. The man was at one time a student in Cambridge, and presumably capable of a much better life than that which he is experiencing. I read somewhere that Wilson was himself homeless at some point in his life.

     It is noticeable that Wilson is given to the indescriminate use of large words like deracination (several times in Eureka Street) and vomacious (not even in my dictionary.) One wonders why. Still, Eureka Street was enjoyable.

     Somehow, given my current circumstances, Ripley Bogle seems a particularly ominous read for me. Perhaps, I think, it will offer some insight into the root cause of my own malaise. I fear that I will be somewhat disappointed if I read it with such a vain purpose in mind. My time might be better spent in seeking a more immediate solution to my problems, which are mounting.

     Did I mention the plumbing issues at home? No. I won't.

Little worth saying

I woke up at about 8:30 this morning with no hope of falling back to sleep. I tried to call the Source4Teachers number last night and today, but there does not seem to be anything for me there. I think I need to re-enlist with that agency. No calls from the CHNJ BOE yet, either.
So - I took a shower and came here to the library to check (fruitlessly) craig's list and one or two other sites for jobs.
I DID get a few bucks from BIL for gas, etc., and I am thinking about cancelling appointment with Xian guy.
Am reading Ripley Bogle. How appropriate that one seems.

Reading

Well, I finally managed to start a book - Eureka Street, by Robert McLiam Wilson (pictured) - that a friend had recommended probably years ago. The friend in question even gave (or leant) to me a copy of said book. Yes, I am enjoying the book. I think my friend discovered the book after seeing the television series that was based on same. Naturally, I am at the library checking to see what else Mr. Wilson has written. It's been 13 years since Eureka Street, and there have been no other books published, although Eureka St. was his third. There was a fourth repeated delayed, but I don't know what happened with that. Perhaps Mr. Wilson was been working on something else.

Not much going on.

I mis-spoke, whether here or elsewhere. My laptop is, in fact, fried, despite the fact that I thought I'd gotten it working. Oh, well, back to the old library.
Having no laptop to amuse myself with, and no money to seek alternative entertainment, I spent the last two days re-arranging furniture and generally cleaning up my condo. I still need to do the bathroom and the kitchen floor, but much improvement has been achieved.
I also got through a cheesy Stephen King novel and two "Inspector McGarr" novels by one Bartholomew Gill. The most amusing thing about any of the reading was a line in "Death of an Irish Lover" referring to some condoms found at a crime scene that were manufactured in Morristown, New Jersey. One of the characters liked the brand name of the condoms, very much. The line was a comment saying that there was some genius in Morristown, New Jersey. Looking at the author bio at the back of the book, I had noted that the author lived (at least sometime) in Morristown, New Jersey.
So, anyway. I am at the library - checking email, blogs, death notices, and jonesing for cigarettes.

Semi-productive day

I spent most of my day removing about 2,500 CDs from a carousel so I could move said carousel away from the window, which of course meant that I had to re-arrange the room entirely, which meant that I had to un-shelf and unshelf a whole mess of books, and vacuum as well.
Still, I am unsatisfied with how the room looks, but at least I can get to the window without squeezing. Really, I should just get rid of the entertainment center with the TV in it, since I don't watch TV. It is a relic from before my Mom died, almost three years ago. I haven't watched TV since. I do, however, watch an occassional DVD, and I also play CDs through the DVD player.
Maybe I will attach the smaller TV (assuming I still have it somewhere) to the DVD player in my bedroom. Then I'll need to get a new CD player (not top-loading since none of them seem to work for me.)
I'm still not finished. I want to replace the CDs, but first I want to be sure I'm satisfied with the placement of the carousel. Then I want to move one of the filing cabinets (presuming the wooden one) next to the desk where I have my laptop. I'll out the other desk in the backroom (where I got this one from) and think about moving the entertainment center into the other room, too.
It isn't great, but it is, at least, better than it was.

Oddly enough, I seem to have subjugated, if not beaten and killed, this virus.
My computer wasn't letting me open any scanning devices. More precisely, it was asking me to identify the appropriate program to open the device. So, ultimately I clicked on the 'browse' button (on the box that was asking me to identify the program) and then finding the program's location to use it. I didn't think it would work, but it seems to have done.
After scanning with one or two spyware-type programs (Spy Doctor was one of them) I copied down the names and locations of whatever problems were found - into a notebook, by hand. Then I went around simply deleting all those files, after stopping any running programs in the task manager. 
Honestly, I thought my laptop was gonna be toast. So I figured, "What the h**l have I to lose?" It seems to have worked. My hot-links are working again. I can now open any program. My AVG, Google-talk, and a variety of other icons have re-appeared and are functional. 
I am try also to delete old picture and sound files to free up space on my severely limited hard drive. Uninstalling some programs, too.

At the library...

I really do hate my life, occassionally.
Anyhow, I am at the library because my laptop still is not really working. I can use the 'Opera' browser, because it is not a Windows Application, so it has not been hi-jacked, and I can open 'My Computer' and other folders, but NONE of the programs of files. Apparently, it has something to do with my rundll32.exe file. The error message says it cannot be found, but I found it, so I am guessing that it is either corrupted or something is preventing the computer from finding it.
At any rate, my neighbors works with some guy who My Neighbor claims is a genius with computers. The guy took my laptop. He said he had been dealing with WINDOWS POLICE PRO (the virus, combination Trojan and Rootkit) for two weeks successfully. That was yesterday. He said I'd get the laptop back today, and my neighbor swears that I'll be amazed at the results.
We shall see.
In other news, I decided to apply for SSA disability benefits, among other things. We (or at least I) shall see about all that as well.

Grrrrrrrrr!

I think that I have gotten rid of the viruses, although several of my programs are still not functioning. At least I can get online to download some scanning devices to remove malware. Hopefully they will run.
More later.
BTW - I am emailing no-one, just in case. If it doesn't work, then it will be MY computer lost. There is no need to share the wealth, here.

I'd like to bore them

It was most enjoyable being online at home for a change, but alas, 'twas not to be. My laptop was invaded by a whole host of nasty viruses and so I am back at the library. Very soon I will be working again and able to cope with this situation, but until then it will fairly irregular blogging, emailing, etc.
The thing I may miss most of all if I irrevocably lose the stuff on my laptop will be, of course, my family tree. I do have a back-up copy of the tree on disk, of course, but not the most recent changes. Plus I will have lost my neighbor Lauren's tree, which I spent a day or two on last week. Then again, there are all the documents - census returns, newspaper clippings - that I downloaded in the past month or so.
Oh well.
The title refers to those zoo-sexual hackers who create all these viruses out of boredom. At least thieves I can almost respect, as they at least have a motive.

Distant Cousins

Years ago, my uncle had drawn up his notes – a family tree – which I later used as a springboard to start on my own genealogical research. When I was young, I always thought the family tree stuff was interesting, but it wasn’t until I was in my 30’s that I really started looking into it. By that time, my uncle was older, and his memory had begun to leave him. Sadly, by the end he had a hard enough time remembering me. He had moved in the 1970’s so most of the communicating we did was by telephone. Sadly, he died a few years ago.
I did not get much further than he did in my researches. I was able to flesh out the tree, and to put it into a family tree program. I managed to find documents to confirm and/or deny most of my uncle’s findings. His researches involved talking to his own Aunts and Uncles, I believe. I don’t know when he started, but his mother (my grandmother) died in 1969, and his father died in 1945. Much of the information in his tree was derived from personal knowledge.
In his notes, my Uncle mentions some distant cousins – the Piersons and the Lees. He does not tell exactly how they were related, and when I discussed it with him (and his siblings) there was no way to tell whether they were related through his mother or through his father. Indeed, no one knew whether they were first, second or third cousins.
One set of these cousins included a couple named Francis and Bridget Pierson. They had three children, to my uncle’s knowledge, named Gertrude, Jennie, and Francis (or Jiggy) Pierson, and they all lived on a farm in Harleysville, Pennsylvania. My Uncle told me that during the depression, he had been “farmed out” by his parents, which meant that for a while he went to live and work with the Piersons in Harleysville. This would, obviously have been during the 1930’s. My Uncle was born in 1919, and he would have been 9 years old when the stock market crashed, so I am assuming he was a little bit older when he went to Harleysville.
When I searched the Federal Census I did manage to find a couple named Francis and Bridget Pierson, and they did have the three children named, as well as two older sons named Thomas and Robert. They did not, at least up to 1930, live in Harleysville, though. They lived in Yeadon, Pennsylvania. Both of the older sons were living elsewhere at least until and after World War II.
Bridget Pierson died in 1929.
Francis Pierson died in 1934.
Jennie (or Jane) married a man named Robert Thompson, but died in 1933.
Gertrude married a man named Louis Warriner and died in 1943.
I never learned when Jiggy died. He had been working for the gas company in 1920 and 1930. He was born in about 1902. I suppose it is possible he bought a farm after 1930, but it seems kind of odd for someone to do that in his 30’s.
Anyhow, I’ve always wanted to figure out the story here. Was my Uncle mistaken about the farm? Maybe he was working with Jiggy on somebody else’s farm. After all, it was the depression. Jiggy could very well have lost his job with the gas company.
Since my Uncle never mentioned Thomas or Robert, I am assuming he didn’t know them. Likewise, he never mentioned Gertrude or Jennie’s married names, so I am guessing it wasn’t their farm. I don’t think there were any other siblings. My Uncle was vague when I asked them how old they were, but he did say they were older than he was, and he never mentioned any children his own age or younger. I am unaware of any children there might have been, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any.
Another question I have about this family that no one could answer is – How were they related to us? I have no information about Francis Pierson’s ancestry, but I did learn at least that Bridget Pierson’s maiden name was McLaughlin. I am guessing that they are related to us through the McLaughlin’s, but whether through my Heaney McLaughlins or my Carey McLaughlins, I can only wonder at this point.
My Aunt Mary once told me that she asked her father who only said, “A cousin is a cousin – after that it doesn’t matter.” Clearly my grandfather wasn’t a genealogist.

Genealogy

My intention was to someday post something about my family tree, so I might as well do it now. It isn't that I think that anyone other than myself and maybe some of my cousins will be even slightly interested, but one never knows.
On my father's side my family is descended from on Patrick Carroll, who emigrated - we believe from County Cork, Ireland - sometime about 1849, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Patrick had two wives. By the first, one Mary Hennessy, he had four children (two who survived childhood) - Coleman Carroll, who was named for his Uncle, Patrick's brother; and 'Katie" Carroll, who married one John Morrison. The Morrisons outlived all 6 of their children, but one of them was a Freeholder in the City of Camden, New Jersey when he died from a heart attack, while in his office.
Patrick Carroll's second wife was named Catherine Maloney. They were my 2nd great grandparents. Patrick and Catherine had 5 children, 3 of whom have living descendants. The children were Joseph, Charles (my great-grandfather), Mamie (married William Burrows), Maggie (married Michael Fox), and Lizzie (married John McGonigle.) All of them lived in Philadelphia, or nearby.
My great-grandparents were Charles and Catherine (Uleau) Carroll. Catherine's father, my ggGrandfather, was one Henry Uleau, who was from Kassel, Germany. Henry emigrated as a young man and enlisted in the US Marines. Originally he was stationed in Brooklyn. He was a clerk in the Quartermaster's office at the Navy Yard there. For a few years, about 1862-1866, he was transferred to California, where my great-grandmother and one of her brothers were born, but eventually the family returned to Brooklyn. When my ggGrandmother Sabina Uleau died, Henry remarried, to a woman named Mary Nolan. They had a son (Henry's 6th child) named Francis, who grew up to be a Priest in Brooklyn. Sometime in the 1870's, the family moved to Philadelphia, and Henry's sons and daughter remained in the area, but another daughter returned with her step-mother to Brooklyn after Henry's death in 1890.
By the way - one of the best things about having Henry Uleau as a ggGrandfather is that his name is completely unique. As far as I can tell, he was the only Uleau in the United States in his time. This means that any time I see that name, I can be reasonably certain that I am looking at a reference to some relative or other. Of course it is possible that some person named Uleau entered the country at a later time, but if so, the a) their name hasn't come up on any database searches and b) chances are that person would be related, too. I have never sone a search in Germany or France (I was always told that he was Alsation), but it does not seem like a common name anywhere.
Charles Carroll (pictured) was a carpenter like his father, and Catherine taught Piano. According to one of my distant cousins, Charles sang in the choir at the Cathedral of SS. Peter & Paul, and it is there that he met a man who later was to be his brother-in-law, the ancestor of said distant cousin. I heard from a cousin that Catherine played the organ at the cathedral, but I have not been able to have this confirmed.
More later on the Heaney side (from Dungiven) of my father's family, and on my mother's family, too.

Not much to add

Had first night of auditions tonight for my next project. The show is Willie Wonka, and I am the musical director. It is a community theater group. Heard some good oices, some not so good. I do like the choreographer - she reads music, so I am pleased about that. The director is a good guy. I've worked with him before (as an actor) and I think we should all be able to play nicely together.
There was a rumor mentioned that a certain person might come out for this show, and we all agreed that it would be best to keep that person far away from out production.
We have more auditions tomorrow, and call-backs are the day after that, tuesday. I am not sure I will be exactly enchanted with this one (another stupid story/lame score), but at least the staff is good... and who knows? We might get a halfway decent cast. The chorus is looking pretty good, so far, if female heavy.
My sister has threatened a visit tomorrow morning, but did not mention a time. I guess I'll try to be civil.
Perhaps I will put in some time and effort in job hunting.

Why bother doing this?

There is no answer available for the title question. I suppose I must be incredibly bored. If you are interested, I am gay, an atheist, broke and currently unemployed, possibly ADD, depressed or both, definitely a little passive-aggressive at times, and not particularly keen to make a lot of new friends online.
However, I am a talented pianist, a good listener with social skills (usually), fairly intelligent, and not too old (if you are in your late 30s or 4os.)
Probably I will be blogging about whatever jobs I get in the next year or so, and whatever else is going on in my life. You will probably be bored by reading this, but I don't know you, so I can't really say that. If you must call me anything, call me Cole or Coley.
Oh - I love to read mostly history, but other stuff as well. I'm big on Wodehouse and Douglas Adams. I also love Jacques Brel, Tom Waits, and Rufus Wainwright among many other singers and songwriters. I also enjoy Mahler and Prokofiev. I am not into Country, but there are, I guess, exceptions. I worship Stephen Sondheim, but most other Broadway-type stuff leaves me bored.
That's enough for now.