it has become that strange world where my friends have fallen into the television.

Todd’s fighting a deer.

Alex is The Amazing Mack.

Danielle is making a movie with Laurie David and Sheryl Crow, blogging about it as she saves the world.

Every weekday I get to watch Bob Oschack do live comedy. (Click the link for his blog, which is hilarious.)

Jon’s mockumentary Fellowship of the Dice got distribution.

… and I’m very happy to have found OHW’s “The Seagull,” which first made me laugh many years ago.

and in viewer mail, someone very close to my heart sent this:

[readermail]
Question, or favor, I guess. I was wondering if you might want to post on pamie.com about Equality Alabama.

The name kind of gives their function away.

They are an organization supporting same-sex marriage rights in Alabama. It may seem like a lost cause, due to Alabama’s reputation, but I’m still holding out hope. They haven’t had their big moment either way in this discussion yet (i.e. a giant protest against gay marriage) and I keep thinking that if this group is organized enough — they may be able to make a real difference. I’ve been donating for the past couple of years but I think it’s going to take more than just concerned current and former Alabamians to make a difference. Your readers have always been so ridiculously generous in regards to stuff like this, so I thought maybe you’d want to bring it to their attention. How freaking awesome would it be for Alabama to make a progressive move for civil rights?

It’s just something that’s been weighing on my mind a lot. I’m realizing that so many people in Alabama are just as warm and loving as anywhere else, but their politics have been in this weird religious right chokehold. It’s time for that shiznit to change.

Being religious does not mean being a bigot and, for the most part, I think that Alabamians really exemplify that. It’s the politics that makes them look bad, which is why strengthening groups like Equality Alabama could change that.[/readermail]

I know I’ve been slacking in the updating department lately, and for that I apologize. I had a meeting this week with a woman who’d been reading this site since I was living in Austin. That means many, many years she’s been invested in my whereabouts and happenings. This doesn’t usually happen to me, that when I mention my cats, someone I’ve never met before interrupts to ask, “Cal or Taylor?”

When the waitperson suggested we share a plate, my lunch date said, “Well, she has food allergies.”

Yeah, it’s a little strange at first. But it had a very welcoming effect on the meeting, and within three minutes we were chatting like old friends. In fact, the waitperson said she assumed we were close enough to share a plate.

Eventually she got up the nerve to admit that she was a bit nervous to meet me, as it’s all kind of strange to meet someone you don’t really know, but really know rather well. And I asked if I was anything like what she thought I’d be.

“Well, yes. Sort of. I mean, I guess I was surprised at how professional you were when you walked in here.”

And I said, “This is a meeting! You’re a real development person. What did you think?”

“I don’t know. I guess, with the way you talk about yourself, I thought you’d trip or something. Fall down.”

“Jeez.”

“But you were really professional.” And then I knew she really knew me well, because she quickly added, “And pretty,” like how most people say “shiny.”

“You thought I’d trip?” I asked. “Like, spill my water, drop my plate and flip my fork over to the next table?”

“You do have a way of describing yourself like you’re socially awkward.”

“The last time I was at this restaurant I went in to use the bathroom and Matt Dillon was sitting right next to the door. He smiled at me, so I immediately turned around and walked right back out because I couldn’t let Matt Dillon think about me peeing.”

“…So, you can see why I thought perhaps you might trip.”

“…yes.”