Meniere's....this weekend....LGBT.

Man, Meniere's is kicking my trash today!! Ugh, so frustrating and stressful.  Which incidentally, stress makes my Meniere's worse.  It's a double edge sword! :-/

I'm looking forward to this weekend.  I've got some awesome friends in town and look forward to hanging out with them tomorrow night!! Oh yeah!! Kanikapila!! Kanikapila is what they call a "jam session" in Hawaii.  People play their ukuleles & guitars.  Sometimes there's singing and occasionally there's hula dancing.  I love times like that!

So.... I won't be at church on Sunday, I'll be at the San Diego LGBT Pride with PajamaPants.  I'm glad we can still be friends and support each other, despite our differences.  On my last birthday, he sat by my side, in church, and reassured me that I'd do well on the song I had to sing that day.   This Sunday, I'll be by his side supporting his happiness, but most of all supporting my dear friend. 
Part of me worries what new friends/acquaintances may think of this decision to skip church and go to Pride.  Am I gay? No.  Going to an LGBT event doesn't make me gay, any more than going to the beach makes me a surfer.  I figure that people may judge, but go ahead... "What comes around, goes around."  

Tolerance & Sensitivity.

Lately, I've become very sensitive to anti-gay slurs & jokes. I have two very close friends who are gay and they mean the world to me.  We've discussed, at length, what my religion feels about their "lifestyle" choice, but they know exactly how I feel about it and feel about them.   I love them very much and they know that.  
I've known Eidde since I was 9 years old and we've been friends since before we understood what 'gay' meant.  Why would my feelings and friendship change with him just because of who he chooses to love?  I've always been taught to "love one another", but why must it stop once that person's life choices don't exactly match up with my religion's standards?  Who am I to judge?
That's where I have a hard time with religion.
My other close friend, PajamaPants has been one of my dearest friends since we met in the mission field.  It was a little rocky when he confirmed his sexuality, but at the heart of it all, PajamaPants is still the same friend I've come to know and love.  We talked it out and I feel like our friendship has grown deeper.  Since he's come out, he still supports me in my religion and I support his happiness.  When I had to sing at church, on my last birthday, he came and cheered me on.  That truly meant the world to me and I couldn't help but cry out of sheer love for my dear friend.  In a couple weeks, I'll be able to support my friend when we go to San Diego's LGBT Pride festival.
With some of the new friends I'm making, I'm trying to understand their sense of "humor" when they poke fun at the homosexual community here in San Diego.  It truly hurts my heart when I hear those stupid jokes.  I can't help but think of homosexuals I know, because they are kind, generous human beings with a heart and should be treated with the same decency and respect as anyone else.  I met a man, not too long ago, who's only been to Hillcrest (a part of town that's highly populated by the LGBT community) once because he was afraid "it was contagious and that [he'd] be hit on."  Such ignorance!!!!  I was so disgusted with him that I couldn't even look at him.  A couple months ago, I scored tickets to "Taste of Hillcrest" and was very excited about it so I posted it on my Facebook.  An acquaintance then asked if it "tasted fruity".  The other night at dinner, gay slurs were being tossed around and I just wanted to leave.  I couldn't believe that I was surrounded by such homophobic people.  I was disgusted.
I'm just so tired of it and my heart goes out to my LGBT friends.  I'm also tired of being pigeonholed as a "Mormon"/"Christian" who "hates gays."  Not true....at least not for this Mormon.

And then I remembered....

...that today's THURSDAY!!

I kinda forgot about that since I don't work tomorrow. So in my head I think I kept thinking that today's Friday. BUT IT'S NOT!! MUAHAHAAA!!

This Thursday was pretty T-rrrrrific!

"Why?", you may ask...

-While waiting around after work for a friend, a SUPER ANNOYING co-worker, JerkFace, thought he'd set up camp at my desk. (I HIGHLY despise this co-worker because he can dish out the jokes & sarcasm, but as soon as it's turned on him--he reports me and my two co-workers to a supervisor). "Oh, but maybe I should go hang out at Mr.NY's desk since JerkFace won't be able to see me" (Mr.NY knows of the disdain I have for JerkFace and is willing to come to my aid if anything should ever happen--I love the New York side of him :) ) So that's what I did for about 20 minutes. Maybe I should be thankful for JerkFace after all? I hung out talking to Mr.NY and oh man, I love staring at his face while listening to his voice. He's such an easy guy to talk to. Even though he was bogged down with piles full of work, and I apologized profusely, he reassured me that I wasn't bothering or slowing him down. Have I ever mentioned how kind he is? I could go on forever.....

-I got to hang out with two RM's (return missionaries) from my mission. That was so much fun---even though we were on a beach and I was wearing jeans, socks and shoes. I MAKE FUN OF PEOPLE THAT WEAR THAT CRAP TO THE BEACH!! AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! I wasn't ready to go to a bon fire right after work. UGH!! But I'm glad I went. It was a short visit but it was so nice to "talk story" about the good ol' mish! The Elder who was visitng SD brought his new family. By new I mean, 3 newly adopted kids. His kids are too cute for words. They're all siblings from the same family and are really young. I loved watching him and his wife tend to their kids. I can't wait to have children someday, by birth and adoption. I look forward to that....

-Afterwards I went out to dinner (to my FAVORITE SD Italian place-Filippi's!) with a close friend and his boyfriend. I was nervous. I always get a lil nervous when I hang out with gays. I feel like there's a big bright neon sign on my forehead that says, "Mormon=Prop.8". It was my first time really getting to know his boyfriend. I love this friend dearly so I was really hoping that the evening would go well. I didn't want any kind of awkwardness. I think it went well and I enjoyed everything about the dinner. Such a lovely evening!

-Today's Thursday...ALWAYS my favorite day. I GET to sleep in tomorrow. I'm SO excited. I can't wait til the 4th of July--my FAVORITE holiday!! STOKED STOKED STOKED!!