Interesting Day

Spent the day today at a Continuing Legal Education seminar on divorce law and procedure, which was both interesting at parts and boring at parts. It was nice to focus on a different aspect of law for a day, but I do look forward to returning to work tomorrow.

Got the first of two calls from my sister mid-day: she was dying to tell me this gay joke she had come up with. I kinda humored her and went on with my day. She had called me twice last night to tell me the joke, but I was asleep when she called (calling twice is also our family signal for emergencies, but I dont think she realized she had done it). Anyway, much later today she calls to tell me that she is working with this guy who hurt his knee taking off his cowboy boots and giving himself a pedicure, and it made her think of me, cause he's gay. I was kinda appalled really, and at first didnt say anything. Then I decided to call her back: I really dont like being thought of as the "token gay" in the family. Come on! If anybody should be past that stuff, it should be them.

Think of me when someone is witty, generous, a good listener, supportive, abbrasive, terse, aggressive, WHATEVER... but dont think of me when you hear about some guy painting his toenails. That's not who I am! Im not some episode of Will & Grace... I just am really past being thought of as the "gay one." My Dad has a tendency to do that too, and I addressed him about it. He is, afterall, the one who wanted me to be "more than just gay." So I am turning the tables and asking them to think of me as more than it too.

On one hand I am so unbelievably lucky to have the supportive family that I have. But on the other, I kinda want them to move past that (or perhaps do something about it... maybe what is truly bothering me is that my sexuality is used for joking, but never for politics or for activism.... Maybe I should tell my father that for every funny Cher joke he says to me, he has to go to a PFLAG meeting... anyway). Well, now my sisters pissed, even though I tried to be as constructive and kind about pointing out the whole thing as I could be... She got really pissed saying I was way out of line. Hmmm... I dont think so, especially since I was literally just telling her how I was feeling, and it DID happen twice in one day. Maybe Im wrong...

I realize though that I miss Dad... He's still in China until Sunday. Im sure its amazing, and I hope he's doing well. Its funny how strong our connection still is though. There have been a number of times (esp. given an ethical dilemna I had last weekend) that I have wanted to call him up and talk something through with him. This situation with my sister is one of them.

I guess I am also worried that my sister is floundering. She's not doing so hot at life right now, so no one is calling her on her shit. So things keep getting worse. I could go on about this extensively, but I wont at the moment. Suffice it to say that I feel like I was quite fair in ONLY telling her how I felt about the things she was saying to me.

Then I spent the evening interviewing a couple for my "long paper" (essentially a law school thesis). This gay couple had adopted 3 kids about 5 years back, and they literally have the exact life that I long for, down to the Saab Convertible and the kitchen with a granite island and great knives. Oh, and the kids are pretty damn cool. Anyway, it was an interesting peek to get into their lives.

On a political note, I havent been able to read about the Supreme Court's Hamdan decision, but just getting a glimpse of CNN, I think Im going to be a happy camper tomorrow. That, and I get to see Nebraska. Later!