Thursday, March 28, 2013

Big Fat Hypocritical Protest



What with Same-Sex Marriage/Marriage Equality/DOMA on the floor of the Supreme Court this week we thought this might be an interesting little blurb to throw into a blog entry, since the opportunity and inspiration presented itself. Kismet. (<- a couple of ours' favorite word these days)

Today, while doing research for an upcoming piece on freedom, nutrition and addiction we're planning to write, we accidentally hit on an article about obesity that contained Bible references. With a good knowledge of the Bible, and a keen interest in it as a text, we often find our life is influenced and inspired by it, just not in the ways people would expect, or hope.

As some people who read this blog know, we used to Christian, and even did two missionary trips to Mexico in High School. We grew up in a Baptist home, and one side of our family is very religious.
We are no longer Christian, for personal reasons, just as personal as the reasons many people are Christian.

It's always interesting to read the Bible and think about the parts that are cherry-picked as need-be by modern day Christians. In fact the Bible teaches a lot of good things; like loving your neighbor, and being a good person, taking care of the poor and needy, and not being greedy. (Ha! That rhymed!)

Sadly, more and more so-called Christians fall short of the teachings where it really counts, and it's not so much that they are sinners that is bothersome. By Bible standards everyone is a sinner, no exceptions. The problem is really the self-righteous behavior of people claiming to walk in the path of the Lord, who claim to live a life by his word but don't; who pick and choose what is good, which Testament and which books of the Bible are relevant to follow, and which aren't, which chapters work for them, what is fine, and what is a sin; that we generally find ourselves most disgusted with.

Back to all of the inspiration and topic at hand; being a homosexual, or being fat. A sin, is a sin, is a sin. If you believe is such a concept as sin.

According to a 2012 Gallup study 3.5% [1] of Americans identify themselves as LGBT, according to the CDC the percentage of Americans over 20 years old, who are obese, or overweight, is 69.2% [2]. Just some fun facts to throw at you.

Source
The Bible specifically references the sin of gluttony, being obese and physically unhealthy, more than homosexuality. The rate is nearly 20 to 4, according to many references/sources.

From our own quick research we found that in the Old Testament homosexuality is specially mentioned twice, in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, and once in the New Testament, in Romans 1:26-27.

Of course there are a handful of bible references to sexuality that have been interpreted to include homosexuality, but they also specifically include every other kind of sinner, including liars and drunks, as being an abomination. Depending on the versions/translation of the Bible in your hands, of course. There are more than 40 translations of the Bible in the English language alone.  (We tend to prefer the King James Version, as it was the Bible of our youth and missions work, and the most familiar, but for this entry we used various online versions because our Bibles are still packed in a box in the spare room).
 
So how about that sin of being obese, of being fat, of being a glutton.

Isaiah 10:16
Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.

Mmm, BBQ.

Proverbs 23:2
And put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.

That one seems pretty damn extreme.

See Also (just a short list, we didn't other to look for all of them):
Jeremiah 50:11-12
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 / 32:15-16
Proverbs 23:20-21

So, next time someone talks about "the homosexuality problem", use some knowledge and patience to help them understand the error of their ways, and implore of them what laws they plan to create, what protests they plan to stage, for the sin and abomination of a 70% fat society.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Feels Like Lately | And An Archive Post

...there just isn't enough time to have morning coffee, do our daily workout (75 minutes daily on the elliptical), straighten up the house, plan dinner, write, and get into to the studio to paint before James gets home form work these days. Plus, you know...Twitter. 

Is that a lot of stuff to fit into 6 hours anyway? Maybe. Probably.

There are so many topics on the burner we'd like to write about...hopefully we get to it soon.

In the meantime:

Complete archives of highlights from 2011-2013

We write about sex, life, mental illness/health, personal relationships, current events, art, philosophy, food, and more.

The Stories of Us - A grouping of all the entries we've written about our past. Contains some material not suitable for sensitive people and those under the age of 18. [http://just-call-me-frank.blogspot.com/2012/03/stories-of-us.html]

The Mental Health Entries:

- Mostly Dissociative Identity Disorder/Multiple Personality Disorder Related
2013
2012
2011
The Other Girl - Stuff She Wrote:
General Health:
2013
2012
General
2012 
2011
"Standby"
2011
"Fuck Face"
2011
James/The Boyfriend:
2012
2011
Friendships:
2013
2012
2011
Work:
2011
Life:
2013
2012
2011
Travel:
2012
2011
Food & Cooking
2013
2012
2011
Opinion/Philosophy/Current Events:

2013
2012
2011
Art/Poetry:
2013
2012
2011
Humor/Fun/Sex/Random:
2012
2011
Social Media: (Social Media is ever-evolving, older information may not be up-to-date.)
2013
2012
2011
Guest Bloggers: Our Guest Blogger, Kerry Stott (@kerrystott), Writes About...
The Single Mom @singlemomdate
Jake @Onezees
Imported From Our Boyfriends Blog:
2011
If you have any questions for us we are very open and will answer to our best ability - this is totally the month to ask us questions.
You can either ask us on Twitter, in the comment section of a blog entry here, or e-mail us at justcallmefrank2010 (at) gmail.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Saturday, March 23, 2013

Back In The Social Saddle, Again

James' new buddy is super active and social. He would be described as a Wild Man by many.

During dinner Thursday night he invited us to a barn dance the following night. Of course there was no way we could pass it up, we'd never been to a barn dance, and also thought that would be a perfect "all-American" experience for James. So, we said yes, and last night we danced the night away in a packed barn in the middle of nowhere.

Needless to say it was...one of the most fun nights we've had as a couple in the nearly two years we've been together. And on a personal level, we hadn't been out dancing since October 2010, so it was nice to dust off the proverbial boots and get back on the dance floor.

Wild Man can cut a rug, so we had a lot of fun doing all sorts of crazy dance moves on the floor with him, making a spectacle of ourselves. James said when he and us went on the floor, people would actually stop and watch, laughing, but not in a mean way, in an amused way. We also danced with James the first time ever.

We not being prone to social situations over the last two years, as a couple we've actually only attended two other social engagements: The Tweetup last May, and a bowling work party last month. We can tell it's going to become more frequent too. Wild Man even invited us out to a comedy show in the city nearby for tonight, but we're pretty sure we need to ease back into this "getting out" stuff and will probably pass. We know there will be many more opportunities.

There hadn't been so much laughing and smiling in ages, and after the first 30 minutes or so we didn't even have any feelings of anxiety.

Who knew that we'd find ourselves in this place. Life sure is full of surprises. Not to jinx anything, but it's panning out to be a great year so far...

This can't be good.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

It Was Just Begging For It...

...to be drizzled in caramel sauce, that is. How could we resist.

We had company tonight, and since it was James' "best buddy" we told him he could pick the dessert, and of course he picked cheesecake. We've only made about two from scratch, ever. Pretty sure both times was in culinary school. And pretty sure both times were a minor fail. It's always easier to buy the boxed kind, but it's never going to taste as luscious or unique as a from-scratch job.

So, we set out to make the cheesecake yesterday. It's always best to do it the day before, that's just logic. That way it had time to cool, and the flavor enhances. It's tough to look at it for 24 whole hours and keep your fingers out of it though...

If there's one important tip, it would be make sure the cream cheese, sour cream and whipping cream is at room temperature, it makes it whip so much smoother and easier, which can make or break a cheesecake. The sign of a "perfectly" done cheesecake is that it doesn't crack in the center when it bakes (because that's an indication that it's going to be dry), and that there's no clumps of "raw" cheesecake inside.

We're just linking to the recipe, we skipped the 'Toppings' portion because we decided to use a mixture of fresh strawberries, and a simple fresh strawberry sauce, and a from scratch caramel sauce (a near fail-proof recipe from culinary school we will not be sharing with you today).

The dinner guest said: "I'm never going to like The Cheesecake Factory again after this." And so this recipe gets a Frankie 5 star.

The recipe:
Perfect Cheesecake
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_cheesecake/

How it looked:




Monday, March 18, 2013

The Face of the GOP Cliff: A Short Rant

Just as the GOP attempts to reface their party to be more modern, and makes plans to "target" youth who are not old enough to have voted for Reagan; they are attempting to continue their stance against equal same-sex marriage rights, they are moving forward on passing a bill to grant "personhood" to unborn fetuses[1] in attempt to ban abortion rights, they are rejecting the social services that are required of a developed country, they pass on raising the living wage to an amount that people working those jobs might actually be able live on ($9/hour)[2], and they buck against universal background checks for gun sales (though that's the least of them). That's really the short list.

They seem to forget the kids who weren't old enough to vote Reagan also aren't old enough to know what the GOP used to be. They used to be better. So by targeting them they have to be better. The youth only know the GOP by names like Bush, Bush...and people like Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin, and by policies that convey a stripping of personal rights, and a focus on corporate rights.
Maybe instead of targeting youth they should really strive for real change; change with the times, and realizing growing with principles of freedom that the increasing majority of people hold dear IS being modern; maybe they should target everyone by changing or altering some of their social platforms.

The GOP has a few good men, as it were, but they are outright rejecting them, men like Chris Christie; but instead they hold up people like Donald Trump, who is basically Mitt Romney with more money, more narcissism, less heart, and less brains, to represent their party.

One must ask...do they know what modern even looks like? It certainly doesn't look like rolling back advancements and achievements in human rights. It certainly doesn't mean stripping physical and mental freedom from able-minded people. It certainly doesn't mean miring society in rulings that makes people's life less their own. It doesn't look like the inane ramblings of Donald Trump[3], the ignorance of Sarah Palin, or the smarmy self-satisfying smirk of Mitt Romney.

Modern actually looks like what this country has striven to do since it's inception. Granting people personal rights, social progress, freedom for all.

When do those modern advancements start happen in their party.

Sources/Citation:
[1] Sen. Rand Paul Introduces ‘Fetal Personhood’ Bill to Outlaw Abortion, Eric W. Dolan, Raw Story, March 17, 2013, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/17/sen-rand-paul-introduces-fetal-personhood-bill-to-outlaw-abortion/
[2] House Republican Unanimously Vote Down Minimum Wage Hike, Sahil Kapur, Talking Points Memo, March 15, 2013, http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/house-republicans-unanimously-vote-down-minimum-wage-hike
[3] Donald Trump Just Gave A Nonsensical Speech, And Even Conservatives Were Dumbstruck, Brett LoGiurato, Business Insider, March 15, 2013, http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-cpac-speech-obama-china-immigration-2013-3
An interesting read:
What You Need to Read in the RNC Election Autopsy Report, Garance Franke-Ruta, The Altantic, March, 18, 2013, http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/03/what-you-need-to-read-in-the-rnc-election-autopsy-report/274112/

Friday, March 15, 2013

Untitled Friday

Stupid headache and a bad mood.
One of THOSE kinds of headaches, (no, not PMS-type) and a feeling of...being scrambled.
Simple as that.

The weekend is upon us. More painting walls, as we decided to paint the dining room after all.
Soon we will have pictures for you.
Dad (The Father) had said he was coming for the weekend, but there is a storm brewing and it might make it difficult, so he won't be coming.

It's officially two weeks since the house sale was finalized and we moved out of The Mother's basement, and  into our own place. It's been pretty great despite all the stress, arguing, frustration, and bleeding of money from our savings account. James is definitely better for it; he's much more happy and content, on average.

It's been hard to get into the studio to start painting (on canvas, no walls). The house actually has small closets and rooms, so our clothes are in the studio closet, and some in the guest room closet, where the dresser also resides because it won't fit into the "master bedroom". James' clothes are in the master bedroom closet and he may have to put some in the guest room too. There's no real fix for that, so it's just the way it will have to be. In the meantime there are stacks of clothes waiting to be shoved in the closet (which is stuffed already) and books and odds and ends with no particular place to go sitting all over the place. It makes us irritated just thinking about it. Meh. We'll live. We'll just have to throw some more crap out, or spend more money on "storage solutions".

Meanwhile, pass us an ice pick for our head.