This news article is picked from the New York Times.



ALBANY —From City Hall in Manhattan to rural hamlets upstate, New York officials began to prepare on Saturday for a surge in gay couples expected to flood clerks’ offices next month seeking to marry.

The state’s same-sex marriage law, which was signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo just before midnight on Friday, will go into effect in 30 days, meaning that gay couples can marry here beginning on July 24.

Gay couples from out of state will also be allowed to apply for wedding licenses and hold nuptials in New York.

Roughly 45,000 gay couples live in New York State, according to census estimates. No exact projection is available for how many will marry here, but officials are readying for thousands, especially in the first week.

“We are training our staff to be prepared for a very large number of people on the first day,” said Michael McSweeney, the New York City clerk, who oversees the marriage bureau. “We are going to be part of history.”

The city has struck an agreement to increase the number of state judges available to perform same-sex marriages. Their workload could swell; John Feinblatt, a top adviser to the mayor, said judges could be bombarded by requests to circumvent the 24-hour waiting period.

Over the next 30 days, state officials must also rewrite the marriage license application form and distribute it to the hundreds of city and town clerks. In Oneonta, a college town of about 14,000 people in central New York, the city clerk, James R. Koury, was expecting a surge in applications, especially on the first day.



Read the rest at here: New York clerks' offices, girding for influx of gay couples

Okay, now there's another destination for you to go if ever you want to get married.

I think marriage has always been some kind of a fantasy, a fairytale that always exist in the books for us in the gay community. With all kinds of factors that are outside of our community and also from the inside, no wonder some of us feel that the "happy ever after" is a mere illusion.

It's a happy thought to know that it has now becoming more and more real with each passing day.

And Lady Gaga cried when she heard the news. You go girl!

Bananas are the next best thing to an orgasm.

It contains the same chemicals that you have in Prozac, an anti-depressant. Yes, bananas can reduce stress levels and induce happiness.

Having a banana every two hours will keep you in such an uplifting mood, it's the best way to combat coma-inducing environment in the office and Monday blues.

There's a story on the internet saying that if you scrape enough banana skin pulp and bake it, it produces a drug that'll get you high. But that's just an urban myth. Although it is also known that flour can be made from banana skins.

Also, a banana facial is very nourishing to the skin; it's good for sunburns.

So, stock up some bananas when you go on your next shopping trip. At least it's way cheaper and much less effort than getting the other variety with two dangling nuts at the side.

That said, I do think they have similar properties, no?

P/S: Yes, I love bananas to death. :)  

In one of Calvin's blog, Strictly Reading, he has a list of BBC's list of 100 best-loved books. Standing at No.3, it is the His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman.

In the first book, there is a passage which I like. An excerpt from there that certainly rings a bell is this:

....Men pass in front of our eyes like butterflies, creatures of a brief season. We love them; they are brave, proud, beautiful, clever; and they die almost at once. They die so soon that our hearts are continually racked in pain.   


-Serafina Pekkala




It reminds me the morbid nature that we are fated to.

But on the other hand, if you have read this book, you will also notice the more melancholic side of it.

So let me have my mind run amok.

What if there is a man who is immortal, watching the seasons go endlessly, and to have lovers that he loves so deeply, but in the end watching them wither like maple leaves in the autumn sun?

The mind is running amok. Pay no heed to my writings today.

I found this video circulating around Facebook, and thinking why all these people are sharing this around, I clicked on the play button.

This is unbelievable!

The groom is really one of a kind. And a one of a kind wedding too!

Instead of giving lip service or just clicking the "like" button, I'm going.

Is there anyone out there who are from M'sia going to see what is it all about?

Grab camera, snap snap snap!

Stay tuned for pics. Yesh, this will be the first time I ever upload something personal at here!

To those who have partners and living together, do you experience what is above?

Watch it before you read.

The "happy forever after" will only remain as a dream, unless you put in some effort, like caring a seedling; water it everyday, put fertilizer, and of course, the most essential ingredient, love.

Don't take what you have now for granted. Cherish what you have now. Man can only plan but only God knows what he's doing.

Don't wait until its too late.

So there I was, walking into a restaurant near my place, which serves up quite decent Chinese dishes. As I was approaching the entrance, I saw a familiar face. A very familiar face.

It's a guy that I saw from Fridae. The exact same guy, because I do recognise his tattoo.

And the heart skips a beat. Because he's definitely cute in his pics. Never thought that he'll look that good in real life. But sadly, my table is upstairs and I couldn't have the chance to ogle more.

Have you ever experienced this before? These kind of unexpected brushes?

I know he doesn't have any knowledge of me, but seeing another soul searching for love in a big place called the Internet suddenly appears to you in real life..... makes it feel..........

A bit out of this world.

It's like seeing Tron on the desktop and suddenly he's right in front of you.  LOL

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It's almost a year since I've known you.

The Bon Odori festival is upon us again.

Many things have happened in this year. Some I've never dreamed of I'll be doing.

But I still do think about you amidst all these craziness.

And I wonder do you think about me, even as a friend.

____________________________________________________________________________

Today I slept in the car with his arm against my head.

And I woke up seeing him staring at the window.

If you love me, do tell. If you don't, leave me alone.


I don't deserve to be thrown here and there like a rag doll with cotton balls for a heart.

You know it.

What will make you cry? A sad song? A sad movie?

I found this on one of the blogs on Calvin's list and I heard this boy sing. Just hear him sing, although if you do not know mandarin. And if you have a friend who understands and translate it for you, the better.



This song is actually a Mongolian country song, the title, "Mother In The Dream", or in their native language, Alsad Suugaa Eej. The original singer is Javkhlan.



I was like crying the whole time when this song played. I am still shedding some tears as I'm typing this.

I'm born in a traditional Chinese family, so the concept of filial piety is very much ingrained into my very mind. And this song says it all. Although I could not understand, and even Google translate can't even translate Mongolian, but the deep poetic hums filled my heart with a kind of appreciation that I could not translate into words.

That's what made me cried.

And another thing that can make me cry more than ever is Hachiko. It's a movie with Richard Gere as the main actor. Go find it and watch it, but please prepare a box of tissue.