World AIDS Day

Tomorrow, December 1, is World AIDS Day.

It is a time to reflect on those who lost the battle to this horrific disease and celebrate those who are still survivors.

AIDS is a disease; it does not discriminate.  It doesn't care how old or young you are, whether you're gay, straight, or bisexual, or whether you're white, black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, or any other ethnicity.  It doesn't care if you're married or single, a parent or not.  It takes lives and affects those who lose loved ones to it.  AIDS is not a punishment from God; it's not one of the Egyptian plagues.  It's a disease, plain and simple.

If you or someone you know has been affected by this disease, join the fight against AIDS and donate toward a cure.  If you haven't been affected by this disease, join the fight anyway.

If you pray, pray for a cure.

Either way, I urge you to do something that shows you care.

Well, it's Day 2 of my return to Bloggerland.  I'm hoping I'm here to stay this time and here's why:

Is social networking all it's made out to be?  Maybe for some people, but not for this man.  I used to Yahoo!, but it seemed nobody wanted to chat--even though they had their messenger on and their status was available.  I did the MSN--ahem, Windows Live!--Messenger, too.  Same thing.  Hot or Not?  Not for me either.  At the time I was an active member, you had to be a premium member to send messages and notes you could author yourself.  Tagged?  It was okay, but no chat, and it can also seem a bit like a popularity contest based on looks.  Then FaceBook told me to "stay connected".  Oh, what a tagline!  They got me hook, line, and sinker.  So I signed up.  Added old Blogger buddies; found old classmates, added the guys from Tagged I actually connected with (at least those that had a FB account), and I was off.  Then I got distracted by the games.  And their status message limits you to 400 characters!  Pretty soon, I was so busy playing every game on FB (well not every game, but 10 is way more than any one person should be involved in) that I forgot to "stay connected".  So there are  nearly 200 people on my FB list I never interact with.  And if I ever have anything to say, those with even half my friends wouldn't know b/c of all the stuff that gets buried in the live feed.

My hope is to use Blogspot as a forum for self-expression:  a place for my commentary on sex, politics, or even sexual politics.  Just kidding--about the sex and sexual politics, anyway.  The truth is, the world is full of opinions, both good and bad.  I have a lot to say about things I feel strongly about.  And I encourage healthy debate because: ignorance is forgivable as long as the ignorant can be educated.  Stubborn ignorance with malice has no place, even in the world of politics.  After all, recent events have shown what ignorance can do to a country in less than a decade.

So, if you found my cafe and like what you read, the by all means; sit down, enjoy a cup of coffee, and invite your friends over to sit and debate for a bit.

P.S.:  Have you ever noticed that nearly every Social Networking site uses either red or blue as the primary color in their logo?  I wonder why...!

I'm Baaaaaaack!

If you were a regular reader when my address was http://leftfletch.blogspot.com/ then welcome back!  I'll try to be regular, and I'll try to be substantive in my posts.

I apologize for the hasty departure from Blogland and also for the long delay in returning.  I have yet to decide which way I want to take this blog, but time will show us all.

Until then, enjoy your ride with me on this journey, and I'll see ya on the flip side!