Just came back from seeing Brokeback Mountain. I'm just speechless. I can't remember the last time a movie affected me like this one did. I couldn't stop crying. You know how when you're in a theater, and during the sad parts you can usually hear a few people sniffling? Well, I was the only one in this theater. It was pretty full, too--it was a Saturday matinee, and the movie just opened here last night, so there were a good number of people there. But apparently, none of them was affected like I was. And I wasn't just sniffling--I was holding back sobs. I heard some women talking after the movie about how confused they were about all the awards the movie was getting, and they looked up over to me and said "oh, you're still crying." I said, "Yeah, that was the saddest movie I've ever seen," and one of the women goes, "well, I guess I just couldn't get into it because it was about two men." Oh, eat me. Really, sometimes I fucking hate people. You know, I just realized the last time a movie affected me like this one--Franco Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet. I guess I just can't resist a tale about star-crossed lovers.

I got this icon from somebody (I saved her page as a memory, so I'll go back and look to see she is--edit: it's iconzicons at lj--I need to go thank her, too) and I just wanted a chance to use it. It makes me laugh! I have been reading a lot over the break, so of course that means P&P. Jane rocks!

I really need to get back in my in-your-face mode. I started this journal so I could post info about my profession, but I'm out of that mood now. (Mood swings of a sort...) Well, the good this about that is that the mood will probably come back. So for now, fun P&P icons, yay!

Ok, that's a little better, even if the colors are a little dreary. Will be working on that soon. Ok, so what am I doing here? Well, I was talking to my sister the other day, and I told her that I thought I needed a manifesto. What does that mean, exactly? I don't know. I guess I need a guiding purpose to my life, like "free the giraffes" or "depose Bush." But I don't know anything about imprisoned giraffes (although it doesn't sound like a good thing, so I guess I'll have to look into it) and as my subtitle mentions, I'm fairly ignorant about a lot of political issues (that would be the head-up-my-butt part of my journal subtitle), so I feel that other people are much better qualified to speak about such issues. Although, come to think of it, when did being ill-informed ever keep an American quiet about a political issue? I know I should be better-informed about politics--it's our vast stockpile of ignorance that allowed Bush to become president twice. (I have a friend who voted for Bush because Kerry is ugly. Yes, I beat her up and hid her voter registration card.) Hey, don't blame me, I voted for the oth...oh, shit, I was too lazy to vote...never mind. (That would be the foot in my mouth part.)

So now that we know what I don't know...what do I know? By what noble principle do I want to live my life? Well, apparently, I know about ignorance. So what can we do with that? Well, let's see. A week or two ago, I was reading the Firefly/Serenity forum (for those who may not know, it's a sci-fi TV show and movie set five hundred years in the future) and one of the threads was discussing prostitution. One of the characters on the show (my icon is a picture of the actress who plays her) is a "companion," which in the context of the show is a geisha/courtesan who enjoys social standing on par with that of a government official. Of course, none of the people who were involved in the discussion had ever met a prostitute (to the best of their knowledge, anyway) so I spoke up with a couple of facts about my own experiences in the profession. I liked the idea of dispelling some of the ignorance surrounding prostitution. So I have decided that my guiding principle (for a while, anyway, until I get bored, or pissed off, or shut down) will be to talk about some of my experiences as a prostitute, and see if anyone listens. I guess I'll start off by putting "prostitution" and "sex work" in my list of interests, and hope that I don't get a bunch of porn spam. (or is that spam porn?) Ok, here goes....

You know what the road to hell is paved with, right? Nonetheless, I will try to write a journal this year. Let's see how it goes, shall we? First task, get rid of that god-awful default format.