As I blogged a few years ago, one of the most effective ways to hold oneself accountable on goals or resolutions that you make, is to publish them, so here are my goals for 2010.

1. Start a family. Chris and I have been discussing when the right time would be for having a child, and as we are both getting older, we’ve decided that now is as good a time as any. We are exploring different options for us to make this happen, and as we make progress, we’ll be posting updates.

2. Successfully renew my work visa for the next couple of years. This will be a critical step for us to achieve goal number 1, as well as keeping me working at the best nonprofit agency in the US of A.

3. Participate in at least four (4) 5K runs. This in part is related to the first goal, and will help with our training. One of our goals is to include our Little Brother in one of these runs towards the latter part of the year.

4. Complete a half-marathon. Chris and I are going to try to complete the White Rock Half-Marathon later this year. We will be working towards building up our distance and stamina to make this a reality, and thankfully it is on the other side of summer, so there will be many opportunities to train.

5. Complete a 5K run in under 30 minutes. The best that I’ve ever done was just under 33 minutes, so with some focus and determination this should be a relatively easy goal to make.

6. Travel to at least one place that I’ve never been before outside of the United States. Right now there are discussions for a trip to the Mexican Riviera which would fulfill this goal, but should this not happen, there will be another trip that we will need to take.

7. Successfully meet the goals for my new role on the Youth First Texas board. This will include the fundraising component, but it also relates to working with the board to overcome some of the issues that the organization is facing right now.

8. Continue to improve general health. While the running (exercise) will definitely help with this, I do need to put a goal about weight loss, or general health on my list. I would like to drop back to at least a 32″ waist before summer starts, and that will be something that I will attempt to do.

9. Travel to Australia to visit family, including family I did not get an opportunity to meet up with during our last visit in 2009. At this stage our thinking is to make the trip around Christmas this year, but that will depend a great deal on Qantas making it financially possible.

10. Maintain healthier relationships. This is something that may be more difficult to measure, but it’s one goal that I have to focus on more. We tend to get caught up in the world as it rushes by us each day, and it is becoming more important to me to spend time with my friends, along with making new friends.

Let’s see how we do with these, and I hope to be able to post updates on each status throughout the year. We’ll see.

James Reflections 2010

I’m finally getting around to post my “end of the year” reflections. Hey it is still within the first week of the year, so it still counts. Overall 2009 was a great year with a few upsets. We saw the inauguration of President Obama, and a pretty intense first few months of his administration. While he started off well, Obama’s attempts to “play nice” with the republicans did affect his ability to get much of his agenda completed, or started. Hopefully 2010 will be a better year for the President.

In March, Chris and I celebrated our tenth anniversary together. Both of us would agree that it has not been an easy ten-years, but it definitely has been worth it.

In May, Chris and I travelled to Australia with our best friends, Bobby and Ian. We made the trek to Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and then finally Queensland (where my mother and sister). It was the first time that I’d been home in over nine years, and I was amazed at how much it had changed. I wished I had blogged more while I was over there, and while I have a load of notes from the trip, I didn’t end up putting these online.

We continue to do our camping trips with a normal mix of 8 people, and seven dogs. These trips continue to be the highlights of our years, and is a wonderful opportunity to hang out with friends and relaxing. Once again, we went to Beaver’s Bend twice (or near it), and found a new cabin that may be our preferred home when doing future trips. This year we combined the Easter and Halloween breaks for both trips.

October saw Chris and I, along with Bobby, Ian and Layton heading up to Washington D.C. for the National Equality March. It was an amazing experience, and one that I will remember for a very long time. The last time I was in Washington D.C. was in 1999, and I can say that the city has changed a huge amount in that time … for the better. The march itself was so much larger than anyone could have expected, and while there were a lot of speakers, each one offered something to inspire the crowd to go back to their towns and cities and work towards full equality for the GLBT community.

Throughout the year, Chris and I meet with our Little Brother, Trey. We have both been trying to keep our blog up to date with all the activities that we have done with him. We continue to have a great time with each other, and have managed to do some remarkable things during 2009. Rather than repeat them here, you are welcome to go over to our Two Bigs site and check things out. One of the nice surprises of the year was winning the Collin County Regional Bigs of the Year (the first gay couple to win this award from what I am told).

On a sadder note, the year was not all good news.

Over in my home, the worst bushfires in Australian history ravaged much of Victoria and other parts of the country. This was made more personal given the area that was most severely affected was very close to my hometown that I grew up in. While over in Australia, we got to see a lot of the damage (from a distance), and felt very sad for all the lives that were lost, along with all the animals that were killed or injured.

In March, Chris and I were shocked at the news that our good friend Duncan died. We learnt that he had a relapse with his cancer, and it was discovered too late. We both were in shock for a few days, and still miss his updates that we used to get from time to time. Fruitbat appears to be continuing to recover from this tragic loss, and thankfully Chris has been over to visit with him during the year (it seems I got this wrong).

The year had a busy ending, and both of us were kept really busy. It was great to unwind for a short time at Chris’s parents in East Texas to reboot. Our end of year New Years Eve Party was another success, and a great way to end the year.

I’m sure that I have forgotten many things that happened during the year, and that will reinforce my need to blog more often. I will blog more often. I will blog more often …

James Reflections 2009

Christmas Eve 2009 Snow

Originally uploaded by melbGuy

The closest I’ve come to a white Christmas.

James General Interest

James General Interest 2009, christmas

As I sit here in the quietness of the morning, I am thinking about how Thanksgiving has changed for me over time. As an Australian, I had heard about the American Thanksgiving and got my idea of what it was from the television shows that I had seen. Ten years ago, I was introduced to my first Thanksgiving in America. It was not quite the same as what the idiot box had shown me. In some cases, it was better, and in other ways it was quite underwhelming.

I had seen, from a distance, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and thought how fun it would be to watching this in the streets of New York, but then I realized it was quite cold up there and maybe it wasn’t a great idea after all. Standing in the cold, with thousands of others, craning my neck to get a glimpse of something (most somethings I would have no clue about). Instead, we watched it on television and I got to see the parade close, but not personal.

Over the last ten years, the way we celebrate Thanksgiving has changed. Since those early days, Chris’s parents have moved back to Texas, and we now spend each Thanksgiving at their home in East Texas. The ritual is normally the same. We arrive the night before (normally), and spend the evening catching up, watching the dogs go full-force around the property, and then snacking on some ham that was cooked earlier in the day. Thanksgiving Day is spent watching Chris’s mom prepare all the sides for the main meal, while his dad cooks the turkey. Then we eat and then we collapse.

This year is the first year that I’ve really thought about what Thanksgiving means to me. It doesn’t have a lot of the same meaning that many Americans have – though I would suggest that many Americans don’t celebrate the holiday with any idea of what the holiday is about, apart from a day off work, and the day before all the crazy sales start for the Christmas season.

For me, Thanksgiving has become about being with my family (Chris and the boys), and having some down time to relax, reboot and re-energize. I don’t share the same history of the holiday as Chris does, but I’ve come to realize that each holiday that we celebrate has become something that has been defined by the time that we spend together with family and friends.

So for those that celebrated the holiday, I hope it was a good time for you, and you had time to spend time with some of the ones that you love.

James Reflections

Be sure to check out Chris’s extensive travel post for the holidays.

James Chris, Travel

On October 11, 2009, I marched the streets of Washington D.C. as part of the National Equality March. I didn’t march just for the visibility that over a hundred thousand people would bring to the streets of our Capitol. I also didn’t march for the speakers that would greet us at the Capitol Building. Nor did I march because it was a beautiful day in Washington D.C. (though it was perfect weather). I marched because I believe in full equality.

I marched so that everyone living in this country has the same access to the legal protections that are afforded to others in this country. I marched because I believe that equal rights should be applied to everyone, not just one subset of society. I marched with my friends who are trying to adopt, but have many hurdles in front of them to make a family. I marched with my partner of ten years who doesn’t have the same right to make our family whole, like others in this country. I marched with my straight best friend, who constantly reminds me that our sexuality does not define us, but is just a part of who we are. I marched because, while I don’t support war, I do support a person’s right to choose to fight for their country, regardless of their sexual orientation.

I also marched as a way of showing my pride in the progress that has been made. I marched by the White House, and shouted out for full equality, and knew that someone was listening. I marched with thousands of others who knew that today we were closer than we have ever been to real change happening at a federal level. And I marched to organize.

Today I am energized to bring about change that will provide full equality to every person in this country. We can no longer allow the continuation of the George Orwell version of equality in this country. We can no longer deny a person their right to love the person they do; or their right to raise a family; or their right to their belief system; or their right not to practice a religion; or their right to fight for our country.

This is why I marched. This is why I will continue to march.

Note: In Texas, we are working to keep each other informed of activities, and share ideas with each other through the Equality Across Texas network (www.equalityacrosstexas.com). Details of Congressional District Action Teams can be found at the website, or through our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=174521789383

James GLBT Issues equality, washington-dc

Last night, Chris and I did a marathon watch of the latest five-part series of Torchwood. The shows aired earlier in the week, and I just didn’t find the time to watch them through the week, so I thought “I’ll just start Day One and Two tonight, and finish the rest tomorrow and through the week. Well that didn’t happen, and around 4AM we finished watching Day Five.

I liked it, though I have a lot of questions about the “what happens next” in the show. (Note, if you haven’t seen the show, don’t click “more” (due to spoilers).) Read more…

James General Interest torchwood, WTF?