HAYYYYY!!  OK …….. What is it about dogs and their obsession with bathwater?  I have never owed a cat, only a few dogs.

Take Mr. R [pictured above, photo taken this evening] for example.  He has his own water dish just waiting for him in the kitchen, along with a smaller dish in the upstairs bathroom.  Except at dinner time, does he take advantage on these two wells of water?  No.  Instead, before and especially while I'm in the shower, he sticks his little head in and begins the lick the sides of the shower or try to catch the water flow from the shower head.

Please note that he completely disreagards the fact that I me be actually USING the shower.  I will be washing my face, trying to avoid getting soap in my eyes, when .. SWOOSH .. the inside and outside shower curtains are pushed away and a little head sticks in with this look of, "what cha' doing daddy?"  If I'm really lucky, I'll have my eyes closed and suddenly feel this little tongue licking my legs!

Mr. R also loves to get baths!  He heads straight for the faucet .. drink, drink, glub, glub.  However, he is the biggest baby when he has to go out in the rain.  I have stood in the pouring rain, getting completely soaked, while I held the umbrella over his "need to be dry so I can poop" body!  Gotta love him!

Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice …….. 

 OK, you know that I have to wish a HUGE 65th Happy Birthday! to my girl, Miss Ross!

To honor la divine diva, please let me state 7 reasons I so much love and admire this woman:

1. Her message has always been believe in yourself and your dreams will come true. The key factor is to believe.

2. No matter the genre, and no matter if it was successful, she has attempted almost every type of music. Pop, R and B, Disco, House, Rap, Country, Opera, Broadway, Standards, Gospel ………..

3. Since the 60's she has always been a fashion plate with her own innate sense of style.

4. She is one of a fading breed .. a true entertainer. I've seen her in concert only three times. But each time was over 2 hours of LIVE singing, dancing, and entertaining.

5. Like Joan Crawford, she knows she is a star and expects to be treated like one [after 18 #1 hits, an Oscar nomination, and 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, who can blame her]. But, and this what younger stars need to understand, she knows that she is only a star due to her fans.

6. She has always acknowledged her gay fan base [Hello RuPaul].

7. Her songs, her look, her "everything" has been there, through good and bad times in my life!  

Happy Birthday La Diva!

Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice …….. 

HAYYYYY!!  OK …….. Don't you just laugh at how life operates sometimes?  Today, I received a call from my former boss, asking if I would help him out by portraying 2 to 3 characters in his new show.  The only "concerns"?  The show opens on Friday and the cast only received their copy of Act Two [the former boss also writes these plays] two days ago.

I was initially shocked that he called me to do this, since my professional theatre experience has been as a stage / production manager.  The last play I "acted" in was in graduate school.  The former boss started describing what outfits I would need to bring from home, etc, while I kept on thinking "WHAT??"

Initially I said yes.  You know those times when you are caught off guard, commit to something, and then regret it?  Well that is how I began to feel 5 minutes after I got off the phone.  I thought about MR. R having to spend several nights in his cage since I would be rehearsing or performing and "did I really want to do this?"

So since I had not received an e-mail with the script by 9:30 pm, I sent an e-mail back to the boss and stated that I could not be involved.  In the end, my "gut" told me that doing the show, even for a short time, would not be a good decision.  To the cast and crew .. BREAK A LEG! 

On a separate note, I would like to send a HUGE HAYYYYY to Quentin, whose blog, the fantastic music oriented QH BLEND, I have listed on my blog roll.  Check out the blog yall, it is a great read!

Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice …….. 

HAYYYYY!!  OK .. Today THE PINK PRINCESS and I were talking about people we knew who had either lost their job, or thought they may be unemployed soon.  During the conversation, we were both surprised by how many people have decided to take little "vacations," before starting the job hunt.

Now you know I am not one to judge [ok everyone move before the lightning strikes ] and understand everyone is different, but I am amazed by this type of reaction.  My way of thinking is, "no, you need to start job hunting pronto!"  When I have looked for another job [while still working at the job I wanted to leave], it has taken an average of 2.5 months to be hired .. and that was during a good economy!

Now I can understand if you've known you were going to be let go for some time, or if you were lucky and would be receiving severance pay, but if this week's paycheck was the last for a while? 

In my mid-20's, I was let go from a job.  I immediately drove to the nearest book-music-movies combo store, where I purchased the previous Sunday paper and the latest cd of Pet Shop Boys remixes [hey, gotta have some sunlight].  I remember just being in a panic.  Fortunately, I called a temp service and had an assignment by the end of the week. Like I said, everyone is different.

On a completely different note, the "gay" gene has been in full effect these past few days musically.  I am going through a Milery Cyrus phase.  I love her new song, "The Climb."  And if the I-Tunes Mafia could hook me up with some remixes for "See You Again" and "Fly On The Wall,"  I would be very grateful.

WHATCHA LISTENING TO?  See You Again – Miley Cyrus 

"Like I Couldn't Breathe, You Asked What's Wrong With Me, My Best Friend Leslie Said, Oh She's Just Being Miley!"

Meanwhile, back at The Hall of Justice …….. 

HAYYYYY!!  OK .. What has been going on since Saturday??

1.  The wonderful PINK PRINCESS took me out for my first Dim Sum experience.  I am very proud to say that I tasted [and generally liked] everything PP chose, especially the shrimp dumplings.  DAMN!  Those dumplings are good!  As we say in the South, make you wanna slap yo' Mama!  And since the PP knows I love sauces .. hot sauces, salad dressings, dippings .. the restaurant had a great dipping sauce!  THANK YOU PP!!

2.  I just have to ask, does AIG have the worst PR department in the world?  Even Chris Brown's spokespeople have managed to get him a little positive press!  But what is it with this company?  You never hear the words, "sorry," "we messed up [big time]," etc.  Nothing but silence.

3.  I am seriously debating whether I should get the I-Phone 3G.  I mean, .. I already have the I-Phone 1G which I love, and I should just save that tax refund money .. BUT it looks so pretty, and can do so much more ………….. decisions, decisions.

4.  Since I don't have cable, I usually get into tv shows long after everyone else has the seen the final episodes.  Recently I went through seasons 1 through 5 of THE L WORD, which I LOVED!!  Guess I will have to wait for Season 6.

Now I am all into THE TUDORS, Season 2.  Loved Season 1, which I'm going to lend to the PP [hopefully she will enjoy as much].  Besides the general soap opera tone of THE TUDORS, here is another reason to like the show …….. HENRY CAVILL AS CHARLES BRANDON:

 And everybody just say DAMN!

Meanwhile, back at The Hall of Justice …….. 

HAYYYYY!!  A review of what has been going on lately:

1.  Had a good performance review at work!  And after hearing my "tax preparer" talk about her clients who have lost their jobs and stocks, I am very grateful for my employment.

2.  Took Mister Man for his first annual check up.  He was in great health, and had no parasites.  But the vet would like for him to lose two pounds.  So maybe Mr. R and I can diet together .. yeah right!

3.  My friends, the Carters, got to take one of their daughters home last weekend.  Triple HAY HAY HAY!!!!!!!!  My favorite joke is that since one of the girls is heavier than the other, the smaller will yell over the crib, "hey fat ass!"  Just my sense of humor!

4.  So I gave in, I capitulated, I bowed to the pressure and finally joined Facebook.  I hope this fad stays around for a while.  I was [and still am] a little nervous after reading about the site's privacy problems.  Sooooo, PINK PRINCESS and CC, I hope you will friend me now!

Finally, ran across the Love To Infinity remix of Jody Watley's BEAUTIFUL.  Lovin the lyrics ……..

"I'm not the person I used to be

cause I'm stronger, wiser and feeling beautiful

and I want a life, that's beautiful"

WHATCHA LISTENING TO?  Beautiful by Jody Watley [Love To Infinity Remix] 

Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice …….. 

HAYYYYY!!  Ok …….. Once again. lovin me some RuPaul and his reality show, RuPaul's Drag Race!  Apparently, the show is getting some notice since Miss Ru has been on THE VIEW, TODAY SHOW, CNN and Entertainment Weekly recently.  I hope that LOGO asks for a season two, since this show reminds me of the first season of America's Next Top Model .. campy but rough around the edges.  I even heard some "non queens" talk positively about the show.

My only "critique", would be to have more Legendary Drag Queens [or Kings] as judges or mentors.  I mean, why haven't we seen Lady Bunny, Lypsinka, Charles Busch, or Candis Cayne?  They might take the spotlight from Ru?  Never!

I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Miss Ru.  The first time I read about her was in an Entertainment Weekly article on DEEE-LITE [love me some DEEE-LITE].  Ru was just mentioned in passing.  The next time was a full page in Interview, after that came SUPERMODEL and articles in Out and Details.

In 1996, I got to meet Miss Ru, when he was autographing copies of his cd, FOXY LADY.  I said, " Ru, thank you for being such an inspiration, and for being in Diana's video for I WILL SURVIVE."  Ru responded with, "Thanks sweetie.  I just saw Diana last weekend, when I was over at her house for a Bar-B-Q."  Well you know I wanted to pull up a chair and start talking, but the promoter was already pulling me away.

Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice …….. 

HAYYYYY!!  OK …….. I am lovin' me some Bloodshy & Avant!!  Bloodthirsty and who you might say?  Bloodshy & Avant [aka Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg] are a songwriting, producing and remixing duo from Sweden.  They had early success with Ms. Dynamite ["It Takes More," "Put Him Out"] and Christian Milian ["Am To PM"], but are mostly known in the U.S. for co-writing and producing Britney's, "Toxic."  They have also worked with Kylie, Madonna, J Lo, and the singer BoA.

I am all into their songs right now, especially "Speakerphone," from Kylie's X cd and "Piece Of Me," "Freakshow," and "Toy Soldier," from Brit Brit's BLACKOUT cd.

One of things I like about B&A is that they are able to take a limited singer like Britney and Kylie, and make them into club divas, which is very smart for both ladies.  I mean after you've gone from being a pop princess and tabloid fodder, you gotta head to gay clubland in order to keep the career going!

My Current Top Five From Bloodshy & Avant:

1.  SPEAKERPHONE .. Kylie / X CD

2.  PIECE OF ME [Boz o lo Remix] .. Britney / Piece Of Me Remixes

3.  TOY SOLDIER .. Britney / Blackout CD

4.  EAT YOU UP .. BoA / Eat You Up Single

5.  AM TO PM .. Christina Milian / Christina Milian CD

Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice ……. 

HAYYYYY!!  OK …….. Been gone for almost a month from blogging.  During that time, I've been trying to prepare for two audits at work, as well as going on a week-long cruise to the Virgin Islands.

While cruising around the Atlantic, I wondered if I really wanted to continue blogging, considering that I often go in spurts with nothing to say.  However, as I mentioned to a friend recently, blogging is a creative outlet for me.  Since I am no longer involved in theatre, I need some way to express how I feel .. to get the creative juices going.

And I have to be honest and state that I want more people to read my blog.  Is that bad to admit?  I am in awe of bloggers like Kingfuraday, DJmrswhite, Jonny McGovern, Pink Ponders, Joe.My.God, Disco Delivery, RuPaul [loving his show and new album], Andrew Sullivan, Arjan Writes, and Wayne Bensen.  Most of them started small and continue to grow.

Therefore, along with my LJ blog [calllhimmissross] and my own web site [www.thedogandthediva.com], I decided to join the herd on Facebook.  Some of my co-workers, along with my brother, are Facebook freaks.  Just lovin' themselves some Facebook.  And THE PINK PRINCESS states that her Facebook account directs people to her website, www.PinkPonders.com.

Meanwhile, back at the Hall Of Justice ……..