…summer concerts where this lady is a guest. *swoon*

More to follow on Flickr. If you know me on Facebook, you can see more there.

Last night was a first for me- setting off fireworks.

As a kid we went to the shows, but never bought any to do ourselves. Clearly, I have been missing out. In unincorporated King County, where we live, they are legal to set off. In fact, we even had a King County Sheriff drive through and say hello as we were setting things off.

Flickr tells the tale of the Boom Stick Party, as it shall henceforth be known. Lots of good fun to remember our unique freedoms and why this country rocks.

I hope your 4th of July was safe and fun, no matter what you did.

Since I moved to my new team, there has been a lot of talk about how we help our wonderful Indian counterparts improve. Numerous discussions this week had me poring over the approaches I used when there.

Last night I dreamed that the Cool Company sent me back over to work with the new team, and when I arrived at the hotel I found:

-My room was terribly dingy and small
-It had no bathroom
-It had bunk beds
-There was a large pile of horse shit in the corner

I was of course astonished and disgusted. There were people cleaning the room when I arrived. The hotel employee who escorted me to the room said kindly, “Do not worry, ma’am, they are cleaning it up.”

Eyes wide, I shot back “How considerate- what about the rest of the room?! And where the hell is my bathroom?!”

That’s all I remember, but when I woke up this morning I couldn’t help but laugh. Later in the day Bayou relayed my dream to her friend RM, who listened intently and then pronounced:

“Here’s two dollars. You must go buy lottery tickets today.”

Ummmm, ok. RM is Malaysian, if that helps anyone shed light on why such a silly dream should be cause to buy the lotto. I’m dying to hear what made him say this. (Bayou bought the tickets, by the way.)

I just know it was the horseshit.

The High Court in New Delhi struck down the law criminalizing gay sex.

In what many are calling “India’s Stonewall”, the New Delhi High Court on Thursday decriminalized homosexual intercourse between consenting adults, by striking down section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. This law labels gay sex to be an “unnatural offense”, punishable with up to ten years in prison.

Drafted in 1860, this Colonial-era law was brought into effect by the British, and was in line with similar anti-homosexuality legislation passed in England at the time. In the past decade, gay rights activists and lawyers have strived hard to abrogate Section 377, calling it “inhuman”, and as the Naz Foundation, which filed the petition to abolition 377 in 2001 argued, a violation of constitutional rights to privacy and equality.

In its ruling today, the Delhi High Court affirmed that claim, saying that Section 377 violated basic human rights. The same court, however, had dismissed a similar petition in 2001. It is clear that this latest ruling is a reflection of increased activism by gay rights groups and high profiled supporters like Bollywood actress and Former Miss World Celina Jaitley, along with a more progressive government.

Needless to say, this is an amazing development for New Delhi. I hope this event is another lengthy ring in the death knell of anti-homosexual legislation everywhere.