Spotlite on...Charity

What's this? Two posts in one week? It happens from time to time. My goal has been to write on Friday nights at least a little something that happened during the past week. I thought I would continue my Spotlite series if I had a slow news week, but even those give me something to write about.

Charity is my sister. She lives in New Jersey and has for the past three or four years. When I write a Spotlite on someone, I think back as long as I've known them and try to hit a few high points. My problem with her is that I've known her a pretty long time. Growing up, I knew I had a sister. She had the bigger room across the hall. But all through high school that's about it-I knew I had a sister. I went to college and she did whatever she did. I got married, and she got married. I saw her and her husband occasionally and then I moved to Columbus. We lived in the same city for a few years, but still never really saw each other. She hit a rough spot in her marriage, and I was already divorced, so we talked a little bit. Even started meeting for lunch occasionally. During that time, she was the only immediate family member that I could talk to about what was going on in my young, queer life. One thing she said to me then was that she finally realized what I was doing. She said, "I have finally realized what you are doing." I asked, "What's that?" Her response? "You just want to be happy, and you are doing whatever it takes to be happy." I think she got it before I did. Since then, when she has made a decision that most of the family may not agree with, my response is 'Does it make you happy?' It means a lot to have someone who may not agree with your decision stand by and support you anyway.

Now that she lives nine hours away, we talk more than ever. And the best part? Basically, almost whenever I want, I can go the Greatest City in the World. I did it twice last year and should have done it a long time ago. I was in New Jersey for Memorial Day weekend and again the week after Thanksgiving. Both times were packed chock full of things to do and it was so much FUN! The next trip is planned for the first week of May this year. I'm looking forward to that, too.

Now I know I have a Sister. I love that she and I have been able to become so close over the last couple years. It's kind of funny how that happens. I'm lovin' it tho. (I did it! I packed 30 years of knowing her into three paragraphs!)

We're Havin' a Party!

Or we HAD a party. Last night was my Open House. I bought the condo at the beginning of November and moved in, then with the holidays I didn't want to create more things for people to do. So, last night, I had an Open House rather than a Housewarming Party. Twenty-six of my closest friends showed up. It was a great time. Everyone seemed to like my house. You know what they say, "Love me, love my house." I don't know who says that, but I'm sure they said it at least once. Who is they anyway? But I digress.

I don't know the original number of invitations that were sent. I'm going to guess 46. Fifty-one people said they would or might come. Three or four said they were not able to. A couple of people had stuff come up yesterday. Twenty-six actually showed. While I would have loved to have everyone come who said they would, 51 people would have been a lot. Twenty-six was a lot.

I had a few logistical problems with the food, but it all worked out, I think. I had swedish meatballs, mini corn dogs, puff pastries, breaded vegetables, and mini bagel pizzas. The meatballs took the longest to cook, so everything else was behind. I felt bad, because just when everything was done, my parents had to leave. They did get to eat a little bit first, though. I was very honored to have them and my grandparents here to see my house.

Lisa and Roger were the first to arrive (and first to leave) followed by my parents and grandparents. I think Dustin and Tony were the last to arrive. Of course, the last to leave was Dana & Co. Around 1:00am. I'm not sure how Jon, Ashleigh, and Jenny feel about being known collectively as Dana & Co. but it works for me. I had several people ask if they could help, but I will say that Dana was a huge help with the food (and napkins.) There was some debate as to whether Dana cooked or not. Some people felt that taking frozen food out of a box and putting it in the oven was not cooking. But, in her defense, if Dana hadn't done that, we'd all still be nibbling on frozen chunks of food.

This was supposed to be an Open House, not a Housewarming because I've been here for three months already, but I got a lot of nice gifts anyway. Gift cards to Home Depot, Target, and Bed Bath and Beyond, candles, and wine. Now I have to go get thank you cards. And mail them. I am so lucky to have a group of friends who will come over and celebrate a milestone like this with me.

To the keen-eyed reader, you will notice that I have been pretty good about writing on Fridays, but I waited this week till the Fiesta was over. I will get back to the normal schedule of Friday nights home with my computer next week. Now, there's a kitchen to clean!

Slow News Week

Writing once a week really shows how fast time really flies. I spent a lot of time at work this week, so the mid-February check should be nice. Speaking of overtime, taxes go hand in hand with that. I can't wait to get mine done this year. I might get a little something back.

Other than overtime, I practically spent the night at Dana's the other night. I went over about 10pm, had a couple beers, talked for a while, and suddenly it was 4am. I decided that it would be better to go to work a little bit tired, rather than a lot late, so I stayed up. I was really fighting to stay awake on Thursday. Needless to say, I was sleeping about four minutes after I got home Thursday night. My plan this weekend is, you guessed it, overtime tomorrow and cleaning my house from top or bottom on Sunday. After all, I have a party to host next weekend. I can't wait. My parents and grandparents are even coming!

My furnace seems to be having some issues. It wont turn off and it only blows warm air. With the temperature outside hovering around 20 degrees, you might not see the problem. I usually keep my house right at 70 and lately it feels like its 95. And no, this isn't my own personal summer. I'm hoping its just the thermostat. I've never replaced a thermostat, so that oughtta be fun. Hopefully, I won't shock myself to death.

My sister, God love her, complained the other day that everything I write about, she already knows. Well, when you talk to someone almost every day, and then write about the tiny things that happen, you'll have a bit of crossover. Besides, the things I don't tell her, I can't write about anyway. I've seen the news stories of people getting arrested for bragging on their blogs. I'm only kidding. I try real hard to obey the law.

I'm going downstairs to watch a movie with my friend Shannon. I'll be back next week. Be good! (or be good at it)

A Little Food for Thought

Well, that was interesting. I sat down here to make my Friday night entry, got two paragraphs written and all the power in the neighborhood went out. I guess I wasn't supposed to publish what I was going to. That's OK, I begin again.

I went to the Columbus Health Department on Wednesday. It's been five years or so since I've had the whole battery of STD tests. Needless to say, it took a little while. Let's just say I'll be fine. I'm no news anchor getting tested for HIV on national television, but the message is just the same. Know your status. I know I'm HIV-, but you never know until the results come back. Do it for yourself.

Dana and I had this discussion once and it came up again tonight with someone else. I thought I would share because, well, I can. Once upon a time, I was in a situation. There was a guy who had a boyfriend, but he would stop at my house on the way home from work. Because this is a family show, you can imagine the rest. Dana suggested that I may have very little self-respect, because who wants to be in a situation where you're the guy on the side? My response to her was that self-respect is by the very description, self-defined, right? While you may think that being the person on the side may belittle you, I may not. I was just talking to someone tonight who is very young. Eighteen to be exact. Let's call him Justin because that's his name. He asked me how many people I had been with. When I gave him the honest answer, he said "Have some respect for your body." My question remains, how does he know I don't respect my body? Does the sheer number of people one has been with determine whether or not he respects himself? I say, Nay! And how can someone else determine whether you respect your own body? Certainly, self-destructive behaviors can be evident, but that's different than self-respect.

As a follow up to last week, Dustin and I are cool. We talked and everything seems to be OK. I was supposed to go to Illinois to meet Chris for his birthday this weekend, but yet again, that has been postponed. (The meeting, not his birthday.) When I do finally meet him, it will be after more than a year of talking, planning, hoping, disappointment, and antici-Pa-tion. (I really hope someone gets that reference.)

Instead, it will be another weekend of overtime for me along with work on Monday. A lot of people I know have to work on Monday, myself included. That begs the question-Has Martin Luther King Day run its course? Hmm. Maybe I can talk about that next week. Or next year.

One Week Down, Fifty-one to Go

Here's a thing about writing weekly. Those things that were once ho-hum will find their way into this journal. I guess that's a good thing.

Let's talk about the good stuff first. Plans are now underway for my Open House on January 27. I'm kinda of getting excited about it. I think it will be very interesting to see who comes. I have already found it intriguing to note who didn't respond with their addresses when I requested those. I think it will be a good time. My mom asked the other day if this would be a big drinking party. My parents want to come down and be supportive, but they don't want to come to a house party. I told them that I would rather have them there than alcohol. Mom said I was sweet, I said I know. The list has been given to Dana, and the invitations will be mailed out soon. I'm really looking forward to having friends and family over to see the new place.

Nothing is ever really "bad," but sometimes I do screw up. Last night, Dustin and I were out and we were having a really good time. I said something to him that crossed a line. A line I wasn't supposed to cross. I do that from time to time with my friends, but it really is never intentional. Dustin kind of looked at me funny when I said what I did, and I asked if he was mad. He said no, but I knew he was not pleased. When I finally realized what I had done, and why it upset him so much, I apologized. That's all you really can do when you screw up. I really felt bad about what I had said, but the damage was done. He took off leaving half a drink. That's how you know Dustin is upset, he never leaves a drink behind. (A moment of levity in a dark paragraph) He said he didn't want to talk about it right then, but anyone who knows me knows that's really a hard thing for me to do. It kind of ruined my day that I had upset a friend like that. I hope I didn't end a friendship because of a thoughtless comment.

It's Friday night! I love the weekend. This weekend I'm going to try to get in to work and do some overtime. Who can't use the money? So, tonight, I'm probably gonna turn on the History channel and pass out on the couch. The History channel makes me have some weird dreams. The other night, I dreamed I was a mechanic for a race car driver. I woke up and it was a commercial for auto mechanic school. Lord knows what I'll be tonight.

New Year's Resolution(s)

It's a new year! I feel obliged to put that because it is, but so far, it feels the same to me. The other thing im obligated to do is make New Year's resolutions. So here goes. There should be goals that are reachable and some you really have to strive, for right? My first resolution is to keep up with this thing. I plan to write once a week. My last entry was in August. The reason for that was that things were just kind of ho-hum. Turn around and it's January. I've definitely had some things happen since August. First and biggest is that I bought my first place. A small two bedroom condo that used to be an apartment. Not a big deal, except that its mine!

The other two goals I have for 2007 is to get my bills in some kind of order-paid down or even off would be nice-and maybe hopefully get back into school.

Two thousand six was really good for me especially in light of 2005. Hopefully, some kind of upward trend will continue.

Blogger.com has seemed to be running really slowly lately, so I tried to start this entry before I went to the store. When I got back it was finally ready for me to type, but now I have frozen food sitting on my living room floor. This counts as an entry I guess, so I'm gonna go put that stuff away. See ya next week! Oh yeah, and Happy New Year!!