A Busy...And FUN Weekend

Oops, I skipped a week. Last week I was going to wait till the weekend was over to write, then I got wrapped up in my weekly routine, which is basically come home from work and sit on the couch. So last weekend was a lot of fun. Friday night I cooked for Dana and Jon. I guess I didn't really cook for them, as much as heated up stuff I got at the grocery store. Either way tho, it was pretty good if I say so myself. We had rolls, salad, steak, baked potatoes, parmasean asparagus, and tirimisu. I tried to create the whole experience with a real tablecloth, candles, and flowers. There were two things I had no control over, that might have made the whole thing just that much better. One was the smoke from the broiler. I had to open the back door and since it was 20 degrees, my guests were a little bit cold. The other was that right in the middle of dinner, Alex decided he needed to use his box. That cat can go for hours without using it, but the minute you have a nice dinner, he starts scratching and smelling up the place. I guess that's the price you pay for dinner at Chez Wolf.

Saturday was the third in the Broadway Series. All Shook Up turned out to be a great show. It was descibed to me as a show of Elvis music, which it was, but it was a cute show too. I figured it would be a guy with a guitar singing Hound Dog. Incidentally, that's a great place for pizza. There goes another tangent. It ended up being a story about what else but love. It was really funny, too. They used the songs in interesting and fun ways. I took my friend Todd to the show. The service at Johnny Rocket's beforehand left something to be desired, but overall, it ended up being a great night.

Sunday was Shannon's first drag show. Syracuse has a LOT of drag pageants in the spring so they decided to do a fun show called Wigfest. They've been doing it for a few years now, and they brought the show on the road to Columbus this year. It was a benefit for Flaggots Ohio, which is a flag corp that is going to Australia sometime next year. I asked the hostess to embarass her and she did a bang up job. I ended up winning the 50/50 raffle. Forty-one dollars isn't bad for buying $5 worth of tickets. We went to Hound Dog's for some of that wonderful pizza after the show.

This weekend is more overtime. The checks are really encouraging me to continue working. It is so nice to have some extra money. My brother will be here for a visit Monday night. That should be fun. We'll see. The next couple of months should be pretty busy, so there will be a lot to write about, I'm sure.

Spotlite on...Tamera

What better time than now to make an entry? Right now we are having sleet, rain, and ice. All of last night and a good part of the day it snowed. Not to worry, tho, after the ice comes more snow. Getting to work tomorrow should be a great time. At least we won't be getting the storm that Denver had at Christmastime. (I hope)

Tamera is a cousin who lives in Denver. Nice segue, huh? I would say that of the four cousins on one side of my family and God knows on the other (19, i think), she is probably the last cousin I would have thought I would be close to. This is why we don't get to make the really big decisions I guess. I think except for the 20 hour drive that seperates us, we have become very close.

It all started in 1985 or 1986, I'm not sure any more. My grandparents took six of their eight grandchildren on a bus trip out west. We were gone for six weeks, drove over 10,000 miles, and visited at least 20 states. If you keep anyone cooped up in a bus for six weeks a spark or two will fly. Ten years later she confessed to me that on more than one occasion, I almost lost my life. She held herself back from smothering me with a pillow while I slept. I, for one, am glad she did. Ed note: If anyone reads this looking for something that might jeopardize Tamera's career, this paragraph should be considered literary license.

Somewhere along this road we call life, we started talking fairly regularly on the phone. If you ask me, I think she realized that I was a textbook case for her abnormal psychology studies. It all works out tho. I get my head shrunk for free and she gets to practice her craft. I would say that about once a month we talk for at least a couple hours. I hope that I have said something that she found valuable, or at least profound, as I have found value in her words.

I admit, deep thoughts scare me, but every now and again she'll say something that makes me really have to stop and think. It's nice to hear sometimes that my thoughts about certain situations really do make sense and my thought processes might be healthier than I thought. One thread that runs thru each Spotlite Series entry is how much each person supports me. The same can be said of Tamera.

Finally, she's getting married in August. In Denver. I am really hoping to be able to get the time off to get out there for that. I've never been to Denver and it would be fantastic to get out there and see her and the rest of the "Colorado family." Check back in September to see if I made it.

Can I Be More Random?

It's been a fairly uneventful week. When one is low on cash, one gets used to the TV schedule. I did receive some assistance from Dana this week, for which I owe her, and in return she bought some wine and we watched a movie Wednesday night. I stumbled home then didn't make it to work the next day. Everyone should have a friend like this. One who loans you money for gas, and in exchange, buys wine for a night of movies and drinks. I'm not seeing the downside here.

I started painting my bathroom last weekend. When I'm done it will look like a giant bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Yum! OK, I didn't start painting my bathroom. Jason did, but I ran out of tape, so the job soon ended. It's been a disaster ever since. I think this is going to be one of those projects that goes on for years and years. It was a great idea at first, though.

I am working overtime at work this weekend, so that will be helpful...someday. You know, it's kind of crazy how living alone can get so messy. My whole house needs to be cleaned, and yet, I just can't seem to get it done. Can't or won't. A discussion for another day. The bedroom is a disaster. The bathroom, as previously mentioned, wont be habitable for some time. It's so easy to cook and throw the pans in the sink. Only when I'm out of plates do I do the dishes. And the living room. Wait, that should be pretty easy to clean up, but I'll save the easiest for last. Don't try to figure out my logic.

Throughout the week I think of important things to write about, but by Friday (or Saturday, in this case) I forget. I'll try to make notes next time an idea comes to mind. I think I'm gonna wrap it up now. Till next week.

That's What I'm Talkin' About

This is one of my favorite pictures I never took. I know the photographer, and since I don't have permission to use it I will take it down if I'm asked. The reason it's on here will be explained later.

I spend a lot of time online. On the surface it appears to be to "hook up," but dig deeper and you will see it really is to meet friends and hang out. I talk to people all the time and say point blank that I am looking for friends, but people either aren't looking for that or don't believe me. Save for a couple anecdotes from this week.

Wednesday night Dana and I went out. A guy who I've talked to online from time to time came over and talked to us for most of the evening. I've talked to him. It's rare that he wrote back to me, but when he came over to talk the other night, we kind of hit it off-well as much as you can in a bar. He explained why he doesn't talk back to me. It's because we are both bottoms, and he's an all or nothing guy. Since I'm not everything he wants, I am nothing to him. It's enough to make me remove that label from my profile. My point is, we had a great conversation for most of the night because that label wasn't hanging over my head. I took Dana home then him, where he asked if I wanted to come up for a little bit.

Tonight, I went out to dinner with Brian. I met him for the first time on New Year's Eve at a party he was throwing. It was a nice time. We went to Don Pablo's then I took him home. Now I'm home. We spent probably two hours talking about all kinds of things tonight. Again, we hit it off.

Both of the above examples are the friend kind of situations I'm talking about. I'm not a prude, but sex isn't what I'm necessarily looking for. In both cases, I would sleep with them, but I didn't go home "unfulfilled" because I didn't. Why can't more people get that hanging out and watching a movie can make a nice evening? Why does it have to be a "hook up" if someone comes over? I know what (or who) would solve this issue, but I'm not ready to reveal it to the world yet. People already think I'm crazy (I am,) but I would be proclaimed certifiable if I explained myself now. Everyone still with me? Confused yet?

A couple of housekeeping items before I go see what the History channel has for me tonight: First, Google seems to have bought Blogger. I think that's cool because while I was completely satisfied with Blogger, there are some neat things happening. One is that I can label my entries. As of today, I have two labels that I'm using-Photo and Spotlite Series. If you see the word Photo and click on it, it will bring up all the entries I have made with a photo. Try it below-it's the small things that excite me.

The last housekeeping item is that I have discovered that I can back date entries. What that means is that while I began keeping this journal in 2004, there are now archives as far back as 1992. I will be scanning some old copies of journals I kept in high school and college and posting them on here. I may be the only one who gets any enjoyment out of reading and posting them, but I think you will see that some major changes have occurred.