eurodancemix

I've not had much luck recently at our local Famous Dave's restaurant.

On Monday, Eric and I went there for lunch. The tri-tip I ordered was served beyond rare...it was completely raw. Ugh. I sent it back and declined anything else...it just turned me off.

Yesterday, we had a coupon for a free meal so we went back to the same restaurant. No, I did not order the same thing as the day before...I ordered a platter of chopped pork w/ some BBQ sauce. As I'm eating the pork, I find a little piece of metal, like a crinkled up steel shaving in the middle of my food.

I reported it to the manager, she apologized and immediately comped my meal. She brought me a new serving of pork (metal-free this time), and she treated me to dessert.

I've been going to that location for a few years now, and I've never had a problem. Hopefully, this was just a fluke.

I'm writing this from work. Just came back from lunch and I don't feel like working.

I remember when I used to come in to work at 6 AM. My life seemed more interesting then, for whatever reason, and I always had something to write about. Plus, I had some peace and quiet that early in the morning before my coworkers got here, so it was nice. I'd be on LJ everyday.

Now, I get in to the office a little bit after 7 AM, some people are already here, and I don't have time to write as I used to. Plus, it seems that I now don't have anything interesting to say anymore. I don't want to bore everyone with my Lady Gaga obsession ("too late!", they all say) so I keep a lot of it for the fan page, and on FB.

Plus, my life has become very formulaic: get up, go to work, return home, cook/watch TV/waste time on the laptop, go to bed. Then it starts all over the next day.

*sigh*

Nothing exciting to report, really.

Mom's feeling much better. The prune juice is working. She told me all the graphic details of the results. *sigh*

Last night, Eric came home around 6:30 PM as he was attending a class in McLean until 5 PM.

We watched the news, the gossip shows, then two hours of America's Got Talent. I enjoy that show...it's more serious than the Gong Show (I'm sure I'm dating myself with that reference) but it still has moments of insanity and ridiculousness. It's fun entertainment.

And that's it. Btw, 5:30 AM came too soon.

Well, this weekend was Pride Weekend here in the DC area. Everyone gets so excited about it, and I just don't get it.

For starters, it always seems to be on the hottest, most humid weekend of the year so far. I realize the organizers have no way of knowing how the weather will be, and I'm not blaming them, but that's how it always seems to turn out. This weekend, the heat index was almost 100...no thanks, I'll stay home where it's cool and comfy.

Second, I'm not one for crowds. They irritate me. When I was younger, no problem...I could easily go into the most tightly-packed club or bar (hello, Midnight Sun in SF!), but not anymore. Now, I find them testing my patience at every turn, and it's unpleasant.

Third, and probably most importnat for me, I don't get the concept of Pride. Maybe I'm too hung up on the word, but I don't see how my sexual orientation has anything to do with "pride". I don't think most heterosexuals are necessarily proud of their orientation. It's just something that is. And that's how I think it should be for us. At least, that's how it is for me.

I'm not sure if changing it from "pride" to "celebration", for example, would do it for me. I've been out to friends since I was 16, and I've been out to my parents since I was 21...so, for me, being gay is just a part of me. It's not all of me, and I don't see it as an accomplishment which needs to result in a feeling of pride.

I guess I celebrate Pride everyday just by being me. My partner and I live very average, boring lives: stress-filled jobs, dog walks, grocery shopping, household chores, paying bills, going out to dinner with friends, etc. I think seeing two men in a relationship, dealing with everyday problems and chores, makes more of an impact on society than a Pride festical or parade.

Plus, and I know it's a small contingent, but I really don't want to be equated with half-naked pierced folks in leather walking around and being displayed on floats. I have nothing against sex or kink, or any other way that adults express themselves in the bedroom or in porn films, but if we're really looking to celebrate pride and societal freedom, then there has to be a better way than buttless chaps...because you just *know* that THAT is what the evening news is going to broadcast. Let's face it, there's still a large percentage of the hetero viewing audience out there that needs to be educated on this subject, and I'd rather they not learn it from what looks like the local sex club attendees.

My 2 cents' worth.

Wow, can't believe it's been so long since I've updated. Here's what's been happening:

-- Went to Las Vegas last weekend (05/29) with Eric's dad. We met up with Eric and his mom who had been gotten there three days earlier. The main purpose of the trip was to look for an investment/retirement home for us. Eric wants to retire in Vegas because, with the exception of some nights throughout the year, it's not cold. He despises the cold. I'm OK with it. But I'm also OK with the heat, as long as it's not humid, which Vegas isn't as a rule. His dad and i returned on Wednesday, 06/02, and I picked up Eric and his mom on Saturday night, 06/05.

-- The trip was somewhat successful...no contract signed, but Eric thinks he found a nice house in a new development at a terrific price. We'll most likely have to go back.

-- As far as gambling goes, my luck was bad. I'll leave it at that.

-- But while we were there, we did go to the Pinball Hall Of Fame (sadly, no "Hyperball", my all-time favorite game). And then we ventured into the ultimate in tacky: the Liberace Museum. The guy was definitely the Lady Gaga of his time: super-talented, outrageous costumes, a kind heart.

-- My mom's health as been both good and bad. She's been felling much better overall, and has gone out a few times since the weather has warmed up. The assisted living home has a beautiful garden with swings, and Mom likes to go sit in those for a couple of hours each day and just enjoy the outdoors. She chit-chats with friends, but mostly she enjoys being out of the house. However, last week, she told me that she'd been having some serious g.i. issues (lots of pain, unable to go to the bathroom), and it stressed her out. When Mom gets stressed like that, for some reason, she stumbles on her words and becomes unable to process sentences. She becomes nonsensical. So, I ended up calling the nurse who told me that Mom had told them just the day before that she hadn't gone to the bathroom in over a week! Fortunately, the nurse discovered that Mom was barely drinking any water, or even liquids in general other than her couple cups of coffee and her afternoon fruit juice. So, she asked Mom to increase her water, which Mom did (8 glasses a day). And voila, within 24 hours, things were back to normal: regularity had returned, and the pain was gone. *sigh*...Mom was a nurse all her life, you'd think she'd remember stuff like this. Oh well, that's why we pay extra to have someone monitor her. I'm glad she's better.

-- Yesterday, I participated in the 2010 Weight Watchers 5K Walk-It Challenge. Nothing had been organized at my Saturday meeting, so I did it on my own. I put on my walking shoes, had the iPod loaded with Lady Gaga and 80's italo tracks, and started walking. The day before, I'd plotted a 5K course through my neighborhood. Took me about 50 minutes to walk that distance. When I was done, I was soaking wet (it was HUMID!) but I felt great. I'd never done anything like that before, so I was pleased with my accomplishment.

-- Spent the weekend relaxing at home. It was nice.

Last night, after he came back from his meeting, Eric went to the bedroom to undress. Suddenly, he called out to me, "Did Aspen pee on the carpet? It's wet!"

So I went in, and felt the carpet at the spot where he indicated. Sure enough, it was wet. Very wet. Too wet, in fact, for it to be just dog pee. So I started feeling the rest of the carpet around the area and, sure enough, it also was wet. Very wet. I smelled the liquid on my fingers: not pee, not sewer (thank God!), but it was definitely dirty water. From what I could tell, the carpet in the corner of our bedroom was completely soaked. As I started to remove some furniture and other items from there, something told me to check the walk-in closet. *sigh*...the carpet was wet there, too. As Eric was finishing the bedroom, I began emptying the walk-in closet.

By then, we figured that something had happened at our neighbors', or a pipe had broken between the walls. So I went next door to ask. It turns out that someone in the household had left a faucet running and it flooded their place. Their living room carpet was soaked. Our neighbor who answered the door didn't know much more than I did...she'd just gotten home herself when she found this out. The household has adult occupants of varying degrees of physical and mental capabilities: the grandmother is wheelchair-bound but is sharp as a tack, there's a sister who's very nice but seems flighty, and then there's the brother who seems mentally-challenged. There was no sense in getting overly upset, as I'm sure she wasn't too thrilled about having to deal with a whole new set of problems either.

After we'd moved everything out of the affected areas, Eric began calling his insurance and our property management company for guidance. Of course, we'd get everything done through our neighbor's insurance, but we wanted to know what steps to take. We were both in a bit of a panic, and we wanted to make sure we'd thought of everything.

Turns out our neighbor uses a no-name homeowner's insurance company. They're not 24/7, and she couldn't get ahold of them last night. Argh! So we had to wait until this morning. In the meantime, a cleanup company told us that as long as things are addressed within 24 hours, things can be salvaged and there's no need to rush, as long as all the water is off.

At 12:45 AM, we went to bed and fell quickly asleep, we were exhausted. We slept in the second bedroom.

This morning, Eric stayed home and will be dealing with the issue. He leaves tomorrow morning. Hopefully, everything will be done and repaired by Friday since I'm supposed to leave on Saturday.

Fun.

Last night, Eric and I went to Cafe 611 here in Frederick to hang out with folks from our local GLBT group. Our friends Stuart and Dave were there, and it was fun to meet up with them as well as see a few familiar (and some newer) faces.

We didn't stay long (a little over an hour), then we headed out to Griff's for dinner. We'd never been there, but decided to go despite having been told that the food is just OK (we had a restaurant.com certificate). It turned out to be delicious. We each ordered a scallops dish and they were terrific! We're definitely going back.

Going out for a completely different evening was a nice break in our routine. Downtown Frederick is quiet on Wednesday, and it was nice to be there without all the throngs of folks that we're used to on First Saturdays and during other celebrations.

After dinner, we went home, walked the dog and relaxed for about an hour before going to bed.

Life is sweet.

A week has gone by since my last update. So much for my promise to keep things updated on a more frequent basis. In any case, I'm here now, so let's do this.

-- The week at work was hellish! It started rough on Monday and kept on going. I was so happy to leave on Friday afternoon, I even left 15 minutes early. The ride home was very smooth and stress-free, and the weather was beautiful, so it made for a great start to the weekend.

-- And when I called Mom during the drive home, she was in terrific spirits. She'd just gotten her hair done at the in-house salon, and I can always tell she feels like a million bucks after that. Despite being 84, Mom looks years younger and she has a full thick head of hair, so I can understand why she enjoys that Friday afternoon pampering. Healthwise, she continues to feel better: her lungs sounded clearer and she wasn't coughing as much, though her voice was hoarse and cracking, making her sound a bit like Kim Carnes, hehe. That seems to be the norm for her after a very bad respiratory infection, so I was actually pleased to hear it.

-- Once I got home, I walked the dog and rushed out to Panera Bread to meet our friend Stuart for dinner. Had a Greek salad and it was delicious. We chatted but didn't stay long. I was back home by 6:45 PM and quickly took care of the laundry and the household chores.

-- On Saturday, I was supposed to head out to Baltimore for Tim and Mark's housewarming party. Of course, as timing would have it, I started having some major stomach turmoil that afternoon, and it just got worse. I cancelled my plans and stayed home, wearing out a path between the couch and the bathroom. Ugh. I spent the evening with The Golden Girls and stayed up to watch Betty White on Saturday Night Live. She was hilarious! It was truly the funniest and best episode they'd had in a long time, and the writers outdid themselves. I'm rating it a 10, despite the fact that Jay-Z was the musical guest. :-P

-- On Sunday, I ran a few early morning errands, then went to brunch with Stuart at Moxie's. We chatted for about an hour and a half before heading home. I spent the rest of my day resting and I took Aspen for a nice long walk. It was actually cold and windy, and she enjoyed herself.

-- Eric and his parents were docked in San Juan, PR, for the day, so I got a chance to speak with him a couple of times. It was very nice hearing his voice. They were enjoying themselves and they're off to the islands later today.

And that's it! Time to get some work done...thanks for reading.