UrbanSkies

Hey Sister, Can You Spare A...

Google's GMail

To fulfill the requirements of his Technology Badge in H³ (Homos Helping Homos), The Wonderful Chase generously gave me an account to Google's GMail (the 'G' is for 'Gay'). Since it's still in beta testing, these accounts are by invitation only, and so it's very geeky and posh. Now, I belong. I'm part of the club. I am superior to others who have crappy hotmail and yahoo accounts. HAHAHA Suddenly, I am thrust to the upper echelons of geekdom with a technically elite email account.

Thank you Chase! Hope you enjoyed the lavish lunch, you lovable, wonderful, beautiful geek boy.

Bartlet For America

Last night, Chase and I went to the LBJ Library for a screening of two episodes of The West Wing, both directed by UT alum Thomas Schlamme. The two episodes were "Take This Sabbath Day" and "Two Cathedrals", both wonderful works that are grippingly emotional. Afterwards, there was a Q&A with Mr. Schlamme that was one step this side of a Star Trek Convention. Of course, each questioner lavished much praise on the director and the show. Some questions were well thought out..."where do you find inspiration for each episode?"..."how do you balance the creative side with the business side of directing a show?". But others were just dumb. "Can I give you my script?" was sort of shocking to hear. Perhaps it shouldn't have been. "Will you and Aaron Sorkin run for president?" was even worse and I thought embarassing for dropping the level of discourse to such a sophomoric level.

Beforehand, a reception with free wine and appetizers was held in the 8th floor atrium of the LBJ Library. The chicken tasted delicious (!!!) but no plates were available, making it difficult to hold chicken bones and a drink while eating the chicken, and looking fab at the same time. It's not possible people. Before the complimentary 'tizers, we toured the rest of the 8th floor, including the Lady Bird Johnson exhibits and the Oval Office replica. Then down to the 2nd floor for viewing a touring Smithsonian exhibit, "The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden".

Chase and I may play The West Wing drinking game Friday, since Governor Goodhair closed all state government agencies on Friday for President Reagan's memorial.

Only 4 more days until I depart on my "Journey To Normal".

Weekend Wrapup

Friday night, Ernest, Alex (Ernest's boytoy), Chase and I BBQ'd chicken and rice and then ate out on the lake next to Chase's apartment. It was really delightful, except for the teenage boys walking by and coughing "fag" under their breathes after they passed by. It always takes such balls to insult someone under your breathe as you're walking away.

This weekend was Pride Weekend here is the capital of the Lone Star State. Saturday night, Chase, Ernest and I went to watch the Big Gay Parade. From our perch on 4th Street, we gawked at the floats (and the bois on them). The guy I'm flirting with (whom I will refer to as C) was dressed in a wedding gown on one float. He looked FABULOUS! I wish Chase has time to take out his camera and take a picture, but the float went by so quickly that the logistics didn't work. Grrrr. After the parade, we went to Halycon Coffee House, had raspberry and banana smoothies (You're out of STRAWBERRY!?!?!?) and Ernest watched as Chase and I challenged each other to the centuries-old strategy game known as chess. I haven't played chess in so long, I forgot many of my strategies and lost miserably. Then time for home and an early bedtime.

Sunday, I spontaneously called my sister for lunch. I met her, Brian (her boyfriend), and Brian (his gay roommate) for lunch. As I pulled in to the parking space at Katy's apartment, C called me, such a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, I could only talk for a few minutes, but I'm so glad he called. I really thought he wouldn't. So that was really happy. Lunch was nice, but the service was lacking and it took an hour to get our food. Fortunately, I had nice company to spend the hour with. After lunch, it was back to Austin, where Chase and I headed to The Pride Festival at Fiesta Gardens on Town Lake. I only saw one person I know, that being C, and he worked one of the boothes. We chatted shortly, then he had to tear down his booth and drive off the van they used for HIV testing. Then is was back home for my sunday wine drinking, and Queer as Folk at 9.

Coming up: two interviews this week, including one presentation. Also, I'm preparing for my Journey To Normal, as I'm heading out Sunday morning. Oh so busy. Hopefully, I don't forget anything.

Wacky Update Time

Yes, it's been a while since I updated this site, but not from a lack of topics. It's more from a lack of motivation, I suppose. Or lack of time. I've been incredibly busy lately, preparing for the BOA trip, aptly titled "My Journey to Normal", and checking various items off my To-Do List. But before I go through the last several weeks, let me rant about two items:

1. What?!? I mean, WHAT?!?!! Can't we just move the City of Austin to California or Oregon or Massachusetts? Texas, it really is a whole other country.

2. In this CNN article about James Pavitt's resignation from the CIA, House Speaker Dennis Hastert praises outgoing CIA Director George Tenet:

House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Tenet "always did his best to defend this nation against terrorists and those states that support them."

"Mr. Tenet had a monumental task to rebuild human intelligence-gathering capabilities devastated by eight years of liberal Clinton administration policies," said Hastert, R-Illinois.

Eight years of liberal (oooh, the dirty word) Clinton administration polices??? First of all, Clinton appointed Tenet as Director of the CIA. Second, Clinton appointed him on July 11, 1997, six whole months after being sworn in for his second term. Doing the math in my head, I calculate that Tenet split his 7-year term almost equally between Clinton and Bush. I guess Tenet could have cleaned up after 4 1/2 years of devastating liberal Clinton policies, but then that wouldn't give Hastert a chance to blame a Democrat (who's no longer in office) for all of life's problems, while taking credit and not offering any solutions. So Denny Boy, don't let little things like facts get in the way of your character assassinations, you insolent little toad.

OK, off the soapbox...

I got a nice email from one of the veteran OPRA (Operations and Residential) volunteers at the BOA camp today. He seems really nice, and it was comforting to read his offer of help and support both before and during the Symposium. I'm really looking forward to experiencing the Symposium and hopefully it will motivate me to push myself further in music.

While on band topics, HUGE congratulations to O.D. for being named Head Band Director at Pflugerville High School. He's been incredibly successful in developing their winterguard in to one of the best in the state, and no doubt, he'll produce the same excellent results for the entire band program. I can't wait to see and hear this band over the next several years.

Memorial Day weekend was spent holed up in my apartment cleaning and organizing. For the last decade (literally!), I've been meaning to organize the bags and boxes of bills, receipts, warranties, and student loan documents into lovely files for easy access. And now, they are! Interspersed with the German-like Organize-Fest, I gave the apartment a thorough cleaning, and now, it no longer smells dusty when I enter the front door. Hurray! It is a huge relief to come home to a clean apartment. Now, I need to apply the same X-TREME CLEANING! (copyright 2004) to my office cubicle.

Also, during the Memorial Day weekend, Anant hosted a gathering at his apartment. Chase and I went together. It was pleasant seeing friends I haven't seen in a long while. One interesting note was that all the gay guys sat on one side of the apartment, dressed in pants and button-down shirts, while all of Anant's straight co-workers were on the other side of the room, dressed in shorts and polo shirts. No intermingling occurred between the two groups, which us Kinsey 6's found humorous. I think all had a good time, especially Anant ;-) , but what made the evening particularly noteworthy was that I got a guy's number.

(Pause here so you can re-read that momentous last sentence)

Yes, I got a guy's number, and I didn't even have to ask. He adamently demanded that I give him my number and he gave me his. Being intoxicated at the time, I started writing the Preamble of the Constitution on the sheet intended for my digits. I ran out of room, because well, it's difficult to fit the Preamble on a post-it while drunk. So I wrote the first 7 words, and then wrote my number. We played phone tag for a couple of days, produced a couple of lengthier phone conversations after that, and then yesterday, he invited me over to his place to hang out for the evening. We watched "Chasing Papi" and "Finding Nemo", both funny films that I had not viewed before. He is fun to hang out with, and I really am interested in him, but not sure that the feeling is reciprocated. It's ok, though. I thought that maybe I was mentally ready to attempt dating, but not sure if I am now. I still have a long list of issues to work through, and believe me, I spent enough time thinking about them after I left his place. We'll probably at least be friends, but not sure if there will be anything beyond that. Which is unfortunate, because he's a fantastic guy, and we seem to share a lot of common ideas and values. Or maybe I'm being Negative Nancy, as Chase so cheerfully named me today. Ideally, it will bloom into something more. For now, I'm just taking it one step at a time.

Oh, it's almost five, which means time to leave work for some X-TREME RELAXATION! (copyright 2004) at Chase's apartment. Have a great weekend, everyone.