May 2007

I have officially completed my first semester of college. Today was my last final exam. It was 50 multiple choice and true/false questions in the wonderful topic of Sociology 101. I loved the course but I hated the final since it was the standard exam given to all students regardless of the professor for the course. The questions were worded a little differently than other exams. I felt there was some ambiguity thrown in for good measure so I’m not entirely comfortable with my performance. Hopefully I at least got a “B” on the exam so I didn’t compromise my grade too badly.

Grades come out a week from tomorrow, then it’s off to summer school on the 21st! I hear that’s where the bad boys hang out.

Mother Nature has been gracing us with thunderstorms today and I couldn’t be happier. Tom ducked for cover a couple of times with a few of the louder rumbles. One of the beautiful things about our home is that the breakfast table is surrounded by large windows on three sides. It’s almost as if we have a panoramic view of the storms blowing through. We’re under a severe thunderstorm watch through this evening. I think the National Weather Service is too quick to issue these watches and warnings these days; I feel like they “cry wolf” too often. When I was younger I don’t remember the constant barrage of weather statements, bulletin, watches and warnings. (One that I particularly dislike is a “snow event”. I have no idea what that is.) One thing that I don’t agree on is the activation of the Emergency Alert System with all of these weather watches and warnings. That should be reserved for the really bad stuff like tornadoes and hurricanes when it comes to weather (and other things such as nuclear plant meltdowns too). And now that I’m starting to get slightly ranty about this, I’m going to say that I don’t know what was wrong with the old “Emergency Broadcast System” with that loud two-tone screech that used to make one’s hair stand on end when they heard it. With this relatively new Emergency Alert System we hear modem farts over the radio (in radio we called them duck farts). They just don’t have the same sense of urgency as the old EBS tones from the Cold War Era.

This morning I was up bright and early to drive Earl to the airport. He is spending the next couple of days in Indianapolis on business. I get to hold down the fort for the next couple of days. Perhaps I should focus on studying for my final exam scheduled for Thursday.

You’d think that after 11 years of living with a partner that is an intermittent jetsetter that this sort of thing would be standard operating procedure, but I still feel like I’m punched in the gut when I see him head into the airport. I guess I am just a romantic at heart. I don’t know how couples that deal with this more frequently do it so eloquently.

Feeling a little woozy from our weekend of partying, I decided to stop at Panera before hopping on the Thruway and heading home. I have not been at this Panera before, it’s in the more afluent suburban village of Fayetteville. There are a lot of guys with computers using the wi-fi and drinking bottles of water. This is my first non-Mac experience at Panera, as I am using my newer HP laptop running Ubuntu Linux. Getting connected to the wi-fi network here was a flawless experience. I can’t believe it was easier to accomplish with Linux that it is with Mac OS X! This makes me very happy. I don’t know how these people can run around with Microsoft Windows, it’s just too much work.

Today was “Family Day” in that Earl and I went up to my Dad’s house to spend the afternoon with my dad and stepmom and my sister and her boyfriend. The weather was beautiful so we ate out on the back porch, catching each other up on our current events and reminiscing about the old days. The more wine and beer that was consumed, the livelier the conversation got.

After dinner we headed over to my grandparent’s house, which is across the street from my dad’s house. My grandfather passed a couple of years ago and the house has been sitting empty for the past year or so, on the market, waiting for it’s opportunity to become a home for a new family. I have to admit it’s hard to see your grandparent’s house in that state. It’s weird to walk into the kitchen and not smell something baking in the kitchen.

There are still a few odds and ends left in the house, including the thousands of slides my grandfather took over the past several decades. I have officially inherited all the slides, which I intend on scanning in for digital safekeeping and sharing. Before my grandmother’s death in 1996, my grandparents would travel the country two months out of the year (in February and in September). They usually limited their travels to the U.S. and Canada and embarked on the journey by automobile whenever possible. Talk about the blueprint for Earl and my travel habits! My grandfather was an avid amateur photographer and enjoyed taking slides to share at the holiday gatherings. My grandmother was scrapbooking way before it was en vogue. There are a ton of albums with newspaper clippings which documenting major, minor and mundane events in the little town that I grew up in. In addition, my grandmother also took a bunch of photos, which were all neatly organized in photo albums.

Tonight I snagged a few of the photo albums (temporarily) so that I could scan in the photos. My sister and I were the lucky grandchildren in that we lived next door, and later across the street, from my grandparents. So we are in quite a few photos.

Needless to say, happy tears were flowing before long.

One of the most beautiful things I noticed about the photos is that no matter the circumstance, the timeframe or the location, my grandparents are holding hands when in a ‘posed’ photo together. They were married just shy of 60 years when my grandmother passed on. They always looked happy. And surprisingly, the visited many of the same locations that Earl and I have visited on our adventures. Earl remarked, “So that’s where you get it from.”

Here’s a couple of photos I’ve already scanned in.

The first is from June 1973. My sister and I are playing on the doghouse my father had built for his German Shepherd. This was either from before the dog arrived or after he moved in with the farmer down the street after being asked to leave due to incessant barking.

This photo is from fall 1973. I believe this is from my first day of kindergarten. My mom and my sister joined me while I waited for the bus on the front porch. I really love this picture. My mom has a look of pride in her face that made me tear up when I saw this photo today.

This photo is marked September 1974. I believe this is my first motorcycle ride with my father on his 1969 BSA. I seem to recall that there were minor hysterics because Dad thought I was ready to ride when others that the contrary. I also remember being really excited about riding on the back of the motorcycle.

I thank the Universe for blessing me with such a wonderful childhood.

Earl and I are just getting back from a Saturday night out on the town. We hadn’t been to the one gay bar here in a long while so we thought we’d go out and see what it’s all about.

There’s not much to talk about. The place was dead.

Back through much of the 1990s there was a *fabulous* DJ at “That Place” that was known for keeping the bar moving. The place was always packed on the weekend and the dance floor was populated with half-naked, sweaty people moving around like a big swarm of flesh.

Tonight you could have shot a cannon off in the place and not hit anyone with the ball.

I did notice a few people that I haven’t seen in a decade or so. One in particular is a man named “Chuck” (not his real name). He’s an attractive enough in a preppy accounting sort of way. Like many of us, his hair has thinned out considerably in the past ten years. Lots of men in this position opt to buzz their hair or shave their head completely bald. I find this to be quite attractive.

Unfortunately, he went in another direction. He opted to go the Hair Club for Men route.

Oy.

While I believe that everyone has the right to do what they need to do to feel good about themselves, I must say that I don’t understand the hair piece thing. I just don’t get it. Do people nuzzle their nose into their hair and say “Gee, your synthetic fibers smell terrific?”

I don’t know what these hair enhancements are made of, aside from those spray cans of Rust-Oleum like paint, but even if they’re made of real hair they don’t seem to be doing a satisfactory job of looking like the real deal. Perhaps it’s the glorious technicolor used to make it look “real”.

I say when you’re faced with hair loss just buzz it all off and go naked.