One Day At A Time

Anger and grief continue to overwhelm me but
life has to go on.......

I'm trying to keep myself busy in order not to
think!

At work, I'm like a speed demon. I finish one
assignment and quickly look for something else
to do. My co-workers tell me to slow down.....
but if I slow down, I might start to think again.

At home, the dogs are getting more exercise
than ever. Daisy might actually lose a few
pounds. And spring cleaning is being attacked
with a vengence.

Satruday evening I went out with friends.
I usually have four drinks in an entire evening.
That nite, I had four during my first hour.
I decided to excuse myself and go home.
Probably a very safe decision.

I'm planning my trip to New Orleans....... the
one bright spot at the moment. This will be
my birthday celebration on June 18th.
My friend Tim is flying in with me
and another friend Bill will be meeting us
there!

REQUIEM

REST IN PEACE

JR

April 10, 1961 - March 21, 2005

"Goodnite sweet prince,

and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"

*

Hamlet by:

William Shakespeare

Angels

This evening after having returned from the funeral parlor
my 16 year old godson wrote on his computer away message:

"Sleep, then funeral. R.I.P. Dad, My Angel In The Clouds"

A Time To Cry

JR died today.........

The call we all dread arrived in the form of an email. It was from Chris and simply said "call me, URGENT." I saw that Chris was on-line and sent an instant message.
"what's up?" I asked. "Call me" Chris wrote. Meanwhile, I saw another instant message coming in from my godson Jay. I asked Chris if I should respond to Jay's IM first and he said NO, call me.
I called Chris to find out that my big baby, my best friend (Chris's brother and Jay's father) had died earlier this evening as a result of an automobile accident.

JR.....In dying, you are not alone.
A part of me has died with you today.

The First Day of Spring

The weather, as expected in Florida is delightful today;
the azaleas are in full bloom, the gardenias are budding.
I walked the dogs down to the gulf and the boats are
sailing on the water............ This is the perfect time of
year.

Of course, there is a downside at the moment.
It's spring break and the roads are cluttered with
tourists who have no clue where they are going.
From where I live, it usually takes less than ten
minutes to get to the beach. At present, it takes
more than an hour.
It's very easy to tell the tourists from the residents
right now......... the tourists are the ones stopping
for gas; shoeless and wearing bikinis or some
reasonable facimile and sporting very painful
looking sun burns...
It's the "Look at me, I've been to Florida"
syndrome.
We of course, are still wearing sweaters and
slax and waiting for the warm weather. After
all, its only 75 degrees dammit. Get a grip!

Bees, Fleas and other signs of Spring!

Despite the fact that we've had some nasty cold fronts courtesy of our friends from the north, the weather is perfect....... Spring, my favorite time of year in Florida! Along with the warm weather, the dogs have opened individual "FLEA MOTELS! Yep, it seems every time my dogs walk out the door, they have these neon signs on their backs blinking "OPEN FOR BUSINESS"!With each flea bite, the dogs develop small bumps all over their bodies.... making the short hair in the bitten areas stand on end. NOT a pretty sight. PUNK ROCK PUGS! Of course we use Advantage..... the miracle drops. Advantage doesn't give a warning sign to fleas.......so they hit anyway. Hopefully the fleas die which means no fleas in the house.... but it doesnt prevent the initial strike! Then we have bees........ I wait a whole year for my first gardenia plant to blossom...... and the flowers are beautiful. I decide to pick one and oops.........the attack of the bees! I drop the gardenia and head for the house. If I'm gonna get stung, it's not gonna be by a bee, dammit! This just was not my freakin weekend.

St. Pete Pride Art Festival

St. Pete Pride Art Festival
Another exciting day began with a visit to the St. Petersburg Pride Art show, where my friend Vinny Papaleo had just won 2nd prize (a ribbon and $500.00). Congratulations Vinnie! Vinnie had several art works for sale (sketching on metal) and also donated one to the silent auction where minimum bids of $5.00 had already reached a high of $80.00 before I left.
While there, I telephoned my friend Cindy from work to let her know I was at an art show less than 4 blocks from her house. To my surprise, Cindy arrived with her husband and daughter.
After meeting my friends and viewing the art, we stopped by Georgie's Alibi where we had several Bloody Mary's on the patio.
Saying goodbye to Cindy and family, Tim and I stopped by the Pro Shop Pub in downtown Clearwater where we had three more Bloody Mary's. Needless to say..........I was feeling "no pain" on the way home. The pain ... aka ... HEADACHE FROM HELL only started after I hit the bed .... and of course lasted until mid morning Monday! Back to work Monday's are difficult in themselves but trust me, back to work Mondays with a HANGOVER FROM HELL is much worse.

Out and About!

A beautiful day for a wedding!

Saturday afternoon my friend Selena got married to her long time love, Marcus. They are a beautiful interracial couple whose lives, like mine have been spent in social services.
Selena is a Certified Behavior Analyst and is president of an agency that provides behavior services to several of my clients.
The garden reception was held at the home of a friend whose beautiful gardens, sprawling lawns, patio area with heated pool and boat dock overlook the Gulf. The weather was in the mid 70's and the sun was shining with a cool breeze coming off the gulf.
Several of my co-workers were present which made it a pleasure to socialize with them in a non work environment. Best wishes Selena and Marcus!

Wine and entertainment at Cindy's!

After the reception, several friends were invited to my co-case manager Cindy's house for wine, music and conversation. Cindy, her husband John and daughter Gabrielle are
originally from New Orleans and their home is reminiscent of the creole townhouses all over the French Quarter. From the antique 4 poster beds to the walls covered with fine paintings, prints or decorative pieces, Cindy's house looks like a photo tour of homes featured in Southern Living.
Cindy, John and Gabriell love to entertain in the New Orleans style. The wine flows, the cajun food cooked by John is the best I've tasted; by far better than most of the food I've eaten on my many trips to New Orleans and the conversation is interesting and animated. We had a wonderful evening.

Good Morning!

Family Ties

It's unusually cold for this time of year in Florida, it was actually 42 degrees this morning! I woke up at 5 am feeling luxuriously soft hair against my cheek. Thinking what a pleasant feeling it was having someone sleeping next to me, I was of course startled out of my fantasy when a big ole tongue licked my cheek and I realized that it was Daisy, my PUG. Her brother Muggs, who had been quietly sleeping on the other side, quickly got into the act and I had no choice but to get up and start the morning! Oh, and one more thing... in reference to the two pugs sleeping in my bed, we are accepting applications for a human companion!

Thoughts and Reflections

Thoughts and Reflections!
It's a cold Saturday morning here in Florida 55 degrees
but the sun in shining which is a good thing. I don't
miss the Boston "grey days" at all. I love living in
Florida but after 15 years, I still miss the cosmopolitan
essence of Boston and my best friend (who happens to
be straight and married with two kids) Jimmy.
I now live in a relatively quiet city on the beautiful
Gulf of Mexico. I've got two great friends Tim andVinny
but I don't see them as much as I'd like.
There's only one Gay bar, a sports type pub called
The Pro Shop. It's a neighborhood bar with not much
chance of meeting new people.

THE PUGS: I'm totally devoted to my dogs.
Daisy is nine and I've had her since she
was six weeks old. She's got the true pug personality.
Very smart, but stubborn as all hell. She always gets
her way and seems to run the house.
Muggs I adopted from the SPCA after he had been
removed from an abusive home. He is just a
"good ole boy" and very happy to be in a home filled
with unconditional love.

ON BEING GAY: The term bi-sexual makes my
(not much hair left) stand on end.
If you're having sex with men, you're GAY! AMEN.....

ON BEING "GAY OLDER": Most young gay men
today have no respect for age. Many older gay men
suffered extensive verbal and physical abuse in
paving the way for the acceptance you have today.
Respect us for that; as you pave the way for future
generations to have total acceptance......
oh, and as much as you want to deny it (I was there once),
you will someday be GAY OLDER!
I once asked a 20 year old gay man what he considered
gay older to be! He said, "oh, anyone over 35 years old"!

ON INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIPS: "Judge not a man by the color of his skin, but by his character!"

Why, Why, Why

I have no clue.
It's not like I have nothing else to do, or is it?
Actually I've been contemplating doing this
for a long time now, so let's get started!
I've been on AOL for almost five years and
my introduction to the great big world of
computers began in a chat room.

Now I'm getting ahead of myself.
First of all, as you have probably guessed
especially if you know how to spell,
I'm a single male living in the sunshine state
(unless we're having a hurricane) with my two
PUG dogs Daisy, (the love of my life) and
Muggs, (the child of the devil).
My age ..... can we please just say.....
"it's not the age, it's the attitude", but I felt
very comfortable in that first chat room!

I have one sister ... "The Diva",
a brother-in-law ... "The Diva's Husband",
and a nephew ... "The Sheriff" which means,
Uncle Don better BEHAVE!
They all live close by.
Mom and Dad choose to remain frozen ...
so they live in Canada.

Professionally, I've chosen to remain broke
by working in Social Services. I'm a Case Manager
to persons with Developmental Disabilities.

Choosing not to bore you any longer, my next blog
will introduce you to an eclectic mix of somewhat
interesting individuals ..... The Men and Women of
Chat Room my favorite chatroom and local friends;
as well as updates on what is happening in my
"I can't believe this is happening" life!