The Shit (Eating Grin) Hits the Fan

I knew it couldn't last. In one week, my spirits go from high to low. I went on and on about this cute boy, the great date we had, and how great I felt about it. Well today I feel... well... like shit. I hadn't talked to him in the last few days. In fact, I'd tried calling him one day but he didn't answer. No big deal. I figured he was busy, or didn't have his phone with him, or what have you. Besides, it's not like I was talking to him every day. I wasn't. It was only one date. No expectations or anything. This morning one of my friends sends an Email out to a group of us, inviting us to his place for drinks before we hit the bars. I respond and say I'll be there. The boy was on the list, so I figured I'd see him tonight. I called him and got him on the phone. He said he was getting ready to go to the auditions for solos for the Chorus show, which I was getting ready to do as well. I told him I'd see him there. Cut to the auditions. He shows up, we talk a bit and decide to carpool to our friend's house. He'd stop by to pick me up. 7:30 rolls around. No call from him. 8:00 - nothing. 8:15 - I call him, figuring maybe he took a nap and overslept. I leave a message on his voice mail. 8:30 - I get a call from him. I hear laughter and music in the background. He forgot about me. Yep, that's right, plain forgot about me. Never mind that it was now an hour past when we were supposed to arrive. Never mind that we only talked about it less than 3 hours earlier. Never mind that he said he'd call me before he picked me up. He just plain forgot about me. Now I can handle taking things slow. I can handle dating someone who's not ready to commit to anything and just casually dating. I want the same thing right now. I don't want to jump into anything serious or make any huge plans with someone that I've only been on one date with. All I want is honesty. I demand it. I want someone to think about me once in a while and at least say "hey." And if you aren't interested, or have someone else on your mind, tell me. Don't drag me along and lead me on. Don't make me think that something is what it really isn't, and have me find out the hard way that I was wrong, all along. By just plain forgetting about me, and not even thinking about me until (as I found out later) he had been at the party for nearly an hour; when my friends kept saying "Hmm, I wonder where Rick is... he's usually late but this is unusual" to give him a CLUE that something was amiss, only to have him NOT GET THE CLUE; by having him call me and say how sorry he was, and then to say "I'd come and get you, but I'd never find parking again..." That, folks, is just plain rude and just plain hurtful. Whereas one week ago I felt like I was on top of the world, and I might just have a chance with dating again, not even to mention romance, in one short, fleeting moment, I felt like the dirt on the bottom of someone's shoe. It hurt. Now you may think I'm a fool, or you may think I was incredibly brave, but instead of deciding to stay at home and mope, I went to that party. I called a goddamn cab and went. I wasn't going to let this little twit ruin my night. But it was hard. And I just couldn't look him in the eye. If he didn't get the clue that I was disappointed with him, then he wasn't worth dating in the first place. I also got the feeling that he had come with another guy from the Chorus, but I couldn't be 100% certain. They seemed to be overly chatty, as if they had maybe also been on a date or gotten to know each other fairly well as of late. Under normal circumstances, I may not have read into that as such, but considering what happened this evening, I couldn't help but notice it. So my guards were up, I was not feeling festive, and I was not having a good time. We hung around my friend's place for a while and then headed to the bar. It was packed, and I was not in the mood for a crowd. And to add insult to injury, during one of my "love laps," I saw the last guy I dated, who I really did NOT want to see tonight. I left. I had had enough. And now, here I am. I've been through a lot of bullshit in my life. I have dated some great guys and some real assholes. Nothing ever seems to work out for me. I am sick and tired of getting my hopes up, only to have them squashed to tiny little bits. My heart cannot take any more of these games. I don't want to go through the rest of my life being bitter and jaded by my life experiences, but the way things are going, I am headed in the direction. I don't want to go there. I want to figure out how I can change the course of my destiny and find the happiness that I KNOW I DESERVE. How long will it take? I don't know. But I am tired of shedding tears and mending my broken heart. Something has to give.

Bursting the Bubble and Other Tricks

Well I went to the doctor today. Got a ton of fun prescriptions to take for the next couple weeks. Whee!!! My head still feels like a balloon, but I'm hoping that in no time the pressure will finally deflate and I'll be my old airheaded self again. :) Not much new to report, really. This weekend promises to be quiet, uneventful and easygoing. Let's hope that continues to be so. Cat-Astrophe Are any of you readers out there also cat owners? I need some advice. I was sitting on my sofa yesterday, when I noticed... a pungent odor. That's right. My cats, or one of them, I am not sure, have been using my sofa as a litterbox. I ripped apart the cushions and cleaned them the best I could, but I don't know if I'll ever get that smell out of them. I'm so pissed off (pardon the pun) I can't stand it. What should I do? Should I bring the cushions in to a dry cleaner? Is there something I can use to clean the sofa? And how can I get them to NOT DO THAT AGAIN? (Aside from getting rid of them, which I will not do. Yet.) In the meantime I'm going to stop at the store and get as many odor killing agents that I can get my hands on and continue fumigating the place. Thanks a lot, guys.

I'm still here

I feel like I haven't posted much this week. I'm still here. It's just been absolutely insane at work, and when I get home I have a million things to do there as well. I hardly have time to write, much less read blogs. Plus I've been sick. I go to the doctor tomorrow to hopefully pop this bubble between my ears. It's driving me nuts. In exciting news, I am going to New York the weekend of November 19 to see my friend Ellizzette... I'm hoping to also meet Aaron of 1000 Words and More and other bloggers out there. It'll be my first trip to NYC in almost 10 years. Not much new with the Chorus Boy. But we chat or Email daily. So that's cool. Just wanted to check in and say hi. Back to the grind.

Dilemmas

OK so I'm still reeling from the weekend I had. It was pretty fucking awesome. No doubt, one of the best in a long time. It was capped off by the Chorus's performance at Jubliate!, an event for Bonaventure House, a similar organization to Chicago House, except that it's not necessarily gay-centric. And this event was not exactly gay-centric either. It was actually started years ago by opera singers and members of the Chicago Symphony. So the fact that the Chorus, who performed last night alongside such names as Joffrey Ballet (for only the second time in the last 3 years... no big deal, really...) and the Lyric Opera, was asked to participate in this event is a BIG FRIGGIN' DEAL. Plus we performed at the new Harris Theatre for Music and Dance in Millennium Park. Again I say, no big deal. The performance went spendidly, aside from a little glitch that lay in the fact that we hadn't ever performed there before, so we weren't really used to the space. For real, no big deal. It was incredible.

- - - -

Today I felt like a baloon was inflating inside my head. And as I sit here and type this out, the fucking thing still hasn't popped. Damn it all to hell. It sucks. I feel like I'm underwater and all sounds are echoing oddly against the surfaces around me. I hate this. And my DVD player is still shot. I even went onto Sony's website to chat with a service person, who told me to try a few commercially prepared DVD's (I tried seven), then to make sure to clean the discs (yeah, they're already clean) then turn off the player for 5 minutes (I had it unplugged overnight) and then to try blowing forced air into the opening (didn't have that, sorry), so now I might have to haul it to an authorized service center and pay a gazillion dollars to have someone tell me that it's shot. Oh goody. I can't wait for that to happen. I'm so glad it made it past the 1 3/4 year mark before it decided to crap out on me. I just wish I could find the damn Best Buy warranty I spent good money on. I still can't find the damn thing. So maybe I didn't buy it. Fool.

- - - -

The Cute Chorus Boy (CCB) sent me the absolute sweetest Email last night. I had tried to call him when we were done with our performance (he wasn't there... Cute New Chorus Boy... means he didn't know the music, ya know.) but got his voicemail. So I left a nice "hey there, the show went great, give me a call or drop me a line and oh by the way I had a great time last night" message. Well his email response back was just "AWWW" inducing. He is just the sweetest guy. But here is where the dilemma of today's post resides. See, one of my very good friends has liked CCB for a long time. In fact, they went to college together, but never really knew each other. My friend liked CCB "from afar" and never knew he was gay. Well suddenly here he shows up at Chorus, and my friend was all in convulsions because this hot guy he had a crush on in college was gay and is now sitting right next to him at Chorus rehearsals. Yeah, I'd be all giddy and heart-pumpy too. (which I was, regardless of the college connection, but anyway...) so my friend starts talking to him and brings CCB into the fold and we all meet him and befriend him. But my friend still has a major crush on him. He mentions it. Often. I love my friend dearly. I don't want him to hate me. But I like CCB. And even though we're going to take things at a snail's pace more or less, which could end up going nowhere in the end, dammit, there's a hint of something there and I'm not going to sit idly by and let it slip away. So how do I manage this situation? And please don't tell me to "tell my friend to get over it, CCB is MINE" because I'm not evil like that. Well, not yet at least. I'm a good boy, I am. OK, time to put the dilemmas to bed for the night. But your help is most welcomed. Love to you all. :)

More Shit? Look At That Grin...

So I frantically ran up the stairs to my apartment, bags of groceries in tow. I also had a tuxedo. That's for something I'll talk about later. Let's focus first on the story at hand, shall we? It was 7:00. I had an hour. The place was still, to my eye, atrocious. I dumped the groceries in the kitchen and the tux in the closet and immediately went apeshit with the cleaning. I tell you, when I am on a mission, I AM ON A MISSION. Floors were swept, furniture and rugs vaccuumed, bathroom sink, floor AND toilet wiped down and scrubbed, kitty furballs picked up left and right. (He does have an allergy to cats. I asked him if he'd be ok and he insisted he would. I got as much as I could.) I was a madman. In no time flat, the place looked almost immaculate. The wonderful thing about my place at night is that with just the right lighting you can't see all the sins. Of course, I have some wonderful places to tuck away the big ones. Lots of closets, drawers and such. Yeah, it's cheating, but so what. To the naked eye it's clean. Only I know what resides in drawer #1. Just don't open it. I had just finished sweeping up the last bits of dust and garbage and thrown them onto my back porch when the doorbell rang. The place was ready and so was I. Thank goodness. He was as adorable and as charming as ever. A smile that just lights up the room. And he was here to see... me. Me! Wow. How did I rate? Gave him the grande tour and headed to... the kitchen. (Get your minds out of the gutter.) Salmon awaited. We had oven broasted salmon in lemon and olive oil with fresh garlic and basil, red rosemary garlic potatoes and green beens with butter. Nothing terribly fancy, but I make it damn well. And it was damn good. He brought salad makings and I tossed some balsamic and olive oil on them with a little red tomato and a touch of spices. Opened a bottle of wine (white with the fish, chilled) and some mood music and candles and voila... a lovely romantic evening. We were going to finish with a movie on the DVD player but when I went to put one in... the player wasn't working! I tried a few movies and nothing was reading in the player. He didn't care though. He said he had wonderful evening, and of course, so did I. We talked about so many things... but basically we both agreed that there was interest on each of our parts, but given his situation (just out of a relationship) and the fact that he was just making new friends with all these new guys in the chorus, we agreed that it was best to remain friends and let the chips fall where they may. However, he did come in for more than one lingering hug... and just before he left, and one more hug and smooch goodnight (no lingering kisses... first date here folks. Gotta keep it on the level. I'm a newly old-fashioned boy. (-: ) he said he especially adored my ... ahem.. paunchiness. Score! And that's how the evening ended. Totally sweet, totally innocent, great conversation, great food, and those sparkling blue eyes in the candlelight ... oh my heart could just melt. If nothing else comes of it, it was worth it just to spend those few hours with him and enjoy the time. And if anything, I've just made another really wonderful new friend in my life. Nothing wrong with that.

See This Shit-Eating Grin?

I've already had the most incredible weekend. It started last night. One of my friends sent out an Email earlier in the week to a group of us, inviting us out for dinner on Friday at Joy's an inexpensive but extremely popular Thai restaurant in Boystown. Of course, everyone agreed that it was a fantastic idea. Cut to Friday. There's at least 18 of us there. Seriously. It was incredible. We took up 1/2 the restaurant. Everyone was relaxed, laughing, talking, and having a wonderful time. Most of the group were from the Chorus, and had been friends for a long time. Some brought spouses or dates. But one person in particular was a new face. Yep, the Cute New Chorus Boy. Now I gotta tell you. I really, really think he's cute. And charming. And adorable. And sweet. But at no time have I ever wanted to make any overly forward advances, because; A: He just got out of a two-year relationship; B: As mature as he is, he is almost 10 years my junior; C: He is a newbie to the Chorus (typically it is bad form to "pounce" upon new members so quickly. If they "pounce" on you, though, it's fine. But I digress.); and D. He is having a wonderful time meeting new people and making new friends, and I wouldn't want to jeopardize that. So, that being said, harmless flirtation is just fine. And there was plenty of that all night long, between him and me and most everyone else who was a part of the evening's festivities. We headed to Sidetrack after dinner, where the flirtations continued. Now I'm not saying there was anything scandalous, but you know, a cuddly hug here, a backrub there, a "let me buy you a drink" there... everything was all in good fun. So at one point I was giving Cute New Chorus Boy a backrub... and I have to admit, I was putting some extra effort into it. No meager shoulder rubbing here. This was some good knot-kneading, put-some-elbow-in-it-action. He was loving it. Of course, so was I. At one point he whispered into my ear "I'm going home with you so you can do that do me some more." To say I bit my tongue would be highly unneccessary, but true nonetheless. He had had a few drinks, so we stayed a little later to sober him up a bit before he went home. All around us there was plenty of fun stuff going on. This one was making out with a few boys, that one was cruising the bar for a boy to take home, and the other one was talking to everyone else. It was fun. But in the end, we all went our separate ways and called it a night. This morning, I got an E-mail AND a call from Cute Chorus Boy. CCB: "What are you doing today?" Me: "No plans, what's on your agenda?" CCB: "Oh..." he had this errand and that errand to run... Me: "Cool... how about later?" I replied. CCB: "No plans, preferably something low-key." Me: "Low-key sounds great to me." The wheels began to turn in my mind... CCB: "Cool. Let's think upon that, and I'll call you when my errands are done." Me: "Great, talk to you then..." Needless to say, I was intrigued. I wasn't quite sure how the night would end, but I knew it would possibly involve him, me, and nobody else. That was a thought I kinda liked. I began cleaning my apartment. Oh it needed it, don't get me wrong. But you know, you have to anticipate things. Should they occur. If they do. I had a few errands to run of my own, and he called while I was out. "Hey what's going on?" I asked. CCB: "Well I just got home, and am going to lay down for a short nap. How about I call you when I wake up?" Me: "Sounds good," I said, and continued about my errands. Which now included buying groceries. Fresh salmon, baby red potatos, salad... already had some wine... hmm... what else... He called just as I got home. CCB: "Hey, I just woke up!" Me: "Cool, what are you doing now?" CCB: "Oh I'm about to make a hot dog for dinner." Me: "A HOT DOG!?" I retorted, "Well, you'll be missing a fabulous dinner then." CCB: "Really? What are you going to have?" Me: "Oh I just bought a huge fillet of salmon and some other things..." CCB: "OOOH that sounds wonderful!" After a pause... CCB: "Are you inviting me over for dinner?" Me: "You're so perceptive!" CCB: "Well screw the hot dog then! What time should I be there?" Me: "How about 8?" (Cue the shit-eating grin. More later. :-D )

Lost in Translation

So Wednesday night I got home at about 7:30. I stayed just long enough to have the free dinner at work. They had Italian Beef and Italian Sausage... yum! And I mean it, too. Being Italian, I am typically really picky about my Italian-type meals, but the catering service at work really does them well. It was worth the wait. Anyway, I got home at 7:30 and turned on the TV for the debates. I switched to ABC and caught the tail end of that new show "Lost." Omigod I'm hooked! First of all, Matthew Fox is one. Hubba bubba. I never particularly cared for him on Party of Five, but here, he's got a sexy, close-cropped hairdo and is lookin' GOOD. Especially when he's all dirty and sweaty and shirtless and... Um anyway. The debates. I think they went well. (See my comment followup to the previous post.) But today everyone is talking about the flap about Kerry mentioning Cheney's daughter in his response to the Gay Marriage question. Here's my thoughts. 1. Bush, of course, sounded like the ignorant Republican conservative nitwit that he is when he said "I just don't know." Of course you don't know. You don't know anything. Why bother opening your monkey-mouth, Chimp Boy? 2. Kerry's answer was eloquent and compassionate. He mentioned Mary Cheney, yes. But in the context of the answer, it made perfect sense, and only proved how incredibly inept the Bushwhacker is about his own VP's family and the state of the world today. 3. Lynne Cheney's response to Kerry's answer is absolutely ridiculous. Why, all of a sudden, was Kerry insensitive to their family or using this for political gain? It's not like he outed her on national TV. HELLO, WE ALL KNOW SHE'S A FRIGGIN' LESBIAN! We've known it for 4 years now. In fact, Cheney and Edwards talked about it during their debate. Spin, Spin SPIN. Everyone is trying to spin things out of control and if it wasn't so ridiculously OBVIOUS, it'd be laughable. Actually, it is laughable, but in that shake-your-head-and-stare-at-the-ground sort of way. I can't wait for this election to be over with. The stress is getting to me.

Swamped!

I'm absolutely swamped at work lately... Seems I hardly have time to read blogs, let alone think of a clever post. Anyone watching the debates tonight? I've seen the two previous ones, I am hoping to see this one. Kerry's gaining ground. Let's see if he can clobber the Bushman once and for all. OK back to the grind.... Grrrrrrrr......

He's hot and all.. but....

Really... did they use Liquid Paper on those teeth? Bill Rancic, The Apprentice, in his new Lincoln Park townhome

Growing older

Thanks to Aaron and Hot Toddy (Happy Birthday, Toddy! I fixed the link, too. Sorry!) for the inspiration for this post... As I have mentioned here before, my family has been working to start the process of moving my parents out of their home. This is the same house that I was born in (well, I was born in a hospital, but I came home to this house. Technicalities. Geez.) and grew up in. The bedroom I had as a child is the same one I sleep in whenever I come to visit. The house has changed a lot over the years, but it's still the same house. On the same block. In the same neighborhood. It's the sad truth that people grow older. The things they love to do every day will get harder and harder for them, and eventually may become impossible. It's a sobering prospect, especially when they had so much activity in their lives before. My father loved gardening. He grew rose bushes. We had hundreds of them in the backyard. It was his hobby and, for a long time, his passion. He and my mom belonged to the American Rose Society and would enter their roses in rose shows. I have memories of many a summer where they would pack my sister and I into the station wagon, along with the best specimens from the yard in cooler cases, and we would travel to a suburban shopping mall, where we would spend the day shopping while mom and dad prepared their roses for judging. Sometimes we'd win trophies or plaques, other times not, but my father really enjoyed doing it, and he put a lot of energy into it. Every year he would buy new rose bushes or bud-graft new plants onto budding stock. He even showed me how to do this, and I would bud my own roses. He kept charts and lists and diagrams of every rose bed in the backyard. He would prune and fertilize, water and spray the roses every week. Cut vases of roses filled the house all summer long. The fragrance of over 200 rose bushes in the backyard was absolutely wonderful, and I will never forget it. The roses are gone now. My dad is too sick to grow them anymore. We opened up the yard a couple years ago and people dug out what they wanted and took them to their own gardens. There's nothing but empty beds where the roses once grew. The backyard, like my father, is a shadow of its former self. My mom used to be a nurse at the hospital I was born at. She loved her job, because she worked with babies in the maternity ward. I remember many a time when we would stop by to visit her and she would let us peek in the nursery window to see the little tiny babies sleeping. When we were older, we'd visit her and see her at work, feeding and burping these little tiny beings. But mom got sick, too, and developed emphysema after years of suffering from athsma (and years of smoking before I was born) in addition to myriad other health issues. She had to retire early. Thankfully, she still lives her life as much as she can, but she can never regain those days. The hospital is gone now, too. Replaced by a newer facility. Time marches on really quickly. As we are getting the house ready (which could take a couple of years), mom is finding all kinds of stuff hidden in corners and such. And the pictures... lord the pictures... tons of them, in various conditions or states of disrepair. Mom gave me a few pictures of her as a child that had been tattered and torn and nearly ruined. Being that I am pretty handy with Photoshop, she asked me to try and retouch and repair these photos. Well needless to say, she was quite surprised... and so was I... by the results. I never realized I could do this stuff so well. Mom as a Baby This was the first one. Lots of creases and folds.. and the border was shot. I'm amazed at how clear the result is. Isn't she just adorable? I think this was in her grandma's backyard. Mom and her Cousins This one was much harder. For some reason, my mom cut herself out of the picture (see lower left.) Mom did this to a lot of pictures of herself over the years. She never liked having her picture taken. In this picture, it's probably because she had a brace on her left leg because she suffered from Legg Perthes disease as a child. At any rate, mom found both parts of the picture and wanted me to see what I could do with it. It was HARD, let me tell you. But I am really happy with the turnout. This is especially poignant because of the three cousins, all sisters, the one my mom was closest to, Jeanne, directly to my mom's left, passed away a few years ago. So it was a very special project. Memories are incredibly rich, and we are wealthy as long as we treasure them. -Me. ---------------------------------------- A Super Man No sooner than I had clicked "Publish" on the above post, I learned that Christopher Reeve had died. Truly, the man was a superhero in every sense of the word. His advocacy for spnial cord and stem cell research, which I wholly support, was brave and strong, even when he physically wasn't. He proved to me that no man, no matter how broken or embattled, could ever be stopped by physical means. His legacy will live on, I hope, for many years. Having parents that could be helped by stem cell research, I certainly hope that his words and his advocacy never die in vain. He certainly hasn't.

Buy this album. NOW!

Queen Latifah. The Dana Owens Album. Buy It. NOW. You will be HAPPY that you did. My Amazon.com review: Queen Latifah. Dana Owens. Whatever you want to call her, the woman is a gift. She is elegance, she is grace, she is class. And now with "The Dana Owens Album" she has proved it once again, this time to the music world. The Queen has entered the building, and she ain't never gonna be leavin'. Ya hear? Her sass is still there, on the upbeat tracks such as "Baby Get Lost" and "The Same Love That Made Me Laugh" and "Mercy Mercy Mercy." She won't let you forget that she IS still the Queen. Don't be fooled. But we also get the exquisite treat of her more sensitive and mature side, on "Close Your Eyes", "I Put A Spell on You," "California Dreamin'" and of course the absolutely perfect "Lush Life," from "Living Out Loud," which was the first time I realized that this lady, while already immensely talented, was much more multi-talented than anyone initially thought. How wonderful that her career has blossomed so well since this initial outing. There are not enough superlatives and not enough exclamations in the dictionary to represent how I feel after listening to this album over and over again. I will never tire of it, and I will never tire of her magical voice. I can't wait to see what she does next. If Queen Dana Latifah Owens has reinvented herself before--and she has--she just might do it again, and I will be anxiously awaiting the next move. Will she rap again? Possibly, but as a non-rap fan, I am hoping that she continues along this path and continues to grace us with that velvety smooth voice for years to come.

I feel witty, Oh so witty...

I should title this, "I FELT witty... oh so witty..." because I had a great post all written out and ready to go, full of witty and humorous observations about things going on in my life and in the world today, ideas that would have changed the course of humankind as we know it, thoughts that would have maybe won me the Nobel prize.... But wouldjabelieveit, my Internet Explorer crashed and I lost the WHOLE DAMN THING! WHYYY!!! WHHHHYYYYYY!!!!! (in my best Nancy Kerrigan voice) I do, however, remember using this phrase, and it fits quite eloquently right now: Grr! Gah! Feh! So to summarize as best I can, without anything to go back on, and with hours having passed since I actually wrote the damn thing, here is basically what I had to say for today. And no, I don't expect any prizes for my grand observations, either. So I was sitting at home yesterday because I was sick. I woke up feeling yucky and my head was all full of something other than brain fluid, so I knew it just wasn't going to be a good day to work. I popped some cold and flu medication, laid down and slept for 6 hours. Ahhhh.

When I finally awoke, I didn't feel like doing much except check Email and maybe blog a little.

Suddenly this Email pops up. It's from Tuna Girl. She wanted my 'snail mail' address, along with a few others. She's going on a cruise and wanted to send us all postcards. Either that or pictures of naked, or nearly-naked, men. Well sweetie, have fun, and please do both! :-) This set off a rapid-fire exchange between bloggers, including Aaron, Jeffrey, Pua, Patrick and a host of others that got me laughing out loud. Really. Out loud. So then I decided to watch a movie. But I was still feeling really lethargic. Until I remembered that my new computer has a kickass DVD player on it. Oh goody! And I just got a bunch of DVD's from just-recently-joined Columbia House DVD Club. Oh double goody! So I kept my lazy ass in the chair and popped in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" So I'm hopped up on cold meds, my head felt like a balloon, and I was watching this trippy movie from the 70s about Oompah Loompahs and Veruca Salt and Snozzberries. I felt great. The day ended pretty uneventfully. I played a little Sim City 4 Rush Hour (which is SO AWESOME on the new puter I can't stand it) and hit the sack. Aren't you glad I shared all that with you? Are you still out there? Oh good. Pablo, get this reader a cup of coffee. There you go, that'll wake you up. This weekend, I am heading to Kenosha to set up my mom's computer (which is my old one. Yes, all the porn is gone. Whaddya think I am, nuts?) and then heading back to Chicago for the Chicago House black tie event that my friend Jeremy organized. I'm going as a volunteer, which means that I don't have to pay, but I do have to work. For a little bit. And eat. A lot. And drink when I'm done working. Not a bad gig if you ask me. And I'm carpooling with that cute new chorus boy. He said I was "adorable" in an E-mail today. Um.... yeah, that's kinda cool. :) Have a fun weekend everyone!