Returning to Old Patterns

I fully admit to neglecting the blog these past few months. Sometimes, I just get into a mental space where I don't think anything that happens or whatever I think would actually be of any interest to anyone. The thinking spirals and so what we all get is white noise of nothing. The new year and some recent events have jolted me back into a mindset where I'll just throw it out there.

First and foremost, hats off to Mom, Dad, Marl and the metropolitan Seattle area for gamely living with the snowfall of 2008. Just like all preciptation in Seattle, there wasn't just one huge blizzard which dumped a bunch of snow. For about two straight weeks, the snow fell for a couple hours at a time. The snow didn't blow around, it just floated from the sky. It was the snows version of drizzling rain. For the five days I was in Seattle, I never saw the sun. Only on the last morning, did the temperature warm up to start melting the snow.

Speaking of melting snow.....the City of Seattle elected NOT to put salt on the roads. Their thinking is that the salt washes into Puget Sound and contaminates the water and causes damage to the flora and fauna of the Sound. No salt on the roads, but sand was laid down and the plows worked to pack the snow down and then layer the surface with sand. It wasn't easy driving around town. I'm going to bet that the residents of Seattle will implore the city to forgo the environmental route next time and demand that the roads be salted and cleared for driving.

Each and every day, my father and I embarked on "EXTRACT GRANDMA AND GRANDPA". They still live independently but their house has a somewhat steep driveway. This in addition to the snow covered residential streets didn't allow us to actually get them out of the house every time we tried. I think our success rate was 75%.

After spending the holidays with Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and Marl, I flew to Atlanta to spend a week with Alyn. A huge shout out to Kevin H., a 2001 graduate of HRS who let us stay in his 24th floor condo in Midtown while he was back here in the Bay Area for the holidays. Midtown is Atlanta's version of San Francisco's Castro. And the Kevin's building has a particularly large portion who play in my sandbox. So for the week, Alyn and I lived like A-List gays. Whenever we left the building, we would always walk out the front doors just to be seen.

My week with Alyn was good. I say that in the sense that we continued to learn about each other, we were comfortable enough to actually let our tempers show. Well, I threw a hissy fit at one point, and Alyn said that he did too. However, I actually don't remember him having some huge emotional moment. Maybe I was just clueless, but I think it's more that he has that Barack Obama type calm. It's a good complement to my being a spaz much of the time.

We did touristy things, such as visit the World of Coke and take the CNN Tour. We walked in Piedmont Park, saw back to back movies and visited an authentic Korean Sauna and Spa out in the suburbs. I never would have imagined that I would have been in Georgia surrounded by many naked Korean families. But we also broached some of those hard conversations that are what really make a relationship grow and see what each other is like when we have to lay it out on the line. I'll just summarize by reporting that our lives are in different places at the moment which means that we're just going to not make any big decisions. I'm just happy that we are able to agree that we're just going to see what happens. Part of me really wants resolution and action, but this is a case where I have to accept that I just can't bull my way to getting what I want. Can you all imagine those words come out of my mouth?

So, in closing, I have one serious thing and one comical thing to reveal. My snoring prevents us from actually sleeping in the same bed for an entire night. One of us ends up on the couch. So, I am now on a mission to try and drop some pounds to see if it might reduce the volume and intensity of my snoring. Yes, I am on a game plan to lose some weight so I can actually wake up in the morning next to Alyn. I find it worthy of a chuckle. Lastly, you'll notice that I'm on a "game plan". Alyn doesn't think I should use the d-word because it just sets me up to feel like a failure and not carry through on my quest. Game plan allows for the fact that there will be times when eat something I shouldn't. It's things like this that allow me to be a better person than I am without him.