Midway through June

Well Summer is almost here, we are stuck in the monsoon season here in Edmonton. I went to Calgary at the start of the month and get soaked there and on the way back, I took bike. It has been raining on and off for two weeks. 

Today I came to the city in the car. Both of y motorized vehicles are having issues. Thursday I went to start the car at lunch time and click, nothing. The instrument panel was blank. Finally after work it started, it appears the remote car starter, which hasn't worked in 5 years is screwing up. A safety bolt under hood is malfunctioning, and acting like a Kill Switch. I am going to put some teflon oil on it, to make sure it stays down, when the hood is down. 

The rain looked like it eased up on Friday, so I rode the bike to work. Went out at lunch time to start it and clunk. Screwed around with it for awhile. it didn't start. After work tried to bump start it, start running with the bike and let clutch go. Nothing. 

I pushed the bike out to the street, I was going to have it towed home so I could plug in the charger. The tow truck didn't come. I had to go back later and push the bike back into the work parking lot. It still wouldn't start. I didn't want to leave it on the street as the street would have no vehicles parked on it, and the bike would be kind of a shock to a person texting and driving. I was also nervous about someone coming along and taking it....as a 'found' bike. 

This morning I called the auto service again, this time they had a truck. I decided to have it towed to the repair shop. The guy at the shop thought it could be started from a boost, we tried, nothing. They are going to check the starter. I priced out one before I left, $541 + labour. Oh joy. 

I am headed to Toronto next Friday for 10 days. Robert (Thelma) used to work for Air Canada, so I got cheap tickets. Toronto Pride occurs while we are there. We are staying for the parade on the 30th. Normally I am not a fan of parades, but this one is huge. 

Edmonton Pride was kind of quiet for me, I asked some people what was up and no one was doing anything. There was a road hockey tournament in Vegreville, so I volunteered at it. A relatively quiet weekend. This one too, I watch some movies at home last night. The ride to the city plans were kind of nixed. 

Oh, I forgot, did the ride for Dad last weekend. It is a charity bike ride for cancer, prostate cancer to be specific. There were over 1000 bikes registered, I think there were about 500 bandits. We completely took over small towns we stopped in, Andrew and Mundare. At Mundare I met the ex-mayor, he was talking up the town. I belong to a bike group that does tours and they were heading to Andrew in August. He said to call them. I don't think our 20 bikes will do much for the economy. But I guess it is better than no bikes. 

The people I was riding with knew the Mayor of Mundare, he actively asked for the route to go through his town next year. The town's main street was lined with bikes on both sides, for the whole length of the town. Free food at Stawnichy's helped. This is the town with the phallic looking sausage in it. 

After the ride I sped back to Vegreville, from Edmonton, to attend a social event for the ball hockey tournament. 

My opinion on Snowden kind of echoes John Cusak's. Snowden is the guy that revealed a whole pile of NSA secrets, even though he worked for a company with Booz in the title. This is one of those security companies that got big after the US involvement in Iraq. I guess they walked into the Cheney Money Tunnel and got a pile of startup cash. 

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3441237?utm_hp_ref=tw

Some people think Snowden is a traitor. I guess you could look at it that way if he didn't break a law (The Partriot Act- PA) which violated the 4th Amendment, the right to go about your business without government spying on you. But no one has taken the PA to the Supremies yet to get a decision on it, so with out that decision, the PA is the Law of the land and therefore Snowden is a traitor. He is a smarter 'traitor' than Bradley Manning though, he got out of town after leaking all the data. Bradley went to Guantanamo, where Snowden probably would have gone. 

I wondered why he piked Hong Kong to come out in, a smarter move would have been Ecuador or Iceland. It's not like he didn't have the cash. And he wasn't on any no-fly list or he wouldn't have made it to Hong Kong. Now he is kind of stuck there, well I guess he could go to mainland China. 

He has gone underground after leaving the hotel he stayed at. 

The bigger issue is what he revealed. Secret Courts, secret charges, investigating anyone, US or not. The PA is meant to be to track aliens. Jon Stewart sarcastically reported that 51% of the people whose data was mined were alien's - thats a 49% error rate; meaning that 49% of the mined data belonged to US citizens or Green Card holders. I think even weathermen have a better error rate. 

So we are smugly sitting here in Canada thinking it can't happen here. Well it can and probably is. I remember George Carlin talking about wire tapping in the 70's. He knew he was being monitored so he'd answer the phone with "Fuck Hoover." 

I watched a show on Canadian comedian David Steinberg, he was active in the 60's, hung out with the Smothers Brothers and some other people. It appears he was a real rebel. In fact Jon Stewart can thank David Steinberg for breaking the way for his type of humour. We probably don't hear much about him as governments know the best way to bury something is not talk about it. He wasn't silenced though 'Curb Your Enthusiasm was one of his latest projects. 

TV really sucks at this time of year (as does this app - it doesn't paginate, so I am typing blind). I had to add Bravo to get one show. I am waiting for the CRTC's menu system to kick in, the one where you can pay for the channels you want, not all the other ones. 

I watched Angels of Sex, a Spanish movie with subtitles. Spanish people talk a lot faster than French people, the words just fly by on the screen. The spanish name of the movie is El Sexto de Los Angeles.  This was a great movie, it managed to cover a pile of social issues effectively. First off, the youth in Spain have a very high unemployment rate, something like 50%. So they showed them squatting in houses where the owners had gone away - to where ever - for long periods of time. 

Bruno and Rai are the two main male characters, Bruno has a girlfriend he lives with (in her parents house) named Carla. Her parents do not like him. Something happens to him and he meets Rai who winds up looking after him on a night when Carla's parents are in town. Rai is a pretty good looking guy, and it is obvious that he is interested in Bruno. There I set it up, watch it. It was damned good. 

We are losing our Director at work, she is headed someplace away. That's ok with me, she and I have not seen eye to eye. I think the new guy will be better, I have met him before. 

Well, I'm off, maybe try to write some fiction. Or maybe I will head to the Mall. My son works at Target in it, but not today. Target just opened up in Canada. 

Almost the end of May !

May made up for the crappy weather in March and April. It did rain on Friday and Saturday, but that was ok - we needed it!. 

May is a month of change for me. My son was born on the 4th. That was a big change. I ran the Vancouver Marathon and herniated a disc in my back. I quit smoking 9 years ago on the 17th and my marriage ended in May. Last year, I hit the deer going home of the Monday night of the long weekend. It is just one of those months.

Well the weather was good, so I got in a lot of riding. The car goes parked for days on end. I was on call for the long weekend, a subliminal way to avoid deer? It was actually a busy weekend, a call everyday - well during the 24 hour period. Three of the calls came at 2:00 am. I was on the last call, which was the worst one. A Dodge pickup travelling really fast, over 170kph on the highway hit a PT Cruiser from behind, it was going about 120kph - the speed limit is 110kph. The impact drove the rear of the car down. About a hundred meters later the windows all broke. The pickup crossed the median first and drove over the West bound lane, then some railroad tracks and then implanted itself in  the ground. The car continued going East, then it drove across the median and came to a stop on the shoulder of the Westbound lane. 

They were lucky there were no cars coming the other way. When the call came in it was reported as two separate Motor Vehicle Accidents (MVA). That is because the truck was 1 kilometre from the car. 

There were 5 persons involved and some alcohol. 4 people survived the MVA. The 5th person was in the back of the PT Cruiser and he was airlifted to a hospital in Edmonton. He later died. 

The accident scene was huge and the road was closed off. There was a lot of talk from people at work who were inconvenienced the next day. They wanted to know what happened - all the who, what, when, where, why & hows. One person thought it was rude she wasn't personally informed about it. They have learned not to ask me, I am not a rubbernecker and the Fire Department has a privacy policy (the accident description which I provided is available in the media. I think the scope of the MVA is kind of glossed over. 

Well I have been hanging out with Nick, Ryan and Robert (Thelma). They all wanted to do something on the long weekend, Vegreville did not figure into it - lol. 

This weekend they are all busy. I took Friday afternoon off and went into Edmonton. I went to see Fast & Furious 6. It was a good movie. Normally when there are 6 instalments they get lame, this is not the case with #6. The cars and the action are great. The plane scene goes on a bit long though, what runway in the World is THAT long. 

Saturday I stayed in, it was pouring. Today I had an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) Safety Course which started at 09:00 am. I decided to rest up for it. I like motorbiking, on roads. The Fire Department got a new ATV for fighting bush fires and in order to drive it you had to have a certificate. 

Bikes and ATV have somethings in common, but they don't ride the same way. It was an intensive course, classroom was an hour and 6 hours of riding. I will be a sore puppy tomorrow. We covered everything, it will probably be a long time before I get to ride/drive one again. But it was fun. 

The course ended early and we were waiting around for lunch, one of the guys arranged it. Well he said he did. We were sitting around for an hour waiting for food, the Arranger had bailed. Finally we got a text that the person who was bring the food had to work 4 more hours, could someone go get food. 

That person texted back that the order was never placed. We bailed. The Sun was out and I took off to Edmonton. 

Next weekend I am off to Calgary, which should be fun. 

Well the Sun is still up, back out riding!

Spring has arrived

Been awhile, this blog will be all over the place. First off, I'll try adding a video of a great experience. I rode into the city today, it is supposed to go to 29C, it didn't look warm outside, but it was. 

I took the long way to the city, past the obscene sausage in Mundare. The road was quiet, really quiet, that is until I went to turn left to the park. then there were about 10 cars in a row. That kind of day, eh.

I tried to find the place when I took pictures last week, I couldn't. I think a lot of water evaporated. So no pics of the beaver, from this week. I'll post the one from last week. I caught him by fluke, I took the pic and he was in it, I saw him later when I wasn't looking through camera viewfinder. 

I stopped and took some pictures of the trees, the leaves are new, a kind of light green. I took some with my travelling companion, the bike. While riding South I saw a car parked on the left side of the road and people all over the road. I also saw bison scampering, although my bike is not loud, it is louder than a car. They all scampered down to the side of the road. 

the road was not that wide, and they were almost on it. I took a wildland course through the fire department. We dealt with animals, bison are not the stablest animals in the forest. They change direction really fast, they can start and stop fast and they like to charge things. 

So i am standing there assessing whether I am going to go or not. I decided to go, bison maybe fast but I have 1400cc's between my legs. I started bike, hit record on my iPhone which was mounted on the handlebars and went. I went slow, then sped up when passing the first group. Then there was a guy standing there all by himself. I slowed down and waited for him to blink then I cranked it.

To quote Macklemore 'That was fucking awesome!"

When I go to city I went to Tim Horton's on Whyte to share it with some people, the only ones there were people that never venture outside city. 

So the ride today was good, I got to think about some things. Riding a bike normally allows for that to happen. Riding in the Park is like a power boost. 

So last week Ryan, a friend asked if I was heading into town. We had been having a thing over a year, inconsistent Thing, but he wanted to meet up. Last week we did and he texted me on Wednesday and asked if I would be around on  Friday. We did hook up, but I think this is not going anywhere, all he wants to do is hook up; not date. 

Saturday I was home and cleaned up some more, went to gym and did laundry. I went for a ride in the country with my co-worked Brian. That was fun. 

While riding Nick, the artist guy texted me. He had sold his moped, which he had been trying to do for awhile. We spent a couple of hours texting back and forth, when I wasn't riding. 

Nick is a lot younger than me, but he is into older guys. I am not sure where I stand with him, I feel like a creep hitting on him, due to the age difference. But truth be told, there is hardly any available guys in my age range. Ryan is close, he is available, but he is not looking to settle down. 

Nick is way more mature, despite his age. So we are texting back and forth. Sometimes innuendo and sometimes not. I think I went too far with the last text, who knows. 

This is something that i have noticed for years about men, especially gay men. I am not sure if it is a mood or whatever, but walking on eggshells is the best description. I had a room mate, really just a room mate. He was a neat freak. Anyway he was Welsh, sarcasm is the nature of the beast. The last time we spoke he said something rude and I joked 'Fuck off' and he did. He chose to take that as the out he wanted. How do you deal with that? Straight guys are a lot better than that....but they have their moods too. I think women deserve a medal for putting up with theirs. 

Anyway, I read some articles and there was one that I found very interesting. Closeted gay men tend to  out perform straight guys. Not saying that this is always the case, but because they are closeted and do not know how to meet a guy, they tend to devote themselves t their jobs or their interests. I had heard this before, but some guy actually did a paper on it. He had these guys volunteer to be interviewed, respecting their anonymity. It struck a chord with me as I have always been pretty good in what ever line of work I am doing. Anyway, it is something to think about. 

I was thinking about this on the bike, what do they do when the closet game doesn't work anymore. They get to forty or so and are still single. People start to wonder. You'd think these guys would change, come out of their shell. But they don't, their internalized fear prevents them. I am sure that these guys are your neighbours with the perfect lawn, hyper polished car and so on. They go away to a place for holidays and screw their brains out, then come back home to resume the facade. I have met some of these guys, usually when I am travelling :). 

Busy week at the Fire Department - farmers lighting fires to burn their trash. The wind blowing strongly did not appear to be an issue to them. That is until the fires spread. 

I remember one call in, you could hear the terror in the guy's voice as he said the fire was coming towards his house. The fact we were 20 minutes away was probably also a factor. We got it out and the house was saved. 

Going back out to play....or ride around anyway. Here are some pics. The video is at:

http://youtu.be/nxqK1mMP9Og

Dicey

Well things were good, Spring finally showed up and I have been riding the bike more. I have also been writing, fiction. Things are good, eh?

Well my life is like a teeter-toter, when the non-work life is good, wok goes to shit. I really don't like superficial people, ones that try to be your friends and then use anything they learn, against you. She is my boss and manages to bounce it back to being my fault, every time I am denied something or worse, when something goes wrong. I am thinking enough. I mean really enough, and people I speak to manage to get it to be my fault.

As I told my boss, no one can be 100% wrong all the time. Especially when none of this stuff shows up on an evaluation of any kind. The union said to start bringing a shop steward with me all the time. To tell the truth I am not that kind of person, but maybe I have been too nice.

Without too much detail, after fighting through a learning plan, one I didn't want to do, as it is an exercise in wasting time. The employer asks you to list courses to help with your career and advancement and then proceeds to find reasons why they can't do it, for a year. Then do it again. So she talks me into putting an assignment on there. Telling me if it is not there, I won't get to go. So after the meeting I send an email to a person I work with. I get a response which basically says they will ask to have me there.

The boss just about flips a lid. I am not holding any hope of going. But I want an answer in writing, I have not been very diligent on that. In this paperless society, make sure you GET IT IN WRITING.

In the service club I belong to we managed to start a project, an outdoor rink. This will be around $200k but it is a big project and valuable for the community. I seconded, it. LOL My name will go down in Minutes history.

Dating life is status quo, I basically am not. No prospects and an prospect of that ever changing. Family life, well, same as dating. People like to have a goal.....I have none.

At least I can create. These are pictures from today, I rode bike into city for a camera club meeting.

The storm that wasn't

So since Wednesday everyone has been talking about the weather for the weekend. We are supposed to get 20cms of snow. This was why I went to get bike on Thursday.

Anyway, I drove into town for Nick's art show. He is graduating from College and the class had to put on a show. With the snowfall warning I decided to get a room. I went on Expedia and it looked like a lot of people had the same idea. I found a room at a hotel downtown: SCORE! I can park car and get blitzed.

I went to the room and had a shower, after I got a haircut. After shower I made my way out to the school. I looked around the school and saw some art. It was laid out kind of funny. The signage made no sense. Who knew there were classes on a Saturday....well now I know! They wanted me to ballroom dance. The cowboy boots'd scuff the floor.

I found Nick on the lower level with his Mom, his brother(s?) and a pile of cousins. A guy would know they were related, it was like a Nick convention. they all took off pretty fast after I showed up :).

We walked around and he showed me some of his art. I didn't see any rules on pictures, so I took some. At 4 o'clock there was some performance art. A friend of Nick had a bed set up and she was inviting people into it to have martini's and talk. The skit was hilarious, Nick was supposed to go up but the performer broke her glass and it cut her ankle. There was blood everywhere, I told one of her friends to elevate the foot, to slow down the bleeding. The school nurse was looking after her, said it was non-arterial. My job was done :).

After the performance which was cut short, Nick and I went down to where his bigger pieces were hanging. A guy had actually asked about buying the big picture. That's the one of him in black underwear on the bed. It is based on a David Beckham ad.

Nick and his gang of sisters were going to a bash afterwards. I took off and went to Woodys. I played with the camera and Batman.

Attached are pictures of the art and Nick. Batman too.

Oh, the guy bought the picture!

Spring can start now

First off get the bitching out of the way, two things. 1) BMO screwed up and 2) This weather really sucks.

BMO first, this is the cool name for Bank of Montreal. I have a credit card with them, it expired 31MAR2013. Around the 14th of February a company asked me for the new credit card number expiry date. I contacted BMO, they told me they send it out 6 weeks before expiry, the lady, from India was kind of cold about it, but she assured me I would have it soon. About the Ides of March (15th) I called as I did not get the card. I learned lady from India was full of shit.

They said they would send out a car on the 18th (they always send them out on Mondays). It takes 7-10 business days. About the 21st I got a letter which told me all about the conditions on my card. There was no card, I bent the envelope and all the stuff, no card. I called BMO, a lady who was probably holding it together with Midol told me to take a pill, it takes 7 - 10 business days!

So on the 3rd of April I called after the mail had come, this was the 10th business day. I was told by Natalie to be patient.She was doing the listening but not hearing thing. I heard no clicks on her computer. Anyway, her ambivalence made me made, maybe its her Employee of the Month Asset. When she did her math she could only get to 8. She was counting only March, not the first 2 days of April.

Two days later I decided I'd go to the branch and fill out another application. I was going to fill out an application a day until I got a card. This would cause unnecessary work in the Centre of the Known Universe (COTKU). The Concierge at the Bank convinced me not to. One thing, a person would think that a bank called the Bank of Montreal would be based in ....Montreal. You'd be wrong, it is based in COTKU. Just like the Bank of Nova Scotia or Scotiabank. Anyway Concierge called one of her contacts, she was assured it was sent. She told me to check in and let her know when it arrived. So from April 4 to April 10 I checked in. Nothing. She called back on the 10th and had them cancel the card they previously sent and had one sent by courier to the branch. It came today, the 12th.

I got it, it was in the same envelope that I received on the 21st, with the same documents, the one I bent back and forth to see if there was a card in it. I guess the iGate people forgot to put glue on the card to stick to the 'Here is your new card' letter. Now I really want to call Natalie back and call her a c###. I have a credit card now :), my iDevices are all up to date.

2) It is the 12th of April and the weather really sucks. Snow tomorrow, Edmonton has a snowfall warning!

So I got all of the shite out of the way. The money was there, the weather was there, I decided the 11th was the day to get the bike from the shop. God's Great Banana Skin wasn't going to let me off easy. The guy who offered to go into the city with me and drive my car back got 'The Cold From Hell'. When I called him at around 9 on Thursday he said he couldn't do it. I looked around the office, no one was there to get me to my bike.

Greyhound! I looked online and a bus went into town at 11:45. I took the rest of the day off, went home got dressed in bike clothes. Got on bus (which was almost an hour late) and headed to the city. On the bus I called Edmonton Transit to find out the bus to take to Alberta Cycle.

Got the bike after standing around for an hour, sweating. My ex knowns I am not a happy camper when I am sweating hot. People try to get me to go to Texas in 110F time....I laugh and say NO FUCKING WAY! So I got on the bike.

The first ride of the season is not entirely pleasant. Your body sort of remembers things, but you are rusty. To add to this, the car drivers aren't looking for small objects, they have been in control since November and they do not want to give it up. Poor mountain bikers learn that the cagers (car people) don't like the share the road idea.

The other problem is all the sand and gravel on the road. Turning corners with any speed gives you a little butt clenching 'viiiiit' - That's the sound, like a high pressure fart. You say it to another bike and they are there, they know exactly what you mean. The clench, heart rate soars, adrenaline kicks in to lessen the pain and then you get passed the skid with no damage. Whew!

I had a few of those on the way to Whyte Avenue. But for the most part the cars were good; they didn't try to run me off the road.

I made it back to Vegreville on the highway, sometimes I'd go fast, but I was happy to be riding. The wind was blowing from the West, so it was at my back. I didn't freeze and when I got home I actually had a heat rash, from standing around in the bike store.

Today I rode the bike to work, then rode around after work. I went to Toby's for a beer. Tomorrow I have to be in town for Nick's Art Show.

30 days later

Whoa, that was a long break. There was a lot happening and a lot not happening. I'll digest some stuff first.

Bike is fixed, I paid off the deductible on the insurance claim, then switch companies. Have not picked it up yet as Winter decided to come back. Next weekend is the projection.

I quit the Fire Department, for a couple of reasons, there are only so many nice bike riding weekends in Alberta. They also happen to coincide with the FD's busy time of year. They have gone to mandatory oncall. I'd have to commit to 6 of the weekends, there are about 12-16 good weekends. Then courses and other stuff....like rain. Second, I am not into the crew competitions. So I write up my email to quit send it to the Chief.

I got some great cases at work, made me more well known. There was lots of overtime too. So I fixed up some stuff on the bike.

I got a massive cold, which laid me out for three days in bed.

I rejoined the Fire Department after the Chief talked with me.

Well thats about it for the stuff happening. Well not all of it. I have some stuff to discuss about why were need Right Wing people, Left Wing People and us centrists. That was the motivation to write this blog. I was formulating it and working it out. But then something else happened. I'll concentrate on that as it has had more impact on me personally.

My only interactions with people for the last couple of months has been at work, on Facebook, Words with Friends (sorry guys in games, but I have had a busy weekend), and Kinsmen. There have been zero fire calls.

So Friday, I was off, I slept in and was in no hurry to go anywhere. I got up at 11:00 am, and then decided to tackle some house rearranging. I did this for 3 hours and then decided I better get out of the house. It was Sunny and over zero. I planned ahead, this time. I stopped planning ahead as it was a lot of stuff to carry for naught. This time I brought all the chargers, change of clothes and shoes.

I headed West and got to the Park, managed to see a bison on the road. I stopped and took pictures. Behind me the next guy in a pickup decided to taunt the guy. I don't think that he took into account that bison are basically insane and don't get the nuances of taunting. The bison may have put a dent in his truck.

I entered the Park from the South and exited in Lamont. It gets boring taking the same way into town all the time. West of Lamont I decided to head in a route that would take me past Thelma's place. When I was close, I texted him. He answered, he was home.

I pulled up outside his house and conversed with him, he didn't realize I was outside. Finally I just went in. He was busy filling up an ipod for a road trip (I remembered doing this for New Orleans trip). This is important. He said to stay around and we'd head into the city. I took some pictures, he has artwork worth more than my bike, and then some. I took some pictures with the fisheye.

We headed into city and ate at Original Joe's (the same place as date from Hell). I told Thelma there was not BLT's on the menu. He didn't have his glasses with him, so I had to read him stuff. But at least I know that is a skill he has.

Got cruised by a cop. And yes he was, the guy he was with, another cop had his class of t-shirt on. Thelma started to joke, thinking this was going to be another disaster night.

We went to Woody's and had some beers. It was only around 8, I had decided I was going to see how things went. Robert and I spoke, he was discussing his route to Albuquerque and then he wanted to know if he should change his snow tires to all-seaon. I told him to do it as the roads would be clear and hot in the South. He finally decided he would do it.

Around 9:30 a guy I knew showed up. He was wearing an Armani sweater which was kind of neat. It showed off his muscles and abs etc. He also had a on a pair of jeans which kind of pushed everything out front. After he said hi to some people he came and sat with us. Ryan was married like I was, he has a son. He is now divorced and spends a lot of time fixing cars. When he is not fixing cars he does a lot of sex related stuff. This guy is pretty uninhibited.

The last time I saw Ryan he was talking about doing porn, going to join a studio. That was about 6 months ago. I figured it was guys talking. Now he has made one - if a person were to look, they could find it on the web. Some friends of mine showed me the site....no I wasn't in it!

Ryan was figetity, I'd say it was coke related or some other drug, but he is not a druggie. I think his sex quota for the week wasn't met. He kept saying he couldn't stay out, but he kept looking at me like he wanted to go and fool around. I didn't take the bait. I had sort of accepted the fact we would not be a We and I wasn't looking for a that. But he stuck around, my knee got lucky with his, remember the jeans description.

I went to the can, Ryan had made me feel good. On the way back I got outside the door and there was Nick. This is Nick from last year. We met at a Bear Bash, we hung out for a couple of weeks, but that was just it. Anyway, Nick and I spoke outside the can for about 5 minutes. Ryan had to come see what was going on. I think he had hopes I was going to fool around. I asked Nick if he was going to go downstairs, he said yes.

Around 11 Thelma had taken off, Ryan said he wanted to go dance and it was getting pretty dead in Woody's. I had decided I wasn't going home. I was going to stay at the bathhouse, that way I could drink. If I went to the bathhouse around Midnight I would have had a chance at some random sex...or Ryan. I hadn't been to Buddy's for awhile and I was kind of getting off being in Ryan's shadow.

Go downstairs, have a couple of beers and Ryan has a drink, I bought him one. This got him amped enough to dance. He started dancing, first he was conservative, then it was like Channing Tatum in Magic Mike. A friend on Facebook challenged me to take a pic, so I did. Ryan ate it up.

I got another beer, I wasn't feeling the dancing vibe, besides it was good to have Ryan checking me out a lot.

Karma time, a couple of weeks ago in my loneliness I was remembering the times Nick and I had had together and wondering when I'd see him again.

So I am standing there and Nick comes up and starts talking to me. Upstairs he said he was out with his room mate. In the gay world that has many meanings. In fact one of the people fluttering around me was a guy I attempted to date, that had a room mate (he was for all intents and purposes Single). Well single until the room mate came home. Then I had to leave quickly. This is even more ironic and just occurred to me, that happened the week before I met Nick.

Not seeing Nick for over a year and thinking that he was taken made our chatting pretty casual. I pointed out Ryan dancing, which just made him dance more erotically, now that he had more people watching. Nick asked me if I was seeing him, I said no. Ryan came back and stood with us as the DJ played some horrible song and then another. Then he played one that both Nick and Ryan liked, so they went out and danced together. Man that was hot, Ryan fist pumping and swivelling his hips and Nick going up and down in front of him. That was the hottest thing I had ever seen in that bar.

Nick came back and stood by me afterwards, he said a friend had to take his room mate home as he was completely loaded. Somehow Nick asked me if I was staying in town and I said yes and where and then he asked if he could join me. I was cool about it; inside my head fans in the Stadium stood up and cheered.

This happened, Ryan had to take off as he had to be up early in the morning to go to gym. The friend that took Nick's room mate home came and stood with us. We talked for awhile and then the friend, Andrew, wanted to go out to smoke. I seized this opportunity to grab my coat. I was thinking we were not coming back in.

But we did. The three of us talked, oblivious to all happening around us. The club emptied and I asked Nick if he still wanted to hang out. He said yes. When we were leaving everyone started hugging people and Nick bent over to hug a shorter person. I checked out his belt, it was shiny. That's my story and I am sticking to it! I was busted in the act though, Andrew looked shocked.

We went to a store to get some water and then headed to the bathhouse. We were there for a long time and spoke a lot. We were pretty frank with things and I said I hoped this would have happened last year. He said he wanted to but it was too soon; I agreed. This isn't any of my other blogs so this is a far as the description gets. Neither of us had anywhere to be, and there was no rush to leave. The place has constant music so the lack of sleep was what did us in.

Basically we found out we have more in common, which is good, no fucking great!

Nick is finishing school soon and he may be bailing for Vancouver. Which ironically is where Ryan is bailing to.

Playing it by ear. At least he could get some rides on the bike, he said he really liked that. Nick is into Arts. He made an 'It Gets Better Video' which is great by the way. He has another video which he did for school. I couldn't watch it on the ipad or iphone.

Anyway, I am checking out Turbonegro videos. Later!