Our Family: October 2004 Archives

7:35am - Wake up with Max mauling me. I slept very well last night. I'm feeling great. Kent gets in the shower, and I go downstairs to make coffee.

9:35am - We leave home in route to Monet's Table. For some reason this morning, I'm feeling like listening to Mahler’s First Symphony (“Titan”). Kent finds this odd because Mahler is too heavy for me. Perhaps I'm changing.

9:42am - We arrive at Monet’s Table for breakfast. They always have their regular things to eat, and they always have some specials that are always wonderful. Today, I opt for one of the specials. It’s salmon and whitefish cakes with eggs. Over the salmon and whitefish cakes is a rich lobster-chardonnay sauce. It was just right and was a great accompaniment to Mahler!

While there, Shirley, one of the sisters who owns Monet’s Table, came up to talk to us. We’ve become good friends with the sisters. We talk about what we are doing for Christmas. Somehow, the topic of my birthday came up and I tell her that my birthday is on December 31st. She said that I had to come by because they were having a big celebration. I told her that I may not celebrate this year because I’m not too happy about turning 50. She looked at me and said, “Wait until you turn 78!” She has a point. I stopped complaining. So, instead of going to Cavy’s for my birthday, I suppose we will go to Monet's Table. There is nothing quite like having friends around you at special times.

11:10am - We arrive at Buckland Hills Mall. We decide that we are just going to have some coffee and browse for books. The mall is a very dangerous place for me. I suppose I look a bit strange. I carry my cell phone with me and hooked to my ear is my wireless Bluetooth headset for my cell phone. That attracted all the tech heads that wanted to sell me other stuff, such as this device that you hook to your cell phone to make it come out of your car speakers. I move on and resist the urge to try yet another toy.

We head off to Filene's and leave Filene’s $350.00 poorer. I saw some clothes that I just had to buy because I have a closet full of nothing to wear. I did buy some silk pajamas for those cold winter nights that are coming. I don't know if you've ever worn silk before, but it doesn't suck.

We get back to Barnes and Noble where I buy a few magazines and yet another Rupert Everett movie (I won't bore you with the details). Ok, I will. I bought Another Country. I've never seen it before and heard it was good. I suppose the fact that since Rupert came out of the closet he hasn't been able to find work had something to do with it as well.

1:20pm - We arrive back home and when I pull into the driveway, realize that we forgot to go to the drugstore for a prescription I need (high blood pressure medication - nothing serious, just marginal, but I have a doctor who worries about needle pricks). Me, I just worry about pricks in general.

1:50pm - On our way home, we run across a stop sign that has been re-painted by what I assume to be some of our local school children. The word “STOP” has been painted over and a big question mark is on the sign. I wonder if it’s in reference to where our country stands now on a variety of different issues. Or perhaps it’s in reference to the upcoming election on Tuesday, that will take our country six (6) weeks to figure out who won the election. Personally, I would have painted “!” on the sign. I’ve included a picture of the sign below, along with a few others I took this last week.

2:57pm - Kent breaks up a cat fight. Can’t we all just live in peace?

Tonight we are going to Costa del Sol for dinner tonight at 7:00. It's a nice Spanish restaurant in Hartford.

The stop sign I wrote about

I left for work before the sun was up last Thursday. This was what I saw from our driveway

The open amphitheater at one end of the park. Some of the fall colors are still with us

5:30am - Got up. It's too damn early. Cat is mauling me. In the distance I can hear Kent in the shower. I'm not a morning, afternoon, evening, or night person.

9:30am - I go into the kitchen at work for some coffee, and I see this label on the coffee pot that says, "Breakfast Coffee, not as heavy as real coffee". I'm like WTF?! I immediately think that the people responsible for putting up the protect marriage billboards around the state have struck again in the kitchen! I want REAL COFFEE damn it!

I put on a new pot of the real stuff, and return to my work where I'm on a deadline.

9:50am - Return to kitchen where there are about 6 people hovering over the coffee. I say, "Don't even think of taking all the coffee that I BREWED!" They all stepped away from the coffee pot. Half the pot was left. I got my fix. All is back to normal. I return to my desk to work on deadline. Coffee, like gay marriage, terrorism, and missing enriched uranium, are important subjects to me.

5:30pm - I'm home now. The day went great after the coffee kicked in.

It's so quiet out. The sun is setting, there's a chill in the air, and not even the creatures of the forest are out and about. It's peaceful.

6:17am - Wake up early, even though this is sleeping in for me. Max (American short hair cat) needs huge amounts of attention.

6:30am - I quietly get up and put on a robe (you got it, I sleep naked!), and try not to wake Kent. But he awakens and heads off for the shower. I go downstairs to make us some coffee.

7:30am - We head off to Vernon Diner for breakfast. We usually go to Monet’s Table every Saturday morning, but Kent has a departmental “retreat” all day today starting at 9:00, so that won’t work because Monet’s Table doesn’t open until 9:00.

We talked about the war in Iraq, U.S. policies, our allies, or current lack there of. We also talked about possibly moving to Canada once again. There’s a lot involved with that of course. We would leave our home behind, our jobs, and start a new life in a country that valued us as citizens, where we could be free and be married. Real freedom. But I don’t want to give up on my country yet. I still hope that people will want to be fair minded to gay couples and to let us be equal. We’ll see. I hate talking about this because I don't think we should have to talk about this. It shouldn't be an issue.

8:55am - We are home. Kent is getting ready to leave. I am a bit board and thinking about how nice a hot shower sounds.

2:30pm - Knock on the door. I open the door. Two women are standing there. One hands me a pamphlet entitled, “Would you Like to Know More About the Bible?”, as she says to me, “Would you like to hear what the Bible has to say about you?” I replied, “No, that’s ok. I’ve heard for many years from people just like yourselves what the Bible has to say about people like me.”

With that, I closed the door.

4:00pm - Kent comes home from his meeting. He dresses in work clothes to go out to mow the lawn for the last time this year. A lot of leaves have fallen and litter our yard and driveway. While mowing the lawn, the same two ladies return and give him the “we’re here to save you speech”. He declines. They walk away, hopefully for the last time. Maybe I should just put a big rainbow flag out on my porch, or would that just invite the neighborhood kids to spray paint the word, “F A G” across our garage doors?

5:30pm - Lawn done. Ready to go out to dinner. We head for the mall and end up and Red Robin where I eat a cholesterol-laced “Blue Burger” (greasy hamburger with blue cheese). Yeah, I know, it probably sounds gross to you, but at the time, it sounded good.

7:00pm - My body is saying, “What the hell did you do to me?!” Note to Bill: chill on the red meat.

9:00pm - Watching some dumb movie that I tuned into but didn’t watch from the beginning. Three college-age guys are traveling down the road. One has blue hair, the other is bald from shaving his head, and one has a Mohawk. They look as if they are from another planet. They are crossing the border into Wyoming to buy beer.

The conversation starts off from the bald guy, “Most people think I’m gay, even the chicks, but I’m not gay. But gay guys are totally cool to hang with. I don’t care if others call me a fag.”

The Mohawk guy says, “I don’t know man. I would care if someone called me a fag.”

The bald guy responds, “Dude, they aren’t calling you a ‘fag’, they are calling you a name to make themselves look better. I’m calling you a ‘fag’!” [much laughter]

They arrive at the store and the store owner sees them and thinks that they’ve escaped from the local mental institution. He picks up the phone and offers to call the institution to come and put them back in. The blue-haired guy says, “No, we aren’t from the institution, we are just from England.” The store owner says, “Oh, that explains it.”

Owner’s wife comes out and looks at them in horror. Owner tells his wife, “Don’t worry, they are from England!” She say, “Oh!”, with great relief. She then looks at the blue haired guy and says very slowly as though she is talking to a foreigner, “H e l l o. I t ’ s v e r y n i c e t o m e e t y o u.”

After that they go to the back of the store where the beer is. There are two people talking about the end of the world that is at hand. The three start talking to them about it. “How will you know when it happens?”, the blue-haired guy asks. She said, “There will be devil creatures who will come into this world to take it over.” He asks her, “How will we recognize them?”. She answers, “They will have the sign on them. The ‘666’.”

With that, he starts acting very strangely. He starts dancing around, pulls down his pants, turns around, and displays the tattoo on his butt cheek that says “666”. She screams and runs out of the store. The manager gets his shot gun out from behind the counter, and everyone leaves the store.

I turn off the TV, and say quietly to myself, “What the hell did I just watch?”

I go to bed.

5:30am - Woke up to my 18 pound cat lying on top of me letting me know in his own way that "I'm the most wonderful person in his whole world".

5:45am - Kent comes in to wake me up. It's our "bagel day" at Charlies.

7:10am - Get to work. Feel blah. Work on SQL query problem and realize that it's too damn early for brainy work. Coffee hasn't kicked in yet.

10:30am - Realize that last week was the sixth anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death on October 12th, and I didn't even remember. I'm sad that I didn't, and now that I remember, wonder if anything has changed in Wyoming. I did a quick Google search, and found out that the Fireside Lounge where Matthew's killers met him has closed for lack of business. The Marriage Caravan Express, a bus load of 44 Californians traveling cross-country to campaign for same-sex marriage rights, stopped in Laramie. They had some support, and had a brief ceremony of remembrance outside the boarded up bar. I guess some support is better than what Matthew got. I wish I hadn't searched. Now my mind is going on this. Back to work.

12:20pm - Had lunch (don't ask where, it was a junk food place). The conservatives may be worried. Bill "sex fiend" O'Reilly (I don't personally mind sex fiends as long as they are honest about it, which he isn't) is saying that the race for President is going to be very close. That's good. New York City says it's sunny and beautiful out. I'm wondering what world they live in. Over me, it's cold and cloudy and is starting to drizzle. Back to work.

12:45pm - Read about throw away underwear at Gary's site. It's unsettling.

4:30pm - Completed SQL work and wrote some reports. Time to go home.

5:30pm - Went to the store and bought fillet mignon, portobello mushrooms, peppers, onions, pears (it all works, I promise) for a romantic dinner at home.

6:00pm - Get everything put away, and start marinating the steak. Build a fire in the fireplace with the new oak firewood I had delivered five weeks ago. Pour a glass of merlot, turn on the TV and listen to how much Bush has f@*&*ed up the world today.

6:30pm - Kent gets home. He gets the gas grill going outside and starts the steaks.

7:15pm - Start dinner, turn off the news, enjoy dinner. I go watch TV only to find that it is boring tonight. I opt for some music that I haven't heard in a long while. I listen to Sibelius Symphony No. 2. An awesome work. I'm reminded that the work comes from a different time when America stood for something better than bullying and intimidation. I can hear hope in the work and eventual triumph. Will we be so lucky today?

9:00pm - Go back downstairs and make a cup of Earl Grey tea (with raw sugar - I used to use honey from our own Coventry bees, but have switched to raw sugar for no logical reason, except for the fact that I am an ever-evolving person) to have with my fresh baked apple pie (small slice - girl has to watch his figure!).

9:30pm - Go to bed and hopefully sleep through the night. And on yeah... make this entry.