dkstories

James, think it through....good special effects and you might not even see Shatner...

Hehehe...someone's talking baseball and it ain't me. David, sorry to hear about the job market...if you need to do some job scouting in the Sacramento area, let us know...you've always got a room to stay in (although you might want to be careful...Manuel has a habit of just showing up at times and likes to use the room. We showed him some pictures of you from your website and he says he won't mind sharing). j/k (mostly) Hope things go well, and hey, good news your diet is going well!

Have a good one, Braxy boy.

One thing I really don't like about 7 is the problem I am having with FTP...7 doesn't like connecting to ftp sites...I have to go use windows explorer to do that... blech

Sorry to hear you're feeling sick, Dom. I am too, so it seems like a lot of us are dealing with a nasty bug... When I was 11, I was hired to babysit an eight-year old (beginning of a long string of babysitting jobs). The couple had a parrot that said "f**k me harder" all the time. Yes, it was kept in their bedroom. I loved that Parrot and the way it would say that whenever the Mom would come into the room. She'd blush and yell at the bird. So, um, watch what you say... (BTW, that was also the time I started to read the book by Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delaney. Let's just say I loved the bi-sexuality of the main character.)

Dom, Parents can be very...troublesome for gay men (and lesbians), especially when they get the religious bit in their mouth. You might want to let her know she's got good intentions...caring for her son, but we all know where the road paved with good intentions leads... The Ex-Gay movement has really picked up a lot of steam over the last few years (and I think a number of people here are starting to run across their special brand of hatred from the number of posts on this site). In their search for ways of combatting the spread of acceptance for gay people, the religious right groups like Focus on the Family have latched onto the Ex-Gay idea. If people can change from being gay...there's no need for gay rights. It sounds like your mom has bought into their twisted theology. I'd recommend taking a look at www.exgaywatch.com I check there quite regularly for the latest on what the anti-gay zealots are up to...and get quite a few good ideas on how to counter their arguments. Personally, I've got few problems with people trying to convince themselves they can lead a straight life...if it weren't for all the lies and hypocrisies of the people behind this movement. (The 'husband' of the woman quoted in your blog, Anne Paulk, resigned from an ex-gay ministry after he was caught having a few drinks and chatting up a guy in a Washington D.C. gay bar.) Not Ted's last paragraph is very important as well. In the last dozen years, newer translations of the bible include the word 'homosexual' in it, when that word was never included before. It's a deliberate re-write of the bible to focus their political agenda... Think about it, they're willing to go so far as to re-write the bible in order to further their political agenda...they aren't going to hesitate on filling your mom's head with their lies and distortions.

Happy Birthday! enjoy the day!

I've gotten somewhat lazy over the years....I wake up between 7:45 and 8:00 a.m. I leave for work between 8:45 and 9:45 depending on how motivated I am that morning. (it's a 15 minute ride on my motorcycle). I work until 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for normal hours, come home, eat dinner, and mess around until midnight to 1:00 a.m. (including playing games, spending time with Robert, watching television, and writing). During campaign season work ends sometime between 8:00 p.m. and midnight on a regular basis, with a late night going until 2:00 to 3:00 a.m. (or the rare all-nighter).

There's a spare bedroom available after next tuesday if you want to go job hunting in Sacramento

Dom, bravo for resisting the pushy tactics. Too bad you didn't get the woman's name because the fellow lied to her...she can call the Secretary of State's office and have her name removed from the petition. Another thing...call the Secretary of State's office YOURSELF, and file a complaint about their tactics. If you don't mind these guys pushing you and others around...don't call. If it really irks you and you want to do someting about it... Lowder, Holly Director of Elections holly.lowder@sos.state.co.us 303-894-2200 x 6305 Call her and give her as much information as you can about what happened, where, time, day, etc. Don't make it a complaint about the petition...but about the signature gatherers (especially a guy appearing in uniform. If he was an active duty or reservist in a real uniform, he violated federal law and should be charged with that federal crime). Once you've done that, send these folks an e-mail and give them the same information: http://www.equalrightscolorado.org/sys-tmpl/door/ Thanks

Dom, I think it's something all gay men go through time and again in their lives: In and Out of the Closet. We often think that once we've come out of the closet, that's it. We're out and we'll always be that way. Unfortunately it's not the case. Most of the time when new people come into our lives we face a choice of telling them we're gay, letting them find out in some, or not revealing our sexuality at all. Most of the time, it's in the workplace that these issues come up (for a variety of good reason...like a non-gay friendly workplace). Here in California, since I've been with Robert, I rarely have had a choice. Most people I meet in the day-to-day working of the political realm already know I'm gay. Some know from when I was active out here in the mid-1990's. Most know my name as "Robert's new partner". I have very, very little choice in the matter. I've even had my boss introduce me to people as "Robert's partner". However, when we had a very handsome new guy start work, well he didn't know. Actually, months later, I still don't know if he knows (although if he ever paid attention to the picture on my desk...well he shoud know since Robert and I are in it...plus at staff meetings a few people have said "Dan's partner Robert" - which is a nice change). The thing is, when he and I were talking after he first started, I made a conscious decision to not tell him...mostly because I wasn't sure of his reactions (he's former army infantry). What you've gone through...well it's just a normal part of being gay.

The tattoo artist there was pretty cute...maybe I'll get a tattoo on my upper arm?

Good point Red. My tattoos are located so that if I'm wearing shorts, they can be seen, but pants cover them up completely. any other tattoos I get will be covered by short sleeves...that way when I'm work they are not visible. This allows me to both enjoy the tattoo and to not offend the sensibilities of my boss (although my current boss has more tattoos than I do...they still aren't visible when he's dressed for work...) Oh, and while actually getting the tattoo...I get sexually excited.

I waited until I was thirty to get my first tattoo. Want to know something else? This topic is very dangerous for me. The building I work in is RIGHT NEXT to a tattoo parlor. I see all these guys and girls going in and out all day and so the thoughts of getting another tattoo aren't too far from my mind... And I occasionally chat with the guys who work there while we're taking smoke breaks...

I've got pictures of me getting a tattoo.

I've got two, one on each leg....

I really suggest folks read the article from Sono's first link (here it is again: http://celebrity.aol.com/people/ataol/arti...1219142,00.html ) He has some pretty good things to say...

This would be a four-five week project based on our library at home. Cool though! I wonder if I can hook up one of my bar code readers and use that to input the books into the dbase? We've got a few lying around the office (used for scanning in voter information)

Oh, and your karate uniform...so you want to write a Service chapter where a karate class gets eaten for dinner? Yummm

David, it might be mold or mildew that's been there forever...it's just that your body hasn't been around it forever anymore...As your body readjusts to the new climate/situation, it'll react less violently. (unless your name is Robert who gets bad allergy attacks at the drop of a hat).

Well, Little Buddha has a little better chance. It was a year and a few months ago that I got a boyfriend from this very board. Now we've got a Domestic Partnership and we've been living together for over a year. He stalked me for several weeks before I went to see a movie with him... So, if you want a boyfriend...and a board member asks you out...say yes. (If you're the author). If you're not an author...ask one out.

Wee HAA! http://www.washblade.com/blog/index.cfm?ty...nd=7/18/06#8086

Dom, I have a t-shirt I can let you borrow next time you have a family get-together. It's real nice black with some nice lettering that says: So Many Right-Wing Christians So Few Lions

As you might suspect from previous postings, I fully support your decision not to tell your parents. Your reasons for that course of action are good ones, and I'd be very likely to do much the same were I in your shoes. That still does not mean you have to cut yourself off from everyone in your life...or that you cannot work on other issues for the next two years. Take care though, and try to enjoy the little things in life that give you pleasure...

Thank you Demetz. Thank you for sharing, thank you for speaking up in some way, and thank you for being brave enough to do something that must be so hard for you...to share. There are moments in all of our lives where we exhibit the traits of a coward, to run away, to hide, to ignore the pain our lives have given us, and to pretend that everything is normal. Moments are all they are though...mere moments, not the definition of our lives. A true coward would never have posted this, a true coward would never have reached out like this. You are not a coward. I am not a professional counselor, but there are people out there who can and will help you. A good starting point might be: http://www.glnh.org/index2.html One thing I am quite certain of, and I don't care if you've heard it before because you can never hear it enough: You are not responsible for being raped. It is not your fault. I hope and pray that if you ever decide to share this with your family that they will be loving and supportive. Whether they are or not, you deserve their love and support. Anything less is their problem, not yours. I know the feelings, the desire, the urge, to protect the family from the secrets that we keep. Such desires and feelings say that you are a good person with a good heart, but you are hurting them and you are hurting yourself by taking their burdens on your shoulders. In the end, you will need to realize that they control their own lives, and you do not bear any responsibility for how they react to things or to how they live their lives. This is probably the easiest thing to understand, and the hardest thing to do: You must live your own life for yourself. When you take care of your own needs first, when you are centered and grounded firmly in your own life, then you are best able to help others. When you have not dealt with the things that are bothering you, it might be possible to help others today, or maybe tomorrow, but what about next year or the year after? What kind of help can you give when you are torn up inside versus the kind of help you can give when you are whole? Many people think it is selfish to think of yourself first at all.. Certainly if you take it too far, it does become selfish. Yet, taking care of yourself first so that you can then help others is the furthest thing from being selfish that I know. Look at Bill and Melinda Gates as an example. Their Foundation helps millions and millions of people in ways no other organization had done. They put a good portion of their fortune into that Foundation. Yet, what would have happened if they had put all their fortune into it years ago? What would have happened if they gave the foundation all their focus right away, and ignored other things, like the running of Microsoft? The answer would be that the Foundation would right now be in trouble. Without regular revenue from Microsoft, and the Gates family, the Foundation would not be able to do what it is doing. Without effective leadership, it would not have gotten the money it's gotten from Warren Buffet. In starting and operating this great work, the Gates couple have made sure they taken care of themselves first, and then gone on to use their resources to help others. Another example, one probably easier to grasp is that of a surgeon. When a surgeon prepares to cut your father open for open heart surgery, he needs to be in top form. If he's spent the last two weeks working twenty hours a day, is worried on whether he's forgotten to pay a bill or not, has not gotten a lot of sleep, and is worried about his teenage daughter who snuck out last night and has not yet come home, are you really going to want him cutting your father open? If he cancels the surgery that morning so that he can track down his daughter, get that bill paid, and maybe sleep for eight hours, are you really going to be upset that your father has to wait another day for the surgery? Think about these things, and work to get yourself back in center and healthy (mentally as well as physically). Then you will be able and ready to help others...and maybe, just maybe, to be happy.