Tawdry Talk

So, as you might recall, I joined Gold’s Gym on Brannan last week. Yesterday was my Complementary Training Session with Corey, a former pro hockey player. He totally kicked my ass, but I feel even more motivated to continue working out.

After the gym, I realized that I had forgotten to bring a belt for my shorts, which are too big for me now, so I called Plumpy (dhpbear) up to ask him if he’d come back to the gym (he had driven us down there) and bring me a belt. Thankfully, he agreed, and then dropped me off at Civic Center BART to get to school.

Another thing to be thankful for was school’s schedule - yesterday was Kinesiology 2 Class - the first of two shoulders classes. Yesterday’s muscles were Biceps Brachii, Sternocleidomastoid, Deltoid, Scalenes, Triceps Brachii. So, no bodywork yesterday, except for some trigger point work on one of my fellow students who has been getting migraines. She’s a waitress in her day job, well, i suppose night job, really, and when she told me where the pain was located, I had a feeling that it was muscular in origin, so I found the big trigger point in her left Levator Scapulae and started working it out. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time on break to complete it, but she did feel better afterward. I’ll try again today… if I can lift my arms, that is.

Thanks to everyone who played Everyone’s Favorite Online Collaborative Poetry Game™, Exquisite Corpse: Pete (beartech420), Chuck(stermn), Pope Buck I (popebuck1), and London1967:

Don’t touch me there,
where heat and heart combine

I’ve been on antibiotics all week.
it’s still inflamed and sore.

My soul is aching softly,
melancholy and longing intertwine.

Plus I’m out of NyQuil -
Note: Pick some up at the store.

I miss your icy castle
where the only voice was mine

And I had three of them to prove it!

You might remember that I had received an email from an old friend back at the end of October. One of those “you aren’t the paul brown who…?” messages. We started writing back and forth, and finally agreed to meet at Martuni’s last night.

Simultaneously, the landlord had sent over a humpy Mexican guy to fix the leaking valves in the bathtub. In order to do that he had to remove the bathtub enclosure, and we had him also tear out the rotting tiles beneath the enclosure, all the way down to the studs. He did replace the valves, put up some green-board and a new enclosure. The main panel along the back wall isn’t long enough, though, and there’s a two inch gap, upon which Plumpy (dhpbear) placed a stripe of duct tape as a temporary water barrier.

Anyway, back to the story. I walked down to the BofA ATM at Van Ness and Market to grab a little bit of cash, then headed up Market to Martuni’s at Valencia. I got there, bought a diet coke, made a head call, and when I returned to my barstool, my buddy, Mark, was sitting at a barstool nursing a martini. We greeted each other with handshake and hug, I ordered a Sapphire Martini, and we started talking. He was drinking a Ketel One Martini.

Those martinis because a pineapple and a watermelon martini, then raspberry lemon-drops, and we had adjourned to the piano room, where I tipsily sang two songs, and we continued our conversation. Finally, though, it was time to leave, and he offered me a ride home. He dropped me off at UGH, and that was that. What a fun night! We have some interests in common, and I suspect we will hang out again.

I got a spam this morning, and just for fun, I opened it. This was the text inside:

Everything you see I owe to spaghetti. There are moments when everything goes well, but don’t be frightened.

Is this a sacred text of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

When things don’t feel natural and organic, then some re-evaluation is in order. Saturday afternoon my buddy and I decided that we’re better off as friends, so that’s all good by me. This morning, as coincidence would have it, a guy I dated for a few months back in 97-98 called me up, and we spoke for a good half-hour, eventually deciding to have dinner together tonight.

What’s that old saying about doors and windows?

In the meantime, I went out last night to meet this guy from Bear411 who thought I was hot. Ok, I thought he was hot, too, but when he showed up, 20 minutes late I might add, he was a total freak! Had to run screaming!

I had nothing to do and nowhere to go yesterday. Calling my sister to tell her I wasn’t coming wasn’t very fun, but at least she understood why. So I figured I’d end up chatting on bear411 all day. Fortunately, my good friend, Mark <bear411 user=”mil40″>, decided that I shouldn’t be home alone, and he invited me over to his place in Alameda. I got in the shower and dressed and Plumpylumps (dhpbear), just returning from Sacramento and heading out to his Thanksgiving plans, gave me a ride to Market Street Safeway, where I bought a couple of bottles of muscat for dessert.

From there, I hopped on MUNI to Powell BART to Fruitvale BART to AC-Transit 50 Bus to Mark’s place. We didn’t have a hummingbird stuffed in a quail in a pigeon in a chicken in a duck in a turkey in a peacock in an emu in an ostrich, but the turkey was nice and flavorful, and the side dishes were yummy, too. But mostly, the company was really wonderful. A few folks off bear411, one or two LJers, one of Mark’s old Coast Guard buddies and his wife, another couple, former famous rock star and boyfriend, and me. The wine flowed freely and the conversation sparkled.

I am very thankful to have good friends in my life. Mark made what would have ended up being a pretty dull, lonely day into one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever.

Last night, I went to The Castro Theatre to see a double-feature screening of Grey Gardens and its companion The Beales of Grey Gardens. Between the features was a Q&A session with Jerry Torre, known affectionately as The Marble Faun.

I saw the movie at The Tower Theatre in Sacramento back in the mid-1980s for its tenth anniversary, so seeing it again twenty years later was a nice thing to do. What I want to know is why did Edie wear those scarves? Did she lose her hair to alopecia or somesuch? Was she self-conscious of the few strands of gray hair that peeked out from beneath them? Does anyone know?

The Q&A was very fun - Jerry Torre is a sexy hot bear of a man who now drives a taxi in New York City. And bear is true - he spoke of his boyfriends with the unselfconsciousness of a man comfortable with himself and his surroundings. But his love for Mrs. Beale was clear in every word, and in how he teared up just a little bit. And the story of taking Jackie O. to the Anvil was pretty funny. I wish I had had the presence of mind to take a couple of pics of him - well, I did think of it, but I didn’t.

The second feature, though, was a literal snooze-fest. I fell asleep during the middle third of it, which probably annoyed the audience with my snoring. I don’t think I actually did snore, but it would have served the movie right. What a bore, although the final montage showing off some of Edie’s more “revolutionary” costumes was rather amusing, but the rest of the outtakes were just dull, dull, dull.

After the screening, I had a late supper at Orphan Andy’s then rode the F-Market home. Cold wind blew the damp air and I was chilled through.

While I have posted some thoughts on thankfulness earlier, sometimes life takes weird curves. I had two no-shows this week which put a big dent in my budget, so instead of going to Sacramento to be with my family and friends, I am “stuck” here in San Francisco. Not that being here is stuck, of course, but suddenly I am free of any plans. It’s weird.

I joined Gold’s Gym yesterday at SOMA. Plumpy is already a member there, so he gets a free month for a referral gift. I liked the space: the equipment is in good shape, it’s clean, the people are friendly, and there are tons of bears there. I knew two or three guys working out there. I am thinking that it’ll be a good chance to get client referrals, too. And now I can be more serious about my weight-loss goals, too. Overall, it’s something to be thankful about.

From 25 August 2006