Vibrant.(Still) Unrepentant. Badass. Old. Queer

Good evening, Kittens! How the heck did it become March already?  On the plus side of the time flying is that it is almost the Best Day of the Year!  YAY! What happened last month?  Hmmmm ... M and I had a bit of a spat, but we made up. I went to Detroit for work.  Detroit.  In February.  I kinda hate my boss (except, I really like my boss(es) and they felt bad about sending me to Detroit, so I also get to go to Miami in May.  Oh, yeah~!).  BUT, I did get to hang out with the SuperFantastic Cuzin and (the blogger formerly known as) GayProf. As is my usual MO, I also made pottery.  Here are some photos: A flower pot, because I accidentally put my finger through the bottom while painting on the slip design ... oops An OK ish mug A teacuppy thing (obviously I need to work on my handle pulling) A Japanese-style teacup (because it was too dry to attach a handle.  bah.) A bowl with some glaze crawl (maybe it gives it p...

Happy Snowy Tuesday, Kittens! Over the weekend, M and I went to Norfolk.  I am not really sure why, other than neither of us had been there before. It is not very likely that either of us will ever go there again. There doesn't really seem like there is much to do in Norfolk.  We did some sightseeing.  We ate at some pretty good restaurants.  For the size of the city, they had a surprising amount of vegan/vegetarian friendly places.  We had dinner on Saturday night at an Italian place that had a separate vegan menu.  And, dinner on Sunday night, was the buffet at an Indian restaurant.  If I could remember the names of the places, I'd tell you ... y'know, just in case you ever find yourself hungry in Norfolk. We didn't arrive until early Saturday evening, so we really only had time to check into the hotel (the Norfolk Plaza), which was nice enough, although it had seen better days. On Sunday morning, we went for a 2.5 mile run.  It was ...

 Hello, Beautiful Kittens.  I hope you had a wonderful December.  Apparently, there was a holiday or something recently.  I was in North Carolina for the aforementioned holiday.  My mother forced us all to wear elf hats as we opened presents (on Xmas Eve, because I flew back home on Xmas morning). I had a good Xmas.  I received some very nice gifts.  My parents helped to pay for my new spectacles and for another session of pottery class.  My brother and his GF gifted me with lots of colorful socks and a cookie press.  Plus some other things.  And, once I got back to DC, I had a fantastic XXXmas with M.  In addition to copious amounts of teh hot buttsecks,we watched a lot of streaming movies on the Netflix, including The Hobbit, White Christmas, and Blackfish. Yeah.  It seems like we are in it for the long haul.  He gave me Apples to Apples (which, he reminded me, we played at a game night with Mike (Who Makes Cakes...

  Hello, Kittens.  What up? Things in VUTOPIA are about the same as always ... work is fun, but superbizzybizzy.  Pottery class has ended until next year.  Sad Facez.  I am still taptaptappin' away.  I missed the most recent class because I had a cold.  Yuck! So, you may not have noticed, but there was a holiday recently.  We call it Thanksgiving.  And, as is our tradition, my building held our 3rd Annual 10(ish)K and Brunch.  This year, because our normal hosts moved, I hosted the brunch.  It was fun.  My apartment looked like this: I made tofu scramble, pumpkin coffee cake, and baked egg casserole with spinach, mushrooms, and salsa: I also had cheese and crackers and a varied assortment of homemade pickles and sauces. Other people brought delicious foods as well! Bread! Fruit salad! Vegan sausages!  And lots and lots and lots of champagne. It was all quite tasty and fun!  But, I was quite happy when ...

Hello, Dear Kittens! As you may have heard, the Federal Government has been shutdown since October 1st.  What you may not know is that this affects VUBOQ most negatively.  I have been out of work since that time.  My company was able to carry me on overhead last week; however, starting on Monday, I will either have to use up my leave time (which is not very much) or go unpaid. I would like to take a few moments to clear up a few common misconceptions.  Congress is working very hard (LOL!) to make sure that furloughed Federal employees will receive backpay.  However,  furloughed government contractors are not the same as furloughed Federal employees.  We will not receive backpay.  Additionally, Maryland and Virginia have made it Very Easy for furloughed Federal employees to apply for unemployment benefits.  Furloughed government contractors have to wade through the usual bureaucratic unemployment redtape. I will be calling my company's...

Good Evening, Kittens. I can't even remember the last time I posted. I don't think it was *that* long ago.  So over Memorial Day weekend, the BF (yes, over the weekend, we DTR'ed*) and I went to Pittsburgh (of all places) and Fallingwater.  Pittsburgh was surprisingly not awful.  We had good food.  Our hotel was nice (but I seem to have left a pair of chinos there).  People were friendly, which -being from the decidedly not very friendly DC/Metro Area- was a little disconcerting.  We adapted. Here are some of my favorite pix (Have I mentioned how much I dislike Flickr's new interface?) ... There are more pix available on the Flickrz . After we returned from the trip, we got into a bit of a rather stupid spat.  It was all his fault, of course.  We didn't speak for several days (because he needed "time to think").  Finally, he admitted he was wrong.  And we spent most of this past weekend having very hot (and sweaty) but...

Good evening, kittens! I have been bad blogger.  I am sure I will eventually have a few moments to fill you in on all the excitement (or lack thereof) in my life.  Until then, here is a photo (and they are worth a thousand words, I hear): And, now, to the purpose of this posting.  April is National Poetry Month.  I am going to attempt (no promises about success) to post an original poem every day this month (probably not on weekends though, but we'll see).  No promises as to the quality of the poems either.  We'll see how this goes.  So, to kick it off, here's something I wrote while I was in high school (circa 1986 or so). Limerick A witty little limerick I started out to write, but, it seems my wits have left and will not return tonight. *smooches*

Good Evening, Kittens! Let's play catch-up!  Two weekends ago, I flew to North Carolina.  It was my Dad's 75th Birthday.  So, after work (and after a couple of martinis), I caught a plane to my brother's place in Greensboro.  Then, the next morning, we drove the 3.5 hours to my parents' town.  There we had a lovely lunch with about 10 of my parents' friends in the beautiful (if somewhat stinky) town of Canton.  Canton's Paper Mill  After lunch, we just chilled at the parents' house and eventually had dinner at a Thai restaurant.  It was not that great.  It started snowing.  "The snow's supposed to stop around 6PM," Dad said.  It snowed all night.  The View from My Parents' Deck Because it was (a) snowy and (2) 24 degrees F outside, I decided to wait to do my 11 mile run until I got to Greensboro.  Which is what I did ... And, then, I had an early dinner and several cocktails with my brother, his gf, and the...

Good Evening, Kittens!  Tornwordo sort of reminded me in his comment that, wow, I haven't blogged in awhile.  I guess with the kitchen project, the new job, the ennui of life I haven't really thought much about recording the exciting events of my life ... So, last I left off (not withstanding the kitchen post), V from Philly was coming for a visit and I was going to have a conversation with him. Well, he came for a visit.  But, I didn't have the conversation.  I know.  I am a wimp.  I do have a semi-explanation (which we will get to in a bit). He arrived late Friday night.  We went out for food.  And came home.  On Saturday, the kitchen guys were coming to do work.  So, we got up early and headed out for brunch.  And, then, some shopping and wandering around. We came back to my place for a minute, and, then, headed into DC.  We had an early-ish dinner at Jaleo.  It was yummy as always.  V had bought tick...

Good Friday Evening! It's been awhile since my last post ... and this is why: Why, yes, that is (errr ... was) my kitchen.  It is being renovated.  There has been drama, Drama, and DRAAAAAAAAMA.  And, that was all on Day 1.  BUT, I am saving those stories for a long post once everything is completed (hopefully soon!).  In the meantime ... Things with M (not the one in Vegas.  the one here) have been heating up. Last weekend, he rented a hotel room at Rouge in DC.  So, we checked in.  Had hot hotel sex.  Then,  we had dinner at Estadio (a tapas restaurant).  Then, we went back to the hotel and had more hot hotel sex.  Then, we went to sleep.  And, then, we woke up and had more hot hotel sex.  And, then, we had brunch.  Good times. We have talked about seeing how we get along with y'know not having hot sex and just conversing.  So, Monday (or was it Tuesday?), he asked if he could come over, and I...

OMG, Kittens!  Remember me?  How are you?  Is anyone still out there? My Exciting New Job started on the January 28th and settling into that has been busy busy busy.  I don't even know where to begin to start catching up on my life. So here are just some of the random things that have happened in the past two weeks that I can remember ... At some point, I had a fun little Adult Sleepover (without actually sleeping over) with K (remember him?).  He is still as enthusiastic as ever.  *rowr* The Little Red Car's battery has died.  And, I need to give it a jump.  But, that seems scary. So, I have been procrastinating. M (not the one in Vegas) decided he didn't want to hang out with me anymore.  But, now he has changed his mind. And, we are getting together on Sunday for a little Super Bowl Part for two.  So, that should be fun. This SuperHot guy I hooked up with about two years ago contacted me out of the blue.  But, I have ...

Good Evening, Kittens!  And Happy (motherfucking) New Year!  2013!  Can I get a "w00t w00t?" ANYWAYz, my weekend was pretty awesome (and five days long!).  Friday was my flex-day.  I spent most of the day running errands and stuff.  Very exciting.  In the evening, my co-worker and I had tickets to see "White Christmas" at the Kennedy Center.  However, she texted to say that she had the flu!  GAH!  So, I had to find a replacement date!  Everyone I asked already had plans.  I eventually texted R, the young and well-hung ex-Marine, and -as it turns out- he was free for the evening. So he was my very sexy date to see "White Christmas" ... which was absolutely amazing!  YAY!  I'm still sort of singing "Sisters.  Sisters" in my head. Saturday, I ran errands for most of the morning and afternoon.  I also pickled a shit-ton (metric) of CSA radishes: And, then, in the afternoon, I headed to Union Statio...

Good Sunday Afternoon, Kittens! I guess it's time to update everyone on my week and weekend.  It has been fabulous (mostly). After work on Monday, I busied myself by getting My Cocky & Rude Bloggy Gift Exchange packages ready to mail.  I hope that they (a) have arrived by now and (b) that they arrived in one piece. On Tuesday, my co-worker drove me to the Pottery Studio so I could pick up the last few pieces of my pottery.  I was mostly pleased with how things turned out.  Especially this bowl: Which I gave to my co-worker as a thank you for the ride And My Little Yellow Soup Tureen: Once I got home, I had to get ready for my building's monthly board meeting.  So much fun.  not really. On Wednesday, I did laundry and M (not the one in Las Vegas.  Obviously) came over for an Adult Sleepover.  We watched Men in Black 3 and ate pizza.  And maybe did a few other things ... On Thursday, I relaxed mostly.  And, made...

Good Sunday Evening, Kittens. Let's catch you up on the past week, shall we? Lessee ... I went to work every day ... and did not kill anyone.  Always a plus.  I am so unmotivated at work these days.  *sigh* On Monday, I recovered from the weekend of working at the Crappy National Fucking Harbor.  And, um, I may have had a "friend" come over for an Adult Sleepover. Tuesday, after work, I went to the pottery studio to do a little last minute glazing.  All of my work from this semester should be ready on Tuesday-ish.  Prepare yourself for an onslaught of pottery pix.  And try to contain your excitement. Wednesday, I did laundry. Thursday was the Day of the CSA Vegetables.  I am sort of tired of fresh vegetables.  Or, more accurately, I am tired of trying to figure out what to do with all the fresh vegetables I have. And, on Friday, I went bowling (with the same "friend" from Monday night).  I did badly.  Also, bowling wit...

Good morning, kittens! And, I'm back from my "wonderful" weekend at the National Harbor.  Well, parts of it were wonderful, but most of it Just. Sucked. The wonderful parts were being able to hang out with V from Philly and ... well, that's about it, really. Friday, after work, a co-worker drove me to the National Harbor, because there is really no good way to get there via public transportation.  I met V at the Aloft and he gave me a key to our room and then went back to work the Holiday Festival.  The Aloft sucked. The room had no heat.  We complained twice and each time they said they would send up an engineer to look at it.  They did not. V from Philly got back from the Festival around 7ish, and we met his co-worker for dinner. We first went to the Rosa Mexicano, but they had no available seating until 9:30PM.  So, we tried this Italian place (name of which I can never remember) where my co-workers and I sometimes go for lunch.  They we...

Good Afternoon, Kittens!  I hope you had a delightful Thanksgiving and are using the rest of the weekend to relax and exercise off all those excess calories you consumed ... as for me, my Thanksgiving holiday has been possibly one of the Best EVER! On Wednesday afternoon, I got some VERY  GOOD news (which I will be sharing later once everything is signed and official). THEN, M in Las Vegas texted asking if I would be home on Thursday, because he wanted to pick up the car. Um.  WHAT?  "Are you in town," I asked.  He said he would be but was driving from DC to his family's in NC.  CRAZY PANTS! Later that evening, another M (this one local) called saying he and a friend were in the neighborhood and could they stop by.  "Sure," I said. When they got here, the friend stayed in the car.  Weird.  But, whatever.  So M and I chatted for a minute.  And then ended up having superhot buttsecks while his friend sat in the car waiting ......

Good Evening, Kittens! This weekend, I was supposed to meet my friend, V from Philly, in Atlantic City; however, that trip did not happen.  Something about a Frankenstorm and most of Atlantic City being washed out to sea ... oh, well.  I was very disappointed. Luckily, V from Philly decided to come here.  Yay! He arrived Friday night.  I had been out to happy hour with a co-worker and former co-worker.  We basically blobbed on the sofa, drinking beer and watching DVDs.  Then, we went to bed. On Saturday morning, we took our time getting out of bed, but eventually made it up to Eggspectations for brunch.  Where I was reminded that I am not a huge fan of the hollandaise sauce. Then, we took the metro into the DeeCee. First stop was the Million Puppet March Rally .  It was kind of a bust.  There were definitely not a million puppets.  But, yay for support for public broadcasting. We, then, wandered over to the US Botanic Garde...

Good Morning, Kittens! Grab a cup of coffee and let's chat about our weekends ... Friday, I had a chill evening at home, watching Charlie's Angels , Season 1, on DVD.  Oh, yeah.  Good times.  A HUGE storm came through, so that was fun.  Luckily, my building didn't lose power. On Saturday, I did lots of blobbing around the house.  And I cooked up some of my CSA veggies.  I did a stirfry with sweet onion, green squash, and tatsoi (which is some weird Asian leafy green).  AND, I threw in a jalapeno that I grew in my "garden." That afternoon, Tomokito had a small gathering at her apartment.  K-Factor and the Canadian were there.  And Eric from Baltimore came down.  And, I invited V (not the V in Philly, the V that lives up the road a ways).  Lots of boozy good times.  Then, V, Eric from Baltimore and I went to dinner.  Yummy Yummy Thai Foods.  Mmmm.  Tasty. After dinner, Eric from Baltimore headed back to ...

Good Evening, Kittens! I have a precious few spare minutes, so I thought I would take a few moments to update you on my SuperFascinating Life!  Don't you feel special? I'm sure you do. Anyway, the Big Excitement last weekend was Tomokito's Green Card Party on Saturday.  Hallelujah!  She (and her husband) is (are) finally (a) legal resident alien(s) (or whatever the term is).  Apparently, some time back, Tomokito and I were sitting around drinking (imagine!) and I drunkenly slurred something along the lines of "if you ever get your Green Card, I will buy you a pair of Manolos." I have NO recollection of ever saying that.  However, the first thing Tomokito did after finding out that she *may* be getting her Green Card was to say, "Woo hoo!  You have to buy me a pair of Manolos." Which, after all the expense she put into getting the GC, I was happy to oblige.  Fortunately, Tomokito has many, many friends who all love her dearly.  They w...

Good Evening, Kittens.  I guess I need to fill you in on all the fun and excitement of my week. There was none. Ta-da!  Haha.  I kid.  There was some.  The best part was the celebrating Tomokito's Birthday with many, many margaritas on Monday afternoon, and then trekking into DC for an Adult Sleepover with K (although there wasn't a whole lot of sleeping ... *ahem*). While I was on my way to his place, he texted and said I should meet him at his friends' house in Columbia Heights.  So I did.  We had drinks there.  His friends are nice.  A showed up (if you remember, it was at A's birthday brunch way back in -like- March where I met K).  Another mutual friend showed up.  We left.  Went back to K's place and commenced Sleeping Over (in an Adult way). Tuesday morning = UGH.  Actually, most of Tuesday = UGH.  It was a rough day.  Wednesday, I did laundry. Thursday, OMG, that's today!  I had to sit...