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

Good lord, kittens.  It's been awhile since I've filled you in on all the strange and wonderful things going on in my life. So, let's see ... Tap class has ended.  It was only 5 weeks long, but it was fun.  Most of my classmates are signing up for "Next Steps."  However, because that class starts at 8:30PM, I have registered to repeat "Intro."  It's like I'm being held back.  I'm in Remedial Tap.  Oh, well ... The "real" reason I'm staying in Intro is because I want to get home at a semi-reasonable hour on a worknight.  If I took Next Steps, I wouldn't get home until around 11.  And that is way too late for someone who has to wake up at 5:45 the next morning.  Tap class starts again on September 9th.  The day after I run a half-marathon.  Joy.  Yes.  I'm running the Parks Half Marathon on September 8th.  If you're local, come out to cheer me on.  If you are hyper-local, give me a ride to the starting l...

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!  And Happy Veterans' Day!  I hope you will all be able to celebrate and honor our veterans tomorrow by not going to work and hitting the mall for Big Big Sales. ANYWAY,  my parents visited this weekend.  They arrived Thursday late afternoon.  That evening, we just blobbed around and ate and talked. On Friday, I had a hair appointment.  While I was away, I tasked my parents with cleaning my place and putting away my Halloween decorations. When I got home, we piled into the car and I drove (eek!) to the Kennedy Center.  We had a tour of the building and, then, had dinner at the KC Cafe.  After dinner, we attended a performance of "Warhorse." It was pretty amazing.  BUT, I would like to say that the people who were all like, "The horses are PUPPETS! and, after awhile, you don't even notice the puppeteers" are either totally craycray or possibly mentally challenged.  Every time the horses appeared on stage, I...

Good Morning, Kittens! Not much to catch up on from the week.  Work is work.  I missed pottery class last Monday (sore back.  bad rain.  lazy).  My date with the SuperHot Trainer Guy got postponed (again).  His other job keeps him very busy, and he has to work late a lot.  *sigh*  And, I did laundry. This weekend, however, quite a bit happened. I decorated for Halloween.  Meaning, I put up my Halloween lights, including the Cute New Mummy Lights I got using a Target gift card I found the other day. THEN, I got a package: Cute Nu Shoooooz!  They are an early Xmas present from my parents.  Yay for parents who support your bad habits! That evening, I met SCGB at Adega for wine and carb-loading.  I had (most of) a ginormous flatbread pizza.  YUM! And, on Sunday, I woke up SuperEarly.  My co-worker and her BF picked me up and we headed to the Army Ten Miler.  I had a pretty good run.  It w...

Good Evening, Kittens. Not much exciting happened yesterday (Tuesday). I finally called my parents to tell them what happened. Fortunately, my father answered and, given his former profession, he is much better at hearing shocking news without Freaking the Fuck Out. I let him tell Mom after we got off the phone. Today, I was at work until about noon. Then, I had a doctor's appointment to check on the healing process as well as just get some general stuff checked out. Good news is that I seem to be healing fine. Although, I do have to make an appointment with an ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) doctor to check on my fractured sinus and burst ear drum. Bad news is that I may have high blood pressure. The doctor thinks that because of my weight, lifestyle, etc., it is probably hereditary. I need to check with the folks. I believe my Dad is on some sort of blood pressure medication. My cholesterol and other stuff is all fine and dandy. Also, I am 27 pounds underweight. And, I'm pret...

Good morning, Kittens. Hurrah! I am off work today! I decided after the Weekend Wedding, followed by the Parental Visit, I needed an Official Day of Recovery. I plan to plenty of couch blobbing, followed by a boozy lunch, followed by more couch blobbing. Yay! Yesterday, the parents and I did a tour of the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. I have to say I was a bit disappointed that the Supreme Court Gift Shop did not sell Ruth Bader Ginsburg finger puppets. Alas. On the way home, we stopped by Whole Foods. And, then, I went for a run. After my run, we headed to El Golfo for dinner. Yum. Then, Yahtzee. And they went to bed. I had a cocktail. Mmm. Cocktail. And, I guess that's all the news. Hope you have a great day (at work! ha!). *smooches*

Good Morning, Kittens. I iz sick. I coughez. I hackez. I snifflez. And, my kidneyz hurtz. On the plus side, I don't feel feverish anymore. Hurrah! I have until lunchtime to be miraculously cured, because I want to go to the pottery studio today. Yesterday, my parents closed on the house they bought my brother. Yes, they love him more. Actually, they bought a house into which they will probably move once they become too advanced in years to care for their current home and/or they require live in help/healthcare. The brother gets to stay in the house until that happens. I think he also has to pay part of the mortgage, but I'm not 100% clear on the financials. Dad wrote me a letter explaining all this (not that he needed to do that. They had explained it over the phone). My parents like to really drive the points home. The point in this case: We do love your brother more, but buying him a house doesn't prove it. Now, go get a job, you loser younger child. In oth...

Good Morning, Kittens! Yes, the parents left this morning ... at 7AM ... which means they were clomping around the apartment at 6:30 ... which means I, too, was up ... which explains the extraordinarily early timestamp on this post. *durg* Anyway, the weekend ... the visit -as a whole- was good. There was laughter and tears and a brief moment of "we might as well leave early" and "fine, do that" and then, "ok fine don't do that." And, it all began with ... They arrived on Saturday afternoon. We went to Whole Foods. Then, we we had a very early dinner at Thai as Silver Spring (which was yummy). Came home. Played cards. Went to bed. Sunday morning. Beautiful weather. We drove to the US National Arboretum to do their Cherry Blossom Drive. It was quite lovely (if a smidge too late to see Peak Blossoming). Photos are here. We came home, took a walk in the park, and then drove out to Target. I had lots and lots of gift cards (from Xmas and Birt...

Good Morning, Kittens. For circumstances beyond my control, the Weekend Update will not be updated until tomorrow. For now, go get yourself some pretty . *smooches*

Good (still, but just barely) Morning, Kittens! What a day! Not only do the Parental Units arrive tomorrow for a four day visit, but several government jobs -which I thought closed next week- close today! I've written three essays this morning (and applied to one job) already, but I still have seven more essays to write. GAH! Combine that with trying to get the house Mom Clean and you have Total Stress Monster. Which usually results in me getting absolutely nothing accomplished. We shall see ... Anyway, last night was fun. Dinner with Tomokito and Eric from Baltimore at El Golfo was delicious. And, mmm, margaritas! Then, after dropping of Tomokito, EfB and I met Jerry at Cobalt for $1 highballs. Huzzah! We ran into Joey (Ray's ex) there too. A good time was had by all. Today, I'll be busy writing and cleaning. Tomorrow, the folks arrive in the afternoon. We'll probably go shopping or something. Sunday, we're headed the National Arboretum to see the che...

Happy Boxing Day, Kittens! Like, OMG, wireless internet is a beautiful thing. I'm at a Panera Bread somewhere in Greensboro. And, ooooh, I can access my computer ... and I *should* be completing and emailing some job applications, but, well, I am blogging. Sosume. Christmas with the family was good. As much as I totally *heart* my parents, good lord!, can they start to wear on my nerves after a couple of days. And there was No Alcohol to help! GAH! I could jes' die. Here's a funny little story about how to tell if you are in North Carolina ... My brother and I were watching the news on Tuesday evening, and the reporter was interviewing a man about his community's group dinner and, he said, and I kid you not!, "It provides a good opportunity to conversate against each other." Um. What? My brother actually hit rewind on the DVR so we could verify what we had just heard. Conversate. Against Each Other. W.T.F? And, then, my brother said, "And this wasn't...

Good morning, Kittens. By the time this publishes, I should *crosses fingers* be on the road, careening madly around the Beltway in my SuperCute PT Cruiser Rental towards that Valley of Humility , North Carolina. I figured I won't have time to blog in the morning, hence the scheduled post. Hurrah for Post-Scheduling! I'm all packed (ok, mostly packed). I'll load the car in the morning. There is already some drama . My brother called this evening. Apparently, my parents, who had originally told him that they would stay in a hotel, have decided that we need some Family Togetherness Time (please, shoot me now), and, thus, all four of us will be staying in his small one bedroom/one bathroom apartment. Now, I love my family ... in small doses ... in places where I have space . And, actually, when it's just the three of us anywhere it's usually good. Put the four of us in a tight quarters for any extended time and bad. things. happen. Hopefully, since it is only for 2 ni...

Good Afternoon, Kittens. It's been a rather unpleasant few days (rejection! poor job prospects! running. out. of. booze!), so I did what any Red-Blooded, Apple-Pie-Eatin', Mom-Lovin' American would do: I went shopping ... (and here's where the BOSSY's Poverty Party part kicks in) with other people's money! HUZ-ZAH! Yesterday, my parents sent me a Thanksgiving card and, inside, was a CHECK! Mom gets some sort of annual Life Insurance Dividend, which she graciously gives to my brother and me. So, I deposited the check (two deposits in two days! I rock!) and hit the local DSW! Where I bought these: CUTE, no? AND, I had a $10 off coupon. So I spent $10 less of Other People's Money! *w00t!* Then, I went next door to the Borders, where I bought these: Using my Borders Reward Certificates (from my Borders Visa). I have said this before and I will say it again, "If your credit card doesn't have any perks (miles/points/free things from Borders), you have th...

Does anyone know why visits with the parental units are so stressful? Here are a few stress-inducing highlights: Mom came in and said, "It's so clean." Then, she pulled out all my cleaning stuff, started dusting, and showed me how much dirt she's picking up. I. Can't. Win. Or what about after an entire morning/early afternoon driving around and talking, I'm enjoying a few quiet moments on the sofa when she said "Why aren't you talking? How come we don't have conversations?" Or maybe Dad trying to have the "You're going to be unemployed soon and will probably be depressed" talk. Um. Yeah. Thanks. That was almost as fun as the "dating" talk*. But, even with all the stress and pressure, they are fun to be around (most of the time). So, here's the weekend rundown. Friday evening . I cleaned (but not well enough, apparently). Saturday morning . I cleaned more (see above parenthetical). Saturday afternoon . We...

And guess what I did last night? I spilled an entire container of peppercorns all over the kitchen. GAH. I still have loads to do to prepare for the Parental Visit. The living room is mostly organized, but I still need to dust, sweep, vacuum, and do a bit more general tidying. Kitchen? Disaster. Dining Nook? Disaster. Bathroom? Disaster. Bedroom? Major Disaster. Bossy's Guest Room ? Minor Disaster (but not a big deal, since I'll be sleeping either there or in the living room ... depending on which is cooler). I have a lot to do tonight. And tomorrow. As for activities ... I think we're going to take a field trip to Target! Hurrah. I can has gigantic buckets of kitty litter. We might go to the Afghanistan exhibit at the National Gallery of Art . And, on Sunday, there's a local farm tour/open house kind of thing. So, I'll make them drive me all over. Apparently, there is an alpaca farm somewhere in this county. Fun. *oog* More later, kittens. *smooches*

My Parents are visiting this weekend. This is what they look like: This is an example of our phone conversations: It's Amazing I Turned Out as Well as I Did This is why their visits make me a little stressed out: Weekend Update: The Parent Trap (see paragraphs 4-6) This is an excerpt from a phone conversation a few weeks ago: Mom : We want to come visit soon. We're thinking the last weekend of July. V : The last weekend of July isn't a good time. Mom : Really? V : Yes. My job will be ending. I might be SuperStressed. I may just want to relax by myself. Mom : OK. This is an excerpt from a phone conversation one week later: V : Hello? Mom : We've decided when we're going to come visit? V : Great. When? Mom : The last weekend of July. V : ... On the bright side, the visit's only from Saturday to Monday. More later. *smooches*

I came home. Y came over. I had a good cry. Things seem better today. Plus, Dad apparently made it through surgery ok. He was actually scheduled to have the back surgery this coming week, but the pain was so bad even the super-extra-strong pain pills (so strong the doctor couldn't call in the prescription. Mom had to pick them up at the hospital. And she refuses to share) were not working. The doctor decided to go ahead and operate ahead of schedule. I'm supposed to get a call today for an update ... So, that's that... And now for the continuing weekend saga of ... The Birth of VUBOQ as Re-Enacted by Gay Bears (and a Virus or Two) Previously, you met the Cast of Characters . Now, the story begins ... It was a sunny Saturday afternoon not too many years ago. At Dupont Circle, a snake lay waiting in the grass*. An unsuspecting VUBOQ got closer ... And closer ... To be continued ... *Well, in this case it was Syphillis in the Parsley , but whatever.

I didn't get the job. My dad is having emergency back surgery in about 2 hours. All I want to do is go home and crawl into bed, but I have to stay at work 'til 5. Trying not to cry in the office is making my head hurt.

You, too, can be cool like VUBOQ My parents, in their overly generous nature, shared some of their tax refund with my brother and me. Our family didn't have a lot of money when I was growing up. Now, my parents, being careful savers and good planners, have more money than they expected in their retirement. Perhaps, this could explain their relatively recent money giving thing. Anyway, I transferred half of the check into savings (in preparation for my possible upcoming unemployment). The other half I used to buy the following: Bedazzled Uterus T-Shirt! Two t-shirts from the Sean Show . This one: And this one: [Secretworm Tees available here .] Who's gonna be the hippest kid on the Mean Streets of DC this summer? ME! (and maybe you, if you make like a VUBOQ and spread some monetary luv) Meanwhile, I *might* be hearing about the 2nd Level interview today, so keep those good thoughts flowing :-) And, yesterday at pottery was good. All of my bisqueware was out of the kiln, so I gl...

When I was a child, every Valentine’s Day morning, my mother, a notorious non-morning person, would pull herself out of bed to make us a special breakfast. Nestled among the eggs and bacon or the pancakes and sausage, we would always find a couple of heart-shaped biscuits. That’s what I remembered as I wandered through the Whole Foods, surrounded by men buying bunches of organic roses, 2 dozen for $49.99! As I stood in the busy lunchtime checkout line watching the man in front of me buying chocolate-dipped strawberries, brie, and a baguette, I remembered my mom’s crinkly-edged biscuits, cut in half with a little pool of butter melting slowly in the center, I saw men trying desperately, at the last minute, to buy a little romance along with their Vitamin Water and Free Range Roast Chicken Sandwiches with Chipotle Mayo. Maybe they can purchase a rose-filled, chocolate-dipped romantic evening, but where is the love? Can they put that on their VISA Debit Cards? As for me, I know where the ...