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Dakota Dog

I look into Dakota Dog's eyes, and I can see that he misses Dan and Sean. Some days he looks like the saddest puppy dog in the world. "Life is okay, Dakota Dog," I say. "It is okay."

He doesn't look too convinced, as he sits there on Grandma's sofa. Yes, he might feel a little deserted on occasion, but at least the food is good. And he gets to play with Long John all the long day. "Dan and Sean, their love for you, Dakota Dog, comes from inside you," I say. "Think of them. Can you feel the warm tickle that makes you smile?"

"They won't be away for long. Twelve pickles is all they will be away, Dakota Dog," I say, referring to all the pickles left on my plate at Waffle House. "You see, Dakota Dog, Sean eats the pickles off my plate. I can't get over how disgusting they look floating in pickle juice, but Sean doesn't think twice. So I miss him, too."

There is a sparkle in Dakota Dog's eyes as he sniffs my breath. I think Dakota Dog is realizing life without Dan and Sean is okay. While not preferred, life is okay. Walks still happen, treats still dispensed, and love still provided.

The Business of Strangers

Saw this excellent movie yesterday, which features Stockard Channing in the lead role of Julie Styron. The movie highlights the struggle for power between Styron and Paula Murphy (Julia Stiles). As characters, each represent a lifestyle that exist in polar opposite worlds. Styron is a career-oriented, accomplished woman having sacrificed her marriage, family life, sense of self and a life of balance for success, prosperity and recognition. Murphy is an uninterested assistant working for Styron's company, who approaches the variety of life in hopes every encounter will be chalked-up as experience that will one day expand her horizons, therefore bringing success, prosperity and recognition as a great writer.

Throughout the movie, the two struggle for control over the immediate social situation. Will Styron really trust Murphy when it comes to her career for which she has sacrificed so much of herself? And will Murphy trust Styron will keep her word for a life she has little invested in? The two play off each other wonderfully while developing a shaky trust. They also play off the audience, building the same shaky trust with you, the viewer. Observer becomes participate as you question which character you should align your allegiance with. The movie concludes with three possible endings, and leaves you wondering who succeded in the struggle for ultimate control.

This makes-you-think film has me pondering, on a deeper level, the role power plays in our society. More important than money or social status is power, who is in control of it, and who can wield it to their best advantage. Simply, if you have power, then your other intrinsic qualities are of little consequence. If you have a clear understanding of power and its fragile relation to others, then nothing will stand in your way. This movie clearly illustrates that dynamic.

Speaking of Strangers

Had lunch with an old friend and his new boyfriend today after not seeing him for some time. Old friend, that is. Building new relationships while maintaining existing friendships is a challenge. Maybe it comes easier for me than others, so therefore, my expectations are higher in this regard. While it was nice to see him and meet his new squeeze, I couldn't help but feel I've been down this road before. About to be ditched at any moment for for the "couple time."

Such dedication to one relationship is noble, however, when the boyfriend is gone, should it not work, we will be among the first he turns to for understanding, friendship and companionship. We will be available to fill his time, opening our home and heart. While his happiness is the important factor, the selfish boy in me wishes it came without expense of our friendship and the expectation that friendship needs no maintenance.

Pisces School Together

Met another pisces tonight at Red Chair. "Oh, so you must have foot troubles, huh?" I said.
"No, not really," he replied.
"Oh, well, then you change your shoes often," I said.
"Three times today," he said.
"See," I commented. "Told you so."
"Well, I have two pair of socks on, and I pay $15 for insoles," he said.
"Figures," I added. "Pisces have feet problems."

The reason for the season

Kevin's Holiday Party last night:

• An admission by a boy he has slept with 90% of the folks at the party.
  
• Another cute boy says, "Well, let's go so we can improve his rating."
  
• A fabulous ice sculpture in the middle of the buffet--melting and flooding the buffet.
  
• Only in gay America:

A's best friend is B.
B is dating C.
C is best friends with D.
D and E are dating, depending on who you talk to.
E is good friends with F.
F and A are dating.
Circle is complete.

• A Bitch Cat locked up in a Carry All hisses at Tony. Tony says, "You shouldn't hiss at me, that's why you're locked up." Cat is silent. Then screams this gutteral scream that stops the party and sends Kevin running, "What are you doing to my cat? What did you do?" "He lectured the cat," I said. "I react the same way."
  
• Boy walks in with 1993 hair style. Style was also fashionable in the late 1920s. He thinks he's fashionable, and carries himself so. Not to mention he's wearing enough cologne, he leaves a puddle.
  
• A hot little host.
  
• Oh, God, the bad fashion.
  
• An EMT shows up in his uniform with a support belt to provide back support - or hold in his belly?
  
• A blond-headed middle-aged man who looked like Hitler, only with poofy, blond hair.
  
• A loud straight woman who stopped every conversation when she opened her mouth because she overpowered everyone.
  
• Ken says "We'll see you at Robert's on New Year's." Tony says, "Oh, we've heard of it, but we haven't been invited." Ken: "Oh, really? I know Sean and Dan are going, so I assumed you'd be there, too." Tony: "Sean and Dan are in Germany." Ken: "Oh, that's right. We'll you should come anyway." We indicate that we're not on Robert's mailing list. Ken sends Robert over. Robert, "You're the ones with Barnes Place, right?" So now we're invited to Robert's. Ken made sure to indicate that the pool is as hot as the hot tub on that night. "Oh, really?"
  
• A squashed, dead bug on the kitchen counter.
  
• The Bar was set up in the bedroom.
  
• Oh, God, the bad fashion.
  
• "You should have been here last year. It was so crowded, you could hardly move, and there were people groping, and sucking cock and I don't know what else."
  
• D and E - touchy subject. We were told on several occasions not to discuss or bring up.
  
• God that straight woman was loud.

Golden Shower

Ohmahgawd! We walk in the door from dinner and the dogs start peeing. Every time Long John lacks attention - from his perspective - he pees. Every time Junk Yard Dog gets excited, she pees. When will the peeing stop?

Sights Scene

At the Monroe off the Bufford Highway Connector on the way home - Ford Excursion with a "United in Prayer" bumper sticker, driven by a hydrogen peroxide blonde, stopped handing a dollar bill to a homeless man.

Today's AJC

Forsyth County has announced plans to build a convention center at a park they're going to lease from the Army Corps of Engineers. Army Corps says they want to use the maintenance money they'll save at other parks that need more work. Folks in Forseyth say: "You've got a tremendous amount of businesses relocating to Ga. 400. They're all going down to Atlanta to hold conferences. We want to keep some of that activity up here."

Now that's a formula for sprawl.

To Do Today

• Coordinate January Sale Materials
  
• Find someone to have a cocktail with
  
• Redesign Jennifer and Nelson's kitchen, at their request
  
• What to wear for Happy Hour
  
• Plan social agenda for weekend
  
• Find "patriotic photo that is not blatantly patriotic" for January Sale
  
• Trim chest hair before tonight's party
  
• Figure out New Year's Eve plans
  
• Find different "patriotic photo that is not blatantly patriotic."
  
• Left-over Chinese for lunch
  
• Dinner with the Jennifer and Nelson
  
• Holiday party tonight at Kevin's. Totally hottie.
  
• Scotch that makes hair grown on your chest with Shaun
  
• Explain the finer qualities of Tom of Finland to Shaun

Dialing Chinese

Me: "Three orders of veggie rolls for a total of 6 rolls."

China Man: "Ah, tree oder, 'cause one is too. Make six."

Me: "Two egg rolls."

China Man: "Too egg roll, not four, 'cause one is one."

Me: "Egg drop soup."

China Man: "How maney?"

Me: "One."

China Man: "Jus' one?"

Me: "Just one. Vegetable Fried Rice."

China Man: "Jus' one?"

Me: "Yes. One Cashew Shrimp."

China Man: "Oh, kah"

Me: "One Bean Curd with Vegetables"

China Man: "Yah."

Me: "Steamed White Rice."

If only they could combine touch-tone dialing, Caller ID and Chinese Take-Out. Ordering Chinese could be so much easier: 29#,116#, 116#, 116#, 102#, 102#, 78#, 708#, 804#

Holiday Greetings

We got our annual holiday greeting from Kurt in the mail today. Thanks to the internet, we can now share KirtiXmas greetings with the world.

Sexy Mouthpiece Talk

When your neighbor refers to another neighbor as a "Sexy Mouthpiece", it tends to stick. Especially when it is, for the most part, true. He's good looking, and a corporate spokesperson. So I got this e-mail from Shaun today, where he takes a line from Bill's e-mail and ponders the subtle literary atribute a bit further:

an exerpt from bill's email:

...you as the official mouthpiece on any sensitive...

taken out of context (just like this) makes bill seem a bit controversial, don't you think? also, i'm wondering if he is implying, but not outright saying, sexy mouthpiece?

-sg

So I replied...

Bill is controversy contained in a shell created by the middle-aged white male Boomer that controls the world he operates in. Occasionally, his true self leaks out with the use of, "Dude!" and "Right on!" and "Roger that!" I try to ignore these controversial barbs as I do the cat calls tossed my way from the urban male prostitutes along Spring Street.

Maybe he's not implying "Sexy Mouthpiece", rather he's saying "Sensitive Mouthpiece". Especially when considering the most frequent cat call I must endure, "You shore gots a pretty mouth." If you're implying I have a reputation on the street that I am a Mouthpiece, for the record I think I'd much rather be known as Sensitive as opposed to Sexy.

But who knows, maybe it needs a, er, ah, head-to-head battle of the Mouthpieces. Now there is a controversial thought. And a conflict of interest in about as many ways as you could count.

:)

Oh my gosh!

So I start this blog, and hackers break into the host site. So for the last 24 hours, I've been trying to post but no-go. But now, I think I'm up-to-speed.

Made me ponder for a moment - recording my life in this digital form, and yet it can all be erased in a digital hiccup. I've known life is uncertain, but to have it completely wiped out in a few keystrokes.

Since I can't be logging yesterday live, I'll just review the highlights yesterday:

• Work was easy. Phone wasn't ringing. Boss left early, so we all left early, too. Love it when the boss isn't in the mood to work either.
  
• STEPS announce their break-up. I knew I should have gone to see them when they were hot last year. Who cares about debt?
  
• Tony got a flat.
  
• Ventured to Home Depot for timers for Dan and Sean's.
  
• Installed timers at Dan and Sean's. More challenging than I thought. How do you program lights so they look like they're natrual? The very nature of programming makes them not natural.
  
• Tony's Mother called. His Father proposed to her on Christmas Day--again. So, after 19 years of divorce and a few relationships in between, they're getting married again. If that doesn't set you back in therapy, I don't know what will. They're flying us to Las Vegas, where they'll be getting married; a small, fun ceremony. I'm not making this up.
  
• Sean and Hil arrived home from D.C., and after greeting them at the airport, we had an evening of holiday leftovers and pleasant conversation.
  
• Watched Startup.com, a fascinating documentary about two guys (childhood friends) creating an internet startup. The interpersonal dynamics are amazing--two high school students playing "company." Anyone who decided to give $50 million to these two to start a company is, in my mind, not a wise investor.

Now... to see if this works.

Christmas Dinner with Family

It's nice to be included with good friends in their family dinner. But it doesn't replace your true family. Not the accidental family given you by birth, but the family you create around you. Dinner at Linda and Kathy's was perfectly splendid. Linda's three girls are so wonderful in their unique ways. They're interesting and involved in life. Although, looking at Linda, you wouldn't expect anything less. Great food. Food I wish would magically appear every day. Challenging conversation. How do you create a sense of community in a community that prides itself on a "live; let live" philosophy?

One conversation stood out: Christmas is stressful. Why make it stressful? Why not save it for the people you want to be with? The people who don't stress you out. Tackle the family baggage on a day not necessarily less important, but when you can do something other than stare at each other and remind how you annoy each other so?

Maybe that's too pie-in-the-sky to think you can have a holiday without baggage. Maybe not all families are annoying? Is that possible? Or maybe its expecting too much to think that everyone can tell their Mother, "Sorry, I won't be home for Christmas." Does Christmas ever turn out how anyone expects?

In the coming year, maybe I can work on this. Although, do I work to enlighten those around me, or do I change myself? Bottom line, it's nice to be included with good friends in their family dinner. But it doesn't replace your true family.

Not Another Teen Movie (2001)

Passing time with Tony and Andrew. That is, after a Christmas Lunch - Texas Cheesesteak at a Awful Waffle (with a hostess (?)), hash browns, scattered, smothered and covered. Sweet tea.

A spoof on the teen movie genre. Nothing original, but totally brilliant in shallowly pointing out the shallowness of the teen flick. Molly Ringwald was a super brilliant surprise that leaves you feeling good about growing up on the very movies this movie works to poke fun at. Kind of like Flo showing up at the end of the Brady Bunch Movie.

Off to Kathy and Linda's for dinner.

Junk Dog

So we got this dog.


We got her for two weeks. Our friends go to Germany for two weeks, and we get their dog. Well, one of their three dogs. The cat is upset, wedged between me and the back of this ergonomically correct chair. He's been wedged there for two days now, growling every time this dog comes near. It's a deep, gutteral growl that has got to hurt his stomach. It hurts mine just listening. I'm waiting for for the cat to start vomiting. I keep telling the cat this space is still his; he just has to share it for a few days. He doesn't seem to like that idea.

This dog is pretty. His coat glistens in the afternoon light. She looks glamorous, but she does not look happy. She looks a bit sad and confused. Like she's wondering why her parents have left her. Maybe that's why she has stopped eating. I can relate. I look into her eyes and I feel a connection. Although, I have not stopped eating.

Let's just sit together, Junk Yard Dog, and wait for your parents to return.

Happy Christmas.

Okay, so I've been reading the blog of a friend, Frank Green, since mid-November and I'm captivated. I don't know if the time will come from nowhere to keep up with this, but we'll see. With my insecent obsession to document life, this could be the perfect forum. Now, let's see. How do I post?