Pen and Ink

привет приятель.

Greetings comrades.

I'm back from Russia.  And Denmark. And Germany. And Estonia. And Finland. And Sweden.

(Wow, that sounds exhausting.)

I'm working on getting back into the writing groove, because there are lots of things to say about the trip and many pictures to share. 

(The diversity post from yesterday wasn't intended to be the first one now that I'm back, but that thing was kicking around in my brain for weeks. Feels good to get it out there.)

Cary and I, along with our friends David and Juan Carlos and Chuck and Brian, spent nearly two weeks together aboard the Celebrity Constellation for the Atlantis Baltic cruise.  And what a trip!



This being my first cruise, gay or straight, I had no idea what to expect. Everything, from the flight to Copenhagen to the flight home, was perfect!  (The security line at MIA was another story, but I'll rant about that later.)

The cities we visited were amazing. And expensive.  Copenhagen was delightful and highlighted by a concert by Chaka Kahn at Tivoli Garden.  Warnemunde, Germany was a little port town about three hours from Berlin. Not much there, but Cary and I both bought some cool clothes. 

Tallilnn, Estonia was delightful and a very pleasant stop. Helsinki, which I was told was very industrial, was very clean and modern. I wished we had more time there, but I will go back one day to explore more.

In between Tallinn and Helsinki was St. Petersburg.  What to say?  I'll do a whole post on this with photos, but let me relay a comment Cary made while we were there:  "We're standing on Russian soil!  Russia!!" 

The final stop was Stockholm, which turned out to be my favorite city. We had two nights in a hotel before returning and I could have stayed for a week!  Clean, beautiful, colorful...just the best.  And Swedish design is just so cool -- I came home with a couple of trinkets for myself.

The cities we visited were all highlights of the trip.  The on-ship aspect of the trip also had its high points.  As this was a charter, Atlantis brought on its own entertainers. I'll talk about them later, but for now let me say two words:  Chita Rivera.  This woman still has it going on!

Much more to come.

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The header on this post is Russian, obviously. Any guesses?  Post a comment and let me know what you think it is. 

Do you like [Insert name of race here]?

"Do you like Latin guys?"

Now that I'm single again and spending some time on a couple of "social networking" sites, I'm asked this question regularly.  Sometimes the question varies. Last night it was "Do you like black guys?" It could be Asian, it could be Middle Eastern.

My quick, quippy answer to the Latin question is, "If you live in South Florida and you're not attracted to Latins, your dating options are severely limited."  (All, joking aside, It's so very true.)

But the real answer is something that has been with me for quite some time..

I grew up in a town called Pompton Plains in Northern New Jersey. Back in the day, At the time, one could have called it "Wonder Bread Village."  It was the whitest of white communities. A whiter place could not have been found.

As I recall, we had one Asian family and one African-American family.  The Asian folks operated a successful Chinese restaurant and the patriarch of the Black family was a marketing executive (it was rumored that he was the genius behind the "ring around the collar" campaign) and eventually became the town mayor.

There were some Jews, too, but not many. I vaguely remember that a Jewish congregation rented space from one of the Catholic churches for a little while. 

We heard about Black folks and the Puerto Ricans, but they were in New York, some 30 miles away.

Now a lot of people would have emerged from that cocoon desperately afraid of anyone who has a slightly different pigment in their skin. Anyone who might have different customs or believe in a different deity or celebrate a holiday that isn't on the Christian calendar.

Thank whatever deity you believe in, but I came out my youth with no such fears. I had parents who didn't disparage anyone who might be different than us. If they had prejudices, they kept them to themselves and didn't inflict them on us.

(Susan, the oldest daughter of the Chinese family in town is, to this day, still a friend of mine.)

So as I moved from New Jersey to Boston, I was open to anyone and everyone. Working at Boston University, as I did for seven years, was a lesson in the meaning of "international community."

But as cities go, Boston is pretty white. No so in Miami. We white folks are the minority here. And I relish it! 

We don't have Latins here. We have Cubans, Venezuelans, Colombians, Brazilians, Equadorans, Peruvians. And I love the fact that I have friends from all these countries.

The diversity of ideas, customs, traditions, cultures, foods, music, theater, dance -- the diversity of everything -- makes life so much more interesting!  I eat it up like mad!

This all goes back to the question of "do you like [insert name of race here]?

The answer is hell, yeah.  While my partner of 17 years was a Boston Irish guy and while John was just as white, now that I've been back "on the shelf," I've had the opportunity go on dates with a Cuban and a proud Puerto Rican.  I've been chatting with a really nice Black guy who says he wants to meet me, and I'm also supposed to have a coffee date with an Asian guy this week.

This certainly makes some people uncomfortable. There are still too many antiquated attitudes out there. Well, too fuckin' bad.  The world gets smaller and smaller, and as trite as this may sound, we really are one human race. (Imagine the wake up call humans will get when the day comes when we learn that there really are other sentient beings in the universe.)

Diversity is not an idea, or an ideal to be achieved; it's the fabric of life as far as I'm concerned. And my experience on this planet is greatly enriched by it. And if it makes its way into my bed and my life in the form of a partner, bring him on!

And they're off!

Cary and I are off on our long-awaited Atlantis Baltic Cruise...Copenhagen, Germany, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Stockholm.

I'll try to write as we go, but not sure how much time I'll have.  If not, lots of posts when I return!

A fitting departure.

Ah, the Fourth of July. Our nation's birthday, the day we declared our independence from England. The day we celebrate all that this country stands for, most importantly the belief that all people are created equal.

How fitting that one of our nation's most virulent bigots, Jesse Helms, should die today.

This from the AP:  "It's just incredible that he would die on July 4, the same day of the Declaration of Independence and the same day that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died, and he certainly is a patriot in the mold of those great men," said former North Carolina GOP Rep. Bill Cobey, the chairman of The Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, N.C.

A patriot?  A PATRIOT?

This man personified hatred.  His hatred for us LGBT folks and those living with HIV/AIDS is legendary. It's fitting that he should die today. In these dark days in our nation's history, his death is a bright light, brighter than tonight's fireworks, a symbol that perhaps better days are ahead.

Good riddance!

Hot and cold.

Damn Murphy and his law.  That's what I have to say today.

We have this thing at work where we have an annual option of two extra weeks vacation or two extra weeks pay.  Most of us take the money, because our time off policy is pretty liberal.

So with some extra money in hand, I decided to invest in some improvements to my home. There are some major projects that I want to do, most of which extend well into the five-figure range.  But one project was within reach: heating the pool.

The previous owners of this house are a mystery to me. They installed the pool after the house was built. It's maybe 15 or 16 years old.  They also had a propane tank to heat it.  But at some point, they removed the heating system.  Why, is anyone's guess.

So as a result, I can't use the pool year-round. It's too cold in winter, which is frustrating, because I still have to heat the damn thing.

I did some research and opted to put in solar heat. It cost about the same as another propane tank, but it operates at absolutely no cost. The pool pump directs the water into tubes on the roof, which are heated by the sun. The water is then put back into the pool.  Fabulous. 

I signed the contract on Saturday and they installed on Monday.

When I got home Monday, I went directly to the back yard to inspect what was done and to check the water temperature.  It was up to 88 degrees. Just what I wanted.

Then I went into the house. It too, felt about 88 degrees.  Not fabulous.

One of the two air conditioning units crapped out.  The other one was replaced a couple of years ago, so it didn't surprise me when this one died. But did it have to do it on the exact day I dropped a few bills on heating the pool?  And a week before I'm leaving on vacation?

The joys of home ownership.