Check out the nelly one posing on a new Camry. I’m not too sure about the new nose of the Toyotas. These little button logos on the grille may supposed to be puppy-dog-cute, but I don’t think they’re all that. At least this Camry had a chin spoiler that made it look at least a little more passable as a decent-looking car.

Back in Sac now. Caught a bug on the way home, probably on the plane. So I was feeling a little under the weather, but I’m doing better now. In the process of remodling the bathroom which is a process that.. SUCKS.

But, all the hard work is at least being done by two gentlemen I hired to move the heavy stuff.. like the sledge hammer.

I’m hoping it’s done by this weekend.. We have family coming from Michigan to visit in April, and we needed this redo! Unfortunately the kitchen is under the knife too and so the house is feeling very very scattered.. and it’s contagious – so now I do to! I hope you’re well.. I’ll be better once the bathroom is ‘usable’ 🙂

Howdy.
I just returned from Texas and had the most awesome time. Look for more pics in the coming days, or you can always go to my Flickr site.

One of the things I did was go to the Houston Auto Show. What was strange about this one over a California Auto show was the amount of trucks (they do like they trucks in Texas) and people walking around with beer.

I thought that was stange because we don’t even have alcohol I think at the autoshow. I’m not sure, I never looked. There were also lots of queens there. Strange combination seeing cowboys and.. well.. swishy cowboys all walking round lots of trucks.

But, I had a great time in Texas – like I did last time! This time I got to see Austin and attend the Austin Round Up. My good friend Rich S. did a terrific job and Edie C. from my homegroup in California did an awesome job too!

I took a few days to visit San Antonio. Loved it too!

Take care and talk with you soon.

We’ve had a great time so far! I’m in Austin with my friend Rich S. from St. Louis and Edie C. from Sacramento. I’ve bumped into folks from Houston and it’s been terrific fun.

Here’s a pic of Ann Richards former Governer and always fabulous. We visited the State Capitol on Friday before the Conference started. We walked down Congress and it was a nice stroll. It’s nice here.

Ok, so I know it’s still a couple of months away (April 11th he turns 40) but I’ve been working on his Birthday Party and that can take up some time! Who knew?

I still have not received my first unemployment check.. can you believe it? And she’s going through the money like a sailor goes through rum. (Wait, I was once that sailor going through that rum). So, I’ll have to scale back my budget.

I am looking forward to going to Austin however next week to attend the Austin Round Up. I’ll be hanging out with my good friend Rich S. from St. Louis. And we’ll be getting into all kinds of trouble, I’m sure. My friend Edie C. from Sacramento will also be there, and I’m supposed to chaperone her to make sure she doesn’t get into trouble. But who’s watching me?!

The pic above is Rob as a little tyke. He’s even cuter now I suppose and just as much trouble. Rob’s family is coming from Michigan so it should be a good time. I’m on my way to a noon meeting now so I must run. I’ll try and post some pictures from Lake Tahoe this weekend, which should be great fun.

Ciao!

Here’s a fun link to sum up your 2005.

Hugs from afar.

Christopher

Hola! It’s been sometime since my last post but we’ve been busy. Sick really. But, better now! So, Christmas past has been better, but I’m just happy to be up and around! I wish the sun were out. We’ve had really bad rain here the last couple of weeks, but hopefully it will subsided some and not wash us out! The Corps of Engineers has promised we’ll be fine, but after those poor folks in New Orleans.. who knows if you can believe or not!

We spent the evening tonight with our good friends Kelly and Anthony. That was so nice, since we haven’t seen them (or I haven’t) in sometime. I was feeling guilty about it.. I mean, I’m only across the river. But, more importantly – let me know how your Christmas Holiday was.

Ciao for now

Alright..

My friend Matthew’s memorial service is this weekend. His family are Soldiers for Christ in the Salvation Army. I forgot what a homophobic organization they are, but slowly but surely, I’m being reminded.

We’re putting together a photo-montage of his life. We have oodles of pictures of Matthew but they have made us take out the drag pictures. No cross dressing photos allowed. (Hello. That’s a good chunk girl!)

Then they won’t allow us to have his partner’s poem at the service (male to male poetry?).

We’re abiding by all this to respect his family of course. The last thing we’d want to do is turn his memorial into a protest but I am reminded of what we can do as individuals.

The photo above is a 3-Dollar Bill (as in: queer as). I used to print these out several Christmas’ ago and drop them into the kettle in front of the department store when I passed those seasonal bell ringers. I thought it was a vocal, and non-confrontational way to remind them that there are donors out there who are unable to contribute to some of the good work they do because of their homophobia.

Of course, now that Ms. Kroc (of McDonald’s fame) has provided them with the largest donation in U.S. history, they probably don’t even wince at my folded three dollar bill. But, if ALL of us did this, across the U.S. EVERY Christmas, eventually over time, maybe they’d do the math of how many real dollars they’re missing out on. Even die hard Christian’s do math in dollars and cents don’t they?

http://www.cultureandfamily.org/articledisplay.asp?id=336&department=CFI&categoryid=cfreport

I, for one, will be resuming this practice, I hope you might too. Be well. I love you.

http://www.glaad.org/eye/stories.php

We were…

in San Diego at our cousin’s home of Carlos and Karen. I wasn’t feeling well and we almost came home early. But Karen and Carlos were very gracious and set me up with comfy pillows, ginger tea and home made soup!

But, then we received a flurry of calls from Northern California letting us know that our good friend Matthew D. had passed away in an accident in his home. We were horror struck and immediately packed and came home to be with our friends in the fellowship.

Matthew was 28, just getting ready to graduate from college, putting the finishing touches on his home remodel, had been working full time and partnered to a wonderful man Bobby T.

He stole the show in our video production at our conference (rcru.com). He was one of those folks that ALWAYS said ‘yes’ to every call for assistance. He made everything fun fun fun and we’ll miss him so.

Today, December 6 he would have celebrated 5 years of sobriety. We love you Matthew.

Not all..

days are sunny in bright in California. Contrary to what you might have heard. It’s blustery today and Rob and I are heading the car towards San Diego this morning. We leave momentarily.

The photo above is of Foster who unfortunately, passed away yesterday. He had cancer and had been limping around for a couple of weeks. My sister and family are distraught because he’s been such a big part of the family. We’ll be going to chop down our christmas tree next week and it won’t be the same without the sound of my neices and nephews laughing as they run through the trees with Foster barking right behind them.

I hope the weather in San Diego is nicer than here! It’s likely to be. I hope you all are well. And my next report will be from Southern California.

Back from Houston…

After the most wonderful time I’ve returned back to California for a brief stay in my own bed before heading to San Diego. I’m in Northern CA so, San Diego is like a 10 hour drive.

Here’s a recap of one of the best conferences I’ve attended:

Wednesday:
 
I arrived at the airport early and made my way over to the terminal ‘I thought’ David C was arriving at.  After asking each other on the phone over and over again ‘where are you? Where are you?’ .. come to find out we’re in two different terminals.  (Houston Airport is Texas big).  Our FABULOUS host Miss Cisca (Cisco but I prefer to call him Cisca which is much better than his roommates nickname for him “B.G.”) wisked us away to our overnight accommodations and then we went to Barnaby’s.  It’s the café we went to last time I was in Houston and is a terrifically fun and delicious eatery with a touch of camp atmosphere.  We met several nice folks including Brandon, who I hadn’t realized played Eddie Haskel in last year’s musical production at the Houston Conference.  Great fun, what a cutie.
 
Thursday:
 
In the morning we ate.  Well. Actually. I ate.  The Empress, David C. doesn’t do much of that.  Food in the morning turns her stomach so coffee is all she can manage but I didn’t let that stop me.  Of course.
 
Miss Cisca picked us up and took us to the Lamda Center.  Great fun. I saw David D. who was SO gracious last year and treated me to a lovely dinner and showed me what Tex Mex really was. We saw others too from last year and it’s so nice to make those connections and then be able to hang on to them! Our Thursday night speaker at the Round Up was Michael from Dallas. What a great speaker. He was better than when I heard him in Miami. And, easy on the eyes too. 🙂

The musical was not to be believed. They always do such a great job at the Round Up in Houston. They have Texas-Sized talent there, that’s for sure!~

Friday:

I spent the morning watching Empress gulp her third coffee for breakfast. I almost felt guilty for eating food. Almost. We heard Jim from Minneapolis and spent some additional time getting to know the crew from MN. Also Cece from Atlanta spoke and she did fabulous – as I knew she would. I spoke with her in Seattle and just love her.

Saturday:

Empress was a little nervous and I convinced her she was going to do just fine. Went to the workshops. I also made it to every candlelight meeting. Love those late night meetings. In Sacramento, you can usually find me at the all nighters..

We had a nice luncheon and heard a woman from Eucless TX. I think I spelled it correctly. I’ve not been there. Hanging out with Millard and David from last year was great fun. They are the nicest folks!

Empress spoke and did the most phenomenal job. After he stepped down and sat down, before the count-down. We both just cried and cried. I think we both had the realization that life has changed. We know that sobriety ebbs and flows. People move on, new life experiences are undertaken. But it’s clear he’s not likely to return to Sacramento and the truth is, who knows if even I’ll be there. I’ve been searching for a new place in life and as I spoke in many of the meetings there, I don’t know where I’m going. It was just one of those moments where we realize we’ve been best friends but it’s not likely we’ll ever have those days of serving on committees and running around North Hall terrorizing newcomers and oldtimers alike.

Sunday:

The Round Up wound down. We said goodbye to good friends some we only just met. We went to Barnaby’s (of course) to say farewell to the MN gals. We went to the cast party and David said adieu as he departed to North Carolina. I’m not sure when we’ll cross paths again. He’s talking about going to Miami but the next stop I’ll probably make is the Austin Round Up.

I went to the meeting and heard Betty D chair. I was tired and so enjoyed my plum tea and chatty conversation with Cisca and Charity after a lovely dinner. I was so ready to come home. It seems like it’s been more than two months since I’ve spent time with my husband Rob. Maybe because it HAS been more than two months. We’ll be taking a much needed time-together and drive to San Diego. I’ll report more later! Be well.