Happy Friday all! It’s another beautiful day out on Long Island and I should be at the beach….maybe later… There’s been lots of things going on the past few days and lots of catching up to do, so here goes nothing…





My House



Crisis averted



Last week, I shared some disturbing news about a mortgage escrow statement I received in the mail. It had said that I either had to come up with almost $5000 or have my mortgage payment go up by $400 a month, neither of which I can afford. I thought I was going to lose my house, and even though I do eventually want to, I don’t want to lose it that way.



Anyway, to make a long story short, I made a few phone calls last week and the bank investigated the escrow account, finding three errors on their part. In the end I may even end up having a surplus in my escrow. Now it looks like I’m going to be able to stay here…for now. Whew!





Photo Source: Just Jared



Crazy Stupid Love



I went to the movies the other night only because it starred Ryan Gosling, the hunky actor who my buddy Rich told me about. The movie is called “Crazy Stupid Love,” and it stars Gosling, Steve Carell, and Julianne Moore. The movie was okay, but boy was my friend right about Ryan Gosling! Absolutely gorgeous in every way and well worth the price of admission!





Photo Source: blamonet



Circus Wednesday



I’m almost getting to the point where I know I’m going to start missing going to Circus on Wednesdays once school starts. Once again, I had a fabulous time and I’m making new friends. It really is a special place, so if you’re a PLU (People Like Us – or rather “Me”!) and you live on Long Island, you should definitely check out the Lizard Lounge in Bohemia on a Wednesday evening.





Ms. Ruby Diamond in action at Circus



That’s what friends are for



They say a person is lucky to have one or two good friends in their life. I’m starting to find out that although I thought I had just a couple, there are others who either are or have the potential to be true friends, and I feel very blessed to have each of them in my life.



Lisa



This summer I’ve met a few good people with potential for long-lasting friendships and one of them is Lisa. I’ve mentioned Lisa before. She’s the woman that remembered me from religion class way back in the 2nd grade, about 40 years ago. Though I actually first met her again last year, I’ve spent a lot of time with Lisa this summer and I’m starting to enjoy her company more and more.



We had a good time over at the Grove last week and I even drove her home. She’d told me she owned a barber shop and I had promised her a visit there, which I made this week. What a nice place she has! It’s called Hats Off and it’s kind of in between an old fashioned barber shop and a beauty salon, nicely decorated and very comfortable. Lisa made me feel so welcome when I got there, telling the whole crowd of people waiting how we met, and I’ve got to say she gave me probably the best haircut of my life!



Rita



Rita is a fellow teacher in my school district. We’ve known each other a couple of years and have grown to be good friends. I hadn’t realized until I had breakfast with her yesterday just how much I missed her not being around. What started off as what should have been an hour breakfast turned into a three-plus hour talkathon. Love ya Reet!



Ozzie



Ozzie is one of the newest people in my life and I’ve already spoken of him a few times in this space. We don’t know each other well enough yet, and I haven’t been sure just what kind of place he’d take in my life, but I think I’m starting to figure it out. We were supposed to go to Splash together last night, but at the last minute he couldn’t make it. He did figure into the night though, when all was said and done…



When you least expect it, expect it!



Every once in awhile I‘ve wondered what it would be like to run into him again. I couldn’t imagine how I’d react, and now a day later I know. Just like in our old days together I feel like I always either do or say the wrong things concerning him and last night was no exception.



It’s funny, for the past several weeks I haven’t gone out alone and yesterday I almost had a car-full. I was kind of hoping to go alone for a change and things seemed to align themselves for this most unexpected purpose for I did end up going alone and for the first time since January, I bumped into him, and it wasn’t pretty.



All I will say about it is that I was standing on the dance floor at Splash and spotted him. He’d already seen me and was coming my way. I don’t know why, but I just turned in the other direction and started walking away. It was just a gut reaction and of course, it wasn’t a good one. In the long run we did speak a little, but I think both of our nights were kind of soured and definitely uncomfortable afterwards. I told him later on that I wish I had a redo, and that’s the truth!



A Developing Friendship



During the evening I texted Ozzie to tell him that I wished he was there with me. I was uneasy and I could’ve used someone to talk with and dance with. After a couple of texts back and forth, he told me to come through on my way home, which I did. Since he’s new in my life and doesn’t really know about this particular history of mine, he was a good person to talk to. I got to his house around 3:30 and we talked for at least a couple of hours. I went home feeling much better.



In all I’m learning that even though he’s got this public persona and has a lot of acquaintance ‘friends,’ he is really a genuine person beneath it all and I’m really glad I met him. I think he was brought into my life for a purpose and little by little I’m starting to believe ours will be an enduring friendship. So for like the umpteenth time, thank you Oz!



The Department of Health comes a calling



Yesterday I received an email from a guy at the NY State Department of Health. He said that he wanted to speak to me regarding some articles I’d written on Examiner. He’s with the HIV/AIDS area of the department and I have done some pieces on the subject, so I’m sure those are what he wants to talk to me about. Right now I’m waiting for a phone call from him and I’m a little nervous as to what this is about. Stay tuned…



Well, I think I’m all caught up now. If you’re still reading this, I want to both thank you and apologize for giving you so much to read. I’m always humbled by how many people are following this blog and I hope that whatever I put in here, whether it be cool music or my silly, innocuous personal stories, gives people some entertainment, perhaps a few laughs, and lots of smiles. My friend Michael even gave me a nice shout-out on FB this morning, telling others in a comment to read my blog, so thank you Michael!



Here’s a Robyn song to mark how I’m feeling right about now. Yes, what’s past is past and no one can go back and change it, but if only to dream…







Tweet

Read more »

Happy Thursday everyone! Today looks like a gorgeous day outside and I think I am finally going to hit the beach later as long as I can get the writing done that I want to get done. It’s so hard sometimes because I get so distracted by all that is the Internet…Facebook, Y!CN, my blog, etc., etc., etc….. Oh well here goes nothing…

Hangover?

At the moment I have a bit of a hangover, you know headache, tiredness, a little queasy. I don’t usually get hangovers, but for some reason I guess I drank a little too much last night, but at least I can remember that it was a good time…

Mr. Gay Long Island at Circus

For the second straight week I went to Circus Wednesdays at the Lizard Lounge and I think I’m getting addicted. Their promo for last night was a contest for “Mr. Gay Long Island” and boy was it packed! It was the first time I can remember such a good crowd at a Long Island gay bar on a weeknight since I was in my twenties and it was nice to see.

One of the reasons for me going last night was to see my new buddy Ozzie, AKA Ruby Diamond. I hadn’t seen him since his barbecue on Friday and I kind of missed him. Anyway, it was his job to get people to sign up for the contest and he was having such a hard time at first that he asked me, lol. There was no way! I’m way too old to compete with those guys even though I look better now than I ever have, and besides I am way too shy. Once I watched the competition, however, I think that maybe I would’ve placed third.

In all, four guys threw themselves into the mix for the title of “Mr. Gay Long Island” and the winner turned out to be the only logical choice. He was a guy named Julian who was adorable and sweet and had lots of muscles. I knew as soon as he got up there that he was going to be the winner. The other three contestants consisted of a cute twink that used to be a go-go boy at the Bunk (I believe his name was Keith if I’m not mistaken), an average, everyday kinda guy like me, and a grandpa. Yes, you heard right, a grandpa!

Grandpa had been dancing up a storm earlier with a hefty woman, shirtless and getting all bump and grindy with her. It was a spectacle, to say the least, as many of us standing around the dance floor were watching with “OMG” smiles on our faces. The dude was definitely drunk as a skunk and I was surprised yet not so surprised to see him in the competition. When it was his turn to shake his thing, Mr. Grandpa dropped his drawers, much to the horror of everyone watching. I was just a little embarrassed for him.

In all, it was a really fun night. As I said before, Lizard Lounge is a beautiful place on the inside and all of the people that work there, including this cute new bartender Chris, seem genuine and friendly. I ran into a guy I talked to once named Orlando, who is directing a staging of the musical “Rent” at the Patchogue Theater this month. Some of his cast members came along and performed three songs from the show, which was marvelous. I also ran into this girl I met earlier this summer on Fire Island, Paola. That was a really nice surprise as we recognized each other immediately and gave big each other big hugs. She’s going to the Grove on Saturday so I’m looking forward to shaking it up with her again.

I’m almost sad that in a month or so I won’t be able to go to Circus Wednesdays anymore, because it’s a school night. I know that I’ll be going there for the rest of the summer, though, because a good time’s a good time, ya know? After what’s been going on this week (and I know my friend Rich will get a chuckle out of this), I needed it!

Here are some photos from last night...the grainy ones are from my iPhone and the good ones I stole from Circus' FB photo album, which you can check out here.



The four contestants...cna you guess which one is a grandpa?




And the winner is....Julian!




This is Chris, the new bartender at Lizard Lounge...apparently Ruby got him to take his shirt off finally after I left...:-(




The cast of Rent.




Jay taking photos of the competition. Can you spot me in the crowd?




My girl Ruby doin' her thang!

Thank You

Once again I want to give a big thanks to all of you, my readers, for checking in with me here and again. I woke up this morning to find that this blog has hit the 50,000 page view mark! I’ve been getting between 500 and 700 hits per day on this site and I am both humbled and excited at the same time. Here’s to another 50,000!

Tweet

Read more »