I met my first "true" boyfriend when I was 21. My mother had just passed away, and I was continually going to the local gay bar with my friends even though the bar was 45 miles away. My friend Brandon had met Doug at the bar and ended up letting Doug move in with him shortly after that. Doug was the type of guy that could and would talk to anybody and would become instant friends with them. Doug was also famous for dating many, many guys. If they were still dating after 3 weeks, you knew they would be broken up within the following week. And of course, Doug would be on to the next guy.
Brandon and I went a drag show at the bar (so it was on a Sunday night, the only night they had drag shows) and were going to meet Doug and his new guy. For whatever reason, we ended standing behind the bar next to the dance floor. I remember thinking that Mark, Doug's current fling, was actually pretty hot. Nice body and nice smile. Plus he seemed to be very friendly. A few cocktails (or maybe 10 or more) later, I was standing behind Doug and Mark (arms around each other) and I was grabbing Mark's ass. That is very out-of-character for me. At one point, Mark turned around and smiled.
A few weeks later, Doug announced that him and Mark were through, he had found a new man. BLAH BLAH BLAH...YADDA YADDA YADDA. Same story, different day. I ran into Mark a few months after that, we chatted for a little bit and exchanged phone numbers. We ran into each other a few times at the bar (after all, there was nothing else to do in this town for gay men besides the adult bookstores). After 6 months of just meeting at the bar, we finally started dating. Unlike Doug, I was with Mark for 7 years. That is until he dumped me for somebody much younger than me. The sad fact is that Mark is 9 years older than me and his new guy is 9 years younger than me. 18 years is a big gap. But Mark and I broke up 11 years ago and they are still "together".
Now let's get down to the bitch part of this post. I used "together" in quotes for a reason. I talk to Mark about once every 6 months (if even that). It is usually just a quick hello and then we are on our way. But lately, Mark has taken to posting on Craigslist's personal ads. And not only is he posting his ad, he is posting naked pics of himself with his face pic. But my biggest gripe is that he says he is 37. 37????? He just turned 49 in 2008. He will be 50 this year. The one thing I cannot stand is LIARHEADS (sorry Carol, I am still stealing that word!)
Of course, if I was Mark, the thing I would be worried about is his boyfriend. The boyfriend hates gay people (must hate himself too) and used to be an officer of the local NRA chapter. Yeah, the gun people. I am just glad that I am out of that mess. But honestly Mark, STOP POSTING YOUR NAKED BUTT AND FACE PIC AND FAKE AGE at least 4 times a week on Craigslist. It just makes you look very desperate!
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Don't get me wrong, I do love this place. But tonight just wasn't a good night for them. Douglass and I went there for dinner after 8pm. I should know better than to eat at a buffet that late. But this place is usually very good. They usually are very good about keeping the food fresh and filled. I shouldn't say filled, they only keep small batches of everything out on the buffet table...but they are very quick about refilling the items. So everything is usually nice and fresh.
Tonight, we were shown to our table and they took our drink orders. While at the buffet, I noticed the fried rice was low. That was a bad sign since there were only 2 other customers in there. So I had white rice instead. The egg rolls didn't look all that fresh, but my General Tso's Chicken looked very good. And I also had some Egg Drop Soup. That is my usual Chinese food choices.
The white rice was not very good. The egg roll was old and nasty. The General Tso's Chicken was a bit old too. But the Egg Drop Soup was excellent!
And the real problem of the evening. A lady was teaching a few of the employees for their American Citizenship test.
So did we ever get drink refills? NO
Did they ever come over to clear our dirty dishes? NO
Did they ever bring us the bill without us having to just go the the register to pay? NO
And did we get our fortune cookies? NO
Once again, not the best evening. Douglass left a tip, I didn't leave anything. I think his tip was more than plenty for the both of us. And yes, I have spent many, many years working in the food/drink service business...I know how much tips mean to the server!
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The gym I used to belong to (yes, I let my membership go since I couldn't really do much working out with my back the way it is), the YMCA finally sold their building. They sold out to a funeral home. Their current location, "The Church Street site has been the home of the YMCA for 70 years. Originally known as the Phillippe mansion, it was built around the turn of the 20th century and acquired in 1937 by a group that formed the McKinley Family YMCA." read the entire article here from the local newspaper The funeral home wants to demolish they building and build a new one. What a waste! The building is a landmark in Champaign. I remember passing by when I was a kid and thinking it was a huge mansion. I didn't realize that it was a gym. While I agree the building does need some repairs/updating, but I do feel that the reason it hasn't been taken care of is because they just want a new building. Currently the Y is located on Church Street, very close to downtown Champaign. Their plans are to build a new building located near Windsor Road and Staley Road. The current location is 3 miles from where I live. The new location is 8 miles. So they added 5 miles to my drive.
The biggest complaint I have about the new location though is the neighborhood that it is in. One of the ideas behind the YMCA is providing services to everybody. They even provide free or discounted memberships for people who can't afford to pay. The location at Church Street was centrally located in Champaign and was very close to some of the poorer neighborhoods. The new location is on the outskirts of town. The only thing over there is lots of corn fields and fancy subdivisions where the average house starts at $200,000 and up. Now which location would better serve everybody?
The Y has been talking about moving for a few years now. One of the reasons for the move, the land was donated to them by some people who wanted the gym closer to them. The Y even had one of the local hospitals backing them in the financing, but that hospital dropped the financing this past year since it had taken over 5 years without any progress. That hospital also just built a new clinic very close to where the Y wants to move. So the Y has been begging the members for more money. They are constantly sending out requests for more pledges from the members. I never cared for that, I already pay more than I wanted to go to the Y. I am not poor, but I also am not rich either. I can think of better ways to spend the $36.50 a month.
I know a lot of the members (while I was still going) were not happy about the move. Most of the people enjoyed the location. The Church Street location has separate fitness centers for the men and women. They also have separate locker rooms for the adults and the kids. The rumor is that the new location will have 1 steam room, 1 hot tub and 1 sauna for everybody to use. I used to enjoy the fact that there were no kids allowed back in the men's locker room, where the men's steam room, sauna and hot tub were located. I know the Y had already lost some members due to the equipment always breaking down (due to little maintenance) and not being fixed.
So when it comes time to find a new gym, I will keep in mind that the Y will be moving soon, to a place not very convenient. They are saying they can stay at the current location until Dec. 31, 2010, but they will be moving sooner than that if they can get their new building built.
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