I was bored and I really am starting to hate the picture I had on my profile. My grandfather took it when I wasn't ready. Very bad lighting and I was slouching down in the chair (bad habit of mine). So I "doctored" up the photo and suddenly I have some pictures from my "trip around the world" to share.
I started off in Chicago and visited Navy Pier.
And while in Chicago, I had to visit Wrigley Field and the locker room of course. Where were all the naked jocks?
Click Continue Reading to check out more of the trip. Next up on the trip was New York City. I even did a little time travel. Things I won't do for this blog and my special blog readers...all 6 of you!
Then is was cross country to the left side of this wonderful nation. Hollywood and San Francisco were the next 2 stops.
Yesterday when I was filling out my Friday Fill-Ins, I talked about my bff Jeff. I know I have mentioned him many of times, but the few attempts at posts about him have always ended up in the trash. The relationship I had with Jeff is always hard to describe, we were best friends but we didn't hang out much. We talked on the phone all the time, even though we lived a few miles from each other. We often would finish each other's sentences. And we had our own code and phrases that we used. I have only had 1 boyfriend that actually got along with Jeff. The other 2 tolerated him (but tolerated might be a bit too nice).
Jeff and I met in late 1987. It was an awkward sexual attempt that didn't go anywhere. We didn't meet again until a year later. This time I had gone into the restaurant he worked (I didn't know he worked there). We talked for awhile and I soon found myself going there quite a bit to chat. We had 2 more sexual attempts and we realized that we were better at being friends than we would ever be as lovers.
He took me to my first gay establishment (an adult bookstore). I took him to his first gay bar. And we both discovered the gay side of Chicago together.
Over the years, our paths were constantly crossing. He was the first to move to C/U. I would follow a year later when I moved in with my boyfriend. We worked together a few times, but were often warned about talking too much. We always argued about dating. I had said that I would like to try dating and relationships, where he said he would never date, he wanted to be single. He did have a few "special" friends, I know one he was in love with. He had met Chris in St. Louis and they had hit it off very well. He was soon making weekend trips down there all the time to see this guy. He never called him a boyfriend or said that they were dating, but this was the first time I had ever seen Jeff so into a guy. He was tired of driving and Chris wasn't going to move here. I know Jeff was contemplating moving there, but they decided to take a break to see how it would go. Jeff received a phone call about a month after the break had started. It was from Chris's roommate. Chris had died in a car accident the night before. I know Jeff was heartbroken.
Jeff didn't date again for probably 8 years. This was when we were pretty much on the phone with each other all the time. We didn't hang out much, and we never went out to the bars together. He started seeing a guy from Champaign. I am not sure how long they went out, but Jeff didn't tell me about him until after they had been seeing each other for awhile. David (not his real name) was a lawyer in town. David has a very nice house in the rich area of town, but Jeff never wanted to live with him. So David bought a house for Jeff to live in. He also bought 2 different cars for Jeff to use. And when Jeff left his job, David started buying rental property for Jeff to take care of. They didn't spend nights with each other very often. They would eat dinner together and talk. But they didn't spend much time together. I think I spent more time with Jeff than David did. And we didn't spend much time together. So in a way, I guess Jeff got his relationship without actually dating that he didn't want to do.
It was David who called me in December, 2006. I was just finishing up my shift at the grocery store and was in the office talking to the office manager. Jeff's name showed up on the caller ID and I was a bit upset with him because he hadn't returned my phone calls in the past 3 or 4 days. I can't remember what I said when I answered the phone, but I was shocked it was David and not Jeff. I was in ever more shock when he told me that Jeff's sister had found Jeff's body laying on the kitchen floor. He said he would call back with the funeral details but he just wanted me to know. It wasn't until about 10 minutes later that I could even begin to think. It hadn't even clicked in my brain yet that he was dead.
1. October _______is such a wonderful month, the beginning of Fall, Halloween, leaves changing and this wonderful weather_______. 2. ____Loneliness does_____ scare me! 3. Leaves are falling all around, it's _____freaking wonderful :)_____. 4. My favorite horror movie is _____Cube________ because ______very unpredictable and very scary and very original_______. 5. ______Thoughts of my bff Jeff (I miss ya)_______ = good memories. 6. It was a dark and stormy night ____such a wonderful beginning for a book, maybe I will use that for my first novel, then again, probably not____. 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to __relaxing and chilling with my friends___, tomorrow my plans include __more job hunting___ and Sunday, I want to ___finally be employed (if it was only that easy)___!
Wow, this song is very touching. I had never heard of Tom Baxter until I ran across his pic and video on Hunk du Jour. The video includes couples of all shapes, sizes, color and sexual orientations! It is FREAKING AWESOME! Of course, lately I have been in a funky (sorta depressing) mood...this video brought a tear to my eye as I watched and listened to it. Very touching!
