Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

This morning’s run was great… for the first 4 miles. Had a nice breeze, heart rate was behaving itself, mostly shaded. Then I hit the Awakening, turned that corner and Death Awaited. Breeze was non-existent, shade was precarious at best, the heart rate shot up and forced walking breaks. Yuck. Needless to say the last three miles sucked gorilla butt.

But, I still got out and ran.

Been thinking a lot about dating lately, and I’m still of the opinion that, while I’ve gone on dates, I’m still not ready for anything yet. It’s like when I think about eating meat – I can visualize getting right up to the point of taking a bite, then I just freak out and can’t do it. Everything just keeps telling me I’m not ready yet, despite trying. I can still be witty and charming engaging and all that, but that essential spark is just not there for me.

Which is not necesarily a bad thing (though it is occasionally an annoying thing).

Took a quiet night tonight, not really spending any time online, played some on the DS (there were so many weeds all over my town in Animal Crossing it wasn’t even close to funny – that’s what I get for taking 2 months off from the game). Talked with K for the first time in a while, he’s doing well, which was good to hear. Nice and quiet, which was needed.

Tomorrow’s run should be interesting. It’s a short one (thankfully), but I received my tempo trainer finally today after being on backorder for two months now. So we’ll see how the pacing goes with picking up the feet to a set rythmn. Should be interesting.

Assassins was really well done. Small space, big voices (mostly – Lee Harvey Oswald was a little weak), and really, really well staged. The curtain, a flag, dropped and the assassins and other cast members were sitting in an exact duplicate of the seat set up that we were in. Great commentary on who was where and what not. From there, it went really well. Good music, good show. Won’t be playing much longer, but I recommend it if you can get to it.

Was good to see L again. He’s been up in Maine or otherwise busy for most of the summer. Had fun catching up.

Legs are surprisingly well this evening, post-run. Sucking down water like there’s no tomorrow, though, and the piss at the resturant was pretty darned dark (dehydration, anyone?), but should get back to balance this evening before bed.

Work continues. Ran 7 miles this morning. Should be doing more, but that’s a good amount for a school day.

Happy hour with co-workers tonight, then back home for some grilled food with a couple I helped set up (rather, they knew each other and I pushed them together – forcefully). Was nice and quiet. Just got done checking LJ for the night, and the other journals I read. Chatting with a couple friends, then will get off to bed. If up early enough I’ll go for a ride. I have a practice tri, a sprint, coming up in a couple weeks and I’m very much not ready for it. Running, yes, but not the other two events. I mean, I’ll swim just fine, but after that, feh.

Life’s a mess, as always. The air thing seems to be fixed now, I’ve killed off the last head cold from that craptacular little adventure, and I’m running again.

I had a visitor over the weekend, a boy (in the BDSM sense) who is perhaps relocating to DC. Had a very fun time with him, despite the head cold. Played tourist, played period, though not as much as either of us would have liked (again, the head cold). Mildly disappointed at that, betrayed by my body. But a fun time with him, nonetheless.

Otherwise I’ve been feeling even more anti-social than my usual wont, killing off the shows on my TiVo, catching up on the DS games I’ve been neglecting, pulling down the books I’ve not yet read and starting in on some of them.

I want to write, but I’m drawing a blank.

Got a nice compliment from a lovely fella the other day. Just wrote him back to thank him this morning, my usual tardy self when it comes to follow up. Also been missing on emails to a few other folks.

Even though I rearranged the bedroom I’m still, somehow, getting air blowing past my face. I’m just going to have to crank the AC to get the temps really low and then turn it off to sleep. Or perhaps redirect the air at the windows or something. I just can’t take the dry sinuses any more, and I really, really want to breathe without chemical help again. Grrr. Major design flaw of the unit, as far as I’m concerned.

Did a massage exchange last night, which was nice. Very chatty guy, which was sometimes fun, sometimes distracting. But overall it was a good experience.

Have a visitor coming in for the weekend, getting here late tomorrow evening. Going to do some touristy things, which is always fun with folks who don’t live here. I enjoy playing tour guide in my chosen city, so this’ll be a nice break from the norm.

Counted the weeks until the marathon yesterday, it’s about 20 until the event, and I’ve not run a step since the triathlon. I need to get down to the local running store and get new shoes, though I could still run in the ones I have now that they’ve dried out. Looking at various training plans to see what I want to do to prepare for the event.

Last night was a lovely dinner with Brian at Cantina Marina. Margaritas, veggie burger, lots of dogs. Evidently Monday night is their “bring your dog to the restaurant” night and they had several cute pups out playing. The special is either a chili dog or corn dog for $1, and they provide snacks for the pups as well. Cool concept, especially for an outdoor space.

Dragged him back to show him the new apartment. After he left I straightened a lot more stuff up, put boxes away, etc. while chatting online. I’d love to get a small table that’s tall enough to chat on the laptop without having to bend over or sit down – when the boxes were piled up in here that was a possibility, and it definitely made chatting and cleaning much easier (I could just stop by, type a few pithy phrases and keep going). Perhaps on the one short wall where I’ve discovered that I now have room for a small table. We’ll see.

Only two more boxes of books left to be put away and then all boxes will be gone. Only two months in, that’s good for me. Now I just need to find a good shredder on sale so I don’t accumulate as much stuff as I did in the last two places…

Been texting off and on with last week’s date while he’s off on vacation. Trying not to bug him while he’s relaxing, yet still keep some contact. For the most part I’ve been succeeding, letting him get up on Left Coast time and text me first. Has been quite fun, he’s very flirty and good with words, both qualities I enjoy.

I think the thing I like most about Pride is that I get to get a whole lot o’ hugs. There are tons of people I always manage to run into at Pride whom I almost never see anywhere else. But pretty much everyone I see gets a hug, if I know them. Even if they don’t want one.

Marched in the parade this year for one of our city council candidates. He’s got one of the best records for queer legislation, as well as the best environmental record, labor record, etc. (if you’re a lefty, that is). But his campaign this time around has not been going as well as I’d like. He’s got a credible competitor this time, unlike the last time where there was a crowded field to take the pressure off of him as the incumbent. Frustrating. But I marched, and handed out leis, and saw folks (and didn’t see folks), and got hugs.

Had a brunch with fellow Body Electric school alumni, and again, more hugs. After that I wandered down to the Pride festival where I immediately ran into my evil twin, Marc. Fun story there, Marc and I look very similar, same height & weight, same hair, etc. We came to know each other because The Ex dated Marc shortly after I fled from him, mainly because he looked almost exactly like me (we understand there was a third twin out there somewhere, Marc saw him once, but we’ve never connected with him). Marc and I had great fun commiserating over how crazy The Ex was/is, but past that we enjoying hanging out together when we see each other. So Marc and I wandered the festival, stopping at few booths this time around, but jumping in to saw hi to folks we knew. Eventually we stopped in the middle of the thing and just let the crowds walk past us, which made seeing people we knew easier, actually.

Post-festival I wandered home and fell into something of a funk. To keep from simply wallowing in blahness I went ahead and rearranged my living room as I’ve been saying I wanted to do for a while now. The new set up now means, once I clear the assorted junk that’s now deposited on top of it, that I can actually use my dining room table without feeling like I’m hiding in a corner. It’s much more prominently placed in the room now and much more accessible. The desk is in the opposite corner, which meant relocating the cable wiring. I’m sure my neighbor was wondering why I was hammering in so many odd places yesterday afternoon. Now I have to figure out the art and put some assorted things away, but I’m finally pleased with the layout.

Despite that, it was still an awkward night in some ways. Getting home just felt, well, lonely. (and on a side note, I think I’m close to saying screw it to the co-op rules and bringing the cats home anyway; let them try something) I was suitably chastised for being so maudlin online last night, but one can’t always control one’s feelings, and I was just feeling down. I need to get refocused on some things, that will help, but there may be more changes coming for moi. Not a bad thing, certainly, and some changes I think I’m ready to accept and embrace. Not sure how they’ll be perceived by some, and I have to consider them carefully before jumping into anything, but I think I’m ready.

Anyway, enough being cryptic. Rainy morning here today, so it’s a walk to work kind of day rather than biking. Margaritas planned after work at the local watering hole, and then some more putting stuff away here at home. Might even show the place to a friend this evening. Thus far the only folks to see the apartment have been my parents and a couple tricks, but I think it’s ready for showing to friends.

The date went well. I didn’t scare him off, he didn’t scare me off, and I’ll leave it at that. I like him, and I’m looking forward to seeing him again on Friday before he takes off for a week of vacation out of town.

I was going to sit down and write up the rest of the trip report, but I’m just too wiped out to do it, and I have other things on the brain tonight.

The race went well. It was wet, wet, wet, wet, wet. And not just the swim. But I’ll post more details later in a longer race report. I did finish, and about where I thought I would, which was not bad.

The trip was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed spending all that time with my parents. Again, I’ll post my final thoughts on that later.

Mostly my brain is focused on tomorrow. I have to run several errands on the final day of vacation, including getting a new driver’s license with the new address, picking up my backup glasses, a haircut, some exercise of some sort, and a dinner date. I’m actually excited about the date, which hasn’t happened in a while. But I don’t want to jinx it by overanalyzing it here. Suffice to say I’m looking forward to it.

So, until then, I’m going to go unpack and enjoy being back in my own bed (which doesn’t have springs to roll over in the middle of the night!!).

We got some internet access, so I’m posting what I’ve written thus far from the past two days.

5/30/06, Tuesday
It’s begun to rain. We’ve had a relatively quiet trip up thus far, but now, about a hour or so from the campground at which my parents and I will be staying the night it’s begun to drip a little. They’ve been predicting thunderstorms, and the camp did report some thunder when we called them a little bit ago, but this is part and parcel of what they’ve been getting up here all Spring, part of what almost lead the race director to cancel the race when he discovered the transition area under a couple feet of water just a few weeks ago.

It’s interesting traveling in an RV, you can get up and wander around, unlike a bus or car, so legs can be stretched and hungers sated. Both parents have driven at different times (I’m not about to attempt it, even if asked), and for the most part we go along at a pace that rarely brings us up against someone else’s rear end – most of the time we’re the ones being passed, and that’s perfectly fine. It’s not like we’re in any hurry to get up there now, with plenty of time to arrive before Friday.

There are also small quirks of their RV, like the one drawer whose latch doesn’t quite work, so you have to kick it back in every now and again, and the water pumps I wasn’t warned to turn back on when I needed to wash my hands (“Mom, are we out of water?”). The couch which will become my bed is pretty comfortable to sprawl out upon (there’s a full or queen sized bed at the back for them), and I’ve been fairly comfortable on it. When not staring out at the mountains, streams and livestock, I’ve read, chatted with my parents, and spent some time paying down my third mortgage on Animal Crossing (yay for new fruits from the other animals – they help pay those bills much faster).

Had one little diversion when a bad sign lead us down a wrong driveway. I got to drive the Psion around as they backed the RV out and went down the right driveway. While Dad fueled up and Mom worked to reconnect the Psion to the back I took the time to inform her that if the curious 33 year old had looked in the cabinet right across from the toilet while sitting, the curious 9 year old (my niece) was sure to do so this summer and that it would behoove her to move the box for her vibrator to a more secure area. The look on her face would only have been more amusing if she’d been drinking something when I said it. At least I know I get my sexual nature honestly.

…

5/31/06, Wednesday

One of the more difficult aspects of this trip has been realizing how my parents have aged. You see some of it at home, but it’s brought to the front much more starkly when discussing plans for the day that include a lot of driving and/or walking around. Parking in handicapped spots (for Mom’s foot problems – they have the plates), trying to get as close to places as possible, taking a nice break mid-afternoon, in bed by 8:30 or 9, these little things add up to a picture of my parents that I hadn’t quite arrived at yet. I’m glad I’ve gotten the chance to spend this time with them, and I look forward to more time with them, but I’m not sure when we’d ever get the chance to travel together like this again.

Lots of thunderstorms this afternoon here in Cooperstown. After visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame (and Museum), which was quite cool, even for someone who doesn’t follow the game regularly, we wandered a little bit along the two blocks that comprise downtown Cooperstown, then drove up around Lake Osteaga for a bit, then back to the camp to rest. I think we were expecting Cooperstown to be a tad bigger than it was, but all in all I think it was perfect. The downtown strip was fun, you didn’t feel rushed getting through things, and you could get to everything you wanted to see in a day (or more, if you wished). But man, the thunderstorms were something else.

Thankfully they waited until after we were ensconced in the motor home, but at least three waves came through, one of which temporarily knocked out the electricity from the campground (right in the middle of fixing dinner, of course). Lightning galore, lots of thunder, and rain pounding down on the roof. When it let up the first time, Mom zipped out for a few supplies from the under-carriage storage, and back in just in time for the second wave. It did cool things down considerably, so we were able to cut off the a/c, but with the threat of more storms we’ve got the place sealed up tight, so I’m not sure how useful that cooling will be as we attempt to sleep.