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November 30, 2005

may your days be merry

I don't want to go home and see my parents for Christmas, I want to go to LA and sleep with my old boyfrind Dustin who I still care about.

I leave this decision to you, my readers.

Posted by JimG at 01:18 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

kids, there's a place that's like no other

There I was, coming out of Lunds, just marvelling at how clean I manage to keep my drivers side window when I realized that it was actually missing! I looked around for broken glass, amazed at the brazeness of someone breaking into the car in the Uptown Lunds parking lot with all it's traffic. Fortunately there was no glass to be found. What I found out later is that the '03 Jetta has a plastic clip which supports the window which tends to crack in cold weather, which we happen to have here in Minnesota. I found this out this morning while waiting at the VW dealership with 4 other people who had the same problem.

Now there are perks to being in recovery and I discovered one of them while checking in at the dealership. I had in a side pocket of the car an AA pamphlet and the guy who was helping me noticed it and asked me if I was a "friend of Bills". Then he bumped my name up on the list and I got out of there first.

Cool.

Posted by JimG at 10:40 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

November 29, 2005

wedding, what's a wedding?

What was she thinking?

This would look so nice in a silver frame on the mantle.

Posted by JimG at 01:13 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

this is the day

Wentworth Miller and I had a very nice night last night. He was so brooding, I love that. It is sad that we will not see each other until January, but I understand. Thank god for video.

I was having a conversation with a friend this morning about monogamous relationships, when relationships become "open" and how to handle that openness. Now in theory I can understand how people can do this, I have at times thought that an open relationship would work for me(as long as I was the only one being open), the truth is that I don't really think this type of relationship would work for me. Hmm, I guess what I really want is to be in love.

I just saw that my friend Clara Benedict passed away. Clara was 73 and had recently suffered a stroke. I got to know Clara because she acted as musical director for a whole bunch of shows I was part of when I was a kid. She always had perfect hair and was kind of a glamorous divorcee type. I loved her and am glad that I had her as part of my life.

Posted by JimG at 08:57 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

November 28, 2005

deep in the heart of texas

What an amazing weekend I just had! I was able to go to Houston for their Round Up. Talk about Southern Hospitality, the folks in Houston know how to throw a party. Danand I flew down Wednesday afternoon and met up with Dave at the hotel. There I finally came face to face with Cisco, who I already felt like I knew from phone calls, e-mails and blogging, but it was still great to give him a hug and be in the same area. Dave, Dan and I drove out for dinner on Galveston Island with our friend Steve who has a great place there. It was night time, so we didn't see alot of wreakage of the recent hurricane, a few shredded billboards, but thy must have been busy cleaning up, beautiful place.
Thanksgiving Day we all went to the Lambda Center for a thankgiving meeting and delicious dinner. There I met fellow bloggers Dave, Scott, Ricky, Steve, Kenny and a few other whose links I do not have at the ready. I met so many people, it was fantastic. Mike from Dallas shared his story, what a ride!
Friday morning I have the opprotunity to share my experience, strength and hope. It was good for me, hoe it was good for them. Plus it kept me sober another day, which is what is important, the only thing really. Dave, Dan and I decided to go to the Houston Galleria for a little shopping, the day after Christmas, not a great decision. There was a play at night, a delightful musical revue, really alot of fun. There is some real talent in Houston. CeCe from Atlanta told her story...amazing.
Saturday was all recovery all the time. Workshops during the day, wonderful dinner and speaker at night, Dave from North Carolina..fantastic. Cisco took us out to see a bit of the Houston nightlife. Damn, there are some pretty men in this world!
Sunday started the best way it can, with a speaker and a meeting. Dan and I checked out of the hotel and afer a great luch with some of the guys headed home. I have a very clear idea as to why the Houston airport is named after President Bush, nothing was clearly marked and there was no direction. Crazy. But after a very bumpy plane ride we got home safely. It was nice to sleep in my bed last night, with the boys...I really missed them.
Anyhow, I had a great time in Houston and am looking forward to getting down there again.

Thanks Guys!

Posted by JimG at 08:32 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

November 23, 2005

She's Back

Sorry about the lack of a photo, or entry yesterday. I didn't realize how many sad faces there would be out there.

I am packing for Houston right now, or should I say I am avoiding packing for Houston right now. I am so excited about this trip. I cannot think of a better way to spend a holiday concerning being thankful then with a bunch of recovering alcoholics. The gratitude list will be long this weekend, thats for sure.

I am angered and deeply saddened by the statements coming out of the Vatican these day. Angered and saddened, but not surprised. That pope makes it a great challenge to be catholic. It will be an interesting conversation with my father this weekend.

Keep me in your thoughts are one, I will be flying and would really like a smooth flight.

Posted by JimG at 07:21 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

November 22, 2005

wtf?

can't upload pictures this morning, some problem with my computer. I will be posting later.

sorry

Posted by JimG at 09:15 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

November 21, 2005

at the shrine of friendship, raise your glass high

Just two short days until my Houston trip. I am really looking forward to being away for a few days. Fortuantely the boys will not be alone, thank heavens for sponsees.

I went to the Outlets at Albertvilee on Sunday with Dan and Matt and bought a couple pairs of shoes that I certainly did not need. As my friend Fabain likes to say though, I am out of my needs and well into my wants.

Painted my den yesterday, chocolate brown. I was getting nervous during the application of the first coat, but by the time the third coat started to dry I was commited to it. It looks great.

I got a very funny email from my friend Melissa on Friday. Melissa and I used to work together and bounded over a shared twisted sense of humor and the fact that we share a birthday(May 19th, mark your calender). Melissa is great and has really help me deal with some of the resentments that I was carrying toward the church. She is a member of a rather conservative church, women can't wear make-up or jewelry and have to wear skirts, stuff that would normally get my feathers ruffled. But through my friendship with her, which I cherish, I was able to see beyond some of my own prejudices, and I thank her for that. Well, back to the e-mail, as you can imagine her current life path is someone conservative( but in an oddly liberal way) ... she has been reading my blog regularly and has started reading blogs I link to and sent me this e-mail:

I am too involved in too many hot gay men’s blogs…..

lol, just the way it should be.

Posted by JimG at 09:05 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

November 18, 2005

one dream in my heart

The weekend is here and I am completely ready for it this week, it has been a long one.

My friend Joe has begun blogging, he was writing about randome things to worry about while he is driving. He spends alot of time on the road, by himself and therefore gets to think alot.

This is never a good thing, at least not in my world.

So here are some things that I like to think about in the car, please feel free to add to the list..

* did I lock the door ?
* what I should have said was...
* is this headache really cancer?
* what will I wear to my parents funerals?
* do airbags hurt?
* how can I be sick of all 1500 songs on my ipod?

Posted by JimG at 08:40 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

November 17, 2005

Opps

I posted below without writing anything, it is that kind of morning. This time next week I will be in Houston and right now I am keeping that my focus...warmth(it is freezing and snowing here) and time off work, I need a vacation. So this will be great!

I have to get to a meeting, work, not AA.

Posted by JimG at 09:18 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

put up the tree before my spirits fall again

Posted by JimG at 08:52 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 16, 2005

thank you brian

My friend Brian sent me this picture that he took of me and my boyfriend Wentworth Miller. It is so sweet the way Wentworth is checking out my ass, he is such a dear.

Posted by JimG at 12:49 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

maybe this time he'll stay

I had a meeting with a sponsee, Al, last night and we came across a phrase in the big book I don't remember having read before. It is amazing how everytime I open that book I fond something new, and always something that applies to my life at that moment. I would share the phrase here, but I think I may be using it for Houston, and I would not want the suspense to be over. It would be as if they showed the new swan at the beginning of the show, the drama of the reveal is what matters.

My friend Melissa, who reads my blog daily although she would not want her church to know this, bought me the most wonderful present yesterday. The new TV Guide has a picture of Wentworth Miller on the cover. Now if I can convince Dan to impose my face over Dominic Purcell's then I will have a picture worthy of framing, celebrating the beauty of our relationship.

It snowed here today, not too much, but a freezing wet snow that made opening the car door difficult. Plus I realized that I do not have an ice scrapper! So I sat in the car for about 20 minutes this morning until the ice was soft enough for the wipers to get it off. Right now my feet are damp, winter in Minnesota, why do I live here? Well it is only 5 months.

Posted by JimG at 08:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 15, 2005

somethings coming

Hell of a night last night, had to watch prison break with a phone glued to my head while I was working with a family. Wentworth Miller hates it when I don't give him all of my attention. Today looks to be just as hectic.

 

8 days until Houston, 8 days until Houston...thats my mantra for today

Posted by JimG at 09:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 14, 2005

it takes two

Great, mellow weekend. Saw Good Night and Good Luck on friday night with friends, I will mention David D by name as his feathers got in a ruffle when I did not credit him as the companion to shopgirl, it was excellent. Mayor Ryback was leaving the theater as we came in, had to smile that the Minneapolis mayor was patronizing a movie theater in another town.

Countdown to Houston..next week I will be headed down to Houston for their Round-up, with Dan and Dave, meeting friend Steve and possible gal-pal Wanda there. Should be good times.

Posted by JimG at 08:43 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

November 11, 2005

there's a new girl in town

Ok, so the header is from a tv show, cut me some slack, it was appropriate. I wrote the other day about my dear friend Frank and his need to have a blog. So last night Dan and I sat down and created one for him. I give all technical credit to Dan, I was simply a creative influence. So stop by and say hello to Frank at his blog..... Diary of Man Frank I know we are going to hell for creating this, but the company should be interesting, at least if you believe Pat Robinson. Lunch with Lindsay was delightful. I am not sure how this woman really manages to exist in the world, I mean girl couldn't make soup...canned soup! But it was still fun and good to watch Days. There was a question that came up though, what happened to Jan Spears? My friend Scott B, also a Days fan, says that he thought Jan Spears may have died after being in a coma caused by hitting her head on a rock during an altercation with Mimi because of Jan Spears revealing Mimis abortion of Rex's baby....I wish I lived in Salem.

Posted by JimG at 08:13 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

November 10, 2005

could I wipe the tears away, when my eyes are dry?

Lindsay and I are having a special lunch date today. She lives very close to work, directly above in the same building actually(and yet she still manages to be consistently late for work), so we are going to her place for to eat. The menu is grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, the perfect autumn lunch( and boy is it ever autumn here, 32 degrees outside, dear God)

So it is lunch right out of lower school, and we are going to watch Days of Our Lives, which is probably the most exciting part! I have been watching Days since the 1970's, when Marie Horton was a nun and Alec Marshall ran Salem General. I really only catch Days now on the Soap network late at night, so this will be a welcome change.

Posted by JimG at 08:47 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

November 09, 2005

stop by on your way home

I am openly a Target kind of guy. I love the good design of the products, the cleanliness of the store, great price point, gay friendliness of the company. I live in Minneapolis, home of Target, so half the people I know have some employment, past, present or future, with Target. Beacause of this I have rarely found myself in a WalMart, until Monday night.

I was appalled at the crammed shelves, poor layout of the store, lack of assistance, even when approached, of the help, really it was an almost surreal experience. From the guys working on their cars in the parking lot, group congregating directly in the doorway, the half eaten Subway sandwich I saw on a counter, to the employee who just kept looking at me and repeating the word lamp as I tried to mime that I was looking for a harp for a lamp to support a shade. I walked around a while, hoping to find some great deal. I mean, I am a consumate consumer, I cannot go into a Target without finding something I want and at WalMart...nothing.

Could someone help me understand this phenomenom, please.

Posted by JimG at 08:44 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

November 08, 2005

the thrill is gone

Dan sent me this version, he new I was having a rough day yesterday and thought a pretty song would brighten my day...

turn up the volume and enjoy!

Posted by JimG at 12:27 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Here she is world

I had the most delightful surprise this morning. My old, old, old friend Frank called me from Miami. We touch base every few months and I always want to make it more often. There really is nothing in the world like old friends, and God knows the two of us have been through the wringer together. He is one of the funniest people I have ever had the priveledge to know and I am pushing him to start up a blog so that he can share his wit with others. Every year I make tentative plans to go to the Miami round-up, primarially as an excuse to see Frank, and every year the plans fall through. So this year I make a public commitment to get my ass to Florida this winter.

I do my grocery shopping at Lunds in the Uptown area. Damn where there some hot men there last night. I ended up home with some butter lettuce, a frozen pizza, fat-free cottage cheese, rye bread, hot sauce and sparkling water. I went in to buy toothpaste, something I did not remember until this morning when I had to stand in the toothpaste tube to get the final bits out in order to brush my teeth. I just get so damned distracted that I wander around dropping things in my cart. Little bit of trivia, thia is the same supermarket where Mary Richards tossed the chicken into her cart at the beginning of the Mary Tyler Moore show and frequent shoppers currently include Josh Hartnet and Bobby McFerrin(alyhough I have not seen him there in a while).

I have actually been picked up at this supermarket, sadly not by Josh Hartnet, but it was still fun.

Posted by JimG at 08:37 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

November 07, 2005

the tennis court is in the rear

If you have not seen the movie Shopgirl yet, log off your computer, quit your job,whatever you need to do in order to go see this movie. Alright, that may have been a little bit dramatic, but at least add it to your netflix. This was one darling movie. Even Steve Martin, who I usaully find a bit annoying, was wonderfully understated. Claire Danes is becoming a wonderful actress, I was very impressed.

Lindsay and are have having an argument, excuse me a discussion about what normal body temperature is. She is claiming to have a fever. What is normal body temp anyway?

Posted by JimG at 08:43 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

November 04, 2005

it takes two of us

I was flipping through the channels last night and on Lifetime, television for women and gay men, there was a wonderful drama starring Gregory Harrison circa 1985. OK, I only watched long enough to realize that he was not going to take his shirt off in the scene then I moved on, but I am sure it was wonderful. It got me thinking, and that is hard to do. I can remember being 15, 16 years old watching that horrible Trapper John MD show just for the opening sequence when Greg, he likes it when I call him Greg, would walk out of the shower on his RV and wrap the towel around his trim little waist. Damn I loved me some Gonzo Gates!

So of my adolescent fantasies, Gregory Harrison was toward the top of the list, along with Christopher Atkins, Willie Ames, Mike Radeke(he lived up the street from me and left his curtains open all the time God love him) and the guy who surprised his family by coming home for Christmas in the Folger's coffee commercial.

Who are yours?

Posted by JimG at 08:34 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

November 03, 2005

I'll cover you

Cars on which it is completely redundant to place either a rainbow sticker or an HRC sticker, in no particular order

* cabriolet- especially when driven by a man
* subaru outback-especially when driven by a woman
* jeep liberty-man
* jetta
* wrangler- when driven by a man over 30
* any suv without a child seat

Please feel free to add to this list.

OH yea, before anyone gets their feathers ruffled, I drive a jetta.

Posted by JimG at 08:21 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack

November 02, 2005

caught in the web

I had new windows installed at home and in preparation for it had to do a major spring cleaning style cleaning there. I try to keep my house relatively clean, but with hardwood floors and two cats dust bunnies abound. Frank and Henry had to be locked up in the guest room during the window installation which they were none too excited about, but such is life.

Posted by JimG at 08:30 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 01, 2005

the lark was blind

well, after a posting a picture of beautiful, if a bit grand women it is thankfully back to the boys and what could be considered hotter than a guy coughing while on his cell phone? I ask you that.

It is countdown to Houston, three weeks from tomorrow I will be deep in the heart of Texas. I have never been to Houston and am really looking forward to this. Coincidentally, Wanda Wisdom, pictured below, will also be in Houston celebrating Thanksgiving with her family. Nothing like travelling to a distant new place and hanging out with all the people you hang out with at home, that's what I always say.

I really do always say that you know.

Posted by JimG at 08:43 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack