01 September 2000

Congaree

The banks of the Congaree river. LOL!!

As is becoming my habit when visiting Columbia, I went out on Thursday evening. Didn't wander up to Metropolis this time, but instead went over to a place called PT's. It's right across from the state capitol, on a well lit street, very easy to find and on a route I felt comfortable walking. Had called to get the number and address, specifically told them I was from out of town. They gave me the necessary information, but neglected to tell me that the entrance was around the back. I ended up at their street address with no clue on how to get in. So, feeling a bit silly, I knocked. A gentleman came and let me in what turned out to be the service entrance. Let me tell you, if you want to get noticed at a new bar there's nothing quite like coming out of the stage entrance, through the big red curtains, in the spotlights, and getting the seat right up front of the bar. *grin*

'Twasn't that busy when I arrived, standard bar music (really bad transitions) and a smattering of customers. Then the "male dancers" came out. OMG, they ended up being a good deal of the comic relief for the evening. I mean, they were cute, they had nice bodies, but they were so obviously not into what they were doing. Give the boys of a hit of something or a shot of alcohol and loosen 'em up already! Anyway, so they wandered around on top of the bar, back and forth, while the patrons either eyed, ignored, or giggled at them. At one point one of them managed to hook a bar napkin on the underside of his shoe and drag it halfway down the bar. We couldn't tell if we should tell him (I tried to get his friend's attention to let him know) or just keep being amused by it. Thankfully the bartender finally tapped him and took the napkin away.

So after the dancers went around for a bit the drag show finally started. The girls were pretty good. One in particular who did a Tina Turner number was very good ("Cleaning Woman" I think was the song). The outfits were good, the music was well lip synched. I enjoy a drag show, though likely not for the same reason that most do. I like the whole "gender fuck" aspect of it, the courage these men have to dress up in "women's" clothing and challenge society's notions of what is and is not proper attire, and what actions are and are not sanctioned. It's a fun time, and I don't mind admitting that.

Chatted with a couple of men in the bar during and before the show. I'm getting better and gently letting men down (well, better than having to escape that one guy on the dance floor week before last). The excuse of going back to the hotel and not being able to get anyone in there was a good one. Was having fun, one of the men seemed a possibility, then another guy who was there with a couple friends of his, gay and straight, asked if I wanted to go dancing at the conclusion of the drag show. Since no one seemed to be doing anything past the "what do we do now" dance after the show, I readily agreed. And I'm sure the energy gleamed from the multiple bourbon and cokes I'd had that night had nothing to do with it. ;-) I really do need to find another drink without the caffeine. But he asked, and I agreed, so off to dancing it was.

The dance place, Momentum, was just around the corner. We got there, I loaned my button down to the guy who asked me to go ("PR," he had a tank top on, which they evidently don't allow without more on), got in, got carded (yes!), and asked the girl taking money if there was any chance in hell that there were any more gay boys inside. She answered in the affirmative and giggled at me when I gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. ;-) Got inside, lost PR temporarily, started dancing with the girls he was with, then he caught up to us. Had a ton of fun dancing, as all of them were willing to be all over each other, male, female, whatever. It's more fun dancing with a group who is willing to be friendly with one another. Two of the girls got picked up (I think), one we saved from getting picked up 'cause she was way too drunk to go with anyone else she didn't know already. Finally left around 2 or so, dumped people off and then PR and I wandered off to the state capitol grounds.

I wonder how shocked the SC state government would have been to see two gay men making out on the side of the state capitol grounds. LOL! Didn't go too far before I chickened out and insisted we not get ourselves arrested on the grounds. I can't even imagine how embarrassing that would have been! So instead we drove out of town to a place he knew from college on the banks of the Congaree river. I don't think I had ever had sex outside like that before. No chance of discovery (we were in the middle of nowhere!), thankfully. Quite an adventure, though.

One footnote to the adventure is that my shoes were covered in mud and I didn't realize it til the next morning when I saw a touch of mud on my room floor around my shoes. Then, upon leaving my room to go get some breakfast and check out, I saw a clear path of my muddy footprints from the front door, all the way down the corridor to my room. How embarrassing!!!

Managed to make it back to D.C. in one piece and now it's time to go get some food.

07 September 2000

Can we just stop this now?

I grow tired of complaining when I'm sick, so I just don't write. I finally got to the doc and got some antibiotics for my throat (some sort of cold/bacterial nastiness). Yuck. I never wanted to turn this diary site into a "how is my health and did I pick my nose today" kind of journal. I find those depressing, not to mention boring. *sigh*

I went to Yahoo today and started a "Queer Diary" web ring. I got tired of the non-hits that the Gay Diary Ring gets. Never any maintainence, lots of broken links, ages to join, etc., etc., etc. I have the time to check links, so...

No other major drama going on at the moment. Doug's talking with me about where we want to move to when we move. He keeps thinking he might be able to talk me into moving to the 'burbs. I'll listen to him, but I think it unlikely that I'll leave my chosen city. I'm too much the city boy, despite the higher taxes, the lack of services, the bad roads, etc. I really do like this city a lot. It's convenient to my life (especially without a car), I can get to clubs, work, parks, etc. with a minimum of fuss and travel time. Cabs are cheaper when I'm out partying late (I dread to think what a cab would cost to get to NoVa, and I'm not nearly good enough to get someone to take me home every time I go out!). Anyway, I'll listen to his points. We'll see.

Okay, time for bed soon. I need to wait for G to get home so I can get him safely parked in the new garage parking spot I got him finally, but then it's off to sleepy land.

08 September 2000

Another Palm-Assisted Entry

00/9/8 8:31 a.m.

Perhaps public transit is why I'm getting sick so often. I'm sitting on the bus this morning and it's hard not to notice the people here who are not well. Coughs, sniffles, we've got them all. Does greater exposure on public transit lead to a greater incidence of illness? I would guess so but I wonder if any studies have been done to prove it.

The distressing thing is that the majority of riders are perfectly healthy, perfectly normal people. They dress like professionals (and the great majority exits at K St., the center of D.C.'s business district), they're well-groomed, etc., etc., etc. I sound like an incredible snob, don't I? *sigh*

...

00/9/8 5:46 p.m.

I didn't think I could be any more bored with me job than I already was. Boy, was I wrong. In a week whose highlight was switching our email system from Groupwise to Exchange (and of course the usual mandatory idiot-proof training), today was pure hell. I don't know what is worse, that I don't feel challenged enough, or that I've allowed it to go on to the point that I no longer seem capable of caring.

I chose my internship because I wanted to do policy work, because I wanted to be able to go home at five o'clock (or thereabouts), and because I was not yet ready to practice law. I'm ready now. I've put in my time in public service. I've done the noble thing. And I will continue to work for what I see to be the common good, but not where I am now. I have enjoyed my internship, don't get me wrong, but it's time to move on. I've said that before, this time I need to make it happen.

...

In discussing my weekend plans with a co-worker this afternoon the subject of laundry came up (because I have to do mine soon). After reassuring her that I was not yet out of clean underwear (*grin*), we launched into a discussion of straight men and their laundry/shopping habits. She noted that men (well, her husband, at least) had a tendency to shop to replace things. Not necessarily to add to their collections, but merely to replace items when they wore out. I likened it to having a tool collection that was a set, and when one item in the set wore out you replaced it, but otherwise you had a complete set (underwear, socks, pants, etc.) and that was all you needed. I think she bought it, but it quickly devolved into gossip about types of underwear and she had to head back to her office.

09 September 2000

Calls at 3 a.m.

Nothing good comes from calls at 3 a.m. It's the time of night where people are normally asleep (or out doing something else that is occupying their time), so when a call comes at that hour you know it's urgent. Deaths are reported at that time, as are missing persons, natural disasters, grave personal injury, etc., etc., etc. As I said, nothing good.

When my brother's friend AW called me this morning, almost in tears, I listened carefully (it's so easy to be calm and sedate when you're still half asleep), reassured her and took stock of the situation. Seems my idiot brother called her at 1:30, told her to hop online, chatted with her on AIM for a while, spelling and grammar worse than normal (drinking?), then told her he was going to drive from Atlanta to Troy. That night. She tried to talk him out of it, telling him to go to bed and sleep already, but he signed off, turned off his cell phone (little shit) and left. She panicked, called me to let me know what was up, told me she'd called the friend he was going to see who agreed to call her by a certain hour if he hadn't made it to town and suggested that she wanted to call my parents if he didn't make it in time. Now, while the idea of my parents giving my brother the once over for treating AW this way was a satisfying idea, sibling solidarity set in (not to mention not wanting to give my parents heart attacks) and I got her to agree to call me instead of my parents.

Then I called my brother and gave his voice mail a nice calm dose of hell myself.

He eventually called me at 4-something this morning when he checked his voicemail. If he had been drinking he was sober by that point, thought still on his way to Troy. I think I remember telling him how I had told AW to call the Georgia and Alabama state police before she called our parents, just to make sure he wasn't in lockup or in a hospital somewhere (guilt is a good motivator at 4-something in the morning). As usual he was unapologetic, but at least he was safe.

Until the next time I see him, whereupon I will be sorely tempted to commit fratricide.

10 September 2000

Quietude

00/9/10 4:24 p.m.

Quiet days are a very good thing, especially when it hurts to talk. The sore throat has been thoroughly zapped by the antibiotics, but the canker sore from hell, while marginally better, still wreaks havoc with my ability to speak. As a consequence I hauled out my cross-stitch and began to complete one of the projects. G thinks I've gone off the deep end (which I may do anyway if the damned palm doesn't stop mistaking my "f" for the french "ç"!!!). He just keeps looking at me like I'm nuts. Not that he should complain - it frees up the computer for him.

So, in hauling out my stitching I brought out my "femme" side, then promptly showed it up by being the Big Butch Boyfriend for Doug and changing his headlights. LOL!! I have never particularly given a rat's ass if someone saw me as queeny or not; I am who I am, love it or lump it and the rest of the world be damned. I'm good at stitching, I'm pretty handy around most cars/tools, and I can cook pretty well, too. Does that make me femme or butch? No, it makes me "me."

...

Went and saw "The Great White Hope" tonight at Arena Stage with Lawrence. Good play, needed a bit of editing in a couple of scenes (editing of a scene or two might not have been bad, either), but I liked it overall. What I found disturbing was that even though this was a play from the late 1960s, and was writing about the nineteen-teens, the number of racial epithets uttered in the play seemed a tad much. I suppose you leave them in now as a reminder of the politics of the time(s), but they still left me feeling uneasy. It's difficult to watch such hatred displayed against a fellow human being, even only in the theatre.

...

Throat is still a tad sore now, about midnight, but better. Sitting for several hours without having to talk (see "TGWH" above) seemed to help mightily. Gonna go swab the thing now and pray it heals soon!!!

11 September 2000

Nerves, or the lack thereof

First some random observations on the bus with the palm:

00/9/11 5:46 p.m.

I had almost forgotten how time would fly at work if I were actually busy. This morning flew for the first time in forever. A most pleasant change, if you ask me, certainly better than surfing the web all day or playing one of the freebie games from ZapSpot or the like. The afternoon, on the other hand, dragged along like a snail on valium.

Such is life.

...

The throat appears to be much better today. I can talk without pain, which is a decided improvement over yesterday. But don't look for me to be giving any blowjobs any time soon.

Not that I give that many to begin with. *grin*

...

The Post has decided they are going to give me the daily paper for free for the next three months in an attempt to get me to up my normal Sunday only subscription to the full thing. There are several problems with this strategy. First, I only get the Sunday Post for a reason - it's the only day I want delivered. Second, I read the Post online during the week. Third, I find this extremely annoying because I don't ever take out the paper I do have for recycling, so why would I want to add to that pile? Especially with a paper I don't even want in the morning!!!

So my coworkers are going to enjoy a free paper for the next few months. I certainly don't want to waste it, so why not take it in where it might be appreciated?

...

And now for the main course:

Got home, checked my voicemail finally and my doctor had called to let me know that a) at some point in the past I have either had (unlikely) or been inoculated against (yes) Hepatitis A and B, so I am now immune - can't catch it, can't spread, it, etc.; and b) my latest HIV results came back negative, again.

This latest test is more noteworthy, though, because it was the first time I've had an HIV test (and I've had many) where I did not feel nervous. At all. Nada. And that was a bit strange. Perhaps because I didn't have to sit through the safe sex lecture that Whitman Walker Clinic puts on (for good reason). Perhaps because I've not felt like I had done anything to put myself at risk. Perhaps because it was a simple blood test taken during a normal doctor's visit. I don't know. But it was nice not to feel anxious about the thing for once.

Normally this is a way to totally kill a weekend, or two days (minimum) as I wait for results. The mind races, the stomach flip-flops, one gets generally jumpy and morose. Much better this way.

I suppose now that I'm planning on having one every six months, just to be sure, that it's going to become old hat. May the test become so, may my resolve to stay safe not become so. Sex is great, but it's not worth dying for, I don't care how good it is.

So, a minor milestone, I guess. Wow.

12 September 2000

Bus Dispatches

00/9/12 8:32 a.m.

I need to get up earlier (said the boy on the very crowded bus). But of course that would mean going to bed earlier. Now where's the fun in that? *grin* But in all seriousness, the mornings when I run seem to take forever to get going, with the consequence that I arrive at the office barely in time. When you want to get out, meaning you want good recommendations, getting in late is a Bad Idea.

In any case, I had a good run this morning, not too strained, not too sore (though in the shower I could feel the burgeoning soreness in my shoulders from yesterday's gym workout). They're fixing an overpass that flys over the trail in Rock Creek Park and this morning they were doing something (cleaning debris from the top of the bridge?) which raised a huge cloud of dust. Nothing quite like that to motivate a good burst of speed in the middle of a run.

These entries written on the bus are interesting to me. It gives me a good thirty minutes or so to write (if I chose, and if I get a seat) in a time when I normally am already thinking about the day's events and how (or if) to describe them. I have no books I'm dying to read at the moment, so it's not like I'm cutting into reading time. Hmmm. Not a bad way to pass the bus ride. And a better use of the bloody Palm Pilot than simply keeping my schedule and address book. :-)

Have to give a mention to a new link I found to my site. Aaronica is the name of it, it's got good original graphics and a nice layout. Hopefully the owner of it, who just started college, will continue updating. I don't link to many, and I generally either know the people I link to or I have to like the site. I've not met this young man yet, so you do the math. *grin*

...

My computer is on the fritz again. ARGH!!!

13 September 2000

New Name

00/9/13 5:30 pm

Well, the idiots at Internic finally realized I'd not renewed my domain name in, oh, three months, so they shut it down. I didn't like the name anyway, since I was no longer using it for the list anyway. So I'm in negotiations now to rename the site after one of my favorite quotes: 'When angry, count four. When very angry, swear.' S. Clemens. Thus will begin countfour.org.

I don't plan on moving the diary site; I like having it separate and apart. Besides, this way I can keep it going without revealing it to my parentals and still have a site I can show off to them. The stuff for the list (which desperately needs to be updated!!!) will now be housed in a subdirectory like this site, and the main page will be set up as a blog. I've got a design in mind for the blog already, and with services like blogger.com I can update it constantly. I like that concept. I wonder how well it will work, but we'll see. In any case I'll at least make sure the design is pretty. *grin*

So goodbye to the late, unlamented gclist.com and welcome to countfour.org.

14 September 2000

Impatience

00/9/14 5:25 pm

Once again on the bus. Esosoft contacted me today to let me know the site had been processed and would be up and running this weekend. Hooray!!! Now to find time for a redesign. :-p

I think I'll take Brian's advice and play with Blogger for a bit before I totally commit to a site design for countfour. A couple of things are floating through my brain at the moment, but little decisions, like whether to frame or not, will have to wait. Add to the mix that I am most decidedly not a graphics designer and you get a recipe for frustration on my part. I'm determined to do this right, though, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

...

Not that I suspect they will care, but next I have to let my list know of the domain change. Joy. It's like awaiting a child (am I really and truly obsessed yet?). Impatience mixed with worry and frustration and anticipation and all that.

I already informed multiple mutual linkers that the change was coming so they could update their links. Such fun, moving postcards for the digital age, where the domain registries aren't kind enough to leave a forwarding address without a bit of change. Heck, even the Post Office does better than that. Ah well, I'll live, and I suppose my regular visitors will find me eventually.

15 September 2000

Back up!!

00/9/15 7:05 am

It's up!!!

Checked the new site from Doug's place this morning and it came up. Hooray!!! Of course, this means the old front page is still up 'cause they just transfered the files over. And it also means it'll all be up until at least Saturday since I'll not be home until then. Oh well, my little drama will have to continue to play out solely on my palm pilot. *grin*

16 September 2000

Party/Talking

Doug's party went really well last night. I enjoyed myself, though I was a tad tired from actually exercising consistently all week long (hooray!), the guests enjoyed themselves, folks showed up who were not expected (pleasant surprise). A good time, if I do say so. Got to meet his ex, KWC, and that went well, too, though we didn't talk that much. It seemed to be one big group chatting off and on, rather than the smaller groups he said happened last year.

So my number one boyfriend is 33 now. Cool. :-) He's complained about how old he is (who doesn't? even 21 year olds I know complain about how old they feel), but I like him how he is. Wouldn't change him for the world. Especially wouldn't make him younger, because then he wouldn't be my Bug.

...

In other fronts, had a slight communication issue with Lawrence, which precluded me seeing him until about 10-something tonight (I'll see him in a little bit - I'm still at home waiting for both of us to finish late dinners). One of those minor things which needs talking through. That's a big change from my earlier relationship with The Ex - I am much, much better about talking through misunderstandings and the like and making sure the two (or more) of us are on the same page and are taken care of. Not perfect by a long shot, but much better than I had been. Thank heavens.

17 September 2000

Race Report #3

Ran the Vanguard Race for Recovery 5k this morning. I hadn't planned on running a race this weekend, as I'm gearing up for the Georgetown 10k in three weeks, but friends talked me into it at the last minute. I'm glad they did, it was a good run.

Got up, as usual, at an ungodly early hour to make it to the course at Pentagon City so I could register. Making this a last-minute decision I had to register this morning, a painless process, thank heavens. Much easier than finding things at the Lawyers Have Heart race I did a couple of months ago. So, got there, spotted my friends, paid my $20 and then proceeded to warm up.

It wasn't as cool as my first race but was still pleasantly cool out. A very good day to run. The course was flat like my first one, too, so I expected to do better than the second, hilly Georgetown course (the same course I get to look forward to at the beginning of October). Stretched, warmed up some, made sure the heart rate monitor was working, got in line and off we went.

Started out well, and actually continued at a good pace until the halfway point. After that it was up and down. I sped up, I slowed back to the same pace. I didn't have the sustained burn that I had at the end of my first race, and I think that was why I ended up about 30 seconds slower than that one. I wasn't disappointed with my 28:04 finish. I was still faster than Georgetown, but I would have preferred a tie or at least closer to the first 27:33. That one just plain kicked ass. :-) I look forward to the 10k, and another 5k race the four of us who ran are looking at on the Mall the weekend after the 10k.

I can see changes I need to make in my training now if I'm going to improve my times on the shorter races, while still wanting to increase distances. Right now I want to get through the 10k (I just want to finish at this point!!), perhaps do a tad better on the 5k on the Mall, then see where I'm headed race-wise. A marathon is in my future at some point, it's just a question of when.

24 September 2000

Secrecy

Well, I am not allowed to divulge the majority of the happenings of this past week, so I've been very unmotivated to write. The highlight of the week, besides staying up all night Thursday (literally - I slept Wednesday night, then finally got a nap Friday afternoon), was buying a new shower curtain yesterday. Whoopee. The joys of working with privileged materials. *sigh*

Chatted with some guys in the S.C. room on gay.com today and it appears I'll be able to meet a larger gay.com crowd when I'm down there instead of just randomly going out this time. Now, while going out on your own can be fun (it was last time! *grin*), it's nice to meet a group, too. Yeah, you have to try to fit into the group dynamic, but if these guys are used to chatting online, they're used to conversations ebbing and flowing rather quickly, so I don't see that as a problem. It'd be nice to meet a group rather than just go out randomly. We'll see.

25 September 2000

Rain & Birthdays

00/9/25 8:13 a.m.

It's interesting to observe people trying to get on the bus in the rain. Folks who, under normal circumstances, would never dream of shoving their way in suddenly barge on without looking, though usually with an embarrassed look and a muted "sorry." The rain may have short circuited their sight, but not their sense of manners. At least not entirely.

The rain is welcome, nonetheless, as it begins to wash away the first bits of fall here in the District, those brave trend setters among the leaves who have determined that now is the time to go. Soon the gutters and sidewalks will be full of them, and we will wonder how we will ever clear them all away.

Autumn also brings my birthday, and while I certainly don't mind being a year older (though remembering to give the new number is always a challenge, much like writing a new year on checks every January), I do dread even attempting to have any sort of public celebration for it. I'm not very good at planning such things, and the last thing I want to do is try to cram folks into my tiny apartment. Ugh! In prior years I either had someone else (e.g., The Ex) to plan for me or, like last year, had not much of a social circle for whom to plan much of anything. Lack of a social group is certainly not an issue this year!

So, then, what to do?

26 September 2000

Random/Dancing

00/9/26 5:46 p.m.

Ah, that lovely time known as the end/beginning of the fiscal year. Was I worried about boredom before? Ha! Not for the next couple of weeks. Well, at least not as much as usual. ;-)

Did the gym this morning, including an easy half mile run to warm up. Felt better to have run for my five minute warm-up than to have walked, as is my normal routine. Shaking things up is a good thing. And I want easy runs this week to prep for Sunday, so this was a good thing.

Might actually get to see G sometime soon. He's revealed his workaholic side on this new job the past week or so. Neat to see, he's so psyched about what he's doing, but exhausting as well. I just don't want him to burn out.

Random thoughts today; no real theme going. Just writing what comes to mind.

And random is okay, it's how my brain works. Just ask anyone who's had to have a conversation with me in person, especially in a relaxed setting. *grin*

...

Well, decided I didn't want to sit at home all night long (after doing so for hours on end), and went out tonight. One quick (powerful) drink at Omega (OMG, the Jack and Coke was so bloody strong I was buzzed after 1/2 the drink!), then off the Badlands. I had been warned it was going to be 80s night (ewww!) at Badlands, but it thankfully was not. Saw a guy there, call him CT, that I had one date with last year as I was getting away from The Ex. Chatted with him for quite a bit, loved the fact that he'd lost all the weight he had gained six months ago (he was looking, to be honest, extremely cute), loved the fact that this time we actually danced together (good dancer). He left earlier than I did, I danced some more, looked at one or two boys, and just got home now, at a little past one in the morning. No run for me tomorrow as I danced my tukas off instead, but wow. A good night out, and one I needed - I could not have taken another night at home, all alone, nothing to do. I miss dancing.

27 September 2000

Late night

00/9/27 8:34 a.m.

Running a tad late this morning - the joys of not wantinq to get out of bed after a night out dancing. Thoroughly enjoyed the dancing, though, so I'm not about to mourn the lost sleep. I couldn't have taken another night at home doinq nothing. True, I could've attempted to do something useful, but where's the fun in that?

Bright, bright sun this morning (all the moreso after multiple overcast days) and I can't find my sunglasses anywhere. I suspect they are really and truly gone this time. Bloody hells. Another expense I didn't need. :-P

Why do I, writing on the palm, seem to attract so much more attention from fellow bus passengers than, say, the woman sitting across from me reading the paper? Is it the relative novelty of watching someone write? Is it just that I am more able to look up while I write and so I notice it more? Or am I just being hypersensitive this morning?

This is why I like to catch the bus earlier - it's too crowded at this hour. Ah well.

28 September 2000

Neglect

00/9/28 7:08 a.m.

Didn't get a damned thing done yesterday evening. Met Doug for dinner right after work, then zipped to his place to take care of some career search stuff he'd forgotten, and by the time we'd arrived at my place I was ready to collapse. So I checked mail (didn't even get yesterday's entry posted), forgot to pay bills, and zonked. Saw this morning where I missed a call from Lawrence, too. I'll catch him today, once I get to work. If I have time. *sigh*

At the moment I'm on the way to the gym (dancing may excuse running but not the weight routine!). That's my goal this upcoming quarter: to make it to the gym at least twice a week. It's working so far.

...

Neglected everyone today, email, phone, everything. I hate the last week of the fiscal year - stress city (I had somehow forgotten it was this bad last year, too, perhaps in the excitement over other things?). I've been irritable, distracted and generally not very pleasant to be around. Negative stress, that feeds on me, rather than "positive" stress, which excites me to further action in a good way. Blech.

So, home again, tired again, needing to go to sleep again. So off to sleep I go, in time to get up and run in the morning, last run before the 10k on Sunday (which they've changed the course for *roll eyes* something about permits to close roads and the like). I'll be ready for it then, but I'm certainly not ready for it tonight.

29 September 2000

Waiting

00/9/29 7:54 a.m.

Autumn is fully upon us here in D.C. It's one of those mornings when you can't remember if sixty-odd degrees out will be too warm for a sweater at mid-afternoon, or if a button-down and coat would be a better combination. Transitional weather.

Appropriate weather for waiting. My bar exam results should come in soon, at which point I'll know where I'm headed - further government service or off to private practice. I'm hoping for the later. While I enjoy the intrinsic rewards of public service I'm also ready for a change. A change in work, a change in work product, a change in work environment, and a change in work attitude. I see myself elsewhere, and I like what I see there.

And that's not the only place I see change in my life. I'm running a 10k this weekend, working toward my long-term goal of doing triathlons. I've gotten fairly regular about exercise again, working toward a more fit body. I'm doing a tad better financially, which will allow me to fix my aging computer. About the only place I don't see change is my dating life.

I am very content with my dating partners.

...

00/9/29 5:46 p.m.

Last day of the fiscal year successfully handled. Blech. Thank heavens that's over with!

So now it's time to head home & debate my evening. I need rest tomorrow for the race but do I run tonight or tomorrow? If not tonight, what to do? Go out? Chat online? Have a drink at home & relax? Hmmm...

In any case, a solitary evening. G is never home now (or is asleep), I'm seeing Doug tomorrow & Lawrence on Sunday. Don't know if I feel like hooking up. Eh, to hell with it. Head home, get some cola, have some dinner, grab a shower and a bourbon & Coke and chat online. Not the most exiting evening, but it'll work.

Traffic is just awful this evening. Not quite sure why that is. You'd think the city had lost it's collective senses (see, I do look up when I'm on the bus *grin*).

Will be home soon enough.