Author: Paul

Book Time

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Long day at work today. Not as many opportunities to walk extra miles today. Lots of sitting times. But 6.37 miles isn’t too bad either. I always say if I can at least do 5 miles a day, I’m doing well.

Last night I finsihed reading Tim and Pete. It ended well. Tim and Pete ended up together after a really wild night together chasing after a friend who Pete met at AA. It was a pretty wild story in the end. I was very glad that the two guys ended up together and in love. I really enjoy a good gay love story. However, Tim and Pete was written in the early 1990’s when AIDS was a huge issue and very political so there is lots of reference to the Reagan administration and how they denied attention to the problem. Besides the political stuff, I really enjoyed the story.

Tonight I’ll begin reading Ready To Catch HIm Should He Fall by Neil Bartlett. I went to the Barnes and Noble web site and found this description of the book:

“A deeply romantic evocation of gay life, this stunning first novel by celebrated British gay writer Neil Bartlett gives a tender, erotic, brutally explicit portrayal of love between men. In a dark corner of the best bar in the city, two lovers fall into each other’s arms. The bar has been called many names, but it is now known simply as The Bar. Its proprietor is the aging, still glamourous Madame. Its clientele is gay. The two who fall in love are Boy, a beautiful nineteen-year-old, and the handsome, forty-something “Older Man” referred to as “O” by the regulars of The Bar. This is the story of Boy’s and O’s courtship and marriage, of Madame’s role in the affair, and of the man called “Father,” who threatens to come between them. Searingly honest in its deception of gay culture and ritual, this gripping novel is at once a moving celebratiion of love and a stark picture of life for gay men today.”

So it sounds like I’ll enjoy this book as well. If I get into it like I did the other book, I’ll walk more and finish it quickly. Then again, if I don’t enjoy it, I’ll put it down and pick up another book. I have several to read so it wouldn’t be a problem finding another book to read.

Background Noise

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Typical day at work. Nothing special. I even left early and was home by 3:00 today. When I got home I did my usual web surfing and then sat on the couch to read. I checked my pedometer when I got home and I had only walked a little more then 5 miles during the day. Feeling like a slug and feeling guilty for just sitting on the couch reading, I decided I would go downstairs to the treadmill and walk a few more miles. I put on my walking clothes, grabbed my iPod Mini and my book and headed downstairs. Luckily there was no one in the exercise room and I had my choice of the machines. I chose the one with the best view of the door so I could see who was coming and going. I cranked it up to 3.5 miles an hour and began reading. One might be wondering what it is I listen to while walking. Well, I’m not your typical gay man who gets into dance or house music. I’m actually a geek when it comes to background noise while walking. I prefer something without words so I won’t sing along thus tearing me away from the book I’m reading. I usually prefer something very soothing and quiet. Believe it or not, I listen to John Tesh while walking. His music is somewhat monotone without drastic highs or low volume lows. It becomes simply background noise. Something to drowned out the hum of the treadmill but not loud enough to distract me from what I’m reading. It’s typical new age crap but it’s just right for walking on the treadmill while trying to read. I enjoy it. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I listen to John Tesh but what the hell, it works for me. I actually have some Yanni in my iTunes library as well but his music is all over the place and would cloud my attention to the book. So while listening to John Tesh this afternoon I really got into reading my book and wasn’t really paying attention to how far I was walking. When I looked up I had gone 3 miles! I felt good about that and decided to finish the chapter I was reading and stop. After the walk back to my condo I checked my pedometer and found that I had walked a total of 8.43 miles today. That is VERY good for me. I feel very good and proud of myself for doing so well. Now if I could just see a change in my weight. I hate waking up, stepping on the scale and seeing the same 180 everyday. It seems like it takes me forever to loose a pound. I’m really watching what I’m eating and increasing my cardio (obviously) so I should see a change in my weight soon I would think. I’ll stick with it. It took me 3 years to loose 50 pounds. I can wait a little while longer to loose 10 more pounds.

On the topic of music, I downloaded a bunch of songs from iTunes a few days ago. One I downloaded that I’m really hooked on is Jessica Simpson’s With You. With You Click on this iTunes button to take you right to the song at the iTunes music store. I know it’s typical bubble gum top 40 kinda music but I like it. I put it on a CD with others I downloaded and listen to it in the car. I keep hitting the back button to listen to it over and over. I’m weird. I know.

Typical Sunday, Beautiful Sky

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Typical Sunday. I got up early. Cleaned my house. Did the laundry. Nothing significant occurred today to write about. However, the sky was pretty amazing today. The blues were really blue. The white clouds were really white. And there has been a smattering of gray clouds floating around all day. The wind is fairly strong today so the sky is ever changing. While some would say it was a chilly brisk day, I found it to be beautiful. The wind could have been less but the sky was amazing to look at and see it change. At one point the sky was so blue I just had to get my camera out and snap a few. I’m not sure how the sky becomes so blue. I think it might have something to do with the ozone or reflection of the oceans or something. I’m not sure. All I know is that it was beautiful. If I talked to a meteorologist they could explain to me why the sky is blue and the clouds so white. The discussion itself would probably boring and would take away from the time I could have looking at the sky. Go outside and check out the sky. You’ll love it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, take time to notice the small things.

Old Town

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My friend David wanted some new pictures taken for profiles and web pages so I went over to his house this afternoon. I ended up taking 105 pictures. Of course any photographer knows that of that many pictures only about 5 or so are actually good. He liked about 15 of them. David wanted several poses and different outfits so we spent time picking those out and finding different places around his house to take pictures. So we spent the afternoon taking pictures and changing outfits. The results aren’t too bad.

While I was at David’s and during one of his outfit changes, I called Sweet Brad to find out what we were doing this evening. We weighed our options and decided to go to Old Town Alexandria for dinner and walking around. David decided to join us. So David and I met Brad down at the Torpedo Factory and we walked over to the Fish Market for dinner. The meal was good. There was a guy there with his ‘girlfriend’ but he kept looking at me. Brad saw it too. Every time his girl looked away, he looked at me. He did this for quite awhile. I couldn’t figure out why he was looking at me. It was odd. After dinner we walked up and down the street and checked out some of the stores. After walking around awhile we decided to go to Ben and Jerry’s for ice cream. We walked to the store to find out it was closed. They had such damage from the hurricane in September that they have not reopened. So we walked back up the street to some frozen custard place. I can’t remember the name of it, but it was pretty good. We then walked down to the waterfront. I’ve been to Old Town before but haven’t been down to the waterfront. Pretty nice. There was a slight breeze and it wasn’t too cold at all. Brad pointed out all the sights we would be able to see if it was light. We lost all the daylight while walking up and down the street. I made a mental note to return to Old Town during daylight hours so I could get some great pictures. Without significant light, the pictures didn’t turn out that great so I only found 3 that I liked. I’ll definitely return and get some great pictures. Lots of things to see down there. We then walked around some more and decided to call it a night. We all parted ways and I followed Brad back to his house. I hung out with him awhile. We laid on the couch and touched and talked. I was trying to get him to become a more emotional person and express his feelings. He thought he did. I disagreed. We left it at that. It was getting late and I know he was getting tired. I know when he’s getting tired when he starts scratching his head. When he does that a lot, it’s time to go. So I said my goodbyes, gave him a little kiss, and I was on my way. Overall it was a very nice evening.

Logan’s Run

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Sweet Brad came over this evening for a few hours of quality time. We watched thew news and caught up with each other. We then finally watched Logan’s Run. Back in 1976 when it came out, I thought it was the coolest movie. I thought the effects were great and the idea was wild. Seeing it now as an adult with many years of great movies in between, I think this movie sucks. I mean, the special effects are awful. They are so bad. Of course this is 1976 when special effects were lots of lights and small models that were filmed as if they were real. I wasn’t impressed with the movie at all. The only redeaming quality was that we got to see some bare chested men. That’s always nice. After the movie I gave Brad a little back rub. That was nice too. We were both tired so Brad went home. We’re going to do something tomorrow evening but neither one of us knows what. If you have any ideas, let me know.