The Trials and Tribulations of the not-so-New Bear Icon

Joey wants you to vote, especially you Californians who can vote NO on 8, so her daddies can stay married.

She's been told that both of her daddies have voted for change. They voted early.

My mind is everywhere right now.

*First, I'm watching Kathy Griffin tonight, and she's gone to the GAYVN's (though she never call it by name) and they show a shot of the audience and I say to Chris, "oh, there's that porn star that killed himself last week." I suddenly thought...wow, why do I now so much about porn stars?

*We ran out of dog food last night so I thought, on the way home I'll pick some up at the pet store where the attractive guy works. He was there, and I'm lugging the 40 pound bag of food around, and nothing. He lets the girl check me out and that was that, I'm carrying a 40 pound bag of dog food to the car.

Well, I text Chris to say I got the food, and he doesn't see it before he goes and gets a 40 pound bag of dog food as well. So he gets home, sees that we now have 80 pounds of dog food and proceeds to tell me that the cute pet store guy (Pet Shop Boy?) actually said hi to him. *sigh*

*Hmm, I kind of missed the Baseball All Star Game tonight, didn't I? I saw a little bit of Home Run Derby last night when we were over at Michael (mikeybeartx) and Michael's (starzcub) house, but there really isn't much reason to watch all-star games in any sport.

*Why is there such a big race for president right now? Because we want these guys, almost any one of them, to take over right now. Every day it's more denial, more corruption, more riding roughshod over laws. A majority of American's want the Vice President impeached, almost as many want the President, too. I do have to say I'm glad to see that American's are realizing that Cheney is the more dangerous of the two.

*Alright, now the thing that has me on edge right now. I have an interview on Thursday within the company, and it's in the form of a demonstration. I'm to demonstrate my skills as an instructor in a class room setting. Today I was given my assignment and I have to come up with a lesson plan and actually teach the subject for my interviewers.

The plans aren't that difficult, but i've been given a lot of time, 45 minutes to teach something that's basically rejecting a request, so I'm trying to find things to fill the time without over padding it. I'm unfamiliar with their training production region in the imaging system (paperless office, so they say), so I'm trying to figure out how I can best explain how to get the work into the system, and even better - out of it when they go to do practice items.

In the screen-out interview I told them that I've done training before, and I've written curriculum for my old company, but right now it feels like years since I've done that (six to be exact). I'm finding myself to be a little rusty on planning.

Still, I sold myself well, I thought, so they won't be the only one with expectations to meet. I want to wow them and show them that I deserve this position much more than someone who only has seniority on me. I have to show them that my skills as a trainer trump their knowledge of the companies policies and procedures.

I'm nervous. There's six other candidates (down from 12) going for this and none have my skill, but I feel like I have something to prove here. I feel like I have to crap a rainbow out of my ass or something.

Now if they'd only give me some time on the clock to prepare for this crap!

Good weekend, beautiful weather, and running around trying to get things done before this week's TBRU festivities. Chris and I got our pre-run haircuts. We didn't spend as much time as we should have cleaning the house for our incoming guests. Especially bad as Joey has totally eviscerated a rope chew toy and there are strings all over the house.

I spent much of the day yesterday watching Chris play softball. I felt kind of awkward as I'm not on a team. I felt even more awkward as I don't know anyone on Chris' team, and most of the people we played with last year were playing a field over. I spend most of the doubleheader with my nose buried in a Series 7 book, studying the driest material ever. Did not make for a lot of fun. Perhaps I made the wrong decision about softball, but I didn't hear anyone clamoring for my poor playing skills.

As I had a lot of trouble with tickets for The Police, I'm kind of wary to buy tickets to the Cindy Lauper/Erasure/Margaret Cho tour - the one I'm calling Gays take over the Smirnoff Pavilion. What a great venue for a super gay tour. It's not so much the tickets price or the acts, but that the tour supports the Human Rights Coalition (HRC). I'd be much more interested if it benefited an organization that I felt did more for the community than make little stickers, have big, fancy fundraisers, and build itself new headquarters. I'd much rather support GLADD, NGLTF or Lambda Legal.

OK, in my way of trying to be the person who ends memes by doing them last...go ahead, ask me questions. I'll try to answer them soon, and it will get me up and writing. I've been kind of silent of late.

It's now been a year that I grabbed up some of my belongings and moved into this house. It's been pretty good. I certainly love the TV! The companionship has been nice too. I'm also glad to have a dog in my life again. It's taken a little getting used to, having Chris around everyday as opposed to the weekends that we had shared previously.

Sure, we're both a little tough to talk to, and occasionally it's lead to some misunderstandings and some hurt feelings, but I'm going to guess that happens with every couple. Personally, I don't know. It's still my first time around. Still, I think we have learned to understand each other better in the past year and hopefully we'll get even more in synch.

Of course we're both pretty darn stubborn. I think I beat him in this in a lot of ways, especially with my eating habits. Chris doesn't like that I won't eat veggies, and a lot of the recipes that he knows have something in them that I won't eat, so we just end up going out to eat all of the time. It's something I need to work on because Chris would like to cook more and I could use to save some of the money we spend going out.

The real gripe about the big move has been the job. I won't dwell on it much tonight, but let me say that I think I was told things about this job that it clearly isn't. Still, I'm happier that my current boss is much more receptive to my wanting to do more, and be more than my previous one who only talked to me at my review. 2007 is definitely about setting myself up for, and getting a better position.

One of the biggest changes was the sleeping arrangements - and I'm not just saying this because we had both slept on the same side of the bed when we were single (on the left). I made the move over to the right. However, there's a study that said that couples get less sleep than singles do, and I believe it. The study says couples lose up to 49 minutes of sleep a night. I haven't seen exactly why this is, but I have some ideas.

for one, you're somewhat conscious of your partner while you're in bed. Not just in the way that when they move you might wake up, but there just seems to be a little instinctual thing that makes you a little bit aware of their presence. I know that when I move around I kind of "feel" where Chris is, so I won't kick him.

Strangely, I'm usually the one who stays in my zone. It's probably from the many years I have spent in a twin bed, even as an adult. My tossing and turning can be kept in a relatively small space. I think that this technique was improved over many band road trips where I'd have to sleep with someone in a hotel bedroom, and try not to touch them because I was scared that the other person would think that I was "that way".

Chris will slide his legs over to my side of the bed sometimes. I don't know why, but he likes to sleep diagonally. Since we both have CPAPs and are usually connected to tubes all night, we don't get to do a lot of spooning. Spooning's nice, but it usually wipes both of us out for the next day.

Of course there's one other element that has changed our sleeping arrangements over the last month or so. Joey the Dog has been joining us at night because my soft heart doesn't like sending her out to sleep on the porch on a cold night. She's a big 50 lbs lump who likes to sleep on top of the comforter in the space right between Chris and I. Somehow she steals the comforter off of me on many a night.

She's gained the privilege to sleep with us as she can stay still for most of the night. I remember when she was a puppy and I'd be over we tried to let her sleep with us, but she'd run around and bark and yes, she once peed on the bed while we were in it. Now that she's grown up (she just turned three), she's usually well-behaved. As it gets warmer again, I think we'll put her outside at night, so I hope she doesn't get to used to it.

For a few years I did sleep in my small twin bed with my family's wiener dog, Fritz. He was a pretty big dachshund, so there wasn't a lot of room for the two of us, but he liked to burrow under the covers. Joey certainly does not want to be under the covers. She likes to sleep where she can have a good view of everything.

There's a nice feeling, though, of once you put your CPAP mask on, that there's someone there who loves you. Just as you drift off there's a light touch from your partner, or maybe you hold hands for a little bit. It's nice, and reassuring.

Of course, it's a big bed, which is great. We go to hotels and suddenly we're in this small bed and there's no elbow room! Talk about having a tough time getting to sleep! I guess we're both guys who need our space. Still, our bed's up pretty high, so there are times where i worry that I may one day fall out of bed - though it's been years since I've done that.

Yeah, my life changed quite a bit over the last year, but it's been a good thing, something that's helped me grow up, and be more responsible in thinking about two instead of just one. Decisions I make, and the moods I express effect him, and his effect me. It's a different world.

I love being here with Chris. Really, it isn't about Dallas. I haven't found all that much to brag about, city wise. It's all about the relationship and learning about Chris and learning about myself. It's about the everyday lives of two people, and the difference in everyday living as opposed to dating, or just seeing each other on special occasions. Luckily the transition has been a good one.

Though I'd say I'm most grateful I didn't have to buy an HD-TV of my own!