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

Five years ago today I met a guy at a restaurant known for it's fried food and queso. It was a little meeting at lunch, since we missed meeting each other the week before as I had gone to austin at the last minute, and didn't go to a Rugby game in Houston.

Nothing was said on that day that was to show what was to come, except a little note in my entry that over lunch I kept babbling on and on. While then it was from being nervous, i still find that I'm the one that can babble more about nothing than he can.

Somewhere along the way I thought last year was the five year mark, but a check the other day of my journal showed that I was wrong. I won't say it's our anniversary, it wasn't the day we fell in love, or decided to date or anything. Today is but a date to remember when we first met.

Still, five years. Not too shabby. I, for one am damn glad it happened. And like I still love fried foods and queso - sometimes even together, I still love Chris as well.

So we're now 40 days away from my 40th birthday. Already this year i've been feeling the pull of this big, biblical number. Since we're now so close to the actual event, I'm tagging my next few posts with the above banner. It's also an encouragement to me to actually blog something for the next 40 days. Sometimes it may have something to do with the upcoming birthday, sometimes it won't. Just like anything else in my blog, it's terribly inconsistent.

While I think of myself as old already in many respects, really I've lived through some interesting times, but not necessarily everything. As most of us, I was born after the Big Bang, and will likely die before the Apocalypse. Everything else is just details.

Do to kick off this 40 day countdown to the big day, here's a little list for things I'm younger than vs similar things that I'm older than. Certainly there's a bigger list, but it's just something to get us started here.

On with the show, we only have a few days left now.


Michael is...

Younger Than...	Older Than...
The JFK assassination	The RFK is assassination
The War on Poverty	The War on Drugs
The American Basketball League	The NFL-AFL merger
Tim McGraw	Faith Hill
Apollo I Burns on the launchpad	Apollo 11 lands on the Moon
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band	The White Album
Monterey Pop Festival	Woodstock
Canadian Centennial	United States Bicentennial
Kermit the Frog	The Muppet Show
Bay of Pigs	Watergate
Vietnam Police Action begins	Vietnam War ends
The Monkees debut	The Partridge Family debuts
Nicole Kidman	Julia Roberts
Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood	Sesame Street
Cabaret	Hair
UNIVAC	Altair 8800
Houston Astrodome	Astroworld

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!