2014: The Year that Was, Pt. I

Sean of “Just A Jeep Guy” used to have a recurring meme called TMI. I usually posted on Thursday, because I do love a bit of alliteration. Something apparently tragic occurred to Sean’s cyber existence in 2014, I hope it resolves and he returns to the interwebs.

On December 26, 2013, I wrote THIS. Just how did my predictions play out?

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!

No resolutions! Just your best hopes and wishes for 2014!

• Entertainment
• Most who know me, know that I love movies. There are a number of films coming out in 2014 that I’m looking forward to seeing.
• February – Robocop –Didn’t see it. I heard it was a stinker.
• March – 300: Rise of an Empire 
  --Didn’t see it.
• April – Captain America: Winter Soldier – Saw it… LOVED it!
• May – X-Men: Days of Future Past, Maleficent –Saw it… LOVED it!
• July – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Jupiter Ascending (it has Channing Tatum) – I had some stuff going on in my life in July, I’ll post about it later this week. I didn’t see either of these. But, Planet of the Apes is available On Demand, so that one will be remedied.
• December – Annie – I was looking forward to seeing this movie when I was just a concept. The more clips I see the less I want to see it. Even the great Jaime Foxx cannot touch Albert Finney’s performance and Cameron Diaz should have her performance erased from her resume.
  I did see quite a few movies in 2014, stay tuned for the post that results from opening the 2014 Happy Jar.
• Politically
• • I’m sorry, I have no expectations of either party as 2014 is an election year. Which is saying something after the clusterfuck that was 2013. – No expectations… TONS of disappointment!
  • On the marriage equality front; between court cases and the ballot box equality will spread across the nation. – And it did… 36 states and counting! I finally got one right!
• Globally
• The Sochi Winter Games will become an international Pride Festival. – It kinda did. Many delegations and individual athletes brushed aside Putin’s backwards anti-gay policies and openly demonstrated their support for equality.
• Personally
• There will be a fuller post regarding my personal goals for 2014 next week. That being said, my annual goal remain the same from year-to-year… I will continue to seek out ways to improve myself professionally, physically and emotionally so that I am a better human at the end of 2014 than I was at the beginning. – I definitely improved myself professionally. I won a promotion to a supervisory position at my place of employment. That was worth quite a few entries in the Happy Jar.
• Friends
• My best friends live too far away… my goals for the year is to make time to spend time with them on a more frequent basis.—I had a couple opportunities in 2014 to spend some good times with friends in Portland and Boise. Seattle is definitely on the To-Do list for 2015.  
• Family
  • I am constantly reminded that my time with my kids is short and I’m not the one who controls the narrative of how they regard me; that is totally under the control of my X. I hope to take the time to make the most of it as I have another child turning 18 in 2014. I’ve got a plan on in the hopper for Spring Break. I’m hoping that the pieces fall into place. We haven’t been to the coast in two years. –The plan over spring break didn’t happen. The Boy turned 18 last week, that leaves me with just one minor child. I did get moved to Pendleton in 2014, but a disastrous romantic (snort) entanglement sucked the joy out of his final football season. The positive thing to being back in the same town as my kids allows them to pop by when the feeling strikes them. Actually, my eldest daughter has moved in with me. We try to make the best of it.
  Your Suggestion
• • meh… I’ve got nothing. Sorry Sean. – Still nothing.

Bonus

• Sexually
• It is my hope that I will continue to improve myself and become the person that I would want to be with… hopefully, someone else would feel that way too… it would be awesome if that person were Ian Parks from Where the Bears Are. – Good God! Right after I moved back to Pendleton, I met a guy and even though I tried to keep an eye on the fluttering of red flags, he moved in with me and it took almost three months to get him out. He was a good looking TALL, black man… but being a controlling, paranoid, suspicious asshole cancels out the physical ‘attributes’ one would think comes along with being a tall black man. In my mind, romance takes place in the mind and in life outside the bedroom. So… Ian… I’m still available.

TMI: PRIDE 2014

It is PRIDE weekend in Portland… I’m missing it this year. But my heart is there in spirit.

HAPPY PRIDE 2014!

1. Tell me about your first Pride.

* My first pride was Portland 2012. I had this idea that PRIDE would be an assembly of gays celebrating who we are in a world that wants us to sit down and shut up. What I found was that there is as much judgment and hate amongst the gays as there is in the world at large. I had my fill of that when I was closeted, I didn’t go through the pain and loss of coming out just to be hated on by members of the gay community. Some very good friends took me to my first pride, they were my guides on what to see and how to find your own groove in a very diverse community.. and how to spot and avoid the mean girls.

2. What did that first Pride mean to you?

* Living in a rural area I had only seen PRIDE parades and festivals on the TV machine. Which meant I had a notion that it was a bit more fabulous and over the top than it actually was. I was surprised that the parade had more church/faith groups than bars, dykes on bikes or floats. That part still resonates with me, how much certain brands of the faith community are so willing to show their acceptance and understanding of the pain the church has inflicted, they will miss their own Sunday morning services to walk in a PRIDE parade.

3. How many different Prides have you been to?

* Two – Portland and TriCities, WA. Since I’m not able to go to Portland Pride this year, I’ll be hitting Mid-Columbia Pride next month.

4. Do you fly the Pride Flag and/or stick it to anything?

* I have a Bear Pride window cling on the Subie and I have a full-sized Bear Pride flag, but since I live in an apartment, there’s really no place to hang it other than in my window.

5. Do you still celebrate Pride? What does it mean to you now?

* I’ve been “out” just five years. I think that the spirit of PRIDE is something you celebrate every day that you don’t let the ignorant homophobes of our society drag you down.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter” –Dr. Seuss.

6. Does Pride need improving? If so, what changes would you make?

* I haven’t thought of it.        My next tattoo, or something like it  --->

7. How do you give back?

* I talk to others who are still closeted, giving them an ear, offering some advice from someone who’s been there. I also have done volunteer work for a non-profit assisting those living with HIV and educating others so they practice safer sex.

BONUS

What kind of trouble or embarrassing moment have you had during Pride?

* Nothing to debaucherous… yet.

I did fall into the trap of spending too much money on the sexy stripper boys at Silverado. It’s fun in the moment, but filled with regret later because I could have used that $$ for something useful. But.. .in the moment… it’s hella FUN! (This boy is a bit too skinny but his muscles felt nice… and he let me wrap a unit of paper currency around his rather ample cock.)

**Check out Sean the author of TMI Questions and check out some of the other participants (in sidebar)

TMI Memorial Day

Here we are again, the post that shares more about my personal life and/or habits than you may want to know. Sean at Just a Jeep Guy started it, now all the cool kids are doing it.

Pull on your BIG GIRL panties and buckle in…

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

1. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance but it also signifies the "Official" start of summer. What are your plans this weekend?

• I have absolutely NO plans this weekend… such is the glamorous life of a single gay man in rural Eastern Oregon.

2. What is your most and least favorite thing about summer?

• The list of favorite things is lengthy… warmth, long days, tanned skin, exposed skin, travelling… not being cold. If I had to choose a least favorite thing… BUGS.

3. What do you think of when I say "Bar-B-Que?"

• Outdoors, friends, food, beer

4. What is your favorite summer food?

• Fresh fruits and veggies at the farmers market. Seasonal salads made with those items. BBQ food with friends on a summers evening. It all just tastes better on a deck over the river as the sun sets.

5. Are you is swim suit shape yet?

• I’m MUCH better than I was last summer… but maybe not all the way there yet. Some may still run screaming from the pool, shielding the eyes of their children.

6. Given the choice, which do you prefer: ocean, lake or pool?

• Ocean

7. Which summer blockbuster movie are you most looking forward to seeing?

• I’ve seen Captain America and X-Men so far. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes comes out July 11th, Jupiter Ascending on July 25th and Guardians of the Galaxy on August 1st.

8. Summer reading: What? Recommendations?

• I am so backlogged on my reading, I wouldn’t know where to start.

9. Vacation Plans? If you can't, what would you do if you could?

• I’m spending a 4-day weekend in Boise in June for the Boise Music Festival, In July, some friends and I are in the early stages of planning a trip to Vegas for a Bear gathering and a camping trip in August.

10. Did you ever have to go to summer school?

• It was a threat when I was a screw-up in Middle School. Fortunately, I never had to go.

BONUS

Sex on the beach?

• One day, I’m going to find the right man and fulfill that fantasy. I love the Oregon Coast, I refer to it as my happy place. When I’m there, listening to the waves, breathing the air… nothing is wrong in the world. One day, I will have the man of my dreams to share that experience with as we build a fire on the beach, snuggle under a blanket, watch the sunset… and get freaky.

TMI Tuesday: Potty Humor

Here we are again, the post that shares more about my personal life and/or habits than you may want to know. Pull on your BIG GIRL panties and buckle in…

TMI Questions
Fun, slightly embarrassing questions designed to reveal Too Much Information between you and your significant other and among you and your friends and/or family.

POTTY HUMOR

1. Toilet Paper - over or under?

• Over… the opposite has terrible consequences.

2. Who replaces the empty roll in your house?

• I live alone… I do

3. What do you use if you run out of toilet paper at home?

• I don’t run out of TP.

4. Seat up or down?

• Again, I live alone… does it matter?

5. Do you leave the door open?

• See answer #4

6. Does your love leave it open?

• N/A

7. Do you wait until you are alone in a public restroom?

• No… these facilities are there for a purpose. Why be neurotic about it? Although, I think you should look at those urinal etiquette videos on YouTube. If there are a selection of available urinals, why are you right next to me? I’m not cruising, if you think you are; you’re doing it wrong.

8. Do you always check for toilet paper first in a public stall?

• Absolutely!

9. What do you use if you run out of toilet paper in a public restroom?

• It hasn’t happened yet. But socks are replaceable.

BONUS

Sex in a public restroom?

• In the days before Growlr… cruising public restrooms were the way men found sex with other men. Closeted men, like myself satisfied the urge for some manly affection by lingering around a public restroom. There was a park in the town where I lived back in the 90’s that was so cruisy that guys looking for gay sex outnumbered the guys there to fish or to have a picnic with their family by a large margin.
  I remember having a lot of fun playing the cruise-game. Parking in a certain area of the park, lingering as you walked to the bathroom, or onto the nature trails to signal that you’re looking for a hook up and showing interest either at the urinals or between the stalls. For the record, the story of Sen. Larry Craig’s foot tapping at the Minneapolis airport is EXACTLY how you do it.
  Now that I’m Out, and secure in who I am. I don’t do that anymore. Public bathrooms aren’t exactly sexy, secure or even hygienic. Now if the gym has a sauna… grrr. .
• PS… I have been tested and I am negative. If you participate in random hook-ups with men you do not know. Please get tested. It’s quick and knowledge is power. But above all… PLEASE play safe! Look at the colors!

TMI Thursday: Make Mine A Double

Sean at Just a Jeep Guy started it, now all the cool kids are doing it.

MAKE MINE A DOUBLE!

1. Do you have a favorite alcoholic drink?

• I enjoy a good Gin & Tonic. They are refreshing and pack a sneaky punch if you aren’t prepared. Plus, I feel there’s a bit of class to it.

2. What kind of wine do you prefer?

• Lately, in reds, I like a Syrah and in white, I like Pinot Grigio.

3. Do you have a favorite beer? 

• I live in the Great Northwest, the home of craft breweries. Bridgeport, Full Sail, Pyramid, Ice Harbor, MacTarnahan’s, and my favorite Deschutes 

4. Can you taste the difference between vodkas?

• I keep trying, but I haven’t been able to yet. Although there are these crazy Pinnacle Vodka flavors. Some of those are just WRONG. Pumpkin Pie vodka sounds good in theory, not in practice.

5. Are you a top shelf or rail kinda person?

• I don’t have the budget to be ‘top shelf’, rail booze does the job just fine.

6. What was your most memorable (good, bad or embarrassing) drinking experience? 

• Drinking with friends in Portland a couple summers ago… we had a great time with the dancers at Silverado… much $$ was left in the G-Strings of a couple sexy dancers and I experienced my first lap dances… RAWR! After we hit a couple other bars we discovered The MAX quits running at midnight, so we called a taxi to take us back to the hotel. The taxi dropped us off in front of another hotel. I said, “No, we’re at the Inn at the Convention Center”. The driver pointed across the street and says, “It’s over there”.

BONUS

Have you ever drunk dialed?

• Not that I’ve been told… LOL

TMI Thursday: True Colors

Sean at Just a Jeep Guy started it, now all the cool kids are doing it.

LET ME SEE YOUR TRUE COLORS

• What is your favorite color? BLUE
• What color are your eyes? BROWN.
• What color is your hair? BROWN with GRAY reaching a saturation point..
• What color is your bedroom? WHITE.
• Which color do you look best in? I feel I look best in BLUES and GREENS.
• Is there a color you never wear? I try to avoid BLACK because I own cats and cat hair is glitter for lonely people.
• How did you pick the color of your car? Sadly, I’m not in a position to get the car I really want. I have what was available at the price I could pay. I have a WHITE 99 Subaru Outback.
• Are your eyes ever green with envy? I’m envious of those who are happy with life partners when I’m surrounded by shallow closet freaks.
• Do you have a signature color? BLUE!
• How much do you love Cyndi Lauper! I LOVE Ms. Lauper.

BONUS

Gray hair is sexy on the HEAD, and CHEST, but never in the EARS or NOSE.

 

TMI Questions
Fun, slightly embarrassing questions designed to reveal Too Much Information between you and your significant other and among you and your friends and/or family.
POST YOUR TMI ANSWERS
Post and answer the questions on your blog or tumblr page and then post the link in the comments so that others can read your answers (directions here), visit your website and get to know you too.

TMI Thursday: The Games

Sean at Just a Jeep Guy started it, now all the cool kids are doing it.

THE WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

In general (we'll get to the politics in a few) do you watch the Winter Olympics?

I haven’t been watching as avidly as I usually do, but yes I have been watching a couple events from the Sochi Games. I enjoy snowboarding, slope style (the new event at this games), bobsledding, speed skating and hockey.

Winter or Summer?

While the Winter Games has a prevalence of lycra-clad mens… the Summer Games are preferable due the total lack of clothing on divers, swimmers, gymnasts wresters and jostling packages of track & field participants.  Nothing can beat the beauty of a gymnasts’ body --->

What are your favorite winter events? Do you follow any of them outside the game?

I watch the snowboarding events when they’re televised and we have a pretty good minor league hockey team locally. I don’t think they televise bobsled or speedskating much in the off years.

Which sport needs to stay and which one needs to go?

Hell… I don’t care. I like the ones I like, I don’t pay much mind to the ones I don’t. Just like in the society at-large, everyone should like what they like and do what brings them joy (so long as it doesn’t deprive others of the same right). If I don’t like an event, I’m sure there is someone who does. Who am I to deprive people of their love of curling, or the biathalon?

Which is the weirdest sport?

Most of them are weird in one way or another. It seems to me that many recreational activities make you wonder what was going through the mind of the first person who slid head first down an ice chute at 90 miles an hour (skeleton) or thought that cross country skiiing five miles before stopping to target shoot a dime, then setting off on another five mile ski (biathalon). Curling is pretty weird… shuffleboard on ice? Dat ass --->

What is your POV on boycotting The Olympics by countries and or athletes?

I believe the Olympics are the pinnacle of achievement for athletes in many sports that are only given much attention every four years. I think that using their hopes and dreams as a political bargaining chip is evil. That being said, the IOC screwed up big time putting the Games in Sochi. Obviously they were paid handsomely by the Russians to make the choice.

Are you boycotting NBC or any Olympic sponsors?

I don’t know what I think of ‘boycotting’. On one hand I know that corporations are running our lives. Their power and financial resources are so far out of reach of the common man that they cant be touched. Regulations can be changed at the government level, but won’t because the corporations own governments. I’m not “boycotting” the games, because I celebrate the achievements of the athletes. I’m not “boycotting” sponsors… I don’t eat at McDonald’s or drink Coke anyway. My complaint is the same in Sochi as it was in London; NBC could do a better job with camera angles and graphic placement. Its like they intentionally block the good shots. One of the hockey players --->

Do you think boycotts are effective?

Massive public boycotts? Yes, they are effective. The sheer size of the corporate sponsors demand a massive international boycott for months in order for them to notice. A few thousand people not buying Coke for a week in February isn’t going to mean a thing to the bottom line.

If you were an athlete what would you do?

Bobsled… see the Canadian team at the top… RAWR!

I shall leave you with a picture of Gold medal winning Olympian Apolo Ohno’s legs. --->

TMI Thursday: Super Bowl XLVIII

Sean at Just a Jeep Guy started it, now all the cool kids are doing it.

SUPER BOWL XLVIII

Do you know who's playing in this year's Super Bowl?
-- The Seattle Seahawks… and the team that will lose.

Do you watch the Super Bowl for the game, uniforms, commercials or food?
-- Yes… Hell Yes!… if it catches my eye and…  not so much this year.

What's your favorite food?
-- I enjoy many, many foods (that’s how you get four spins on the scale), but the one food I cannot pass up is Pizza.

Are you entered into any Super Bowl Pools?
-- Not yet

If you don't watch the big game, do you do something else?
-- Not much would tear me away from this game.

… I could happen… right?

What sports do you watch?
-- Mostly Football, but some basketball and baseball… I’m pretty butch like that.

 

BONUS

Are you the Quarterback or the Receiver?
-- I am a WIDE receiver.

TMI Thursday: Happy New Year 2014!

Sean at Just a Jeep Guy started it, now all the cool kids are doing it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!

No resolutions! Just your best hopes and wishes for 2014!

• Entertainment
• Most who know me, know that I love movies. There are a number of films coming out in 2014 that I’m looking forward to seeing.
• February – Robocop
• March – 300: Rise of an Empire
• April – Captain America: Winter Soldier
• May – X-Men: Days of Future Past, Maleficent
• July – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Jupiter Ascending (it has Channing Tatum)
• December – Annie
• Politically
• I’m sorry, I have no expectations of either party as 2014 is an election year. Which is saying something after the clusterfuck that was 2013.
• On the marriage equality front; between court cases and the ballot box equality will spread across the nation.
• Globally
• The Sochi Winter Games will become an international Pride Festival.
• Personally
• There will be a fuller post regarding my personal goals for 2014 next week. That being said, my annual goal remain the same from year-to-year… I will continue to seek out ways to improve myself professionally, physically and emotionally so that I am a better human at the end of 2014 than I was at the beginning.
• Friends
• My best friends live too far away… my goals for the year is to make time to spend time with them on a more frequent basis.
• Family
• I am constantly reminded that my time with my kids is short and I’m not the one who controls the narrative of how they regard me; that is totally under the control of my X. I hope to take the time to make the most of it as I have another child turning 18 in 2014. I’ve got a plan on in the hopper for Spring Break. I’m hoping that the pieces fall into place. We haven’t been to the coast in two years.
• Your Suggestion
• meh… I’ve got nothing. Sorry Sean.

Bonus

• Sexually
• It is my hope that I will continue to improve myself and become the person that I would want to be with… hopefully, someone else would feel that way too… it would be awesome if that person were Ian Parks from Where the Bears Are.

TMI Thursday: Call Me

Sean at Just a Jeep Guy started it, now all the cool kids are doing it.

CALL ME

• Do you still have a land line?
• I hadn’t had a land line since 2002 until I called to renegotiate my cable/internet package during the Fall of 2012. They offered to give ma landline for a “Great Deal”. I tried to resist, but they wouldn’t budge. I took the land line for one year. In that year, all I got from it was telemarketers and bill collectors to previous holders of that number. When I called this past fall to renegotiate my “deal” with the cable/internet provider I got an even better deal without the land line.
• Which cell phone do you use and why?
• I have a Droid Razr HD because it’s SUPER cool. I like the battery life and I’ve always had good luck with Motorola products.
• Which provider do you use? Is there really a difference?
• I use Verizon. Living in a rural area, it serves me well with few dropped calls. The only provider I’ve had a bad experience is Sprint, but that was 10+ years ago, so I don’t know if they still suck. But they do have great ads.
• If you call someone and they don't pick up, do you leave a message?
• Nope
• When you have a missed call (with no message), do you call the person back?
• Nope
• Do you txt willingly or reluctantly? How are your skills?
• Willingly? It depends on the person. I do my best to respond quickly. Sometimes when I’m at work that can be a challenge.
• Has your cell replaced your camera?
• It has. I ran across my Canon Sure Shot the other day. The battery didn’t have a charge so I put it back where I found it. I’ll run across it again someday.
• Selfies....
• I’m taking them regularly to document the change in the size of my body. I took some shirtless shots that I will unveil when there is an “after” shot to go with them. This is me last Sunday, 64 lbs. lost.
• How many apps do you have? Which is your favorite and why?
• I’ve honestly never counted them… there are quite a few. The ones I use most frequently are on one of 5 screens, while the less frequently used aps (like the Portland Tri-Met app) are in the background folder.
• My favorites are Foursquare, OregonLive, Facebook, a wordfind game and Growlr.
• What would life be like with no cell/smart phone for one month?
• Very lonely. It is my primary… hell, it’s my only connection to long distant friends.

BONUS

• How much has your cell phone become a part of your sex life?
• As I do not have a current relationship, it is my connection to the occasional tryst.
• Sexting
• There are a couple guys who participate is a little explicit texting… it has been known to make the workday move along.
• hookup apps
• Growlr is my friend
• selfies
• Usually part of sexting
• video
• There are a couple videos known to exist.
• GPS
• Growlr uses GPS
• more?
• What more could you want?