The Whore of Bearbalon: Christopher's Journal

A question especially for the non-heteronormative peeps on my f-list:

A friend of mine has a very inquisitive (not to mention smart as a whip) kiddo who, in the course of asking about marriage and weddings and wedding rings, asked whether men wear engagement rings too:

Recognizing that there is as much variety or more among Gay Couples as there is among Straight Couples in these matters, I ask: do Gay Men who are considering marriage ever use an Engagement Ring? Do some use something with a different form but similar purpose?... What about Wedding Rings?

I know we have wedding rings; Ron wears his constantly and I wear mine "often", though we've been through a few sets. (My body chemistry eats metal. My current ring is stainless for that reason!) What about all y'all? If you're married or consider yourself married, what do you wear? If you want to be, what do you think you'll do? Does whether it's legally recognized make a difference to what you do?

Oh my poor head.

Tonight was the first night of square dance class for us; we're taking Advanced for those of you familiar with squaring up. For those not, let's just say it's the third circle of hell in which you can expect your brain to start squishing out your ears to the strains of either "Turkey in the Straw" or Cher's "Believe". (Our Advanced teacher is more traditional so the former is more likely. On the other hand, he has an evil streak so you never know.

My main problem tonight was that I haven't had a chance to dance Plus (the level I last learned) all summer so I was having issues calling immediately to mind exactly what you do when you're in the middle for "Load the Boat" or, my particular bugbear from last spring, "Chase Right" -- let alone Quartering Thru or Turn and Dealing.

I expect it will get easier as I get back into the flow of things. At least we quit early tonight so as not to have too much to review before learning new stuff next week. I don't think I could have managed much more.

Oh, also: I've been twittering. I know, I know. I'm not LoudTwittering so you won't all be subjected to it on my LJ, but if you want to see what you'd be scrolling past if I was, my twitter ID is "chimakwa".

It's day 2.5 for us here in Chicago; yesterday we took in the Cultural Center (the old Public Library) and then walked over to Navy Pier. We walked our butts off but had a nice time. I got too much sun because I stupidly didn't sunscreen up before we left but fortunately I didn't get too roasted.

Last night was my first shift at IML; I rode the buses around and made sure we didn't let anyone on board who wasn't supposed to be. My next shift is in 45 minutes when I'll be doing my Market Security shift. If you're in town and visit the Leather Market, keep an eye out for me! ;)

I was looking at my phone yesterday and discovered this picture I took at the hotel where we had our square dance convention in April. It amused me greatly at the time, and of course I could not resist making faces at the camera despite the threat of fines or quarantine at Guantanamo.

( Breakin' the law! Breakin' the law! )

Good intentions: "I'm going to start posting more regularly!" That's my road to LJ hell. I may not post more than once a month or so but rest assured that I read my friends list voraciously and comment way more than I post. I did the math: I've commented more than five and a half times for every post I've made to my LJ in the past seven years. (Hey look, my LJ anniversary was Friday!)

The last month has been pretty typical. Lots of going to work in the morning, going home in the evening, chill for a while, go to bed; rinse, wash, repeat. We did make a trip to Washington, D.C. the second weekend of April for the annual convention of the International Association of Gay Square Dance Clubs. The farthest we got from the hotel was the Chipotle on the corner. (Mmmmm, guacamole overload!) The convention was a lot of fun although I didn't get to dance as much as I'd have liked. The Monday before the convention, my back started getting stiff and sore throughout the evening, and I woke up the next day in a lot of pain. It felt like muscle pain, so I have a feeling I pulled a muscle in my back and I hoped it'd feel better by Thursday which heralded our trip to D.C. Unfortunately, not only did it not get better, it got a lot worse. The muscle pain triggered a full-on attack of back pain like I haven't had in years. (I have a bulging disc that began with a car accident in 1997, and while it usually doesn't bother me much, it can flare up at times. My weight doesn't help it any!) I spent most of the convention on some Vicodin I had from a previous prescription, and danced as I could. I still had a good time; it's fun being around dancers and seeing people even if I couldn't get out on the floor as much as I'd have liked.

Of course, as luck would have it, I woke up the Tuesday after we got home and my back was like "Problems? What problems?" Oh well, I'll take not-hurting on whatever schedule it comes in! I've been having tooth issues the last week or so too, but they seem to be improving with the help of our antibiotic friend penicillin.

We had our square dance prom on Saturday and it was a lot of fun. The Mainstream class did a great job with the decorations and the food was really good. Our contribution was a salad I made with roasted eggplant, peppers, garlic, tomato and fresh basil in a vinaigrette dressing. I got raves for it, and I'll admit it tasted pretty good! Tonight is our graduation; I'm graduating from the Plus program. I can has square dance!

Ron won't be there, though; tonight starts the semi-annual conference he helps run. (Well, I say "helps" because that's officially true; the truth is that he pretty much runs the thing twice a year.) Hopefully they'll return him to me tomorrow with all his hair unpulled-out.

I guess that's enough to qualify as a post. Catch y'all in the comments sections! ;)

Feeling much better today; thanks to all who gave me virtual "hang in there"s!

I'm very glad it's Friday though. Sleeping in: I wants it.

I have a meeting in half an hour with the boss I haven't actually seen in the office in like 9 months. Hopefully it's quick. (It's nothing worrisome, fear not.)

I like chocolate milk.

OK, back to the questions:

A deliciously fruit-flavored nightfallcub asks:

What do you think is the geekiest thing about you? What is a geeky thing that you are just ever so slightly ashamed of and hide from the "normals" as much as possible?

Hmm.. good question. I don't hide much from the normals; I've never been able to pass as one convincingly. But what would be the weirdest thing? My ability to speak an artificial language? My fascination with bizarre religious practices and beliefs? My inability to tolerate "American Idol" and "Survivor"? I'm not sure.


Cute and fuzzy mattai asks:

What things do you do (aside from the SCA) to occupy your spare time?

I waste immense amounts of time on the internet, primarily. Even if I'm doing something else, chances are I'm also looking at webpages or chatting or whatever. Ron got me into square dancing a while back and I've enjoyed that a lot, especially since it gets me off the internet and off my butt. Also, I recently took up knitting which has been fun, and of course I read a lot.

I am so zonked, people, I'm not even kidding. I just got back from a fantastic weekend and I'm freaking exhausted. I'll post more about it later, though.

Munchkin wrangler talvinamarich asks:

Would you and Ron ever consider adopting a kid? I think you'd make great Dads. :)

Our standard reply to that question is "Us? We can't even keep houseplants alive..."

We've been told that we'd make good dads a number of times, but so far we just don't see ourselves parenting. I fully intend to be a spoiling uncle when my siblings finally spawn, but so far we haven't got any plans for our own pitter-patter of feets.