Birthday Pie
For Alain's birthday, I made him a homemade apple pie. I was originally supposed to make an apple pie for Fi before I left for AIDS/ LifeCycle but things got busy. Luckily the apples were still fresh when I peeled them and prepped them for Alain's pie.
I ended up putting my four hearts in the center cutout to let the steam out. That is becoming my signature on all my pies now. It sounds so cliche and trite but it shows that I did made it with love.
I ended up hand carrying the pie onto the plane into my ALC bright orange cinche sack. Just trying to balance my luggage, my messenger bag and a pie on the subway was quite comical.
Dave was totally amazed at the pie. I told him to get some vanilla ice cream. The following night, Dave brought Alain over to his place which is where I stayed. Once Alain and Dave stepped into the doorway, Dave instructed Alain to close his eyes. I came out pie in hand, a tea light on top of the pie. As I sang "Happy Birthday" in Tagalog, Alain opened his eyes and was totally suprised and literally speechless and in tears. To have your best friend totally surprise you and fly out there to be there for your special day.
We ended up eating pie andtalking until 2am. Alain and I only got a few hours of sleep before we snuck out to Bryant Park to see Prince peform for "Good Morning America". He only did two songs, one of them being, "Let's Go Crazy" from his Purple Rain days. Alain joked that Prince wouldn't perform any of his Purple Rain stuff that made him famous back in the days. He did and I won that little bet.
Nothing like pie to really make one's day.
Little Bear
I happened to come across
A picture of you
I wonder what the age of the photo is
If it is recent or not
You have changed
Though your skin is still the color of toffee
Warm brown eyes complementing
The easy going smile
Made from Midwestern kindness
You are rounder this time
I wonder if the extra weight is due to happiness in your life
Maybe celebrating good times and fun
Cal games and poker nights
Or is it insulation
Extra packing so that no one can see
The heart that still has cracks from that November day
When I confessed I was unfaithful
With those words, shattering the trust in your heart for me
Or has the stress of life caught up to you
Where your only solace is food and beer
I am concerned that work is treating you hard
You always complained of the drama and the trauma
That would be the script for future Dilbert comics
I am concerned that your family is on your back
Expectations from the Motherland, her seven thousand plus islands
All screaming for a continuation on the dream
To make
ang amerikang anak to
mga amerikang anakDoesn't matter if they are
anak na babae or
anak na lalakeShe just wants more
More more more
Are you happy
Or are you sad
Please tell me
Like you would confess to me before
Just give me a moment
Another snippet of time
Where you can rest your chin on top of my hair
Now longer, no longer the pixie bob you remember
And where I can rest my arms around your waist
Though bigger than I remember
Perhaps the extra girth
Is a little more of you
For me to love
That has yet to be touched
SMKJDC
Wishing For No Drama
Lately, things have been pretty good. Now finally getting in the swing of things on the campaign and making myself feel useful. Found a sweet deal on ollieberries from Yerena Farms over at the Farmer's Market and got a few books I wanted on sale at A Clean Well Lighted Place For Books, one of my favorite indy bookstores in the City. Sadly, it is closing up shop after 30 something years. I will truly miss this little hamlet where I would go to either before or after stuff happening at Planned Parenthood which was close by. I also bought my Christmas cards there for a number of years.
The last few days brought a dallop of drama. And it happened to occur on Gay Pride on Sunday. Alain and I are in this odd space that my dud date happened to put us in. Turns out that dud date e-mailed Alain all the details about our coffee outing on Thursday. The tone of the e-mail being, "Why is your friend so mean?" I had to tell Alain my side of the story, telling him that I was angry at dud date for not being up front with me of him saying that he had a girlfriend. If he were to preface that, I would be willing to be friends with him. Just to lead me on and think that there might be a little flirtatious space is just wrong. At least I got a good look and a cute bustier out of the deal. I figured that maybe Alain and I will just let it cool its heels. Seems like it's going to be a busy summer for both of us. Alain is literally bounced around the country the next few weeks working hard on his study while I am setting up shop and getting money raised for my candidate. I know right now I should be writing an e-mail for an ask but I am totally drawing a blank. I had my text down pat when I was running. Shoot.
I went for yoga last night. First time in a long time that I took it with Tony. Before taking his class, I was thinking of going back hard core into Bikhram, even though that was what got me in shape and burnt me out in the first place. Taking Tony's Iyengar classes, the style that I was first taught, was a good refreshing thing. Just putting little things together and different poses. We ended up going for drinks and chatting afterwards. Well, Tony drank beer while I had a cranberry and orange juice.
I'm feeling really good about a lot of things lately. I'm doing my best to be mindful and not get too carried away with a lot of things, keeping myself grounded and not trying to freak out too much and being really good to myself as well. All I have to do is keep that up and I think all will be fine.
Home Sweet Home
It's nice to be back in the City once again. For the first half of June, I have been out and about- one week on AIDS/ LifeCycle and almost a week in NYC.
As always, I had a great time on ALC 5. It was great to be back after not being there last year. I felt like this was where I needed to be when I went into my tent after a long and rather crazy Day 1. Being sweep was extremely tiring but all in all fulfilling. Towards the end, I really didn't have the heart nor energy to put myself through it so I took some time off and didn't sweep for a few days.
It seems like the last few times and days, my body and self has been reminding me to be very kind to me. Not to beat myself up. Something that I am guilty of doing quite often. It was great to be surrounded by friends and others when things were going pretty bad.
My time in NYC helped me get back my center. It was great to surprise Alain with a homemade apple pie and just going to different places to eat and seeing friends. I took a good number of pictures, just savored the sights of the Union Street Green Market and ran. The days of running really did a wonder on me. I feel a lot better and healthier.
Coming home was really great. The last few days I have spent with friends, started work with a candidate running for Board of Supes, went on a date that ended up being a bust and chilled and did some light housework. I'm really looking forward to the next few months. It will be with its challenges but lots of fun and times for growth.
What I did last week
Ready...OKAY
Otter Pops at the Water Stop
Otter Pops at the Water Stop
Otter Pops at the Water Stop
At mile seventy-five
AGAIN
Otter Pops at the Water Stop
Otter Pops at the Water Stop
Otter Pops at the Water Stop
At mile seventy-five
ONCE MORE
Otter Pops at the Water Stop
Otter Pops at the Water Stop
Otter Pops at the Water Stop
At mile seventy-five
WE'RE HERE!!!
Seven days and 585 miles later, some 2,000 people's lives were changed forever. We all took a stand to say, "Not another 25 years of the AIDS pandemic."
Film at 11.
