Bleah. Bad weekend. Although it started off good-- I talked to Tommy on Saturday morning. Like him, I'm apprehensive go write about my feelings for him, since I know he'll be reading this.

Saturday afternoon my truck broke down. I'd bet it's the alternator or the governor. While I was driving, the radio died. It would blink on and off, but wouldn't stay on. Then the truck started to loose power and I noticed all the gages were dead. I pulled the truck into a plaza and checked the fuses-- all were ok. So, I had it towed to a service center and rented a car.

After that, I spent a couple hours at R&J's end of summer BBQ.

After that, I drove back to my neigbors, every summer next to the August Full Moon, they hold a big party. It's the biggest gay event in Newcastle, WA. It's the only gay event in Newcastle, WA.

Sunday morning I wolk up feeling a bit hung over. That was a bit odd because I didn't drink that much. I had breakfast with Mac, Joe and Matt, and the food didn't help.

By the time I got home from breakfast, I was full on sick. I threw up a couple of times. It may have been some food poisoning. It also could have been a 24 hour flu.

Bleah.

I dodged a bullet today at work.

My company has a policy where you must always grow and learn. If you stagnate, they put you on an strict improvement plan the usually results in you quiting within 6 months.

Well, for for the past two years, my performance was average for my level. Three average ratings in a row, and the improvment plans starts.

For this past year my performance was rated as above average. So, live returns to normal.

Part of me was hoping to get the average rating. It would give me a reason to change, to leave. I've spent seven years in the same division at the same company and honestly I'm not really into the job. I feel like I'm faking it. But, I'm a nice guy that the leaders like to have around, so I slowly crawl up the ladder with them.

Part of me says that I've not a nice job, good salary and that I work with good people. I should count my blessings. There are about six billion people on the planet who are worse off than I. Part of me, my soul, knows that's not enough.

I had dinner with Mac last night. Nothing special, I bought some software for him (Cause I get a good company discount) so we got together over dinner. Sounds like things are going well with him. We talked about boats. He and Joe already have a 37' boat. They are encouraging me to buy one. It would be fun to hang out with them more-- they are good people. Not frugle, but good.

My company has a snack tracking website. Many lunch meetings are catered but don't eat all their food. So, you can go to this web site and report free left overs. Or if you are hungry, you can search for free food near you. Isn't the internet wonderful?

My parents left this morning. So, back to the grind. It was good to see them.

My parents are in town so I've been showing them around. Yesterday I took them on the Spirit of Washington dinner train. Today we walked though the Snoqualmie tunnel.

I saw Liza Minnelli last night. It was weird. There were a lot of people there who were way too into Liza and knew way too much about her.

For some reason WST had eight tickets for Liza so he invited C2 and I along. It turns out WST is a big fan of Liza. He new here life story, her ex-husbands, all her songs.

During Liza's encore number I called Steven on my cell and let him listen in. He started singing along. At the end he text messaged me "You are now as gay as me. I want no shit about Celine Dione!"

The show was nice, but shot. She was on for a little over an hour-- less a 10 minute costume change. There were a couple of glitches, but they just added to the fun. A couple of times she ran out of breath during her songs her voice started to crack up. Also, her makeup started to run and she bitched out the cosmetic company on stage.

Tonight C2 and I saw Collateral. It' a good thriller. I wonder when the well-directed-well-filimed action/thriller film first appeared. I remember back in the 80's and 90's the whole point of the thriller was to well, thrill you. Direction was basic-- just give the audience a clear view. But now with Collateral, or the Bourne Supremacy, there is more to it. Plot aside, the art of the film is worth watching.

Maybe I'm just getting older.

I had a dinner date tonight. Half way through dinner Matt and sany walked up. Matt reacted with mock horror that he hadn't been invited.

Dinner was nice. No kiss goodnight though.

I had a quiet weekend. At first we were going to take a road trip around the Cascade Mountains, but C2 and Matt had to pull out.

Saturday I goofed off at home.

Sunday, I went boating with Mac and Joe. Sandy was there-- he hurt his back, so he spent most of the time resting.

Mac and Sandy were boating along with the gay yacht club. Two of the guys in the flotilla live close to me. I'll invite them over for a BBQ some evening.

We talked about the percentage of gays in Seattle. We think about 10% of the population is gay. To double check, we counted the gay-boats and the straight boats around us. There were 9 gay boats and 80 straight boats. Now I'm curious how many gay people live around me. I only know of two couples, but there are hundreds houses in my neighborhood. How can I tell?

Matt and Sandy are going through a rough patch in their relationship. For various complicated reasons, Matt's parents' lost their home. Now the parents are staying with Matt and Sandy's until they get a new place. Sandy is uncomfortable with the intrusion and the way they've taken over their home. Mac and I want to sit down with Matt and give him a chat. Matt can be very inflexible with Sandy, but when it comes to his parents, he'll do anything.

Thursday night I had a BBQ at my place. It was Matt's birtday and we wanted to plan the upcomming weekends. It went well. Two of Mac and Joe's friends from the Yatch Club showed up. They are cool guys. Hopefully we'll see more of them.

I saw The Bourne Supremacy last night. It's a good, forgettable action flick.

I've been thinking about renaming or moving this web site. I've noticed that I'm censoring myself because word can get back to my friends. Hmmm.

I had a good weekend. On friday, I had dinner with C2 and some of his friends. One of the guys at dinner gets around a lot (Even more than a usual gay man) He had a husband, a sex slave, plus he regularly went to orgies.

I think, at one time or another, everyone at the table had sex with the guy. When we figured that out, it made for a weird moment.

Saturday, C2 and I worked on the deck.

Saturday evening was Bear Bust at C.C.s-- it was packed. I ran into Behr. He's in financial trouble. He's been unemployed for the past year and now his unemployment insurance has run out. He's not sure what he's going to do. My take on it is that he needs a good swift kick in the ass. He has a long list of things he won't do-- a bad attitude when you really need a job.

Sunday, C2 and I cycled along Lake Washington and watched the Blue Angles and some of the hydrofoil races. Afterwards we biked over to Mac and Joe's boat and hung around with them for a few hours.

Steven, C2 and I send cell phone text messages to each other. Steven and I have no problems typing out short messages on the phone. C2 is struggling. So C2 only sends quick notes--short preprogrammed messages. This makes all conversations kind of random.

"How did the job interview go?"
"I love you. Talk to you later."

"Do you want to have dinner tonight?"
"I love you. Talk to you later."

"Wanna eat my bung hole?"
"I love you. Talk to you later."

I got an email from Liam thanking me for the weekend. He's in Vancouver now.

Liam mentioned how 'alternative' Seattle is. Especially compared to Toronto. Piercings and tatoos are much more common here. The leather crowd isn't the same either. In Toronto people 'dress-up' in leather. In Seattle, people wear scuzzy rough looking leather.

On Sunday I took Liam to see Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square and Alki Beach. Later in the afternoon we swam in Lake Washington. The swim was refresshing, but there was a lot of weedy gunk on the bottom.

We had dinner on the Patio at the River Rock Grill. The weather was perfect. Not too hot, not too cool, not too humid, not too dry, not too light, not too dark.

This morning I dropped Liam off at the train station. He's heading up to Vancouver for the rest of the week.

I'm glad he came.

My friend Liam is in from Toronto. I've been showing him around. We've had a blast. Friday we spent the day at Mt Rainier. Saturday, Mac and Joe took us out on their boat. We toured and Lake Washington and Lake Union.