Saturday, June 30, 2007

So RO and I are going to a gay camp ground. We talked about going to a state camp ground, but with it being a holiday week, those camps will be full of partiers and children. Camp TRC should be much more quiet. We won't show up till Sunday afternoon, so that should make it extra quiet.

This is the first vacation RO and I have had sinde the store opened. I told RO that on Monday all I am going to do is listen to the babbling river.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Next week RO and I are going camping. This means I get to plan the trip.

I don't know why, but I like planing and preparing for camping. Actual camping is OK. Playing with camping gear and planning the trip-- that's my money shot.

Where should we camp? What can we do while we are there? I can spend hours researching camp grounds and going over maps.

And the gear. There is something comforting and fun about camping gear. Thanks to camping gear, I know that if worse comes to worse, if my home burns down and I loose my job, then all I need is a tent, a sleeping bag, a cooler of food and my crate of camping gear.

Even more comforting-- if worse comes to worse, if my home burns down and I loose my job, if I had the above plus an inflatable mattress, a rubber dinghy and great hiking boots, then I could camp in luxury, sleep great and have adventures!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

We've also watch Heatstroke by the same director that made the Working Man Trilogy. The tape was a copy of a copy taped over something else. Every now and then the programs originally on the tape would break through the porn and make the situation surreal and silly.

Half of the final orgy scene was taped over by some drama that took place in a Church.

Right in the middle of an cum scene, a chewing gum comercial appeared. A happy women announced "Long Lasting Flavor!" and then the video cut back to the porn.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

I've been reading more about 70's gay movies, both porn and non. The Boys in the Band for example. Going over cast lists, I see that the majority of the actors died of AIDS related complications. A few died of suicide, others of drug overdoses. One, Divine, died of a sleep apnea induced heart attack. It sounds like being gay in the 70s was a very hard and fast life. Depressing.

The appearance of AIDS in the 80s has greatly shaped gay culture-- for the better I think. AIDS has given gays a good short term reason to stay in a relationship. All relationships go through good times and bad times. In the 70's if your relationship was going through a bad time, it was easier to play around and find someone new. After AIDS, that someone new brought the risk of troubling disease and large health care costs.

AIDS indirectly encourages you to stay with your boyfriend for a little longer. And maybe that "little longer" is all you need to get back to the good times.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Our neighbors loaned us "The Working Man Trilogy" a set of three porno's from the 70's. "Kansas City Trucking Co." "El Paso Wrecking Co." and "LA Tool and Die." All three center on a man named Hank who moves from job to job and has lots of sex.

Our neighbor insist that these porono's are generation defining works of art. They were all made pre-HIV. He also says they were the first gay porn's that depicted gay men as men and not as effeminate.

The Trilogy is well filmed and directed-- which in many ways works against it. The mark of a good porno is that you pay attention to the sex. When I watched the trilogy, I kept looking at the director's style-- his use of low key lighting, fondness for saturated monotone colors his love of a JO crotch shot.

The director also extensivly shot on location and in the outdoors. There are many extras in the film which makes me wonder how many of them knew they were going to be in porn, and how many were filmed on the sly.

There are also women in the trilogy. Not for sex, but for ambiance. I think the directory was trying to create the impression that this porn was for straight men who played around on the side.

The trilogy contains much plot, at least for porno. For all the wrong reasons I will remember the plot more than the sex. The acting is bad. The actors speak unconvincing lines that serve no purpose than setting up the sex scenes. On top of that, the non-sex scenes are not small. It's not five seconds of chit-chat and then sex. Minutes will go by with dialog and establishing shots.

The sex scenes are homogeneous enough that they form a blurry back ground. Similar to an action flick that has too much action. To some extent, that's expected because, hey, it's porn and porn is full of sex. But, the non-sex scenes and dialog stick out relative to the sex, which is not a good thing for porno.

For example, what do I recall about these films? I remember the girl friend nagging her boy friend "Come on Joe! You'll be late for work Joe!" I don't fully remember who Joe was or how he was showing off his naked body at the time. I remember the music. It's fairly good. Some original tunes and much country. Very different from modern "Bad Porno Music" I remember Hank saying "Let's Eat." in an overly masculine tone. I don't remember the sex Hank had before or after he went to the restaurant. If parrot the line "Let's Eat." to RO. He breaks out gigling.

If you like gay porn, these films are worth watching. Even if you like old art-house film, they may be worth a peek. These aren't great, but they are fun to watch. They are pre-bad-porno-music, pre-video and pre-HIV. Seeing the differences between then and now is interesting. Gay culture has changed a lot since the 70's. The working man trilogy show cases the difference.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

This morning I played UNO on Xbox live. UNO is a 'camera-enabled' game so you can see the other players.

One of the other players was a teenage girl who kept shaking her ass and breasts in front of the camera. I cheared her on. Then she looked at my camera. She asked "How old are you? Is that a cat in your lap? You're a slob!"

I felt bitter. Now I'm the old slob who plans with cats and watches girls on XBox live.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Our online store got it's first order today. It was made in Louisiana. When I heard the state, I expected the customer to be Tommy Boy. RO checked and it wasn't!

It feels good knowing that an actual customer is buying from us. Not that I would mind if Tommy used our store. It's just that we need more customers than our friends.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Last night before dinner RO said he was hungry-- to hungry to wait. He wanted to have a junk food snack. I told him "No. Have a banana instead." I gave him a banana. He threw it back at me and said he wanted junk food. I was firm, said "No." and went back to cooking

A few minutes later RO walked behind me and got a glass of water. When he walked out of the kitchen he had a big grin on his face. When he grins like that, I know something's up, so I kept watching him. He looked back at me and his grin got bigger and bigger.

Then he caved. He showed me that he smugged a box of crackers out of the kitchen while he got his water. He said that once he started grinning, he couldn't stop and he couldn't control it. I took the crackers away.
They have installed security cameras in the halls at work. They appeared very quietly

When they installed the wireless access points there were days of wiring and construction. You knew where the wireless access points were because contractors would spend hours outside of your office installing the cables and mounting the antenna.

The cameras are different. When you arrive in the morning there is a new camera on the ceiling. The next day-- another new camera in a different location. If you don't notice, you won't know.

In some ways I understand the need of the cameras. Our offices contain valuable computers and software that are occasionally stolen. When that happens security will have little evidence to go on and we bitch them out because they aren't doing their job.

At the same time, this feels like big brother.
I am reading "Mountains Beyound Mountains" It's the true story of Dr. Paul Farmer, a brilliant man who has dedicated his live to improving the conditions of the poor in Haiti.

It some way's it's inspiring-- here is a man who really is making a difference to the lives of thousands of people.

In some way's it's depressing-- much of what Dr. Farmer has accomplished has only happened because Dr. Farmer made it happen. When he dies, some one just as pasionate, caring and brilliant as he will need to take over. If that doesn't happen much of what Dr. Farmer has accomplished could come undone.

In all fairness Dr. Farmer is taking steps to make his projects sustainable.

I'm less than half way through the book, but I still recomend it.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

A commentor wrote...
I'm eating oatmeal with fruit and coffee for breakfas, coffee. Lunch - a
deck of cards sized chicken breast, a measuring cup of vegatables and potatoes
with water Dinner- salmon salad and rice. For dessert, 1 slice of whole wheat
bread with a sliced strawberry and half a bannana, coffee. Total calories for
the day is 1600. Walk 4 miles every day. Bike ride 3 times a day. Weight lift 3
times a day.

WTF! Where do you find the time? You sound like a professional athelete. I need a program that fits with my career. Not a fitness program that the rest of my life revolves around.

Althought I admit that I could eat less.

A for effort though.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Our new roommate is a mixed blessing. She is a good and caring person. She is also a food broker who who brings home lots of food. Yes, I appreciate free food. But, it's mostly processed and prepared food, sauces and desserts. So, that's the mixed blessing.

To maintain weight, RO and I always try to eat lean. Our meals are cooked from ingredients and not pulled out of a box. It tastes better and makes it easy to eat more vegetables and to control the portions, fats and sugars.

Last night we ate pate, cheese, crackers, tuna salad and chocolate cheese cake. Very tasty. But...

Sunday, June 03, 2007

I feel like I am slowly going crazy. Without planning it, or perhaps because I didn't, I somehow ended up with two stressful careers. By day I am a middle manager at a large software company. By night I own, with RO, my partner, a furniture, design and home decor store. I try to keep the store's paperwork and finances straight, but I don't always do a good job. When the money is tight I tend to close my eyes. The ostrich method of stress management, so to speak.

I've noticed that I have so many things to do, that I have no time to reward myself. This has put me in a bad situation where goofing off is my reward. I think RO is the same. We've taken on so much that the only way to relax is to ignore the store.

That's not sustainble. It burns you out. It makes you look at your responsiblities as the cause of your problems and not the source of future happiness.

I've got to turn that around-- for our own sanity.

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