Before dinner last night I talked with C2. When I mentioned that Bruce broke off our friendship, C2 was a confused and suprised. I told C2 why Bruce ended the friendship-- because I joke-slapped him. At first C2 didn't remember the slap. When I told him the events leading up to the slap, he said "Oh yeah. I remember that. That was it?" C2 also commented that Bruce keeps cutting himself off from his friends.

So, C2, Cor, Mathew, Sandy and I dinner together. Mathew, Sandy and I decided to go to Vancouver next weekend. C2 may come.

Afterwards we went to the Cuff. Said hello to the crowd. Drank a bit and then went our seperate ways.

Stupid Friendships.

Thursday at noon I dropped by Bruce's office to see if he wanted to have lunch. He was very short with me, said he was busy and couldn't make it to lunch. When I got back, I had this piece of email...

----- Original Message -----
From: Bruce
To: BC

BC,
I am not happy about the events on Tuesday night so I think we have to take a break from each other for awhile.

This kind of confused me. A bit later I got this message from C3...

----- Original Message -----
From: C3
To: BC

Hey BC,
Thank you for taking the time to send me these pictures, they look really great.
It was nice to have you at my party, and to spend some more time with you.
I need to tell you something as a friend, and as Bruce's partner.
You hitting Bruce on the head, was and is, completely inappropriate.
You not only ruined the party for him, you hurt him physically as well.
I don't know what you thought you were doing, but I do know that
an explanation to him and apology is in order.

C3

Did I hit Bruce on the head? Yes, I slapped him. It wasn't very hard, Bruce didn't say 'ow' or stop me or back away. There were no marks. In fact, he laughed.

This is what I wrote Mathew about the incident...

Last Tuesday was C3's birthday. The restaurant that
Bruce brought us to has really great desserts, Even so, Bruce brought a big
birthday cake. Well, during cake Bruce and I were talking and I
mentioned that I would have rather had the Tiramisu (Selfish of me, I know)
Bruce loudly shouted "C3, Barry isn't happy with your party." I
really didn't want everyone to know about my Tiramisu thing, so I jokingly
slapped Bruce. I don't know how hard I really slapped Bruce. In hind-site it
may have been to hard.

The party continued on from there. I though everything went fine. Bruce
and I talked and joked a bit more. At the end of the night I hugged Bruce
and Chris good bye and then went home.

I've send Bruce an apology and an explanation.

Now I'm tired. I really don't care that Bruce isn't talking to me.
I'm annoyed that Bruce couldn't tell me directly how he felt.
I'm also annoyed that he waited two days to get C3 to tell me.

Mathew is surprised that I apologized. Especially since Bruce didn't confront me about it and instead broke off our friendship. If you are annoyed with someone, you say so. You don't harbor a grudge, wait a few days, end the friendship and get your parter to deliver the message.

Tonight I'm having dinner with C2. We'll see what he thinks. He was next to me Tuesday night, saw everything and has good judgement. Mathew and I can sometimes be insenstive. C2 will be blunt and honest.

Last night C2 and I went to a 9-11 memorial service. It was a good service.

Afterwards we had cake at Dilettante's. C2 drove home and I had a beer at the Cuff.

At the Cuff I talked to Officer Robert. Lately I've been thinking about getting a motorcycle. Every time I do this, I hear about a horrible accent and I put the decision off for six months. Well, Officer Rob told me about two accidents. His parnter was driving pursuit-style (Really Really Fast) took a bad corner, skidded out, and will be in the hospital for six weeks.

Rob also told me about an 18yo who on Tuesday night was driving a motorcycle at 140 mph on the Alaskan Way Viaduct. He hit a cement pillar. Rob said most of the body came out through the face mask.

He told me a lot more, but I don't want to remember the details.

Anyways. I'm not going to buy a motorcycle this year.

Sometimes at work I surf the web until I'm bored. So bored that real work is less boring. Only then do I stop surfing the web and become productive.

Last night was C3's birthday. We had dinner at Beppo's.

When I ask C2 "when is your birthday?", he always evades the question. At Beppo's, C2 was short on pocket space. He gave me his wallet and keys so he wouldn't lose them. Of course I opened up his wallet, pulled out his drivers License and read his birth date. He saw me do it. Afterwards he said that was clever and evil.

C3's birthday was fun. Unfortunately, Bruce and C3 brought a birthday cake in from an outside bakery. Normally that wouldn't be bad, but the only reason to go to Beppo's is for the desserts. Beppo's service is slow. The food is mediocre and over priced. But, the desserts are incredible. They have great Tiramisu. So when Bruce brought a birthday cake, it was disappointing

C2 has had a weird sort of internet date. He met the guy on the net. For several days the two were exchanging long and personal emails. Then C2 asked “So, since you only broke up with you ex 3 months ago, are you sure you are over him?”

They guy replied “You know, my ex just called last Saturday. And I do kind of miss him. I guess I should try and work things out with him before I see you. Sorry about that.”

C2 has had a good laugh about that. In the space of a week, he’s gone from a quick email romance, to a fast email dump.

Friday night I had dinner with C3 and to of his friends, J & K. In a weird coincedence, J & K just met the previous week and had a date on Thursday.

After dinner, I went out, and well, I actually went home with a guy. I like him. I'm not sure things will work out, but we have exchange email since then.

Saturday night I went to Ryan and Jen's Alcohol party. That idea was that you had to bring food based on alcohol. I made beer can chicken. You open up a beer can, and stick it in a chicken and then BBQ it that way. As the beer evaporates, it moistens the chicken.

There were a lot of good desserts there-- chocolate rum cake, tiramisu.

Ryan, Kam and I are trying to figure out what to do about hockey. Jen said I could play with her team, but I'd like to stick with Ryan and Kam. They will play more competative. But we need 13 people for a team. Right now we only know of 8 or 9 guys that are vailable.

Sunday night we had a "Three's Company" moment. Cor has a partner nicked-named Possum, who lives in Boston. The two of them were married in Vermont. Because of Cor's not an American (he's here on a work visa and can only work on certain jobs) they haven't been able to live together for the past three years. They still call each other frequently and Cor is planning to one day move back in with Possum

Before we started cooking, Cor talked to Possum on a cell phone. While we were cooking, Cor and I talked about our future plans and about his situation with Possum. Cor said that even though he sleeps around a lot, Possum anchors him. He wants to one day live with Possum.But for now he feels it's all right to sleep around. He doesn't think that Possum has ever slept around.

When we sat down for dinner, Cor looked at his cell phone-- it was connected. He put it up to his ear and said "Hello." Then Cor's eyes started to buldge. The cell phone was still connected to Possum. Possum heard everything Cor and I said while we were in the kitchen.

After a few minutes of awkward conversation, Cor turned his cell phone off. He is shocked that Possum now know everything.

We'll see what happens.

Last night I had drinks with some of the guys from work. One of the upper managers noted that the big feature for our next release wasn't ment to be. We wound up with it through a series of managment mistakes and changing priorities.

We didn't mean to do it. All the features we ment to do were killed and this was the only thing left behind.

I took it easy last night. I watched "Dogma," a comedy about two fallen angels trying to get get back into heaven and the people/angels/muses/profits trying to stop them. It's good movie for anyone who has ever stopped going to church. Dogma is an intelligent silly comedy. There are lot of crude jokes and swearing. But, the attention paid to Catholic Dogma is interesting. The writer obviously knew a lot about the church.

I had dinner with Mathew and Sandy (Mathew's boyfriend) It looks like they've worked out their differences.

Towards the end of the night, we were arguing if Mathew was narcissistic, selfish or merely spoiled. He would agree that he was spoiled and a tad selfish, but he wouldn't agree to narcissitc.

Last night Cor and I watched "Chasing Amy" a good, grown-up, evil, romantic comedy. Lot's of gay jokes. In the the end, boy and the girl don't get together and live happy ever after.

Sunday morning I drove up to Winthrope to spend the night with Mathew and his BF. I used to say "Mathew and his ex" but it looks like they worked things out and are back together.

After a series of miscommunications. (Cell phone service in Winthrope sucks) I mised Mathew. I spent the afternoon swimming by myself at a lake just north of Winthrope.

I finally met up with Mathew and his ex at 8pm. We headed back to the cabin, had a few beers, catted and then went to bed.

We drove back around noon. The weather west of the mountains was Sunny and warm. The weather east of the mountans was cool and rainy. Looks like summer has left Seattle.

Cor is in a bit of a tight spot. A couple months ago he tricked with a guy in Miami. Well, today the guy showed up in Seattle. He's spending the weekend here. Cor said he didn't want to be with the guy; he didn't want him to come here. I sort of lent a sympathetic ear. But, at the end of the day somebody said "Yes" and it wasn't me.

Cor asked me if I though the guy was attractive. He was hoping to pawn the guy off on me. The guy is attractive, but I don't feel like making Cor's life easy.

Tonight C2, Steven, Steven's boyfriend and I went to see Cirque du Soleil: Dralion. Cirque du Soleil is a circus that doesn't use animals-- all acrobats and clowns. Dralion is a good show. C2 and I lucked out and got great seats-- 4 rows from the front.

Last night I had dinner with Mathew and his Ex. We talked about going up to Mathew's cabin this weekend. Right now, I'm going to see Cirque Du Soleil (with Steven and C2) on Saturday. I was planning on going to the ocean on Sunday, but Mathew pointed out that the ocean is always cold. His cabin and lake Chilan will be hot.

We ran into Steven at the restaurant. Steven said he had been to that restaurant 8 times in the past two weeks. We chatted briefly, then Steven had to leave to sit with the rest of his party.

Afterwards I went home and played with the big-mother-printer. I finally got the ink refils for it. I printed out a few large photos and panoramas. Very nice.

Last night I watched two episodes of the new Star Trek, "Star Trek: Enterprise" It's a lame show. They really don't know how to generate excitement. Always putting the lead character in danger-- not exciting. You know he'll be back next week. Slowly reading numbers off the speedometer, "4.7.... 4.8.... 4.9..."-- Not exciting.

Now that I think about it, the show wasn't even science fiction. Nothing happened on either episode that couldn't happen on earth, right now.

I think Cor and his latest boyfriend broke up last night. At around midnight they got out of bed. I heard the boyfriend say "He just controls you." He left shortly afterwards.

I have almost no recollection of what I did on Monday. This is why I keep a journal. I remember grocery shopping and talking with Cor. I may have watched TV, which would explain my memory gap.

Tuesday I went to the annual company meeting. We didn't have a bad year. Profit was up about 9%. Not bad considering we are in a recession. After the meeting, C5 and I toured the product fair together. It was fun talking to him. He wants to set me up with a friend of his. The friend lives in SF but may be moving back to Seattle.

When I got back to work, Steven had emailed me. He said he met a nice man that lives in Vancouver, who would also be great for me. Steven and I ended up having dinner that evening.

I vented to Steven about my dating situation. The guys I want are attached, not interested or on the rebound. They guys I'm being set up with live a long ways away. He offered some sympathy. But, he's in love with a man who lives in Victoria (a $100, 3 hour ferry ride away)

Steven just bought a house close to me. So, we are going to get to be able to see each more often. Right now he has very few friends in Seattle. His boyfriend lives in Victoria and he often travels for work. So making friends in Seattle has been difficult. He's looking forward to going to a movie with a friend on the spur of the moment-- things like that.

Speaking of friends, I haven't talked to Mathew for a few days. Usually we email each other a few times a day. I've emailed him a copule of times on Monday and Tuesday, but haven't heard back from him.

Quiet day yesterday. I cleaned the house a bit. In the afternoon I hung around at Victor's Coffee for and worked.

In the evening, I went to a BBQ at Lisa's. Lisa works with Bruce on a TV show. It's a movie review show. Lisa also manages a Video Rental Store. Most of the people at the BBQ were movie buffs-- most of the conversation revolved around movies. It's a very different crowd that what I'm used to. At one point, one of the movie buffs, who works at the Video Store with Lisa said "I dream of earning $30,000.00 a year" Then there was a short conversation on living with $15,000 to $20,000 a year. I kept my mouth shut the whole time. I earn six figures and I didn't want them to know.

Later on, Bruce, C3, Lisa and I tried to play a game of "Truth, Dare, Kiss, Command or Promise." It ended up being lame. We all picked "Truth" But, we're all fairly mature and honest people (Either that or we are all very good liars) so the truths ended up being boring.

Hmm. Maybe there is 4th man on my "List of men I'd marry in a heart-beat"

Last nights party was the ususal fit bearish crowd. There were also a few people from out of town. Cor mentioned that at least 200 people were invited. There were at least 100 people at the party.

At the party I ran into Brent and Sean. Brent and Sean have been together for years. I've always thought they would be together forever. But, last night they said they just broke up. They are going to try and stay friends.

I've always really liked Brent. Now that he's available I'm going to pay more attention. He'll be on the rebound for a while, so I have to keep some distance. But, in a few months I'll ask him out.

Last night I had dinner with C2 and Cor. C2 and Cor are closer than I realized. They had lunch together on Thursday. C2 knows who Cor is currently dating. I don't

I had breakfast with C2 at Van's. Afterwards he went home to pack. He has to move out by the end of the month. I spent most of the day hanging around with Cor. Cor and I are going to a private party tonight. For the party, Cor had to find the perfect sunglasses to go with his new image (He shaved his head) We drove around Redmond and stopped at about half a dozen different places before he gave up.

He's heading out the door now. I'm going to show up later. Around 10 pm

I had lunch with Ryan today. He gave me the tour of his new company, Cranky Pants Games It sounds like things are going well with them.

I had dinner with Hugh. It was nice. Not great. Not love at first site. But still, Hugh is a nice man.

Hugh and I went to Angelino's for dinner. Mathew was supposed to go to Angelino's also, for dinner with a different friend. He called and said he wouldn't be there. He didn't want Hugh or I to feel like we were being spied on.

Mathew also asked me if I was nervous about my date.

That's weird. Mathew and his Ex really want to hook Hugh and I up. They are quietly pulling strings to get us to like each other. They've been raving about Hugh for over a week now. Acting like he's one of the hottest men around.

I'll just go slow. I don't want to jerk Hugh around. But, I don't want to dissapoint Mat and his Ex.

I bought a printer. Not just any printer. I bought a huge, wide, enormous printer. It's 4 feet tall, 5 feet wide, two feet deep. It can print photo quality images up to 42 inches wide.

I've been looking for a new printer. My old printer prints color weird and can't handle large paper. I was going to buy a normal consumer printer that could handle 13x19. I mentioned my search to C2. He said he delt with several companies that resale hardware from expired leases, belly-up dot com's and the like. He asked what models that I would be intersted in.I told him. He mentioned that it would be easier for him to find the bigger printers. I gave him the go-ahead.

The next day, he got back to me. He could get me a used HP DesignJet 500 (New Retail $2500.00) for $500.00 cash plus I had to get him a copy of the software I work on. We agreed.

Well, the printer showed up today. When C2 told me at arrived, he was laughing. He said it was huge.

"How huge?" I asked.

"Huge. Bigger than a couple of midgets."

Well, it is. It's about the same size as a love seat. Most important, it prints beautiful large pictures. But, I still laugh everytime I look at it.