Real love -- I'm, like, searchin' for that Queer Love -- LGBTQIA+ Love // A Thread for the Real Ones

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šŸ™ƒšŸ™ƒšŸ™ƒ wassup y'all? i'm so happy we're all here. lots of years between the lot of you. friends, lovers, cuties welcome. šŸ™šŸ™šŸ™

Swen, Friday, 18 March 2022 19:19 (two years ago) link

Bump.

Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Friday, 18 March 2022 20:17 (two years ago) link

feeling mighty real tbh

the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Friday, 18 March 2022 20:20 (two years ago) link

great title swen, can i call you swenny henny?

the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Friday, 18 March 2022 20:21 (two years ago) link

y'all I just spent 4 days in Boston w my new "friend" and it was soooo nice, we seem to really enjoy each other's company and he was v cuddly and affectionate and it just felt v lovely to have like easy uncomplicated intimacy, also while I was there I bought a golden fork to keep in my office for work lunches and I am irrationally excited abt it, it is truly so cunt

this weekend I am performing in a Kate Bush revue thing called N1ght of 1000 K4tes, it is going to be v fun (it's in its 8th year and I have attended all but the v first one and this will be my 2nd time performing!!!), it is one of my v favorite things abt Philly, every year is like going to summer camp and seeing all your friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jK7dW8Jf74

Stevie D(eux), Friday, 18 March 2022 20:21 (two years ago) link

lmao at having a golden fork, it's completely perfect and now i want one. kate bush community theater sounds lovely.

the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Friday, 18 March 2022 20:28 (two years ago) link

it's got like a sanded matte finish instead of a high-gloss sheen, I really love it

Stevie D(eux), Friday, 18 March 2022 20:31 (two years ago) link

it's actually my friend's performance/idea and I'm just one of the performers, but it's like, about covid??? (which I'm not thrilled abt but I love my friend and am happy to contrib), it's like a sound collage based on "Aerial" (which I tbh am thrilled abt) and there's like, dancers in the audience, and mirrory things on the stage reflecting back on the audience, and there's like, contemplation and one-ness and survival and stuff I think

Stevie D(eux), Friday, 18 March 2022 20:32 (two years ago) link

that's sooo cool and I'm jelly. I just listened to Aerial the other day. my introduction to ILX!

Swen, Friday, 18 March 2022 20:35 (two years ago) link

so I have had my own idea for YEARS that I have told several ppl abt and have gotten a good response to and I think I am going to finally finally try to pull it off next year, I think I have maybe even talked abt it on here somewhere, but the song is this v inexplicable house remix of "Rubberband Girl" and the performance is a complete ripoff of UNZIPPED (1995) where it will be a fashion show and there will be all sorts of zany chaos and hijinks backstage but w like perfect immaculate runway walks the second they come out from behind the curtain, the performance has nothing to do w the music but maybe I'll get some LIVESTRONG bracelets made and throw them into the crowd idk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KII-OXV86c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFBc4rXKkTU

Stevie D(eux), Friday, 18 March 2022 20:37 (two years ago) link

AERIAL is honestly the best Kate Bush album

Stevie D(eux), Friday, 18 March 2022 20:38 (two years ago) link

also it is a bit $$$ (20 of them to be exact) but they are selling tickets for the livestream tomorrow night at 8:30! https://wl.seetickets.us/event/Night-of1000Kates/470113?afflky=UndergroundArts

Stevie D(eux), Friday, 18 March 2022 20:39 (two years ago) link

stevie i still have that KB shirt you sent me! it's a lil snug on me atm but whenever i wear it ppl always ask about it

donna rouge, Friday, 18 March 2022 20:39 (two years ago) link

omg mine too is a lil snug, I forget which one I sent you but the one I have has her face on it and my belly makes it fold in half so that it makes her look like that one picture of Aphex Twin

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/da/Aphex_Twin_-_Syro_main_press_photo.jpg

Stevie D(eux), Friday, 18 March 2022 20:43 (two years ago) link

you sent me the glow in the dark one (which amazingly still works after probably dozens of laundry cycles)

donna rouge, Friday, 18 March 2022 20:49 (two years ago) link

I just watched unzipped recently and it was so good. also did you know there's a sister documentary called catwalk that basically follows Christy Turlington all over the world?
pretty awful what's going on with Linda Evangelista. she just released the first body pics of her condition due to coolsculpting. unimaginable.

Swen, Saturday, 19 March 2022 17:47 (two years ago) link

I was sad to miss Kates. Heard my friend Anna blew it outta the park, and saw the wacky inflatable Cathy and Heathcliff blow-up piece on film. Looked like a really fun time, but we had planned a dinner months ago with our gay friends, one of whom is going through a health scare...so it seemed more important to hang out with them.

I finished "Detransition, Baby," yesterday, and while I thought it ended much too quickly, I thought it had some really lovely moments.

we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Monday, 21 March 2022 14:57 (two years ago) link

hope your friend is hanging in there <3

Swen, Monday, 21 March 2022 20:01 (two years ago) link

xp y0ung?? she fuckin KILLED it (as per usual). I hope they post a recording of the livestream.

Stevie D(eux), Tuesday, 22 March 2022 02:46 (two years ago) link

I've been listening to a lot of RuTH lately šŸŒ„šŸŒ„šŸŒ„

Swen, Tuesday, 22 March 2022 04:20 (two years ago) link

yes Stevie, that Ann4

we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Tuesday, 22 March 2022 14:15 (two years ago) link

o boy what a life we lead really

Swen, Wednesday, 23 March 2022 23:14 (two years ago) link

so I'm not sure when the next time I'll "meet" someone is, let's call it, due to extenuating circumstances

do i care?

will i ever go out to a bar and pick someone up again? i had occasional game. all of a sudden I'd love to meet someone younger than me. i usually don't gravitate to that realm. i wonder what that's about

Swen, Wednesday, 23 March 2022 23:35 (two years ago) link

you will absolutely go out to a bar and pick someone up again, it is so inevitable

Stevie D(eux), Saturday, 26 March 2022 16:53 (two years ago) link

Date tonight. At a (rooftop) bar. I shoulda asked if he's jabbed.

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 26 March 2022 18:22 (two years ago) link

first date? how did you meet? brown hair, big heart, bat eyelashes?

you know Stevie it's just at first it was pandemia, and then health stuff that's going to take another 6 months to settle. just didn't realize I'd be singing the same tune for the goddamn 3-year dark ages. but whatever i'm going to get so many beauty treatments when this is all through I plan on looking like Princess Jasmine meets Bella Hadid. mark my words.

also i quit smoking forever and it's truly something else. going on 6 months.

Swen, Sunday, 27 March 2022 14:15 (two years ago) link

my new issue of BUTT just arrived!!!!!!!!!

Stevie D(eux), Wednesday, 30 March 2022 21:57 (two years ago) link

omg i already read some of the poems
how is it at large?

Swen, Thursday, 31 March 2022 17:23 (two years ago) link

is it large?

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 31 March 2022 17:23 (two years ago) link

C'mon Simone, let's talk about your big "but."

Max Hamburgers (Eric H.), Thursday, 31 March 2022 17:28 (two years ago) link

I haven't read it yet bcz I got it at work and then *brag alert* went straight to my fuck buddy's house for a cute date and only just got home a few hours ago!!!

Stevie D(eux), Thursday, 31 March 2022 18:58 (two years ago) link

butts all around

the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Thursday, 31 March 2022 19:17 (two years ago) link

butts rule everything around me

the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Thursday, 31 March 2022 19:17 (two years ago) link

OK SO
I'm not a butt man and i keep feeling more and more alone
like American men are just obsessed with them
i feel like there's something wrong with me

Swen, Thursday, 31 March 2022 19:25 (two years ago) link

Stevo you're killin it these days

Swen, Thursday, 31 March 2022 19:27 (two years ago) link

don't care about the outside, it's what's inside that counts imo

the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Thursday, 31 March 2022 19:28 (two years ago) link

like the way it feels?

Swen, Thursday, 31 March 2022 19:34 (two years ago) link

yeah! i mean not to get too tmi or too cliche i guess but i just think anuses are this incredible part of us lol and i really like experiencing them.

the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Thursday, 31 March 2022 19:40 (two years ago) link

So! My Saturday night date sold me out. I suspected trouble when I had to text him 15 mins before meeting: he was running late thanks to a "minor emergency" at his parents', whatever that means (what's a "minor" emergency?). Luckily a friend kept me company at the bar.

An hour later, date texts: "On my way, send location address plz?" That's the last I heard of him. For a while I thought he died -- until I saw a an Instagram post Sunday morning.

He's 24, a former student who emailed me four years after class to ask about getting a beer or coffee. On determining he was queer he gushed: he praised my self-assurance, brains, looks, etc. We might've met that night had I not plans already. It's worth noting I barely remember this kid in summer 2018.

I wonder if simply not showing up is a phenomenon of the young?

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 31 March 2022 19:41 (two years ago) link

Anusii are a cliche?

Max Hamburgers (Eric H.), Thursday, 31 March 2022 19:41 (two years ago) link

that sucks. definitely hit next. it's been a phenomenon of the young and old as long as i've been dating tbh. xp

the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Thursday, 31 March 2022 19:44 (two years ago) link

Yeah, I wanted to avoid generational generalization, but a few viejos noted The Vanishing has been more prevalent in the last four years.

I've ghosted more than my share, I should note.

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 31 March 2022 19:47 (two years ago) link

I have never done this, to my knowledge?

we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Thursday, 31 March 2022 22:30 (two years ago) link

me eiths it's dumb
I'm too polite though

Swen, Friday, 1 April 2022 01:32 (two years ago) link

wassup homieslice

Swen, Saturday, 2 April 2022 18:01 (two years ago) link

good morning!

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 2 April 2022 18:02 (two years ago) link

Mornin' sunshine!
What's on the platter?

Swen, Saturday, 2 April 2022 18:03 (two years ago) link

I'm vegetarian tonight.

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 2 April 2022 18:21 (two years ago) link

sexually or culinarily?

Swen, Sunday, 3 April 2022 00:00 (two years ago) link

Lady Bracknell : Well, both, if necessary, I presume!

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 3 April 2022 00:11 (two years ago) link

jordan i do not but reminds me that i would still love a hang with you one of these days!! r u still in nyc?

Swen, Thursday, 6 June 2024 20:50 (two weeks ago) link

yes babe and loving it!!

slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 6 June 2024 20:58 (two weeks ago) link

yessss. i just moved to the southern tip of prospect park on the east side - will reach out for a plan!

Swen, Thursday, 6 June 2024 21:16 (two weeks ago) link

i think i've been happier this year than i have been in a long while. i'm really enjoying new york. i'm biking more than i ever have in my life. my bf & i have been in the process of figuring a lot out about our relationship, what exactly our individual wants and needs really are. i think an aspect of a relationship growing naturally and wonderfully over time is you may not often stop and think about or articulate exactly what you want the relationship to be, what kind of arrangement actually makes you happy, how exactly you picture the other person being in your life. we're trying to be more intentional now. it's been weird at times, confusing, existentially stressful; also freeing, fun, experimental. i'm having more sex than i ever have in my life by far. i'm in the best shape of my life easily. building a more specific relationship is intellectually stimulating at the same time as it is emotionally turbulent. we have a community that we really value. the weather here has been really nice lately. getting another office job kinda turned everything around for me. i like being in manhattan a lot. i need to feel new york.

slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 6 June 2024 21:23 (two weeks ago) link

this is such an amazing update jordan. i similarly am having a fruitful feeling about this year, truly amazing to "feel new york" in a new way as you say. getting a new job has also turned everything around for me and i love to hear i'm not alone! here's to getting a lot done this year!!

Swen, Thursday, 6 June 2024 21:33 (two weeks ago) link

kate what is this work interview??

ā€• Swen

this might sound silly but i kinda don't want to give too much detail about it, not because it's important or a big deal or anything like that but because this is a publicly accessible site and i don't want to do anything that might make it easier for someone to doxx me. i'm probably being overly cautious! i wish i felt comfortable talking about it more :(

Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 6 June 2024 23:04 (two weeks ago) link

funnily enough i just found that one of the discord servers i'm on is being targeted by transphobic trolls. the server admin has set up a lot of safeguards to prevent the trolls from being able to do much, but it does take work to mitigate the risk to users.

being trans is kinda wild, you gotta do opsec for doing things like "going to brunch"

like, it's _probably_ fine? but you can't just take it for granted the way i did in the Before Time

Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 6 June 2024 23:09 (two weeks ago) link

Sharing happiness always puts me in a strange position, but I love y'all and I gotta say it's been a great couple years. I write every day, I'm working on longform fiction, and I'm getting a work promotion. I'm sorry if this sounds smug or something

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 6 June 2024 23:27 (two weeks ago) link

if i envy other people being happy (and i do sometimes, but not now), i mean, that's on me. i think it's great when people get to celebrate themselves! one of the things i hear talked about a lot and practiced less often is trans joy, and like any kinda queer joy there is, i love that

Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 6 June 2024 23:43 (two weeks ago) link

Sharing happiness always puts me in a strange position, but I love y'all and I gotta say it's been a great couple years. I write every day, I'm working on longform fiction, and I'm getting a work promotion. I'm sorry if this sounds smug or something

ā€• the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, June 6, 2024 7:27 PM (forty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

fuck off and die! j/k i love you alfred, glad these things are happening for you

ivy., Friday, 7 June 2024 00:17 (two weeks ago) link

i should be having the best year of my life but breaking my toe and then getting covid right after it healed really threw me off!!! also i can't tell if my album is good or sucks (it's good). i just can't seem to just let good things happen to me or give myself a break. but i'll get over it!!!!

ivy., Friday, 7 June 2024 00:20 (two weeks ago) link

i'm glad to hear that so many are having (mostly) good years :)

he/him hoo-hah (map), Friday, 7 June 2024 00:58 (two weeks ago) link

love you all

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 June 2024 01:01 (two weeks ago) link

Love that post J0rdan. I grew up here and find Manhattan and NYC to be oppressively stressful, for the most part, with occasional serendipitous magic
I'm always amazed how others are able to just love New York, all out.

Alfred I'm really happy for you! Didn't know you wrote fiction, I actually looked for you in that section of Borders to no avail

ivy your band is great live and if your album can live up to that it must be great, I'm stoked to give it a spin soon

anhedonia set in these last couple of years, before that I was soaring. looking for my next thing, my new thing. just gotta ride it out in the meantime.

Deflatormouse, Friday, 7 June 2024 01:57 (two weeks ago) link

Despite everything, my year is going relatively well. I am also in the best shape of my life, I work with several communities I value, and things with the husband are great. Yesterday was his birthday and after some logistical errands in the morning, we went climbing then had delicious Vietnamese food, then came home and fucked and watched a horrible, horrible film that we both loved because it was so stupid

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Friday, 7 June 2024 02:20 (two weeks ago) link

I am in the worst shape of my lifeā€” not exactly true, Iā€™m jogging again, so Iā€™m in better shape than I was a year ago. What do you guys do to get into ā€œgood shapeā€? My brain and body find the creative state quite naturally and Iā€™m always making things, but I canā€™t get on a good exercise regimen. I have a handful of apps and none of them work. Saving for a down payment so canā€™t afford a trainer

Had a brilliant evening last night with my younger sibling. They started T a year ago and havenā€™t seen them since that happened, they look fucking amazing and are positively glowing with happiness. We had DUMPLINGS! and we talked about Albini, the Darian Gap, encampments and our dogs

frociaggine e figaggine (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 7 June 2024 11:54 (two weeks ago) link

DUMPLINGS! should be part of any diet, always.

I awaken around 5:15 a.m. most mornings, do sit-ups and curls, and take a five-mile walk. My mind is crystalline by the time I get back -- which I have just done.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 June 2024 12:09 (two weeks ago) link

Hm that does sound healthier than my wake-up: coffee cigarettes and free writing

frociaggine e figaggine (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 7 June 2024 12:15 (two weeks ago) link

Coffee and writing in there too.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 June 2024 12:20 (two weeks ago) link

i have a yoga routine i work through 3x every other day, modified stuff from the ashtanga primary series that i picked up from a flow class i took for several years. don't know what i'd do without it and it's wild how transformational it's been for me. i'm also a gym rat - bodybuilding split with some heavy powerlifting basics. also i run. i'm a slow runner (short legs + heavy) and i don't go far but the endorphins are a big deal for me.

i know no one asked but i think the challenge with "fitness" is to find something you want to do consistently. for creative people maybe think of something that excites you aesthetically. it can be kind of silly. i.e. i want a "warrior bod" so i do things with that in mind, one of these days i'm going to buy a mace and swing it around like a jackass lol. if you're more into like emotional movement and release you can do that. it doesn't have to be the gym. honestly i hate the gym but i love lifting weights, it's my dream to have my own garage gym some day. there's so much you can do at home. a lot of really good fitness and movement accounts on instagram ime, for all types of routines - worth exploring a little bit and trying a few things, something manageable that you can keep in your head and not have to track in a notebook imho. "fitness" is completely relative imo, but i do think that a regular, ideally daily practice of just getting into one's body is like really important.

he/him hoo-hah (map), Friday, 7 June 2024 12:45 (two weeks ago) link

My younger brother was body-smart, trained his body to ā€œhow he wanted itā€ by age 25 and has spent the intervening 15 years only doing ā€œmaintenanceā€ā€” the briefest of daily workouts to keep himself in good shape. I hate him so much

frociaggine e figaggine (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 7 June 2024 13:03 (two weeks ago) link

Honestly, I just realized a little more than a year ago that I am good at climbing and wanted to train to become more consistently strong, and it's just gone from there. Now I have a whole set of routines that I do outside the gym, training that I do in the gym, and of course, I climb outdoors as much as possible. Husband and I are going on a veritable rock climbing vacation up to New Paltz for a week later in the monthā€” just setting up anchors and climbing for a few hours every day, then hanging out and doing nothing for the rest of the time. I am absolutely stoked.

I second map's recommendationā€” you have to find something that you enjoy, or at least something that allows some element of enjoyment in it. One of the ways I got really into longer-distance bicycle rides (20+ miles) was getting a little JBL clip speaker so I could listen to music safely while cyclingā€” totally changed the practice for me.

I actually recorded a podcast with two fellow "jock" poets/writers last weekend, we had an amazing conversation about how creative and movement-based practices inform one another. For me, so much about climbing is about research both intellectual and somatic, which is also very tied into how I write poetry. They're both near-spiritual practices, which sounds weird to say but alas, it's how I feel. Being outside and placing one's body on the earth, exploring its contours and meanings for me and other life, it's something else.

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Friday, 7 June 2024 14:05 (two weeks ago) link

Yeah my older brother climbs, and I felt inspired by your posts tabes (as well as my brotherā€™s encouragement) to investigate it. Havenā€™t gone yet! but I will

My sib and I were talking last night about how one can get addicted to ā€œhate watchingā€ and ā€œhate readingā€ā€¦ I proposed that Netflix and others should have the option of turning ā€œsuggested viewingā€ off and turning ā€œunrecommended viewingā€ on. ā€œDid you hate that? Here are some other shows you also might hateā€ hahaha

frociaggine e figaggine (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 7 June 2024 17:06 (two weeks ago) link

the tipping point for me was starting to shoot the basketball around again, there are courts everywhere in brooklyn and it was a fun and easy way for me to get good if mild workout consistently. when it started getting too cold to play i decided i wanted to keep up the cardio/heart rate exercise so then i started doing bike/treadmill stuff at the gym. that snowballed into basic weightlifting which is where iā€™m at now, usually three days a week (chest/back one day, arms/shoulders, legs/core). i also picked up e-biking so i could ride around w/ my bike inclined bf & now iā€™m doing like idk 20-30 miles a week which on the e-bike isnā€™t all that strenuous, but it beats sitting on the subway. i bike home from midtown as often as i can now that the weather is good.

for me getting in better shape started with getting an office job ā€¦ i think i lost 10-15 pounds of covid weight just by commuting again. we also have a gym in the office just for employees, being able to get to my gym 90 seconds after i finish work is an important component in me being consistent. if i had to go somewhere else in between the office and home on weeknights iā€™d skip it a lot more. my priorities have also just shifted around, if i have to spare 45 mins of working out or being at my desk right now the latter is getting cut. i show up late to trivia on wednesdays if the gym eats into my night etc this wasnā€™t exactly a conscious change itā€™s just where my mind/body are going

i think also for me itā€™s helped a lot that the vanity aspect of it is if not secondary than at least equal in importance to feeling healthy as i cross the other side of 35. i like feeling lighter on my feet and more athletic, i feel more stamina just walking around in my every day life. i like looking hot and it feels good to look in the mirror, but that has never been enough to really hook me into it like this. there is a mental/physical health component for me that has sorta unlocked w/ age

slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Friday, 7 June 2024 17:09 (two weeks ago) link

Yeah, same. Somewhere around 40 I really started caring about my looks. I wanted to be looked at. I lost about 30 pounds in fourteen months just by restricting my diet, eliminating inessentials, and exercising just a bit more. Now it's second nature.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 June 2024 17:32 (two weeks ago) link

yeah, thatā€™s exactly it for me, tooā€” do i like being mistaken for someone nearly a decade younger? yes. am i also glad that i feel mentally and physically better than i ever did a decade ago? also yes. i will be doing some sort of movement-based practice until i croak

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Friday, 7 June 2024 17:56 (two weeks ago) link

There seems to be some correlation health and physical activity and getting up super early? All those who are saying 'fresh zen air around my head' get up at dawn, right?
And OTOH all the night owls are like "I smoke a pack of marlboros for breakfast" - did we already talk about this?

I'm in the worst shape of my life but still feel kinda hot? or maybe just "cute"

"jock" poets

yum!

Deflatormouse, Friday, 7 June 2024 20:59 (two weeks ago) link

i also really like being noticed. the vanity aspect is a lot of fun. i downplay it but very much relish it haha. it's motivation to keep going. it's become a part of who i am and i'm kind of used to it, i wouldn't say it's gone to my head, but i feel like i have this extra battery pack of confidence i can draw on if i need it or something (and i need it a lot because i'm not naturally a confident person). i was at an indian restaurant with friends a while ago and i ordered chicken tandoori, the waiter said 'ok, chicken for mr. muscles' :). sometimes it's annoying, like this old weird guy at the grocery store who stopped in his tracks the other week and said 'man, you're a BEAST' and i said 'mind your own business' because i'm a grumpy bitch sometimes.

he/him hoo-hah (map), Friday, 7 June 2024 22:15 (two weeks ago) link

damn!

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 June 2024 23:22 (two weeks ago) link

yesterday at the big gay parking lot party a very inebriated younger homosexual came up to my husband and i and the first words out of his mouth were "older gays! i have so much to learn from you!" (said in apparent sincerity, albeit drunkenly)

after regaining my composure, i responded: "ok, here's the first lesson: don't use that as opening line ever again"

donna rouge, Tuesday, 11 June 2024 02:36 (two weeks ago) link

bam! you're welcome

he/him hoo-hah (map), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 15:17 (two weeks ago) link

how do we feel about swimming?

he/him hoo-hah (map), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 16:18 (two weeks ago) link

and / or! how do we feel about camping? i recently joined the fb group 'gay camping friends' and it's been a treat to see photos of the gays and their camping. my partner is driven crazy by insects and it drives me crazy how much it drives him crazy so we've defaulted to motels. but i still have ambitions to gear up and maybe do some solo camping.

he/him hoo-hah (map), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 16:24 (two weeks ago) link

i love camping, so does husband, but we donā€™t go that often anymore. we are planning a trip for the late summer/early fall with some besties tho

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 16:29 (two weeks ago) link

I went Memorial and Labor Day weekends last year to a gay camping site not far from Lake Okeechobee. Too darn hot in the summer. I got my neck bitten by mosquitoes and bears.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 16:48 (two weeks ago) link

yeah, thatā€™s exactly it for me, tooā€” do i like being mistaken for someone nearly a decade younger? yes. am i also glad that i feel mentally and physically better than i ever did a decade ago? also yes. i will be doing some sort of movement-based practice until i croak

ā€• butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table)

my boss is on vacation so i actually have energy to do things

i can't emphasize enough how fucking awful my boss is and how impossible she is to deal with

anyway i have a week where i'm actually capable of doing some things

_some_ things

i've decided i'm going to start walking in the morning. not much. i'm actually in pretty bad shape. i had brunch with someone sunday - one of those ambiguous "are we friends or is something going to come of this" lesbian dates. anyway i don't drive so i walked down to the breakfast place, and i was wore the fuck out monday

i had the same experience friday after an ambiguous date with someone else thursday night

so i've gotten to the point where i feel like i just need to walk every morning

mornings are nice weather, really walkable. this also involves setting an alarm and a schedule, because i usually don't wake up until like 7, which is kinda when i need to walk

walking after physical therapy is weird. using my body kind of feels like learning to drive a car. not in a "dissociation" sense, but in a sense that this body is mine and it works in certain ways and i'm curious as to figuring out the most efficient way of using it. which i've never done before. the hypermobility means i can move in ways that most people can't, which also means that i'm not always efficient. plus i got really poor balance.

i'm up at 190 pounds again, which is only 10 pounds up but is the point where a bunch of my favorite clothes stop fitting. i wanna get down to 180 minimum.

i'm also trying to work really hard on balance. pdx is really navigable without a car, but my balance isn't good enough for me to ride a bike, which limits things

that said, property crime is pretty rampant here and i just watched a presentation by the lockpicking lawyer...

the thing is i'm trying to do everything at once, again. i want to learn to ride a bike and i want to learn to apply makeup and i want to get back to start woodshedding my single and double columns and really it's like. one new thing at a time, kate. i'm starting this new cold sore med, which is great because i constantly have cold sores. i kinda hate kissing because of it. i've started psyllium husks as well. it's silly how much i forget. when i was in my 30s i had the same problem i posted about on iltmi, and the only thing i remembered was the pamphlet telling me to quit doing anal. the real takeaway was that i needed to increase my fiber intake. the fiber caplets i took back then, i didn't like the results, so i started eating a lot of raisin bran. then last year i decided i was eating too much raisin bran and quit gluten. i mean kinda obvious in retrospect?

it's just a lot of work, trying to take care of my body. i was already taking 20 pills a day and i keep adding more. i need to find a new HRT provider in-network since my old one retired. i need to find an in-network dentist. i need to actually order the glasses from the prescription i have. i need to find an electrologist to get some hair removed... a little TMI, the nature of my bottom surgery doesn't require hair removal. if you're getting full-depth, you need hair removal, so hair doesn't grow where it otherwise wouldn't. since i got no "inside" for hair to grow, it's not a problem, but hair grows where one wouldn't expect it to on the _outside_. i mean i've just been shaving it for the last three years. theoretically insurance will cover it. electrologists are independent, often trans, and getting in-network with insurance companies is a _huge_ burden and nobody can manage it. so there are lots of electrologists and you gotta pay cash for all of them, because none of them are credentialed. i don't even know what credentialing there _is_ for electrologists. anyway i could pay cash i guess, even though my cashflow isn't positive right now. i could make it work if i made a budget and kept to it. plus when i hit my out-of-pocket max for insurance, i'll stop having that bill. managing my finances is hard and i'm paying more than i should because i don't have the energy to call and sit through the endless fucking phone trees and complain at them until they do what they're supposed to do. bill autopay is a lifesaver. last time i tried to live on my own, i just couldn't manage paying my bills, couldn't manage to stay employed.

that's the thing, taking care of myself is not something i've _ever_ been good at. trying to get by in life without a caretaker is a huge challenge. i'm more competent and skilled than i ever have been, but i've kinda been seriously disabled, in large part i think because of the 'tism, for most of my life. i lived with my mom until i was 33, and then moved in with a partner who basically served as a caretaker. the gender dysphoria was a big part of it, but i genuinely have the sort of 'tism that makes ordinary functioning difficult for me. i'm starting to realize and accept that. having my ex-wife's support really helped me accomplish things i wasn't able to accomplish before.

it's that kind of thing with disability where you get support for a while and then they kinda say "ok, it's all you now". i wasn't really ready for that, but it was what i needed, and i've kinda had to muddle through. i'm getting my shit together but it's been _so hard_. god, no wonder i cry so much. it's been really hard for me to manage on my own.

my physical therapist recommended this great physical therapy modality, the "schroth method", for people with scoliosis. i want to call about that. i'm seeing this woman and i can't come over to her house because of the cats... a couple years ago i was wanting to start allergy shots, but i didn't get around to it. it just seemed like too much of a burden to get there all the time. i've moved since then so it'd be a lot easier now, actually.

the thing with the makeup... it's kind of an autism thing i think. i can't stand how it feels on my skin. i looked at the giuliani mugshot and everyone making fun of it and honestly, i mean... i got liver spots all over my face. when i was younger they were freckles, but now they're liver spots. i'm 48 and i look 60. that's on top of trans people mostly being younger than me. so i gotta go out with my poor fine motor skills and learn how to make my face look presentable, and do it _every time i want to leave the house_. i'm dreading it, but it's something i need to learn. my foundation is the wrong shade. learning stuff with my ex-wife was really hard. she was a perfectionist and a poor teacher and didn't know shit about makeup anyway. i'm better off figuring shit out on my own, but the _spoons_...

it's interesting, i've found that i'm actually a really sociable person and not an introvert at all. i just have a really hard time doing the mundane shit.

anyway that's a long bitch but i needed to bitch, i guess.

Kate (rushomancy), Tuesday, 11 June 2024 16:49 (two weeks ago) link

yeah i love camping but i can't stand the bugs in the summer, it's defo a transitional weather activity

i'm sure everyone is sick of hearing me talk about swimming :D

Deflatormouse, Wednesday, 12 June 2024 01:36 (two weeks ago) link

there's a sweet spot in the second half of september where you can go swimming and camping at the same time

Deflatormouse, Wednesday, 12 June 2024 01:46 (two weeks ago) link

love is maybe a little strong but i do like camping. i never did it until my husband and i started dating.

we went biking last month on this great trail near arcadia weā€™d never been on before, and there were lots of ppl hangin out by the river. stoked a burning desire to be waist deep in a freshwater with a can of beer on a warm summer night

donna rouge, Wednesday, 12 June 2024 01:50 (two weeks ago) link

I feel weirdly blessed, I am rarely the focus of bugs, and with picaridin, itā€™s like I donā€™t exist, whereas others I know can slather deet all over and still get eaten alive

butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Wednesday, 12 June 2024 01:58 (two weeks ago) link

oh swimming at night is amazing! in remote places it's an endless void. you can only hear stars and can only hear yourself splashing around. kinda scary but beautiful, tranquil
not sure what gave me the itch. REM?

i know, some people don't really get bitten much, others get bitten but only feel a little discomfort for like 10 mins. i get huge, swollen welts, it is misery for like a week and taking antihistamines only makes me feel drugged.

Deflatormouse, Wednesday, 12 June 2024 02:13 (two weeks ago) link

* see :)

Deflatormouse, Wednesday, 12 June 2024 02:13 (two weeks ago) link

This is why I like living in places with nice long winters

A couple years ago I was visiting a friend in upstate NYC and I laid my jacket on the grass for a second and she flipped out at me like I was crazy. ā€œDonā€™t you know about ticks?ā€ I surely do not

frociaggine e figaggine (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 12 June 2024 03:10 (two weeks ago) link

all the dykes out here are into hiking and camping and shit and i'm a city girl. a couch lesbian. i mean, shit, why camp when i can _be_ camp?

i just spent so much time in boy scouts camping, and i fuckin' hated it. i don't have as much problem with bugs these days. i don't know if it's just regional or if my changed hormonal balance makes a difference.

the thing is, i really do _like_ the dark, quiet places. i grew up in the suburbs and spent a lot of time looking at the sky. i'd go out camping and all the stars were amazing to see. the thing i like least about being a city girl is that you can't really see shit because of light pollution. last time i remember really seeing the stars was on my honeymoon over a decade ago. sometime i'd like to see the stars again.

Kate (rushomancy), Wednesday, 12 June 2024 04:04 (two weeks ago) link

Give a man a nut and heā€™ll eat for a day
Teach a man to nut and heā€™ll eat for a lifetime

frociaggine e figaggine (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 12 June 2024 21:21 (two weeks ago) link

So stoked for my cartoonist buddy, commissioned for some Mississippian billboards:

highway billboards commissioned for the Moonlight adult store, near Jackson, Mississippi ā¤ļøā€šŸ”„šŸ’‹ pic.twitter.com/mW5iLtPniF

— eric kostink willyums (@kostiukwilliams) June 14, 2024

frociaggine e figaggine (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 14 June 2024 18:09 (one week ago) link

holy shit that's awesome, i'd much rather see billboards full of lewd furry art than christian-bigot billboards like most of them are

Kate (rushomancy), Saturday, 15 June 2024 15:08 (one week ago) link

yeah that's hawt. without seeing the full-sized image, the second one... i thought she was holding like a big slice of pizza lol

he/him hoo-hah (map), Saturday, 15 June 2024 15:22 (one week ago) link

I sang karaoke last night with a couple friends and my sibling. They skipped my name (which was fine, no rules at karaoke) but it was to sing fucking La Roux ā€œBulletproofā€ (which is never fine)

When my time to sing came around I asked, on mic, why this English singer named herself after a soup thickening procedure, and suggested that a French pop artist similarly name themselves ā€œA Potatoā€

frociaggine e figaggine (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 15 June 2024 15:50 (one week ago) link

xp a compelling "exit now" message if there ever was one. unfortunately these places are always just big rectangles with fluorescent lighting, speckled ceiling panels and tack-on walls.

there's a "newsstand" in grand junction co with video arcade stalls in the back, i'm pretty sure every one (4? 5?) had a glory hole in the wall. the one time i went there were like three guys hanging out waiting for a turn lol. i kinda hate the rep that this kind of sex gets. i rarely saw anyone who like scared me you know? and guys frequenting glory holes know what they're doing. having someone give you a mind-blowing sexual favor and then never seeing them again, there's something really liberating about it ime.

he/him hoo-hah (map), Saturday, 15 June 2024 16:02 (one week ago) link


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