Its all fun and games till someone snaps a toe off

Last Saturday started out productive with me working some overtime, but once I got home it turned into another weekend night of drunken daubachery. Several of our friends came over all with alcohol, beer, a half pint, couple of pints and a 5th of whisky. Our one friend JJ has been known to tie one on in the past and this night was no exception. We quickly went through the half pint, pints and a good portion of the fifth with JJ pouring shots as soon as the glasses were empty. Then he fell out into the yard. We checked to see if he was ok then let him lay there until he was ready to get up. Soon he stumbled onto the deck again and we propped him up on the bench inbetween two people so he wouldn't fall over. Then he tried to climb across the table, which we stopped.

We then noticed blood on the deck and tracked it back to JJ's foot. His one shoe was gone and what was left was a mangle of toes. I couldn't look, but someone kept saying, "The bones sticking out", "The bones sticking out". I definitely couldn't look. By that time JJ was totally incoherent aka shitfaced drunk. I said he needed to go to the hospital, but since everyone was too drunk to drive and JJ couldn't afford an ambulance ride, the soberest one wrapped up his foot and we layed him on the couch to sleep it off and it was decided that we would take him to the hospital in the morning.

The next morning I woke up to the front door being closed, so I hurriedly got dressed and went outside to see JJ sitting on the front porch steps barefooted. He turned to me and said, "What happened?" I then told him that he fell down. He then said he got up and unwrapped his foot only to find the horror of what layed underneath. "Did you see my foot?" I peeked over his shoulder to view for the first time and yes the toe next to the big toe was pushed to the side and yes the bone where the toe should be was sticking out. "I then almost cried and said,"Oh JJ, you need to go to the hospital." He then told me he had already called someone to pick him up, because his scooter had a dead battery. He then replied, "I think I need to stop drinking whisky, but believe it or not it doesn't hurt as bad as it looks".

It ended up he had 3 broken toes. All needed to be reset and it took three tries to set the bad one. He stopped by today to pick up his scooter and he apoligized for creating such drama. I told him I was just glad they were able to put him back together. We then discussed and joked about the necessity of wearing shoes when you party.

Attack of the 3ft. pencil

About a week and a half ago I was at work dusting offices. I was dusting the lady's office that is in charge of our health insurance and on top of a file cabinet she has a decorative 3 ft. pencil. I picked the dam thing up to dust under it and the klutz that I am fumbled it and the lead/graphite end stabbed me in the middle finger right on the edge where nail meets skin. At the time I didn't think much of it.

Then it never healed and became kinda swollen, its been very painful ever since and last week it started to ooz puss. Nice, I now. It then started to worry me so last week while I was at work I decided to go to Urgent Care, only to find out they were already closed. After some online research, I found that if not taken care of I might loose my finger so I went back to Urgent Care tonight. I was reluctant at first cuz I didn't want them to have to cut it open or anything since it was already very painful. It ended up they didn't have to do anything but perscribe me some antibiotics which ended up being free at the local Meijer's. YAY Oh and the Dr. and Nurse got a real big kick that it was a 3 ft. pencil.

Other than that I've been practicing my skills on my scooter and decided to try and do the test again in the next week or so once I master the course. I plan on spending Sunday at the course doing it over and over till I get it right. It helps that one of my friends used to be a motorcycle daredevil and he's helping me out.

Have a good weekend everyone!!

Congratulations you fail

Well I failed my motorcycle skills test this morning. Little did I know that I had to practically be a stunt rider to pass. I managed the short hair pin corner exercise and the stop with your front tire in a box exercise. But the weaving through the cones was impossible. First I thought that the cones were to close together. I had to take it crazy slow in order to manuver around them but I guess too slow since I put my foot on the ground twice, which is a big no no, and that was the one thing I actually practiced repeatedly before. Then I failed the stop on a dime exercise also, where you have to go between 12-20 mph and stop quickly. I stopped a little too quickly and almost wiped out. That was the end, I didn't get to do the swerve around the invisible car exercise.

I can do the test one more time, but why bother, since I don't think I can manage to zig zag around the fuckin cones. I'm just going to take the 2 day motorcycle learning program and be done with it. If I do that then I will get my license. Plus I want to learn to drive a motorcycle anyway so its a win win situation. The only thing is the class is booked like forever. But we were told if we just show up and they have "no shows" then we can take it with out reservations. Oh yeah Scooby is gonna take it also, hence the "we".

Frantically working

Well I found out that I can't get a fixed rate mortgage unless my house is finished and "not under contruction". So Scooby and I have been frantically trying to finish the house so I can refinance before my fixed rate ends at the end of the year. I worked all this morning before work installing siding. We need to get that done and the ceiling in the living room, plus alot of trim work through out. Needless to say I'm tired as shit, and the kicker is I'm going to have to start working OT for the next couple of Saturdays to get the carpets cleaned at work. OIY......

Rain and skeeters

The title best describes out camping trip. Thursday and Friday it rained on and off and Saturday morning it poured for hours. The mosquito's were horrible, but it probably didn't help that we had last years mosquito spray. Friday morning we ran to a store and bought some new bug spray, which seemed to help. The G.R. River men weren't all that friendly this year, plus they brought their own portable private play area, so we've decided not to go when they are there anymore. We did meet a few new people, so the weekend wasn't a total loss.

Other shit...

I'll be doing my motorcycle skills test next week. Also I crunched some numbers today on our spending within the last year and it looks like by next year we will be broke. I plan on refinancing my mortgage soon so hopefully I can get a lower payment. Our finances kind of worry me but if things do indeed get bad I can always sell my stocks, which I was going to save for retirement and then the timeshare. That will be a sad day when that goes, cuz no more trips to New Orleans once its gone. Anyway back to the grind...

Quick note

Our party went well. Didn't have as many as normal, only about 60-65 people. It was a very nice crowd and I think most had a great time. One of our best friends is a wine consultant, so we had him do a wine tasting.

Unfort. one of the guests got drunk early and totally tried to manipulate and heckle with snarky comments through out the tasting. We were busy hosting the rest of the party in the back yard and didn't find out about it till later. He then took the name tags that we supplied and started making up names for the rest of the guests, some were funny, others were just plain mean spirited and hurtful. He moved to the side walk and started to harrass passersby. I did manage to get Scooby to pull him back in. He then passed out before the fireworks even started. If you happen to read this Steven, I'm sorry to say that your not welcome back to our partys.

Everything else went pretty smoothly except for some other guy yelling over our fence at someone passing by, "Hey! You want your ass fucked", during the fireworks in front of families with children. I mean hello people, this is a neighborhood in which we live. Would you like me to go to your house and do the same thing? I did consider it. LOL My only regret is that I didn't feel I had enough time to chat with some of our friends we only see once of twice year. Love you guys!!

Anyway, the house is almost clean and picked up and we are frantically trying to get everything together to go camping on Thursday. Did I mention its leather/bears in the woods weekend. Should be fun!!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!!!
Later....

Crazy life

Things are starting to get crazy here with out fireworks party going on this Saturday. We usually have between 75-100 people so needless to say I'm a bit stressed. Then the weekend after we are planning on going camping. I know I promised a pic of me and my scooter but its gonna have to wait, I'm way too busy. Won't be posting too much for the next couple of weeks. Hope everyone else is out living life also, peace...

Metro Station - Shake It

This song makes me shake shake shake shake a shake it. I guess the lead singer with the tatts is Miley Cyrus's brother Trace Cyrus.

Rain, rain go away

As the saying goes April showers bring May flowers. Well.... there was very little rain in April and we are getting it all now. Normally I like the rain, I feel that its cleansing plus I don't have to water the yard as much. But now that I have a scooter, I'd like to get out on it and get my "break in" miles on it, but all its fuckin doing is raining. Rain is predicted all this week. Last week it was raining and when it wasn't raining it looked as if it was going to rain.

In other news...

I spent this weekend cleaning windows inside and out and basically doing an overall cleaning of the house to prepare for our fireworks party in a couple of weeks. Luckily we got alot accomplished this weekend. We managed to get the living room cleaned out of all the debris and power tools ect. and actually set up as......gasp........a living room. Which means I now have a foyer also, now that the pile of furniture is back in the living room. Salvation Army showed up last Friday and took the furniture that didn't sell it our pathetic yard sale. YAY Thats about it, things are shaping up, the house is looking better than it has in a long time which puts my "neat freak" virgo brain at ease.

A funny thing happened at work this week

Earlier this week the urinal at work was having problems with the water going down. I went and got the plunger and plunged the hell out of it. To my amazement I ended up plunging up the stopper to the sink drain. Funny thing is the sink in this bathroom hasn't had a stopper since I've been here, so it has been in the urinal for several years. Holy shit!.. WTF!

Ignorace in the gay community

As some of you remember Scooby and I had a room mate for a while, little over a year ago. Scooby and I are HIV+, our room mate was/is not. Recently I was conversing with a guy and my partner and I's HIV status came up and the guy replied, "your room mate was also, wasn't he?" I told him he wasn't and he said, "Well I and other people just figured he was since he lived with you guys."

WTF??? Why is it that if you know or live with someone who is HIV+, that people automatically assumes you are HIV+ also. With this kind of ignorant thinking I guess it shouldn't surprise me time and again, that alot guys will immediately quit chatting with me online once they find out I'm HIV+.

Another instance was with our friend who recently had health issues. He had an enzyme surge which caused some temporary paralisis. (Note: he's doing much better and has almost completely recovered) But the gay community automatically labled him as having AIDS, which he doesn't, in fact he's HIV-. Just because he's young and had a temporary health issue he was branded with HIV/AIDS.

The ignorance of these queens spreading these hateful rumours blows my mind. Here are a couple of guild lines to help you protect yourself and be a decent human being.

1.) ALWAYS practice safe sex and treat all sexual partners as if they are HIV+.
2.)Don't spread rumours about people unless that person has confirmed the rumour and says its ok to tell other people.

end of rant....

Not much is new....

Sorry I haven't posted shit lately but nothing is really new. During the week I work and on the weekends we tend to go to the flea market and then have friends over for a bbq on most Sundays. Thats it.... Totally bored and repeticious (is that a word?) Anyway my spending money these days goes to put gas in my car so I can go to work. I cash returnable cans and bottles in for stuff like beer and trail mix. Woo hoo...

I have put 90 miles on my scooter so far and love the shit out of it. I've got another 200 miles to go until I can drive it 45mph, the break it period. Then I'll be able to drive it to work. I had a hitch put on my car today and bought a motorcycle/scooter carrier so I can take it to my skills test. I'm actually not suppose to drive it on my own until I pass the skills test but how the fuck am I suppose to get skills if I can't drive the dam thing. hello...... I plan on taking the test soon, probably by the end of the month.

Anyway thats about it, like I said not much it new.

Ennio Marchetto Paper Quick Change Artist Theater teaser

Lombard St., San Francisco

As my friend Leslie drove down Lombard St. I hung out the sunroof and recorded the drive. The wind noise is kind of annoying so you might want to turn down the sound.

My San Francisco trip

My trip to California was fun. Thursday I went into the city and to hang out. I had lunch at Harvey's on Castro, great ceasar salad btw. Took pictures of the Castro theater and Twin Peaks (the bar), and several at Alamo Square Park.

Friday my friends took me up to Napa and Calistoga. We went to a spa and had volcanic mud baths. My assistant Sergio was a cutie. I soaked in the hot mud for about 25 min. then showered and was taken to the meditation room for a hot towel wrap. After my treatment I went back and swam in their pool for a bit before we took off for lunch. We then headed back and hit a couple of the wineries on the way home.

Saturday we went to Ikea and then to see "Iron Man" which totally rocked! Then Sunday we headed into the city and had excellent Mexican food and then headed to Dolores Park and hung out in the sun. The music was great and we found out before we left that it was the "Gay, Lesbian, Transgender picnic" going on in the park that day. My friends then took me around the city so I could take more pics.

Most of Monday I spent at Steamworks in Berkeley. Tuesday I went back to Steamworks but it was less then eventful so I headed into the city around 3pm for a late lunch. The Deli we tried to go to on Sunday was open this time so I stopped and grabbed some grub and headed back to Dolores Park and sat and ate my lunch.

That was about it. Had a great visit with my friends.

Got back to find out that one of our friends has become paralized while I was gone. He's in his late 20's and just lost complete use of his legs. The Doctors discoved that he had a surge of enzymes in his body that was distroying his muscles. Apparently you usually have around 100 enzymes and his body had like 9,000. They stabilized him and got his enzyme level down, and he is now able to walk with a cane. He still doesn't have any feeling in his feet, and when I called today it sounded as if he was going back in the hospital. To add insult to injury, while he was in the hospital his bf left him........for his exbf. We had him over this weekend and took him to the flea market and tried to get his mind off his troubles. I hope it worked at least a bit, cuz I'm very worried about him.

BearTrapping.com (the truth about)

I've been getting spam from BearTrapping.com forever. Finally yesterday I signed up and found out today that you can't do anything on the site without paying 10 bucks a month. No emails, no nothing. So I politely told them to cancel my profile because I couldn't afford their pay site and this is the response I got:

"You can't afford a lousy $3 a month? what the fuck are you using the internet for adult content for then, loser. Get a fucking job."


WOW what a way to run a website. Even when I do get some extra money I'm sure as hell not going to spend it there. FUCKING ASSHOLES......

Its Morel season

Most people take trips up north to forage in the woods looking for the Morel mushroom. This weekend I found 4 in the backyard. I plucked them, and we took them in and sautee'd them in butter and garlic. OMG!!! They taste just like a juicy delicious steak. YUM!

I probably won't be posting until the end of next week. Wednesday I leave for San Francisco for a week. Friday some friends and I are going to Calistoga and the wine country and have reservations for a volcanic mud bath. Pamper pamper...

Get your motor running

Well my scooter showed up yesterday. I went to the Secretary of States office (DMV in most states) to get license plates and found out that it is considered a motorcycle. Which means I need a special license to drive a motorcycle. So I got the study book and went home. Went back today and took the test and I only missed one question. YAY So now I have a temporary motorcycle learners permit. I can only ride when I'm with someone who has a motorcycle license. God I feel like I'm fucking fifteen again. Now I have to study the skills test and if I pass I'll be able to ride the dam thing. If I fail the test twice then I'll have to take a motorcycle course, which are booked up till fall.

Had I of known that I had to go through all this I'd of just bought a motorcycle. I might eventually anyway. Both Scooby and I have decided to take the motorcycle learners class to refresh our memories on how to ride a motorcycle since we haven't done it since we were in our teens.

I was reading the owners manual today and it says that in order to break it in correctly that I should drive less then 35mph for the first 300 miles, then 45 mph until 500 miles, then 55mph until 1000 miles. Jeez maybe I won't be driving it to work this year since the speed limit is 50 on the road I planned on taking. Dam its gonna take awhile to get that first 300 miles on the dam thing.

In other news: I get my stitches out of my face tomorrow. YAY

Retract that last post

Ok granted I only drink on weekends but it has gotten out of control. Last Saturday evening I fell again but this time wasn't so lucky. I fell and on the way down my face hit the kitchen counter and I spit my cheek open. I then spent the next few hours in the emergency room getting about 5 stitches. I think that I finally had some sense knocked into me. Hopefully

More drinking, a Jockstrap hat, and a new ride...

Today I found my jockstrap under the couch. Then it came back to me.....last Sunday night we partied again, this time with alot of beer and a couple of pints of whisky......and for a while I wore my jock as a hat. At least I wasn't as drunk as the weekend before. I recently was told that four guys carried me into the house that weekend. I think I shocked our exroomies bf by playing John Waters "Desperate Living". I think all people young or old should watch it at least once. lol

Monday I was of course feeling like shit and vowed to quit drinking. HA..... I do really well during the week sustaining from alcohol but now its Friday and I would really like some beer. Note I didn't say "a beer", because I can't just have one. In fact thats my problem, once I start I have a problem stopping until I collapse. But hey its the only affordable fun when your low income folk. A 30 pack of Milwaukees Best is 15.00 and that includes bottle deposit, and it lasts for the entire weekend. Hello I'm Mike and I'm a weekend alcoholic....

Gas has gone up to 3.75 a gal. So this week I bought a Merato 150-TE scooter. It gets 85 mpg and goes 60 mph. So once it arrives and I get it broke in I'm gonna drive it to work on good weather days. Granted I'm going to have to take side roads, but hey I hate the highway anyway, especially now that contruction season is upon us. Its about 20 miles to work, should be interesting. Actually I think it will be cool flying through the country side to work. The scooter is arriving next week. I already bought both Scooby and I helmets since it can carry two people. we will definately be flying around town on it.

Anyway thats it for now, have a good weekend.