I call it Rebel Rebel because I’m not sure if it’s a boy or a girl. I suspect, though, that he’s a boy, so I shall henceforth refer to him as one.
I’m seriously allergic to cats so I’m only going to let him be so much a part of my life. I do feed him when he comes around, though, and I give him water. And I let him rub up against my leg. He seems healthy and he’s very affectionate so I assume he’s not feral. I think he may belong to someone in the neighborhood. He sort of comes and goes but it makes me surprisingly happy when I see him sleeping out on the deck. And I have a fantasy that he’s intimidating the mice as well.
It’s actually the perfect cat scenario for me. I think my mom may have had the same arrangement with this same cat. And he’s just kind of adorable…
I deal with oral history interviews as part of my job almost every day. I’ve digitized them, transcribed them, catalogued them, and created metadata about them. But tomorrow morning, I’ll be an interviewee for the first time. That will be a change of pace. I will be discussing my…ahem…trailblazing role as an LGBTQ (or whatever the hell the acronym is this week) student at UNCG in the 1980s for a student documentary of some sort.
I have this horrible feeling they’re going to be disappointed.
I pretty much got through most of my “coming out” issues before I even entered college–which may actually be of some interest, I guess, since that was less common in those days. All in all, I walked into a pretty squishy leftist environment as a freshman so I didn’t really experience a lot of discrimination and drama per se. I suppose I’ll talk about a few minor skirmishes I had with some people who didn’t appreciate my rather strident “activism” at the time and maybe about some things involving kiddie politics and the radio station and our growing awareness of AIDS. I could mention the fact that I somehow became everyone’s favorite person to “come out” to, so I heard a lot of stories from people who didn’t have it as easy as I did. And there was my friend who committed suicide by jumping out of a ninth-floor window in the library.
But even thirty years ago a lot of my thoughts on the subject were related to my dissatisfaction with what some people called “gay culture” and I’m not sure how that will play in this interview. We’ll see. I’m mainly disappointed that I’m not allowed to wear a black shirt since I’ll be shot in front of a lack backdrop. I almost always wear a black shirt, dammit.
Having finally worked out some details at the office, my annual Canadian road trip is now finalized for the last two weeks in October. I’d prefer not to do it so late in the month but I’m playing host to a meeting (organized by someone else) to go over our statewide contributions to the DPLA, and that pushed everything back a bit.
I still haven’t decided whether to do through Pittsburgh and Buffalo or through Detroit on the way up. I also haven’t pondered whether I’d prefer to stay in my old standby in Leslieville/The Beach or spend a hundred bucks more ($20/day) to be right in the middle of things at Bloor and Yonge. I’ll probably make the latter decision tonight. The former can wait.
Three reasons I’d rather have an outdoor cat than a boyfriend:
- Outdoor cats never snore or otherwise disrupt your sleep.
- Outdoor cats never argue about where to have dinner.
- Outdoor cats are (usually) much better at chasing mice.
Thoughts while doing laundry and eating surprisingly good low-carb butter pecan ice cream:
- We’ve documented that I’ve become something of a neat freak and a much more attentive housekeeper over the past several years but I’ve also become a much better (and somewhat more creative) cook. If I were ever going to get married again (ain’t gonna happen BTW) I might make someone a really good wife.
- I am beat. I didn’t sleep well last night; I had really weird dreams all night, probably brought on by the death metal show I was at earlier in the evening. And I moved another load of stuff this afternoon. Thus the long and introspective post I’d planned is on hold. Fuck introspection; I’m going to sit on my ass and watch a movie.
- I may actually get to see one of my favorite Canadian power pop bands while I’m in Toronto in a couple of weeks. That would be nice.
- Did I mention that I’m beat?
Pictures after the jump, if you care…
Two and a half years after splitting up, I’m still finding annoying little pieces of paperwork that need taking care of in order to fully dissolve my former relationship. This time it was the insurance. I’m wondering if he process would have be been more or less streamlined if there had been an actual marriage certificate and divorce decree involved.
<facebook rant>The aggravating thing is that marriage confers a whole slew of rights and protections with the stroke of a pen. Same-sex couples have to negotiate, sign multiple legal documents, and jump through any number of other hoops in order to get a FRACTION of the same rights and protections. If the relationship ends, we then have to go through the whole process in reverse. All this to preserve the “sanctity” of an institution that any male-female couple in the country can enter or exit pretty much on a whim, relatively speaking.</facebook rant>
Fortunately, it ceased being traumatic for me quite some time ago. Now it’s just fucking annoying.
Great day otherwise, though. Had a meeting with my colleagues around the state about contributing to the Digital Public Library of America, followed by a software experience where everything actually behaved as expected (and as planned). That was a nice change of pace.
And I have a surprisingly open calendar tomorrow so I may be able to get some actual work done before my vacation.
Mmmm. Canada…
I built this site years ago when I was still doing freelance work. It was never one I was especially proud of but at least it used to work. It’s been on a death spiral in the years since I gave it up and has finally degraded to the level you see here. It amazes me that a large company like Fox Broadcasting (which purchased the station earlier this year) would let something like this remain active as the station’s only web presence. Why not just shut it down completely?
I’ve half a mind to call them and offer to log in (I’m sure my old password still works) and at least pull the plug since they obviously either don’t know or don’t care how to do it themselves. For a fee, of course…
I’m off. Next week. At some point.
I’m intentionally leaving my schedule a little open on this trip for purposes of spontaneity. I have a nucleus of (nonrefundable) days reserved in Toronto but nothing else, which will alllow me to decide on the fly whether to spend more time there or venture toward, say, Montréal for a few days. I may land in New England somewhere along the way and knock three more states off the list. I haven’t really even decided what day to leave.
Should be fun.
Completely unrelated: Why is Google serving up ads for Japanese porn sites here? I’ve never been to a Japanese porn site and I don’t think I’ve really ever discussed them on the site either.
After checking the weather, I decided to leave today rather than tomorrow so I’d have a sunny day in Pittsburgh. That meant I left at 4:00 and rolled into the Red Roof Inn just before 11:00. The drive, which I can still pretty much do in my sleep, was extra exhausting tonight and I’m actually a little sore. But the particularly dark part between Summersville and Clarksburg was made bearable by a really good set on CBC Radio 3 (streaming Canadian indie rock to the world).
I miss Pittsburgh. It always seemed really homey to me despite the baggage that came to be associated with it. I love the newspaper and the food and just the whole feel of the place. In many ways, it’s the antithesis of San Francisco. I’m excited to actually be spending some time here again.
Tomorrow will bring:
- Breakfast at Barb’s Country Kitchen or Ritter’s.
- Lunch or dinner at Smallman Street.
- Maybe a stroll through South Side and Squirrel Hill.
- A bookstore or two.
I’ll probably leave Tuesday morning for Buffalo and the border. Unless I don’t.