Wednesday, July 1, 2009 9:59 PM

thanks to a internet minx!

Otter Pops

SF Pride. Getting the Iphone reach. its tougher than my camera.

Selective Reportage is the new black.

Reportage. That's really what's going on with facebook, twitter and all the like.

People have become reporters of their own lives. Its no longer enough to just go to an event be it the inauguration or a walk down the street. you HAVE to share it. You are your own Sylvia Poggioli.

Blogs and well developed blogs in my mind bring something interesting, something thought out and more than a tweet limit of characters. The updates may not be frequent but what jewels come through.

Cathy Horyn as usual says it wonderfully:

"Last week at the spring 2010 men’s shows, editors were dutifully sending out tweets as they flew around Paris in their hired cars and minivans. Nobody expects to learn anything significant from a tweet, and nobody does. The point is just to create the frantic sense that something is happening."

I have found myself sharing that which honestly should just be mine and those that are physically with me.

The attempted "inclusion" of my
whole "twitterbook-verse" simply leads to my distraction of the event I am attending and a flurry of well meaning but useless comments.

Lest I be thought of as bitter I do enjoy keeping up with my joneses. I love the photos and the cross pollination that happens . I simply say that which I am going to do and that which I have done....not that which I AM doing.

So that being said here are some stuff'es for you.

Hit the Mint. Just hit it. Small place nothing glam but its a place you feel comfortable in and its been in LA since 1937 and everyone has wandered through here sooner or later. Find a band you like and go for a quick night out. Live music in a small setting has a feeling all its own. The band we saw tonight was Upstart and they did an amazing set.

 

Sunday, June 21, 2009 5:55 PM

Never give your water bottle to a camel (or eat polar bear liver.)

 

Thursday, June 18, 2009 11:57 PM

Its amazing how there are so many historical and artistic references in every day life I wonder what just passes me by. I was watching King of the Hill (in Vegas enjoying Johnns very big TV) enjoying the show when drawn on a wall deep in the background was Motherwells " Elegy to the Spanish Republic, No. 57". An animator must have liked it and he did a great reproduction job. I am sure there is an essay about irony and art surviving and some such but honestly its late. So lets just feel self satisfied like buying the New Yorker yet hardly getting beyond the notes column.

 

on the road in Bradly the hottest day (and a long day). This little town relies upon our passing through and buying their cookout BBQ lunch to help fund the schools (pop 30 or so) arts programs.

the whole medical team. (on red dress day)

the height of fashion . Eric was a trooper A little limping trooper but he kept his smile.

Life Cycle Pics here.

 

 

Tuesday, June 9, 2009 0:19 AM

Another year another Aids Lifecycle. This is my sixth year doing the ride and I have to say it remains one of the best things I have ever done in my life.Yes it is physically challenging but it also is so much more than that. I was surrounded by people who came to the ride with stories of love, survival, loss and for a week all you have to do is bike, eat, sleep AND support each other.

I am lucky to work in the medical tent before and after the days riding and get to know those on the ride that are not doing so well. These are the riders who are having a hard ride for some reason or another. Its these riders that I really feel for and want to get through the ride. One year this rider told me that the ride was the first thing he has attempted since he was diagnosed and hospitalized with AIDS. The sheer physicality of the ride, creation of a microcosm of conscious dedicated individuals and the stripping of daily work concerns all add up to what can become a very concentrated focused experience.

 

and time does let wounds heal. amazing how it differs but the end result is always the same. No emotion can be held so tightly for so long.....every event has a half life some plutonium others shorter.

Friday, May 29, 2009 9:04 AM

such a good time!

Ok so here were are with Cyndi Lauper. She is great great great adnd she loves the kids. So we have the quickest chat ever about that and she is amazing. I was a little starstruck.

ANOTHER case where I am thinking well I have seen 1000 kids throwing up and diarrhea this week but this kid is a little different...just a little...long story short she had a serious thing that is not that common and needed admission. She would have gotten A LOT worse if I missed this. Its getting nerve wraking having to be 100 percent right ALL the time and this has been for over 15 years at this point. Its an impossible task just given the nature of the universe and being human. I am sure I have not been 100% (ask old boyfriends ) thats impossible I just hope that I am when it really really counts.

Off ot the Aids ride see you in a week. And its never to late to donate!!

 

Tuesday, May 26, 2009 4:39 PM

bedtime reading time
getting serious about the ride
the coldest ride I HAVE EVER HAD.
all pseudo bad ass. but the hotel has this GREAT rooftop replete with fake hills. which is sort of really neat and crying out for croquet.

What the hell. I am getting pretty bad at the updates. Its a product of doing doing doing and not enough writing but lets recap.

TRAINING! For the first year since I think the first year I did the ride I am actually training hard and I really feel the results. I have had the time to spend with friends I have not seen in a while and riding is a GREAT way to catch up and talk believe it or not. A good ride can take 3-4 hours and thats a good time to spend while exercising and seeing the outdoors scenes which in southern and northern CA are quite amazing. I have to say though that biking is great exercise but I notice these guys with enormous guts on the bikes and I worry that I am not hitting some crucial areas. Which leads me to.....

I have noticed that my friends in their 40's are doing a lot of worrying about bodies. It happens. Basically things change and the horizontal hold knob gets tweaked and everybody gets just a little wider. (the vertical knob gets tweaked at 70). It impossible not to notice whats changing with your bodies from 30 to 40 to 50. There are those elves that always seem the same but for the most part its a change and a new process for all involved. I worry a little since I am single and I can think its easier to go gently into that light if you are with someone who has known and loved you for a while vs meeting someone as you bid adieu to your apogee. I look back at so many relationships and realize the dissporporiante importance I have given to past boyfriends and physicality. which leads me to....

reliving this party I was at in SF where I had an INSANE great time at and it was all about talking and sharing and talking. Amazing. I loved it. SUCH a change for me and I am so so so excited to move to SF in June or July!!!

 

 

Monday, May 4, 2009 1:47 PM

dessert with Matthew, Mike and Caleb.

Ahh the weekend off the WHOLE weekend of. What do all the 9-5's do with ALL that time. Anyway went to a great art show put on by a friend of mine and his stuff is seriously great. seriously.

OK you know when you have to have a song. Have to. Well weep by Skunk Anasie was on my mind something hard this morning. The remix I like is lets say NOT easy to find. So if you are into her and into a remix here it is from me to you.

A new addition to the house. I have rented the guesthouse out in my SLOW transition to SF . Neeha is a friend of mikes and is very cool and laid back so a good addition to the family.

Apt hunting in SF is depressing until its not. I can feel the place is there I just need not to jump into anything but at this point I may just do that. The dumpster behind the End Up for example.

 

 

Monday, April 27, 2009 8:09 AM

ok one non biking pic

TWO flats. That brings my total number of flats after about 2000 miles on this bike to four. Yeah not happy. Luckily I met a very nice guy named Christopher from TN (imagine a slight accent with the manners that come from a "hollah" (sp?) upbringing) who was a crew member and he stayed with me while Jaime came to save my ride and had extra tubes and CO2 cartridges in his truck.

What's a 92 mile bike ride into head winds feel like? Well imagine going through a revolving door with Luciano Pavarotti, Beverly Sills, Chef Prudhome, and the Blob...backwards. Its tough and you push as hard as you can to see 10 MPH on your speedometer. I was biking pushing hard, legs not happy, my ass filing a human rights violation resolution at the UN and I am thinking well at least I am getting somewhere I feel sorry for the other bikers.....Until this biker goes by me like its Sunday in the park just pushing away nothing big no deep breaths, not a swizzle stick in lycra but just

doing
his
thing.......
well.

Biking and Bowling. You can never tell who is going to be good. Sure you can get all pumped up body beautiful and have pecs and arms of death but biking is about efficiency, cadence and smart shifting. I LOVE seeing people with a body habitus that does not scream speed just crank up those hills. So I just drafted his ass.

The ride back was a whole different day and I found my cadence in Malibu.....all legs and lungs..... for about 10 minutes.

One rider hit a car as he turned into her and another broke a few ribs and punctured a lung and had to be life flighted out. So its not a harmless sport/activity.

 

 

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 4:27 Pm

What the hell what I realized is that facebook is fun to quickly update but it does not have the it for me for this venue so what's been up?

AIDS LIFECYCLE TRAINING RIDES. Been actually doing my training rides and just did a 68 mile ride which felt good and I finished respectively. Thanks to all my sponsors past and FUTURE (first 50 sponsors get a really neato shirt. really neato.)

Went to the GLAAD awards with some friends and had a fun time although me at the GLAAD awards is a little funny since I am by no means into TV and reject celebrity usually HOWEVER since that is not the norm I see their value. And it does feel good to see what's out there. The highlight was the SCREAMING balcony of kids from the high schools. Very smart move they kept the energy level high since all the other boys seemed to be on some weird "best benefit behavior" mode.

The reindeer games were funny esp old boyfriends/new boyfriends/old friends/new friends dynamics.

Here's a link that the geek will get and think hilarious anyone else will be bored to tears.

Off to Vegas for two days then Miami for a couple of days then back and a double century this coming weekend. I am losing all upper body to my legs. ...annoying. BUT My not so secret lover in Atlanta is now riding!!! next year with me!

 

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 8:41 AM

 

Skype on the iPhone...an application on a phone to....well not use the phone....Magritte is gleefully spinning.

For the hidden Vegas file:

Mt Charleston is 1/2 hr from the strip and worlds away. There are over 30 hikes and great waterfalls to see and not a slot in sight.

Checking out new solar oven designs for burning man 2009. A few new recruits in the works....very excited.

I had this little boy who was in a rush as all little boys are and this particular little boy did not like wearing underwear in his zipper fly jeans.....yup.

SO after a little lets say finesse and knowing just EXACTELY where to cut the zipper all was good. However after I see a patient the parents always say thank you and I always say "my pleasure" and I just caught myself but enough came out that the father died laughing. yup I am smoooooth.

Saturday, March 28, 2009 11:29 AM

behold my scepter of power.

If you are anywhere and need a hike outdoors this is THE site.

Tokolo rocks. really.

Had a hard day in the ER. Its trying to keep all the cases and medicine straight in your head WHILE dealing with the clueless meth moms or girlfriends of lesbian AWOL grunts who escape from a mental institutions in a stolen car that's a bitch. It becomes a case of emotional triage where I have to choose those cases where I can put in what I can and not lose my own mind....... or become that Cop in his car at the end of every show on COPS where they spout some bullshit "wise" line. Of course that did not stop me from telling a 17 yr old last night "Look you turn 18 in two weeks and when that happens we all go away. No more adolescent case workers no more strangers taking care of you. You will then have to go downstairs to the adult emergency room when you "run away and have dirty sex again" and trust me its a whole different world down there so me standing here is probably the last wake up call you are getting." It carry's more weight when you have a roll of care bear stickers and a pinwheel sticking out of your pocket.

 

 

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 1:28 PM

Am I looking at a fedora's (background) at a daytime beach party and scraggly beards (foreground)? We make the fashion versus chasing after K'fed and Kid rock. Your bday plans are better.

ed: a little harsh but still I prefer a unique culture. Klaus Nomi por ejemplo.

The day the music died and lived.

I have a Mac Cube (functional but sitting in a fit of pique next to a working zenith bakelite radio), a dual processor MDD tower notably not working today and a mac powerbook having been dropped a fair number of times over the past five years getting a little grumbly. Over the years so many programs extra hard drives, cards etc have gone into these machines they operate more on a belief system than any OS Apple has produced.

Time for new circuitry.

and this song was HUGE in Miami when I was in high school and freshman year college and my sister was working door at a gay club. It captures the neon, brainless, boppy times perfectly. Thanks to Philo (we pesudo met in Palm Springs one day when I drove out on a lark to take photos and he was also in the valley driving around taking photos. Flash forward I am on some site randomly, see his pics think "gee they look a lot like mine" but aren't so I email and he said he saw me, my green car and dog on the side of the road.)

Had a fun bday for Mike yesterday he made his mothers lasagna. A load of wine and wondering what my new paramour thinks about all the antics of greenacre. Back to the Bike.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 11:06

 

Walking into work is a slow submersion full of hints, clues and vagaries of how the night is going to be. As I approach the ER doors I note how many cop cars , gurneys and ambo's are out front. When I have to wind my way in between cars to get to the doors... not so good. Then its the general din as I walk through the adult side to my side and the "hall'ers". I think its criminal that adult patients are given "hall beds" ie stretchers in the hall with a curtain to imply walls as half the world walks by and tries to avoid their eyes. They tend to be the oldest in for the non-fatal causes but still the wholesale shredding of their dignity is appalling.

I avoid looking at my waiting room since I have found that the number of people in the waiting room has no direct correlation to how the nights going to go but has a direct linear correlation to my sense of doom. And then its up to the grunion or some other moon metaphor.

The only constant in the ER is the staff. No matter how slow or busy its the people that make the place. I had INSANE wait times up to 4 hours (normally its one) due to complicated cases, huge volume and just plain old being busy. All the parents were great and no attitude ever. I just say "sorry for the wait its free tupperware with each patient seen night" and they relax. And then if I get some rare pushback I simply say with a smile and laugh "I am not rushing with your kid right now like I did not rush with theirs after all I am not giving you fries with this". usually works.

Had a really cute kid with a lip laceration that I had to fix and a dad who should be the marshall in the gay pride parade. What to say? It was all cute and fine with the kid, the lac, the cute dad who was all into chatting and mom. I felt like a first date with the old girlfriend as the waitress but oh wait she' s married to him. I sedated the kid did a repair and wrote my number out in the kids stitches, hope he noticed.

notes from Jordan:

emlah min rassi (spelled how you say it) is a slang way of saying stop bugging me leave me alone. very useful. not to be used with strangers unless you want a fight.

and from the Dear Abbey file advice to a friend:

When your bfriend, paramour whatever has to walk outside the house, apt, condo to talk to his friends because "he just feels better that way" or whatever excuse; cut it off. A) they are up to no good. (usually the case) or B) if they want to talk about you like we all need to talk to our friends about our squeezes they are too crass to do it like grown ups while at work making money and taking up company time. I fall in and out of love on the smallest of gestures, turn of phrases, habits of kindness since to me those are the autonomic behaviors that tell me more of the inherent person. This def. pushes me out.

 

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 9:26 PM

ok before anything else listen to Cathy Horyn say "oh man" in her baritone and you know she's impressed with Lanvin. This is probably the best audio slideshow I have heard her do. Its one thing to comment on fashion its another thing to stimulate someone (namely me) to research more about designers and "cutting".

 

Happy Birthday from Jordan.

 

Just got back from Amman Jordan on an Operation Smile Mission. These missions (number five thus far (Philippines, Egypt, Morocco, China) are becoming more on an integral part of my life. Its a bit like burning man and the Aids ride in the sense that people from all over the map share a week of intense work/experience. Its the bonding that comes with severe exhaustion and at times emotional overload that for me creates lasting ties and memories.

We land at a hospital and basically screen a ton of kids (over 1000 people showed up at an Egypt mission for 100 slots) and ALL sorts of conditions come through the doors. A girl with a huge hemangioma covering her face, twins with cleft lips, a kid with a severe genetic syndrome which is rarely seen in the US...anything. We fawn and coo over all these kids and sometimes you can see the beaming parents soak it in. This may be the first time their kids who are beautiful in their eyes are also in others.

I know that my experiences are fleeting and its always the temptation of tourist to overestimate exactly how much they "absorb the culture". I would say that after three missions to muslim, Arabian dominant (ok Morocco is more a patois) places I am getting more comfortable and nuances are becoming a bit clearer.

Families come by camel, car, bus for hours or at times days. We had Iraqi refugees and a whole large contingent from Gaza.

Made it to the Dead Sea. Dusty on land salty in water.

Made it to Petra.....amazing. Most people say you need two days. I would do a day and then the night hike which is mysterious cool funky etc and then jet the next morning. Oh and the hike to the Monastery which is the "must must see" is a work out. Somehow that is missed in all the guide books.