nostalgia ad nauseum
Last night Michael jokingly locked me out of the apartment when I stepped onto the back porch. He let me in when it looked like I was seriously contemplating jumping over the balcony (we're one story up). This sparked a conversation about the various times we'd been genuinely locked out in the past. When Daniel and I first got an apartment in 2002 neither of us had a car. I biked to work and he usually carpooled. The apartment had a front security door which required a 'do not duplicate' key, which we only had one of at the time. Daniel held onto it for reasons that escape me now. When I got off work the third night we had the place, Daniel wasn't home yet, so I biked down to his work, from 36th & Artic to 1st & Bragaw just to get the. It was worth it to spend an extra thirty minutes in the new apartment. The first time you have your own place, without any arbitrary administration to answer to, the sense of freedom is immense. It becomes your home, your sanctuary, regardless of whether you own the place or not.
Last night one of our neighbors had a rather large gathering and at some point they all began to spontaneously sing 'Lean on me'. I recalled one of my last parties at the Bering st. apartment when Carina and I began to sing the 'Star-Spangled Banner' and everyone joined in. A neighbor knocked on my door after we had finished. He asked "Did you guys just sing the National Anthem?" When I affirmed that indeed we had, he replied "Awesome!" We invited him in for beer but he declined.
I remember later that night Carina asked for a tour of my room and for no apparent reason she started kissing me. I assumed it was the alcohol, as she is well known for her excesses, but she whispered in my ear when we walked out into the hallway "I'm going to dare you to kiss me," referring of course to the game of Truth or Dare Phil and Daniel were organizing. After I completed my dare, Daniel asked her to decide which of us was the better kisser, having made out with her at a previous party. She studied us both and said "Definitely Aubrey." The hooting and hollering at that remark, as well as the multiple slaps to my back made me realize how lucky I was to have friends who were so eagerly accepting of my homosexuality. It might seem commonplace now, but I had experienced so much homophobia in the past that their loving encouragement had me in awe.
Last night one of our neighbors had a rather large gathering and at some point they all began to spontaneously sing 'Lean on me'. I recalled one of my last parties at the Bering st. apartment when Carina and I began to sing the 'Star-Spangled Banner' and everyone joined in. A neighbor knocked on my door after we had finished. He asked "Did you guys just sing the National Anthem?" When I affirmed that indeed we had, he replied "Awesome!" We invited him in for beer but he declined.
I remember later that night Carina asked for a tour of my room and for no apparent reason she started kissing me. I assumed it was the alcohol, as she is well known for her excesses, but she whispered in my ear when we walked out into the hallway "I'm going to dare you to kiss me," referring of course to the game of Truth or Dare Phil and Daniel were organizing. After I completed my dare, Daniel asked her to decide which of us was the better kisser, having made out with her at a previous party. She studied us both and said "Definitely Aubrey." The hooting and hollering at that remark, as well as the multiple slaps to my back made me realize how lucky I was to have friends who were so eagerly accepting of my homosexuality. It might seem commonplace now, but I had experienced so much homophobia in the past that their loving encouragement had me in awe.