May 2012 Monthly Entry
Looks like I reached my one year Anniversary being on LiveJournal. It’s a pretty good place and I think I’ll be staying here longer. Just want to thank you guys for taking the time to read my drama every month. I’ll continue with my reviews on games and Star Trek seasons. Speaking of Star Trek, I still need to ask any of you on how I can watch the rest of TNG Season 4 from episode 23 and about the first ten episodes of Season 5 online or where downloaded episodes are? Please note that certain online services may not allow Canadian users to access their videos like Hulu, Comedy Central, etc. (for example). And Netflix in Canada doesn’t have near the same amount of content that my American friends get. I heard that the US Netflix offers Star Trek but I don’t know if we do up here. If any of you can help me continue watching the series, leave a comment or send me a message.
While all the cherry blossoms are all gone, never to return until a year from now we have been getting a lot more sun lately. Late April was rainy but last and this week was nothing but pure sun with bits of cloud. The temperature has also risen considerably that more of us are wearing T-shirts and we’re drinking more water. Looks like I’ll be putting away my sweaters.
After about 4 years I now have a new, slightly used PC from a popular drag queen friend of mine, Paige Turner who is moving to back to her hometown of Halifax later this month. She asked $275 but I gave her $300 because of her help at the Rubbout dance party a month ago. It’s an Acer tower; 3.2 GHz, 12GB RAM, 1TB hard drive, Windows 7 Home Premium, DVD-RW, 4 back and 4 top USB 2.0 ports, and comes with keyboard and mouse. It’s a pretty good machine and unlike my last Vista-era PC, I don’t feel much guilt in opening programs or multi-tasking. Either than a couple of expected compatibility issues, the computer itself runs fine. I generally like Windows 7 though it’ll take me a while to get used to it. The only snag I have hit at least a few times is crashing, especially if something is getting installed or maybe hardware compatibility issues. A blue screen all of a sudden appears with text and within seconds, the computer restarts itself. I’m then prompted to start Windows regularly or go into safe mode. Nothing has changed but strangely, all my Internet Explorer cookies (and possibly the history also) are gone. It happens every time. It’s not serious, just slightly annoying. As for my data, I used the SATA hard drive dock and copied years of pics, movies, games, my photos, music, documents, etc. from the Vista computer and simply transferred it unto the new one. My Lexmark printer that I’ve owned since the XP days does work but has the same compatibility issues when I used it with Vista. My Logitech webcam works perfectly fine. I’m not sure yet of my external DVD-RW. But overall, I’m glad I have it and should last me a few years.
As I mentioned above, Paige (real name Rod Smith) will be moving back to Halifax, Nova Scotia very soon. She has lived in Vancouver for around 25 years and performed at so many shows and fundraisers that nobody can even think of a number! For the Knights, she has generally always been our main emcee for all our contests and fundraising events and she was flawless. Besides us, she has received numerous awards and titles from a lot of the community’s organizations. She was also past Baroness of Surrey, Queen of Hearts, Ms. Gay Vancouver 26 and others. Why is she moving back? Throughout the years she has visited Halifax back and forth to see family and friends. I guess at first, her family wasn’t that accepting of her but it seems these days, she is getting along with them and given the current climate of the gay community in Vancouver, there isn’t very much for her around here anymore. It’s a shame as the community here still needs her. To my friend Peter, they were the best of friends. In fact, years ago they helped start a small fundraising group at the then-Dufferin Pub called “The House of Just Cuz’” and raised over $28,000 for groups and charities. Sunday, May 6 the Knights hosted a farewell fundraiser for Paige though not much money was raised. Still, it was great to see a few old faces and get the wonderful speech from her afterwards. Goodbye Paige, I wish you well in future endeavors! Love you!
I hope some of you had a pleasant Mother’s Day last Sunday either spending time with your moms, calling them, or thinking about them. My mom & dad went down to the States that day to do some shopping. I gave my mom her card on Saturday before I left which she enjoyed but I also called her Sunday afternoon to wish her a happy Mother’s Day. That same day would have also been my Daddy David and the late-Kevin’s 11th Anniversary. May 16th yesterday was the 11th Anniversary of my meeting David & Kevin too (you can read about it in last year’s entry). We went out to a popular Chinese restaurant for a small supper.
Since last entry I’m still managing a condo complex at work, making this the third one I’ve ever done. More specifically, I’m the caretaker as I both manage and clean. It actually isn’t too bad but as usual, I wish I was back cleaning my buildings. My manager threw me here because I was recommended by the Strata from the building I did in March. Turns out they were happy that this building’s Strata must have asked them for a recommendation for a temporary manager and lo and behold, they mention my company and me. The now former-manager, Barry had to quit his job (or be fired) and I’m afraid I don’t know all the details. He seems like a nice guy and is actually quite cute! I had training the first few days though the vast majority of it was me cleaning and getting used to the building. He didn’t teach me that much about the manager’s duties but the Strata council here have been very helpful. The good news is that the Strata generally do a lot of the administrative work and I’m mainly around to clean, meeting with tradesmen, and make sure problems are solved. There is a nice, Mexican cleaning lady who is here 4 days a week while I clean by myself 3 days of my 5. The amenities the complex has do present a problem for me including maintaining a small swimming pool and hot tub, exercise room, sauna, 3 washrooms with 2 showers, and 2 guest suites. Oh, and the complex has 12 townhouses. Fun! My manager has now taught me to program key fobs which aren’t really that difficult once you know how to fill in the fields. I‘ve been given a reminder on how to test the Ph and Chlorine in the pool and tub as I’ve done it over 3 years ago at a tower in downtown Vancouver. My office isn’t too shabby but it’s under the lobby floor and so, cell reception can be bad. The computer is an XP-era model and there is no internet connection. They have promised me they would get it but what is taking so long? Argh! But in my free time I type up stuff on MS Word 2003 and save it to a USB drive. I don’t know how long I’m going to be here but I hope I’m out by June. As usual, I’m not getting paid extra for this as my last two paycheques have shown.
Currently, my relationship problems have now reached a peak. Weekends are the same: slave(s) come over, Daddy David pretty much spends all his time with them, I’m mainly alone… you guys get the drill. My Daddy is pushing for us to move to (mainly) Maple Ridge and have a household of 4: him, slave Calvin, son/dog Kevin, and I. As I mentioned before, I’m not keen on moving that far east though he is compromising to include Pitt Meadows and Port Coquitlam which are west of Maple Ridge. Given everything that has been happening since the beginning of the year I have decided to do something I haven’t done in over 9 years: write a letter to David my feelings and problems in our relationship including criticisms and concerns about his behaviour. Given that I had a lot of free time at work with a computer without an internet connection, I decided to type out the majority of it there. The end result was about 11 pages and over a week of pouring my anguished soul into it. I let only a handful of people know about it but there was the one problem: how do I go about giving it to David? I was thinking of either giving it to him all at once as a document or in stages. I was strongly favouring just to give it to him page by page so we could talk about the issues. I told him last Thursday about the letter and I made it clear I was nervous in giving it to him and if I was, to not give it all to him at once. He was insistent that I give him the letter when I was done it. I spent a bit of time proofreading and tweaking a lot of the angry parts. Last Saturday at my folks, I emailed him the letter. Before leaving I was chatting with him on Yahoo and before I was about to log off, I said I loved him. But his reply, “see you at home but I don’t know what to feel about you now after reading your letter” made me sad and scared! For the next couple of hours, I was breathing a little heavy and had a pit in my stomach. This was a rare occasion in which I was actually afraid to go home! As my younger sister tells me later, I was experiencing anxiety. I kept it from her as she was driving me to my bus stop but admitted it later that night when I texted her. She could tell as I said goodbye that something was wrong. I called my friend Peter while on the bus, who chatted with David on Yahoo and found out that it wasn’t just my letter that made David upset, it was one just before mine that he received. It was a letter from the late-Kevin’s mother - which I’ll get into later. Peter knew what was going on and said David’s blood pressure went through the roof after reading Kevin mother’s letter on Friday and then read mine the following day. I got home by 10pm trying to be as quiet as possible. I noticed my pillow was on one of my chairs which meant I was sleeping alone that night. I also noticed the letter from Kevin’s mom on my desk as David wanted me to read it (I’ll get into that soon). I could see why he was angry and I didn’t know before I sent him my letter. Throughout the night, I spent it mainly in my media room. David would pass by my room, ignoring me. Finally he came in and asked about his former mother-in-law’s letter which I admitted I read and can see why he was pissed. As for my letter, he asked which way he could reply: one page a day or all at once. I said “one page a day" and that was that. He left and eventually went to bed. I spent a lot of time talking to a couple of friends online about the night. I gave a copy of the letter to one of them and he liked it - it was sincere and he could understand where I was coming from. Sleeping alone isn’t so bad but when you have our fucking roomie, Pete next to my room, who can’t learn to shut up and go to bed, I know I’m getting punished. Even at 5am Sunday morning, he has the habit of talking out loud when he reads things on the internet or watches a video. I slept until before 11am. David was more talkative that day and he eventually gave me “Page 1” of his response to my letter. It wasn’t easy to read, but I manned up and did. I typed out a response to it but I don’t plan currently to give it to him - I needed it as a way of coping with his response and when we come to talking verbally about it, then I would know what to say. I spent most of my day working on Mass Effect 2 and chatting with friends online. Before 7pm, David and I sat down in the living room and talked about “Page 1”. It got a little heavy at times, especially the issue of my getting a driver’s license and getting a post-secondary education in which he is basing our entire relationship on these days. But in general, it was a sufficient conversation and it keeps our mood up. I baked a frozen pizza and he had a slice. I also got him a little bit ice cream. He wanted me to come back to bed with him so I grabbed my pillow and joined him later that night. We snuggled, we felt better even though we know we have to get through my letter for the next 9 or 10 days. The way he sees it, we need to get through these issues before the end of June or there is no point of our relationship going any further and when the time comes for us to move, we will part ways. As of today, there are 5-6 pages left and it's really taking it's toll on both of us. Suffice it to say, I am heartbroken and afraid while he is angry and disgusted with me. I’ll let you guys know what the result will be after the letter is complete.
Now, about the letter from Kevin’s mother… To begin, David sent a box with some of Kevin’s items to his mother back in Ontario because in the past, she requested a few things; one of them was Kevin’s high school class ring. Earlier in the year, David had been going through some boxes and he found some items, put them in a box, and shipped it off. He found a ring and assumed it was what she asked for so he included it. About a couple months ago, David gets to chatting with Kevin’s two nieces on Facebook, one of them named Julian, totally slandering him! They think that because Kevin is dead, that they are entitled to money that came from it and that he had a Will. To let you all know: Kevin has been dead for over 3 years, there was no Will written up, David and him had their civil union May 2001 which entitles his property and assets go to David automatically - which obviously means his family back in Ontario are entitled to nothing. Being that Kevin’s nieces are in their late teens, they have no concept of marriage and property. Where this sense of entitlement comes from we don't know. They also complained that David doesn’t visit Kevin’s urn in Ontario and think he is selfish - forgetting the fact that it was David who had Kevin cremated, paid for the urn, and chose to ship the urn to Kevin’s mother! They then claimed that David is lying in admitting he didn’t have much money and yet, was able to afford a smartphone (which he got for free or a small cost as part of a contract and it’s his very first cell phone). As David was rebutting their complaints, one of the nieces started to get very anti-Semitic toward David and ended up saying, “I hope you drop dead you fucking kike”. After that, David defriended both nieces off his Facebook page. He wrote a letter to Kevin’s mother about the incident, and included a printed copy of the Facebook conversation he had with the nieces. This was sent about a month ago. Now come last Friday, the former mother-in-law replies. She begins by emphasizing that David has boasted about 3 times to her that he makes about almost three times as much income as Kevin. This happened when David & Kevin visited the mother and family in late 2004 and in return she and one of the nieces, Julian visited us in the summer of 2006 for a week. It seemed like a good visit. Both of them slept in my room while I slept with David. Julian seemed like a nice 12-year old while her and her brother considered Kevin their favourite uncle. They have a neglecting father who simply had them because he can get money from the government but generally doesn’t care for them which is why Kevin is revered more than their own father. But what has happened to her in all these years to make her this nasty is unknown. Anyways, the small letter continues with the mother saying that the ring was “nowhere near a class ring” and to also include Kevin’s death certificate (she didn’t specify a copy or the original and no way is David giving up the original!). As for the included copy of the Facebook rantings and anti-Semitic comments? “I don’t care about such dribble” was all she said on it! Wow! I guess the folks in Ivanhoe, Ontario must hate Jews eh? And that was basically all the letter said. I could see why David was upset. As I told him Saturday night on a thing Kevin said many years ago, “I can see why Kevin said, ‘I love mangoes, butter chicken, and my mother - all in that order.’” It’s funny because prior to meeting David, Kevin has never had mangoes and various ethnic foods that once he had them, he feel in love with them. I guess it was a way of admitting that while he loved his mother, she was far from perfect. I don’t think David will reply to the letter and will just write off Kevin’s family for good. It’s a shame what the death of a loved one can bring about in people.
David took me to my first opera a couple weeks ago at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre: Aida. A bear buddy of ours was in it as an Egyptian soldier and he got half price tickets and great seats for both of us. The music was lovely and the singing from the soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass, and baritone were magnificent. We had subtitles to the Italian lyrics and a lot of the love dialogue sounds like something borrowed from the Psalms and Song of Songs (Solomon) from the Bible. A couple of pieces I recognized, especially the “Triumphal March” as I first heard it from the ending of an old DOS game called Challenge of the Ancient Empires back in 1992. The sets and dancing were also superb, though at times you could see the asses of the male dancers and ballerinas LOL! I started to get sleepy by the final act as things wind down when Radames is in prison. As for our friend, David could recognize him when I couldn’t. Still, a few of the guards had nice bearish bodies! WOOF!
I have finally booked driving lessons with BestWay and even booked my ICBC Road Test for June 22. It’s about 5, 90-minute lessons plus a pre-Road Test. It’s been a long time but it’s the only shot I got to get my novice license.
Still haven’t seen any movies lately though just last Friday night I saw a classic on TV called The Incredible Shrinking Man which came out in 1957. It’s about a guy who is sprayed with some chemical and slowly, he shrinks to the level of insects and must fend for himself. He starts off depressed and angry but when the household cat chases him to the basement; his wife wrongly assumes he was eaten and is lost forever. It was a pretty sad movie and there is no happy ending either than him accepting his fate and that in the vast universe, he does matter. The special effects for the time were pretty good. I’m getting a lot closer to finally completing Mass Effect 2 and I hope to get it done by the end of the month. I am almost done The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks too. I am also trying to play Mega Man: Powered Up for the PSP at my folks on their 480i TV screen. It seems to work okay but the sound is low and any loud output sound has scratching so I can’t increase the volume much.
Last Movie: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D (Theatrical), Disney's Alice in Wonderland (Blu-Ray)
Last Book: What Have They Done with Jesus?
Last Game: Silent Hill 4: The Room (PS2)
Current Book: Beyond Opinion
Current Games: Mass Effect 2 (PS3) & The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)