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July 1, 2006 :: Random Catchings Up

It's been a little while since I've updated this guy, but here's what's been going on the past few months...



  • April:
    • 4/14 - 4/16: One of my best friends, Craig, came down to visit me in the 404 (well, actually the 770 but close enough ;-).  He, Maneesh, and I had an awesome time.  The highlight of that weekend was when the three of us, Megan, and Jme went to the Jungle for the Babylon Tour party where Tony Moran was DJing and got in for free.  We got there early before they opened and hung out with Adam, Andrew, and Becca :-)


    • 005_2a 4/21 - 4/23: Flew to NYC for the 4th Annual Tarot Reader's Studio and met my A. Sue and the rest of the gang from the Tarot Community that I only get to see once a year!  Debbie Lake, Gail Wood, James Wells, Johanna Gargiulo-Sherman, Rachel Pollack, Mary Greer, Elizabeth Genco, Wald and Ruth Ann Amberstone (who run the Tarot School and this event), and many more were all there.  I had a great time seeing familiar old faces, meeting some great new people, attending a multifarious collection of workshops, and in general having fun with this part of my "family".




  • May:
    • 5/4 - 5/7: T and I went to Potsdam, NY to visit Adam and see his new home.  We visited Clarkson University, too, which is T and Adam's alma mater.  Friends Brian L and Gene drove up from Pennsylvania to meet us for the weekend on Fri after work.  It was like being in another world up there!  I felt so unplugged.  The whole area is very rural, a stark contrast from being in a big city like Atlanta.  I woke up on Fri morning to a slight breeze blowing in the sounds of a train's whistle off in the distance.  It was a crisp, beautiful morning with clear, clean air, a blue sky, and lots of sun (which felt nice instead of blazing hot!).  T and I drove back down to get our flight out of Albany on Sun.  I was actually a bit sad to go!


    • Sun_mathew_liz_and_matt_in_hot_tub 5/24 - 5/30: One of my oldest friends, Liz, came down to visit for Memorial Day weekend.  Liz and I have been friends since nursery school!  We hung out for the most part with Mathew and Wendell (who was also in town visiting).  The group of us went out Thurs - Sun nights, hung out with Mathew's new roommate, Justin at their pool and hot tub, drinking beer Margaritas (very tasty!), and visiting Mathew at work at Ecco.Sun_chef_justins_work_of_art  That's chef Justin on the right showing off his very artistic hamburger dinner.  He was working the grill for us after several hours of being out at the pool and several beer Margaritas.  It's important to give him credit, also, for the concept of a "beer Margarita"...especially since they are SO GOOD!




  • June:
    • 6/2 - 6/10: I flew back to Albany, NY for a week for work.  It was great to see my friends and family again.  This was my first trip back home this year and the longest that I've ever been away.  I didn't do a whole lot during the week in Albany, but my co-worker (and big sister :-) Gina and I got to spend a lot of quality time together in Schenectady.  Gina's from Nevada so we only get to see each other a couple times a year.  The best night there was Mon night.  We walked around town to find some place to eat, then walked all the way out to Jumpin' Jacks for ice cream.  Finally, we finished it off by walking through the Stockade disctrict.  The Stockade is the oldest "city" area in the state going back to the 1600's.  It's neat to walk around there looking at the old buildings and reading the historic plaques on them.


    • The_original_spades_group 6/10 - 6/12: On Sat the 10th I headed down to Long Island to meet my old college gang, the Spades.  Sunday was our friend Paula's wedding (she's the one in the picture on the left in the black dress leaning over with her arms around Brian who's kneeling on the ground).  Her wedding was absolutely amazing!  There were performers, endless food and drink (which tasted indescribably awesome!), real dance music, and they didn't mind that the gay guys danced with each other even for slow songs!  I was agast at how wonderful it all was and was disappointed when I had to leave at midnight to catch a flight the next morning back to Atlanta at 4am!  It was also great to see the old gang again.  Most of us met up the night before (the 10th) at Brian's place in Long Island and drank and caught up with each other.  I hadn't seen some of them for years!  Everyone seemed the same and it was as if we had never left each other.  Time is interesting that way...


    • Thewholegangcdalbumart 6/22 - 6/25: Atlanta's Pride celebration was the 23rd-25th of June this year.  Four of my friends from Albany drove down: Brian, Scott, Jamie, and Chris Hayes.  Brian actually arrived on Thurs (6/22) because a friend of his, Greg, was coming from Key West.  Also, Clifton and Paul came to meet up with Maneesh and I on Thurs night.  Adam from Potsdam even came down and stayed with T for the week!  We did a lot of going out at night, spent the day in Piedmont Park on Sat for the festival, and went to the parade on Sun which of course got rained out!  It didn't matter, though, we still had fun!  After the parade my entourage headed back outside the Perimeter to relax, get some food, and eventually head back on the 16 hour car ride to New York. 


That catches you back up to today!  Now it's July 4th weekend, but I don't have any visitors and am in Atlanta.  Wendell is on his way up from south GA as we speak and he, Mathew, and I will probably hang out.  I think the folks from work are going to try to arrange a barbecue at some point.  Other than that it's status quo in the Village! 



Thanks for stopping by and reading about what's been happening!  I will do my best to keep you informed closer to when the events actually take place. :-)  In the meantime, cheers!



M@

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