Through Charlie Gorichanaz's Eyes

And the roller coasts on...

2010-03-06T18:25:11Z

But at least it wasn't an emotional mess this time. This week was mostly courtesy of The Badger Herald and the events surrounding the Herald's publishing a text link ad that read "The Holocaust Question: THE POWER OF TABOO: www.codoh.com."

I'll try to post a time line here later. Lots to do!

Recent tunes:

Antony and the Johnsons - Her Eyes Are Underneath the Ground
Grafton Primary - Telling Lies
Frankmusik - Gotta Boyfriend?
Saltillo - A Necessary End
The Morning Benders - Waiting for a War
Under the Influence of Giants - In The Clouds

Time to post an entry

2010-02-27T15:27:01Z

It's been a long time, again, I know. I was just chatting on Facebook (via Trillian) with Joe C, whom I met in D.C. a few months ago, about this journal. And then I started reading some old entries. Now I'm feeling nostalgic and I want to get back in the writing groove. It's worth it. I'm sure of it. But then again I was apparently sure I was in love with a girl seven years ago.

Gmail at capacity!

2010-02-21T22:13:34Z

Upon logging into Gmail today, I was greeted with this friendly message:

You are almost out of space for your Gmail account.
You can view our tips on reducing your email storage or purchase additional storage.

And then at the bottom I noticed:

You are currently using 7111 MB (95%) of your 7425 MB.

Apparently 20 gigabytes of storage is $5 per year, so I just bought that. It says it'll be a day before it shows up. We shall see!

What a precious Sunday

2009-12-22T03:44:44Z

Let's hope the second time typing this is the last!

Well, as I was writing, before I restarted my computer and neglected to save, this has been a pretty good weekend. And I mean weekend to include the end of the "work week" as well. Where to begin...

I haven't gone out in Madison for some time. School and work have kept me generally overwhelmed as has been the case for most of the past eight years. I did go out while in Austin and Washington recently, but that's about it. So to celebrate the end of another semester, Thursday I went to Plan B for the first time in... weeks? months? It's been a while in any case. My roommates have gone there almost every Thursday this semester, so it was nice to finally join them instead of working or doing homework while everyone's having fun. Not that working isn't fun. I usually love it. But anyway:

Josh P and "the Milwaukee group" (Nicholas M, Eric's last boyfriend, and his friends Kelly, Caprice and Justin) came to Madison for the evening, so it was great to see him again. It was also great to wear a skinny tie for the first time. Perhaps I'm changing...

Josh and I really know how to pose.

We took a few more photos, but Josh would have my head were I to post them.

This one's a bit better, eh?

Plan B was interesting. The crowd was a bit different than when it first opened. A lot of the old Club 5 regulars were present. I hear Club 5's not doing very well these days, but I don't know that firsthand. Anyway, I saw a bunch of people to whom I haven't talked in a while. I also saw Manoel, who harassed me every few minutes all night to the point I had to beg a bouncer not to kick him out. 'Twas a good time.

James S, me, Jason K and Riley D

Then Friday night I stayed in studying for a Saturday morning philosophy of religion final. Justin V was in town for his graduation, so he stayed over for the weekend, though I was mostly studying at the Herald overnight. I did come back for some food at 4 a.m. to find everyone awake and a bit drunk, but hey, they didn't have finals in six hours.

I fell asleep a while at the Herald, but got a good amount of studying in before the exam. I was expecting three questions of the nine provided to be on the final, based on experiences of others who took the class. For some reason six of the questions made it onto the exam, though, including two the teaching assistant admitted weren't covered in class. "Just try your best."

Afterward, I thought I did a great job on the first two questions, an OK job on the next two, and the last two, I pretty much had no idea what to write, so I hope the T.A. appreciates short and sweet. I biked home to sleep, finding boys lying all over the place as usual. Justin woke up and we started talking, and then eventually we all decided to eat at Mediterranean Cafe instead of letting me sleep. I wasn't tired for some reason anyway, so it was OK.

I think I slept after that, and then Saturday night, we all went to the Big Gay Christmas Party at Plan B. Ericka S and Angela C came with Eric, Ryan and me. The club was pretty packed. Manoel apologized to me and largely left me alone. Several "go-go" dancers were on large, black boxes, though by direct inquiry I determined at least two of them were straight, unfortunately. One asked me to add him on Facebook, though he only told me his name was Shawn. That helps. I'm sure there aren't very many of those.

Ericka introduced me to a cardiology resident at UW Hospital, and a really nice, really drunk woman who claimed to be older than she looked bought me some Jager bombs. I also left without closing my tab. Oops.

We ended up giving new lawyer friend Chris G a ride back downtown, and then I awaited Anthony's supposed arrival. I don't remember why he didn't just come with us; things tend to get a little confused at the end of these nights.

Eventually he came over, though, as did Ryan and Justin after going to get burritos, and everyone went to bed sometime around 4 a.m.

We woke up around noon, Justin got ready to graduate, and we contemplated seeing a movie.

Everyone wanted to see Precious. By their description, I thought it'd be stupid. Perhaps that judgment was mostly due to the people who wanted to see it, but anyway, I had low expectations. The trailer raised them, a bit.

Anthony and Nicc at Sundance

Ryan, Nicc, Anthony and I saw the movie at Sundance Theater at Madison's somewhat ritzy Hilldale mall area.

Precious poster

It was actually quite good, especially the second half. It got pretty intense and emotional, and is definitely worth seeing. After the movie, we walked over to Anthopologie, a store I'd never heard of, but it was pretty great. It was the exact atmosphere I'd picture my sister making if she owned a store. Earthy. Environmental. Eccentric. A lot of random stuff, such as a tall spinner rack of door handles. I bought a large hourglass. Anthony lay on a bed.

Anthony shopping at Anthropologie

After that, we walked to Flat Top Grill, a restaurant that'd been recommended to me many times but to which I'd never been. It was a lot of fun. You go up to a salad bar type thing and fill a bowl with all sorts of ingredients to be stir fried. You add vegetables, meats, sauces... and you add colored plastic sticks to indicate if you want flat bread, tofu or eggs added. Then they bring the results to your table. It was delicious and very economical. Before 5 p.m., you get a huge bowl for $7.49, or unlimited bowls for $9. After 5 p.m., it's just $10 for unlimited bowls if you're a student. Amazing! I wish we had one of those downtown!

Full, we went to T.J. Maxx and shopped for too long. I bought two large pillows, pillowcases, scarves and another hourglass. How random? After that, we went home and watched Clueless to commemorate Brittany Murphy's sudden, tragic death.

D.C. trip leaves little to be desired

2009-11-23T10:02:49Z

This Tuesday, I woke up at 11 a.m. after three hours' sleep. My nervousness and excitement apparently made me forget I was tired, for after Jason kindly deposited me at the Madison regional airport, I stayed awake the entire flight and on through the night.

National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association D.C. chapter party

I arrived in Washington and texted Bach; I was to stay with Ashley J, but she wouldn't be home till later. Bach directed me to take the subway north, and I met up with him and we hung out at his apartment for a while before going to the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association's D.C. chapter party. Joe C hosted in his quite nice apartment, complete with chair suspended by a rope from the high ceiling in the living room. I met several well known journalists, including The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld, who frequents the White House press conferences and sometimes appears on MSNBC. Everyone was delightful, and I engaged in many conversations about the future of journalism, the media and more. I also tried about five new kinds of cheese, mostly delicious.

Then Bach and I headed to Ashley's workplace, Gordon Biersch, a restaurant and microbrewery. My bison burger and garlic fries were great, and the atmosphere in the once grand Riggs Bank turned eatery was delightful. Half a dozen of Ashley's coworkers were done for the day and sat at tables pushed together with mine and drank beer and martinis and ate some pizza. After a while, Bach's boyfriend, Mick, arrived from the Shakespeare theater and joined the rest of us. I loved it all.

Meeting Tammy Baldwin

The primary objective of the trip was to record video of Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin's second district. I spent a good portion of early Wednesday morning reading about Ms. Baldwin, health care and the economy. I slept a few hours, and got up at 7:20 a.m. to shower and walk 1.1 miles to the Capitol.

I met Jerilyn Goodman, Tammy Baldwin's press secretary, outside Rayburn, the House office building where Ms. Baldwin's office is. In the cafe, Ms. Goodman had some fruit while I consumed most of a large apple fritter. I wanted fruit, but the pricing scheme scared me from ordering. We chatted a bit about the office structure, differences between the Madison, Beloit and D.C. offices, how she ended up working for Tammy Baldwin, twice, and the schedule.

Once in the fourth floor office, Ms. Goodman showed me how they manage to cram about a dozen employees in a much too small space. The closet/office she uses when in D.C. was, in fact, almost too small for the chair on which she sat. When the congresswoman's main office is in use, the only remaining place for meetings with constituents and others is the couch in the office entryway.

Shortly after Ms. Baldwin arrived, Ms. Goodman brought me in to conduct the first of two dedicated interviews I had scheduled. I spent most of the time asking about the transition from county board to state assembly to the House of Representatives, and what it was like in the time after her first election. After 20 minutes, it was time to head to a committee hearing on H1N1 preparedness.

Congressional hearings can be very repetitive

In this particular hearing, members were allowed to make roughly five minute opening statements. About two dozen members were present, and nearly all of them outlined the same points about which they were curious, and cited the same statistics about swine flu. It was pretty clear they all had scripted statements and didn't often take into account what was already said.

Not long after the opening statements ended, the buzzers and special clocks on the walls indicated a vote was being held in the House chamber in the Capitol. Ms. Goodman and I accompanied Ms. Baldwin in the underground tunnel connecting the Congressional office buildings to the Capitol. Members get to ride in a little subway train, but we had to walk. Not that it was a long walk.

Once at the chamber door, Ms. Goodman and I had to stop following, for again, only members are allowed in the chamber. We went up to the public viewing area, into which we were not allowed to bring any electronics or writing utensils. I didn't really understand the purpose of those restrictions, but I was told they were just "House rules."

Lobbying for farmhand education

Next on the schedule was a meeting with some lobbyists, though the H1N1 hearing went longer than expected. I waited in Ms. Baldwin's office with the lobbyists while Ms. Baldwin was back at the committee, presumably asking the questions she intended to ask before leaving again for the meeting in her office.

I was granted permission to film the lobbyist meeting, though I wasn't at all familiar with the topics discussed. I'll have to review the footage again. Ms. Baldwin agreed their issue was important, and she said she thought the issue would be best tackled by a cooperation among others of the Wisconsin delegation.

Passing same-sex benefits for federal employees

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee took up Ms. Baldwin's bill, the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, and after a 45 minute voting break and several hours of debate, the committee passed the bill 23 to 12.

The entire process was quite a spectacle.

I'll write the rest later!

Thanks for the rifles, Madison

2009-10-08T01:46:10Z

Helen Thomas offers insights at Monona Terrace

2009-10-04T11:04:13Z

I had the pleasure of attending the Madison Civics Club luncheon Saturday to see the influential White House press correspondent Helen Thomas speak. Members of The Badger Herald and The Daily Cardinal were invited, and we got to meet Ms. Thomas at a small reception before the luncheon began. She took some questions there, and then gave a speech and took more questions after lunch.

In case you don't know who she is, here are two clips from a few years ago:

And here's one from a few months ago (See 2:40 through the end.):

And here's one from a few days ago:

I found it remarkable how alert, intelligent and perceptive she is, especially considering she is about 90 years old! She kept saying journalism is the best career because you learn every day, and she definitely exemplifies the result.

During her speech, she gave some insights I thought were particularly striking:

Obama should give up on bipartisanship. It's not going to happen. He needs to fight for what he believes in and understand he will make enemies doing so.
Had Hillary Clinton been elected, nothing would be different. Candidates can be extremely passionate during the campaign, but once elected, they fall into a track. They become less transparent, like they have information they try to keep from you. It happens to all of them. (Ms. Thomas followed the last 10 presidents, since Kennedy.)
None of the presidential press secretaries over the past 50 years have been any good.

I should be able to post some photographs of us with her when I get them.

I might write about the crowd and Madison's elite later.

What I like and hate about the Palm Prễ

2009-08-02T04:20:18Z

I replaced my Samsung Instinct yesterday with the Palm Pre, and what a frustrating day it's been!

The first thing I did when I got the Pre was enter my login information for Gmail, Facebook and AIM. I had no idea what that would do... but I soon found out when I checked my contacts list.

My last two phones, the Sanyo Katana and the Samsung Instinct, supported Sprint's "Wireless Backup" or "Mobile Sync," which basically stored the phonebook on Sprint's website and synced it to the phone intermittently. I assumed the Pre supported the same service, but it does not. So, when I checked my contacts, I was shocked to see about 3,000 entries, mostly people I don't know! And furthermore, none of my phone numbers from the Instinct were automatically transferred since the Pre doesn't do Mobile Sync the same way... That was a problem!

The Pre pulled all of my "contacts" from Gmail, which, since Gmail adds anyone to whom you reply to any e-mail, amounted to more than 1,500 people. Many of those "people" were unnamed in my Gmail contacts, so they just showed up as an e-mail address.

Facebook and AIM were also queried for contacts, so all of my AIM "buddies," including dozens of screen names I had in a folder called "Forgot who these people are," and all of my Facebook friends were also in the contact book. It was kind of cool that most people had thumbnails from Facebook, but I still only had phone numbers for the people whose Facebook profiles made the numbers available.

So, I reset the phone to clear out everything and build a strategy.

In Gmail, you can categorize your contacts into groups. I thought I could make a "Palm Pre" group and just sync that, but nope, the Pre can't sync a single group, but rather is a greedy little device and takes everyone, no matter what. Same with Facebook. You can categorize your friends on http://facebook.com, but apparently the Facebook API doesn't support doing anything with those categories. So again, the Pre can either take nothing or everything. Same for AIM, and it was made worse because then I was dealing with screen names, not people's names, so the Pre's Synergy feature couldn't even automatically combine the contact entries.

My solution:

Deal with having all my Facebook friends in there. At least they have pretty pictures and I can just search for whom I want by typing a few characters of the name.

Create a second Gmail account to which I will periodically port a subgroup of my contacts from my main Gmail account. Then have the Pre sync with the consolidated contact list on the secondary Gmail account. Roundabout, but better than having all those Craigslist post replies showing up as contacts.

Finally, go through the AIM contacts and manually link them to their corresponding people. A problem with this was I cannot give names to the screen names that don't have a corresponding Gmail or Facebook contact. So I have a few hot69boys in my contacts list still, but overall it's a lot better now.

So, here's what the Palm Pre needs to improve (hardware issues in italics):

Battery life. If you use WiFi, have it check your e-mail and leave it connected to AIM, the battery drains within hours.

Louder volume, and have the speakerphone on the front like the Instinct. Not only is the speakerphone (and ring) pathetically quiet, the speaker is on the back, so it's even harder to hear than necessary.

Application loading time and startup time. The pause after clicking on my contacts or anything else often makes me think it froze, my Pre takes just under two minutes to turn on, which is twice as long as the iPhone 3GS.

Have the option to sync to a subgroup of Gmail, Facebook and AIM contacts. While you're at it, Palm, let me also sync to Yahoo! and MSN, and maybe interface with Facebook chat as well.

Faster contact scrolling, such as by letter. Since the Pre wants me to have thousands of people in the contact list, it'd be nice to be able to scroll to the bottom quickly. All you can do is search, but since it searches first and last names, even if I want to see all the last names under R, I still have to scroll past all the people named Rachel A, Ricky B, Randy C, etc.

Constantly save messages as I type them, like the Instinct does. If I inadvertently click on an incoming message, I'll lose what I was typing.

Allow me to group contacts so I can easily send a text to a subgroup of my contacts.

Let me add additional contacts to a text if I am replying to someone, like the Instinct. Apparently the only way to text multiple people is to start a new text and (tediously) add the contacts first.

Let me delete menu items I will never use, like NASCAR, NFL and Amazon MP3.

My fingers aren't that big, but I definitely have a tough time typing. I often have to use my fingernails.

Why did you have to make me hit the red shift button first in order to type an apostrophe or question mark? Are you trying to disallow my correct grammar and punctuation?

Even though the "back" stroke feature is nice, a back button would be so much faster. Especially when I was linking all my AIM screen names, it was very tedious to swish my finger across the bottom of the display to go back three times for each screen name after linking it.

I need my voice announcements of who is calling and messaging, and my voice dialing! Well, I suppose I wouldn't even be able to hear it if that feature existed... makes me miss my Instinct.

Favorite features so far:

I love that I can connect to my computer easily via USB and copy MP3s to the ringer folder. Any MP3, any length. Nice.

The screen resolution (which matches the iPhone) is fabulous compared to the Instinct's lower resolution display. Palm did a nice job with the typefaces and layout, too. Everything is very visually stimulating.

Note added 2 Aug. 2009 at 14:44:
I just noticed the Pre doesn't connect a phone number to the contact's name if you entered the contact after calling the number. I had some phone numbers in my call log, and when I called them, I realized they were already in my phone book (with an associated name). Odd.

I also can't figure out how to temporarily log out of AIM/Google Talk without deleting my login information. It'd be nice to be able to sign out to conserve charge and sign back in for a while just to check who is online!

People on Facebook seem to hate Twilight

2009-07-21T02:36:15Z

I just thought this was worth saving... a bunch of comments on my last Facebook/Twitter status:

Charlie Gorichanaz: Just saw Twilight. I really identified with that character... But I suppose many people do. Time for a makeover?

Benjamin G: Maggie made me watch that the day it came out on dvd.

Sky B: Are you being sarcastic or honest? If you're honest, I think I need to incinerate something.

Sam H: I'd really hate to guess which character and why lol

Charlie Gorichanaz: Soy un vampiro, Sam.

Sam H: twilight is really just an unattractive woman's wet dream, for whom some miraculous circumstance would need to exist for someone to find her physically irresistible, which she knows is one of the shortest and liveliest routes to having a relationship and not being alone. do not be this lady's vapid, self-consumed wet dream, charlie.

Charlie Gorichanaz: I tend to fall into films/books where the supernatural powers aren't totally beyond the realm of possibility, but just a little bit. In this case, other than perhaps the mind reading and if the physical strength were toned down a bit, nothing was completely infeasible... or at least my mind made it so. And then there's the whole I identify with people who are different (probably through growing up and even now believing that to be true of me for one reason or another...) thing, which adds to my liking for the movie. I liked the atmosphere and the ideas of the characters. I'm not claiming the author is brilliant, nor am I saying anything about the acting. So, is that so wrong?

Sam H: I do think some people have the same natural inclination as yourself, which is very likely why these kind of things gain so much popularity, and legitimately so. When you said, "at least my mind made it so," i couldn't help but think that's a perfectly fine argument for these things. I'll give you that.

Sky B: Sam... <3

Well, I was recently reading why such things are so popular. It's because they're the archetype of what everybody already knows and likes. Everybody feels the same sense of alienation no matter how privileged their life is. So take that feeling and twist it just enough so it's not plagiarism, and voila, you have a best seller. I tend to stay away from those lists and find things that are less acclaimed... Those are usually the best things to read, and the least appreciated.

So, yeah. I agree with "my mind made it so", but don't fool yourself into thinking this is anything special.

Charlie Gorichanaz: Sky, you did catch that I didn't read the book and wasn't praising anything about it, right? Your comment almost sounds like you're saying I have unsophisticated tastes in literature or something... which may well be true, seeing as I only read nonfiction... but not based on the evidence above.

Sky B: No, i did catch that you watched the movie. I combine the book/movie into one thing. It's still completely based on the literature completely, dialogue and all. Just because it's now in picture format, doesn't change what it is at it's core.

Charlie Gorichanaz: ...but I also said I wasn't praising anything about the movie other than the atmosphere and the ideas of the characters, which I never claimed were original... Vampires... duh. I liked the rendition. And that's not a bad thing. Just because an idea isn't totally original or expertly written doesn't make it a moral offense to like.

Sky B: I think there's an issue in liking an imitation more than an original somewhere embedded in my morality code, but I don't really know how to articulate why. Haha

Charlie Gorichanaz: Who said I like it more than the original? And who knows what the "original" vampire story is? The basic idea is the same regardless of who told it, so I don't think you can say that at all. I like the idea of a subset of beings with slightly 'supernatural' abilities. And I liked this rendition. I didn't say I disliked any other rendition. Why can you not just say, "OK, I like vampires too." or "I understand." or something?!

Sky B: Because conversation isn't fun when people agree on everything all the time, and ideas aren't challenged. :)

Charlie Gorichanaz: That's fine if you don't extrapolate more from my statement than its contents.

Sky B: Alrighty then.

Charlie Gorichanaz: :-)

Doing some reflecting at 3:28 a.m.

2009-07-10T08:28:09Z

Cheers to a renewed commitment to not judging others, keeping it together, exercising caution and restraint, being a friend and enjoying life's ups and downs.

A second Mazo Beach experience

2009-07-06T00:26:49Z

Sunday morning Ryan and I left Steven's to run to his and my apartments before coming back with some champagne for brunch. Steven cooked eggs, pancakes, bacon, friendship bread and some other things. It was pretty decent!

Then we departed for Mazomanie again. Last time it was just Steven and me, but we had a larger group today. Ryan, Jon, Steven and I took Steven's car, and we met six others there. It was remarkably comfortable being nude with a bunch of guys I didn't know and closer to my age. For much of the afternoon, boaters passing by had the pleasure of viewing a circle of a dozen naked gay boys in the Wisconsin River. Delightful!

A wonderful Fourth of July

2009-07-05T08:22:18Z

After the fireworks, Steven, Eric, Ryan and I went to La Cage. I was told it's dead Fridays, but the place was pretty busy, especially after 12:30. Perhaps extra people arrived because of the fireworks and Summerfest.

Anyway, La Cage was a lot of fun, as it was last time. I spent some time talking to Jake M, whom I barely see these days... Almost a dozen guys from Madison were there... etc. Afterward, we went back to my mom's house and crashed for the night. We then left for Madison before noon, leaving a few hours to relax and prepare for Angela's party.

Ryan, Dan and I picked up Jon and Steven, and then we drove to the beautiful Angela's home. The journey involved a maze of lovely trees and streets, and everything was so peaceful. Somewhere near Madison's east side, though I was a bit confused where I was.

Here's a rough compilation of random events from the party, but beware: The video is about 24 minutes. Obviously I only intend for my closer friends to watch it in full...

After Angela's, we trekked over to State Street Brats to meet some of Steven's friends, picked up Lance, and then off to Club 5 (50¢ Miller Lite) we went, for better or for worse. Then the six of us crashed at Steven's.

Good night!

Milwaukee fireworks with friends and family

2009-07-04T04:14:25Z

I love going to Milwaukee every July 3 for the Independence Day display, and this year I brought a few friends. Typically I just go with my mom and family, but I got the best of both worlds today. Eric and Ryan had been planning to come with me, and I somewhat randomly asked Steven if he'd like to come, too, and he said "Sure." Yay!

We planned to leave Madison around 3 p.m. after Eric got off work, but we were more than an hour delayed because Ryan had to move furniture all day. The joys of antique dealing, I suppose. It was fine, though, since my mother again staked out a spot a day in advance. We parked at my mom's house and then all four of us, my mom and the two youngest kids drove downtown in the van, where we met three more of the kids and another friend. I couldn't wait for the ride back with all 11 of us!

Anyway, I'll post a few clips of the journey through the crowd here later.

Bubbles is becoming a pro videographer

And a pro smiler

Steven doing what he does best

Eric and Bubbles

Tristan

Bubbles up to no good

Bubbles, Selena and a friend

Steven decided to take a nap, though I don't think he was successful.

Ryan and Steven

Ricky

Maggie, who spent most of the evening reading Seventeen and listening to her MP3 player

The Milwaukee skyline at dusk from Veteran's Park

The Milwaukee Public Art Museum at dusk from Veteran's Park

Steven looking a little Twilighty

Mostly Northwestern Mutual at dusk from Veteran's Park

The fireworks themselves were quite good. Beginning shortly after 9:25 p.m., they lasted just more than an hour, and contained no awkward pauses like last year. The show consisted of three 20-minute parts with about 5 seconds between each part so as not to confuse people this year and cause them to leave prematurely. Most of the rounds were shot from Veteran's Park and a barge in the harbor, but some fireworks were also launched from near the Milwaukee Art Museum and off US Bank.

Too bad I was using the tripod for the video camera

Here's a 10 minute video of the hourlong presentation. (Obviously, I cut out about 50 minutes of fireworks.) And sorry the framing isn't ideal; I was very close to the fireworks, and I didn't adjust the camera much since I was enjoying the show with friends. At least you'll get the basic idea. :-)

Steven being incredibly helpful for a new friend

No, he didn't ride in the back... We needed the space for a large bag.

Oh, Ryan

Oh my!

Little Tristan

Now it's time for La Cage!

Mazo beach was amazing

2009-06-21T01:41:08Z

I'm completely sunburned from "tit to tail," and my thighs hurt a lot, but I am so happy.

Thursday, Steven, a newer friend, asked if I'd be interested in going to Mazomanie, Wis., about a half hour outside Madison. There on the Wisconsin River is Mazo Beach, Wisconsin's only public nude beach. I think I had heard of it, but I had no idea it was so close, and the thought of going intrigued me, so I agreed. It was a fabulous experience.

Steven and his new iPhone

When we pulled into the gravel parking lot, I was blown away by the number of cars. At least 50 vehicles, including a road tractor, carried their owners from Iowa, Illinois and cities throughout Wisconsin. I didn't spend long looking at plates, but I'm sure other states were represented as well.

Steven and I walked the scenic trail through about a mile of forest to get to the beach. We battled flies and mosquitoes, but we made it. I took a moment to read over the Department of Natural Resources sign board, and then I entered the beach. Never before was I so fascinated by people in public.

We walked over near the gay area and laid out our towels and then skinny dipped for a while. The river was great; all the rain recently caused the water to be cold, high and relatively clear. Every time I submerged my body, the intense temperature difference nearly made me scream, but I loved it. The powerful current made it impossible to swim upstream, and nearly so to walk. I didn't get carried away, though. ;-)

Once we returned to the towels, I spent some time just looking around. Some people brought their dogs, and others their kids. I couldn't believe entire families went to the nude beach, and nude nonetheless! It was great to see people so comfortable with themselves. Admittedly, Steven and I were probably the youngest ones there except the children with their parents, but I hear some days it's not just older people. It was about half people in their 30s and 40s and about half people in their 50s and older. Quite a few people were both old and decent looking, but overall I learned you simply can't prevent the ravages of time. I'm definitely going to think twice before I ever think I'm unattractive again. Young people in general cannot complain, but at the same time, I was incredibly inspired to see so many older people comfortable being themselves, showing themselves off, flabby skin and all.

Well, I shouldn't say "showing themselves off," because that's not really what this place is about. Yes, some people come to look at the others, and some people come to find sexual release (albeit in secret due to DNR regulations), but overall, the beach is just a place to go and be comfortable being yourself.

No, this is not Photoshopped at all... I put sunscreen on my face.

Second Life is pretty amazing

2009-06-01T01:59:28Z

I'll write more later... but at least I'm mostly caught up now with photo posting.