It was the summer of '09

It was a rough few days after Leo told me he was positive, but I couldn't dwell on it because he wanted to tell everyone in his own way on his own time.  I couldn't be depressed and pouty because our group of friends would have known that something was up.  I went on with my life and tried to put it out of my head.

It was easy to forget about it, at least for the summer, we had all kinds of things planned.  I can honestly say it was one of the best summers of my life.

There was trip that Leo, Blake and I made to the Komo Zoo...(I love flamingos)

..."Christmas in July" with my family back home...

...the night that me and a friend went to the premier of "Paper Heart" in Minneapolis and met Charlene Yi and Jake Johnson...

...gay day at the Twins game...

...my cousin's wedding...

...the state fair...

...and FINALLY the most amazing mini vacation with my besties!

Leo, Blake, and I decided to get out of town for a while and drive to Duluth and up the North Shore.  Anyone that knows me knows that the North Shore is one of my favorite places in the world.  It's so peaceful and beautiful and some areas just seem so untouched.

We left for our trip in the middle of the night because Leo and I had to work until 11pm.  We ended up getting to Duluth around 4am.  We were tired we weren't ready to go to bed yet so we convinced the night person at the front desk to let us sit in the hot tub.  It was just what I needed to start of the relaxing weekend.  We ended up going to sleep around 6am so we got off to kind of a late start the next day.

When we woke up I wanted to stay in bed, but it was beautiful outside and the shores of Lake Superior were calling my name.  We drove out to the Glensheen Mansion and paid for the walkthrough tour.  I had been a few times before so it wasn't anything new to me, but Leo and Blake had never been so I took it upon myself to tell them about the murder that happened there (this is something the tour guides won't talk about).  After the tour we walked around the mansion's gardens and down to the shore to watch the small waves crash on the rocks.

We drove back into Duluth and went for a walk around the pier and walked out to the lighthouse.  We had dinner at a quaint, family owned Italian restaurant on a hill overlooking the lake.  After dinner we did what any gay boys and fag hag would do, find the only gay bar in Superior and take over the dance floor.  (In hindsight I think I may have been a little over dressed in my zebra print mini dress.)

We woke up a decent time for our second day adventure up the North Shore.  We decided to drive all the way up to Grand Marais and eat at Sven and Ole's pizza.  For years I had wondered why every other car in Minnesota had a Sven and Ole's pizza bumper sticker, what was so great about a pizza place in the middle of no where?  Could Scandinavians be any good at making pizza?

We took our time getting up there because I love to get out of the car at random places on the old highway and climb around on the rocks and look at all of the waterfalls.  Blake was totally with me but Leo seemed to be in some kind of hurry or maybe he was just annoyed because he couldn't find the simple pleasure in hopping on rocks.

Before getting to Grand Marais we stopped at Lutsen Mountains, a ski resort.  During the off season they set up cement tracks on which you have to ride a specially designed sled.  We paid for our sleds and rode the ski lift up to the top of the hill.  From the top of the hill we could see for miles.  Leo and Blake decided I should go first.  I jumped on my sled and took off down the hill.  Before we got on the ski lift they told us the sleds had hand breaks, you just had to pull up and you would slow down.  I wanted to go as fast as I could and feel the cool breeze in my hair so no breaks for me.  I was going so fast that I almost flew off when I leaned to far one way after seeing a racoon just hanging out less than a foot from the track.  Before I knew it my ride was over.  I jumped up and threw my sled off the track because I wanted to see Leo and Blake fly down the hill.  I tried to get some photos, but just like me they were too fast.

We contimplated paying for another ride, but it was getting late in the afternoon and we were hungry.  We drove into Grand Marais and found Sven and Ole's right away, it wasn't too hard considering there's really only one street that runs through town.  We got up to the counter and order a couple pizzas and breadsticks.  Our food took forever to get to the table, I didn't mind so much because I was busy looking at all of the crazy stuff on the walls.  When the pizza arrived we inhaled it.  I still don't understand what all the hype is about, I mean I thought the pizza was OK.  I think people just go there for the ambiance, whatever that might be.

We decided before we left town to walk down by the shore.  It was a lot more peaceful than in Duluth and the sun was starting to set.  There was a little ice cream shop on the corner, and even though our bellies were full of pizza, we each got ice cream and walked through the rocks to the shore.  We tried skipping a few and stacking them in ornate designs.  Once the ice cream was gone we started the long drive back to Duluth.  We stopped a couple more times on the way back, but kept a decent pace because I was ready for a nap.

We forced ourselves out of the car and up to our hotel room.  I closed my eyes and fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.  We took just a short nap and then walked down the street to the small casino in downtown Duluth.  I gambled what remaining money I had away and decided to make it an early night.  I left the boys at their slot machines and wished them luck.  As I was closing my eyes that night I hoped that when I woke up I could do it all over again, I wasn't ready for the weekend to be over.

The next morning I found out that Leo and Blake didn't win the jackpot, or anything for that matter.  We packed up our things and headed back to Minneapolis.  Our vacation was short, but one of the best in my lifetime.

I have something to tell you

I have to apologize before continuing this blog, I got a little bit confused about some dates in an earlier blog.  In the blog "Close living quarters" I posted a picture of Pride 2009, but Leo and I lived together in our small apartment during Pride 2008.

I woke up the morning of Pride 2009 almost as excited as I was as a child on Christmas morning.  It was my second Pride so I knew what to expect, I was ready to let loose and have a wild time.  We started that Sunday on Hennepin avenue for the annual parade.  Of course there were more politicians than any Gay Pride parade should have, but it also had the usual; drag queens, leather daddies, and twinks in underwear. The marching bands are always my favorite part of any parade.

I had to get out of the sun, I was starting to look like a tomato so we stopped off at a friends house for mimosas before heading to Loring Park, his birthday is always the same weekend as Pride.

Loring Park was buzzing.  There was live music, food vendors, and hundreds of booths selling things and/or giving out freebies.  Of course we tried to hit up every free booth we could including the usual stop at the Target booth to get our Target Pride tattoos.

Leo had decided, about a week before Pride, that he was going to take advantage of the best free booth at Pride, the free HIV and hepatitis screening booth.  We separated ourselves from the rest of our friends and found the booth on the far side of the park.  I sat on a small patch of grass and waited for him.

It wasn't long before friends were texting and calling wondering where we were.  I couldn't hide from them so I told them were I was waiting.  A small group had gathered before Leo made it out of the tented testing area.  I felt bad because I knew he wasn't expecting them all to be there.  Everyone was anxious to find something to eat, but all I wanted to know about were the test results.  He told us all that he was clean.

I sighed a HUGE breath of relief and told Leo how lucky he was considering some of his past.  I always hounded Leo about getting tested because he didn't get tested regularly so finding out that he was fine meant I could stop bugging him for a while.  Even though Leo was in the clear something was pulling at my mind.  I was able to calm my nerves after eating a gyro and finding the beer garden.  We hung out in the sun for the rest of the afternoon and worked on our sunburns.

Leo, Blake, and I crawled back home in the late evening to rest before the block party.  After a quick, but satisfying nap, I mixed up some margaritas and we went to sit in the back yard to enjoy the warm summer evening before headed back to the park for the fireworks.

"Chye, I have to tell you something."

It's Hammer Time

Shortly after Leo, Blake and I moved in together I won tickets to the Kalahari Water Park to see none other than MC Hammer.  Both me and Leo had to work until 11pm so we took off on our 4 hour trek to Wisconsin Dells in the middle of the night.  We couldn't check in to Kalahari until the next day so we sprung for the fanciest hotel we could find....

Hey, at least we didn't sleep in the car!

We woke up early the next morning and checked in to Kalahari, it was like it's own small indoor town.  Even though it was a blizzard outside we were snug in our tropical temperature hide away.  They had 5 restaurants, a movie theater, amusement park, water park, and over 900 rooms.

We spent the afternoon acting like 10 year olds going down all the brightly colored tube slides and floating down the lazy river.  Leo even convinced me to try body boarding on the flowrider, lets just say I'm not the most graceful and surfing will never be a hobby of mine.

Eventually we couldn't walk up one more set of stairs and it was time to shower and change for the MC Hammer show.  We got all dressed up, went to dinner at one of the many restaurants and then headed to the bowling alley.  Yes, MC Hammer performed at the bowling alley bar.  It was definitely a trip to see him "all grown up" still bouncing around doing the side to side quick step that his name became synonymous with.

Our trip was so random, ridiculous, and unbelievable that I sometimes think it wasn't real and that I made up the whole thing in my head.  I mean who goes to a water park to go to an MC Hammer concert in Wisconsin?  It was real though, obviously I have the pictures to prove it.  This was one of the best vacations I EVER had and it was only two days long.  The best part was being able to share this experience with my two favorite people.

Accidental friend

When Leo and I went out he would introduce me to all of his friends, ex lovers, and acquaintances.  It wasn't long before I couldn't go to a gay bar in Minneapolis without someone recoginzing me.  We'd spend Monday nights at The Townhouse drinking $2 beers, weekdays at either The Gay 90's for the drag show or The Saloon for karaoke.  Weekends we spent at The Saloon dancing our butts off.  We mixed it up a bit, but we pretty much had the every night of the week planned out.

Sure we spent a lot of money going out so much, but we also made friends with a lot of bartenders who knew how to treat us well.  It was easy for me and Leo to go out and spend less than $100 (most of that being a tip).  We also got into our fair share of conundrums.  There was the night that we went dancing and Leo ripped his pants while popping, locking and dropping it, we change the name of the dance to "Pop, Lock and Rip It".  There was the night that I ripped my pants to the same song, mine was a little worse though because I was going comando that night.  (Thanks to Damian and Leo I made it downstairs and out of the club without anyone seeing anything.  There's nothing like being surrounded, literally, by gay men.)  There was also the night that Leo and I got free VIP tickets to the Chris Daughtry concert during the Republican National Convention where they had an open bar.  I ended up peeing in a construction zone and we had to call Dry Drivers to come get my car.  (WARNING YOUNGINS: Drinking is bad!)

It was a very typical night out when I met Blake.  Leo introduced him to me over cocktails at The Saloon (I think).  It sounds horrible but I don't really remember meeting him because it seemed like Leo introduced me to somone new every time we went out.  One day Leo asked if I would like to join him and Blake for dinner at Applebee's.  I can't turn down a Perfect Margarita so of couse I accepted.  Blake was kind of quiet and reserved but silly, I could tell he was a total sweetheart.  We had a couple drinks while Leo and Blake told me about their history.  They were ex boyfriends, Blake was the first boy Leo ever loved and that they were just good friends now.

After that night I saw Blake almost every night that Leo and I went out.  He had "accidentally" become one of my best friends.

Before we moved into our small apartment, Leo and I agreed it would only be temporary until we could both get back on our feet.  We were both getting sick of living in such a small place and after a few months, decided it was time to move.  Around the same time Blake was getting sick of living in a studio apartment so we started looking for a three bedroom in Uptown.

After a couple weeks of searching we found the cutest two bedroom (plus sun room) apartment a couple blocks away from Calhoun Square.  It was in a old brown stone building and when I say old I mean it was probably built in the 1930s.  It had its problems but it was charming and very homey.

We rented a Uhaul and moved my and Leo's things first, then we headed over to Blake's to help him move.  It was amazing that we finished it all in one day especially since it was the middle of the winter.

We were a family.