This picture was posted on Instagram yesterday by @robzstuff57 and it immediately took me back to my first few years in San Francisco.
Sometime in 1989 I ran into Al Parker at the Whispering Bushes at the end of Golden Gate Park. He took a liking to me, following like a lost puppy. It was obvious he wasn't going to give up the chase and I ended up leaving the venue altogether just to ditch him.
I can hear you all now: "You turned down AL PARKER?!" Yes, my faithful readers. I did. I thought, "No way Al—I've seen what you've done with your dick and where it's been and NO THANK YOU!"
Around the same time, I was at aThai restaurant on 24th Street in Noe Valley one evening and Will Seagers (of L.A. Tool & Die fame) walked in with friends. We locked eyes and spent the rest of the evening flirting. Nothing came of it, but it was definitely an ego boost.
To this day I am gobsmacked that I survived the 20 years I called San Francicso home and somehow managed to come out of it alive and HIV negative…
Of course, it was also there that I probably came in contact with HPV and the resulting laryngeal cancer that sprang from it, so I can't say I was completely unscathed.