People Want To Get Back Out Into This?!

We had to go to the mall yesterday. I say had to because a friend of ours wanted to buy a new iPad and Ben offered to purchase it for her with his education discount.

It was an absolute zoo. As I've gotten older my discomfort in large crowds has been increasing, and I welcomed last year's lockdown with open arms. I would say that fully 75% of the people we encountered yesterday were unmasked. Forget about any kind of social distancing. The Apple Store, thankfully, required masks (and provided them to patrons who did not bring their own), but social distancing was still a joke.

At this point I have no faith whatsoever the human race is going to dig itself out of this pandemic, although I do applaud those entities that are requiring proof of vaccination or masks to be allowed to participate in whatever function they're hosting.

Growing Up Gay…

We all knew this kid in grade school, a borderline (if not outright) homophobic bully who was going to grow up oozing testosterone while simultaneously terrifying and exciting our pre-pubescent bodies in ways we didn't quite understand at the time. My own tormenter—let's call him Squire—while never getting physical with me, loved hurling "faggot" in my direction whenever we were out of earshot of any adults. This went on for years, and while it tapered off when we got to High School, it never ended completely. Thankfully by this time our paths seldom crossed, with him pursuing sports and me avoiding them.

And—of course—we all know what became of most of these school bullies, don't we?

Yup.

I ran into my own go-cart racing, faggot-spewing hellion in one of my favorite gay clubs about three years after we graduated high school.

He was there by himself, and looking quite studly in the jeans-and-generously-unbuttoned-flannel-shirt uniform of the day. In fact, he initially caught my eye for that very reason—until, of course, I realized who it was. We locked eyes, he got up from the bar stool he'd been sitting on, and in a flash was gone. I never saw him there again. I was quietly chuckling the rest of the evening, while thinking, "That explains so much!"

My Guys

Yesterday was an "in office" day, but I made time to come home for lunch. This guy was very happy to see me and wanted nothing but snuggles.

He wanted the same from Ben when he got home from work. He's such a snuggle-slut.