Out of town guests got me back in to the world.

Lots of interesting connections this past weekend, layers of friends, over layers of friends, over layers of friends - did Friendster explode or something ? It made for a "how- well - threaded - is - all - this - shit - anyway" weekend.

I asked two men for dates, let's see where that goes, maybe it's time I tried to love something more than than my three beautiful dogs...crazy weekend. Fun. Fun. Fun.

Of course walking out of the bar last night holding two beautiful 24 yr old hands probably didn't do much to not pigeon-hole me in to a "Daddy" status at 35.

I'm back.

Australia was absolu-friggin-mazing !

I slept alot. I drank. I snorkeled. I made friends. I made even more friends. I hiked the rain forest. I learned. I got sunburned. I got drunk. I got bitten (Damn! their flies bite hard and draw blood). I swam with a shark amongst one of the seven wonders of the world. I met some at bars too. Sydney was lovely. Beautiful and historic, Flashy and young. There are seriously the hottest pool of boiz to swim amongst in Sydney. I shopped on Oxford St. ($$$$$). I drank Tooheys and James Hoage. I ate a meat pie at damn what is it called again? Mark's on the Water ? The hotel was a refuge for "free-range" models (eat girls - really, eat already.)I saw the Sydney Aquariam and felt like I had already swum in the pool. I bought the first two seasons of "Kath & Kim". I smiled at people who smiled at me. I stayed American - sounding really dumb trying to say things like "Eh, G'Day Mate!", and loved hearing "No worries" every single time it was said. I love being able to call a woman "luv".

It became heart-breakenly clear how the rest of the world views us: brash, imperialistic, reckless, cruel, funny, provocative, horrible, fancy, insane and then sane. I had more spirited debates than I could ever have in the states and walk away without slugging a man. I learned a lot about myself in others eyes. I felt older and little lonely for my youth, but maybe a little more understanding of the trade-off's, there are always "trade-off's". Can't say I think the sex was that great, but those dirty stories are for another time. Time to start getting pics together and getting friends their gifts...

slowed down a little by today's set back...

4 more years, boy is this country divided.

So two friends and myself treked down to Tempe Town Lake to the Democrat - slash - third debate rally. What a nightmare. I mean, tell us up front if what you mean by "print your tickets online" means - when you show up, thanks for the head count, but sorry we're still letting people in with mystery tickets that the rest of us Democrats couldn't figure out where they got them.

Packed up the boys and went back to mi casa, where through the glory of Tivo we were able to order pizza, grab beer and still watch the debate (and take piss breaks when we wanted to).

Kerry did good.

Yeah Bush was more confident and threw down the gauntlet, but here's the simpliest way to put it - he's merely doing a good job repeating a speech writers words about his flailing, self-rewarding, world-ignoring, ignorance thru confidence and truth thru repitition; repeat after me "W" - just because you repeat it, doesn't make it TRUE.

Would I prefer that Kerry say yes to gay marriage sure, but let's be real, his answer on the question of gay marriage evoked more willingness to see us as equals then "The Burning Bush". Was it dirty politics to bring up that Cheney's daughter is a lesbian, well only if ya think that the word "lesbian" is a dirty word in the first place - she is, isn't she.

I'm voting next Monday out of fear that my flight back from Australia lands me on ABC's show "LOST" - which I have to admit I'm pretty addicted to. So I'll be done, I'll have voted for my country - though it stings a little to know that it's well suspected that my state will stay "red" and our electoral votes and Mrs. John McCain (looking every bit Alexis Carrington in the front row tonight) are already stuffed in the corner of George's chuckling cheeks.

dudes...totally decided to get fucked up, bumped up tonight, on the viewing itinerary:

First watch "SAVED"
Second watch "Passion of the Christ"
Third watch "Passion of the Jew - South Park"

I am having a religious moment.

Boy my heads (actually nose) is gonna hurt tommorrow.

...easier then retyping the whole thing - my weekend-in-a-nutshell:

From : Kurt *********
Sent : Sunday, October 3, 2004 9:25 PM
To : s*********@cox.net
CC : t*********@aol.com
Subject : RE: testing 1-2-3

| | | Inbox


Beautiful Maddie and Handsome Steven:

Hey Kids - we'll see if this works, let's just admit it AOL and Microsoft hate each other!

I do also have a work email at AOL, though - "*******@aol.com"

Friday, October 1st was actually Friday the 13th pour moi - around 6am the dogs were restless due to the construction workers pouring the concrete for the new drive reparations - alas they all tumbled wholeheartedly, into their Daddy's bed for protection from the shadows outside...unfortunately in the middle of the Doggie/love-in, my dog Hope accidently scratched my corneia. A bit blinded, my right-hand man from work EJ took me to a surgical optometrist where I preceded to sit on my not-often-worn-MODO-glasses and break them during the eye exam.

Yikes - did I feel like I was having the worst day or what!

The Doctor felt confident that, though Hope had done one helluva-job on my eye, that there was no "permnanent damage" - I was hiding my broken glasses from him at the time - lol! So EJ takes me to Walgreens to get a prescription to prevent an infection from beginning, unfortunately walking away from me to look at something while I was getting it filled - he didn't seem to realize that I could at this point (with no glasses and a patch to be on my eye) SEE NOTHING. So I stood in the middle of the card aisle looking like the most pathetic "island-of-misfit-toys-reject" you've ever seen. Finally EJ found me and rewarded (?) me with spicy pork rinds munchables of some sort and we waited to get the needed drops.

Well as if the tale of "Les Kurts MIserable" wasn't done yet - we get back to my house where I was to be confined in a dark room for what was to be a fun weeekend - I go to place a contact in my one good eye (though I think many have always suspected I had an "evil eye") forgetting of the SPICY pork-rind munchables from before...

Wham - Bam - Cayenne Pepper eye-ful later....I'm now running with two bad eyes!

What a day!

Anyway, the weekend though painful is coming to a better close (thank you pain-killers) and hopefully I won't have to wear the patch over my eye to get back to work tomorrow. I'm trying the dark house - old eyeglasses thing right now - and watched a lot of great films and docu/mocku-mentaries ("Super Size Me" & "Show Bows").

Look forward to our next dinner and hopefully - gazing into your two sets of beautiful eyes !

xoxo

Yours - Kurt

PS - I finally have an excuse for typos and bad punctuation - I can't see them to delete them.

...stressed-out lately, happy, content, feel good, but work is a stressor beyond belief.

Can't believe I'll be in Australia in less than a month...everything is set except for Visa's, I'll get that done this week.

The landscape construction, demo, whatever it's called is in full - suck - swing - more sucking - yeah, that's my wallet getting the job, not me unfortunately. Hopefully the front will be done before I leave - what we won't do for curb appeal - and man how it fucks up my morning jack-off-before-I-go-to-work-routine!

Every now and then my "big fag" alter ego slips out into the light of day...like just now as I paid over $300 a ticket to see the one, the delovely, the devine Ms Bette Midler in November.

Never seen her and sick of talking to people who have.

Floor seats. 5th row. November 27th.

Smell me.

trapped.

Left my cell phone at work and I'm out of contact with the outside world, their jackhammering my drive as we speak as part of the new landscaping project so my car sits in the garage. No communication and no method of transportation.

Oh how did the pioneers do it?

I have a cocktail party at 5pm and a formal dinner - slash- Democratic fundraiser at 8pm - all this and nothing to wear and now an even more limited time to shop.

I'm gay - where's my god-damn "fairy" god-mother ? LOL.

Feel me burn
I live - somewhat trepidly, but more daring
I have flames falling back from my brow
Icarus with purpose
foolish, with more delight
greater determination
more sense of pain
more significant sense of living
(of life)
I blaze
and it
burns ever so magnificently.

This week was a blur.

Last weekend was all boozing and parties; looking to be a little more domesticated this weekend. Meet with the landscape architect on Saturday morning, very exciting - I love my home, but it has boring, curb appeal. Hit the Gym three times this week, light booze, no drugs, head feels pretty clear...I'm getting a little concerned about the extra 15 lbs I seem to have around the waist - but I'm telling myself to be patient while I get back in the swing of things.

Had a run in with Lucky at a Labor Day party on Sunday - at first it was akward, then it seemed good and then he walked off the dance floor leaving me with the words that "I had made the decision to leave him and break his heart" (to be fair I'm paraphrasing the gist of the words). Luckily I was distracted by having to drive a friends vomiting roomate home - but that made me lose contact with a beautiful blond Canadian architect I had spent most of my night flirting with. Actually was flirted pretty heavily with by two hot boys that night - felt good, a kinda missed that electricity.

Ended up talking to Lucky two days later when he called to apologize - I lost it and kinda tore into him - and then was like, "Shit - two years and I still let him push all of my buttons".

The end result of the conversation is that neither of us is ready to be friends, yet neither of us see's the sense in hating each other - I just asked that the next time we see each other in public we give each other 15 minutes - don't push it, try and geniunely be friendly and after maybe a few times of doing this maybe we'll feel more comfortable.

It's been complicated loving people, can't say the last four years has me racing to the alter - but somewhere in the back of my head I can see it would be nice to share parts of my life with someone again - and alas start having sex with something other than my hand (and no I don't mean something made of plastic ;) )

The Devil wore a black suit and a blue tie...

standing at the majestic podium made for him this night he spout lies:

"Extend frontiers of freedom"

"Expanding liberty"

and "A government that allowed the people to make the decisions that guided their lives"

A am a gay man, the Devil won't offer me freedom of choice in my loved ones, my tax-bracket, my future and my liberties.

In fact the Devil wants to "reduce my frontiers of freedom, revoke my liberty and tell me exactly how I should live my life and with whom"

Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you "W".

I just listened to Arnie-nator speak at the Republican Convention - I am so deeply disgusted that I can't even consider making a list of every shallow, empty, statement that he made.

It made me think though of that person that you've worked with at least once in your life - nice enough, smart enough, friendly enough - the one who makes sure you see them give a buck to a charitable donation (though only a buck), who always expresses concern about a co-worker (while managing to mention deeply personal information about that co-workers life), who proudly mentions their volunteer work (from seven years ago)and who parks in the handicap spot because they were in a hurry...they think caring, consideration, education and empathy are important - just not to be taken to seriously.

I want to puke.

It's good to report that I've been feeling great.

I truly feel like I just finished a book and now I'm ready for another, more challenging, more exciting, sexier, funnier, romantic, powerful, life-affirming book.

The second half of my life has truly just started.

Booked my tickets for Halloween in Australia. Doing the great barrier reef and the rain forest in Caryns and then a week of slutting and partying in Sydney - totally something great and not to far off to look forward to.

Great work-out tonight capped off by putting the top down on the convertible - which with the heat I haven't bothered to do in months - but hey, it felt terrific.

House guests.
Muddy Dogs.
Hangover.
Red eyes.
Black coffee.
Breakfast is ready, but I'm dying to go back to bed.

...drove back in safely from Palm Springs yesterday and back in to the maddening clutches of the business and a hectic-life-as-usual/unusual. A huge monsoon played havoc with Phoenix last night and my yard calls out to the three neglected hounds - "bath in me, roll in me, roll to the back door and then through - there is a carpet calling your names", I finally gave in and resolved to tear out every inch of carpet in my home and lay tile and wood floors before the winter.

So as for the anniversary of HERO's death, my 35th birthday and my trip to Palm Springs - I guess everything was better/worse and worse/better in varying degrees at different and vascilating moments. The weather was horrible. Palm Springs had it's own difficulty with monsoons for the first two days, the days I most need to be out-of-my-own-mind...I did my best, watched movies in the hotel room, reading half-heartedly staring out the casita window at the dark skies and empty pool. I ended up staying Sunday night since it was the first day that afforded me a day to get the much needed sun and pool time that I had been planning on.

In a way it had been perfect, I wasn't entirely ready to just lay around laughing and pretending every was ok. When I returned though there was a difference, it seemd like ages had past since I had been home; those things that were haunting me when I left HERO, my birthday, work - they all seemd so long ago, so in the past. I traded a couple of blow-jobs in PS, met my share of off-the-wall locals - my wounded energy pulling the wrongs ones closer to me and probably shutting off the ones I would have rather met. In the end, it was good I went away - not for the trip itself but maybe for the distance and the physical space added to the mental process I was working thru.

I did one thing with my entry of the 13th I don't ever do - I forwarded it's contents to family and closest friends.

What I say here, stays here. In many ways, mainly because I choose not to speak to people about such incredibly personal things - maybe it seems to reader that I have pondered endlessly and spoken of nothing else but HERO's death, when in reality - it's only here that I lay it all, raw and exposed. The family I come from loves each other - but pain and anger aren't expressed - they are held tightly to the chest and casual jokes and celerity gossip is offered instead.

After receiving my email, my brother two years my senior wrote me this, simple note:


Thank you for being the person, and the man you have become. Thanks for sharing even a little part of the difficult last year with me.

Let tomorrow be a wonderful new start, to a wonderful new year for you.

Happy birthday brother

A world of little hurts, can be dulled hearing words like that where love and compassion are not easily shared.

I decided not to the post of second half of the "Ghost" entry, maybe I know enough of the last two months to not air the details.

Another monsoon hitting tonight and some close friends are taking me out for dinner and drinks - the 35th year begins.

Thanks for birthday wishes and all, really.

So here it is, and here am I

The one year mark.

I awoke and even then it wasn't real, I went to the spot where I found you and I sat down - alone and naked - and waited.

Did I expect your return?

Did I think there would be ghostly vengeance ?

No, probably neither.

I've been living in shadows for months, knowing that this day had to come.

Imitating your ghost, by becoming one myself.

I offered my apologies for the last words I said before I closed my door, for my part in your life that may have lead you to this path, for the ways I loved you and the ways I din't love you enough, for all the pain that others had brought down upon you.

I spoke your name finally - Kyle...

I held the air and wished it was you.

One year later.

This really happened, didn't it?

The horror. The despair. The darkest of my days and the lonliest of my nights.

I miss you terribly, I look for you - standing on the street corner, about to wave - your smile broadening, your eyes so crisp and blue, a chuckle and the gentle rising of your shoulders , then your hearty, delightful laugh...the way you spoke my name...

One year later, I need you to let me move on.

One year later, I need to give myself a chance to move on...

One year later, I can't cry anymore.

You will always be loved, you will always be reflected in my expressions, you will always be in my life, you will never be forgotten......

but please, let me - let you - go.

I'm still here - hurting, breathing, crying, trying, hoping, dreaming and I may have
30, 40, 50, 60 years left in me, I can't have them be like the last year that I have lived through. I have pained my family, friends and even passers-by.

I want the next - many years - to shine with love
and rain down on me with happiness...

I want to believe that the first 35 years were where I lived thru my pain and that now I have reached the other side, where the next 35 years are where I live through my love.

Goin up to the mountains to see John Kerry speak on his "whistle-stop" tour of America tonight.

If you haven't seen it - see "A Home at the End of The World", my fucking god - who knew that Colin Firth could act - and be so damn lovable and beautiful while doing it - I'm a pig so I'll be rushing to the movie store when it's DVD version is released so I can freeze-frame the much talked about (and edited) dick shot that had woman swooning - hey I nearly passed out just watching him kiss a man.

Swoon.

GHOST

If a house can be haunted, can I ?

So begins the story of the last two months of the year of living dangerously. Though I guess knowing a bit about the months that lead up to them is required.

I've been raked over the coals for being to depressing, too real, self-destructive, indulgent and well - I guess I should warn you, the following passage is no different - so change the channel if it bothers you (I'm sure "Everybody Loves Raymond" is on in someone's time zone.)

Hell isn't what you go thru. It's not the dead body, or the riga-mortis, or the tongue he bit off choking down the carbon monixide. It's not the blood and the vomit and the shit - it's not the moment you sit there cradling him, despite the forementioned; it's not your screams, it's not your tears, it's not the funeral and the looks and having his best friends blame his death on you, it's not telling your parents or your boss, it's not the way your neighbors stare at you, it's not the hours of therapy or the medication, it's not those akward social moments where you explain - "he's not with you because he's dead", it's not the night terrors and the sleepless nights, it's not packing up his belonging - his life - in a box...

Hell is the aftermath.

Hell is every moment from that day after.

The silence. Worse - a noise at 3am.
The unspoken things. Worse - the things people try to say.
The days. Worse - the nights, the dark, lonely nights.
The crying. Worse - not being able to cry anymore.

So this was the first few months.

The terrible firsts.

The first time I slept in my house again, the first time I read his love letters, the first time I heard another speak his name, the first time I talked about it, the first time I kissed a boy, the first time I slept with a boy.

All these moments left me in tears.

Yet - you do move on and you do laugh again. I remember what guilt I felt the first time I really, really had fun - I felt like I didn't deserve to have fun - I shouldn't be seen having fun. We think fucked up things when we are grieving.

I hid out, did lots and lots of drugs, drank lots and lots of Vodka.

Then the medication started to work it's magic - I started to feel lighter.

I could walk in to a room of people and I wasn't short of breath. I started to chuckle lightly and feel horny, and remembered how much I wanted to live. Boys started to ask me out, I sucked dick and fucked ass.

Something was missing though - a sentence without punctuation, a car without wheels - it felt incomplete. When I held another in my arms - I wasn't trying to connect to them - I was trying to press HERO into them - to hear them speak words that I could find absolution in. I behaved cruely - if I couldn't see an apology on their lips I condemned them - highlighted their flaws and pinpointed their faults. I'm not proud of this - I'm ashamed, deeply.

I pulled back from the drugs after a scare with my heart that sent me back to the Arizona Heart Institute. I'm killing myself I thought. The holidays were nightmarish - hours lost, always covering up for where I had been or what I had been doing. Being single was working out for me though - it made it easier to be high for days on end without interference.

I pushed away boy, after boy, after boy.

I began to push away friends.

Then came a sort of calm in the storm, I felt like my head was clearing. I worked hard, I stopped doing drugs, I eased off on going to bars, I worked out and read and played with my dogs. I met a man with blond hair and blue eyes. I seduced him. I swept him off his feet. It seemed great, until it began to go very, very wrong. My friends made comments sparringly about his jealousy and outbursts, at least at first. But the more I gave, the less I was getting and the more he wanted his control. I ended it, but unfortunately left the door cracked open - an opening made through lust, lonliness and fear. He came through that opening and betrayed me - making a key to my home without my permission, sleeping in my home when I was out of town - and then the final - the ultimate sin - he read this blog.

There were other things that brought me back to where I had been the year before - but it was these betrayals in my very own home by someone I cared for - that brought HERO back to the flesh and that's when the nightmares began. Hideous, cruel, painful nightmares. There was always a common element - death. The second element was always - guilt, my guilt - people who loved me would die. It was absurd and stupid - I know this, but at three AM, my heart and pulse racing ahead of me - my bed soaked from night-sweats - they felt real to me. Naked, alone - halfway down the hall - they felt, oh so fucking real - and I was screaming, again - that scream.

I can't just bust out the last two months in an entry - I need a breather - and I'll try to get the rest out of my system tomorrow night. Sorry - I'm doing this on my rules.

One man, three dirty dogs and a bath tub.

Exhausted.