Cindi texted after midnight to let me know a mutual friend of ours died from COVID-19 complications. I wish she would have waited until this morning as I never got back to sleep. While not a close friend, he was a man I knew socially, who, at one time, was a pillar of the LGBTQ community. He was at all the fundraisers and his family’s foundation supported many of the non-profits serving the LGBTQ community. He was also on several of those boards for many years. Not only am I tired as hell, I’m sad. Adding to my sadness is a friend in Santa Fe who has been in the hospital for almost four weeks with COVID-19. His prognosis doesn’t look good. And then there’s my job which has been like hell with a paycheck today. I’m looking forward to this day ending.
Archive for April, 2020
Like Hell With A Paycheck
Posted in friends, my life, work on April 30, 2020| 12 Comments »
Fullfilling Carnal Desires
Posted in friends, my life on April 26, 2020| 15 Comments »
Shortly after reports of COVID-19 started making headlines, Morgan told me I should seriously prepare for this to spread. He suggested cashing in my stocks and buying gold which I can store in a bank vault, and filling up the panty with stapes like dried beans and rice. He cancelled his trip to Palm Springs. I admit it took me a while to realize the seriousness of the situation. I felt Morgan had Chicken Little Syndrome.
Yesterday, Morgan texts me a picture from a Scruff profile of a guy who’s staying in Colorado but lives in New York City. The guy has recovered from COVID-19. The guy is 32. I found this puzzling so I called him to see if he’s going to hook up with guy. Morgan affirms he is. He goes on to tell me had two 3-ways with his husband and a smoking hot 24-year-old guy. At this point I’m really confused. When did he go from stocking the pantry with beans and worrying about having a proper mask to 3-ways? How did he overcome his Chicken Little Syndrome? He justified the 3-ways by telling me the young guy only seeks men 50 and up, and the guy probably already had COVID-19 because he got sick on a cruise in January with many other passenger. Since the guy probably already had COVID-19 he would be safe. (The key word in that sentence is probably.) Besides, how many more hot young guys will he bed given he’s about to turn 71. I was stunned by his justification. It was a stretch. Twisted logic used to condone fulfilling his carnal desires.
Last Saturday night Gary hooked up with an escort. Morgan’s having 3-ways. Here I sit, at home after eating dinner on Saturday night, listening to music from my high school years trying not to think about sheltering in place. Am I the only one of my friends not hooking up? I may be. And I’m okay with that.
What’s A Guy To Do?
Posted in my life on April 24, 2020| 11 Comments »
I’m in a weird place between wanting quarantine to end because I’m craving social interaction and my pre-COVID-19 life, and hoping quarantine continues because I’m fearful lifting restrictions too soon will cause a second wave of illness. What’s a guy to do?
Casualty 1
Posted in art, friends, my life on April 23, 2020| 5 Comments »
A friend told me she’s closing her gallery. The gallery is a victim of the COVID economic collapse. Even though most business will be open in a month or two, art is a discretionary income purchase which means few people will probably be buying pricey art for a while. Rather than lose money until the economy recovers she decided to close her gallery. The gallery closing is the first casualty I’ve heard of so far. I’m sure there will be others to follow. I can’t say which gallery as the closing has not been announced publicly.
I was saddened by this news. The gallery has been a pillar of the local art scene. The gallery will be missed. Her roster of artists now have to find new representation which could prove to be challenging. I have very fond memories of the art openings, the artists I met there and the great times I had just hanging out at the gallery. I will always cherish the art I bought at the gallery. I will miss the gallery.
Do They Follow The Rules?
Posted in friends, my life on April 21, 2020| 11 Comments »
Morgan texted me this morning asking me to look up a profile on Adam4Adam. He deleted his profile as he prefers to use Scruff and Grindr. I look up the profile. The guy is a forty-year-old massage therapist who is 6’5” and weighs 205. In his profile picture he’s sporting a shaved head and wearing a leather harness. He’s not Morgan’s normal demographic. I text screens shots to Morgan. Morgan has been looking for a new massage therapist so I ask him if he’s going to hire the guy. Morgan tells me the guy is really an escort. I was not surprised. He went on to tell me Gary, a guy who joined us on the Sunday walk, hooked up with the guy on Saturday night. I’ve only met Gary a few times so I consider him more of an acquaintance than a friend.
I don’t care that Gary hooked up with an escort. I have had friends who have escorted in tough times. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to pay the rent. If Gary wants to risk being exposed to COVID by a guy who makes his living by having sex with men, I’m okay with that. I’m not okay with him not letting us know he risked being exposed before joining the group for the walk.
How do we know what others have done who we interact with on a daily basis, like the grocery store employees and restaurant employees packaging takeout orders? Can we assume these people are following all the rules? I think not. That’s why we have been encouraged to limit our exposure to others, wear masks in public and properly wash our hands.
Every day of our lives is a game of Russian roulette. Will we be exposed when we leave the house? If we get sick, will we recover or die? It’s our new temporary normal. Or, it this just a practice run for the next pandemic because we know there will be another pandemic some day?
Caught in an Audit
Posted in my life, work on April 20, 2020| 7 Comments »
There’s nothing like starting Monday morning with a meeting demand from corporate counsel and an auditor. It seems they had questions about a project I approved because the implementation violated a licensing agreement and had the potential to trigger royalty payments to a third party software vendor. I kept detailed notes which allowed me to defend my position. Unfortunately, the person who implemented the project did not follow my instructions. Their mistake was caught by the auditors who reported the violation to legal. The person who implemented the project will need to defend their actions. I will not be included in that discussion. Given the company approved projects for 11,000 customers needing system expansions to support home workers due to the COVID pandemic, there was bound to be a few mistakes along the way. I’m sure no serious actions will be taken against the person who implemented the project. It’s back to work for me. I hope the rest of the week goes smoothly.
Another Walk
Posted in friends, my life on April 19, 2020| 8 Comments »
I met the guys for a socially distant walk today. The buses and light rail are free while the city is in lock down. We took the light rail to Union Station downtown. We walked around LoDo and Confluence Park for three hours. All of us wore masks. Confluence Park was filled with young people socializing, skateboarding, roller blading, bike riding and walking. Very few were wearing masks or being socially distant. Here are a few picks from the walk.
Saturday Flowers
Posted in garden, Uncategorized on April 18, 2020| 8 Comments »
Grape hyacinths from the garden.
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A Windfall
Posted in my life on April 17, 2020| 3 Comments »
I received a money beg from the Art Museum yesterday. This on the heels of the record breaking attendance of the Monet exhibit. An exhibit so successful the museum doled out bonuses to the employees. Now the museum is asking for money. The $150m renovation of the Gio Ponti Building and construction of the new Welcome Center are almost complete. The grand opening gala has been delayed. A gala which was monetized by selling tickets starting at $1,000 and topping out with $50,000 sponsorship opportunities. I declined to attend or sponsor the event. I’d rather support local artists who are in need as opposed to the museum, which, is partially supported by taxpayer dollars. Besides, the museum had no trouble financing the $150m project with private donations and the selling of naming rights. Several generous donors paid for most of the renovation. Surely those donors have another $5 or $10 million they can add to the museum’s coffers to help keep the doors open.
I’m sure other solicitations will be arriving. I’m holding off for now. I just cleaned out my business account to pay for my first quarter taxes in addition to paying additional taxes for last year. I also had to fund my SEP account. I ‘m thankful for the ongoing income on which I’m taxed. I hope the stimulus checks help those less fortunate than me. I would feel guilty about accepting a stimulus check given I’m still working. Although I learned today that 43,000 taxpayers, who earn more than $1m annually, will get a $1.7m windfall, on average, thanks to a provision buried in the CARES act. How disgusting is that?
Another Setback
Posted in garden, my life on April 16, 2020| 5 Comments »
Spring suffered another setback. Snow started falling last night and will continue all day. I only have a few inches but a colleague, who lives in Four Mile Canyon west of Boulder, has already had a foot fall at her house. The weather has been especially brutal to the spring bulbs. Most of my tulips were frozen to death along with the last of the daffodils. It should be back in the 50s on Friday with slightly warmer weather on the weekend.
