CityWOOF

Thanks to “Canadian Fur” for letting me know that gorgeous and talented gay singer/songwriter Mark Weigle seems to be back in business.  He has a new website and a new album, both great indicators that this amazing musician has changed his mind about a previously reported retirement.

Mark!  I love you!  Hope I get to run into you again at IBR.

And Canadian Fur?  Sounds warm, fuzzy and sexy.  I love Canadians.

Christmas was nice in Sacramento with the family. My dog Jesse and I made it back home, but not without a snowy ordeal.

At the bottom of the Siskiyou mountain range, we saw all the cars pulled over to the side of the road, putting on their tire chains. We saw all the men in yellow CHAIN INSTALLER jackets who’d set up shop every few yards. Still, we continued, unchained, to the top of the mountain. At least half of the cars driving nearby were similarly unchained and doing fine, so maybe I wouldn’t have to worry about it, I thought.

About halfway up, I began to slide and shush around pretty badly. I decided I needed to put the chains on, so I pulled over onto a snow-covered shoulder and got them out of their bag. I had no idea how to put them on, and the directions were useless as well. I watched as car after car drove by, gawking at me, and not one person stopped to offer help. This went on for probably half an hour. Finally, I got back in my truck and continued my venture up the mountain.

The CHAINS REQUIRED flashing lights grew more frequent and intense. Then I saw a new warning: CHAIN INSPECTORS AHEAD. Great. Well, maybe they can help me put on the chains! Optomistic little bugger, aren’t I? As I approached the yellow-jacketed, snow-hooded, very attractive inspector, he called out, “Four-wheel drive?” “No,” I said, “But I don’t know how to put these chains on!”

“You’re going to have to go back down to the bottom of the mountain, to the chain-up area, and find someone to help you. You can’t proceed down the mountain without chains or snow tires.”

CRAP. But that’s exactly what I did, had to. I’d already turned a complete 360 on the ice earlier and knew what an unpleasant feeling it was to go skidding out of control. SO back down I went. I got chained up, I made it down the mountain. The whole thing added 4 hours to an already 10 hour drive.

It was my own fault, though. If I’d just put the chains on the first time around, I could’ve saved myself a lot of aggravation.

Well, we’re here to learn, and I do so…constantly.

To everybody!

This article appeared in yesterday’s Portland Tribune. The Trib is a relatively new newspaper, (the Oregonian being Oregon’s oldest and biggest) and is published twice a week by the very conservative Pamplin Media Group. Even so, there are some well-balance articles and the paper does not, so far, seem terribly anti-gay.

The above link that you will click on shortly is their coverage of the Oregon Bears Holiday Show, which I have mentioned here a couple of times this month. They interviewed me and my photo as Santa appears in the article. I believe this is the first time the Holiday Show has received such coverage.

I think the article is pretty funny…I think the woman who wrote it was pretty shocked by the whole event. Her article seems to be akin to Bill O’Reilly’s discovery that, while eating at a black-owned restaurant in Harlem, the people ate with forks and no-one was shouting for their “motherfuckin’ Iced Tea!”. There wasn’t any of the “raunch” that she mentions in the show…but probably for this Pamplin Media employee just the sight of a man in a dress is raunchy.

I’d love to know what you all think of the article’s tone and the overall coverage!

Cheers!

Saying a fond farewell to the year 2007, the worst year I can ever remember having. I don’t need to rehash all the horrors of the year, you sweethearts who read me know what they were (surgery, housebound recovery for 3 months, pruning of disloyal friendships, losing my best job ever and not being able to find a new one…I guess I did need to briefly rehash them!).

2008 is going to be a lot better. Starting school in January, going for a new career. Going to IBR in February…that should be a lot of fun.

I hope all of you who read this have a wonderful Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of year!

Love, Mark

Well I quit that stupid, heinous job.  And so, as I had had previously cancelled my plane ticket to fly home to Sacramento for Christmas, Jesse and I are going to drive there today.

Apparently the mountains I will have to travel over are  covered  in snow.  Here’s how the pass looks right at the moment.

I have not driven much in snow, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.  I had 4 brand-new tires installed yesterday, and I bought tire chains.  I’ll be packing food and water, a fully-charged cell phone, and I have Sirius satellite radio and a good heater.  I think it’ll be an adventure!   I’ll blog about the trip once I get there.

Free Hugs Campaign. (music by Sick Puppies.net album out)

Don’t read this post, it’s very negative and unhappy.  Especially you, Urspo, you deal with this stuff at work…no need to read this.   I just needed to vent this out on the blog.  Cheers!

I was so very happy to have something positive and upbeat to post last time. Dewey-eyed and open-hearted, I started my new job at the Portland airport (aka PDX) working for Ace Parking as a “Transportation Assistant”.

Now, after my 3rd day, I am requesting a trained assassin to come to my house and murder me. Please. It’s what I want for Christmas.

This is the worst job I’ve ever had. They completely misrepresented it to me when I showed up for my “interview”. The fact that the woman didn’t even glance at the lengthy application I had just filled out should have been a clue. The fact that she almost immediately offered me the job should have been a clue. I think she would have done the same with any breathing individual, human or not.

Standing on a concrete roadway in the rain and cold for 8 hours a day, directing people into taxi cabs is not what I was expecting and it is not what I was led to believe. My feet hurt so bad after having done this for 3 days now…you can’t even imagine. Painful, bloody stumps is what I have left.

All that is bad enough. But today (remember, my 3rd day there), right at the beginning of my 3-11:30 shift, I was called into the office. Ooooooooooo…..

Sue, the seemingly very nice, very white-bread manager of the TA’s (that’s us) said she’d heard that I had had foot surgery months ago and began berating me for not “disclosing” that information. I told her that I had been cleared by the doctor to do whatever I felt I was able to do. Then she told me that she had heard that I “seemed unhappy”, had a “negative attitude on the roadway” and that I had made “comments about the management here”. None of those things were true. I have been extremely pleasant, even while suffering great pain. I haven’t said a single word about the management there, in fact had had no interaction with any of them yet (this all supposedly happened on Day 2). They sit in little warm offices and don’t show their faces out on the airport roadway.

So I told Sue that all of these things were false, and that I’d like to know from whom they came. “Well, it was just during some chit-chat.”

“So you called me in here to share some gossip you’d heard about me?”

I don’t think that sat well. “No, it’s not gossip, it’s just something you might want to think about.”

Well, I thought about it alright. I have the next two days off, and am going to be looking for some other form of employment. Or maybe I’ll just go ahead and head to Sacramento for Christmas like I’d planned and worry about it when I get back after a week.

In any case, my feet cannot take it. And that other bullshit? Fuck that! I said this to Sue: “You know, I can take the cold and the standing and all of that, but I cannot deal with whispers and innuendos and gossip.”

What a fuckaroo.

Sorry about the negative post, but that was my fucked-up day. Now you may return to your Holiday Season warm fuzzies, I shall trouble you no more. If I can find someone to take care of my dog while I go, I’m gonna go home to Mommy for a week and get some warm fuzzies of my own.

Unless some lovely, generous reader sends that black-masked, kind and quick assassin to my address.

After months of rather lazily earnestly seeking a new job, I got hired as a “Transportation Assistant” at the Portland Airport.  I start this afternoon.  My job is basically to assist travelers with their transportation needs once they land.  It’s a part-time gig, and I will have to be on my feet the whole time.  Should be interesting to see how my left foot holds out.

I’m happy that I got the job, but I’m not happy that they made me shave my goatee.  Seems like a nice company, though.  They will, apparently, be very flexible with scheduling.

On my days off, starting on January 8th, I will be attending a course at Portland Community College to become a certified nursing assistant.  It’s a job I’ve done before, and I know what it entails.  Once certified, I’ll never have a problem finding work again…that’s a big part of why I’m doing it.  It’s the fastest-growing occupation in the US.   It’s also extremely portable and I can go live anywhere I want, though I’ll probably remain in Portland.  There are lots of places one can perform the job too:  Hospitals, private homes, retirement communities…nursing homes too, but that would be my last choice.  I’ll most likely continue on education-wise and become a medication tech.

I have to cancel my plans to go home for Christmas, unfortunately.  It’s ok, I’ll probably just work that day, if I can.

So, it’s all good news.  I just hope my left foot holds out and lets me stand on it for long periods of time.  The calf muscle has never come back, maybe this will help.

Cheers!

The Oregon Bears Holiday Show 2007 was last night. It was sooo much damn fun! We had about 16 different variety acts, and they were all really entertaining. The best in Portland drag entertainment came out to perform, some hotties from the leather community (WOOF to Brandon!), and several Bears, myself included.

I sang “Grown-Up Christmas List”, which, if you haven’t heard it is a beautiful song.  I recorded a video of myself singing it for you, but can’t get that edited properly with Windows Movie Maker (I wanted to add still photos over the audio/video so that it wasn’t just my face singing…but I don’t know how to do that. If you do, please let me know!)  Anyway, the song went over really well, and I recieved thunderous applause.  Very nice audience 

We raised a lot of money for Esther’s Pantry food bank and Central City Concern.  The last count I heard was $5500.00 and I believe they were still counting more money when I left.

A big hilight of the evening was Poison Waters, who hosted the auction.  She is an extremely funny, witty, sharp, biting local celebrity drag queen.  She was so damn funny…I really laughed long and hard, which is something I haven’t done in awhile.  Thanks, Poison!

And HUGE thanks to the Imperial Rose Court of Portland and Their Most Imperial Majesties, Rose Emperor XXXIV Hollywood Nightengale Foxx
and Rose Empress XLIX The Surreal Fiona Flash Foxx for all their involvement.  They not only performed wonderfully (the Holiday show would be nothing without the ISRC), but they also imbued me last night with the invested title of Lord of Romance, which I really appreciate.

It was all a lot of work, but everyone pulled together and it was a great, fabulous show and all those dollars will really help out in the community.  I am proud to have been a part of it.