A Picture and a Story

I've decided to start a new series of blog posts naming them 'a picture and a story'. My idea is select a picture and write something about the circumstances of the picture or anything else that comes to mind.

One of the reasons why I really like this picture is that it makes me look far more daring that I actually am. This picture was taken in Barcelona in June '09. Just beyond the bushes on the right, there are lots of people naked on the beach. In fact the people that are walking behind me will have a perfect and unobstructed view of all the nude people on the beach if they keep waling just about 20 feet. That said, in all the days I went to the beach, I never saw anyone walk off the beach or come nearly as far as I did nude. I did this as part of a dare that I made to a friend from DC that was visiting me there. He took the picture, but took about 2 steps off the beach before quickly putting his clothes on.

Kisses for Chistmas

I finally figured out what I want!

2010...

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions because I believe that we make a thousand little decisions everyday that, when combined, constitute our lives. So instead of resolutions, I’ll share some desires, wishes and goals for the next year.


• The BF and I will celebrate our 17th year together and I want this next year to bring us even closer together.

• I love my family and friends and sometimes I think that I don’t tell them enough just what they mean to me. I hope to tell them that I love them more often.

• I want to not fear making myself more vulnerable in front of others. I want to reach out with kindness to people I don’t even know only because that’s the kind of person I want to be. Some will certainly reject the gesture unsure of what I want and yet others will reject me, but that should not stop me.

• I want to travel. I want to go to Ft Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Dore, Berlin and the naked gatherings hosted by GNI and IMEN as well as other not yet determined places.

• I would like to figure out a way to go to Burning Man. This will be difficult especially since I’ll be away from home the entire week prior for the GNI Naked Gathering. If I am to attend I’ll have to find a way to get home from Pennsylvania, gather everything I’d need for a week in the middle of nowhere (think tent and 12 gallons of water!), fly to Reno, etc. Seems overwhelming, but I’m still hoping to find a partner in crime. The BF has already said, “Absolutely not.”

• I’d like to be nude and participate in nude activities as much as possible including lots of time at nude beaches.

• I want to play lots of tennis, preferably 4+ times per week. I want to engage in other activities as well such as bicycling and exploring DC and other locales.

• I want to increase my Spanish language proficiency.

• I want to be positive.

• I want to put a smile on people’s faces.

• I want to replace the back deck of my apartment.

• I want to fulfill my obligations at home and at work.

Avatar

When I first saw the preview for this movie, I flagged it as a move to definitely avoid. The whole premise seemed to me like a kid playing a video game and wishing it were all real. It was only after hearing so many good things about the movie over the past few weeks from critics and viewers alike that I decided that I had to see it. Well tonight was the night.

I bought my tickets online and on the confirmation page I noticed the unusually high price. So I went back to figure out why. It turns out there the movie is in 3D. The BF said that his eyes have problems with 3D so we tried to find a regular showing, but none would fit into our timeframe. In the end we went to the 3D showing.

WOW!!! I'm so glad we say the 3D version! I tend to be very critical of stupid movies, which is why I thought I wouldn't like this one, but there was nothing stupid about it. The acting was good, the plot was interesting and visuals were fantastic.

On the technology front (only because I'm a geek), I can't believe how much better 3D movies have gotten since I've last seen one. This was the first 3D movie I've ever seen where the 3D was not either a gimmick or a distraction, but rather fit naturally and seamlessly into the move. The other thing that amazed me was the special effects. I have no idea how the graphically created the natives, but man was it impressive and completely believable.

Disgusting

I ran across this ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING chart today and had to repost. If there's any wonder about how absolutely fucked up our healthcare system really is, this chart dispells it all. Click the picture to view full-size.

A Look Forward

I had a friend post the following to his facebook page the other day:

If I had a dime for every time I heard someone say to me ... "You're gay!!! Homo!!!!!!" ... Like its some sort of newsflash, I'd be rich. Am I THAT fabulous really? Or are they just stupid idiots with no respect? I think the latter AND the former are both correct.

The friend is a beautiful and sexy, 24 year old black guy. Truth is that I really never had to endure name-calling like this. As a kid I was the typical sports-oriented boy with a secret. Although I never had girlfriends, but somehow no one ever suspected me of being gay. At this point in my life I've reached a point where I really don't care what people say or think too much. I've come to set my own standards based on principles that I think are important such as treating all people with respect and not littering, but I could care less if someone doesn't like the hot pink pants that I'm wearing (for the record I don't own said pants, but if I did...).

But it pains me that my friend, or anyone for that matter, has to ensure this. It pains me that the world could be so cruel. Is it any wonder that so many of us are slightly damaged? Be who you are and never forget that love cannot make you less of a person.

Burning Man

I've always heard of Burning Man and wanted to go. The past 5 years of my life I've forced myself wish less and do more so I really considered going in 2010. That said it seems like such a daunting task because:

• The GNI Naked Gathering is the week prior so I'll already be out of work and vacationing for a week prior to Burning Man. The biggest issue however is rushing to get back to DC, get all my stuff in order and fly out west the very next day.
• Since you have to take everything you need with you, I'd have to bring all my food, clothing and 12 gallons of water. How do I even carry 12 gallons of water without a car?
• I like the idea of 'surviving' the wild, but let's face it I'm a native-NYC boy. Now I went camping as a boy on several occasions but I'd feel much better doing such a large thing like this with someone else for support.

For these reasons I'm beginning to doubt whether I'll be going next year. This wouldn't be too terrible since I have a friend in Baton Rouge that has been trying to get me down to New Orleans for Southern Decadence during that same weekend. Besides, New Orleans wouldn't be bad at all since every time I've been with him has always been tremendously fun in the absolute worst kind of way.

Feeling Better

So I've been kind of down on how the healthcare debate has been going and what it says about our country and our political system's ability to get anything done. I wrote about it a little bit here. I began to wonder if the healthcare bill as passed by the Senate was even worth it or whether we should scap it and fight for something better. Well, now that passage seems imminent, I realized that I over-reacted and now feel much better. There's a lot in this bill that will help us as a nation.

I'll be honest though. I think that this bill may cause some problems. The problems will arise when people are forced to purchase health insurance out of their own pockets if the cost of healthcare is not affordable. One of three things I could see happening at that point:

1. Congress makes further changes to the system and implement the public option or something similar,
2. Congress takes away the requirement that everyone must have health insurance or be fined, or
3. Nothing happens, people suffer, and people blame the Democrats and elect Republicans.

Obviously I'm hoping for number 1.

Political Despair...

So I think I've finally figured something out... and it is not good. I've determined that people (as in "we" as opposed to "them") are fundamentally flawed. Ready for my grand revelation? It's that we're fundamentally selfish. Don't get me wrong because I'm not trying to be negative, but am coming to accept the nature that evolution has given us.

We are by nature communal creatures. However our interest in community fundamentally conflicts with our strong instinct for preservation of self. I guess I would've liked to believe that we've evolved more than we have. I wish it was like it was Star Trek (original series) when mankind almost blew itself up at the end of the 20th century and then collectively realized that war works in our mutual dis-benefit. But we're not there yet and probably never will be.

So what led to this revelation?

• The completely asinine statements by Republicans against any kind of meaningful healthcare reform. The truth is that they're really against any healthcare reform that it is not completely either (a) remove lawsuits or (b) reduce taxes and public programs. What's even more disheartening is that even this is trumped by their real goal... to see the Democratic president fail at any cost.
• Real life is complex. I haven't met a single person that resembles the caricatures that we try to make them out to be sometimes. Real problems require hard thought with trade-offs and determined follow through. It would be nice if our national discourse were moving in a direction that realizes this and values thoughtfulness. However, I'm realizing that sound bites and one-liners trumps the complexity of truth and reason. Unfortunately with all the good associated with the advent of television and the subsequently the Internet, these new technologies have also enabled the stupid statements such as "death panels".

Return of Super Nekkid Saturday

Super nekkid Saturday are those weekends when multiple nude parties occur on the same day. Of course I love the chance to bare all for (nearly) the entire day. I've written about prior super nekkid Saturdays here and here.

This particular Saturday started with us going to a baby shower. A gay couple that are friends of ours have been working to adopt/surrogate for at least over a year now. Well, just about a month ago their baby girl was born and she's is absolutely adorable. The funny thing is in all of their pictures they look completely haggard and utterly frightened. That said, I think gay couples are generally way more prepared for children then straight couples because they have to work at it so long and hard. All I'm saying is generally speaking most gay couples don't have "accidents".

After the shower was the naked cocktails. I can say how glad I am that these monthly events have returned to DC. Once again we had about 100 naked guys there on a Saturday afternoon. Anyone who's ever thinking of participating in a naked event, but is feeling apprehensive, this is a great event to come to.

Directly from naked cocktails we went to a naked holiday party hosted by one of the members up in southern Maryland. He has a terrific place nicely on a nicely secluded lot. About 100 guys showed up there too. I've been to two other parties that he's hosted before, but they were typically smaller parties of 30 or so where he only invited people he knew. This party was open to the full membership of one of the local nudist groups. There was light food, a great selection of wines, beers and spirits. Have I mentioned the naked men?

Why do I love being naked with others so much? Well, aside from the obvious reasons I'd like to share a message that was posted on the message board of one of the nudist groups I belong to (identity removed). This was submitted in response to an open question regarding the gay communities tendency to treat each other harshly based on appearance or perceived worth or lack there of. Here's the response:

It's a funny thing about looks and how people judge us. I'm not a horrible looking guy. But I'm certainly not great looking. Am also 45, hairy and about 50 pounds overweight. Have I encountered rejection in clothed social situations? YES. Many times. I do feel I look better clothed than naked.


In clothes free situations, I experience rejection far less. This is true of a variety of clothes free groups. Why? Have no idea.

My sentiments exactly. At both of the parties as well as in Key West and every other naked party everyone intermingles far more than I see at almost any other open gathering of people. The young with the old, the trim with the rotund. This is community at its best.

Naked in Key West

The BF, a good friend and I all went down to Key West for the Bone Island Bare It All Weekend. We had gone last year and enjoyed it so we decided to go again this year. We flew into Miami airport since for some reason flying directly into Key West always seems to be twice as expensive. So we rented a car and drove the 3 hours or so from Miami through the Keys. It's actually a pretty drive once you get onto the Overseas Highway and out of traffic.
This year we stayed at the Island House and were pretty much naked as often as possible. We met quite a few people that we had met last year as well as people that we met at the GNI Gathering in Pennsylvania. Interestingly enough we also ran into several people from DC, some of which we knew and others that we were meeting for the first time.

Highlights of the weekend included:

• Welcome party at the Island House (naked)
• Naked event at 801 Bourbon. Activities included things that would get you arrested in DC. Of course I participated.
• Lunch at the Blue Heaven amongst the cats, roosters and chickens. One of the cats popped a squat 4 feet from our table, but diligently covered it up.
• Playing tourist at the southernmost tip of the continental US.
• Taking a pedicab from the most beautiful Croatia guy. Interestingly enough he first said Romania. I'm always interested in how people regard themselves.
• Pool party at the Equator Guest House (naked)
• Dance party at the Aqua (naked).
• Night at Bourbon Street Pub (naked). The foam machine was so much fun last year, but this year it got cold on Saturday night so we didn't get the chance to enjoy the foam.
• And of course all the time and events at the Island House.