Actual Speace Invaders

Röyksopp 'Happy Up Here'

Oh man....

I don't even remember this graduation party in high school.

That pretty much sums up my senior year.

I had Metroplex and Devastator...

Ooooh.

Sting - 'All This Time'

This song brought back warm fuzzy feelings.

It totally has the Soundtrack Of Life© feel to it.

Funny

Dave Matthews Band - 'Ants Marching'

It's funny how songs can totally capture a period of your life like a mental cache file.

When this album came out, there was no escaping it.

Where I worked at the time [retail] we had Muzak and had the 'Alternative' channel.

So over the course of a shift, I would hear this song like 20 times.

I hated this song.

But now when it infrequently pops up it totally brings back not only a mental flashback of that period of that time, it brings back the smells from this era as well.

Like the smell of the coffee shop I worked at, the smell of Autumn as it descended upon the CU campus, the funky smell of that first apartment in Boulder, etc.

The brain is pretty amazing in that it can not only hold cognitive memories, but sensory ones as well.

And even though it was one of the best and worst periods in my life, now, filtered and tempered through 'nostalgia', I kinda miss that period.

I miss the Cooper theater.

The Cooper was this huge theater that had a round screen.

It was designed all 1960's Futuro.

I saw a bunch of great movies there as well like Fantasia, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Alien, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and many more.

The Cooper even had little smoking lounges off to the sides where you could smoke and still watch the movie.

And a HUGE balcony.

Now we just have those crappy mega-plexes.

Images from cinerama.topcities.com.

Hmmm.....

A friend I haven't heard from in a while, but recently reconnected with on Facebook, contacted me today.

What's weird is how overly friendly and sentimental she is being.

On top of that, she wants us to hang out with Straight Boyfriend #2.

I don't think I have ever talked about our situation on here, have I?

Back in the day, SB#2, Recently Connected Friend [RCF], and I were in a twisted threesome situation.

RCF had a crush on me, I had a crush on SB#2, and SB#2, of course, had a crush on RCF.

Ack.

We hung out a lot and thus became very passive-aggressive/co-dependent with each other.

Often two of us would gang up on the other one over stupid shite.

Seriously, it was twisted, and I'm glad we all eventually moved on.

But now with RCF's desire to hook up again, makes me uneasy.

Last time we all ran in to each other RCF mentioned how she had told the WHOLE story to her husband.

Including one incident I had forgotten blocked, and would like to continue to forget.

Even though I am older and much wiser now, I still get mildly icky feelings about the whole situation.

[Honestly, it was a lot like the movie.]

Ack!

I can't believe I am posting this......

This is pic from Senior Prom - After-Hours.

Post Prom.

Post Rave.

Yeah.

Damn, I had some 90's hair.

Anywho, it was a great night, followed up by an even more interesting morning/afternoon.

Mad props to the Director who shot our porn video.

Ha ha.

Totally kidding.

But, yeah, she was my prom date [the cheerleader], and he was my first Straight Boyfriend.

Although, he looks totally cracked out in this photo.

One funny thing about this night/day,was my date was overwhelmed by a craving for a Jamocha shake from Arby's.

She was relentless.

Eventually we caved in.

We did eventually get her to go home so we could spend some 'us' time together.

The follies of youth.

Ack!

Debbie Gibson - 'Shake Your Love'

This song totally reminds me of a friend in high school who would do impressions of songs but sing them like an old man.

He had us in stitches for a while when he pretended to be an old guy in a walker singing this song.

When he got to the chorus, he would shake his 'bad hip' and walker.

Hil-ari-ous.

Man I wish we had YouTube back then.

Another example of how kids today are wussies.

In addition to our playgrounds being massive steel beams driven in to fields of asphalt baking under the noon day sun, the lovely combination of bench seats and lack of seat-belt use in cars, and no such concept as of constant use of hand sanitizer, we got to grow up with candy in the form of cigarettes and chewing tobacco.

2x365

Originally you were my boss, yet somehow we began hanging out, outside of the office; even after we ended up in different departments.

Then we kind of lost touch, but eventually, you began to run in some of the same social circles as I.

Which was kind of interesting at first, because I never pegged you as the club/rave type.

As a result, we became closer than we were when we worked together.

Over the next few years, you became one of the few people to ever call me on my shite.

I used to get away with murder, but you weren't having it.

This was great at times, but no so much others; especially when we really went at it [fought].

I must say though, that I still knew that I could rely on you [like when I OD'd].

I will always remember that, and thank/respect you for that.

That and your almost identical sense of humor as mine.

Alas, you moved away, and we have intermittent contact, but I know for a fact a lot of what we talked about gave me a better perspective on things and allowed me to grow as a person [for the most part - ha ha].

365

New Feature - nx365

The premise:

'This started with one guy who wanted to mark turning 40 in a cool and meaningful way, now people all over the world are making a list of 365 people they've met during the course of their lives - then they're postin about someone on their list. They're doing this once a day - for a year.'

Although I am horrible at remembering names.

Also, I don't blog every day so it won't be like that either.

[I wonder if I even can come up with 365 people.]

First up -1x365:

You were one of the first people I worked with as a bartender. I must admit I was intimidated by your looks. Problem is you had a boyfriend, that I was also friends with. Because of that, I felt extremely guilty after we hooked up. But I guess it didn't matter in the end, because you guys are no longer together, and from what I heard, I wasn't the only one.

[Ooh. This is kinda like Post Secret.]

Forgotten Memory

This story just totally made me remember that I was in some special diorama program with the Museum when I was a kid.

I think it was part of when I was with the 'Gifted and Talented' program.

Funny thing though, is I don't really remember much, except hating the fact that one of my teachers had to drive me there and pick me up.

I also remember going in some of the dioramas and being in the workshops behind the scenes.

The building is ancient.

Golden Scans - 'The Boyfriend'

Ah.

So, a crazy bartending story.

I used to make out with this girl's straight ex-boyfriend [not pictured].

[The guy in the photo is another fellow 'mo I knew.]

How did I meet homegirls ex-boyfriend?

Somehow, one night when I was working the floor, we became ensconced in a conversation where tattoos came up.

He showed me his Marine tat, and another tat.... that he had on one of his arse-cheeks.

[Hubba hubba.]

Liquor being the social lubricant, and me being a hoochie-with-a-kissing-problem, [just ask Helen], I asked if I could make out with him.

She, and he, were totally OK with it.

So, of course I did.

And he was a great smoocher.

And a hot as hell ex-Marine.

[This is back in the day when I had straight-boy Mojo.]

Anywho, any time they would come to the club, I would always make out with him.

He was totally down with it, and we would all have a laugh about it

Eventually, I started to feel guilty for this, so I asked her if she was still cool with it.

Her words exactly:

'I don't care if he makes out with a guy. I only care if he makes out with another girl.'

[!]

At the time I was relieved, but also was kind of perplexed.

I had never known a girl who would be OK, with her beau making out with a dude.

Eventually, over the tenure of bartending, I came across various hetero/homo-flexbile arrangements that showed me that sexuality [at least when drugs and acohol are involved], is very fluid [pun intended].

In the end, I always knew he was straight.

We'd make out, and a little 'over-the-sweater action', but I knew it wouldn't end up in coitus [can 'mo's use that term?].

The experience with him, went on to further embolden my belief that just because a guy makes out with another dude, it doesn't make him family.

[Just ask my friend Sara about the other adventures of Kissing-Problem-Boy.]

Thank god for the hetero-flexibles!

New Feature! - 'Golden Scans'

'...that's just what I heard.'

'[Gasp!] No she didn't.'

[Some of my gays from back in the day.]

So Golden Scans is the result of me digitizing a bunch of old photos I have that I want to have on file in case of fire or whatnot.

As a result, you, lovely readers, get to see an archival history of that who is known as Big Daddy.

P.S.

The names have been omitted to protect the not so innocent.

This is how we did it.

Outside of a Pride Week kick off party.

Rave On Raver

A buddy of mine sleeping on our way back from what was to be my final rave ever, in Gardner, CO.

That was one hell of a drive back.

Like 300 miles.

OMG

Patti Labelle & Michael McDonald - 'On My Own'

Back in the 10th grade, I had to take swimming at school.

Which is funny because even though Colorado is a land-locked state, it was required by school law.

Anywho, at the same time every morning, this song, and that annoying Linda Rondstat/Aaron McNeville song used to come over the radio.

[Our pool area had piped in music, and the swim teacher liked his easy-listening.]

Bah.

To this day, I loathe, loathe, loathe these two songs.

On a tangential note, we had to have a 'swimming buddy' so we didn't accidentally drown.

Well, I was partnered with the only Goth kid in my class.

He was cool and all; we said 'hello' to each other in the halls and stuff, but didn't hang out, or anything, outside of class.

Years later, I run in to him in a bar and he totally brought up the swimming buddy thing.

I had actually had no idea who he was until he brought that up.

Ha.

So we caught up and such, no biggie.

[By the way he was still kind of a Goth, but just older and without makeup.]

Flash forward about three years, and on my way home, I see this guy that looked like him [after further inspection - it was him], only he was in full makeup, in a patent leather trench, with black stiletto boots, strutting up Colfax.

Honestly, if I didn't recognize him, I would have thought it was just some tranny hooker cruising Colfax.

Occasionally I still see him, and he is definitely straddling the fence on the tranny thing.

But then again, back in high school, he refused to undress in the locker room [I don't remember how he changed back for class - maybe he just wore wet trunks under his clothes?].

I wonder if the tranny thing had anything to do with it.

Maybe he was a she after all.

[How funny that this post went from Michael McDonald to trannies.]

Kristine W wouldn't let me take a shower.

To this day I still kind of resent her for it.

Picture it, Pride '97.

I had been up all week partying, and helping to get the club set up for the big Sunday night.

It's Sunday, 4 in the afternoon.

99 degrees with nary a cloud in the sky.

My skin turning a nice shade of salmon pink.

I had just spent all day at the Festival selling tickets for the show.

I get to the club and can't wait to use the shower in the office [don't ask].

But I can't.

Because Miss W has commandeered the second floor as her 'green room'.

I was all dirty, sweaty and tired, and this sent me over the edge.

I was livid and threw a major hissy fit.

It was like expecting to be granted access to heaven, but then brutally stopped and sent back down to toil away in my circle of hell.

Luckily my boss let me sneak in during her sound-check.

I was much better once shaved and showered, and was able to work the rest of the night.

That is until after we closed down and found out..... we weren't done!

We had to break down Miss W's stage and audio too.

We were there until 8 AM Monday morning.

Talk about a Pride from hell.

Yes, it's been 10 years, and I still resent her.

Today In - 'Closet Case'

I'm thinking this may be a new feature.

Clinton over at ZFS was asking if it was ok to like The Dresden Dolls, and reading the comments, it made me wonder about which musical act/songs people are in the closet for being a fan of.

So first up, for me: Ace of Base - 'Don't Turn Around'.

Ok, so I LOATHED Ace of Base when they came out, mostly for the part that their songs were inane, and played ad nauseum on the radio.

However, now as an adult, whenever I hear the Base, I get instantly transported back to the early 90's, when I was a youngin'.

This song in particular reminds me of when I was living in NYC on $20 a week, and was hating the whole NYC experience.

A big factor in that was it snowed like a blizzard every week, and it was Arctic-like freezing.

Plus, I had really sloppy roommates in my dorm.

I really questioned my decision to go to NYU, and couldn't wait to get home.

All these years later, I look back now at that period with fondness because I had SO LITTLE responsibility back then.

No mortgage, no job....all I had to do was homework and study!

Good times.