Who's Zoomin' Who?

me
Originally uploaded by veryapeaz.

Hello kids!

Here's a picture that Edward (Echo's photog) took of me, taking a picture of him at last weekend's Rainbows Festival.

The week has been busy as always. Let's do a quick recap.

Rugby practice Monday and Wednesday. Wednesday after practice we went to Roscoes as usual. I ended up staying til midnight because Steve showed up (more bout that below).

Tuesday was tennis. I played Matt, my arch-nemesis in the league. We usually play three setters and they're always close. In fact, I think the last time we played, we ended up having three tie breakers.

I've won the past three matches but I wasn't feeling very confident. One, I haven't had much match play since June because of my wrist. Two, my wrist is still very weak and I have to tape it really tight to do anything. Three, I hit with a lot of topspin. It's difficult to do this with a messed up wrist because you have to roll over the ball to create the spin.

The first set, I was down 1-4 before I found my groove. I don't know what happened, but suddenly it felt like the ball was as big as a basketball. And I felt like no matter how hard I hit, the ball would stay in. I battled back to win the first set in a tie-breaker (natch).

During the second set, I broke Matt in the first game. It totally destroyed Matt--he was mentally done, so I ended up cruising to a 6-1 second set victory.

I was really impressed with Jay's play. He played against a guy with a monster serve (I'm talking Andy Roddick fast) on the court next to me, so I kept taking peeks at the score. Although Jay didn't win, he kept the match close.

Before practice Wednesday I had a member of the Phoenix PD pay me a visit in the office. Apparently, the Phoenix PD didn't like an article I wrote about the organization's response to a hate crime against a lesbian. The article was fair and balanced and it was (in my opinion) actually nicer to the PD than it could have been. I mean, this woman (the victim) woke up to find her car bashed up, windows smashed and the words, "I am gay," spray-painted on her car. The responding officers didn't report it as a hate crime. Ummm... hello!!!! For those who don't know, this is a classic case according to Arizona law.

On the boy front. I've been talking to Steve a lot. It's starting to wear on me. I really like him, but he's not out. That's one of my golden rules. It's just not possible to have a healthy dating relationship with someone who is not out.

I have several dating rules. I don't know if I mentioned them before but it's a good time to revisit them. Especially since I need to remind myself that they're there (in case of weak moments).

Anyone I date must follow these rules:

1) Must be out to friends and family (I'll let work environments slide since in Arizona you can be fired for being gay--sad but true).

2) Must have a job. It doesn't matter what it is (dog catcher, sanitation worker, waiter, etc.), as long as the person enjoys it.

3) Must be single. I don't care if you're casually dating other people. However, you can't be in an "open relationship" with a wife or husband.

4) Must have been in love once and have been in one long term (over 1 year) relationship. If you're 35 and have never dated anyone longer than two months, it's never going to happen without serious therapy.

5) Must be physically active. This doesn't mean you have to go to the gym every day or even belong to a gym. It means, the person must exercise through sports or walking or whatever. The older I get, the more I realize it's important to treat your body right--I want my mate to understand that too.

6) Must have a sense of humor. I never realized how many people are sour pusses.

7) Must not be too negative. I'm not a Pollyana but I have a tendency to be upbeat. I like others who are similar. I don't want to be dragged down in other people's misery (and sadly, there are a lot of miserable people out there). :-(

8) Must be independent. I know I can get claustrophobic in a relationship. No matter how much I love someone, I need time to myself. This doesn't mean I'm cheating on the person, this just means I need to have a life outside of the person that I love.

9) Must be trusting. Similar to #8. I automatically trust people (this has gotten me into trouble but it's my nature). When I say something, I mean it and whomever I date must be similar.

So.... that's my list so far. I think there might be another rule or two but these are the big ones.

This will be a fun weekend. My first love, Cyrille (the crazy Frenchman) is flying in tonight for a week's stay. He's staying with different friends throughout the course of the week. Wednesday night he'll be staying at my pad and I'm taking the day off Thursday, so we can have some quality time together.

Saturday I've got to go to a photo shoot for Echo's next cover. One of our models is a porn star. Saturday evening, I'm covering the Arizona Fetish Ball for X Factor. Sunday, I'm going to Roscoes for football and brunch!

Will post with weekend details later.