There are cooler temperatures this week here in Boston. It is about 73 here right now on this 23rd of July. We received a message from the seller of the condo that he wants to move the closing date up to this Thursday, so we may be able to take possession at that time. I am glad, because it will give us extra time to clean, paint or do anything we need to prep before the movers bring our stuff from storage on the 3rd of August and move us in. We seem to be pretty much ready for everything; we have changed our address, done all the appropriate utility hookups, but I need to stop off at some point over at the management company to meet them and also let them know about our move in date. When Donna was here, I had just completed a scale drawing of the layout of the condo and she took it and redrew it with wall thickness and a bit crisper. She also cut out all of the furniture that she feels we will need to make the space work more efficiently. I have been playing around with the layout trying to make the small space look spacious. We have decided to have a custom made Murphy bed. The bed will actually go into the main living area, so during the day it hides away to give us more of an open feeling in the living room.

We rented a “Mini” ZIP car last weekend and ran several errands. I loved driving the Mini cooper, just wish I could trade in my Beamer for one. IKEA was amazing, we spent 2 hours in there, and let me tell you we went through it pretty quickly. We mainly wanted to see some of the items I had been considering for some of our storage solutions. I got plenty of ideas and was in awe of the gigantic store.

Since my last post both Jason Skipchak and Shastine have visited. Jason was here for work and we hung out very briefly one evening here at the apartment. Shastine was just here this past weekend. She arrived at the salon and I did her hair and then the three of us went to dinner at one of our new favorite places in the South End called Orinoco. The Venezuelan cuisine has the most delectable entrées I have ever tasted. Funny thing happened though. At the finish of our delicious meal, the wonderful cheerful waitress brought the check back after she had split it up for us and at that moment that is when I left the table to use the restroom. When I returned both Jay and Shastine were in some sort of shock, that sort of shock, like what the hell just happened? Apparently the waitress had turned around right after I left the table and said to Shastine that “It wouldn’t have taken so long if I didn’t have to deal with this bullshit.” And she immediately walked away. They were sort of laughing and confused when I returned because they could not figure out how the hell she thought we were impatient about receiving the check. We talked about it for a long time afterwards while walking to another bar. We will really never know what happened, but we suspect she must have over heard someone at another table or even Shastine say something, but it had nothing to do with the food or the check. Hell we left her a 37% tip.

In New England the people are defiantly different, and I have discussed several theories with the natives (the nice ones) and here are some that I like: Because our ancestors fought so hard to keep this land free it is still ingrained in the DNA of everyone here, so they are more often than not, more territorial and defensive of outside people and common friendliness. Another is that it is a very Irish, Catholic town, whatever that means. Many have said that it takes a while to break in and find a tight knit group of friends, people are not warm at first, but once you get in, you’re in. I feel people just are not afraid of expressing themselves ever, about anything. They will just flat out tell you how they feel and you can interpret it how you want. Curt is not the word, rude is not really a fitting word either, but often times they are rude and love correcting you or others. I think of a Bowie lyric when I think of the people here “You get chilly receptions every where you go…” And it does begin to rub off on you.

We went to Maine for the first time to go to one of the best beaches in New England. Ogunquit Maine is only an hour north along 95. It is a small quaint village with nick- knack shops and several restaurants. It is quiet friendly to the gays. Matt, a friend here drove us up on a nice sunny Sunday, but when we arrived a big dark cloud transcended. We took the opportunity to grab some food, and then it poured down rain. The rain broke and then we walked to the beach which was beautiful of course, with the rocky cliffs surrounding the cove and the misty fog that had lingered after the rainfall. I thought that I may get in the water and swim for a bit, but after dipping my feet in briefly I then realized I was in the North Atlantic. SHIT, that water is cold, about 55 degrees. So we walked along the beach briefly talking and watching the chilly water lap near our feet. We headed back after we saw another storm front moving in, and of course heard the thunder. After being out on the cold breezy beach, coffee sounded good and so must it to everyone else. I think everyone descended on the cute bakery and then, the rain really came down hard. It was nice even though it was mostly a rain out. We left on the next break in the storm.

So I bid must end this blog, it may be a few more weeks or more before I can write again, since the move is coming up. I will miss living at “Government Center” in some ways and not in others. I will miss being close to the North End, the Aquarium, the water, I will miss seeing some of the old historic buildings, the fast paced business lunch places and people. I will miss the Boston traffic cops fanning locals around cars; I will miss the seagulls near the building, and seeing the skateboarders jumping over landmarks. I WON’T miss the hoards of tourists, nor will I miss the drunken mess of people that pile out of all the bars that close just as we are returning to our apartment at State and India Street.