This is my first Blog.

I am editing this test. This is my First day in Boston. (April 16th 2007) Rainy chilly Nor'Easter. Not sure at this time if I am even going to leave the apartment. I think I just need to decompress.

So I am here three weeks and I get to shake the Mayor's hand..Whoo hoo. I sent a text bragging about my so called brush with local politics and my good friend Thom replies, "I once met Donald Duck in Florida." Typical Thom style. We laughed. We attended a recent benefit live auction for PFlag of Boston so even Barney Frank was there speaking.

I have been on five job interviews and worked in two salons as a test so far. I think my finally decision will come next week. I am feeling pretty good about a place named àcôté (www.acotesalon.com) It is a competitive market here and a whole different salon world.

Housing, ohhhh housing. We are still on the lookout for a nice place. We have started to narrow it down to several areas. We know we want to live as close to center as we can but that is going to require we settle on less square footage.

So far overall, we are still inlove and loving the city of Boston. I am getting around pretty easily and learning a ton of history. Wonderful days and chilly nights.

Bye for now, check back often..

Shan

So I got word from St. Louis that I needed to update my blog. Hello all.
I began work a few weeks back in a cute little salon located in the South End called www.Purehairdesign.com check it out. The South End is similar to the Central West End in many ways. I decided to go ahead and start out on my own, thus I am renting a chair here from the two owners, Jenny and Apryl. It is going to be tough and slow at first but overall I think it is the best choice for me since I am the self motivated type and love being independent. Of course I don’t enjoy being poor. I have designed some postcards and also some new double sided business cards to start handing out around the neighborhood. I think I click quite well with the girls, but they really aren’t in the salon all that much because they both have one year olds to cater to. Michael also works in the salon, so we see each other a bit more. Michael and I are starting to click too.

Went to see Mika last night at Club Avalon. (Avalon is a big nightclub positioned right across from Fenway Park. Avalon also hosts the largest Gay Sunday night in town.) What a superstar he is going to become. So much energy and had such a star quality about him. He really knows how to work the crowd and get things pumpin’. His music is very fun and happy. I am glad to have stumbled across his debut album several months ago, and fortunate enough to get to see him on his limited tour in the states.

We have put offers on two places in the last several weeks, but seem to lose out on them due to other offers or mortgage issues with the owners. Bank of America has some restrictions on owner occupied buildings. The building must have over 50% owner occupancy for them to give us the loan. We also keep running into the issues of multiple contracts being put on a property at the same time and ours ends up losing out. I keep saying “I must have not meant to be”. We are trying our hardest to stay in the city and as I have explained in past blogs, the size we are looking at is small. (500sf ). The Fenway neighborhood seems to be an area we like alot. I am going to look at a property today in the South End. 703 Massachusetts Ave, or Mass Ave as everyone calls it. Now this 703 number is something of significance. I am not really a person of superstition or numerology or other hocus pocus, but I do find it very interesting that the numbers of the homes or apartments I have lived in over the years have been very similar to 703. I have lived in about 10 different places in my life. But the places I have lived the longest ALL have something in common. Now I didn’t discover this until sometime in the middle of living with Jay. So when looking at property in Boston, I seriously consider the numbers, but it has not kept us from putting offers in. Let me show you the major addresses here.

317 Mercury Drive Birth-1982
705 Lake Park Drive 1982-1990
703 North Main St. 1994-1998
730 Heman St. 1999-2002
307 Atalanta Ave 2002-2007

Isn’t that strange? So as you can see I can get quiet excited about 703 Mass Ave.

We had a wonderful time with the girls. Debbie, Marni and Cindy came this past weekend to Boston to help us celebrate Pride from St. Louis and our lovley Shastine came down from New Hamshire. The Pride events here last all week and into the weekend. There were four block parties just on the weekend. So it was a whirl wind weekend for us all. We took them all over, to give them perspective on the size of the city and all the things to see and do. I even made up an agenda, which of course everyone made fun of me for being so organized. Thursday they flew in and we did lunch on Fort Point Channel Pier at the Barking Crab. Thursday night we went out to a “girl” bar, which was OK. Friday I worked and they all hung out with Jay who took them to Newbury street to gaze at the high-end shopping windows. I believe they walked through the Common and then up Charles St, which is an old street with independent shops and restaurants on it; Very cute area of Beacon Hill. (Love to live in Beacon Hill, but we are talking 300sf for $300,000). Saturday was full of parade time. I went into the salon to help promote myself. The parade was setting up right outside the salon, so I decided it would be cute to hand out free lemonade to the passers-by and the people in the parade. It was a bit chilly and drizzly day, but it all worked out. I enjoyed myself. Saturday night was a blast and we got to sleep in a bit for Sunday. I was excited to take the girls to Zaftigs for brunch out in Brookline. We ended up getting there after 11am and then waited for an hour to get seated (typical for this place). Then off two block parties. We ended the day with the Stuart Street block party, which was the most attended of the weekend and a nice Legal Seafood dinner. We laughed so much and really had the best time. It really made me miss St. Louis seeing them.

Of that is enough. I think I need to write more often and shorter paragraphs in the future.

www.purehairdesign.com is the web link for the salon I am currently working for, I want to post the link as much as I can so the site gets more notice on the web. Don’t forget to click on the highlighted words to learn more about Boston.

GREAT NEWS: We got an excepted offer on a 515 square foot 1 bedroom condo today in the Fenway. Fenway
is a neighborhood of the City of Boston. I am not sure if this link will work for everyone but give it a shot. This is the listing as it appears The famous Citgo sign is located here in the Fenway as is the Ball Park of course. The Art Museum sits directly across from our building with the Back Bay Fens (the neighborhood park) between.

We won’t close on the property until the 30th of July, so we have plenty of time to schedule the movers and most likely storage. I will also need to prepare a U-Haul to take things to storage right away, so the movers don’t have to put everything up the three flights. I hope to have some photos for posting after Thursday when we return for the inspection.

We went to see the “True Colors Tour” this past Saturday at the Bank of America Pavilion right on the water here in the Boston Harbor. It is an outdoor venue and was a wonderful night to see The Dresden Dolls, Rufus Wainwright, Debbie Harry (i.e. Blondie), my favorite Erasure and Cindi Lauper all front row. What a treat. Margret Cho was the emcee and entertained us between the acts.

Tomorrow we are going on a fundraiser benefit Harbor Cruise that is put on by,
Fenway Community Health our local health clinic were we are now clients of. So more to report next week.

Take care

Shan Casey
myspace.com/aladnsane

The 4th of July is almost upon us and here we are in the birthplace of America itself. It should be a fun holiday here in Boston. Last night (30th of June) we went out on Apryl and her husbands boat about 20 minutes south of Boston where they live to watch the Weymouth fireworks. Apryl is one of the co-owners of Pure Hair Design. We had a great time. It was nice to get out on the water and see the city from a different point of view and to relax with some local people. Check out the Photo Link.Sugarhill Gang Fireworks Photo

I failed to mention a story from when Debbie, Marni and Cindy where here visiting for Pride. One late evening we were leaving Machine, (the big gay dance bar) and when you leave this bar it is always a fight to hail a cab, so upon exiting the building it is best to walk up the street away from the bar to catch any cabs coming down the street. After being here for a month or more, I am quite good at getting a cab this way at this late hour. Only about 3 minutes passes and I have hailed a van cab. The driver notices me and I lean in his window to ask how many of us can legally ride with him. (four is the max, even in a van) Meanwhile Marni is already in the cab and a small argument has started with the large blonde drag queen that had entered from the other side of the van proclaiming that this was “her” cab. I guess didn’t see it as a winning solution so she got out quickly, and that is where I began my fight. I do believe I asked her in a mild tone that we in fact had this cab first and even the driver turned around an informed her of the same. She was adamant about not giving it up. My temper began to escalate even further and I began to raise my voice, not quite to a yell but definitely to an excited level. She said, “My friends are coming.” She also told me “build a bridge and get over it.” I kept asking her to “Get OUT!” “What Friends?” Then I was totally frustrated and began to slide shut the side door and inform the driver to take her home, “she needed to be taken home” She caught the door and we played door tug-of-war for a moment. Her brute strength won out and she slid the door back open and kept ranting at me. Then at once one of her male friends came running up. Wow, so she really did have some friends. He told her that they had gotten a cab and to come with him. She still did not want to get out, so that is when I lost it. I began yelling at her. “Get out, get out, get the fuck out!” I think my gang froze and went into shock that I finally had it. She said, “You don’t have to talk to me that way.” - No, I suppose I didn't, but she also didn’t have to steal my cab. Finally, she drunkenly removed her self and scuffled off. I paid no attention to her after that. However, of course it was a fun topic of conversation for a few days afterwards.

The Fenway boat cruise was fun. We went out into the Bay, which is just a bit farther out then the Harbor. So we had a much clearer view of the ocean. It was good to get out and get another perspective of the city and how we are positioned geographically. Big planes would fly overhead preparing to land at Logan. We actually met a nice group of people, a women couple and a male couple. The girls have a Great Dane back home in Western Mass, one of them works for the Coast Guard in Rhode Island and the other is a Physical Therapist. The boys lived only about 20 minutes west and one of them was a Doctor, the names escape me. We chatted about moving here and learned about where they lived and we all went out to dinner after the boat cruise.

We had a wonderful time a Shabbat dinner out in Newton. Lisa Mandel was in town visiting her sister and doing a photo shoot for some convention downtown. So she invited us out to her sister and brother in-law’s house. WHOA, what a house. One of the first things out of my mouth as we walked in from the three-car garage was asking if we could move in. It was stunning, absolutely stunning. It was HUGE, incredibly huge. I think there were five big screen TV’s and or Mac computer monitors, I lost count. I even believe the third floor was bigger than our new condo in Fenway. SIGH. Seeing Lisa and Max was a treat and we really had such a nice time chatting. It was a very welcoming feeling and Lisa made us think of home in St. Louis.

Donna came in town as well and stayed one night with us. (Donna is a good friend, I have known here since I was 3) She was here for an interior design job just south of the city. Two of her good friends from D.C. bought a place and they needed her expert opinion on appliances, hardware and interior design decisions. I think we may fly her up here again to visit and to help us out with our small space. I already have drawn up a scale drawing and sent it over to her to review. LOL. We had a wonderful time with her, laughing, dining in the North End, attending an art opening, visiting South End businesses along the way, and planning our futures. We attended the much-advertised Phantom Gourmet’s BBQ festival down at City Hall Plaza, which is like a block from our apartment. So, we paid to get in and to wait in a long line. It was super crowded and way to under organized, but the three of us toughed it out. Upon reaching the front of one of the big-bannered BBQ tents Jay proceeded to order all of our food, which included two racks of RIBS, as we waited in the sidelines. An older gentleman from behind Jay asked the woman working the booth “What part of the animal is that?” (Meaning the Ribs). At first, Jay ignored the man assuming he was only kidding. Then the pretty blonde woman behind the table replied “I don’t know I just eat them”. “Are they serious?” Jay thought. They were totally serious, so Jay made sure to inform the gentleman as he was leaving exactly what part of the animal they were from. “They are RIBS, get it?”

So this past Tuesday evening I was so excited to finally see Morrissey up-close in concert at the outdoor waterfront Bank of American Pavilion. After 6 songs he informed the crowd that the previous night he had taped for David Letterman and that the studio keeps the temperature very cold, so he was suffering from “Letterman Throat”. He apologized that his voice and his emotions as well were cracking. After the 7th Song he removed his shirt and threw it into the crowd and went back stage. We thought he was of course going to change and come back. A few moments later some technical guy returned to inform the crowd that Morrissey could not longer continue he had lost his voice. The crowd was shocked and saddened. I was shock and most upset. I love Bowie and many bands, but Morrissey does touch many of us in a special way. Everyone being stunned slowly began to depart, but only after one last final announcement, that this was indeed for real. He ended up having to cancel four or five more shows on the tour including last night’s performance at Madison Square Garden. They are going to be rescheduled for Saturday July 7th so at least I shall return to my 3rd row seats to worship MOZ.

See how I need to blog more often, they get too long. One last story; I have been really pushing the Salon on line at all the free websites I can and also by flyering the neighborhood business and once a week I or Michael will go out and Flyer the cars. Meaning we place a card under the windshield wipers. I know that it can be annoying, but in the big scope of things even a bad impression is still an impression of the Salon and its logo. So I have probably put out over 1000 flyers already and had no complaints until this past weekend. A gentleman phoned the salon and I answered. He asked if we had been placing flyers on vehicles and I said yes we had been. He stated that the rain from the previous night had made the flyer stick to his window and that he was not pleased to have to remove it. He also said that it certainly does not want to make him come to our salon, quite the opposite in fact. I apologized to him and informed him that we assumed that the UV heavy card stock printing seemed a better solution in case it did rain. He hung up. Later that same day that same guy came into the salon, as I assumed. He was perhaps in his 50’s and unattractive with grey somewhat receding hair. “Who is the owner here?” he asks. He started rambling on about the flyer on his car. Apryl who was sitting behind the desk with color on her scalp and a clear plastic bonnet covering her head, eating a burrito that had previously been dripping on her black cape replied that she was the owner. I approached the desk to be proactive to ask him what kind of car he drove so that I could write it down. He of course said that ”it doesn’t matter what car I drive” He presented the ratted torn flyer the he proclaimed he removed from his vehicle and proceeded to tell Apryl that he would have the city come down and have a talk with her about putting flyers on cars because it was against a city ordinance. “Ok have him come on in” she replied. “have a nice day” she said while he was walking out the front door and he also quipped back “Have a nice day”. Ooooh Boston, Don’t you love the city?

OH, for anyone who missed my singing at the going away party, you can view it by clicking on this youtube link. Enjoy..Shan Sings Bowie on You Tube.

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.