Michael Mahler's Ditherings

Yet more proof that I am gay, as if I needed it

Michael Mahler — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:00:10 +0000

I had a somewhat productive weekend. I was out for a brief bit gathering signatures on the petitions for Sen. Bob Casey and Barack Obama. After coming home, having dinner, and washing the dinner, I took a nap on the couch. I don’t usually recall my dreams (or at least I haven’t for a bit), but I am fairly sure that the dream I had ended with me singing One from A Chorus Line. I think I had the lyrics correct for the verses I sang. When one’s unconscious naturally lapses into show tunes, I think that the die is pretty much cast.

Confirmed: I am a MAJOR nerd

Michael Mahler — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:33:22 +0000

Okay, so I am flipping channels, and happened to stumble across The Tudors on BBC America. There was a dance scene in the court, and I instantly recognized that the piece of music playing was a Courante by Michael Praetorius from (I believe) Dances From Terpsichore. I used to play it on the recorder years ago when I was in the SCA. (I think I knew several of the parts, and I know the melody by heart.) I happily had a nerd-gasm humming along. Then I thought “Wait a minute!” and realized that the music was too recent to be in the scene. A quick Google confirmed that Henry VIII died in 1547 and Michael Praetorius wasn’t even born until 1571.

Earlier, I introduced my friend Erin to my friend Lynne, whom I knew from roleplaying games from 20-30 years ago. I reminded Erin that I had told of how I ran a Jewish Vulcan named Revik Rabinowitz in a Star Trek RPG that Lynne had played. (“Captain, I am nauseous from these Kilingons already!”

Do I get my Golden Pocket Protector Award now?

The OTHER drag performer Josh going to a gay campground this weekend

Michael Mahler — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 19:07:00 +0000

This past Wednesday, I contacted my friend Kevin about reviewing some movies for the Great Lakes Film Festival. He mentioned that he was going to Jones Pond Campground with the upstairs neighbors, Marty and Josh. Josh is the current Miss Erie, who performed in the Pride benefit last week, and who will be performing at the Rally next Saturday.

When I was getting my hair cut today, the stylist told me that the son of her friend, Josh, was going to a gay campground this weekend. She mentioned that he did drag. “Aha! His partner’s name is Marty, right?” She didn’t know. She said that he had blond hair. I asked if it was strawberry blond. She said that it was. She mentioned that he had piercings. That sounded odd. Then she said the last name, and it was different. So, apparently drag performers named Josh are all going to gay campgrounds this weekend. Small world!

High School Reunion

Michael Mahler — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 04:35:00 +0000

I went to my 30th high school reunion tonight. I had this weird neurotic fear that I would get there, and not be able to remember anyone or anything, and the evening would just be awkward. It went fine. I was surprised by how much I remembered, and everyone was very nice and friendly.

One classmate was roasting marshmallows for s’mores and said something about it being so long, and he wasn’t sure if he could fit it in his mouth. Sensing that I was being fed a straight line (so to speak), I softly said, “Amateurs.” It got a laugh. I was thinking of something re: the marshmallow roasting about a quip to the effect that hot white goo in my mouth being at least somewhat familiar territory, but I held back on freaking the straights too much.

They are also doing something tomorrow. If I make it back in time from the Ashtabula picnic, I will see if I can stop in.

I am glad that I went. Kudos to the organizers for putting on a nice event!

Cool video about a kid’s reaction to a gay couple

Michael Mahler — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:43:04 +0000

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A Kid’s Reaction to a gay couple.

I saw this on Huffington Post. Way cool. The kid was initially somewhat taken aback, but it was nothing serious, and within a minute, he just announces that he is going to play ping pong and invites the guys to play. Any child meeting someone who is different from what they have been exposed to probably goes through something similar. This reaffirms my belief that ultimately, we are all just human beings, and people will usually be decent and kind if they have a chance.

Names for 2 cars

Michael Mahler — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 19:22:58 +0000

I was recently talking with a friend, who had helped me out with some work on my house. (I have pretty much all of my windows replaced.) His father had passed on a few months ago, and he mentioned that there were 2 antique autos from the Hudson Motor Car Company that had seen better days that his family was looking to sell. One family member lamented that it would take a lot to fix these up.

2 aging Hudsons that had seen better days? I immediately decided that they should nickname them Blanche and Jane.

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From Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

I think I can safely say that I earned by gay points for that day.

A fun 4th of July

Michael Mahler — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:12:23 +0000

I had a wonderful time yesterday! For the 6th year, there was an LGBT contingent in the Millcreek 4th of July Parade. This year we had about 20 folks, or maybe a few more. I felt really happy that we had such diversity within our contingent. My friend John wanted to be a part of it, but he has some mobility issues. They reserve allowing cars for antique/special vehicles, so my friend Caitlyn brought her convertible and a few of us decorated it. The crowd was fairly welcoming and seemed to regard us just like any other group, which is how things should be. The church that had the very right wing anti-marriage equality was back, but they didn’t have anything so specific this year. It seems like the tone of the parade isn’t about pushing an agenda, so I am glad that they ratcheted back on that. Our contingent hasn’t had anything particularly agenda-driven for the parade.

Some of the folks brought their dogs, which were a big hit. At one point while we were paused, Amy and Erin’s dog, Schnitzel, laid down in the street for belly rubs.

We forgot about parking some cars at the end of the parade route, so we all ended up walking back from out near the airport to 12th and Harper, where the Comfort Inn was. (That’s where we had started off.) I bumped into a former co-worker and her husband, who were very supportive and said kind words about how we handled things.

The folks in the contingent met up again at the Taco Bell at 12th and Peninsula. I walked up to the counter to get a bite to eat, and the young lady who took my order said that she really liked the Erie Pride shirt that I was waiting. I told her about the March/Rally on August 27, and mentioned that we had more shirts for sale in the car. One of the reasons that I believe in doing events like this so strongly is that interacting with the general population is one of the best ways to make progress and stress that we are all human beings. Sure, events like the Pride Picnic and the Pride March/Rally are important and useful. But, making contact with folks outside of our community is also extremely important.

I came back and took a brief nap on the couch, and then went over to spend a lovely evening at Mom’s. My stepfather had just driven his Model A in the Lawrence Park 4th of July Parade, which he has done for a few years now. His relatives, who live next door, rode as well, so that was nice that they all got a chance to have some fun. (The neighbors have 3 young girls.)

After a yummy dinner, my Mom showed me photos she had taken when she and my stepfather went to Israel in April. She hadn’t done a lot of long distance travel before (first time out of North America), and it was obviously a deeply moving and important experience for her, so that was terrific.

All in all, lots to be happy and feel good about! I am such a lucky guy.

My first gay friend is getting married!

Michael Mahler — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:46:47 +0000

This really makes me happy! My first gay friend, Keith (AKA Justin Lymner) is marrying his boyfriend, Ed. They have been together for a number of years, and apparently just after the marriage victory in New York, Keith popped the question, and Ed has accepted. They live in Syracuse.

When I was first dealing with coming out, I was involved with the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). My sister was involved as well, and knew Keith, who was out at the time. This was before I was out. I know, I know: probably hard to imagine that there was a time before I was a shameless media whore, but it really was the case. It might have been in the late Jurassic, if memory serves correctly.

I asked my sister for Keith’s address so that I could write to him, which I am sure baffled him. But he was friendly and pleasant, and we became great friends. Having good people around who accepted me was incredibly helpful in becoming the person that I am today. I will always be grateful for that. Sometimes folks don’t know how little it takes to make a difference in someone’s life.

Technically, a close friend from childhood could also be considered a first gay friend, but I was clueless then, and he wasn’t technically out. (Although, we did dress up a Bert hand-puppet as Bertina, and staged a wedding for Bertina and Ernie. Hmm. There are quite a few Robert stories.)

A few months after my ex left, I went to an SCA event in Syracuse with Justin, and we had a good time. I recall that they were remodeling their kitchen, so the refrigerator was in the dining room, and the place was torn up. They made me feel welcome, and I was thrilled when I got a chance to do some English Country Dance at the event. My ex was rather disapproving of that (my ex was disapproving of a lot of things, now that I think of it), so being able to enjoy something that I had given up was healing and joyful.

Marriage is important. Everyone should be able to have the same rights and obligations as couples everywhere. We should have the full range of options that everyone else has.

I know that Keith and Ed are well-suited, and I wish them many years of happiness together! Ultimately, it’s all about love!

Thumb ouchie

Michael Mahler — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 04:17:37 +0000

Okay, so I haven’t blogged in a while. Best laid plans of mice and men, etc. This morning, I was changing a light bulb (a CFL sort) and was having a problem getting it out of the socket and it pretty much burst. It wasn’t too bad, but I managed to slice the tip of my right thumb. I kept my cool and wrapped a towel around it. I dragged out the vacuum cleaner to get the bits, which mostly landed on the table. Not so easy to do with one’s non-dominant hand, whilst holding the other hand up to not bleed too much. I then had to brush tooth, shower and get dressed for work with pretty much one hand. (I got a band-aid on after I showered, which seemed to take care of the that.) I felt rather proud of myself for being able to get all that done with that kind of issue.

Oddly enough, I had a checkup at the doctor’s this afternoon anyway, so I figured I would ask him to look at it then. When I got to the office, my appointment didn’t show up. (Not sure where the break-down was, because it was a pretty specific time, and I am fairly rigorous about data-related stuff.)

The check-up went okay, and he placed a Steri-Strip on the thumb, which should be there for another week or so.

Now off to walk the dogs!

Feeling like a mooch

Michael Mahler — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 15:14:50 +0000

I have been kind of stressed this week. There was a software update I was installing at work at a customer’s that would not run on their system, but ran on mine. I was wracking my brain as to what I had changed in the code, and it turns out that it was a Windows OS update on my system that had some weird effects. (Another tech person found a thread online about the issue – LOTS of unhappy people!) However, I rolled the OS update back, and things are back on track.

As part of the Day of Caring, some of us from the local Neighborhood Watch were going to participate in a cleanup of Gridley Park that started at 8:30. I was sort of slow to wake up this AM, and I got over there around 10:30 AM – to find that they were just wrapping up. (It was supposed to go on until noon, but it went better than they thought.) The coordinators were very nice and gave me one of the box lunches that had been brought.

I really feel uncomfortable getting something for nothing, so as I was walking home, I just picked up trash in the yards I walked by, and hoped that would make the karma balance out.