The Stonewall Inn – BALD JASON'S GAY GOTH BOY BLOG

On Saturday (July 11) Aaron and I met up with Robin Finnell, one of “our lesbians”, whom we met on a Caribbean cruise a couple of years ago. That particular voyage was filled with assorted disappointments, and also a lot of fun, but the best part was the friends we made at the queer get togethers nearly every night of the trip; people we still keep in touch with, 6 of whom have visited us in New York. Robin was passing through for work, letting us know in advance that she’d love to get dinner with us and that she wanted to see the Stonewall Inn. I arranged for us to have a late dinner together at Fellini Cucina in the village, within walking distance of Stonewall and solving all sorts of issues. We met there around 8. The food was good. The company was excellent. The walk to Stonewall was relaxing. And to see Robin enjoying it all was wonderful. We walked Robin to her car and headed home.

Sunday, I did very little. We had Bernard, one of our repeat repairmen over to fix our defective water pump, which we expected to be a relatively fast job, but it wasn’t. He needed to get parts, which took several hours and while he finished that day (which we’re very thankful for), we didn’t really have time to do much together. We had hoped to watch at least one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation together. Instead I mostly played a game on my phone and watched YouTube videos / podcasts about serial killers. Many of which concerned neighborhoods in Michigan that I was more than a little familiar with. Creepy. I’ve never been into much of anything related to true crime, but this was oddly entertaining.

Monday, Aaron invited me to see “Oh, Mary!” with him on Broadway. I knew he was going because it had been on the calendar for a long time, but he’d not invited me before – as it was originally to be a day out with an old friend of his. Honestly, I’d very much wanted to go and was a little miffed I hadn’t been invited before. But due to not having been invited, I stayed up all night on Sunday/ Monday, so I was now exhausted, and turned the offer down. He was sad that I didn’t feel I could go so I told him I’d tough it out – only right after that, I learned that the cast had just changed again, the people I wanted to see in it, were no longer there. He saw my disappointment and said he’d find others to go with him, which was kind – and for the best. I really was exhausted.

Oh. Also, I watched the penultimate episode of this season of The Vampire Lestat, S01E06 “Montreal”, which adapted elements of “Merrick” in shocking new ways that had me in tears! The story also featured references to Cortland Mayfair, so a cross series reference from “Interview with the Vampire” to “Mayfair Witches”, which I will most likely try to watch again in the near future. The ending, which felt entirely original to this adaptation, albeit thematically linked to events from several of the books, left us on quite a cliffhanger and I’m curious to see how the season will be resolved on Sunday. I’m not looking forward to waiting 2 years for another season. I guess Season 3 of Mayfair Witches will out next year, which is another reason to give the series another shot, extending my association with this so-called “Immortal Universe”. And again, I feel like how you watch it all is the first 2 seasons of “Interview”, then the Mayfair Witches, then the 1 season of Talamasca, and then back to Lestat. But I’ll likely test that theory out at some point.

I spoke to my grandmother. I brought up the serial killer documentaries I’d watched and I was shocked to hear her name some of the killers, explaining that not only had she been around when many of the killings took place (as had I), but she owned books on the subject, including “The Michigan Murders”, explaining that those murders (just before my time) had terrified her as she worried about her daughters on a regular basis. Apparently my rather morbid weekend sojourn is something shared by various members of my family. Fascinating. She’s always surprising me.

I slept relatively well Monday night. This morning, Aaron showed me how to download an app on my phone that is connected to our new scale. I weighed myself and it gave me all sorts of information. Apparently I’m still overweight, but for the first time in at least 6 years, I’m under 200 pounds. 198.4, to be exact. And that’s definitely progress. I was 207 at a doctor’s appointment about a month ago. I know I’ve been a little more active but my diet has also changed quite a bit, so I’d guess that’s why I’ve improved. I believe I topped out around 220lbs – a little higher maybe? Something like that. So I’ve lost about 21 pounds. For years and years I weighed around 170, but I also didn’t look or feel healthy, so 180 sounds good to me. But I’ll also consult my doctors and see what the team thinks.

Today’s journal title song quote is from “This Is Not An Exit”, the final song from the “American Psycho” musical adaptation of the 1991 Bret Easton Ellis novel, which also features the song title as it’s final line. I was thinking of this on Saturday when I snapped a picture of just such a sign at the Stonewall Inn.

Instead of going for a walk, I cuddled with Aaron, which he was very grateful for. I had a smoothie. I looked at the weather and we were to have a high of about 60 degrees around 4pm. Aaron revealed that he had choir practice in the West Village. I had a slice of pizza, got ready and then rode down to the village with him, arriving about 2pm. We held hands in the rental car, which we needed as our car, Ruby, had a flat tire the day before. I went with Aaron to Dunkin Donuts but I abstained from all the sugary snacks. We went to Saint John’s Lutheran Church, where my former writers group, The Poetry Table, used to meet. It is always so nice to see everyone! Cynthia Powell, the choir director welcomed me with a big hug. I asked her if I could get a photograph. She put on some lipstick and agreed.

I left as the choir began their warmups. I walked to the Stonewall Memorial where I snapped another picture. The wind chill was a bit more chill than I like my wind! But I wanted to walk and I was dressed appropriately. I kept getting cold, pulling my sleeves down, getting warm, rolling them up, getting cold…

I walked around a bit and ended up at Washington Square Park. I sat for awhile and walked around some more. It was pretty crowded, despite the fountain not being on, and it was fun to watch the various groups of people. I snapped a few pictures of the Washington Square Arch just before I exited the park and headed out.

I had a nice, windy, walk around the village. I needed to pee so I stopped into the Stonewall Inn before I headed to the A train. Only there were delays on that track which would require a shuttle service so I walked over to the 1 Train instead and finally headed home on a very crowded train. When we were approaching 181st Street, the woman next to me had a coughing fit and I asked if she needed / wanted a cough drop but she aid her mouth was just very dry. I informed her I was getting off the train at the next stop and that she could have my water, which she accepted. I felt good that I was able to help. I walked the few blocks home, got undressed and took a shower.

I was hungry. I had cauliflower and broccoli with ranch dressing, while I read the news and chatted with some friends. Later, I realized I was up to leaving the house again, got dressed and went for a second walk, running into Aaron at the gate as he was arriving home. Initially intending to walk to the Little Red Lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge, I got distracted by some greenery and headed down Bennet, through the subway to Bennet Park where I called my recently widowed cousin Linda, so we could make each other laugh, the way we always do. I spoke to her as I took the long way home. She asked if I was in an elevator when I was heading up the the apartment and I told her I was. She said hello to Aaron and then we said goodnight. I played some Zelda and had another smoothie. I was still very hungry though so I opted for another slice of pizza, with added chia seeds. I got a call from Mark Adams and his daughter Raven and we spoke while I got ready for bed, and then I passed out pretty quickly. I woke up at 4:30 and wrote this.

While writing this I started getting a visual migraine and quickly took the appropriate medication for such an event. It was a struggle to continue writing as I was only able to see about half of the screen, but I did it. The visual obnoxiousness has mostly faded now. But when I’m done I’m going back to bed.

And I guess I’m done now? I slept well. But if I can get a bit more sleep that would be nice and would undoubtedly help with the migraine which is likely to begin in about 20 minutes or less. I feel like I had a good day yesterday. I avoided overly sugary / salty snacks, only drinking water or smoothies, and I also managed to get outside multiple times for some exercise. I don’t have much planned for today. Possibly watching the final Maul episodes of the season and I’d like to go Aaron’s pool game (if he goes). Otherwise I think I’m good. Oh, and I need to write a review for Claire of the Moon, which I was going to do now, but again, that’s not a great idea now. I hope everyone is having a good day!

And now it is Tuesday, May 4th! Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th Be With You! <3

Tag: The Stonewall Inn

“This Is Not An Exit”

“And if I feel this way for so long tell me, is it all for nothing?”