Whine and Cheese

I finally got this issue finished. With my new position at work, my brain has been too frazzled at night to work on this, but I finally got my groove on and finished it last night. I was going to upload this last night, only to have a severe thunderstorm roll through and knock out my internet for the last 18 or so hours. With my internet connection back in action, I got this going again.

I had fun with this and based the story on a cartoon I'd drawn while playing with my iPad a few months back. I included it as a pin-up after the issue notes.

So, enjoy "The Hunger"...



( Issue 31 - The Hunger )

Questions, comments, criticisms - I welcome them all, just send me a reply below or a message privately.

Today marks my 17th year journaling on LJ (now cross-posting from Dreamwidth). I initially started the journal to document my first trip overseas for work, which then grew to real blogging once I started making LJ friends with folks, both virtually and in the real world.

It's been a wild ride so far. While I understand why some folks migrated to other social media, the mass exodus was very disappointing as I felt that the new platforms may be more immediate, but they were snippets versus stories.

Why did I stay here? Well, a few months before the masses ran for the lifeboats, I bought a permanent account. Not the best timing, but I also get a lot of storage space for the account, so I kept it.

Additionally, I do like being able to write more and I often go back and re-read what people have posted. While I don't write every day like I used to, I do trying to get a few entries in here.

I don't see me leaving anytime soon and I appreciate everyone who is still roaming the somewhat sparsely-occupied halls of this place! :)

Work has been brutal of late, or at least it has felt that way because I've not taken a lot of time off. I'm not overwhelmed, but I think I'm suffering from a bit of burnout. My fuse has been short and growing shorter.

Last week, I remembered that drag queen comedic superstar Bianca Del Rio was going to be in Columbus, OH with her "It's Jester Joke" comedy show. I knew this was going to be the closest the tour was coming to my location, so I hopped online and bought a ticket. I was amazed that I managed to get a FRONT ROW ticket. I had also debated on staying the night to avoid driving home late at night, and I eventually booked a room at a nearby Marriott to the venue.

I ran into some Cincinnati and Dayton bear friends of mine outside, but none of them had seats in the front row. So I was sitting solo and the seats around me were unsold, or the ticket holders did not come. The show was WONDERFUL!

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 7 Alumna Mrs. Kasha Davis opened the show. I think she has a fantastic sense of humor and I loved hearing her sing. She saw me sitting solo and asked where my friends were. I shrugged. She told me that SHE would be my friend and she liked my beard. She asked if it tickled testicles or vaginas. I told her "testicles" and she announced me as a gay and I got a round of applause. I was in heaven.


My new friend Mrs. Kasha Davis

After the warm-up, Bianca came out and did an amazing 90 minutes. She never stops moving. I took probably two dozen or more photos and only a few had no blurs. Her humor was bawdy, irreverent, and non-PC. She explained to the masses that it was going to be that way. I can't imagine why anyone would go to Bianca's show if they didn't know her humor. I absolutely loved it and was howling with laughter many times. I can't wait to see what she does next.


Bianca Del Rio! Yes I was this close!
I made my way back to the hotel and crashed almost immediately. I did make the mistake of opening one of the apps and getting so much "fresh meat" messages. Nice guys, but I didn't have time or energy to hook up with anyone. It must be my age these days.

The next morning, I woke up, got ready, checked out, and drove down to The Book Loft, a 32-room bookstore in the German Village part of Columbus. It's co-owned by a brawny bear friend of mine and I'd not visited there in a long time. I wasn't disappointed. I spent WAY too much money there, but they have so much good stuff there. Seriously, you can wander that book store for hours upon hours and still never really see all of it.

I finally headed for home, enjoying my day off from the office and still basking in the aftermath of the comedy show. I spent a lot of money in the last two days, but the break from the work was certainly worth every penny.

So I found out today via email that I won the office costume contest this year. This is my fourth win. I'm pretty happy with it, especially since I had some pretty stiff competition this year.


The Devil (2003), The Brownie (2008), The KY Jelly (2017),
and now The Emotional Support Satyr.
The stakes will be pretty high for next year, I think. Everyone will expect something bigger and better. At least I have a year to think of something.

I've had my iPhone 6s for more than a couple of years now. I've not had a lot of problems with it, though the last major software update I did on my phone knocked out several favorite apps, but that's not Apple's fault or mine. Now I'm not the person who has to have the latest thing, but I went to the Apple Store today to take a look at the new iPhones.

Whenever I go to the Apple Store I feel like a kid in a candy store. I want a new laptop, a new iPad, an Apple Pen, a new Mac Mini, etc. Everything is so new and so colorful. I only need several thousand dollars to get everything I want with the memory I want.

Assisted by a furry namesake Genius, I broke down and bought a 256 GB iPhone XS. No pressure sales tactics, it just seemed to suit my needs. In fact, Marc the Apple Genius actually talked me out of buying a new iPad after I told him that I rarely used the one I bought seven years ago. He's a married man with two kids and he understands that sometimes people may buy things unnecessarily. I decided to put the idea of a new iPad on the backburner until my tax return shows up next year.

After putting a major dent in my savings account, I left for home with my new iPhone. It took me a while to figure out how to transfer the apps and data over to it, as it involved updating the software on my desktop at home and iTunes. Then I spent several hours waiting for the apps to finish downloading.

While having the new iPhone is pretty fun so far, I now wonder what to do with my old phones, as I now have three of them. I may convert the most recent to an iPod for the gym.

I've posted on here before that I was thinking of re-purposing my dining room. I bought my dining room set, a solid wood table with four chairs, back in 1998. In the 20 years I've owned it, I believe I have actually eaten at it five times. If I had a family, it probably would be different, but it seems like a waste of functional space for a single person. So I asked my sister if my nephew, who is job hunting and probably moving into his own place soon, would like to have it. If not, I'd already scoped out a charity to donate it to.

My sister and brother-in-law came to town yesterday to stay overnight and said my nephew wanted the set, so they left with it today. I was not thinking that it would be gone so soon, but I thought now was as good a time as any. I spent over three hours reconfiguring the house after they left. My idea was to take my drafting table from my home office and moving it to the dining room, then moving an adjustable height desk I bought this past week to my office.


Dining Room Before (sans table/chairs)


Home Office Before

As you can see, my drafting table was surrounded by comic book boxes, so it was almost non-functional, and access the comic books beneath it was difficult. After much cursing, fumbling, and bruising, here is the new configuration.


Dining Room After


Home Office After
The plan for the dining room will be to buy some stools to put around it, which can be put beneath it when not in use. There is also extra space for a possible side chair next to the window. And yeah, I need to update the art in the room, I think, but baby steps here. I have some new photos I want to blow up and put there.

As for the home office, it really opened up the room. The comic book boxes are a bit unsightly, but access to them is much better. And the adjustable-height desk was pricey, but it can be wheeled away from the comic boxes and lowered to be used for work. I plan to do a big purge of the comics for duplicates. Having a table that can hold the long box while I flip through it will definitely save my back. I also think I may repaint the room again to something a bit more subtle than the green.

I like the changes, but it's clear that they are works in progress, but things are moving in a better direction than before.

So while I was typing up the previous entry, I had a call on the phone. It was from someone with a foreign accent, letting me know that they have detected a problem with my computer.

I rolled my eyes at this and was very close to hanging up, but decided to play with him for a bit. After asking me if I was at my computer, what browser I was using, etc., he asked me what keys I had on my keyboard. I literally rattled off, in my dumbest hick voice, the command key, the spacebar, the Alt key, the arrow keys, and then added a few random keys for good measure.

He directed me to my browser, and after I told him every menu option I had at the top (and I mean EVERY one), he had me go to a "TeamViewer.com" website and asked me downloaded the free version. I faked my way into the download, which took much longer than it really does.

"... and it's loading... and it's loading... and it's loading..."

I found a screen shot of the software's main screen on Google and proceeded to tell him every menu on that screen too.

Finally, he asked me to go to a username/password screen and asked me to type in certain numbers. At this stage, about 10 minutes into the call, I asked him what this would do, what kind of problems the computer supposedly has, how he knew it...

He was getting frustrated with me and said he would tell me everything once I put the numbers in and hit enter.

I was getting bored with him and finally asked if I could ask just one more question:

"Just how F**KING stupid do you think I am???"

He immediately started calling me a "jack-off" to which I replied with other colorful phrases with multiple curse words.

Seriously, I could hear other "operators" in the background and I can only imagine how much damage this soulless prick has done to other people, probably senior citizens who don't know any better. I was happy to cuss him out and waste his time.

I took today off from work. I don't like working on my birthday, usually because it draws a lot of attention to me and I'm often busy.

I did get to sleep in, which was great. This morning I ran errands and got quite a bit done:

• Got my annual car tags.
  
• Ordered my new glasses.
  
• Printed up the blank panel pages for Issue 24 of my comic book.
  
• Lunch and dessert at TGIFriday's.

My phone has been busy today, with all the Facebook, email, and text message birthday wishes, which was really great. Even Google got in on the act:



I usually have a story or tale to relate in regards to my birthday, but the reality is that my family was never very big on birthdays overall. My siblings, I think, compensate a bit for this with their kids by going a bit overboard at times, making up for their kids what our parents didn't do for us.

At 45, I'm not sure how I feel actually. I'm neither regretful of the past nor anxious for the future. I'm just... here...

My office had the annual holiday party on Friday. We share the party with the lab next door, which is fun as we don't always get to hang out with them. This year, the committee decided to hold the party at a bowling alley. I had no idea how big the place was until I got there. It's obviously an old place, but spacious.

The food was good, I had a couple of beers, and bowled a couple of games with friends. This was the first time I had bowled in probably 10 or 15 years. I seem to think that I used to bowl around 130, but my performance on Friday suggests that number was much, MUCH lower, as I had trouble breaking 100. My knee is slightly swollen, I think, from using it in ways I'd not in a long time.

Still, we had a good time. I could have left the party at 2:30 PM, but stayed an extra hour. I was feeling a little full from the food and beer, so I made a quick stop at the comic book shop and headed home.

There are a couple of local gay bowling leagues and I've thought about joining them during the softball off-season. Maybe next year I'll consider it, if nothing more than for the social outlet.

Friday at work was horrendous. It was like everyone wanted a piece of me that day... and got it. Acting for my director didn't help as most of the headaches was covering for her. Her job is hard and some folks that report to her (not me) make it harder for her than needs to be.

I slept in on Saturday. After mowing the yard, showering, and grabbing lunch, I spent most of the afternoon drawing on my comic book. Around 6 PM, I got my Halloween costume together and drove to northern Cincinnati for a Halloween party. I love the creativity of the gang who goes to this party. My diet was blown to pieces, but I admit I had a lot of fun doing it. And as usual, there was a photo booth:


KY Jelly, Anyone?
Yes, I went as a tube of KY Jelly. I sewed the costume myself, printed the labeling on tee-shirt transfers and put them on, and made the tube cap out of a child's police helmet, a popcorn bowl, a small soup bowl, and lots of hot glue.

The costume was great for various lines, like "Excuse me, while I squeeze through." Others made similar lines, which makes me think the costume was a success.