Name that Joe Contest
These days keep getting Stranger. The news has information on Gay Marriages in, of all places, California every day. With news of the war in Iraq telling us of X-number of soldiers losing their lives to suicide bombers, president George W. Busch finds it necessary to ammend THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION to ban Gay people from getting married. Seems he's really scared we're going to do more damage to the "institution" than Las Vegas has already.

‘Washington has no business playing politics with this issue.  Marriage is left to the states today, and should remain with the states.’
— SEN. JOHN EDWARDS

"All Americans should be concerned when a president who is in political trouble tries to tamper with the Constitution of the United States at the start of his re-election campaign," — SEN. JOHN KERRY

I would tend to agree.
Strange things, I'd say, must be in the air as of late. In my house, things have calmed down after a really blistery week. Broken ribs, two separate bouts of food poisoning, excessively bleeding finger cuts, a busted water hose and other disasters have made the last 11 days rather eventful.
Lat week I decided it was time to put betty Blue on the auction block. My driving habist have increased to such a degree that she was bound to turn over her 100,000K mark soon if I didn't unload her in a hurry.
I posted her link n Westfalia.org and found myself smack dab ni the heart of a feeding frenzy. Seems the supply and demand ratio was way out of whack in my favor, and this time I did not cut myself short. I got my full asking price from a couple in Palo Alto, who drove to L.A. for one specific test drive before taking her away.

With that task handled, I found myself looking down the throat of my newset problem, getting my truck back from Joe.
I suppose it would be a wittier story if I had come up with some cute, and depricarious nick-name for Joe, but I've been to angry to even be sarcastic about my relationship with him . He is and remains a total loser, but to call him "Loser Joe" is even too blunt an instrument for me. It lacks the pizzaz I like to add to elements of my wit, and yet, it hits the nail right on its big, round, bald head. The truth not-withstanding, it's just too cruel a label to place, even by a jerk like me.
No, to call this man by his own name is punishment enough, he's Joe Ryan, and anyone who knows him the way I do would shudder at being called that name.
I would bet that every arial sattelite photgraph taken over Joe's head would show him standing in the center of some crazy bullseye, only visible from the air, for his life seems to go that way. He's always been a walking target.
All I can say is, having Joe behind the wheel of my truck makes me very nervous, and I'd like to get this scene over with as soon as possible.

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Tommmy's Whine and Ribs
I've been out of commision for a few weeks, not for lack of things to write about.
More about lack of time to do the writing.

Here's the events in a nutshell:

1. Bang left for a tour of Asia and missed him terribly
2. A mirror fell on me in my living room and broke one of my floating ribs
3. My old friend George(age 78) goes into the Hospital, so I'm taking care of Peter Chin.
4. The van gets body work done to repair the damage Joe did, meanwhile Joe becomes elusive- doesn't return phone calls or emails. Big Surprise.
5. Alan and Joe need help preparing the back yard for Joes 30th Birthday Party. I help Alan build an outbuilding and a tiki bar.
6. Bang comes home and everything starts getting better FAST.

I wrote about most of these things in a letter to my childhood friend Jeff last week.

Dear Jeff
What’s up? Careful what you wish for- a lot has happened since I got this email from you. I finally have an opportunity to write.
Business is good, I have a couple of nice clients that pay enough to keep my cupboard full of cheerios.
I’m doing mostly webwork, here’s a link to my latest (http://www.paravion-inc.com).

I got the new Apple Powerbook G4, cost more than a Romanian baby, and now I can get my work done in real-time.
That’s nice :)

In August my dysfunctional life-partner Jimmy stepped in “it” for the last time, and I handed him back his gold, diamond-encrusted ring and told him to get some reality. He pretended not to hear me, and dumped me two weeks later (I was on a month-long business trip on the Island of Dominica at the time. Click here for Pics of that trip:) <http://www.wager.dm/sports_old/thomas_personal/dompics/index.htm>

I came home and immediately started dating this nice graphic designer from D.C. Named Bang. He’s awesome, well adjusted, smart, fun and is crazy into me, so he meets most of my requirements. He’s now moving in as of Valentines day (officially).
He’s in Singapore right now, been gone for 2 weeks on a three country tour. China, Thailand and Singapore, or mostly like Hong Kong, Bangkok, and some city that reads like an end table from Ikea.
We have a financial plan established to go house hunting in February of 2005- we’re spending the next 12 months saving money. It should be a lot of fun. Wish me luck!

When I got back from Dominica, I hurt my back again. I didn’t have much to do, so I started a web log (blog) here’s a link to that. The best parts are in August and September, but you can check into this on occasion to see where I’m at. I keep it updated Monthly.
http://www.iela.net/blog

My first Ex-husband Sean started a Band, and my cousin Jay plays the bass. They played on the 24th(the date of your email) at a club in Venice called “the Bitter Redhead”- they did three sets and ended with a rock-a-billy version of happy Birthday for their biggest fan- ME :)

I brought Jay back to my house to see how long we could stay up partying, after all, it was Saturday night, my boyfriend is outta town, and I wanted to get into some trouble. We’d no sooner got in the door when it happened. My little Dog Rusty was so excited I came home, so I was putting him into his little bed in the living room to calm him down. His bed is parked directly in front of this huge, framed, heavy-ass mirror- leaning against the wall.
He jumped into his bed, the mirror started to tip, and I barely saw it out of the corner of my eye. Before I could react, the damn thing NAILED me, right on my left side. Jay came running over and grabbed it before it hit the floor, and then I fell to my knees.
The whole room was spinning and the wave of pain washed over me like an electric shock. The mirror fractured my rib, and I have been dealing with the debilitating situation ever since. It hurts to walk, sneeze, shit, stand up, lie down, sit, burp, fart and especially LAUGH! I won’t know if it hurts to shag until Bang gets home, but I’m sure it will.
The only thing that doesn’t hurt is driving (go Figure?)
Bang has called from Hong Kong and from Bangkok a few times to check in, but I don’t have the heart to tell him what happened. He’d hop on the next flight, I know he would. Can’t have that :(

Last night, just as I was starting to feel better, my old buddy Peter Chin called, seems his partner of 30 years(George) never made it home from his dialysis appt yesterday. I called the clinic and they called the local Hospital and it turned out he’s in Intensive care from congenital heart failure.
I’m wrapping up this letter to go pick up Pete and head over to Kaiser hospital to see if Intensive care has any visiting hours.

Well, there it is, in a very large and cumbersome nutshell. Didn’t mean to rant, but there was SO MUCH to tell.
As you can see, my life is bigger than I am, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Go read my blog, see pics of Dana Kamide on a visit here last summer, and tell your lovely wife I said hello (smooch!!)

Now it’s your turn- Love ya mean it!

All the best
Thomas Gaebel

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