Degrees of Separation

When I broke up with Russell in January, he warned me not to isolate myself, not to spend all of my time reading or playing on my PowerBook. Heeding his advice, I decided to try new things and meet new people. It's pretty amazing to me how many people I have met and how wonderful they all are.

I started by accompanying Louie, a fellow square dancer and friend for years, to his gay bowling league on Sundays. The league had already been formed, so I couldn't bowl, but I tagged along for weeks just to socialize. Everybody I talked to was very friendly, and I'm joining the league when it reorganizes in September this year.

I met Charlie at bowling. Charlie is a photography student, and he offered to come to my apartment to photograph me. The shoot resulted in many nice pictures that I enjoy showing to my friends, and I'm sure I'll be glad to have them when I'm seventy!

Charlie also told me about the Body Electric workshop that he was attending in May and suggested that I might want to go as well. After taking a look, I decided that I would go. I was already in a mode where I would take whatever opportunities presented themselves, almost like an explorer of my own social network.

At Celebrating the Body Erotic, the weekend retreat offered by the Body Electric school, I met many nice men, including heterodoxy and legalmoose, and that's where my network really started to expand. Through Doug's game days, I met todc, lioncub, Roger, xavier78, spiritquest, gaygeek, gregmce and cjliotta.

I also met JH at CBE, who invited me to join him for a nude party arranged by a group named Renude Pride. I had a good time talking with the men there and made a connection with Mark, and just last week, I met Mark's partner Eduardo.

JH introduced me to DM, who has just left for California for a couple of weeks, and he and I finally connected while I was house sitting for Tod. I'm looking forward to his return. DM introduced me to Rob and Mike, who I will be house sitting for at the end of August. They've extended an invitation for me to hang out with them this weekend.

I renewed my acquaintance with some of the men from my CBE group at the massage exchange last weekend, and I met a few new men: Whittney, George, Mark and Ed.

There were other people at the bowling league and CBE that I haven't had an opportunity to see more of. I could name many of them, but they remain unexplored parts of my social network.

I also have met some great guys at the HIV support groups in Baltimore, including renewing my friendship with Lee, who is the guy who recently had a heart attack, and I've met men at the monthly HIV social groups, including SJT, who had me over to his home Saturday evening.

I met EGN at my first visit to de Lavender Lounge, a weekly discussion group at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore, and we've seen each other several times. I met some of his friends at the charity auction at the Spike, including Ian and Nagrom.

Throughout this time, I haven't been neglecting my square dance friends, even if I couldn't join them at the convention in Phoenix. I even found a few of them that have LiveJournals of their own. However, I do need to reconnect with my parents, and I need to see about bridging the distance between my brother and I.

Looking back on these dozens of connections really amazes me. One of the features of LiveJournal I enjoy the most is how it facilitates these connections in its own sphere, but I had forgotten how interconnected our lives have always been.