Reconnecting

I've been disconnected since my illness last weekend. I haven't been posting in my journal and I haven't been replying to emails from my friends in a timely manner.

I even got a call from legalmoose to check up on me and to tell me that the DVD I gave him for his birthday was simply awful, which is good! :-)

So this morning I'm handling my correspondence, replying to kenny73's last three emails and one from my friend Louis, asking if I need a ride to the next HIV social. I'm also catching up on my friends' livejournal entries.

This week hasn't had a lot going on, but last night I went to Titan for a happy hour gathering of Body Electric graduates and some other friends. I had a great time, although I may have acted a little too slutty. I can't help it; I'm a sucker for a sensuous kiss, and I got nice kisses from a few of the men there. Bob, in particular. He and I smooched for some few minutes, and he had my cock hard almost immediately. That's what a good kiss will do for me!

Christian and Mark were there. They were at the CBE that I attended in May and it was nice to see them again. Christian and I kissed a little too, and he even reached into my pants to grasp the erection that I was still sporting after kissing Bob. Mark moved in and the three of us kissed a bit longer.

I was meeting DM there, and a few of us went out to dinner at Cafe Luna, then DM and I headed back to his house, where we watched a couple of episodes of Rex the Runt and went to bed.

Distracted

I've realized something. My distraction this week has been all about mudding.

I've only enjoyed two text MUDs, Crystal Shards (my first, now defunct) and LegendMUD. I've been playing Legend off and on since 1993. It had been off for quite a long time, although I would check in from time to time to see what was up.

Legend's strength has always been its areas, which fall into one of three different time periods and tries to portray the world as people thought it was. Ancient Ireland, or India, or Egypt, or Arabia. Gold Rush San Francisco. Pittsburgh. London in the 1800's. There are dozens of wonderful areas.

Now they've installed a new area based upon Dante's Inferno, which I have long been anticipating. Now I'm once again spending hours playing this game, rescuing people from this hellish new area or getting rescued myself.

I stopped playing regularly years ago because Russell pointed out that it was sucking up the time that I should be spending in other places, like with him. I would have a window open at work, squeezing in some play.

Now I don't have Russell around to bring me back. Nobody can see what I'm doing when I'm spending an entire evening playing this game. They just wonder why I'm uncommunicative.

I'll have to find a balance with this thing or quit again. Maybe this time I can find that balance.

Lunching

I'm spending the day at DM's house before going to xavier78 and cjliotta's housewarming party tonight. I just got back from walking up to Columbia Pike to grab some lunch and I've just taken my pills.

It's a truly beautiful day. The air's a little cool, but with a jacket, it's just right. Just the way I like it. The trees are starting to turn and leaves litter the sidewalks. The sky was in motion, huge white and gray clouds scudding across a deep blue sky. I stopped and watched them for a few moments, feeling their motion as a deep reality.

I went out with DM's copy of Buddhism Without Beliefs, which I had started on a previous visit. Today I re-read some passages without trying to go any further forward. I realize that I'm going to have to obtain this book for myself; it's a slim little volume with a lot that speaks to me. Unfortunately, it's difficult to remember the words of the book when I can't refer to it.

I'll quote a bit for my own future reference:

"The buddha declares how he has found the central path through avoiding indulgence and mortification. He then describes four ennobling truths: those of anguish, its origins, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation. Anguish, he says, is to be understood, its origins to be let go of, its cessation to be realized, and the path to be cultivated."

I returned legalmoose's call while I was out walking, thanking him for jolting me out of my distraction. I'm glad that I never fell in with the EverQuest crowd or similar games. Given my history with Legend, I would have spent lots of money for absolutely nothing but vaporous accomplishments with no relevance to my actual life. Legend may be text-only, but it's high-quality and free.