Autographs ― Judith Branzburg

I've known Ivy Bottini for years. She's now 92 and there is a new biography / memoir. Today at ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives, there was a celebration of Ivy and this new book and a farewell to Ivy, who is moving to Florida to live with her daughter.

I bought the book and managed to get Judith Branzburg's autograph, but the speeches went on and on, and, since I already have Ivy's autograph, I didn't try to stay and get her to sign this one.

(Index of autographs)

Trump's border wall

My name is in today's Los Angeles Times. But it's not quite “my letter.” I'm only quoting an anonymous someone else.

Rodney Hoffman of Montecito Heights favors deception:

Recently seen on Facebook: “Trump should just lie and say the wall is already built. His supporters will believe him, and the rest of us will save billions of dollars.”

Getting legally stoned

Now that pot is state-legal, I've been experimenting for the first time in decades. Here's what I've done this year:

In February, I bought THC tincture. One dropper sublingually (Feb) did nothing. Two droppers (June) did nothing. Three droppers (July) got me very slightly "fuzzy".

In August, I bought a vaping pen and one cartridge. But in October, before I had a chance to try them, I was given a tin of THC-and-chocolate-coated blueberries. On Oct 18, I tried two berries got a very slight, short-lived buzz.

On Oct. 26, I had four berries and finally got high! After 2 hours, I felt unstable mentally and physically and had time dilation. I was also quite happy. All of this lasted for more than two more hours.

The other day, I noticed the tin has a Best By Date of 11/17/18, and they are berries, after all; they might indeed go bad. So I decided to use some more yesterday. I tried five this time, hoping for one more thing I remember from decades ago and still hadn't experienced since: the urge to speak or write some discoveries. It worked! I think 5 berries (25 mg THC) is the perfect ingested dose for what I was after.

Details (from notes written while high!) : 

• 10:50 am - early lunch
• 1 pm - five berries
• 1:10 to 2:10 - walk to Nina, walk with Nina, walk to park bench
• 2 - slightly woozy ... medium-term memory effects
• 2:15 - time dilation; easily distractable; thoughts jumpy; easy to "follow" a flock of circling crows ― pick out the leader(s), see the flight pattern
• 2:20 - colder wind, less sun on the bench; start to move indoors. Time dilation: walking home seemed to take a long time, but it didn't, according to my watch
• 2:30 - more loquacious [than last time]; unsteady; happy; mental maps falter
• 2:40 - further time dilation. This is probably the perfect dose for what I was seeking!
• 2:45 - The physical unsteadiness may just be a side-effect of time dilation: I seem to feel the various tiny movements of my body that I feel (!) must be always there, and it registers as unsteadiness.
• 3 - Might the same be true of thoughts?!
• 3:15 -  More of the same; nothing new. I think it's mostly time dilation that causes the rest.
• 3:40 - Can still play FreeCell (but probably not sudoku)
• 4 - continuing; intermittently, just a smidge euphoric; now I want to close my eyes, maybe sleep
• 5 - continuing
• 5:30 - continuing
• 6:30 - almost all gone
• 7:30 - slight residual wooziness. Also, I wasn't especially hungry during most of this time, but once I started eating dinner (around 6), I've been noshing since!

Reflecting the next day, I still think my stoned revelation was correct: I think most of my "unsteadiness" when stoned, both physical and mental, is a side-effect of the time dilation.

Addendum

I did it once more on 14 January. I decided ahead of time to find out what the effect of time dilation would be on listening to music, reading, doodling, and sex. I wrote these down so I wouldn't forget. I ate five berries.

From notes written while high, here are the results:

Music — At first, just background. Hard to focus on. Somewhat difficult to physically "keep time" (hand or finger or foot tapping) Music is too darn fast! But an hour later, it sometimes seemed too slow; different, in part, depending on whether I'm trying to physically keep time or not.

Reading — I can't read even a single sentence if it's a bit long; by the time I get to the end, I don't remember the beginning.

Doodling — At first, hesitation / indecision / reluctance (or is it only time delay?) No inspiration. But soon, the hesitation was mostly gone or, at least, different: No longer a reluctance to draw, just "Where now?". I'm seeing shapes / directions (more than usual) in the doodles that make me want to either change (if I don't like what I see) or reinforce (if I do) the design. Examples: Oh, that is beginning to look like part of an alligator / a dog / a person... but I don't want that here, so stop that line and go somewhere else. As time went on, my doodling simplified and worsened.

Sex (masturbation) — It seemed difficult to get a full erection, but maybe that was just time dilation. I did eventually come, in a usual amount. No heightened sensations.

One other thing: Quantitative adjectives and adverbs (very much, somewhat, more, etc.) are difficult while stoned: If I start one, I immediately interrupt myself: "Are you sure or just stoned?"

That's it for the berries. 

New-ish things in Mérida ― Dec. 2018

I travel to Mérida so often that I rarely write about it. Here are a few items worth mentioning.

Victor at the Palacio de la Música

Link to more photos

There's a new museum of Mexican music, Palacio de la Música. It's underneath a new music school. The museum is free, modern, interactive, mostly bilingual. and quite extensive. There are many exhibits; multiple visits would be necessary just to listen to more of the music clips. The link in the first sentence is to an excellent English introduction.

(part of) Paseo Verde

Paseo Verde, now at least 5 years old, is a 7 kilometer (!) linear park not far from Victor's house. I often see it from the air when landing in Mérida. We walk there frequently.  It includes separate walking and bicycling paths, soccer fields, exercise stations, and more.

La Playita

One long-delayed attraction along Paseo Verde has finally opened a little bit: La Playita, a large childrens' aquatic playground, was supposed to open three years ago. It's finally now open ― for all of three hours a week! There was exactly one family visiting when we passed by Sunday. I trust it will become more popular.

Gran Museo del Mundo Maya

Now several years old, the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya (Mayan World Museum) is definitely worth a visit.

Finally, along Paseo Verde, one house has some striking metal grillework. I suspect the owner is the designer and perhaps the manufacturer.

Left Turns in Juarez

This is just crazy:

Consider the intersection of two busy streets, Ave and Blvd. Both streets have three lanes of traffic in each direction and medians separating the two directions of traffic. On Ave, about 50 yards before the intersection, in both directions, there is a cut through the median where cars can make a U-turn, and there are traffic signals to stop the Ave traffic for U-turners. On both streets, about 100 yards before the intersection, there are signs showing drivers how to make a left turn. The intersection has the expected traffic lights, but no left-turn lights. 

This is the sign for left turns from Ave to Blvd. It tells the driver to be in the leftmost lane, go straight through the intersection, use the U-turn, then get into the rightmost lane and turn right onto Blvd. Whew!

And here is the sign for left turns from Blvd to Ave. Drivers must be in the rightmost lane, turn right onto Ave, then get into the leftmost lane and use the U-turn. Whew again!

Note that unless you're familiar with the intersection, you don't know until you see the sign whether to be in the leftmost or rightmost lane to begin your left turn! What a nightmare for the drivers who don't do this every day.

Visa: more damn delays

We are in never-exciting Juarez, where we expected to finally get Victor's visa. No such luck. 😒

Yesterday, even though I knew it wasn't needed, we had to visit the applicant service center, an appointment they gave us after I selected the interview date. This is for photo and fingerprints, which we already did. They checked and determined that, yes, we had already done that, and they put a small stamp on one paper.  An unnecessary extra day in Juarez and a waste of time. 😡

Today, when Victor went for his interview appointment, they said that his medical exam in May was now too old! I clearly recall the doctor in May telling us that it was important we complete everything within a year or we would have to re-do the exam. But now, they said the medical exam was only good for six months, and we would indeed have to re-do it. Now the conflict between the interview date they sent me mid-summer and my trip to Montreal and Quebec has become even more consequential! 😠

The minor mob scene outside the U.S. Consulate from about 6 am to mid-day every morning.

And despite his new chest X-ray showing the same damn spot that they previously determined was not TB, they have to determine that again! Yes, we have to stay an extra day in Juarez for Victor to give three days of sputum (again), and yes, we have to wait eight weeks for the culture results (again)! As before, that means discarding non-refundable flight tickets, buying new flights, an additional hotel night, and another trip to Juarez later. Not to mention months of delay in getting Victor to the U.S. 😠

This time, I'll make damn sure I don't schedule any travel until they send us the next interview date! When they send the date following a medical delay, it's generally about a month later. As I learned last time, when I have to choose a date, it winds up being many, many months later.

Every delay makes me more furious that they won't give Victor a tourist visa and that they can't handle fiancé  visas at the U.S. consulate in Mérida! 

As another applicant told Victor today, it seems that everything is set up to force applicants to spend more time and money and emotion than they ever expected to or should ever have to. The service centers, medical clinics, hotels and restaurants around the consulate just love this. Quite a racket. 😠

Four spots in SE Asia ― Nov. 2018

 With a demon guardian at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Bangkok

Feeding a liger, Bangkok

Merlion, Singapore

Hong Kong cityscape from Victoria Peak

Link to more photos
(View the photos individually to see the captions.)

As I wrote previously, the new interview date for Victor's visa is in December. Because of the delay, I scheduled a trip to Mérida in September, and went looking for another trip we could take later. 

I found this whirlwind introduction to Bangkok, Singapore, Bali and Hong Kong, from a company we've used before. I even got them to adjust the itinerary slightly, putting an elephant ride in place of bamboo rafting in Bangkok.

We had a great time, despite my suitcase being destroyed along the way. Happily, it only rained one afternoon in Singapore.

Getting from Mérida to Bangkok was an ordeal: We left Victor's house at 3 pm Tuesday. At 6 pm, we flew to Mexico City. At 10 pm, we left for Tijuana. After two hours there, we left for our 13.5-hour (!) flight to Shanghai. We had about four hours until our next flight. The damn lines and repetitive (!) checks took more than three of those hours! And we were only making a connection! The flight from Shanghai to Bangkok was 5 hours. When we arrived, it was 4 pm Thursday.

In Bangkok, our first afternoon was free, probably to tackle jet lag. But instead of sleeping, we walked to the Husky Cafe. We got there at 3:15, but we didn't know that you need a ticket, and they allot their last tickets at 3 pm, so we couldn't go in.

In addition to elaborate temples and palaces, we had an evening dinner cruise, a visit to the floating market, the elephant ride and feeding a young liger (both at Chang Puak), and a visit to the River Kwai bridge and its museum. Much like Xochimilcho in Mexico City, I didn't care for the floating market; there was no scenery, just endless vendors vying for your attention.

In Singapore, we connected with an acquaintance who lives there now whom I hadn't seen in eighteen years. We had dinner at one of the food court streets and stopped at Dorothys, a gay bar. The next day's city tour included the merlion, a Taoist temple, the National Orchid Garden, and Little India. Later, we saw the Raffles Hotel on our way to Gardens by the Bay. There, we were visiting the two large conservatories when it started raining. Because of the rain, we never walked the rest of the grounds. After the rain, we tried durian; it wasn't as tasty as I'd heard. 

We only had a short time in Bali, and a good chunk of that was taken up by replacing my ruined suitcase.

Our Garuda Indonesia flight from Bali to Hong Kong was more than ⅔ empty! The most empty seats I've ever seen on a commercial flight. Speedy immigration in Hong Kong, but then a one hour wait for the hotel shuttle!

Our Hong Kong tour began with Victoria Peak. Visibility was good, but hazy in the distance. Stanley Market and vicinity was a bit more interesting than most markets. Our hotel was very near Kowloon Park, so we wandered there, too.

Somehow, the trip back to Mérida wasn't as exhausting as the trip going out.

Suitcase destroyed

On our Asia trip, we flew from Singapore to Bali on Tiger Airlines, operated by Scoot Airlines, and my suitcase was destroyed! 

When the bag was checked in Singapore, it was fine — zipped closed, and with a small combination lock. When it was on the conveyor belt in Bali, the bag had knife cuts, the zipper was cut through, the zipper pulls and combination lock were gone, and the bag was open with contents spilling out. It could not be closed at all; the zipper is completely open and there are no zipper pulls.

I did not see any Scoot/Tiger luggage office. The bag could not be wheeled. We had to use a luggage cart, and it required both of us to lift it onto the cart. We proceeded to the exit. Our Bali guide was there and took some photos of the suitcase. 

I have no money or jewelry or electronics in my luggage, so the would-be thief was disappointed. As far as I can tell, nothing was missing or damaged from the contents. If the bag was open during the flight or even during off-loading, surely some stuff would have disappeared. Since nothing was gone, this must have happened at the Bali airport.

I wrote Scoot Airlines about this. They replied that I had to

report the lost baggage to a member of the Scoot ground services team prior to leaving the airport. Baggage claims cannot be dealt with after you have left the airport.

When I responded that I did not see any member of the Scoot ground services team at the Bali airport Baggage Claim area, they said that the case was already closed. 

Of course, we had to spend a chunk of our time in Bali buying a new suitcase. At the large Matahari (!) department store, I bought a "Jack Nicklaus" bag (fake?) for about $66. It's the first bag I've had with four wheels instead of two (so it rolls alongside instead of being pulled) and with a built-in TSA combination lock for the zipper pulls.

Sloppy math

In response to a glaring error in one sentence of this op-ed, I sent the following letter to the Los Angeles Times (not published):

Teicholz says, "The claims ... have been shown ... to be correct only 0% to 20% of the time." 

Fine. But she then says, "This means that 80% to 100% of the time, they're wrong."

That's completely wrong. It means they might be wrong, but they might be right, too. We can't know.

Autographs ― Édouard Louis

This young gay author from France spoke and signed books at the L.A. Central Library last night. I haven't yet finished reading this book. I also wanted to buy his first book, but they only had this one for sale. His next book, already published in France, also sounds interesting.

I was very impressed with his English. Yes, he has a French accent, but he speaks English fluently and quite rapidly, without pause. I wonder when he began learning English.

He has an unusual definition for a novel. He says the books are entirely factual, but he labels them novels because they are "constructed" and not simply linear histories.

(Index of autographs)