Travelling Reassurances

I’ve set up my travelling schedule. Student Cuts travel agency has reserved three planes for me–one from Moncton to Toronto, one from Toronto to Washington D.C., one from New York City to Moncton via Halifax–and has provided me with insurance, all for a low 1300 dollars Canadian. I have to phone Amtrak to reserve a seat on the Richmond-NYC run, but that shouldn’t be a problem. I’m quite looking forward to my trip.

The problem is this: Most of the people–hell, all in two of the three destinations–who’ll be hosting me I know only over the Internet. Now, I’ve no reason at all to doubt that they’re good people, much less that they exist and aren’t serial killers; still, I can’t quite convince my parents of that. More to the point, should I be on my guard, particularly?

Help, please.

I like Ananse

I Am Ananse the Spider

Ananse the Spider of African folklore is both wise and foolish in the best tradition of tricksters. If you’re like Ananse, you’re clever and like to be thought well of, but sometimes you outsmart yourself. You’re always trying to figure the best angle and you’re intelligent and creative, but you have a crude streak. Still, you like to show off your knowledge and that makes you a good teacher..

Which Trickster are you?
Take the Trickster Test at www.isleofdreams.net

Travel

I’m thinking of going travelling. I’ve got the money, I’m going to get the passport, and I think I’ve got the friends. Three major stops: Toronto, NYC, Virginia. Time: Last July/Early August. Work’s fine with it, and, well.

But, the parents. They’re worried, Dad in particular. He said, this morning, that he couldn’t sleep all night, that it’s another bombshell.

It’s unfair to them, I know. Which is why I intend to try and prepare them for it, for me, for a travelling me. I can do it, I know. I hope I’ll be able to follow suit.

Or am I expecting too much of them?

Thoughts?

The Coming-Out Story

Hello, everyone!

I’d resolved to tell Mom and Dad that their only son was bisexual at the beginning of the week. I’d initially planned to tell them today (Saturday) but I realized I’d have to go the next day to work. This made me realize I might need the next day off, and so, I opted for the first evening Dad had off–Wednesday.

I was tense all day, sending out E-mails and doing writing, hoping things would pass. I was chatting over AIM with some good decent people–say “Hi,” Tom, Mike, Vegard–who were reassuring me. At 4:30 there was a mini-crisis: My supervisor phoned from work and asked me if I could come in for 5, I said no, Mom was upset and thought I was sabotaging my job, I told her I’d tell her and Dad in an hour. She left, wondering.

Supper was tense. I ate everything in five minutes and went pacing. Then, I sat Mom and Dad down in the living room at 5:30 and began to tell them, but the words refused to come out. I wasn’t upset, I just couldn’t enunciate the words. I went down at 5:40 and phoned Steve, letting him know to come by to pick me up 6:20-ish. (It turned out it’d probably be to go to a movie; his mother and step-sister would be coming along.) Then I went back up, and kept starting and stopping.

When I told them, fifty minutes later at 6:20, it was easy. Relatively speaking. We’re not a very expressive family, I fear, so it could be that the shock Mom and Dad showed was only that. They seem to be taking it fairly well, though. Michelle was right–Mom did take it well and understood, Dad wondered if I might be confused, I explained the congenital nature of it and emphasized that I was still the same person, I left them to talk.

Steve and his family drove up at 6:40, fortunately. They’d lost their way. Then, Steve and I went in to see _Attack of the Clones._ (Which I liked; see my review, below.) I came back at 10, they hadn’t talked at all but were tackling the plumbing. In all honesty, the plumbing was dire; several strips of insulation had to be gotten rid of in the basement, which had been leaking for the past week, because the kitchen taps were leaking. And then, that’s it.

I think I was confused because nothing changed immediately. I’ll have to wait a bit for that to kick in, I suppose.

Frederick Kempe’s _Fatherland_–Kempe is a son of a German refugee with an interesting take on Germany, quite nice, something to read in its entirety–and a Penguin dictionary of geography.

It felt, as I went to bed Friday night at about 12:25 am, like a weight off of my shoulders. Though I’m still not sure how my parents will cope in the days ahead–I think they’re still trying to get their heads around it–they’re good people. My faith is renewed.

More on Star Wars Episode II

Short review:

I liked it; I quite enjoyed myself.

Long review:

With two days’ distance, I can see that there were many things lacking in Attack of the Clones. Decent dialogue, for instance, and real romantic chemistry between Hayden Christiansen and Natalie Portman, and a lack of alarm when Anakin admits to slaughtering several hundred people in revenge. Still, there was a lot that was good.

I freely admit to not being a major movie fan, usually going to see a movie once a year and renting videos only slightly more often. Then again, I’m not a particularly big Star Wars fan–I tend to agree with David Brin, in his article for Salon, that Star Trek is a more democratic and attractive future than Star Wars–so that doesn’t enter into it. I don’t mind Jar Jar Binks overmuch, for example.

Attack of the Clones was nice, in that it put some much-needed flesh on the bare skeleton of the Republic, and its decline. With this episode, I can tell that George Lucas was apparently trying to equate the fall of the Galactic Republic with the fall of the Roman Republic–Palpatine as Caesar, Dukou as Antony, perhaps Darth Vader as a failed Augustus? And who’s Cleopatra? Too, there’s Coruscant, and, yes, Lucas’ special effects. Oh, and Natalie Portman. She looks quite good throughout. And the origin of the Clone Troopers are interesting, though I’ve never been a fan of them (or of Boba Fett, for that matter). Oh, have I mentioned seeing Yoda in combat?

I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t go to the theatre to see it again, but I did enjoy it. So there.

In the meantime, something to notice:

20

I act like I’m 20.
This test was brought to you by James – Part of the David and James phenomenon. Take it here.

It’s done

I feel quite relieved. I’ll post a more detailed exploration later, but it went well, I think. Denial might still be operating with Mom and Dad, and somehow, I feel a bit surprised, as if something else was supposed to happen, something more.

Still, all in all, a good evening. Plus I saw Star Wars, Episode II. It was good.

A Note

Hello, everyone!

As you may or may not know, I intend to tell my parents that I’m bi today, at roughly 5:30 pm Atlantic Standard Time.

There isn’t much else that I or anyone else can do, I guess, save gird myself for the inevitable.

Anyway, before I do, I just want to thank you all for the help–the kind ear, the advice, the just plain sympathy–that I’ve gotten from you all. I consider myself lucky to have friends like you.

Sincerely,
Randy

So. I’ve decided. Tomorrow evening, at suppertime (~5:30 Atlantic Standard Time), I’ll be telling my parents that their son is bi.

I’m terribly nervous. I’m trying to distract myself: replying to E-mails, playing Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, listening to my mp3s. I think it’ll go well; I’m almost certain that the reaction will be, after the initial shock, fairly good. I’ve prepared as much as I can …

But still. It’s going to be a big change. A chance for the good, mind, I hope, but still very much a change. Entry into adulthood? I guess that’s what it’ll be.

I just hope its painless. I want to get it over with.

Today’s Agenda

To bike downtown, to pick up my instruction permit, to try to get an appointment set for the surgical removal of the rump of my keloid scar on my left ear (a bit of a fight; the hormone injectiosn reversed its growth, but still a rump), and to pick up travel information to the mainland for the buses at the Visitor Information Centre.

To finish all of my E-mails waiting to get sent out.

To finish the TpA Romanian and Siberian rough drafts, and send them out for critiques.

To enjoy at least one beautiful hour under the sun, soaking the ultraviolet into my pale post-British hide.