Happy Halloween--Updates

I've been in a bit of a blogging funk lately...just not much to say. But, the last couple of weeks have been pretty active in terms of my social life. I know..."B has a social life?"

More Coming Out:
Went to a going away happy hour for someone I worked with in student leadership for several years on the state level who resigned from his staff position. It turned into a long night that included my coming out to him, another staff member and a couple of alumni. The other staff person was actually on student gov't with me at my school and said she figured it all along. I'm finding it tends to slip when I have been drinking and start to vent about the various frustrations in my life.

Evening Out:
Went to the birthday dinner for the student worker in my former office Saturday night. Afterwords, I went and had coffee with one of the guys I have been chatting with online---I joined a couple of websites in an attempt to meet some guys in my area. He was a nice guy and I think there might be a possible friendship there.

Lunch:
Had lunch yesterday with another guy I have been communicating with over the same website. He too, was a nice, genuine guy and we had decent conversation. He did say he was open to hanging out again and I hope we can. I think the ball is in my court. Seemed like he was into being friends, and mentioned wanting to meet some of my friends, which I guess is a positive sign.

The "Date" Debate:
There has been some back and forth among other friends and I about whether meeting these guys constituted "first dates," particularly the meal with guy number two. I prefer to think of them as casual meetings of potential friends, since nothing more than a friendship is asked or expected. None of the parties involved are looking on this website expecting to find a romantic connection.

Readers: What do you think? Am I dating?

A Sad Reality Hits Home

This afternoon, a blogger friend of mine with whom I have become very close IMed me to tell me he had a story about an "incident" last night involving his two best friends. He said he'd fill me in later, when he was home and not messaging from his cell phone. Being that we talk daily, and often about these guys, who we refer to as The Twins, I thought I knew what to expect---The Twins sound like wonderful kids who've gotten themselves in some pretty interesting situations.

I was not prepared for what I heard. I was told that last night they arrived home from an evening out with Twin B's parents to discover their home and new vehicles had been vandalized...windows broken, tires slashed, and slurs scrawled in several places.

And that was not the worst of it. The neighborhood punks responsible for the vandalism were still around and attacked the two. They will recover, but both sustained injuries ranging from bruised ribs to a broken leg.

As my friend shared this with me, my heart sank. Until tonight, gay bashing was something I'd only seen on the news or in television shows. I've always known it was real, but it hadn't happened to anyone I knew--or if it had, I didn't know about it.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. It sickens me that these two people would be attacked on their own property, in a neighborhood where Twin B grew up, simply because they are a gay couple. It sounds like an episode of QAF, but it's not, it's reality.

And that's pretty damn fucked up.