Interview

The Interview

Hello Mark,
Here are your interview questions:
1. Since you are so happily “married” to Spouse, what is one dating nightmare from your single lady days? What advice can you give to the single folks? I look at you as a relationship role model.
Nightmare: Years before meeting Spouse, I began dating a nice guy who invited me to spend the weekend with him at the beach. After spending the entire day on the beach, we showered and headed to happy hour before dinner. I made the mistake of drinking vodka on an empty stomach and got completely smashed. We staggered to dinner where I could barely focus on the menu. Then, with no warning at all, I puked all over the white table cloth. So romantic!

My advice to single folk is to be yourself. Nobody wants to get interested in a fake version of you that is impossible for you to maintain. Be kind, be polite, and be yourself.

Thank you for the generous 'role model' compliment!

2. Do you have a favorite artist? Why? What piece drew you to them? What is your favorite work of that person?
I will preface this by saying I really don't know anything about art. I've never been inspired by the great artists studied in school. But I do like Kandinsky. This poster "Squares with Concentric Rings" hangs in our TV room, and I was drawn to the bright colors and use of geometric shapes.

3. I love your taste in cars. If money were no object, what car would you buy for Spouse, or yourself?
Thank you. If money were no object I would buy Spouse an old, restored Mercedes convertible, in white. He loves white cars, and really loves the 'old school' Mercedes.

And for me, I've already got my 'dream car'. But I'd give Big Ella the $20K paint job she deserves.

4. I like this question: If you could go to lunch with any three people, who would you go with? Why?
I'm assuming this includes ANY three people, currently alive or dead. First I'd pick Ella Fitzgerald because she's my absolute all-time favorite singer. I consider her to be a musical genius, which is a term I don't use for many others. She was also quite modest despite her enormous fame and popularity. She was always grateful to her audiences for coming to hear her sing.

Next I'd pick Bette Midler because she's very funny and creative. Her concerts are really 'performances'. I always crack up when watching any of her movies. I also like that she is environmentally conscious.

And finally, I'd pick Bette Davis because she lived during the glamorous 1940s, she always seemed to have an elegance about her, and she learned how to fight and win the hard way.

5. What is, in your opinion, the best invention ever? How would you make it better?

I guess I'd have to say the internet. Because of it we have access to everything. We can read a book, watch a movie, research a topic, look at pictures of a foreign country, send email, and interact with a community of friends located anywhere in the world. I can't think of how to make it better, but I imagine Bill Gates can/will.

Have fun with it.

Gallus

There you have it! Want to be interviewed? Just follow these instructions:

1. Leave me a comment saying "Interview me."

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions I've selected just for you.

3. You will post the interview questions and answers on your blog.

4. You must link back to the original post and also to your interviewer's post.

5. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

6. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Crush du Jour: Ricardo Martinez

Dec 1st

I've sorta been dreading this day for a while. Dec 1st: World AIDS Day. I've been thinking I should write something about World AIDS Day, but I have conflicting feelings about it.
Just a few miles away in Rehoboth Beach there was a candle light vigil at 6:30 tonight. But Mon is my regular work out from 6:00-7:00 so there was no way I'd make it to the vigil. Part of me was relieved. Another part of me aches.

Honest to God, my heart just breaks when I think of what those with AIDS and those who care for those with AIDS go through. I can't even write about that; its just too horrible.

In the 1980s and early 1990s it was the gay male community that seemed the first and hardest hit by AIDS. The one good thing about my coming out so late in life is that AIDS prevention techniques were known by then. But many gay men weren't as lucky. Lots and lots and lots of them died in those days.

Before AIDS had a name it was referred to as the Gay Flu because early on it was only gay men who appeared to have it. But later straight men and women contracted the virus and became symptomatic, prompting physicians and GLBT organizations to mount the campaign to educate the public that "AIDS is not a gay disease." Later AIDS began to ravage the continent of Africa. Today 2/3 of all people living with AIDS are in Africa.

Yet, gay men were the first to contract and die from the disease, gay men were the first to march publicly for governmental intervention into the epidemic, and gay men were and probably still are the largest contributors to AIDS charities.

If AIDS is not a gay disease, then why are gays the most visible and relentless advocates for AIDS education, prevention, and treatment efforts? Why are gay men still the 'face' of AIDS in North America?

Perhaps we are honoring our lost friends, brothers, and lovers.

Perhaps we have an enormous capacity for compassion.

Perhaps its because we are no strangers to social taboos.

I don't claim to know for sure, but whatever the reason(s), I'm grateful to all those, gay or straight, male or female, who've given of their time, energy, and self to volunteer at food organizations like Project Angel Heart and Food & Friends, to those who've gathered sponsors and participated in AIDSWalk and AIDSRide, and to those who've chosen careers in AIDS research and treatment.

We'll stop when there's a cure.

What others have written today can be found here, here, here, here, here, and here.

In other news, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to The Divine Miss M! Bette Midler turns 63 today, and still looks and sounds FABULOUS! Man, I'd sure love to see her show in Vegas!

Crush du Jour: Rafael Verga

I had a dream...

...but not THAT kind of dream. My dream was about meeting the Divine Miss M herself, Bette Midler!

Maybe it was because this post was still lingering in my mind, I don't know, but I dreamed I went to Las Vegas to see Bette Midler perform at the Colosseum.

Now, I know the Colosseum is a large venue capable of seating thousands, but in my dream it was about the size of a school classroom. Indeed, in my dream it was as if we were all sitting in those chair/desk things with the lights turned off, watching Bette perform while lying on a sumptuously upholstered chaise lounge with a single spot light trained on her. I mean, we were all so close we could see her sweat. Only she wasn't sweating because she's Bette Midler.

When the show ended the 'classroom' lights came on and everyone began filing out the 'classroom' door. But I decided instead to tell Bette just how fabulous I thought the show was, so I made my way from my chair/desk thing to where she was standing, next to her chaise, in front of the chalkboard.

I told her how I'd seen and loved every one of her movies and concerts, and then piled accolade upon accolade, sometimes in multiples, until it seemed there were no more adjectives left in the dictionary, even the abridged one. When I finally finished gushing, she put her hand over her forehead and did a fake 'I'm going to faint' kind of gesture, and then thanked me for all the kind words. Then she smiled with that smile that makes her eyes squint so much you wonder how she could possibly see out of them and said to me "Well, aren't you just the sweetest." Realizing how totally star-struck I must have appeared, I became embarrassed and didn't know what to say.

Then she stuck her hand out at me and said "Come with me." I took her hand and she lead me threw the remaining people who had congregated outside the 'classroom'/concert hall until we walked down a dimly lit hallway that opened up into a larger, lounge-like room. The lounge room had several over-stuffed sofas and chairs, and there were people drinking and nibbling from plates of appetizers. I perceived this to be the VIP party, to which I'd neither purchased nor won tickets. But Bette walked me in and no one looked at me suspiciously.

When the VIP party guests saw that she had entered the room they offered her a round of applause, while trying to balance their drinks and plates on their arms. She threw them a large, sweeping kiss and then plopped down onto one of the sofas. She looked at me again with that squinty-eyed smile, patted the sofa cushion next to her, and said "Here, sit down."

I sat down, right next to Bette, and tried to keep myself from doing or saying anything stupid. Then she asked "So... what was your favorite part of the show?" and I froze. How could I possibly pick my favorite part when I think everything she does is fabulous? All she needs to do is stand there and I'd applaud.

And then I woke up.

Crush du Jour: Thomas Jane