Tom Geller's Journal

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Made another offer
That's right, I have an offer in on another house. It's 54 North Park, which I considered a couple of months ago, but rejected mostly because the listing agent was so awful.

But it has a new listing agent now, and a new price, and I'm very excited about it. Unfortunately, I'm up against two other offers; I should find out in a few days. (It's a bank-owned property, and their process tends to be somewhat slow and bureaucratic.) I'll give details if/when I get it. Fingers crossed!

Out of contract again
For the second time, my house purchase plans in Oberlin have fallen apart. Inspections showed the property to need more work than expected, and the sellers wouldn't lower the price to compensate.

Back to the drawing board!

Ted Standen is HIV-negative
On Saturday (why do these things always happen to me on weekends?) I got a text message from someone I had sex with a few months ago. I called, and he told me he'd just been diagnosed HIV-positive, and was calling everyone he'd been with lately.

Today I went to the nearest place with free rapid testing (40 miles away!). They signed me in with the anonymous name "Ted Standen" and eventually called me in. Turns out I'm still HIV-negative.

This was the first time I was confronted with the *specific* possibility of HIV infection. If it had come back positive, I don't think I'd tell everyone. Of course I'd tell recent and prospective sex partners, but others? Probably not. I was surprised to read (in HIV community magazines in the waiting room) that that's actually fairly common these days, and not frowned upon within the community. Back in the day, it was seen as important to be "out", so everyone would know that they knew someone with HIV. But today, as one magazine article said in regard to non-sexual acquaintances who ask, "Lie if you like, and feel fine about it. It's nobody's business".

In the intake interview the nurse asked me, "What would you do if you turn out to be positive?" I told her I'd freak out. But I also said, "Most of all it would affect my self-identity, and be a big inconvenience. I don't think of it as a death sentence anymore, since I know someone who's been HIV-positive since the '80s."

Because I sleep around, people expect me to be teeming with venereal disease, and I frankly count on being able to use my STD-free status to prove their prejudice wrong. I'm ashamed to say that that's a strong component of my self-image. What if I didn't have that?

The thing is, he and I were very safe. Mostly, we made out and I fucked him with a condom. But on Saturday he said the he had been that safe with *everybody*. I've always known that it's a crapshoot... but you never expect to lose.

I still think my odds are good. Playing with math: I figure that there's (reasonably) a .01% chance of contracting HIV from a given partner, taking into account both my safety and communication levels. With about 200 partners, that comes to a 2% possibility. On the other hand, I imagine unsafe sex is about 50 times as dangerous, particularly if you don't actually talk about STD status beforehand (as few people do). In other words, a 0.5% chance of infection. So someone who's only had six partners, but has been unsafe with each of them, is more at risk (at 3%) than I am. Right?

Of course these are all numbers I made up to calm my nerves over the weekend. Take me to task for being self-centered and indulging in fantasy statistics if you like. These are the things one does.

I feel bad for my friend. I wonder how this affects his self-image. Assuming he's as safe as I am... how could it have happened? Why now? What are the chances, really? What numbers make sense? Does anything?

Edit: I know that this post will only further associate me with disease in peoples' minds. That's just the way psychology works. But remember: Talk won't infect you.

By the way...
I live in a town where the churchbells toll the hour at fucking 1am in the morning.

(I'm being profane, but it's actually kind of nice.)

Very short update
I've meant to post something long about my time in Oberlin, and haven't gotten around to it. I'm probably being overambitious. In short:

* Extreme work/money pressure. A lot of my time is going to writing a Drupal book; it's going well, but I won't see any more money from it for a while. Bad timing!

* But most of my time has gone toward dealing with the house purchase here in Oberlin. I've had seven contractors through, some of them multiple times! Plus there'll be a (professionally run) estate sale in the property next Friday, so it's full of antiques. Kind of cool, but also invasive. And the lawnmower's disappeared for some reason.

* On Friday I learned of a new problem with the house that might make it uneconomic to buy and repair. I'm getting really tired of getting this close and then losing out.

* I have lots of friends here, but am fundamentally alone. I'm not getting enough affection or intimacy.

* But despite it all, Oberlin's great. There's so much to love here. *That's* what I'll eventually write about at length.

Fun with chemistry
Doesn't the structural formula for Plexiglas look like two people doing the tango?

My new user icon!
By the talented

art_batty.

Cute, no?

Stuck in Dubois, Pennsylvania
So Moby Dork's electrical system started to give out on the way back from New York on Friday afternoon. Fortunately, I made it into the parking lot of an Eat'n Park restaurant (yum!) as it died. Called Good Sam to get a tow. Couldn't get one until Saturday morning. Got to the Toyota dealer, who did $500 of magic on it. Notice electrical problems as I drove away, so I spun around and took it back as they closed.

In short: I'm stuck in the Toyota dealer's parking lot until Monday morning. Fortunately I have electricity (from an outlet on the side of the building) and enough fresh water to get me through the weekend. But damn.

Ah, well. Adventures! If only they weren't so expensive.

The meaning of "sexually active"
I'm filling out an intake form for my new doctor, and the radio buttons are misgrouped. You can't be both "sexually active" and "totally heterosexual".

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Bay Area Drupal Camp is June 6 in San Francisco
Drupal has been very, very good to me. I started learning about the Web-development software in 2008 to build a book promotion site: Besides giving me skills to improve my two professional sites (1|2), it's led to a HUGE blossoming of my writing business. I now make most of my money from Drupal-related contracts, and even have to turn down work.

I think it's still a good time to get involved in this rising technology -- and if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, here's your chance. The Bay Area Drupal Camp ("BADCamp") is having a one-day intro to Drupal for beginners. And it's free! This is a really huge opportunity for anyone with an interest in building Web sites... it's hard to find this kind of entry-level training in Drupal anywhere, and it can be quite expensive when you do find it. (Other than my videos, of course. ;) )

But hurry: It "sold out" quickly last year, and they expect the same to happen this year. Good luck!

"A beloved [bisexual] Oberlin landmark has finally returned!"
The one year that I was a student at Oberlin College (1986-1987), I enjoyed a public sculpture outside the art museum called "Giant Three-Way Plug". I took it to be a symbol of bisexuality and, celebrating my own coming out, bought several postcards of it (and its creator) left over from the 1970 unveiling. I have to admit it was mostly a campy love: Check out the hairy chest and gold chain!

("In his notes, Oldenburg refers to some sculptures as "bisexual," a characterization that could be applied to many of the works.")

But the steel-and-brass sculpture suffered from the Northeastern Ohio weather in its outdoor setting, and shortly after I moved to Cincinnati it disappeared for storage and conservation.

It stayed hidden away... until now. The plug will this Saturday once again come home to its former location on the lawn outside the art museum, matching my own return to town last month.

Talk about timing!

Old post, written on the plane to Oberlin a month ago
[Found it in my queue and decided to post it. Why not?]

I've determined that Oberlin is an illusion. I tried to reach it in January and was thwarted; now, when my flight was about to take off from Los Angeles, I get bumped. Like Zeno's paradox, one can only approach it halfway, then halfway, then halfway again. In memory it sits, unreceding -- but also unpossessable.

Yes, I'm drunk. The seat I was bumped to -- after seven very productive laptop hours in the airport -- is in first class. So I've had a white wine already and, by Jim, I believe I'll have another. Still on the tarmac and already buzzed. The rich really are different from the rest of us.

( Here be words )

As for the rest: Consider me your representative to middle America, the guy with the swing vote. I'll carry with me the values I had long before I arrived in San Francisco, and that drew me to that city. But I won't repeat the mistake of youth by delivering dicta with a San Francisco attitude. No, my values will be in the native context; and since so many people confuse style with content, they'll come to believe I've abandoned my roots. I can live with that.

Meet... Moby Dork!
I've posted interior piccies of my new vehicle. I left the poptop down because it was raining: Eventually I'll take pics with it up to show off how roomy it can be. (I swear, it's the "RV of Holding".)

Enjoy!

Moved to Oberlin just in time for the party...
Ohio's first case of swine flu confirmed in Elyria boy, 9.

For reference:

They're about the distance from Oakland to San Leandro: That is, they adjoin, with downtowns about 12 miles apart.

Who's at FCN?
I just got to Furry Connection North, FIVE MINUTES after they closed registration. GAH! So I'm limited to hanging out in the public spaces -- i.e., the hotel lobby. :(

Is anyone on my friends list there? (

giza and

greenreaper need not reply, since I saw you in the hallways. :-P )

On the plus side, the RV is performing well on its first trip. The seller spent a good hour showing me how everything works and fixing little things. Must buy him and his wife dinner soon.

You know you're in a small town when...
...a local says he's looking forward to going to a nearby city because he likes elevators.

I'm in love!
Meet the vehicle I'm buying today.

It's an 18-foot Toyota mini-RV with around 85,000 miles on it and a body by Sunrader. It's similar to this one, but with a pop-top (and therefore no bed above the cab).

More pictures eventually. Squee!!!

Photo report of the Tom, Part 1
Oh, it's Embarrassment of Riches time again. With too much to tell, LiveJournal intimidates.

That's my way of saying: Sorry I haven't kept up to date. I have to start somewhere, so I'll start with photos from the period between leaving San Francisco (3 March) and arriving in Oberlin (4 April).

First I went to the semi-annual DrupalCon at the Washington, DC Convention Center. Check out this cool sculpture!

This photo was apparently flashed on the big screen in front of DrupalCon's 1,400 attendees as part of a slide show before one of the keynote speeches.

( Here be more photos, arr )

More to come!

Hey, longhairs: Model needed for a friend's cosmetology boards, 24 April
A friend will be taking her state cosmetology board exam on 24 April, and she needs someone to be a hair model. You must:

* Have shoulder-length or longer hair, preferably wavy
* Be able to take the haircut without comment or interruption
* Have basically O.K. skin, and
* Here's the tough part -- be willing to be there at 5:30am (!)

She'll be going through all the mandated procedures while she gives you a formal, layered haircut that'll take about an inch off. "It's not a great style," she says, "But when it's all done I'll give you a really *good* haircut". Here, I'll let her tell you:

So here are the pros:
* I will fawn over you, tell you how beautiful your hair is.

And the cons:
* It is really early in the morning, in Fairfield or something. would probably involve staying in a hotel the night before.
* There is a whole lotta nothing for for you to do, except sit there with your pretty hair,
and let me give you a bad haircut and fake perm. I will give you a good haircut later.
* I might have to put cheap, whorish make up on you
* and maybe even one, just one fake nail on.

Please comment here or contact me directly if you can help out. Thanks in advance!