Loving someone who does not love you back makes for an interesting experience. I feel like I am split in two. Tonight I walked with him for ten minutes, and never once looked him in the eye. I couldn't manage it. I felt the moment I did, I would be betraying the understanding that we have: we are just friends. And once I cross that line, the friendship is over. I would lose him, and betray myself. Love can overpower anyone at any time. In the past I would have withered under its relentless attack. Tonight I felt like I could fight back.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
How I Know I Love Someone
Loving someone who does not love you back makes for an interesting experience. I feel like I am split in two. Tonight I walked with him for ten minutes, and never once looked him in the eye. I couldn't manage it. I felt the moment I did, I would be betraying the understanding that we have: we are just friends. And once I cross that line, the friendship is over. I would lose him, and betray myself. Love can overpower anyone at any time. In the past I would have withered under its relentless attack. Tonight I felt like I could fight back.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Imagine a Room...
Imagine a room that you might inhabit. Imagine a box in this room. Where is this box in the room and how large is it? Imagine a ladder in the room. Where is this ladder and how large is it? Imagine flowers in the room. How many flowers are there and where are they in the room? Imagine a horse of your very own. What would this horse be like? Where is this horse in relation to the room? Out the window is an approaching storm. Describe this storm. How does it make you feel?
These were the questions posed to me earlier this evening by a friend, and this is how I answered:
1. How large is your box and where is it? My box is the size of a small night stand and in the corner.
2. Where is the ladder and how large is it? It's a fairly large ladder, and it's hanging on the wall like a work of art.
3. How many flowers are there and where are they? There's a bouquet of flowers and they're in a vase on the box.
4. What is your horse like? It's golden brown, and it's roaming the farm just outside my window.
5. What is the storm like? It's an ominous thunderstorm with heavy rains, but I'm not afraid of it. In fact, the winds cool my room.
Have you answered these questions honestly? Here are the interpretations:
1. The box is your ego. How large and where it is in the room speak to its place in your life. I was told that I have a moderately sized ego, that it's under control, and that I know not to let it dominate my life.
2. The ladder speaks to ambition. I have ambition, but don't always act on it. Right now, I seem to be contemplating it.
3. The flowers are your friends. I have a good mix of people close to me, and I hold them dear (as they are sitting on top of my box, my ego.)
4. The horse is your partner. The more you describe the horse, the pickier you are about what you seek in your partner. I let my horse roam freely outside, but I take comfort in knowing I can see it at all times.
5. The storm is your coping mechanism. I don't let my troubles overwhelm me. In fact, I try to turn them to my advantage.
I was blown away by how accurate this little psychological puzzle was. I found it to be all essentially true. How about you?
These were the questions posed to me earlier this evening by a friend, and this is how I answered:
1. How large is your box and where is it? My box is the size of a small night stand and in the corner.
2. Where is the ladder and how large is it? It's a fairly large ladder, and it's hanging on the wall like a work of art.
3. How many flowers are there and where are they? There's a bouquet of flowers and they're in a vase on the box.
4. What is your horse like? It's golden brown, and it's roaming the farm just outside my window.
5. What is the storm like? It's an ominous thunderstorm with heavy rains, but I'm not afraid of it. In fact, the winds cool my room.
Have you answered these questions honestly? Here are the interpretations:
1. The box is your ego. How large and where it is in the room speak to its place in your life. I was told that I have a moderately sized ego, that it's under control, and that I know not to let it dominate my life.
2. The ladder speaks to ambition. I have ambition, but don't always act on it. Right now, I seem to be contemplating it.
3. The flowers are your friends. I have a good mix of people close to me, and I hold them dear (as they are sitting on top of my box, my ego.)
4. The horse is your partner. The more you describe the horse, the pickier you are about what you seek in your partner. I let my horse roam freely outside, but I take comfort in knowing I can see it at all times.
5. The storm is your coping mechanism. I don't let my troubles overwhelm me. In fact, I try to turn them to my advantage.
I was blown away by how accurate this little psychological puzzle was. I found it to be all essentially true. How about you?
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Much to be Thankful For
Life has been so good these past few years that I seem to have lost track of this blog. The truth is I have been putting all my energy into writing screenplays, and have been seeing some interest from producers and managers. Nothing has been optioned as of yet, but I vow to write on. I use the word 'vow' purposefully because I've married my writing.
After 10 years of dates, 10 years of sitting at restaurant tables that did more to alienate than anything else, I realized I wasn't going to find that someone to settle down with. A lot of the guys couldn't get past my HIV. But there were also a few who were all right with it. I even dated a few guys who were also HIV+. Chemistry can be so elusive. But it was this one final dinner that made me understand what a colossal joke life could be. I had met him online, and we took to each other right away. After 2 dates, I decided to tell him. We were sitting in a Chinese restaurant when he suddenly, inexplicably, went off into a tirade against HIV+ guys and how they all needed to die. Part of me was mortified. But another part of me was laughing uncontrollably, thinking: it's a good thing I didn't tell him about my status before he decided to lose it completely. The dinner ended. He said he was looking forward to seeing me again after his business trip to Asia. Shortly thereafter I e-mailed him and told him I was HIV+, and that we probably wouldn't be seeing each other any time soon. To his credit, he apologized and cried over the phone to me. I told him not to worry about anything. Earlier this summer, after about 2 years, I saw him on the street in Hell's Kitchen. He was with some other guy. They looked happy. I was happy.
As miserable as that last date was, sitting at that small table in that Chinese restaurant, it was infinitely better than all those times I'd be sitting and waiting to be seen by the doctor. For the last decade I've had to see my doctors 9 times a year. 4 times for blood work, 4 times for discussing results and once for a psychological exam. Waiting rooms are like isolation chambers. Even the one at the clinic I go to for all my medical work. It's pretty obvious that everyone sitting there is also HIV+, but no one ever wants to make eye contact. Making eye contact would be to expose the truth. Anyway, it's my yearly psych exam that ironically keeps me going in life--it forces me to be positive and happy. I never got so much as a C in school, so there's no way I'm ever going to fail a psych exam!
Truthfully, I'd be lying if I didn't say that HIV hasn't turned me a little cuckoo. A writer is nothing if not someone who talks to himself. Constantly. Perhaps that's why I've come back to this blog again. I've gotten a little too comfortable sitting at my desk, talking to my characters, getting inside their heads, forgetting that there's a world just outside my window. I've turned into a homebody! Me, the guy who used to love to travel the world, and learn foreign languages and meet people at parties. I smile as I write this: I've discovered TV. I'm watching American Horror Story this season and loving it. I watched every episode of Korea's Next Top Model, Cycle 4. (It puts Tyra's show to shame.) I've discovered YouTube! Who knew there was so much interesting stuff to be seen? And of course I have my subscriptions to The New Yorker and Wired. I rediscovered my love for Somerset Maugham. On my nightstand is David Byrne's How Music Works.
Where do I go from here? When you're in your head, and in your room so much of the time, floating in an ocean of words, where is it that you drift off to next? I wonder.
After 10 years of dates, 10 years of sitting at restaurant tables that did more to alienate than anything else, I realized I wasn't going to find that someone to settle down with. A lot of the guys couldn't get past my HIV. But there were also a few who were all right with it. I even dated a few guys who were also HIV+. Chemistry can be so elusive. But it was this one final dinner that made me understand what a colossal joke life could be. I had met him online, and we took to each other right away. After 2 dates, I decided to tell him. We were sitting in a Chinese restaurant when he suddenly, inexplicably, went off into a tirade against HIV+ guys and how they all needed to die. Part of me was mortified. But another part of me was laughing uncontrollably, thinking: it's a good thing I didn't tell him about my status before he decided to lose it completely. The dinner ended. He said he was looking forward to seeing me again after his business trip to Asia. Shortly thereafter I e-mailed him and told him I was HIV+, and that we probably wouldn't be seeing each other any time soon. To his credit, he apologized and cried over the phone to me. I told him not to worry about anything. Earlier this summer, after about 2 years, I saw him on the street in Hell's Kitchen. He was with some other guy. They looked happy. I was happy.
As miserable as that last date was, sitting at that small table in that Chinese restaurant, it was infinitely better than all those times I'd be sitting and waiting to be seen by the doctor. For the last decade I've had to see my doctors 9 times a year. 4 times for blood work, 4 times for discussing results and once for a psychological exam. Waiting rooms are like isolation chambers. Even the one at the clinic I go to for all my medical work. It's pretty obvious that everyone sitting there is also HIV+, but no one ever wants to make eye contact. Making eye contact would be to expose the truth. Anyway, it's my yearly psych exam that ironically keeps me going in life--it forces me to be positive and happy. I never got so much as a C in school, so there's no way I'm ever going to fail a psych exam!
Truthfully, I'd be lying if I didn't say that HIV hasn't turned me a little cuckoo. A writer is nothing if not someone who talks to himself. Constantly. Perhaps that's why I've come back to this blog again. I've gotten a little too comfortable sitting at my desk, talking to my characters, getting inside their heads, forgetting that there's a world just outside my window. I've turned into a homebody! Me, the guy who used to love to travel the world, and learn foreign languages and meet people at parties. I smile as I write this: I've discovered TV. I'm watching American Horror Story this season and loving it. I watched every episode of Korea's Next Top Model, Cycle 4. (It puts Tyra's show to shame.) I've discovered YouTube! Who knew there was so much interesting stuff to be seen? And of course I have my subscriptions to The New Yorker and Wired. I rediscovered my love for Somerset Maugham. On my nightstand is David Byrne's How Music Works.
Where do I go from here? When you're in your head, and in your room so much of the time, floating in an ocean of words, where is it that you drift off to next? I wonder.
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