gay jennifer she: so... what are you jen, lesbian or bi? me: hmm... (long pause) 99.5% lesbian. she: okay :)... you 010128 ... illicit avian Life is Full of Weird Surprises, 1992 (retrospect, the dichotomy of political versus personal values during a transitory period in american culture) client - the gay doctor in the restaurant, invites me and an associate to a table, he just bought a sizeable amount of merchandise from me because he decided that it wouldn't be a good career move to be prescribing himself morphine on too regular a basis. Besides, cocaine is still the king in these the last days of the Reagan Bush era. Still quite the illicit status symbol in certain parts of town. We sit down and talk politics and he begins to dissect the tactics of some of the activist groups that have taken to "Outing" people and how he agrees with it. "I just came out." he said. "It may impact my practice, but then half of my patients last year turned up positive so i think the fallout will be minimal." "Damn, doc, my only problem with outing people is that the people who are doing it are from what i've seen -- mostly the same people who came out on their own time and now, with the same kind of pushiness of the fire and brimstone preachers who rail against gays on streetcorners. Anyway, who you voting for doc?" "Bush of course, this economy works best for me, even if his other policies give me something to worry about" Hourlong debate on the finer points of laissez-faire economics versus aggressive governmental encroachment of personal freedom, interspersed with the occaisional fingerpoint from the doctor toward the occasional patron in the restaurant: "fruit!" "Swish..." Tugs my sleeve and points at local celebrity, pillar of family values, but a lot nicer than most people who wrap themselves in that banner. "That one...gay as a tree full of monkeys on laughing gas." My associate, fending off boredom for the last half hour, breaks into laughter from his serious stone-faced demeanor Laughing and shaking my head, i look back at him and then at my watch. We finish our lunch and he offers to pick up the tab, we accept after a moment's insistence on his part. Business calls, he had patients to attend and we had rounds to make in our little rolling pharmacy but to this day, the "tree full of monkeys on laughing gas" line lives with me. 010128 ... j_blue i hate it when people choose money over fundamental freedoms, as they often do greed_bites people_suck capitalism is weird, participating in it is weirder 010129 ... Sum Deus Casey is gay. That is all that counts. 010201 what's it to you? who go blather from