The Portrait Gifts: Janet Lance Hughes & Chris Davis

Part of growing up is learning how our actions effect other people and how we handle that power. It's kind of what it's like to be 'a parent' or 'a friend'.
-as heard while watching
KYLE-XY, Season II


Do you ever crave a Cheese Danish? Alan found the place for one in Santa Monica, CA. It’s only $1.60 for one pocket. It’s called VIENNA PASTRY. It’s at 1215 Wilshire Blvd. (and there is a convenient post-office next door to mail any letters you may need to send off).
http://www.bing.com/local/details.aspx?lid=YN79x983381&qt=yp&what=vienna+bakery&where=Santa+Monica%2c+CA&s_cid=ansPhBkYp02&mkt=en-us&q=vienna bakery, santa monica

Now, if you have some extra time and you want the BEST coffee I have had in ages go to the Intelligentsia Café at their new Coffee Bar in Venice, CA at 1331 Abbott Kinney Blvd. They are turning coffee into the science of tasting and loving (something STARBUCKS has totally missed). Look at their website for their other locations (including Chicago and New York):
http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/

I must honorably mention two special people who have made a point to ‘gift me’ my very own portrait in their own unique style.

Janet Lance-Hughes is a university lecturer, artist and consultant to a variety of businesses. She lives in London, England and worked as a Fashion Design and Marketing instructor and tutor at the prestigious Central St. Martin School of Fashion & Design. She is a member of the Chelsea Arts Club in London. I am excited to see her in Hay-on-Wye in May 2010 when she will present me with my portrait. She has a special method of painting and creating and it will be interesting to see the final masterpiece.

Chris Davis is from the New Castle, England area. He is passionate about photography and design. He established ‘Specular’ which enables him to produce artwork, design and photography for clients. He had a three-dimensional new concept to portraiture that he will produce for me. I am anxious to see his final masterpiece as well.

It is so kind of them to do these portrait gifts for me/of me, but the true 'GIFT' is the 'gift of them'.

Twenty-five years ago today:

July 22, 1984
Sunday

I woke up at 10AM (very late for me). I did not visit Nici Maurino last night either. She invited me but I guess I am not as anxious to f--k her as she is to get f--ked by me. I keep recalling the night she slept over and how she pressed her ‘you know what’ up against my behind. She was ‘wet’ too. She really is not my type.

Yesterday, Nici told me she left early that morning because her ‘period’ was starting and she figured I did not carry tampons. She made more intimate condescending remarks in a teasing sort of way as she spoke to me over the phone.

PHOTO: Different Spokes

I left on my bicycle at 11AM for the BART station and took a ride to the Embarcadero Station in San Francisco. I got lost for a good while as I searched for Golden Gate Park for the Company Picnic. By 1PM I found it. I hung out in The City with Karyn Kossoff. She is so cute. Her smile and laugh is irresistible. I like her mood and positive outlook. I talked to the Assistant Manager, Colleen, for a while, too. I have seen her somewhere. Maybe it was a quick sighting while I was jogging or bicycling along Shoreline Drive in Alameda. Colleen says she lives in Alameda.

I scraped my left knee playing ‘tug of war’. I drank a lot of beer and I could sense some of the guys from the office ‘checking me out’. I couldn’t take it (it made me feel uncomfortable). I like Ryan Hargrave, he’s a nice guy. I spent a lot of the day talking to Karyn Kossoff. I sensed her attempt to ask if I was gay. She did not ask because she knew the answer (per her tub mate, Bob, who probably asked my longtime pal, Barbara Reynolds). Then, Patty Reid, the overweight one, asked me at around 7PM that night.
“Are you gay?” Patty asked in a point blank kind of way.
“No,” I said with a scathing, dirty look.
I denied it because (for ONE) I hate the term. I am not gay. I am ‘happy’ and any sexual partner I choose is MY business. And my preference (be it male or female) is 'and does' depend on my mood. I know every individual has half & half concepts of sex with either/or sex because I have seen the way straight men look at me and straight women look at other women. Something ‘sexual’ crosses their minds. There is no denying it. It just depends on who and where the attraction begins and where the circumstances end.
PHOTO: Image of a boy after
being asked 'Are you gay?'

I left Golden Gate Park by 7:30PM and was home by 9PM. That's pretty good considering I had to ride from Golden Gate Park to a BART station and get off at Fruitvale and ride my bike into Alameda.

That night, I left a telephone message on Karyn Kossoff’s answering recorder. I then proceeded to drift off to sleep.