I'm Back

 

The weekend in Montreal was fun.  We left on Tuesday morning.  It's a smaller city than Toronto with a European feel.  I would go back.

More travel challenges on this trip than I've experienced in a long while.  Two of the three legs of my trip were cancelled and rebooked to much later.  We were supposed to arrive in Montreal at 11am on Saturday.  Our flight was cancelled and we got there at 9pm.  My departure flight on Tuesday also cancelled an replaced with a crazy two stop routing through Halifax and Newark.  After an hour and a half on the phone I got it changed to something reasonable. 

The gay pride was smaller than Toronto and certainly tamer.  Montreal has a Gay Village that is considerably larger than Toronto.  My bf and I don't drink (boring people I guess) so we walked through the Village but that's all.   Toronto seems much bigger, and definitely more spread out.

Finding good restaurants is a challenge.  None of the ones we chose in Montreal really hit.  They weren't bad but nothing we would run back to. 

Next trip is NYC again in a month.   

What I'm Reading

 

So far this year I have read eleven books.  More than I've read for years.  I have a hold on American Scoundrel.  It's just being released and on order at the library.  Roy Cohn was a vile human being, but I think this will be an interesting story.

Donald Trump's two most important mentors:  Roy Cohn and Jeffrey Epstein.   Can you imagine?  

My New Thing

 

I've been meaning to get started with this for months.  Finally in the last two weeks I've done it.  And it is...

Kettlebell Training 

I'm finding that this is quite a workout.  It takes my heart rate into zone 4 sometimes.  So good for strength and cardio.  I'm just doing the basic moves with a 20 lb bell.  The guys giving kettlebell advice on YouTube are often using 30 KG bells or more.  So far it's been easy for me to do 25 minutes.  I'll work up to more and add some advanced movements.

I was getting bored with the other exercise routines I was doing.  Good to have something new and different. 

 

Advice to a Friend

It's nice when friends see me as a sounding board they can trust for advice or just listening on sensitive matters.

This weekend I had a call with a friend.  He's older than me, 60-something, gay, single, reasonably well off and retired.

He was telling me that as an older gay man he feels invisible and like damaged goods.  He hasn't met anyone.  He told me, " my sex life is jacking off.  I haven't been with a man in two years."  The reality is that there are many guys in this situation.

It's good that he is solution oriented, and not just complaining.  We talked a lot about possible ways to meet people.  This is a problem for all men over 50 -- not just gays.  Many men have few close friends and no relationships. You hear so many suggestions -- join a club or a bowling league.  I wouldn't do this and my friend is not interested either.  He's not big on gay dating apps either.  I did push back that you can't rule out everything.  If you do nothing, then not meeting anyone is a certainty.  There's luck involved here -- sometimes you try many things and none are successful.

I suggested going solo in the absence of a friend or partner.  That's better than doing nothing, and you can't let your life just go by, especially at this age.  Solo travelers are very common these days.

He told me the guys he has met were just turn-offs.  Poorly dressed, overweight and just looking really old.  He doesn't want to date Wilford Brimley.  They could be lying about their age, that's pretty common.  I asked jokingly, "bad haircuts too?"  

Tough problem to solve, and this is true for everyone.  But not insurmountable.  I guess my number one suggestion is just get out and do things -- local activities, travel, whatever.  Doing nothing is a death spiral.  Number two is stay in shape.  It's bad enough getting older, you don't also need to be overweight.  I think it also improves confidence.

I'm finishing a book on depression.  The author theorizes that depression is often caused by lack of social connections.  There could be something to this and we talked a bit about it.   

Any suggestions?  Who am I to give advice,  I met my bf on Grindr. 

  

    

Next Trip

 

I'm off to Toronto next week for 12 days.  My bf was visiting me for six weeks in May and June, and I miss having him in my bed to cuddle up to.  So excited to spend time in Toronto.  Looking for some new restaurants to try.  I have my favorites, but want to try new ones as there is no shortage.  Definitely will go to the Toronto Islands.  My bf asked if I want to go to Hanlan's Point nude beach....maybe 😜.  As an added twist, we will go to Montreal on my last weekend.  I've never been there, a new place is always exciting.  It happens to be the Gay Pride that weekend too.  I've heard Montreal is a little more wild than Toronto, so that will be fun.

This is Hard

 

This exercise is harder than it looks.  Finally I can do it.  Need to improve my form a bit to do it like this guy.

Closetocracy

Hunter Biden has been making the rounds to various podcasts.  He claims that there is a group of very powerful people in government, mostly Republicans, who are gay.  He calls it a "cabal" or a "closetocracy."  Lindsey Graham was the most prominent of the group, but there are many others. 

Hunter Biden isn't exactly an upstanding citizen.  I'm not exactly sure what he's trying to accomplish.  It's fairly obvious he's an angry guy.  He benefited from his father's presidency, but says that the Trumps have taken it to an entirely different realm.  I believe that.  

I'm surprised none of these guys has been publicly outed.  Anything is possible in the toxicity of Washington.