This year is the 23rd an­niver­sary of the Seattle AIDS Walk. A whole generation has passed since the Northwest AIDS Walk began. AIDS used to be the un­stop­pable disease that killed much of a generation of gay men.

AIDS is still a serious problem, but the de­vel­op­ment of an­ti­retro­vi­ral drugs in the Nineties means that people with HIV are living longer, healthier lives than before. More than 1.5 million Americans are now living with HIV/AIDS: 9,000 of them in King County. 40,000 people are infected every year, and most new infections are among African-Americans. The U.S. is getting off relatively lightly: about one-quarter of the adults in southern Africa have HIV!

The Lifelong …continue.

My eight-month experiment in daily blogging will go on hiatus for a few days. We fly out tonight and I will have only in­ter­mit­tent Internet access for the next three weeks in Spain and Ireland.

It's possible that I'll write a daily post, but I often won't be able to post im­me­di­ate­ly.

We're off to Spain and Ireland tomorrow evening, so lots of last-minute prepa­ra­tions tonight. I laid out my clothes on the spare bed on Sunday; Emma picked out hers this evening. I've just paid some bills and I'm trans­fer­ring files onto the netbook that I'm bringing.

I still have to whittle down the large pile of books that are under con­sid­er­a­tion. I don't want to run out before we get to Ireland, but I don't want to take too many. Depending on what else is going on, I'll get through a book in a day or two when I'm on vacation. Maybe two books on those long plane flights.

Two picnics this weekend.

Today we held the tenth annual BiNet Seattle picnic for the bisexual community, which I once again organized, with some help from Emma. Almost all of the preceding ones were held at Ravenna Park. Even though I booked the picnic back in March, Ravenna Park was un­avail­able this weekend, which was the only weekend that really suited me. We went to Golden Gardens Beach instead. It's a nice park, but parking is atrocious on a busy weekend, which may explain the poor turnout. There were only 10 people, down from 20–30 for the last few years. Three new faces; the rest were regulars. As usual, Emma and I …continue.

For weeks, Lyn has been telling us about the musical talk that he was going to give today at his UU con­gre­ga­tion about Billy Strayhorn, a little-known but talented composer, who col­lab­o­rat­ed for decades with Duke Ellington. Strayhorn was openly gay in the homophobic decades before Stonewall. That, coupled with his apparent liking for remaining in Elling­ton's shadow, probably con­tributed to his obscurity.

Lyn talked about Billy Strayhorn and his life and music for half an hour. He also ac­com­pa­nied Shirley singing some Strayhorn songs on piano, as Linda and Marion played the clarinet and cello. He said that Stray­horn's life gives rise to two questions, Do you know who you …continue.

Lyn, Raven, and Iain came over on Friday night for dinner. We did a little planning for Frank's memorial today and selected some poems.

Emma and I packed up the car and got to Lyn's by noon, which gave us plenty of time to set up. I wore my com­mem­o­ra­tive Portland motsscon t-shirt, which I know Frank would have gotten a kick out of.

A dozen or so of Frank's friends arrived around 2 o'clock. We chatted for a while waiting for Holly and Kim to arrive after fighting through the crowded ferry system from Vashon Island. Shirley sang You're Not So Easy to Forget, while Lyn ac­com­pa­nied her on the keyboard. We …continue.

Barely a month ago, while cleaning up Frank Maloney's Facebook account, I became aware of Portland Motsscon XXII.

I discovered the soc.motss newsgroup back in 1989, when I arrived in America as a grad student at Brown and had steady access to Usenet. MOTSS = members of the same sex, an opaque euphemism for gay attraction, which helped the group be created with a minimum of fuss in 1983.

I lurked on soc.motss for two years. I knew that I was bisexual, but I wasn't ready to admit it to anyone. Then my friend Éamonn came out as gay and I promptly came out to him. After a few …continue.

I can't believe that I've never taken the train down to Portland before. It's easy, it's in­ex­pen­sive, and it's about as quick as driving without the hassle.

The photo is from the set of photos that I posted to Flickr for motsscon XXII, on which more later.

I rode on a Segway today, for the first time. It was a lot of fun: a two-hour of Portland's waterfront with nine other motsscon people. I could have done without the 80°F heat though.

It took a few minutes for me to find my balance and to feel com­fort­able. After that, it came pretty naturally.

Highly rec­om­mend­ed.

I filled six densely packed barrels with yard waste today, before and after the victory barbecue for the Wild Geese Players. No wonder I'm tired.

Three barrels from the pile of clippings left over from cir­cum­cis­ing the camelia tree on Memorial Day weekend, and another three from the big bush that Emma hates in the front rock garden. The latter barely looks pruned at all.