Entries from Brian's "Favorite People on Earth" List

This weekend I was lucky enough to enjoy a visit by two of my favorite people: Kirstin and Charlie. If you were to total up the time that I've spent with either of these two people (who, incidentally, only just met each other this weekend), you'd get a relatively low amount compared to some of the other people in my life, but with both of them, it's all about quality over quantity.

I met Kirstin in 2006 in New York City. She was rooming with two other girls (Morgen and Jenny) in a cute apartment in Harlem. It was my first trip to the city, and my travel companion Adam was staying with them while I was staying with my friend Mark and his boyfriend in Gramercy. On the second or third night of the trip, I came up to meet the girls, and I fell in love immediately. They were welcoming, kind and funny---everything you could want in people you've just met. Since then, there have been great intervals between meetings, but it's always as if no time has passed at all.

Adam and I visited Europe in October of 2010, primarily because Kirstin was going to be finishing up with graduate school in Edinburgh quite soon, and she wanted to be able to show us the beautiful city before she had to leave it. It was a fantastic trip (which I'll chronicle soon, I promise), but what made it truly special was having friends there who could truly show off the city in a way that a guide book never could. Kir was an inimitable host, and I was truly saddened when we had to leave. It could have been any city on Earth, and Kirstin still would have made it a pleasure.

I met Charlie roughly a year before I met Kirstin, in the kitchen of a midtown apartment in Nashville. Adam and then-boyfriend Blake had invited both Charlie and me out to the club for an underwear party. (Something I wouldn't consider doing now for all the tea in China.) I arrived first and began to needle the boys for details about our mystery guest. Beyond "he's cute" and "you'll like him", they didn't give me much to build a mental image from, but when he arrived, I discovered that "he's cute" and "you'll like him" didn't even begin to cover it: He was (well, is) insanely attractive and I was smitten with him the moment he walked through the door.

We went to the club and had a fantastic time, although I was doubly self-conscious about being in my undies now that a cute boy was in the mix. (And by that I mean "new" cute boy; Adam and Blake were then - and continue to be - quite fetching.) We all danced and got ogled by older gentlemen until very late-thirty when we headed back to the guys' apartment. Did I mention that at this point in my career at the television station I had be at work at roughly 3 a.m.? Oh, yes, that was one superfun morning at work, I tell you what.

I saw Charlie twice more before he headed back to the Pacific Northwest, and by the time I saw him off at the airport, I knew that he'd always have a special place in my heart. Corny, I know, but that's the way it is. Like with Kirstin, there have been large periods of time between meetings, but time doesn't seem to have any effect on our affection for each other.

I'm not a religious person, having rejected the denominational teachings I was raised with, but I really can't think of any other way to word the next sentence without using the Big Guy's name, so here goes: Thank God for having such wonderful people in my life--people I'll always care about and who will always care about me.

Blog Every Day in April 2011

Dearest readers,

It goes without saying that I've neglected this blog. It's been nearly eight months, for pete's sake! That's almost 3/4 of a year! And the most recent blog entry describes a trip that occurred in the fall of 2009?! Hell's bells, I've been to New York, New Orleans, and EUROPE since then. Bad Brian! I'd spank myself, but that would prove more reward than punishment.

In the interest of sloughing off stagnation, my friend Chris has suggested that he and I attempt to Blog Every Day in April. (It's a "thing" apparently, so that's why it's all capital-y.) I suppose technically for me this would be a reattempt, since, while Chris successfully documented his life on a daily basis (with pitchers even!) back in April of '09, I failed spectacularly. I clocked in at a measly 11 entries, and one of 'em was simply me bitching about the task at hand. If it had been Feed a Baby Every Day in April, the poor thing would've starved to death. Well, actually, maybe not, but it probably would have ended up feeble-minded due to malnutrition at such a critical time in its early development.

Now the more observant among you will feel that's important to point out that it's already the 7th of April. I'll say first of all that the gauntlet was only thrown down yesterday. Secondly, I'll suggest that you refrain from being such a smart ass.

So fasten your seatbelts, boys and girls. We're gonna blog the fuck outta this here interwebs.

Facetiously yours,
Brian 5