Friday, March 30, 2007

Friday Fantasy - Iceland Investigation, Part 3

Meanwhile, Mr. Butterfly’s adventure was as follows. He arrived at Club 22 with Sue and it was Diana Ross disco night. A really cute young man with a ski cap asked him to dance and of course he said, “Yes!” The first song was Love Child. Cool! The young explorer was dying to know this cutie’s name and leaned in and asked, but there seemed to be a language barrier. Eventually, though it became clear that the cutie’s name was Rurik. There was quite a bit of eye contact during the dancing and that was a great connection in Mr. Butterfly’s mind. He also thought that Rurik moved in a very sexy and body conscious fashion and that boded well for them. Then during Upside Down, Rurik stripped off his shirt in one fluid and sexy motion revealing a very toned upper torso, so the explorer stripped his shirt off too. That was when the heavy flirting really started. Rurik put his hand on the explorer’s naked shoulder and the explorer grabbed Rurik’s narrow waist.

Then the slow song, Missing You began and nothing was stopping them from clinching and kissing. Their naked breasts touched and their groins were pressed together meaningfully. Their tongues lashed out at each other as mouths joined. Mr. Butterfly held Rurik’s broad shoulders, but Rurik held Mr. Butterfly’s ass and squeezed it tight to him in a suggestive manner that needed no language to understand. When the song ended, they did not want to part, but Sue and her partner came over and interrupted them.

Sue told Mr. Butterfly that she and Nikulás were going back to the Floki Inn. Mr. Butterfly assured her that he and Rurik would be following soon. Rurik managed a guilty smile. Sue and her partner left the guys to their own devices.

“Finally we are alone.” Said Mr. Butterfly.

“What?” said Rurik. “Sorry. My English is not so good.”

“Shut up and dance.”

The next song was Stop in the Name of Love by the Supremes. The whole dance floor did an entertaining parody of the hand movements to that song. Mr. Butterfly and Rurik had fun dancing to it; holding out their hands when the word “stop” was being sung. No language was needed here either. The next song was I Will Survive. They boogied to that one too and it was a real crowd pleaser with the older folks. It struck both of them how dance and music is really an international language. They could meet and communicate perfectly without needing to know each other’s tongue. The next song was Ain’t No Mountain High Enough and message of that song was not lost on them. They decided to leave to get to know each other even better. They were covered with a fine sheen of sweat as they donned their shirts for the walk back to the Floki Inn.

When they got there, Mr. Butterfly unlocked the door and let Rurik into his room. He then closed the door and turned to Rurik. They clinched and kissed feverishly. Hands fumbled with shirts and pants as they undressed quickly. Feet kicked off shoes. Hands embraced stiffening body parts. Rurik thought to himself, what does he do to keep his skin so buttery soft? But that thought was quickly replaced with lust for Mr. Butterfly. Rurik put his hands on Mr. Butterfly’s shoulders and going to his knees, then ran them down over Mr. Butterfly’s pecs, tweaking the nipples while gazing into his eyes, then grabbing Mr. Butterfly’s hips, he took Mr. Butterfly’s already erect penis into his mouth.

Mr. Butterfly gasped in ecstasy and threw his head back. Rurik circled the helmet with his tongue and then sucked the member in as hard and fast as he could to the root until his nose was in Mr. Butterfly’s neatly trimmed pubic hairs. With his other hand he began to play with Mr. Butterfly’s asshole, inserting a finger to the first joint.

Mr. Butterfly was very pleased with Rurik’s blow job, but more so with his perfectly rounded ass. Oh god, he wanted to eat that thing. But how could he communicate that to this man who spoke no English? So he reached down to fondle those delicious globes. Rurik looked up from what he was doing and slowly rose to a standing position. They walked over to the bed. Mr. Butterfly gently pushed Rurik’s shoulders down so that he was on all fours on the bed and got behind him. What a view from here! He could see the young man’s perfect ass cheeks, balls, and pendulous erection. Then in the center, he saw the prize, Rurik’s cute pink pucker. Mr. Butterfly leaned in to gently blow on the pucker. Rurik shuddered with pleasure. Mr. Butterfly put his hands on Rurik’s ass cheeks and spread them wide and began to lick Rurik’s asshole. It tasted a bit salty and sweaty, but after all that dancing, that was no surprise. It was delicious! Mr. Butterfly’s tongue teased at the pucker itself, trying to loosen it to gain entry. Finally he did and his tongue went in and he could hear Rurik groan deeply with pleasure. His tongue went in more as he ate Rurik’s ass. Mr. Butterfly then hummed into Rurik’s asshole the melody from Stop in the Name of Love. This drove Rurik wild with pleasure.

What a terrific rim job he was getting; probably the best he ever had. Rurik just wanted to fuck Mr. Butterfly so badly. But where was the lube? There it was on the dresser by the bed. Reluctantly he broke away from the pleasure of the rimming and got up to get it. He donned a condom, had Mr. Butterfly lay back on the bed, lubed him up and got on top. Rurik was hard a rock and ready for action as his penis nudged Mr. Butterfly’s lubed asshole. It didn’t take long for the head to enter and Mr. Butterfly gasped and held his legs by the shins a bit tighter to his body, as if that would lessen the pain. Rurik was not gentle. He decided to give Mr. Butterfly a fucking to remember him by and plunged the entire length of his average sized organ in all in one go. It only hurt for a moment, then it was bliss for Mr. Butterfly whose breathing deepened quickly. Mr. Butterfly looked steadily at the handsome young man making love to him and was entranced. A blush formed over Mr. Butterfly’s face and spread to this chest as he was fucked vigorously.

Rurik was also in heaven. This is really fucking hot, he thought as he pounded away at Mr. Butterfly. Rurik knew he would explode in orgasm soon but he couldn’t stop himself. So without warning, he came. But, Mr. Butterfly had been around and could read the signs. He could see that Rurik’s breathing had deepened and that his strokes were quicker. He wasn’t born yesterday. He let the kid get off. He wasn’t that far behind anyway. He only needed a few strokes himself to get off and that’s just what he did. Rurik pulled out and took off the used condom.

Mr. Butterfly got up to brush his teeth. When he returned Rurik was watching local television. They kissed and settled in for a night’s sleep.

Rurik photo credit: Completely Naked Images

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Freshman Year - Part 9, Scuba Class

I guess that mom felt bad about what happened and decided to spend some money ($60) to assuage some of that guilt, so she popped for me to take some scuba lessons at college. I was super excited about that. I had all these dreams about going to the Caribbean and diving underwater and seeing colorful fishes and shells and blue, blue water going on forever. It would be a dream come true for me if only I could learn how to dive. Plus, it would be worth one full physical education credit to pass the course and you had to be able to swim to graduate, and this course would ensure one met that requirement also.

So, I showed up at the school's Olympic sized pool, and to get into the course one had to swim a kilometer without stopping, in other words, 20 lengths of the 50 meter pool. That was not a problem for me so long as it was not timed. With all of my synchronized swimming training, I was certainly not the fastest, but surely the most graceful swimmer in the pool. A huge number of swimmers started, and many finished. More swimmers finished than they expected, because the class was huge, with 50 students, and the number of students to teachers was ten to one. I made the distance without any trouble whatsoever; it was just a good workout.

The class was broken up into pool and class time. We would learn something in class and then go and do it in the pool. We chose buddies and I got paired up with a guy named Doug. I was pretty happy with him, as he was blond and really cute. He had a swimmer’s body and his hair was naturally blond, thick and lustrous, and he had a full soft beard. He wasn’t really very tall though, at about average height.

I enjoyed the course and it was pretty easy. I remember the first time we put our tanks on and submerged to the bottom of the pool. It was just so cool to sit on the bottom and be in the water able to breathe and look around at everyone. My thought was, okay, take me to the Caribbean, I am ready to see those fish!

Swimming with the tanks on was a rush. They were very heavy for me. Consider when you only weigh 100 pounds and you have these tanks on your back. Then try to swim on the surface. The tanks kept turning me turtle, so that my belly was up in the air. It took lots of arm movement to keep the tanks up. Plus, when we learned entries, the one where you do a flip into the water, I didn’t realize that the momentum of the tanks would spin me so fast. That was interesting.

I had one close call during the course. Doug and I were doing an exercise where you have to dive to the bottom, take off all of your equipment, come to the top, then go back down again, put all of your equipment back on and resurface. So, I go back down to put my equipment back on and somehow I put my tank on backwards. Now my regulator is not on the side it is supposed to be on. So I reach for it with my right hand and it is not there. So I give Doug my out of air signal because I would like to buddy breathe, and he gives me a confused look, because he can see my regulator on my left and doesn’t understand why I can’t find it. So, there we are at a stalemate. I am signaling out of air and he is looking confused. Thank god we weren’t in too deep a water, because I just surfaced, exhaling as I rose through the water. Okay, so he wasn’t a very good dive buddy. But, he did ask me out.

So we went out. I don’t remember what we did, but we ended up in his dorm room, making out. His roommate was also there with his girlfriend. We could hear them really getting down to it and maybe even having sex. Doug and I were kissing. His beard was really soft and I was getting very turned on and thinking that this could go further. He was feeling my body through my clothes. Then he said, “You know, it is a good thing that I am a gentleman, or you could be in big trouble right here.”

I just sighed. I thought to myself, yeah, I suppose I could be. So, we wrapped it up and never went out again. What did it take to get these guys to see that I wanted to have sex? That I didn’t want to be a good girl all the time. I don’t know. I guess I didn’t love him. So I just gave up on him.

One day as I was returning to my dorm and walking up the many flights of stairs to my room, a tough looking guy called out to me from above, “Hey! Tiffany stiffed me on my shit! Where the fuck is she?” I was terrified. But not for long. A male voice came up from not far below me and said, “You leave Sue alone. She’s a nice girl and doesn’t know anything about that shit.” Then he looked down at my face and smiled at me.

It was Ray, my floor’s Resident Assistant who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Ray was very tall and thin and was a very successful African American miler. He used to say things like all he needed to do was clip his toe nails, put on his sneakers and he was ready to race. He came up even with me on the stairs and put his arm around me and we walked together to my room. He was such a nice guy. I just couldn’t figure out why he didn’t do anything about my roommates dealing drugs if he knew about it. He must have known as he had just seen this episode. It was a conundrum. At least he stood up for me this time. That was good of him.

Back at scuba, we were told that our open water dive was going to be in Skaneateles Lake before the ice melted. We were going to rent wet suits, cut through the ice and do our dive. Shit. No way, I thought. It just wasn’t worth it to me to get my card by freezing my butt off like that. I had heard that the wet suits didn't fit small bodies like mine so well. So asked if I could still get a good grade if I didn’t do the open water dive and they assured me that I could. So, I opted out of it and got a B in the course figuring that later in life, when I was in the Bahamas I could get my card in no time in balmy aquamarine waters.

Skaneatles Lake in Winter

I completed the course and found out later that one person had burst and ear drum surfacing too quickly and not clearing their ears properly. Scuba is really dangerous if one is not careful.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Koi Pond News March 2007

Or, everything you ever wanted to know and more about my pond.

On Friday, March 23, I measured the water temperature in my koi pond and it was 47˚F (8.3˚C) already! Last year at around this time it was only 41˚F. It really has been a warm year. The fish were up and looking really hungry. They had eaten all of their food from last year, so I had to run out and buy more. I forgot how expensive koi food is. A ten pound bag of Kaytee was $25 at the local Petco. That was the least expensive of the brands they carry which include the uber-expensive Hikari and my fall back brand Tetra Pond. I don’t like Tetra Pond, because it does cost a bit more and you have to drop it into the pond instead of throwing it in as the pellets weigh less. I prefer to toss it in from my porch; I’m too lazy to walk down to my pond. So that is the low down on food.

Two years ago, Sean came up with a great idea for keeping an opening in the ice on the pond. We have two ponds, a big pond and a little pond. They are connected by a waterfall. What we used to have was a sump pump on a shallow shelf under the waterfall in the big pond and have it pump the water into the little pond and then down the waterfall back into the big pond. For the new idea we took a smaller pump and put it into an opaque plastic box with lots of holes drilled in the sides and placed that on the shelf in the big pond and left it running. The top of the box was in the air. The ice could freeze right up to the box, but that didn’t matter, so long as the water in the box didn’t freeze and the water below the ice didn’t freeze. Also, we got the action of the sun on the contents of the box. This system worked very well for two years.

Until we got that flood last month and the pond flooded its banks and the pump was totally submerged and leaked oil into the pond, shorted out and stopped pumping. Disaster!!!

Then we got subzero temperatures for a week or so, and I had to use the old fashioned method of making a hole in the ice. I put a hot teapot on the ice in the morning with a rope on the handle, so when it fell in, I could pull it back out. It is an old Japanese trick that one learns from knowing an old Japanese person. Kidding, I learned it from reading books.

So, we went out and bought a Beckett waterfall pump. Anything made especially for a fish pond is expensive. We will try our brilliant method with a smaller box and the fish pond pump that really is submersible.

But this late in the season, and we will resume running our regular waterfall pump from the basement. That runs from an underground line from the pond to the well pump in the basement to the waterfall in the pond. We need to do a water change this year. Ah, spring. You gotta love it.

Monday, March 26, 2007

The Curacao Cure - Part 3


There were two boat dives the first day. The first one was to Cas Abou. Cas Abou (or Lower House) is one of the nicest beaches on Curacao and worth visiting with the whole family. Located directly off the beach, this site offers a nice, sheltered wall dive appropriate for all levels of divers. To reach this site by car, head west towards Soto. Shortly after passing the turnoff to Willibrordus, turn left and follow the road past the land house where you pay a small fee at the gate on your left. The beach is sandy, clean, and quite large, with facilities including bathrooms, showers, snacks, chairs, and shade. The areas along the cliffs bordering the beach to both sides provide some good snorkeling.


The dive site lies 100 yards straight out from the beach and is marked by a mooring buoy in 20 feet of water. A heavy rope runs along the sandy bottom from the mooring and down along the drop-off to a depth of 70 feet, making it easy to find your way back without having to surface for a peek. Currents are usually light and both directions are nice. To the right the reef runs from 30 feet to 100 feet, ending in a sandy plane where large groups of Garden Eels can be seen swaying back and forth. To the left the reef wall is steeper and drops to 120 feet. Fire Coral, Sea Rods, Tube Sponges, and Flower Coral are all found in abundance. Also look for large Green Morays, Spotted Morays, Porcupinefish, Scorpionfish, Cowfish, Sting Rays, and Eagle Rays.


The second dive of the day was to Porto Marie.


This is a wonderful site for all levels of divers and snorkelers alike, offering a quiet scenic beach to relax before and after your dive. Located about 2 miles past St. Willibrordus, just follow the signs and the dirt road to the parking lot, where you pay a small fee to park and use the beach. Facilities include beach chairs, parasols, and a snack bar. You can gear up in the parking lot, a very short walk from the water.



Enter at the beach and swim straight out towards the mooring buoy, a hundred yards from shore. Currents and swells here are light and the visibility averages 80 feet. In the shallows you’ll see what look to be giant hollow golf balls, called reef balls. These were placed to help speed the reef’s recovery after the devastating effects of Hurricane Lenny in 1999. The reef balls seem to be working well; they’re placed along a snorkel trail, making for an interesting snorkel experience.



Porto Marie offers a unique double reef dive, with a hundred foot wide, fifty foot deep sandy valley separating the inner and outer reefs. Novice divers should consider staying inside this valley, diving the outside of the first reef and the inside of the second reef.

Spotted Snake Eels can often be found buried in the sand, with Triggerfish, Squirrelfish, Goatfish, and Gobies populating the reef.


The outside of the second reef runs from 30 feet to below 130 feet; it’s in very good shape with Gorgonians and Stony Corals competing for space. It’s intersected by two wide sandy channels that run 120 feet deep; keep an eye on your depth gauge while crossing. Barracuda, Groupers, Sting Rays, and Eagle Rays are often seen in this area.

This is a developed beach. In the past you could park your car on a strip of sand (and rocks) along the water, but since then the beach has been much improved. There are huts that provide you with the necessary shade and there is a nice restaurant. Even under water some things have changed.

Some dive summaries are taken from here.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Sunday Comics - Oliver Frey Winner Takes All


Above is a detail of an Oliver Frey drawing. To see the full drawing titled "Winner Takes All" you need to click here which will take you to Pete of Finland's blog. Enjoy!

Friday, March 23, 2007

Friday Fantasy - Iceland Investigation, Part 2

You know that television commercial with the little boy who is just too excited to sleep because he is going to Disney World? Well, that is how Mr. Butterfly and Sue Fairview felt on their Air Icelandia flight to Reykjavik. They just chatted the whole way there about what they would see and do. It seemed in no time their jet was making its approach for landing at Keflvík Airport. The wheels were dropped from the fuselage, locked down into place for landing, the plane leveled, slowed and landed. They taxied to the gate and rolling stairs were pulled up for their exit through the Leifur Eiriksson Air Terminal.

They changed some dollars for krona, went through baggage claim, customs and immigration without problems and grabbed a taxi for the 40 minute ride to the Floki Inn. They spoke no Icelandic, but showed the address to the cabbie and he was familiar with it.

They had chosen to stay at the Floki Inn because of the reasonable price of $70 dollars a night per person for a room with shared bath facilities. Surely they did not want to waste privately donated funds on expensive lodgings. Yet, the Floki was well located within walking distance of attractions in Reykjavik and clean. They had only planned on staying two nights and then they would be camping for most of the trip. So having a bed at all would be a luxury for those two nights.

Check in time wasn’t until 4:00 pm and it was hardly lunch time. So, they went to check on their shipped supplies and those had arrived just fine and were stored in a separate area at the Floki.

Sue had arranged for a trip to the local spa to get an Ayurvedic cleansing treatment massage. They went there and were shown into changing rooms, where they showered and changed into spa robes and slippers.

One masseur was Shiva and the other was Krishna. Shiva explained that he had studied massage in India under his grandfather. The herbal oils were designed to purge the body of toxins. These warmed oils were poured over their bodies and massaged in deeply for 90 minutes. Neither of them felt much like moving after that. They checked into the Floki Inn and had dinner at a respectable fish place that had a lobster special.

After a nap, at 10:00 in the evening they donned their Diesel jeans and went out to hit Reykjavik’s clubs. They began with the leather bar, MSC. It is opposite the Opera house at the back of a dark alley. When they got there they were told that women are not allowed in! So, Mr. Butterfly decided to just pop in for a glance and then come back out. But, he reported that it was too early for anything to be happening there.

So they moved on to the next club on their list, the Spotlight Club. They stopped in for vodka (the drink of choice here in Iceland) but nobody was there and they moved on to Club 22. Finally, this was where it was happing for the evening. The club upstairs was packed as and they were having a Diana Ross disco dance night. Right away they noticed that this was a mixed venue having both gay and straight clientele.

They both felt like the new gazelles that have just entered the savanna and all the lions were checking them out. Sue and the young explorer felt like fresh meat. It didn’t take long for both of them to get asked to dance. Sue’s partner was very cute, tall, brunette and thin, but muscular; he’d do just fine. The first song they danced to was Love Child. Sue asked him what his name was, yelling over the music, and he said that he was called Nikulás. She told him her name and they continued dancing. The song changed to I’m Coming Out and the crowd went wild.

Nikulás

Sue peeked over at Mr. Butterfly and his dance partner was really cute. Like to die for cute. He had a very modern look and was wearing a ski cap that made him look very sexy. They were really getting down to the music.

But then, Nikulás brought Sue’s attention back to him with his fingers on her chin. He said, “Don’t look at your friend, keep your eyes on me. You never know what I’ll do. I might just do this.” Then he leaned in and kissed her on the mouth. His hand went to the back of her head and his tongue entered her mouth gently. She allowed it. It was quick and fun. Then they just kept dancing as if nothing had happened.

The next song was Upside Down and that was also a real crowd pleaser. During that one Sue noticed that Mr. Butterfly and his dance partner had taken their shirts off and were getting to know each other a bit better; they were kissing too. Then the DJ played a slow song, Missing You. Nikulás did not hesitate to bring Sue in close. Sue and Nikulás embraced and trust me; there was no room to throw a cat in between them. There was body contact everywhere. Like many of the other couples on the floor, they began to kiss and press their bodies together suggestively. All of the drinks and the music and Nikulás and Sue were getting pretty turned on. When the song ended Sue whispered into his ear, “Do you want to go?”

He said, “Sure.”

Sue and partner headed for where Mr. Butterfly was to tell him they were going. They had to interrupt him and his new friend but they did. Sue told him they were leaving and returning to the Floki. He said that he would also be going back soon with his new friend, Rurik. Sue winked at him and he smiled. Even Rurik managed a guilty smile and a wink.

Nikulás had trouble keeping his hands off of Sue on the short sunlit walk back to the Floki at nearly midnight. Sue just kept telling him in the immortal words of Diana Ross, You Can’t Hurry Love. He didn’t think that was very funny. Eventually they got back to the room. Sue unlocked the door and they both fell into the room. Nikulás closed the door behind them and began peeling off his clothes and hers. Sue’s hands fumbled trying to help him with his belt buckle and pants zipper to expose his hard-on. When that was done she went down on him, taking as much as possible in her mouth all in one go. He threw his head back, pushed out his hips and moaned. She deep throated him right away and didn’t stop even though he had quite a length on him. She supported his balls with her right hand and gave them a little tug now and then, circling them with her thumb and forefinger. She steadied herself with her left arm around his waist. She really was making a sloppy mess of things. His pants were around his ankles, but he didn’t care. He had to stop her before he came and he certainly didn’t want to come this way, not before he had the chance to fuck her.

So, he stopped her, even though she was giving him the probably the best head ever and finished undressing her by pulling off her shoes and Diesel jeans. He put a condom on and pushed her back on the bed and directed his cock into her pussy as she tilted her hips up to help him. But, he was not satisfied. He asked her to flip over, and she did. She went to all fours, and on his knees, he held her hips and entered her pussy from the back. The view from here was much better. He could see her spectacular ass as he pumped away at it. Oh, god she was tight from this angle. This wasn’t going to take too long. It felt way too good. He asked if she was close and she was moaning in reply. That was a good sign. Her skin felt so buttery soft; how did she get it that way?

Sue was in heaven. And Nikulás was putting her there. Every stroke of his rock hard cock was bringing her closer to nirvana. That bright and shining edge of pleasure was so close and so far. Right at the edge, just a bit closer, oh so close, so close, close, don’t stop. Then she moaned in pleasure loudly with her release and Nikulás heard it and knew what it meant. He could feel her insides constricting on his cock with her waves of pleasure and he was right behind her. A couple more strokes and there he was, he shot waves of creamy sperm into the condom. A couple more strokes and he collapsed on top of her with his release and then scooted off so as not to crush her with his weight. She turned to him and they kissed; both blissful and satisfied. Sue smiled and said, “That was wonderful.” He had to agree; she was a damn hot fuck.

Dude pictures from Completely Naked Images

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Small Town News - Town Spins Out of Control

Town Hall Expansion Committee

An informational meeting was held at town hall last night to discuss the findings of the Town Hall Expansion Committee. This was the first anybody in town had heard about this committee. Of course, our little concerned citizens’ group had the inside scoop, including drawings of the plan and costs as well as other alternatives explored. Sean and I grabbed some Chinese take out and attended the meeting.

Actions of the committee were presented by the chair who has been a local architect for 30 years. The committee was comprised of residents including the chair of the planning and zoning commission. The following was his presentation:

They began by having each Town Hall resident complete a questionnaire indicating how much space they would like to have. Then they made a table of how much square footage each resident has and next to that the “wish list” square footage. The next question was where to build. Then the chair presented a drawing of the floor plan of town hall with a good sized addition coming off of the side and closing off the cut through road, and this side of the building is not thought to be off historical value since it does not have a curved edge and is not currently very nice to look at. This drawing is not available electronically, but I have used and old drawing from the Walgreen’s Pharmacy project and boxed in the new addition in black. As you can see, the planned addition would cover the town hall parking spaces, so the original spaces planned to be in front of the curved part of town hall are back in the plans. Architects have been working on this plan for a year.

Then he went into space allocation which was arrived at with “bubble” design and planned square footage was added to actual and wished for.

A consultant architectural firm was hired to maintain the historic character (“vocabulary” – geesh) of the town hall in the addition and she showed how this had been successfully accomplished in other projects.

My cobb job of representing the town hall addition. Town Hall in red, addition in black. See how it overlaps planned parking, where the cut through was, and new parking is now in front of the curved part of the building. Front view photo (above) taken from acute angle in street.

The presentation was then opened up for questions.

I asked if alternatives would be discussed as had been mentioned in the card mailed to all residents of the town. For example, the town had looked at buying a local funeral home and a local residence as town hall annexes, plus there was an option to rent a large local business with 43,000 square feet of office space for $8 a square foot. Had the committee looked at those possibilities? The answer was that no, they were only charged to develop this expansion. I answered that the mailer was misleading to residents then.

The citizens’ group’s eloquent architect had figured out a way to gain all of the square footage without an addition (by squeezing in a second floor – see explanation below) and wanted to present that, but he was disallowed and told it wasn’t his meeting.

Squeezing in a second floor – The town hall has a first floor with a high ceiling and an auditorium with a 17 foot ceiling. There is plenty of room to squeeze in another floor and still have a usable auditorium space.

A fireman with 35 years on the force indicated that closing the cut through could be a major problem as each foot of hose laid cuts water pressure and he wasn’t sure that the fire department could service down town adequately and keep the town’s high fire protection rating. That issue will be looked into.

One resident stood and said that she was appalled that any addition to our historic town hall was being considered at all. There was applause for her (myself and Sean included).

Sean stood and said that the town should really take a step back and look at other alternatives to building a major addition to town hall. Also, he wanted to know if any costs for the project were available. The chair acknowledged that costs were available and passed out the handouts with the costs. The bottom line was $2.6 million hard costs. Joe, the first selectman, said that the committee had looked at other alternatives first including the funeral home and the private residence. Then, the planning and zoning chair piped up and went through her litany of why they had turned down those other alternatives. I just couldn’t stand it that they had said that they didn’t look at this, and then did. So I interrupted with, “Did you consider renting at the industrial complex for $8 a square foot? Did anyone look at that?” Then I looked at Joe, and said, “I don’t understand why people on these committees don’t have any imagination when it comes to spending our tax dollars and protecting our town hall. I’m sorry, I am interrupting.” And then I shut up.

Someone asked what the next step was and the chair indicated that it was schematic design at 15% of the architectural fee or $25K. This would have to be decided by referendum. There is $100K in grants available to the town for this purpose.

Then, one of the committee members stood to sing the praises of the members of the committee and while doing that she mentioned that they had looked at squeezing in a second floor, but found it unworkable because of the cost of structural work. I thought that the eloquent architect, who was sitting next to me with his drawings of those very plans, would rocket out of his seat in replying to this. Again, they had said that hadn’t done something, but then did. And worse for him, they wouldn’t let him speak. He said, “I have those very drawings here. It is possible and if you would like to see how, I would be glad to show you.” As he rushed the stage, the meeting broke up.

Everyone was very frustrated and nothing much was accomplished. I honestly don’t know what will happen next. By the way, a Dunkin Donuts is being built behind a house right next to the new Walgreen’s. At least it won’t be on the street and won’t have a drive through. The citizens’ group is not going to fight it. We have bigger fish to fry with our court case ongoing.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Freshman Year - Part 8, New Dorm, Roommates, Problems

In the second semester of my freshman year I was moved to the oldest dormitory on campus. It was built in the Georgian style of architecture was three story walk up with dormers on the top floor. I was again going to be joining two other girls in a triple on the top floor. The other girls had been together the previous semester and had lost a roommate who failed out. So, I lugged my green duffel bag up the stairs and went to the first door on the right, which was my new room. I put my bag on the bed up against the wall on the left, perpendicular to the door, which was to be mine and began to unpack. I had a closet all to myself on the same wall as the door in this room and a dormer window opposite the door and desk just past the window. The room was twice as long as the other room I was in last semester, so no bunk beds were needed. There was a bed that faced parallel to the door across the room, a desk, another dormer, a bird cage in which there was a turquoise parakeet,

a desk in the corner, and then another bed to the far right perpendicular to the door. Immediately to the right of the door was a large double closet that the other two girls shared. There really was quite a lot of floor space in this room. I finished unpacking and decided not to hang my Lord of the Rings poster this year, since it only reminded me of the bad times of last year.

Later that day, I got to meet my new roommates. Nancy was a sophomore geology major and had shoulder length brown hair and an alright body but a puffy face. I wasn’t sure why she looked that way. Tiffany was a psychology major from Massapequa, Long Island and was overweight but pretty and also had shoulder length brown hair. They seemed okay to me. So there we were talking, getting acquainted, when suddenly a black student pops up to the door shyly and says, “Yo, you got my stuff?”

And Tiffany says, “Yeah.” She gets up, and goes to MY closet, opens it up and goes into MY sneaker, gets out a baggie, with god knows what in it and hands it to this creep and he hands her some money and then he vanishes into the hallway. It all happened so fast; I was just trying to figure out what happened when Tiffany said, “See. That is the way it is around here. We know that you had some sort of trouble last semester and that is why you are here with us. If you tell anyone what is going on here, we can involve you, just like that. It will be your word against ours. We are not the ones with the history of problems here now are we? So just keep your mouth shut and everyone will be happy.” Then she just smiled at me.

I was terrified. What had I gotten myself into now? What the fuck drugs were they dealing out of my room? Out of my sneakers? I answered her, “Okay, I’ll play along, but get that shit out of my sneakers now.”

“Sure Sue.” She smiled at me smugly, and she went back to my closet and took all of the junk out of my sneakers and put it into her closet. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I started thinking. I was going to have to find a way to make my side of the room safe from them. Then I was going to have to find a way to make them respect me. Shit I hated to have to live this way. All this and on my very first day back on campus! But no one was going to understand why I needed to switch rooms AGAIN.

As time went by, I learned the routine in my dorm. At night, the upperclassmen would play the card game hearts. I had always loved the game as a girl and in my family we had always played. So, sometimes if they didn’t have a fourth, I would join the game. They were surprised at first, because apparently none of the women in the dorm knew how to play. Not all of them played very well, so it was pretty easy to beat most of them, especially if they were drunk. So I made some allies with the upperclassmen.

Late one night, or should I say, early one morning, as I lay in my bed, my roommates returned totally fucked up on god knows what, barely able to speak.

“Oh god! I was so fucked up on mescaline I was just shaking and throwing up. I couldn’t believe you were blowing that guy! I mean, we didn’t even know him.” said Nancy.

“I know! Wasn’t it great?” replied Tiffany.

Nancy said, “Yeah! It was super. I would have blown him too. He was gorgeous.”

The next morning, Sunday, as usual I saw that Tiffany’s string bikini pants disappeared into the rolls of fat at her hips so that you couldn’t see that she was wearing any underwear at all except at her crotch. It was truly gross. They were gross. They were junked up whores.

“My mom is coming today to buy me some new skis. Fuck her. I wish she would just leave me the fuck alone!” said Tiffany.

Ahh, the loving Tiffany, I could not even afford lift tickets. She was so spoiled. She owned skis and her mother was coming to buy her new ones. Tiffany couldn’t even give her mother the time of day. Too busy getting high and getting laid. With that, they lit a joint, put on some David Bowie’s Suffragette City, and blew pot smoke onto the parakeet to make him chirp to the blasting music.

I went out for cream of wheat for breakfast. I had to find some new friends to room with next year. There was no way I could live this way.