Thursday, November 2, 2023

10 Years Later...

This is so bizarre. I'm back here, writing again after 10 years and an odd number of months.  The last blog entry I made was not long after I had moved to Cocoa, Florida.  I've been so busy living and loving life, there was no reason or time to write anything about it.

I am grateful.  I am extremely grateful that I've had so much time with such great new friends in a new place.  Some never get that.  I did... and I got it for 10+ years. 

That doesn't mean that everything is bad again.  Writing doesn't have to indicate that.  But I think it's healthy and correct to state that sometimes we just gotta write something down somewhere that other people will see it if they care to look for it.  It's more the act of the writing that means something.

Let's see, how to sum up 10 years.  I moved away from PSL (already should know that since that happened in 2012).  I met a lot of new friends here.  I started working a side gig at a bar called The Ultra Lounge.  I started as a DJ and then became a "drag" entertainer as well.

Since then, I DJ'd many different events, performed in drag at multiple bars and events, started a film and events production company that closed up during Covid, served on the board of Space Coast Pride as their entertainment director... twice... for about 3 years each time, learned how to play Magic the Gathering, got back into Role Playing games, wrote a Trance track that I really should have gotten published (but didnt), created a show called Trancegiving that started as a DJ mix and then became an event that raised money for charities, moved two more times, had multiple roommates, lost two cats and gained two more, severed my connection with Sadao for good and allowed my other connections to others (and to myself) blossom.  

And... my mother died.

Two years ago, in fact.  I miss her still, so very much.  When I was home for her funeral, I got to reconnect with many family members that have asked me when am I coming home.  It's been over 30 years and they're still asking that question.  I think that's gotta be a record.

Since that time, my life has changed in unfathomable ways, ways I never saw coming.  The very state that I moved to because of it's open arms and good vibes has gone on the attack.  The place where I learned about myself, found others like myself, found work that didn't care about the body I was in and gave me the job I needed, the place where I learned to dance like no one was watching, the place where I learned about Peace, Love, Unity and Respect and all the good things about humanity... yeah, that magical place... has said that people like me are abominations.  It has said that entertainers like me are trying to trick children into becoming unwitting participants in sexual deviancy.  It has begun to say all manner of vile things about me, my friends, and those I call family.

Many like me have already left the state.  Many are still working on getting out.  While still more just don't have the means to leave... or if they did, would be leaving everything they've ever known.  

How did all this happen?  How is it that the place I was running from is somehow looking better than the place I ran to?  Is it time to make a change?  Possibly? More like definitely.  But what change is to be made?  Some are easier than others (and I happen to know a thing or two about making drastic changes in one's life).

I think this is the beginning of a new set of writings to chronicle the new few months, maybe even years, as we enter into a new era of conflict.  Brace yourselves.  It's probably gonna get bumpy.

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