winning

I keep forgetting to write here because life is fun again, I'm no longer sick, and who wants to stare at a screen after staring at a screen for 8+ hours a day? I finally have enough energy to run again, and although the Boston weather has forced me onto the treadmill, I really don't mind because hey, not only can I walk, I can run! My neurologist was shocked that I'm running on the treadmill. I guess it's something that balance-challenged MS patients usually don't do. But she also told me something interesting. I asked her what percentage of her patients were like me -- getting around, not fatigued, nearly symptom-free. She said 80%, which really surprised me. I guess the drugs are really working for people.

Justin has been here for a week and he has really quickly become a regular member of the household, so much so that I'm not sure what we'll do without him. Maple in particular is going to be devastated. She knows he's leaving today and every time it gets mentioned, she tears up. Last night she sobbed herself to sleep thinking about it. She was crying and sputtering and heaving that Ju-Ju-Jus-Jus-Just-Justin is lea-lea-leav-leav-leaving. Poor thing. But Justin will be happy I think -- he can spend at least 10% less time staring into his iPhone because he will be able to look at James instead.

I'm not sure I've told you, multitude of readers, the weird story of Justin and James. I virtually-met James in 2001 (or 2002?) via the internet, and we met in person in 2002 in Denver. After my big life-changing event in 2002, I drove across the country and stayed with James for a few days. We had a lot of fun, smoking cigarettes and going to erotic equipment superstores and walking his dog Vinnie. We also ate lots of pastries as I recall. I didn't keep in touch with James too well over the years, mostly because a certain stalker who was in our mutual blog circles scared me into distrusting anyone I'd met over the internet. James was never weird at all, but I wasn't taking chances. I did know that he moved to SF and later to Seattle, but we only talked one time in 2004, and then not again.

Fast forward to this year. I guess it was in May or so that Justin met a guy named James, and they started dating, and I thought, "wouldn't that be weird if it was the same James? I mean, after all, his name is James, he's gay, and he lives in Seattle. It must be him!" But of course I dismissed this thought because it was ludicrous. There must be at least 3 gay guys in Seattle named James. Ha-hah! Well, it turns out it was the same James, and now it's 6 months later and they are still together. I hope next year they both come to visit!