Will I Ever Go Back To Provincetown?

Me in the back of my friend Bob's pickup truck, August 1974 at Bob White's Motel, Provincetown, Mass 

Back in the Seventies and early Eighties I used to spend all my vacation days in Provincetown, Massachusetts.  

The first time I visited Provincetown was in 1974.  I had heard a lot about Provincetown being the "Gay Mecca" from my late co-worker Don Lodge. I felt that I had missed out on all the "Gay Mecca" scene because I lived in Philadelphia, PA.  At that time Philadelphia was considered a pale imitation of New York City as far as the gay scene was concerned.

Being young and foolish (relatively), I thought I would grab this last chance of immersing myself into the Gay Disneyland of the East Coast.  

At 32 years old I felt I was past my prime gay attractiveness so I better make hay while the sun shined. Oh yes, I was brainwashed that if you were gay and over 30 years old you were washed up.  Oh how little did I know, witness the fact that I will soon be 75 years old and I am literally having the best time of my life now romantically and sexually.  Something I never would have believed way back there over forty years ago.  But I digress.  Back to the subject at hand.

I talked to my late good friend Bob McCamley about visiting Provincetown.  Bob had a pickup truck.  We were both butch.  What away to make an entrance into the gay Mecca, two butches in a pickup truck. 

Bob agreed to drive to Provincetown.  

He came by our townhouse in center city Philly one sunny Saturday morning and picked me up.  We were on our way!

To be continued:

Me and my friend Bob ready to depart Philadelphia for Provincetown, Mass August 1974

Trump Tax Return Shows He Could Have Avoided Taxes for 18 Years: NYT

Well, now we know why Donald Trump won't release his tax returns. 

The New York Times has published documents it said were Donald Trump's 1995 income tax returns, and the documents appear to show the businessman and GOP nominee reported a nearly $1 billion loss. 

Trump declared a nearly $916 million loss on his 1995 state income tax returns according to the documents, the Times reported in an article posted online Saturday night.

An unsigned statement from the Trump campaign posted to its website late Saturday did not appear to deny or dispute a single fact in the Times story, but asserted the document was "illegally obtained." 

Trump himself tweeted early Sunday: "I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them." Again, he did not deny or dispute the Times' findings. 

Three tax experts hired by the Times said the size of the deduction and tax rules governing wealthy filers could have allowed Trump to legally pay no federal income taxes for 18 years. There is nothing in the report that shows he actually took advantage of the rules to avoid paying taxes. 

I don't know about you folks, but I will not vote for a person for president of the United States who doesn't pay a penny in taxes.  Taxes that go to support our troops.  Taxes that go to support the defense of this country.  

Trump claims he's "smart" for not paying taxes.  What if everyone in this country didn't pay taxes?  Where would we be?

Now I realize that Trump's hardcore supporter just don't care about this latest revelation.  They care about the fact that Hillary had a home based e-mail server. These are the same supporters who answer every question about Trump with the first word "Hillary". 

Here is the question.  Do we want somebody who hasn't paid taxes for possibly forty or fifty years to be the head of our country? 

Two "great" hoteliers who don't pay taxes - one went to jail - the other one needs to go to jail

I'm not a religious person but I do pray that this con man will never be president.  If he gets elected by some fluke, God help us.

What Makes the Best Pet? Cats or Dogs?

Me and "Bobby" - 1953

While perusing my photos this morning I came across the banner photo I took of my late friend Dick Thomas's feral cats.

Dick Thomas and Ron Tipton - 1986 (30 years ago!)

I took this photo about thirty years ago at my friend Dick Thomas's country home in Pennsylvania.  Dick hired me at Girard Bank in 1965.  I didn't know him before he hired me.  We became friends during my twenty-one year employment at Girard. 

Dick lived in the city but had a "country place" in Chester Country near several big farms.

He used to feed feral cats that gathered at his place.  This was a picture I took of some of those feral cats.  Dick died some years ago, I wonder what ever became of those thirty or so feral cats. 

Dick's feral cats waiting for their meal

I love cats.  Bill doesn't.  That's why we don't have cats.  I had a cat once when I was a teenager.  I've written about him before. He was a gray tabby cat that took up with our family when we lived next to a manufacturing plant.

"Bobby" - my first pet - 1954

I loved that cat.  He was my first pet.  I named him "Bobby" after an upperclassman I had a crush on at that time of my life.  

I had Bobby for a few years.  One day I came home from school and no Bobby.  I asked my Mother "Did you see Bobby?"  She said "Oh, Pop (which is what we all called my father) took him to the SPCA because he was marking the front door."  

So that was the explanation for what happened to my loved pet.  My father took him to the SPCA.  No "Father Knows Best Moment" where he sits down and consults with me. No maybe betting Bobby fixed so he wouldn't mark the front door.  Just take him to the SPCA where he was probably put down.  

Regular readers of my blog know that I've written about this episode in previous posts but you know me, when I start writing my blog I just go with the flow and this hurtful episode just burbled up again. 

So of course I always wanted to get a cat again.When I moved in with Bill I suggested that we get a cat for a pet.  Guess what? Bill hates cats.  He told me when he was a kid he used to tie tin cans to cats' tails for "fun."  Oh yes, that was Bill when he was a kid. 

I pushed for a cat but Bill was adamantly against it.  He suggested a compromise.  He said "Let's get a Pomeranian dog.  They're about the same size as cats.  So that's what we got.  

Me posing for a Christmas card photo with our three Poms - 1986

Guess what?  I LOVED those dogs!  We had a total of five Pomeranians.  Two when we lived in center city Philadelphia.  Then three more when we moved out of Philly and moved to the country.  

My "fan" club

However, at this time of our life we have no pets.  Bill doesn't even want to have Poms.  He can't take the loss any more.  So here is my dilemma.  If I outlive Bill, I plan to get a pet or pets.  What to get?  Cats or dogs?  

Any suggestions?

Me with Babydoll and Horace (the father of Babydoll) - 1989

Friendships

Me with my longtime friend Don M. - 46 years

From time to time I reevaluate my life and my friendships.  Like most people I like people to like me.  And like most people, I have found that no matter what I'm like or what I do, some people just don't like me.  

I admit that for most of my life this fact has bothered me.  "What can I do to make people like me more?" I often thought?  I sometimes would go to great lengths to make certain people like me, especially those I liked and (thought) I respected.  

My longtime (53 years) friend and former boss Bill P.

A few years ago I came to the realization that no matter what I did, some people just would never like me.  

Was it because I didn't do what they wanted me to do (for them?)  Was it because I didn't let them control my life? Was it because I didn't give them enough?  Or was it just because they didn't like a tall, skinny, bearded guy who expressed his opinions?

My longtime (68 years) friend Bill B. at our 50th Class Reunion 2009

Gradually I came to accept the fact that just being myself was abhorrent to certain people.  Should I change myself to suite them?  Absolutely not.  

I recognize and accept the fact that I am not a perfect person.  Oh sure I can use the tired old cliche "No one is perfect."  In fact I just did.  But I am far from perfect folks. 

Here are just a few aspects of my personality that I recognize that are less than perfect:

My immaturity
My tendency to freely express my opinions
My independence and resisting at being controlled by others 

And here is perhaps the biggest "imperfection", my irresistible impulse to proclaim "The emperor has no clothes!" 

So at this time of my life, my "Twilight Years", I think back to friends I have made and lost.  

Larry, my longtime (65 years) friend and I at 10 Downing Street Restaurant

One thing is apparently clear in those friends I have made and who are still friends with me.  

They accept me as I am, imperfections and all.

That too me is the true test of a friend.  And the same holds true in reverse.  I have friends who I accept as they are, even though there are aspects of their personality that I don't like.  I like them because overall they are good people.  I overlook those parts of their personality where they come up short as they do my personality.

Bill K., my longtime friend (52 years) and husband - I must have a thing for "Bill's"

Most of my longtime friends have seen the bad side of me.  When I haven't been too kind to them at times.  Did they get freaked out and ban me from their life?  No they didn't.  Just as I didn't get freaked out when they let me down.  

Then there are those who ended our friendship over the first misstep on my part. Know what? Those friendships probably weren't friendships at all and it is just as well that they ended.

In my senior years I have discovered many benefits.  One of the main benefits is that I am finding things that I used to care about I don't care about anymore.  Especially those friendships that I have lost.  You know what? That's on them.  It's also good for me.  

I know who I am and I'm not a bad person.  In fact I'm a pretty good person.  Could be better?  Certainly.  I could give all my money to charity and volunteer all my time to soup lines.  But I don't and never will.  But I will continue to be who I am and in these golden years of my life, content with who I am.

My new "longtime" (three years) friend Pat F. and me at the Marathon Restaurant Philadelphia PA

Looking at these photos of my best friends, they all have one thing in common.  They know me, the bad and the good and they still like me!  Now that's a real friend, and they have my total respect and friendship. 

What Do I Do With All My Old Porn Tapes?

Now that's a simple question: what DO I do with all my old VHS porn tapes?

This is a question that has been haunting me for the past twenty years.  At one time, before the prevalence of access to the Internet, the only way one could "indulge" was by either renting or purchasing porn tapes.  

Back in the nineties I used to rent porn tapes when I work in Philadelphia.  I would rent the nasty relief tape at a video rental store a few blocks from the bank during my lunch hour.  I would furtively bring them back to my desk then to my home at the end of the day and return them the next day.  This was back in the day when you could only rent a VHS tape for one day.  Yes, this was BNF (Before Netflix).  I always worried I would leave the plain brown paper bag

that contained the tape at my desk and it would be discovered and I would be revealed for the perv that I am.  Never did happen, thank goodness.

I tried this for awhile then I changed because one day wasn't long enough to have access.  Plus I hated the stress of concealing the tape and worry about losing or misplacing the tape.  

Then one day I received an ad in the mail.  I don't know how they got my address but got it they did.  This ad was for purchasing VHS porn tapes.  Ah ha!  The only hitch was the price . . . . . . . . . . . . . $59.95 each.  I thought about it for awhile and decided to take the plunge.  

The first tape I received was about a pizza boy delivery (HOT! HOT! HOT!).  That was the first tape of many over the following years.  Interestingly the first tape I receive was the best of all I have received.  All told I think I purchased about (and I'm embarrassed to admit this) about thirty tapes.  There was one other tape which was pretty good ("Rawhide") but the rest?  I wouldn't miss them.  So what do I do with them?

A few years ago I gave some to a friend.  I thought I would hold on to the rest.  But guess what?  I don't look at them any more.  Don't need to anymore at this time of my life. I don't need any damn stinking porn tapes. Now what do I do with them?

The friend that I gave the tapes to has left.  Another friend suggested that I can give the tapes to a gay bookstore in Philadelphia, which is what I might do.

Giovanni's Room bookstore, Philadelphia, PA

  
I was concerned what would happen when I died.  And die one day I surely will.  I warned my sister-in-law that there are "personal items" that she would probably not want to look at when going through my belongings. Now that I am approaching my End Days, I think I would like to remove this one concern.  

I'm going to Philadelphia the day after my birthday in November.  I think I'll take those tapes with me.  

Problem solved.  

Trump Mocks Woman's Weight

Alicia Machado, Miss Universe 1996 photographed this year May 2016

Donald J. Trump has created another controversy.  He doubled down on Hillary Clinton's reference to him mocking a former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado, weight.  

Miss Machado was Miss Venezuela when she won the Trump owned Miss Universe contest in Las Vegas in 1996.  After she won the Miss Universe contest she apparently committed the horrendous mistake of gaining weight.  Trump publicly called her "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping" (because of her Latina heritage).  

However, name calling wasn't enough.  (the following is from a New York Times article):

Trump, as executive producer of the Miss Universe pageant insisted on accompanying Ms. Machado, then a teenager, to a gym, where dozens of reporters and cameramen watched as she exercised.  

Mr. Trump, in his trademark suite and tie, posed for photographs beside her as she burned calories in front of members of the news media.  "This is somebody who likes to eat,", Mr. Trump said from inside the gym.

I remember when his awful treatment of this Miss Universe happened.  That was twenty years ago.  I cringed when I heard and read how he was treating her.  I couldn't believe it but I don't remember anyone in the news media broadcasting their outrage of his treatment of Ms. Machado. 

Donald Trump and Alicia Machado 20 years ago at the gym where he publicly humiliated her for gaining weight

 

The Trump campaign is supposed to be concentrating on courting the vote of suburban woman, I don't think his doubling down on his actions towards the former Miss Universe helps that effort. 

Who Won the Debate?

Did you watch the debate last night? I did with about one hundred million other people.

Who won the debate? My immediate reaction was that Hillary won the debate because she was better prepared.  Donald Trump was clearly unprepared and ran out of gas after the first ten minutes.  He retreated to his, sometimes, nonsensical answers.  He interrupted, made faces and generally reinforced the notion that he was temperamentally unprepared to be president. 

But you know what folks?  I don't think there will be a significant change in the polls after this debate.  And certainly he didn't lose any of his supporters.  They know their candidate.  And they accept him as he is.

I took off work last night to watch the debate uninterrupted.  I didn't waste my time.

God! Would't you like to read their minds during this handshake?