Michael Terry’s Log

Just FYI!

In case you haven’t heard yet, Elaine and I are going to Japan in April! We’ll mostly stay around the Tokyo area for about 8 days.

We bought a Garmin handheld GPS device and Japanese maps (in English) for it. Hopefully by entering interesting points of interest beforehand, we can basically have a self-guided tours all over the place.

Suggestions for things to do or places to go are welcome!

My cousin Jamez runs a traveling performance art spectacular called the Tranny Roadshow.

Although the Tranny Roadshow is done entirely by transpeople, it is not exclusively for transpeople. It is a raucous evening of entertainment, open and accessible to people of all backgrounds. Most of us are experienced performers, and while our goals do include challenging people and making them think, our most important goals are to entertain them, make them laugh, and make them dance.

I’ve not yet been, but come January 14th, he’s bringing it to Jamaica Plain.

Just an FYI, Elaine and I will be heading over to San Diego for a vacation in early October (1st to the 8th), back just in time for John and Amber’s wedding!

Let me know if you want me to bring you back some fish tacos! (apparently a local specialty) Also let me know if you’d like to adopt an adorable cat for a week.

BTW, the reports of my phone’s demise are exaggerated. I may still call you from an unfamiliar number because I bought minutes for our spare phone. But calls to my ‘real’ number will reach me.

Just a heads up, I’m going to be gone this weekend. Elaine and I are going to Maryland for a BBQ and to see Lazy, a friend of Elaine’s, off before he leaves on deployment across the ocean.

If anyone wants a bobble head Obama while I’m in the DC area, let me know.

I’m back from my week-long vacation to the windy city. It was very pleasant.

(A good measure of any vacation is how many bolobaau one eats. I ate… Let me see… 18? In other news, I’m fat now.)

Along the way, we stopped at the Niagara Falls. The contrast between the American side and the Canadian side of the falls was interesting. Not so much because of the falls (although the Canadian side did have a better view), but because of the surrounding cities.

The American side was like a ghost town. Only the casino, hotel, and about 10 Indian buffets were open. The rest of the town was all closed. Not much activity. In contrast, we later went over to the Canadian side (a quick jaunty to Toronto for a crazy good sushi tasting menu). It was hopping, with a ferris wheel thingy, two casinos, plenty of restaurants and lots of people walking around. ::shrug::

Another thing I liked about the trip was seeing that Chicago calls its ‘greater Chicago area’ Chicagoland. And the ‘greater Chicago area to the south’ is Chicago Southland. I love it. I’m going to start saying Bostonland.

So much driving (we rented a car to make the trip)! Elaine and I have done several road trips before, but this was our first time with audiobooks (usually I just make some music mix). Audiobooks were a huge win. It is so much easier to stay focused on a long driving slog when paying attention to a story. Made the time fly by.

I am usually as leery of Valentine’s as I am of Christmas. But I’m not immune.

So I wanted to give a shout out not only to my romantic interest (hi, Elaine!), but to my platonic loves as well.

Friends of mine, you are awesome. I am blessed by a wonderful circle of friends with whom I can be the analytical jerk that I am without censure. And for whom, I would totally punch a dude or engage in petty theft, if asked. Please don’t ask.

Family members, you also rock, but in a less immediate sense. You usually rock from afar, but are always supportive of my various life efforts, always willing to throw down in a game of Pinochle or a marathon of Lord of the Rings, and always willing to pick me up from Boston and then feed me.

I love you guys and gals.