Tag Archives: azores

geek stuff, just a post, on life, pictures, pop culture

5 Years Ago & 2001

May 29, 2020 Hobie Leave a comment

Today marks 5 years from the day when I asked Larry to marry me.

Engaged! (the whole story)

It had been a long time coming, and honestly long overdue on our part to finally make that leap, but we did. We leapt. And 11 months later, we got married. It was amazing times, and we had our life together, and then cancer came and ended it. I can mostly ignore the end months nowadays, but those memories don’t truly go away. It was awful. It makes me cry when I do think about it. I’ll never not cry when I think about that.

But the times before that, engaged or not, won’t be forgotten. I’ve got pictures, blog posts, memories to help me remember those good times. Nothing was ever perfect and I won’t claim that here, but god damn, it really was just wonderful to have found someone who got me. I got him. When we needed space we figured out how to reduce getting on the other’s nerves. We helped each other live more full lives. It wrecks me to know I won’t ever see him again.

Larry’s birthday is tomorrow. A group of friends and family will be getting together on a call to celebrate. Not everyone will be there, and I completely understand. I’m not even sure how I feel about it – I want to see people but “celebrating” his birthday doesn’t sound right – he’s dead. I just want him back and for the last 2 years to be undone. It’s naive.

I am not in the same emotional state as I was earlier this year. I don’t know how to really describe it. I am used to being alone more than I was. I guess old habits die hard, as yeah, I have been alone before Larry so it comes back to you. The bed is all mine. All this room is mine to manage, and not share. Cooking meals is up to me. If I get lazy, I can order and Larry isn’t there to mock my laziness. No one is. It’s just me. The scar tissue is building up. The good memories fill me with melancholy, but don’t hurt as much as they used to. The bad memories rip me apart as I mentioned above just as much as when they were new. I guess it’ll be about managing how to deal with that going forward.

I loved him so much. I will always be so happy we had that time together. He was the best husband I could have asked for.

I found myself reminiscing about times pre-Larry – basically, Air Force times. I dove into looking at Azores memories – especially as I realized that my site links to those primitive HTML pages and small-res pictures still. Those pages were also written when I was under DADT so it felt good to actually write a little bit more with that added context gone. I’m going to keep diving into these older pictures and keep updating, but here are some recent ones I’ve posted – good times had by all!

Halloween Party at the Salga House

An Initiation to Tropical Point

So young! I then also was thinking about my San Antonio summer in 2001 right before I left, and the fact that I jumped out of a plane that summer! What a trip. I found the official video that I bought through the company as it’s like, who knows if I’m doing this again? Let’s get the video!

It doesn’t look like there’s a previous time I posted pictures and such from that time, and I guess when I get to it, I’ll do a proper post there and include this video again. But it was too good to pass up and not show immediately. Again, the youth of me back then, and I remember how much I hated how I looked then. People are always so stupid about how they look – just give yourself 20 years and you’ll realize how cute you were!

A random thing that I was entertained by – while I’ve been heavily playing the game Anno 1800 (as it is amazing and addictive), I also work in occasional playtime of The Division 2, which I’ve talked about before. So, there’s an expansion that puts you back in NYC, the site of TD1, but this time in the southern tip of Manhattan. Anyway, you can wander around Battery Park and the Castle Clinton area, and I was doing that in the game when all of a sudden it looked and felt very familiar. It’s not surprising, as the videogame makers did a really good job of recreating the city, but it was particularly jarring. Then I remembered – oh yeah, Larry and I had walked around this park one day in February 2009. I didn’t have a post about it but I did take pictures! And I remembered a particular picture and was like, can I find that angle again in this game? Yes, yes I can.

So here are the pictures from that day (Feb 15, 2009) so long ago – note I had just moved into the city so I was totally a local by then.

It was a nice day for that kind of a walk, and memorable. And then I played the game, and you can take in-game photos:

Contrast with this:Crazy, huh? Well, it’s not insane, but I just remember tripping out realizing I’d taken pictures right there!

I’ve been keeping sane by still doing yoga – in fact, this was Day 96 straight of Yoga w/ Adriene. I’m currently doing her 30-day Dedicate series, and I gotta say, it’s a lot more intense than the previous programs. I like it.

TV-wise:

Devs: FANTASTIC. Very visual, very interesting, and highly compelling sci-fi that while the main premise is highly improbable, everything else around felt right at home in 2020.
The Clone Wars: Wrapped up my accelerated/targeted watch of this series and it was amazing. The story of Ahsoka is amazing. Obi Wan proves to be one of the more bad-ass Jedis, and I was here for it. Made parts of the follow-up series, Rebels, much more emotional.
What We Do in the Shadows: Season 2 is on fire, and it’s honestly one of the best comedies going. I love that crazy crew but every time Nadja speaks, I just laugh.
The Great: Another fucking amazing show, and while it may appear that it’s some kind of costume drama, oh boy you’d be wrong to overlook it. Loosely it’s the story of Catherine the Great while she’s still married to her husband, the Emperor Peter (not Peter the Great, who we all agree to hate as he was the subject of my Final Jeopardy question, agreed? HUZZAH!). It’s one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in quite a while, and the performances are all wonderful. You’ll love it.

Alright, this post had a lot of schizophrenia in it. That’s me lately. Up, down, all around. Stay safe.

just a post, pictures

Google Street View made it to the Azores

February 4, 2017 Hobie Leave a comment

Jason Rubi sent me a text with the picture from Google Street Maps as seen below of the house I lived in shown above, and it’s like, holy shit, that’s where I lived, first with Angelo, then with Jason, while stationed and living in the Azores, specifically the island of Terceira. I’ve periodically reminisced here about the wonder of living there – it feels like a dream, honestly. This house, a former church, was where I lived – it was perched on a cliffside overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The views were amazing, and it was almost distractingly remote from a lot. There was one other house across the street, and then a little cafe at the base of the ~~Sao Sebastiao Bay~~ Baia da Salga (how did I not write that at all in this post originally??). At night, it could be really quiet and eerie. When it rained, I sometimes braced for the house to collapse down the cliffside. We once climbed down the cliff to the shore and the way the cliffside was hollowed out was almost frightening. But guess what? The place is still there, and looks almost exactly the same. I’m surprised – the owner/landlord had said he was going to sell the pastures in front and develop them with more apartments….but I guess gentrification decided not to come to the Azores. I’m glad, to be honest. I love that it’s still the same.

Terceira, Google Map – with where my house was on the south side of the island pointed out, as well as Lajes AB, where I worked:

The next thing to see is a zoom in of where we lived in ol’ Sao Sebastiao (pronounced San Sebastian, but it’s Portuguese, so everything ends in an “o”) / Baia da Salga.

It’s awesome to see that Google points out one of the restaurants I absolutely loved going to, A Ilha. SO GOOD. I had my going away there when I left. But they served some very good Beef or Chicken Alcatra, which is like the best pot roast you’ve ever had. There were better places to get Alcatra on the island, but having one so damn close was the best.

And then here’s the Street View of the ol Home on the Cliff:

Man, the MEMORIES while living there! The drinking, the dancing, the eating, the laughs, the music….the croquet playing, the drinking, the passing out, the rain, the running out of hot water due to the gas tanks emptying, geez, it was a whirlwind. But those days when the weather was perfect, and the sun was shining, and the ocean was beautifully blue….

Yeah, just amazing. Loads of pictures can be found on my old site here (but my entire collection is larger, that’s for sure) and one day I’ll eventually get to converting those too into my WordPress site. I met the greatest set of people there during those 15 months, and that was lucky, as it could have been a very lonely place to end up. But yeah, I got lucky, and have nothing but fond memories there.

just a post

Ah, the Azores

April 6, 2008 Hobie Leave a comment

My laptop’s Internet Explorer homepage is set to go to the AOL site for some reason, and I’ve never changed it – laziness, I guess. But I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the pic of Faial and realized the Azores were a travel ‘spotlight’ on the site!

http://information.travel.aol.com/discovery/azores?ncid=AOLCOMMtravdynlprim0332

And for old times’ sake, here’s the oh-so-popular God shot of Split Rock from my house. When Angelo and I were talking last weekend about living there, man, I knew even then that I needed to treasure that experience. And boy do I, especially considering my current living situation. Which actually isn’t all that bad, I know, but still, HELLO!? Amazing house on a cliff overlooking the ocean and on clear days, you could see TWO other islands? HOLY MOLY!

21-Oct-2001 18:48, Canon Canon PowerShot S10, 5.6, 12.59375mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 62

View at Picasa

I just got back from seeing ’21’, the movie based off the book ‘Bringing Down the House’, which I absolutely loved (and its follow-up by the same author called Busting Vegas). It was an entertaining movie and it was great to just see all the Vegas locales (I REALLY want to see the ‘new’ Planet Hollywood casino now – the interior looks fantastic) but I have to say, the excitement of the book was lost in this movie. They definitely made this movie something loosely ‘based’ on the novel, and I think it wasn’t the better for it. It turned into a very plot-driven Act I – Act II – Act III thing and maybe if I hadn’t known how the book played out, it would have been more entertaining. But there was a LOT lost in translation. And believe you me, both Bringing Down the House and Busting Vegas were books I read each in one day/sitting. They were that good. So I have to give the movie version a half-hearted recommendation. It was cool, and the actors were great, but it wasn’t what I had hoped for.

I also just returned from visiting Steve in his home territory down in the Trenton, NJ area. It was nice to get out of the crazy area that is known as NYC, and it was of course just great spending time with him. But again with me and my willingness to be honest – I think there was a point in the evening that him and I were about to be done. Which would have sucked. But through continued talking, we’re still trucking along. But even though there’s a whole lot of me that would just wish I wouldn’t be truthful, you know what, I’d rather be upfront than hide my true feelings and have resentment grow. So this is good.

This weekend definitely is moving too fast. It’s not over yet, but man, I don’t know if I can handle another week like last week. I have no doubt it’ll still be a tough one, but c’mon, I REALLY can’t do another one like this one. Exhausting.

on life, pictures

Halloween Party at the Salga House

October 29, 2001 Hobie Leave a comment

So Angelo & I got coerced to have the CGOC Halloween party at our house. I must admit, the place was perfect for it, albeit a little small and out of the way for most of the CGOs. But whatever, the party was a blast. I remember getting completely sloshed and having the weirdest costume ever. I don’t even think it counts as a costume. And I still have the pants. And boy did we all dance that night – my computer’s mp3 dance collection was put to full use and it was fortunate there was no neighbors right next to us. I do remember putting real candles in the candelabra above the dance floor and the candles burning down to the end and dripping on people below. Perhaps not my best idea?

Update from May 2020:

I’m kind of on a kick to dive into my early, pre-Larry pictures, especially those when I was always so cognizent of trying to manage memory card space. LOL. Anyway, yeah, this was a fucking epic party. Once Angelo & I embraced having the party at our place, it was just ‘on’. Kasey & the crew all came over to get it ready, and damn, that basically meant snacks and the strongest alcohol you could muster. And decorations. As I remarked even in my original site’s page about this, my costume was insane. I have no idea what I was thinking, as clearly, looking back now, there was lots o’ gay symbolism in my yin/yang good/bad theming.

So the party become not just drinking and laughing and hanging out, but it became a full on dance party. And the house was not that big, but we all were hanging out in the main living room area underneath the LIT candelabra. My computer was right there and was the DJ booth, and while there was plenty of songs, the one that I can STILL remember to this day having the most epic time dancing to was when put on “Dive in the Pool” by Barry Harris & Pepper MaShay. This song was introduced to me by Angelo and I loved it – and it’s just a fucking stomper. You always hope others feel about it the same way you do, and trust me, the moment in the song after letting you catch your breath when Pepper commands everyone to “let’s get soaking wet!!!” (specifically at about the 3:05 mark) and the music comes thundering back in? OH YOU KNOW THE HOUSE WAS JUMPING. Everyone, even Sunday who was a little more calmer than us, was right next to me jumping up and down.

I will never forget that moment. Before and after? Yeah, I was blackout drunk. I had had way too many jello shots and whatever was there – when you’re 25, it’s so easy to drink anything. I do remember a pivotal part at the end of the night though – most people had left, but Angelo’s Portuguese friends had been partying with us and they were all getting ready to head out and continue the party out on the island. I knew our house was a mess and I didn’t want to leave as Jason had passed out in the shower, literally, and I didn’t want to just ditch those who were staying over. But I know, with a reasonable amount of certainty, I probably could have had a first gay time out if I had gone with. I knew that Angelo was gay, and his Azorean friends were a mix, and I probably could have had some fun that night. But geez, you see what I had all over me that night – I can’t even imagine. Seriously though, I do wonder what could have happened later that night! Instead, passed out pretty quickly and probably for the best! I remember the next day, we had a decent breakfast outside on the patio area and remarkably, wasn’t honestly that hungover. I mean, yes, but not debilitatingly so like I’d had before and plenty times after.

It’s fun to remember those times, and that’s why I’m trying to populate this site and expand on what I could and couldn’t say when these pages were first built out – Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is a hell of a thing.

Original Site Link

October 29, 2001 @ Baia da Salga, Terceira

Before the mayhem getting things ready

Evil Pumpkin

Evil Pumpkin 2

Evil Pumpkin 3 – the one I carved

Pious Dani

Dani & Hobie

Dani & Kasey

Amy & Me

Badly lit Amy & me

Amy & Hobie selfie

Angelo, Dani, Chris & Jason

Byron, Sunday, & Scott

Chris the boy scout nun

Grimacing Dani

Jason, Kasey, and Amy – and the powerful jello

Tomb Raider Kasey & WTF Hobie

Cereal Killer Sunday & Toilet Scott

pictures

Katie’s Birthday Party

October 14, 2001 Hobie Leave a comment

This was pretty early still in my time on the island, and it turned out to be a great time to get to know everyone better. At this party, it was potluck Mexican – and since I don’t know how to cook but DO know how to drink, I decided I’d bring the margaritas, because what is a Mexican feast without Margaritas? It’s Del Taco, that’s what it is! I even went and bought the right salt, a shaker, lots of ice and tequila, and ended up making MUY BUENO margaritas. So good we were trashed before going on our pub crawl. Something funny that did occur was that this was when a new Lt and his wife had just arrived on the island, and Byron was their sponsor. He brought them to this party and Dani gave them one helluva show, including saran wrap. Don’t ask. Just know that it was a blast for us and a wide awakening for them!

May 2020 Update:

I honestly have just some slight memories of this particular event, although when I look at the pictures I can remember Jason & Kasey making that rice, I can kind of remember being the margarita guy that night (although when I think about the degree to which Larry & I perfected our margaritas, I’m pretty sure I didn’t make my own lime juice then?), and I like a lot of the pictures that came out of it. I’m sure my family were hoping me and Amy were a thing as we did hang out and take great pictures together. Not to be, everyone! I loved that crew of people during the first year I was in Lajes. We all just got along so much, even if at times we didn’t. Pub crawls up and down the stretch of bars in Praia was always a blast, and man, we could just put food and drink away like champs. What’s sad, but I guess not surprising, is I really don’t interact with most of the folks I met there. Jason for sure, and Byron only on rare occasions, and Amy is a FB friend too, but almost everyone else in this group? No real clue where they are. It’s alright, and they all still hold a place in my heart and memories for making my Azores experience a truly thrilling thing. If we hadn’t had been able to bond and click, it would have made that 15 months reeeaaalllly long.