Down again...

Life (at least mine) seems like a see saw...up one moment; down the next. Once again I find myself on the "down" side - but as usual, I cannot figure out why. Last Saturday (19th), I felt very much alive and full of energy! I attended a meeting at Stonewall to hear Mara Kiesling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, speak. It wasn't a SpeakOUT event...but somehow it felt like it was. I swooped in to help another group who seemed to be a bit unorganized. In the end, it turned out to be a very nice, well-attended event. Mara was a great speaker and, unbelievably, her 3 hour visit seemed to fly by. Many people who were in attendance seemed very interested in my group and in speaking with me. I felt sort of like a super star. :o) I left Stonewall that day buzzing on a high...ready to conquer the whole world.

Here it is a little over a week later and now I feel like a car running on vapors. Yesterday I drove out to Mt. Vernon to sit in on a meeting of adults there who want to start their own gay straight alliance. I was very honored to be asked to step in and help them...but afterward, I felt very down. Instead of feeling validated, I felt like a small pebble in a large pond as other "bigger" groups were spoken of at the meeting. Even though I had taken the time to drive there, deliver to them a big "get started" package of goodies and sat through a nearly 3 hour meeting...I left feeling like the runner-up in a popularity contest. I know that seems ridiculous. I didn't expect them to kiss my ass or erect a statue of us, but I felt dismissed by their blase attitude regarding SpeakOUT.

Then I found out this morning that we were excluded in planning the 2008 Other Prom. That really stung. We've been a sponsor of this event for three straight years...and this year we didn't even rate being included on the information to let others know about it (let alone help plan it). I can't help but feel excluded by some members of the glbt community lately. Will we ever be included as a "real" organization with something to offer? Sigh... I'm working my ass off to get SpeakOUT up and running as a 501c3 non-profit, and I feel like we are sliding backward in the process. It leaves me feeling very unmotivated today.

We did enjoy a nice Saturday though. Meaghan attended an all-day basketball camp at OSU called HOOPS. Her team made it to the semi-finals, but ended up having to sit the final game out by default because one player had to leave and another got hurt. Meaghan was mad about that - especially when the top two teams received special recognition with certificates and medals. But it looks like she enjoyed it enough to want to play again...which was the whole point.

Brian, Brandon and I ended up spending the day in Grandview. We stopped by the Pet People store on 5th Ave to visit with some dogs who are available for adoption through the Franklin County Dog Shelter. There we met "Ozzie" a big mixed dog...who Brian and Brandon both loved. I really liked his face, and he seemed nice, but honestly he is bigger than I want. Our whole family seems to be on a mission to adopt a dog...so I wouldn't be surprised if we did by the end of May. We are supposed to go to the Mingle with the Mutts event next Sunday too. I've wanted a dog for a long time...

We also tried out The French Loaf - OMG! They have excellent pastries. We scarfed down eclairs and mini cream puffs. Yum! After picking Meaghan up from camp, we ended up back in Grandview to do their Art Hop. It wasn't nearly as crowded as the Short North Hop - so the kids liked it. Plus the stores in Grandview still lay out a nice spread of food and goodies. They even got to jump in a bouncy house! We visited a new lingerie store off of 1st Ave and had a good time with their "live underwear models." They had several ladies walking about in lingerie serving cupcakes and wine like old-fashioned cigarette girls. There were a few gals in the window too. Very fun!

It was also the Saturday of the Webkinz! The Hallmark in UA was having a big Webkinz Appreciation Weekend celebration. I planned on going there anyway to purchase the kid's Crocs (buy one pair, get a second 50% off!), so the Webkinz party was just the icing on the cake. For every $10 you spent, you could pick out a free Webkinz. We walked out of there with 5 Webkinz - which was lucky because I needed to buy 3 birthday gifts for my nephews and a child at Brandon's school anyway. A win-win for sure. Brandon got the new Chicken and Meg ended up with the Spotted Pony. For those of you not 'lucky enough' to know what a Webkinz is: it is a stuffed animal which comes with an exclusive code. You take that code online and create your pet virtually. The pet then lives in Webkinz world - you can go shopping, feed your pet, take it to the doctor, get a job, decorate your house, play games, send email...and so forth. It is all the rage for the 5-12 age set. They are pretty darn cute - I even got one, the new white mouse. Cute!

Well, motivated or not...I need to jump offline and deal with the real world. Hope your weekend went well.