Saturday, 09.23.2017 - 1:36 pm.
Oh, Lord, this week has been eventful. I've got things to get off my chest so it's best to do it in chronological order:
Concert in Tilburg with Andrew
Last Friday, we traveled to The Netherlands to see a metal, say, supergroup that Andrew likes. Despite it being a just one-hour flight from the UK to the Netherlands, it took us a whole day to get there, between buses, trains and planes. We only had Saturday to do some sightseeing before the concert, as Sunday would be the day to travel back home.
We had a wonderful time together, Andrew and I, this was another honeymoon-ish trip. We ate the most delicious food, and we were first row at the concert. I don't listen to metal music but seeing it live is a whole different thing, and I crushed hard on a few of the performers.
Getting together with fellow PhDs
Monday night, we had a few friends over. We have a social email list for us to do things together outside our PhD, and Andrew invited people to celebrate Chilean independence (my own country's independence was a few days before that but it's not something to quite celebrate). That meant getting together to eat insane amounts of food cooked by him.
It was a fun evening, there were even board games involved. My crush on Boy, whom we shall call A. from now on, reignited just because we were on the same team of losers and we sat next to each other for a long while. I was smitten, man. The end.
Last days as a committee member for the program's society
And thank God for that. We filled our schedule these weeks with social activities for the 1st year students coming in, and I have barely been able to do anything else outside of it. Just this week we had welcome drinks, and a department meal, and attending a stall at a fair. We have a few more activities next week but my term as Secretary ends on October 6th. For a while I hesitated about leaving my role, but I have more pressing things to do, like make some damn progress on my PhD.
(At the welcome drinks, A. showed up late, as I was leaving. He just appeared by my side as I was putting on my coat, asking if he was still on time, and OMG I was smitten again. He was like two hours late, but people were still hanging out there. Plus, he was coming from doing a performing class, he used to do theatre and sing and why does he does that to me*)
A new friend
Eric is a first year PhD student starting this term. My second supervisor, a brilliant woman, asked me to introduce him to life in the city and the program. We Skyped a couple of months before his arrival and he arrived this week! I was looking forward to meeting him and I'm not disappointed.
We've been going shopping, for coffee and sightseeing. I've learned about the Philippines, he's all about LGBT collective action and we're both queer, so we've become close friends. He's very social, so maybe at some point he'll find cooler friends than me, but for now I'm enjoying having a friend with whom we have very important things in common. I don't get that a lot here. He's actually coming in a few hours so I can show him a few charity shops. Also...
It's Bi Visibility Day today!
It's been almost a year since I came out as bi, and I've taken this week to be more vocal about it on Twitter. It's time to make the personal political, as it's said. I've felt so much happier with myself since coming out, and also Andrew and I became happier as a couple. He's been such a decent human being throughout my journey. It shouldn't be so difficult but by the way people usually approach this subject, Andrew looks more like an angel compared to them. I've had my share of silly things said to me regarding being bi, it is quite annoying.
Overall, though, I've found lots of love and support from my closest friends. And with Eric here, I can look forward to getting more involved. He and I went last night to a workshop on Bi Visibility, namely about bisexual asylum seekers. It was just 14 of us sitting at a huge round table, and I'd seen some faces before, at Pride. I felt right at home. I felt I fit in, I felt this was me and I was at the right place. I wanted to cry, out of joy for me, and out of anger for people who have to constantly prove they are valid to save their lives.
I offered to be a Spanish translator for a LGBT asylum support group in the city. I established contact with Lucy, who just...she...I fell for her a bit. I know it seems I'm falling for a lot of people lately, but she seemed someone out of a movie about LGBT struggles and victories. I loved her face, her voice, her fashion, the work she does. We crossed paths at the bus stop, after the workshop, and we just smiled at each other.
Friends get-together
After the workshop, I attended a small get-together of Chilean women. It was a busy day, by then I was tired. We'd had a departmental meal (not many showed up but the burgers were great), I'd gone shopping for farewell gifts with one my closest fellow PhDs, I'd attended the workshop with Eric, then it was this get-together.
It was a nice evening, we were a small group, just eating and drinking wine and chatting. M was there, she sat next to me for a long time. She had a party to attend afterwards, right in my neighborhood, so I walked her there.
I drank a lot. I'd carried a bottle of wine in my backpack since the morning that day, that's the kind of person I've become. I sort of bumped into M during our walk to her party. Then I left her by the door in her friend's house, where her friends and her husband were. "What, I don't get a goodbye kiss?", my most furiously horny side asked, but really we just hugged goodbye and she told me to call her to go for coffee one of these days. The end*.
My manuscript
I'm behind schedule. November 1st is the deadline for submission. I've been polishing it, I'm happy with it. I love it. I think it may be too much for conservative minds, specially with the bi character, but maybe someone will pick it up? I don't want the manuscript to win, just publish it and make it a best-seller and a classic, and a huge movie that's faithful to the original, and that helps a lot of people the way writing it has helped me.
(*I'm taking out all of the energy from my crushes on my Simeon strip, with the one character that is bi. It feels so good)
***
I should go take a shower before Eric comes. But yeah, I'm happy! I'm grateful. I want to pay this forward. I didn't think life, or the relationship I have with myself, could get this good. Happy Bi Visibility Day <3
prev / next