So, this blog is going to be a little different due to the trip I am currently on. I have been with this group called "Eon Youth Lounge" since I was 19 years old. They are a GLBTQ (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender and Queer) center for youth ages 13-23. I am one of the oldest students being 23. This is my last retreat. I went two years ago and we are at the same place as we were then. We drove out to Oracle and stayed at the C.O.D. Ranch. Eon has been there for me through thick and thin. They have been with me through my homelessness and my drug and alcohol abuse and really supported me in my decision to become a stripper. So I am here out in the middle of the desert sitting around a fire pit writing this blog after the first day of our Youth Leadership Retreat.
Day 1
It was a nice little over an hour drive out to the Ranch and we settled into our bunk cabins. They were not as nice as the cabins we had when I went before but this place is still nice. We have 5-6 staff with us and about 12-15 students. Since I am 23 the staff asked me to be a Leader (funny this is a leadership retreat) to the other students and just hold them accountable and lead through my good example....hehehe. Some of these kids are obnoxious but hey they are kids, and of course I am trying to not be sterotypical but gays can be twice as obnoxious. We did a game to learn everyones names, which sucks because I still do not know all these kids names. We also did an art project about mirrors, we took aluminum foil and made mirrors on poster board and images or words that describe how we percieve ourselves. Im sure that we will do more with these "mirrors". We then went to go get chow. And OH WAS THIS FOOD GOOD! The last time I came to the ranch the food was supurb and ended up going home with two gallons of gaspacho. (spelling?) We had fajitas, and they had tofu fajitas for the vegetarians in the group. After dinner we played volleyball with this deflated soccerball and I have to tell you watching a whole bunch of queens play volleyball is very very funny. I think the ball ended up in the scorpion infested bushes more than on the court! We then went back to doing workshops where we made our "coming out candles". We also did this the year I came before where we cut out things from magazines and paste them on the large candles you can buy in any Mexican food mart in Tucson. We then proceeded to tell 5 minute versions of our come out stories. Maybe another day I will post mine in full detail...a coming out story is really longer than 5 minutes. After which we did some light meditation and led me to free time in which I got to start this blog.
Especially at this retreat which I was glad to see in comparison to the other reatreat was the fact that we had transgender staff and students in our group this time. Transgender was a little new to me when I first started at Eon but now that I am more aware of them and know some of them personally, some for years now, I am able to relate alot to them as well. When I was a child and first came out to one of my best friends the only way I could equate me liking girls meant that I was supposed to be born a boy. I was always a tomboy and dressed and acted like one. But as I became older I embraced being an androgynous bi-sexual, then lesbian, and now a sometimes polyamorous lover depending on the girl and her man involved. My last meaningful relationship was a polyamorous one with Daisy and Ray, it was a sometimes tumultuous relationship but we are all still close though they are now states away.
Day 2
So when I thought that this was not going to be that interesting of a post was I wrong. So I had developed this sunburn blistered looking rash on my side and was going towards my back. I know sooo not sexy for a stripper to be saying all this but it is slightly strange. Right now I am sitting in the examination room for TMC Hospital. I was not able to sleep at all last night due to this extreme itching on my side and back and told a staff member and showed them this rash. One of our staff also happened to be really sick and was going home early so I caught a ride with her and her girlfriend. They drop me off at the hospital and I wait forever to get seen by triage and now everything seems to be going smoother. However when I was seeing a nurse in triage I asked her what she thought it may be because I was scared to death it was a staff infection. She informs me politely that she is not a doctor but it looks like shingles to her. "What the fuck is shingles?" She then tells me it is a dormant virus in your body from having chicken pox. "So I have had this in my body since I was in first grade???" Yup, and just now the virus rears its ugly head. Well at least it is good to know that I am not contagious if it is shingles but I still have yet to see the doctor, I will let you know more in a few short minutes (for me anyway, you get to read this continuously)
about 10 minutes later....
So I finally get seen by a nurse practioner and she takes one look at my rash and tells me it is shingles....ok at least i do not have something totally crazy. They were able to buy me my antiviral medications and I will be fine. I was hopefully trying to get back to Ten's and if the rash is not fully healed by then I am going to walk in totally sober and talk to them about what is going on. I need to earn money and I know Ten's can do it for me. So for now I am taking my meds and seeing whAT it will do b4 then but we shall see...So hopefully they will hire me back and let me get back into gear!!
