NAO Update 3

Another NAO update, and if you can stand it an update related to sexual things.

(I wrote this Saturday morning, but the wife woke up unexpectedly early and I didn’t get a chance to finish and post.)

Saturday morning, and I’m feeling pretty good. The wife and I had a nice night of watching TV, a mixture of a movie (In the Tall Grass), a couple of episodes of a great show (The Good Place), and a little college football before bed. Early on I felt a little anxiety about not drinking on a Friday night, but that faded. I think it was mostly just missing the ritual of it.

I will reiterate that this is simply no alcohol October; Come the night of November 1 (conveniently a Friday), I will have a few drinks. But maybe I’ll be in a better position to regulate how much I drink, and how often. Time will tell.

Long-time readers know that not only do I get the urge to suck a cock, that urge swings from being mild to being downright necessary. Back in April or May that urge started become strong again, and I realized it’s been five years since I last got to blow a guy, so I went on Grindr to see what I could find. Almost immediately after starting the account I was getting messages, which just goes to show what horn-dogs men can be whether straight, gay, or anything in between.

A few prospects looked promising, but as often happens with me the logistics just wouldn’t work out. I have to balance my comfort level with the person I’m talking to, their availability matching my own, the distance I am from them, and where we can meet. I can never host, and I can only do anything if the wife is at a baseball game (generally speaking), and I simply won’t take a chance on getting caught doing anything “lewd” in public. For some reason, that tends to piss guys off when we’re talking.

Early on, one dude messaged me through the app with “Wanna suck this cock?” The guys location was nearby, and his profile picture seemed normal enough (I’m not really into a guy’s looks, but I do have some standards), and he was around my age. Still, even though I’m no prude, and I’m certainly not looking for romance in these encounters, that opening gambit just sort of rubbed me (giggity) the wrong way. I deleted the message without comment, and concentrated on a few other guys who looked promising.

A few days later I went into the app, and immediately got the same message from the same guy. This time I texted back “Just curious: does that line ever work?” He replied back “Yea, sometimes, but not with you I guess.” I replied with a “LOL” and deleted the message. I considered blocking the guy, but decided not to. He got the message, right?

Meanwhile my friend T contacted me during this time, and told me that he and his husband had decided to “open up” their marriage. I’m happy that he told me that, because two days earlier I’d seen his husband’s profile in Grindr, and I wrestled with whether or not I should tell T. Turns out that he knew and was okay with it. Unfortunately, T’s availability is only during the week before 2:30 PM (when their kids come home from school), so though the possibilities were intriguing, I didn’t know if it was going to work out or not. We kept in touch, though, just in case.

Come a Sunday in August and I’m going in to work early in the morning to catch up on a few hours I’d missed during the week (for a reason that escapes me now). On the way out I decided to see if one of the guys I’d been talking to was going to be close to the town I work in (it’s a half hour drive from where I live.) He said he might be, but only in the afternoon, but I was planning to be done with work by then. However, the wife would be going to the ball park early that day for a pre-game event, and would be gone until well late in the afternoon. So, let’s think about this.

While I was messaging that guy, the dude from before texts me: “Hey, how are you doing?” Okay, this is a better start, so I reply back that I was heading out to work soon. He asked if I had a specific time that I needed to be there, and I said not really, but I wanted to get in and out as soon as I could. I was actually thinking of trying to arrange something for around noon, as I was just heading out the door.

Well, long story short(ish), he wanted me to come by right then. And in fact, he lived just a few minutes away, in a reasonably nice neighborhood, that was on my way to work. My first instinct was to say no, not right now, and try to arrange something for later. This would give me more time to come up with an excuse to back out. But after I thought about it a few minutes, I decided “fuck it” and agreed to meet him. I had his address, and three minutes later I was parked and walking up to his door feeling self-conscious as hell.

He met me at the door and invited me in, and led me to his living room. The place looked neat, didn’t have a funky smell, and seemed tastefully decorated (though I’m really no judge of that.) The first thing I noticed is that he didn’t look to be as close to my age as I thought; he was in good shape and looked to be in his 30s, which made me wonder why he’d want an old fart like me.

I tried to make some small talk, and crack some jokes (leading to my now-patented nervous chuckles), and he was polite enough but it was clear he wanted to move things along. That’s good, because if left up to me it’d be an hour later and nobody’s close would be any closer to being off than they were when I got there.

He got things started by reaching up and rubbing my nipples. That took me by surprise, as I’ve never considered there to be anything sexual about my (or any other guy’s) nipples, but he seemed to enjoy playing with them, so whatever. He was wearing gym shorts and I noticed he had a pretty good bulge going on in there, so I countered by cupping and caressing his crotch. He stiffened almost immediately.

Just as I went to put my hand down his shorts he leaned in to kiss me. That REALLY took me by surprise, and I kind of backed off, but not entirely. He kept coming in, so I was sort of moving to avoid it but also returning the kiss. Kissing guys isn’t really my thing, but with a little preparation (so, two or three months) I can do it and not feel weird. Well, no, I’m still going to feel weird, but… well, you know what I mean.

While I’m dodging full-on tonsil wrestling, he’s deftly opened my shorts and pulled my cock out. I suddenly realize I have to piss, and badly! I interrupt him, apologizing, but he’s cool with it and shows me to the bathroom. I was worried he was going to watch or something, but he walked away. I shut the door, took care of business, and washed my hands.

I rejoined him in the living room, and he went back to kissing. I was a little more prepared for this, so I didn’t dodge quite as much as earlier, but I didn’t give him a clear target either. We were both groping and rubbing each other’s dick, and just as I was about to kneel down, he beat me to it.

He went to his knees and licked my shaft, then took me in his mouth. I was actually kind of getting into it, and was past “half-chub” stage, though not to full erection. It was good, but I was still too much in my own head. He kept it up for a few minutes, then I gently disengaged, pulled him up, and said “My turn now.”

His dick was nicely shaped, maybe 5” (if I’m being generous) with a proportionate girth. In other words, not big, but comfortable enough. I licked his shaft before sucking on the tip for a bit, then took him all the way in. I tried to do the things I know I like, and he was responding well. I sucked and licked and worked him with my mouth as he “oohed” and “aahed”, and I was really turned on by the idea of what I was doing for him.

He pulled out of his mouth and took his cock in hand, lifting it up in the universal sign of “suck my balls, please.” I complied, licking and gently sucking them as he played with his dick. A minute or so later he put his dick back in my mouth and moved himself to match my rhythm. I could tell he was getting close, and I was eagerly waiting for the finish.

He started grunting and soon he was coming in my mouth! And this time I could taste and feel it entirely; he definitely had a good, thick load. I opened my mouth a bit and stuck out my tongue, thinking he might want to see his cum hitting my tongue. Apparently he did! I continued sucking and swallowing, licking him clean, as he moaned and grunted loudly. (He lives in a house, not an apartment, so I wasn’t worried about the noise.)

When he was completely drained I stood up and faced him. He had that post-cum, euphoric look, and I felt powerful, and accomplished! My dick was still sticking out of my shorts, and he reached down to fondle me. I told him I would have to leave for work now, and he said he felt bad that I didn’t get to cum, and he definitely wanted another chance. I asked how old he was, and he asked me how old I thought he was. I told him I would think late 30s, maybe early 40s, and he laughed and said he's 56 (two years older than me.) Holy shit!

I left and continued on the way to work, and excitedly called the only person I knew I could tell about this: Simply Sexy! She’s such a good friend, and let me relive the events and go over everything. I’m sure I sounded like a kid after a day at an amusement park!

I got my work done, got home, and when the wife left for the day’s game I pulled up some Reddit porn (though I also had the day’s prior event to go on as well), pulled down my shorts, and had a nice, slow wank that ended with a huge orgasm.

I mentioned T earlier for a reason, and I’ll get to that on the next update.

NAO Update 2

Here’s a quick update on my NAO, and a little longer update on the things going on in my life. Feel free to skip either, or both, if you must.

I can’t remember the last time I went two nights in a row without drinking (though it was probably only a few weeks ago.) I woke up feeling fine this morning, but I’m still in a grumpy mood. I’m sure that’s because of the ongoing issues I’m having with the devices at work. We should be fine tonight, but the weekend will be the real test.

My mother is in a memory care center at a nice retirement facility in our area. Her dementia has been a growing problem over the past 10 years or so, probably brought on to her reactions to anesthesia she was administered during various operations she’s had over that time. She went from being mildly forgetful to noticeably unsure of most things over the past eight years, but my stepfather was able to handle the issues and even hide them to an extent. I don’t think he was purposefully doing this, and certainly not out of any bad intent; he was in denial as to the extent of her growing problem and saw it as just normal age-related forgetfulness.

Two years ago, early summer, mom had hip replacement surgery and that led to a huge drop in her cognitive ability. It also led to an increase in the anger issues that she’s really had all of her life. Whatever filter had been working for her to maintain civility most of the time (with some notable exceptions) suddenly expired and worked for less often. Sometimes she’d be fine, but increasingly she was not. She would become irrationally angry and mean, lashing out at whomever was around causing her annoyance. I won’t go into details, but she went from making Christmas day (which she and my stepfather insisted the family spend at their house) uncomfortable to damn-near intolerable.

For the most part my stepfather was able to keep mom in check, but last year he fell and suffered a series of small strokes, which put him in the hospital and then in physical therapy. It quickly became apparent that mom couldn’t stay at home on her own, and I started looking into having her placed in care temporarily until my stepfather was healthy enough to come home. He resisted at first, but when she wandered off from the hospital one day for several hours when nobody could find her, he finally relented. (She was fine, but it became apparent that she could do the same thing at night from home, and anything could happen then.)

When my stepfather finally got healthy enough to come home, he discovered quickly that he wasn’t going to be (or get) healthy enough to resume taking care of mom. He couldn’t even drive himself anywhere, relying on my stepbrother to get him around most days. I helped when I could, but working full time in a new job made it difficult for me to be there much.

He visited mom almost daily until he got sick again. On top of the other issues, he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease a year earlier, and during his stay at the hospital they discovered that he had stomach cancer that had spread extensively. Knowing he didn’t have much time left, he finally got motivated to get the legal documents done that would ensure that mom could be taken care of. He died three days before mom’s birthday (and a week after his own.)

There isn’t much that can be done for mom’s dementia, but they have tried to regulate her bi-polar issues with meds. Once they realized the extent of her issues, they were initially able to control her mood swings and anger issues, but lately it’s been getting harder and harder to do. Apparently one’s tolerance can grow towards these drugs and it becomes a delicate balancing act between keeping her in a good mood and making her into a zombie. Of course the alternative is that her moods aren’t controlled, and she lashes out at people (thankfully just the staff so far) or things (like recently kicking a refrigerator and hurting her foot.)

The wife and I go by most Saturdays to look in on her, unless we’re out of town, and stay for about 10 or 15 minutes. When she’s in a good mood we’ll stay a little longer, but lately she hasn’t really been in a good mood. She wants to go home, which of course she can’t. Not only could she not take care of herself to any degree, the house was sold after my stepfather died to help pay for her care. Fortunately money isn’t an issue at this point, although if she is around for another five years or so (which is very possible; her physical health is pretty good) she’ll eventually run out of estate funds. Then Medicaid (or Medicare, whichever is for retired people) will kick in, but that will mean moving her to an actual nursing home. At the rate she’s going, I doubt she’ll have enough cognitive function when that happens to be aware of the change.

My stepbrother is in charge of the estate and of making the medical decisions for mom, per my stepfather’s wishes, which is fine with my sister and me. He keeps us informed and gets our feedback on anything big, which is nice, but I have no desire to be the one in charge of that stuff. Neither does my sister and she’s in Kentucky anyway so it would be a lot harder for her.

I’ll update my NAO progress again soon, and if I have time I’ll catch up with some other things going on.

No Alcohol October (NAO) 1

Hello to those readers who are still around. I’ve decided to go no alcohol for the month of October (NAO), and I might try to update here how it’s going. I don’t know if I’ll update daily, but I will try to as I have time. Along with that, I’ll also update with some things that have been going on in my life for the past couple years.

The main reason I’m doing NAO is to get control back of my drinking. I’m not in any kind of trouble, and mostly things are fine, but I can see a path to drinking more and more until I don’t even try to stop. Also, the extra calories from the drinks aren’t good, nor is the increased snacking when I’ve got a good drunk going. Plus, on those increasingly rarer occasions where I haven’t had anything to drink the night before, I do wake up more refreshed and clearer of head, so I want to see how going more long term will feel.

This isn’t the first NAMonth I’ve done, but the last time I tried it a year or so ago, I bailed after about 10 days. Since then the wife and I will agree to not drink during the week, save it for the weekend, and usually by Wednesday (if not earlier) we’re back to drinking. The wife originally said she wasn’t going to join me, but would cut back during the week. Now she says she will do it with me, and I think that will make it easier.

So yesterday was the first day without drinking, and except for a mild bout of anxiety earlier in the evening, we made it through okay. I’ve felt that anxiety before on nights when there’s plenty of time to drink but for whatever reason I’ve decided not to, and it kind of bothers me. I took a longish walk after dinner, worked up a good sweat, so I felt pretty good about that. I need to get more exercise in, regardless of my level of drinking.

Today started fine; I woke up feeling clear headed and didn’t feel like I was dragging all day. Work was kind of stressful and frustrating (I’m with the same company as before, but I have a different job now) and there’s a small voice trying to convince me that maybe I need a drink tonight. Well, it’s only day two so I think I can resist it. Hopefully I’ll be as strong at day 10.

I want to go walking again tonight after dinner, but we’ll see. The wife had a last-minute thing to take care of, and we don’t know how long it will take. I’d go walking now, but I’d feel compelled to cut it short in case she got home sooner. Well, we’ll see how that goes either way. At least with her being gone right now I have time to write this update.

Anyway, yea, I started a new job in March/April last year. I was the office administrator, and that job was fine, but I felt more and more that I wasn’t really involved, if that makes sense. My job was important, but I didn’t have a direct hand in what my company does. So when a job in the manufacturing department came up, I asked for a chance to see if I can do it. Fortunately my boss at the time was willing to let me try, despite not having any direct experience in what I’d be working on (fiber optics, in short.)

I started working with the main guy in the fiber lab in January of 2018, and though he can be a dick at times (and I think he resented that I was coming in with essentially zero experience) after a few months I did show that I could learn the work and do it well enough for an entry level position. I got the job, and it came with a substantial raise.

I enjoy the work for the most part, but there are a lot of elements of the devices I build that are still a mystery even to the engineers who develop it. They’re easy enough to build, but when they don’t pass their Factory Acceptance Test it can lead to a lengthy trouble-shooting process that gets tedious and frustrating. Today I worked on a system I’ve been trying to get out the door since before the summer, and though I’ve made substantial changes and replacements in the system, I’m still more or less where I started. The engineer who has been working with me (he’s in Houston, so that distance makes it even harder) is apparently stumped, but I’m getting daily reminders from the shipping manager that the system has been due for some time now and we have to get it ready.

Anyway, that’s enough for now. I’ll try to update again in the next day or two with the NAO progress and with other things going on.

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Two Guys, a Girl, and a Football Game

I’m struggling to write what I want to write about this weekend because I’m writing this knowing that Simplicity and (probably) ZRob will be reading this before I post it. I could avoid any potential awkwardness by simply writing about the sex and how hot it was (oh, sorry, SPOILER ALERT: SEX WAS HAD) and that would be true, but it wouldn’t be the full truth. If I can’t write about the full truth, then I lose the biggest advantage writing gives me; the ability to work through things and try to make sense of my feelings about them.

So before I go any further, let me state for the record, especially to Simplicity and ZRob, that though the experience is shadowed somewhat by what I consider my own shortcomings and inadequacies, I did thoroughly enjoy our time together from beginning to end, and cannot think of any two people with whom I would rather have had this experience. Neither of you are responsible even a little bit for those shadows.

Another reason I can’t ignore everything else and only write about the sexual part is that, in my mind, everything had to do with the sexual part. It was the elephant in the room (or in the car) for the entire drive up Saturday whether we acknowledged it or not (and we did not.) When we laughed about Simplicity leaving her cell phone at Burger King, specifically in the Burger King trash bin (which she fortunately realized had happened before we’d left the area); when we laughed about how the address that my GPS followed flawlessly, taking us about 45 minutes out of the way to what the address should have been; when we made small talk all through dinner and in the hotel room later; everything, in my mind, was about the sexual part.

We’d gotten together back in July to talk about the trip to see the Dallas Cowboys play the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field, but though I was able to speak a little bit to both Simplicity and Z separately about what might happen on the trip, I could never get a handle on getting all three of us to talk about it. The theme “play it by ear” came up a number of times, and it felt like it would jinx the whole thing if I pushed too hard to get us to openly talk about it.

I knew Simplicity was conflicted: on the one hand, a MMF threesome was a fantasy for her, and she was really excited about the possibility. On the other hand, she wasn’t sure that she would be able to handle the reality of it when the chips were down. 

I also knew that Z was conflicted; he really wanted this to happen, but felt like it wasn’t his place to initiate anything. He realized that he was along for the ride (at least in terms of the sex) and would go along with whatever happened, but clearly it would have felt like a missed opportunity if nothing did.

For my part, of course I was conflicted. That really shouldn’t be a surprise to any of you who’ve read, say, even 10% of my posts here; I’m always conflicted! In this case, I’d taken the responsibility for everyone else’s comfort and satisfaction upon myself (and again, I must stress that this is completely my fault; nobody asked me to do this, so I’m the only one to blame) and couldn’t get completely comfortable myself because of this. However, I was so concerned about seeming too pushy that I avoided starting the conversation that could get everything out in the open so that we all actually could be more comfortable and satisfied.

Left up to me, this weekend would have been not exactly a disaster, because it still would have been a weekend spent with two people I like a lot, but it would have been less satisfying. Fortunately, Simplicity is the hero of this tale. She recognized that Z and I, right or wrong, for whatever reason, weren’t going to make the first move. So with a little liquid courage, she took matters into her (ahem) own hands.

When Z went into the bathroom, Simplicity came to the bed I was sitting on and gave me a passionate kiss. She knows that sometimes I need just a small push to get me out of my own head, and it worked this time to perfection. I had one hand under her shirt pinching her nipples and the other hand up the leg of her short-shorts, rubbing her ass, when Z came back into the room.

Z’s smart enough to know when to shut up and enjoy the show (we’re similar in a lot of ways; this isn’t one of them), so he sat down on his bed and did just that. I stage whispered to Simplicity “I think he’s watching us” and she laughed and said “I hope so!” I tugged at her shirt a bit, and she took the hint and pulled it off, exposing her awesome tits to the both of us. Of course, I’ve seen them before, but it’s always a rush to see them again, and especially under these circumstances.
I asked her if Z could touch, and before she could finish saying “yes, of course” he was up and pulling on the nipple that I wasn’t already sucking. I had gotten my hand under her panties and was fingering her pussy, which was already soaking.

Simplicity pushed me back on the bed and lay down beside me, on her back, giving Z and I the space to really go to work on her. He and I alternated between kissing her and sucking on whichever nipple we could get to, while I continued to play with her under her shorts. After few minutes, I started working on pulling her shorts and panties off, and once that was accomplished I started to lick and nibble on her clit.

My favorite thing about sex with Simplicity is how responsive she is. You don’t have to ask if she likes something, because she is very vocal about what she likes and what’s working for her. This was working for her! I know this not only from the way she was squirming and moaning, but also from when she gasped “God, I love the attention!”

At this point I realized that Z and I were still dressed, so I said “There is entirely too much clothing going on!” and pulled my shirt off. Z was even quicker than I was, and by the time I was stepping out of my shorts, he was naked and back to kissing Simplicity and playing with her tits while she stroked his cock. I got between her legs, lifted them up, and entered her tight pussy with a hard thrust that got her moaning again. As I thrust in and out, the two of them were trying to work out how she could suck him, but the positioning was wrong and it wasn’t going to happen.

She rolled over so I could take her from behind, while Z sat so that her head was in his lap. Seeing her suck his cock while I was fucking her is probably the hottest thing I’ve ever experienced, and it’s only because I’d gotten the right balance of alcohol (not too much to keep from getting hard, but enough to keep from coming immediately) that I was able to continue! I know it’s a total Frat-bro move, but Z and I high-fived at this point (sorry, Simplicity!)

I asked Z if he wanted to switch, and though he was loving the blow job, he quickly agreed. Watching as he fuck Simplicity while she sucked my cock was also right up there on the hottest things I’ve experienced! After a few minutes, we switched again. Soon, though, Simplicity was overwhelmed and exhausted, and needed to pee! So we took a break while everyone caught their breath.

The alcohol and late hour were catching up to me, though. I lay down in one bed while Z lay down in the other, and soon Simplicity joined me. We cuddled for a while, then Z got up to (I think) take a shower. I was near falling asleep and thought Simplicity was as well. When she asked if I was ready for round two, I woke up quickly enough!

I rolled over on top of her and entered her smoothly. I had her legs on my shoulders as I fucked her, first slow, then fast and rough, then slow again. At some point (I was losing track of time) Z came back out and sat on his bed, watching us. I glanced over and saw him playing with himself, and he smiled and said “It’s a great show!” I laughed and turned my attention back to Simplicity.

We fucked for several more minutes, until she asked me breathlessly to stop. I lay down, proud of a job well done, and Z thanked us for the show, and again said it was great. Simplicity and I cuddled together and I drifted off to sleep.
**********

The next morning, we all woke up tired, hungry, and a little (or a lot) hung over. We showered (separately), got some food, and then headed out to go to the game. We walked among the tailgaters for an hour or so, drinking the beer we’d brought with us and talking with the various fans from both teams. Z and I are Cowboys fans, while Simplicity is (and apparently isn’t ashamed to admit it) a Redskins fan. We good-naturedly teased each other and everyone else about their teams and prospects of winning that day. A good time was had by all.

We had several beers during the game, but then I needed to switch to non-alcohol. I wasn’t sick, or even feeling particularly bad, but I wasn’t feeling 100% either. The sun was a little too bright, the air was a little too warm (except when the lovely breeze would blow through, making everything right for a brief time), and the crowd was a little too loud. After the game (the Cowboys won!) we made our way back to the train station to head back to the hotel. Trains are a good, inexpensive way to travel through an area like this, but they aren’t much good for making weary bones feel better.

After we got back to the room we rested a bit before heading out to get some dinner. Food made me feel much better, and I had a beer with a cigar when we got back to our room again. We watched more football, and then after I had a shower I slowly wound down. I think we were all kind of wondering if we should try for a repeat of the night before, but nobody had the energy to get started. We didn’t even have the energy to drink much.
**********

Monday morning we got up and packed everything away, then headed out for breakfast. We came back to the room, loaded up my Pathfinder, then waited around a while to let traffic diminish some before heading out. (That turned out to be a good idea, based on the traffic reports we saw early that morning.)

We checked out and hit the road around 10, and after a fairly uneventful 4 hours (give or take), we were back to our neck of the woods. We said our goodbyes and I headed on home to start a load of wash and relax, and get wound down from the trip. When the wife got home, we went out for a bit of dinner, then came home and had a few drinks before going early to bed.

ZRob's Brief Take On the Weekend

I think we all had some "issues" going in. It was like we were teenagers on our first date that could be THE first time. We were all nervous, but once the fun started, we got into it and I, for one, had a great time.

Rob, you are right. Even though it was never stated, since you knew both of us before, you were in the lead position, if you will. To be honest, I stayed out of the second round because simplicity was enjoying it so much, that I didn't want to break her concentration. And, it was a good show :).

I do wish I had thought about the tag teaming that Simplicity talked about in her post, but I think the vodka got in the way. Of course, the vodka was the only reason that I didn't cum from the head I was getting.

There are a number of things I would probably do differently if the opportunity came up again. And if it does, one thing I will not miss out on again will be tasting Simplicity, even if I have to push Rob out of the way. That is my only regret from the weekend.

Maybe Tonight

The wife and I successfully completed August without Alcohol, and except for a few moments here and there, it really wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I technically could have drank last night, but decided I’d rather wait for the weekend. In other words, tonight! (But I still plan to keep it reasonable.)

On my way in to work this morning, I won a pair of tickets to a Billy Ocean show. Yes, he’s still alive (or at least I hope he is; otherwise that’s going to be a gruesome show) and you probably know more of his songs than you think you do. I certainly did, and I like him and his music quite a bit. And if you Google him, look at his pictures from the 80s; Chris Rock could be his younger twin!

That said, I don’t know if we’ll go or not. The venue will likely be crowded, and I’ve seen the seating chart and I’m not sure it’s going to be a great view. Those seats are so tiny and uncomfortable, and we’d be sitting such that we’ll have to turn to face the stage.

But maybe we will go. I know it’s just my social anxiety coming up with these excuses, and I’d probably have an okay time if I just got out of my head. A lot will depend on the wife, and her schedule in regards to baseball (of course.) Our local team is in the playoffs, and could potentially have a home game next Friday. If that’s the case, she will certainly want to go to that instead of the show. And that actually makes me a little more likely to go, especially if I could get someone (L) to go with me. A show like that would be for me infinitely more fun with L, or really just about anyone, than it would be with the wife.

One person did indicate that they would like to read the short stories I wrote for the Reddit group nosleep, so I will work on getting them formatted properly and posting them here. They are not sexual stories at all, but as the subreddit name implies, they are a little on the eerie side. I have some other ideas for stories as well, ones that don’t really fit for nosleep, which I may write and post here.

 Or, you know, me being me, I might wind up convincing myself that my stories are shit and nobody wants to read them and why bother.

 Goddammit, I’m doing it again! I better end this post and get it up before I say “fuck it” and delete it.

Summer Update

At the start of the year, in an effort to kick-start my forever failing weight loss, I decided to go the month of January without any alcohol. And I made it, too.

For two weeks.

In my defense, those two weeks included two full weekends that I didn’t drink, even though I was making the wife drinks almost every night. (She doesn’t have more than one drink a night during the week, if any, and maybe two or three over the weekend.) So I felt like it was a sort of a victory, even though I didn’t wind up making it the full month.

Of course it didn’t do anything for my weight, either, since I didn’t change my eating habits enough to make any difference. I think it was that realization that led to me saying “fuck it” and having the first drink (then the second, then the third) that night; why was I bothering if it wasn’t magically making me skinny? I can be fat and deal with all the shit my brain throws at me all day long, or I can be fat and drown those noises out for a while. Easy choice, no?

I wrote a few months ago about how the wife and I started eating keto (low carb, high fat), and how it was helping with my weight loss. As of this morning, since May 2 of this year, I’ve lost 41 pounds and probably 6 inches off of my waist. I say “probably” because I didn’t have the heart to measure it when I first started, but I can see the pictures. I do know that I went from wearing size 44 pants that were too snug to now wearing some size 40s that are too loose, and one size 38 that fits about right.

I buy everything at Goodwill now because I don’t want to spend a lot of money on clothes that I intend to be too big for me in the near future, so sometimes my options are limited. On the other hand, sometimes I find some really nice clothes that seems almost a shame to have to “retire” as I continue to lose weight. Currently the plan is to get down another 25 pounds, which should put me firmly in the 36 size, maybe 34 depending on 1) the cut of the clothes and 2) my motivation to exercise (which has been much higher than in the past, though I’m still lazy and don’t do it nearly as consistently as I should.)

Before:

After:

Along with this new-found healthy eating lifestyle, near the end of July I told the wife of my intention to go the month of August without drinking. I can’t say for sure exactly why I chose to do it again; partly I wanted to see if it would help with my weight loss efforts (it has, at least a little), and partly I just wanted to see if I still have any will-power left (I do, at least for some things.) But the biggest reason I decided to do it was because of how apprehensive I felt just considering going a month without drinking. The hollow feeling of loss that washed over me when I thought of evenings and weekends without drinking convinced me that I probably need to do this.

The first weekend was okay despite the wife going to baseball games each night; I just distracted myself with other things, and made it through okay. I made it through the following week alright as well, though Thursday (the 11th) I had a really strong desire to have a drink. I would have, too, except my wife (not at a game that night) talked me down from it. Besides that really bad night, the rest of the time hasn’t been too bad.

I’ve gone 22 days now without alcohol, and more importantly I now know that I can make it the next 9 days. It will actually be 10 days because I intend my first drink to be on a Friday night, because I have a feeling I will get pretty buzzed. Yes, I will be drinking again once the month is over, but I plan to do better about showing some restraint, especially during the week.

Football season is starting soon, and in three and a half weeks my beloved Cowboys will be playing the hated Redskins (mwaw to Simplicity) at FedEx Field. My buddy Z (remember him?) and I will be going for the third year in a row, and this year we will have a special guest with us that could lead to some interesting shenanigans (and even if shenanigans aren’t in the cards, it will still be a good time.) Everything is going to be played by ear, so I won’t do much more than a tease here and there about it for now. But rest assured, I will write about that weekend one way or another!

Quick poll: I’ve written a few stories for the /nosleep subreddit that have gotten fairly decent comments and upvotes. Would any of you readers be interested in reading those stories here?