I WANT: Fully functional central air conditioning. (geez aren't I a one note whiner?)

I HAVE: More skin tags on my neck than fingers on my hands.

I WISH: That as a nation we would be more concerned with feeding, clothing, and healing the world than spreading our economic and political philosophies.

I HATE: living paycheck to paycheck.

I MISS: having a snuggle partner.

I FEAR: that I have become as self-righteous as those I oppose in the church and the political arena.

I HEAR: the steady harmony of my Vornado personal fan, my inadequate window unit, and the muted roar of planes taking off at Midway.

I WONDER: Whatever happened to most of my friends from high school.

I REGRET: having hurt anyone...whether intentionally or otherwise...by something I've said, done, failed to say, or left undone.

I LOVE: getting hello hugs from parishoners on Sunday morning and hello kisses from CGMC members on Sunday nights...contextual rituals of affection.

I ACHE: from my neck to my tailbone...remnants of last weekend's concert with it's quick changes of costume and excessive (for this portly pastor anyway) dancing.

I ALWAYS: pour water in the font at the beginning of worship on Sundays.

I AM NOT: a person who blows his stack...at least not in years.

I DANCE: in that liminal space between utter surrender to the beat and chubby gay guy self-consiousness.

I SING: the music that moves me...hymns, showtunes, standards of the 30's to the 50's, cabaret songs...with more gusto than talent, with more emotion than precision.

I CRY: all the time at movies and when reading books, particularly, most recently while watching "Same Sex America" on Showtime...the documentary about gay marriage in Mass.

I WRITE: so that my brain, my heart, and my very self remain in communication with one another.

I WIN: every time I play Trivial Pursuit Silver Screen Edition with my family.

I LOSE: my patience at people who are pushy and dangerously aggressive in traffic.

I CONFUSE: names of my parishoner's adult children and grandchildren with alarming frequency.

I NEED: a care-free do nothing vacation involving reading, watching theatre, sleeping, eating, and snuggling.

I SHOULD: make the gym a priority.

[YES OR NO]

You keep a diary: yes, sometimes.

You have a secret journal: well, duh...that's what #1 is.

You set your watch a few minutes ahead: don't wear a watch, but yes for my bedside clock.

You bite your fingernails: no, I tear them off.

You believe in love: Oh, yes.

DO YOU:

Want to get married: ulitmately, yes, to a man.

Have any tattoos/where?: none

Piercings/where?: none

Get motion sickness: nope

Think you're a health freak: not hardly.

Get along with your parents: most of the time.

[IN THE LAST 24 HOURS, HAVE YOU]

HELPED SOMEONE? yes, a few

BOUGHT SOMETHING? yes, groceries.

GOTTEN SICK? no

GONE TO THE MOVIES? no

GONE OUT FOR DINNER? yes, with EP, a young woman I went to seminary with, who is visiting with her youth from Nebraska.

SAID "I LOVE YOU"? no

WRITTEN A REAL LETTER? no

TALKED TO AN EX? by IM, yes

WRITTEN IN A JOURNAL? yes

TALKED TO SOMEONE YOU CRUSH ON? by Im yes (and not the same person as above)

MISSED SOMEONE? yes

HUGGED SOMEONE? yes

FOUGHT WITH YOUR PARENTS? no

FOUGHT WITH A FRIEND? no

KISSED SOMEONE? no

HAD SEX? no

ATE A BURGER? no

WENT ON A ROAD TRIP? no