Downtown; Outside Kitties; OUT

One day last week, I attended a seminar in the central part of the city. At one time, the area must have been vibrant and alive but now it's mostly office buildings: federal, state, city and private.

I took an old street that parallels the railroad tracks. The street is mostly marked by boarded-up houses and shops. But now and then, I caught a glimpse of past glory. I passed a car repair shop with what was once a large round window{ in the midst of blight, an Art Deco remnant.

As a kid I went to school downtown. One city block was divided between the non-descript Catholic high school and the Elizabethan Revival public high school. The public high was by far the grander of the two, with double courtyards, three stories and twin towers in the front.

The Catholic high moved north and leased the land to Holiday Inn. The public high sat vacant for several years and then became the offices of the state education agency.

Work is underway on the train station to turn it into a hub for train, taxi and bus traffic. But even after several years, work continues. Because of the construction, traffic lanes were diverted, so I wound up going west when I wanted to go east. After a series of left turns, I was headed in the right direction.

It just now struck me that for the several hours I was there, I had no sudden flashbacks to school years. Does that mean I've made some kind of peace with the past? Odd!

There are two or three kitties living under my house and in my back yard. In the afternoon when I pull in from work, I'll see one darting into the weeds. They amy be the offspring of some felines of someone who lived across the street. The couple, who moved recently, had a number of indoor and outside cats, so my guess is they were not aware of this set of kittens.

The cats are silent. I've yet to hear one make any vocal noises. And they are very skittish. I can tell they know me, but they're very suspicious. My indoor cats seem oblvious to the outside intruders. Usually any creature that enters any part of the yard gets their full attention. But in this case I've not noticed a single sign of recognition.

Last night I became engrossed in the Sundance Channels' OUT movies. During the OUT month, Sundance shows a flock of films with gay chacters and on gay themes.

Time Warner offers both the Eastcoast and Westcoast feeds of Sundance which I think show the same programs, just at different times. So at one point I found myself torn between "Big Eden" and "Water Falling on Rocks." Some months ago, I saw the last 50% of "Water" but knew little about the beginning. I opted to stick with "Water" but switched over to "Eden" from time to time.

When "Water" finished, there was "Criminal Lovers." In this case I'd previously seen the middle portion. Since it was around 1 am, I was becomming drowsy, but I also wanted to watch "Lovers." Which I did until 2:30 or so.

Both "Water" and "Lovers" were so fascinating I didn't even try to switch back to "Big Eden." Fascinating and disturbing and oblique. And erotic. And both tug at some hidden desire that haunt your brain. Amorphous desires that defy logic.

PAX!