Last Day to Guess My T-Cells!
March 17, 2011
Last day to guess on my t-cells and win one of these sweet, sweet, iced mochas. I’d sure love to treat ya to one, so take a wild guess and good luck. (be sure to post your guess on my Poz Blog Comments section!)
Guessing ends at 11:59 pm tonight. Results and winner announced soon thereafter!
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
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Website: ShawnandGwenn.com Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
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Labtest Contest IV: The Winner Gets A Mocha!
March 15, 2011
Last March, July and December I held a “Labtest Contest”, giving readers of this blog a chance to win something cool simply by guessing how many t-cells I have when I get my labs drawn. Well, last Thursday I had labwork done, and in a few days I’ll email my doctor and get the results…
Here’s a refresher on the rules (subject to change, just like my t-cells):
Official Rules
1. You have to post your guess (between 450 and 750 t-cells) not here, but over on my Poz blog Comments section
2. Relatives are disqualified (only because that makes this seem official)
3. Closest guess wins- no Price is Right logic applies.
4. One vote/guess per person.
5. Deadline is Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 11:59 EST.
Roll call of champions:
March-July 2010: Charles Oliff (guess: 567 actual count: 565)
July-December 2010: Aimee Lee (guess: 516 actual: 511)
December 2010-Current Champion: “Satan” (guess: 666 actual: 662)
Last time out I put up my Jesus hat as the prize for the winner, and an anonymous guess who only went by the name Satan won with a guess of 666. No one ever stepped forward claiming to be “Satan”, so the winner ended up being me. Not because I posted my highest t-cell count ever with 662, but because I got to keep my Jesus hat.
So this time the stakes are much higher. The winner and new champion of my t-cells will get an iced mocha… yes, you read that right- the ultimate iced mocha mooch is going to buy you an iced mocha if you win. Or whatever drink of no value higher than $5 that you prefer.
Okay, I’m posting a guess now. Good luck to all who humor me with a guess!
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
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Website: ShawnandGwenn.com Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
My CD, Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, is on iTunes!
SHARE THE BLOG. NOT THE VIRUS.
Back From Vacation
March 11, 2011
I’d mentioned a few blog posts ago that I was feeling under the weather. So what do you do when you are feeling under the weather? You leave the weather for a better climate. And that’s just what I did when I ditched the blah weather of Charlottesville, Virginia for the warm beach weather of Anguilla in the Caribbean.
I’m not shitting you, that is a picture I took. That’s Gwenn and our goddaughter, Evie, walking by the beach. Now, before you hate me for posting about this trip, remember that in 1987 at the tender age of 11 I was given two years to live by the medical establishment. If you need a more recent example of pity, I’d spent the entire week before the flights to get there feeling like ass.
Not enough? I understand. You can hate.
The weather did help me bounce back faster, healthwise. Gwenn and I went to Anguilla with our friend, Lauren, and her daughter, Evie. We went along to help look after Evie, who enjoys traveling with us and who was getting her first taste of the ocean life. Even though she preferred the hotel pool, which was equipped with a pirate ship and a water slide, which I went down about 15 times myself.
The beaches of Anguilla have been called the most beautiful in the world, and a trip to the Caribbean has always been on my to-do list. So needless to say, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to go. But reality did creep into the fun-under-the-sun umbrella environment. A rooster on the premises of the hotel cackled every morning around 4 a.m.. Gwenn got food poisoning and was scarily-ill one night- it took her a day to recover…
But reality also came in the form of a tour we were taking of the island with a nice man named Darvin. He had a big white Hummer, and seemed to know everyone on the 17-mile long island. He drove us to some of the fancier hotels, “Paul Simon is staying there right now,” Darvin said. I got excited because he’s the guy that’s married to Edie Brickell of Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. I wondered if they were still married and whether or not I’d see her milling around the island.
But that thought was interrupted when we passed a place I really wanted to take a look at: an HIV clinic. It was a lime green, one-story building that must have had 3 rooms in it, tops. Much quainter than the digs of Mr. Brickell, for sure. On the side of the building there was a painting of a large red ribbon. I wanted to ask Darvin if he had any friends who were positive- I wanted to know what their reality of living with HIV was on an island where the wealthiest of the wealthy get away from it all.
But I didn’t ask. Because I didn’t want to ruin the tour with a dose of reality. I regret not asking, because now I’m back home wondering what Darvin would have said- it would have been a unique insight into how the virus is viewed by someone who is obviously a popular guy in the community.
People travel far and wide, from many walks of life, to step foot on these islands to get away from it all. I’m deeply thankful that part of the appeal of this vacation wasn’t getting away from HIV- for I’m fully at peace with the virus that rides my blood like surfers ride a wave. My hope is that the folks who live on the island and share my status feel the same way.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
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Website: ShawnandGwenn.com
Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
My CD, Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, is on iTunes!
SHARE THE BLOG. NOT THE VIRUS.
Last Positoid Standing: RIP Mike DeStefano
March 8, 2011
Former Poz columnist, comedian and HIV educator Mike DeStefano passed to spirit suddenly on Sunday due to a heart attack. A lot of folks got to know his humor via his Top 5 finish on last year’s season of Last Comic Standing. I had the privilege of meeting “Mikey D” through educating about HIV- it’s a small world when you where you HIV status on your sleeve.
Since he wrote for Poz back in the day, I thought it would be good to share his first column for the magazine from 1998. He wrote about being a long-term nonprogressor, and jokes about how his smoking habit will probably get him before hiv (in the column he refused to capitalize “HIV”, not wanting to give it that towering power):
“Still, what a pain in the ass this little piece of paper has been–the
positive test result that has taken me through emotions I never even
knew existed. And most frustrating of all, I know in my heart of hearts
that because of these years of turmoil, I’ve become a pretty decent guy.
It kills me to admit it, but somehow I needed this virus.” – Mike DeStefano
The HIV community needed you, Mikey. Thank you for you honesty, sense of humor and passion for sharing your experiences living with HIV.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
Website: ShawnandGwenn.com
Also check out
the lovely Gwenn’s
Fashion/Coffee Blog
My CD, Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, is on iTunes!
SHARE THE BLOG. NOT THE VIRUS.
Republicans VS. Planned Parenthood
March 4, 2011
One of the reasons why I’ll probably never be able to cast a vote for a Republican is because of their views on sex, whether it’s institutionalized homophobia (in which they obsessively cannot get the sexual imagery of homosexual acts out of their minds- hmmmm) or their opposition to open dialogue about safer sex.
Here, the Daily Show explains the most recent attacks on Planned Parenthood by House Republicans, who should just stay out of the way and let PP talk to their teenagers about sex since they refuse to do so.
Sex Education Now
March 3, 2011
Here’s a great photo from a town hall meeting in Boston last month. Students voiced their opinion on the lack of sex education in Boston area schools, where teenage pregnancy is the number 1 reason for high school dropout rates. An ounce of prevention… a pound of common sense. And an acknowledgment of our biological urgings as well as our humanity.
That’s sex education in a nutshell, right?
Tribute to Mr. Hahn
March 2, 2011
Earlier this month, I received some sad news via Facebook that one of my Friends on their had passed to spirit. The Friend? My Speech Communications teacher from my senior year in high school, Duane Hahn.
Duane was a Waynesboro High classic, one of a handful of teachers that you remember as vividly as the first day you stepped foot in his classroom. His personality was infectious- and he kept you on your toes with his quick wit. My senior year, I had him for first period. It’s a slot I usually skipped out on, cashing in on the “sick excuse” that an HIV diagnosis allowed.
The first semester of my senior year, my attendance was pretty good. That’s because the first half of Duane’s class was about public speaking. I loved preparing little speeches educating classmates about the return to the WWF of former champion Bob Backlund, and going on the morning announcements where I sang a line from the Modern English song “Pillow Lips” to a confused student body one fall morning. I had no idea I’d apply that stripping of the fear of public speaking to my adult life as an HIV educator, and that’s what made Mr. Hahn special… learning was fun.
For the second semester, Mr. Hahn was teaching sign language, and my old habits of missing school and sleeping in allowed me to fall embarrassingly behind in his class. I changed my schedule around a bit second semester, dropping all academic classes because I realized I wasn’t going to college. There was a bit of a reality check going on, subconsciously. Since I’d been unable to pick up the basics of sign, I dropped Speech Communications, too. Whenever I saw Mr. Hahn in the hallway after that, he’d give me that Rock-esque cocked eyebrow, as if saying, “Oh, it’s you.” It was in jest, but I could see that I had let him down by dropping his class.
Maybe he thought it was personal? I wish I’d been mature enough to explain to him that I was embarrassed by how far I’d fallen behind, that I just wanted to sleep more. Or that I found the first semester way more interesting.
A couple of days after I read the news of Mr. Hahn’s passing, Gwenn and I spoke at a conference for guidance counselors in Maryland. I thought about him all day- and how his class was my favorite that last year of high school. I wished that I’d sent him a message saying so on Facebook when I Friended him a couple of years ago. Either way, I thank him dearly for all the laughs, and for helping me overcome nerves when speaking in front of people.
You will be missed, Mr. Hahn.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
Website: ShawnandGwenn.com
Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
My CD, Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, is on iTunes!
SHARE THE BLOG. NOT THE VIRUS.
LIFE IN PHOTOS
Face Time fun with my Goddaughter. She was digging our phone chat- even though we were about three feet away from one another.
Making the enemy quit out with @squirrel_munky and @vaineos :)
Closing out the Joe with @gwennbarringer this afternoon.
Caught in full Mocha Mode...
Speaking About Sexual Health
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