December 2017, Nashville, My hotel room

I don’t usually post stories that are this revealing, especially about my sex life, but one of the stories made my editor laugh so hard, he made me promise to include it on my blog. And, If I’m gonna talk about my sex life, I had to write ‘two types’ of stories lest I get categorized. American (g)od illustrates my point and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

“What are you doing on your birthday this year?” asked my little sister.

“Well, usually, I’m so distracted by…

Pensacola, FL, My hotel room, July 2014
A client asks for a completely dark massage space and my sensors are screaming ‘RED ALERT’.

I was on a long overdue three-day vacation in Pensacola. I had the typical Florida agenda: bob in the clear blue water, catch some rays, do some writing, and eat at least one meal of fried seafood. As I laid claim to my twenty-five square foot area of fine white sand, I offered gratitude that I was finally here and wished that those close to me could share this time with me.

As I lied face up…

July, 2014, Gulfport, MS & the Central Business District (CBD) ­­of New Orleans

On the way to one of the South’s most affordable lesser-known paradise islands, I found myself in a potentially precarious situation.

Over the last fifteen or twenty years, I have been a member of several social media apps that connect men to each other for a variety of reasons. Men use these apps to find their tribe, a boyfriend or husband, networking and, of course, sex. The search function helps the app users filter through the specific fields in profiles so members can find each other accordingly.

…

Tuesday February 24th, 2015, 7:45 pm, a private home in a small subdivision in the Ohio countryside

Note: I received permission from Tim and Clark to share this story.

It was an out call to a client’s house, twenty-five minutes from the city that hurried me out of the hotel toward the five story parking garage across the street. It was dark at 7 pm and evidence of a recent snow storm was everywhere. I searched for any ice that escaped the transforming touch of the sun and my lungs and mouth coordinated and produced a low growled ‘augh’ at…

Thursday May 24, 2018, 11 am, my hotel room, Independence, OH

I’m sitting at my laptop in my hotel room while Gracie, the house keeper with whom I’ve conspired to deputize as ‘my’ housekeeper, begins to spray the shower floor. She asks:

Gracie: So, you married?
Me: No ma’am.
Gracie: Girlfriend?
Me: Definitely not.
Gracie: Any kids?
Me: No, I wasn’t called to parenthood.

I thought her next question was going to be, “are you a lesbian?” a reference to the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Me: I’m gay, single, and, hope to be married one day…but, right now, it’s about work.

She is suddenly quiet and pauses her work on the shower floor.

Gracie: I don’t have a problem with that. I tried it once…with a woman, I mean. Augh. She was too possessive! I went back to men.

LOL

Sunday, April 16, 2017, 6:02 pm, my apartment, Texas

Before I started this job, I didn’t do any research about the ‘traveling massage gig’ industry. Of course, I read other massage ads on the sites on which I was going to post my massage ad…but, that was about it. Why didn’t I do more research?!?! It very happened quickly. I should have anticipated what my job would be like by, at the very least, getting a half dozen sessions from my future competition.

When I began doing the traveling massage gig, I was a little oblivious to some of the…

Monday, July 18, 2017, 7 pm, Houston, TX (Allen Parkway & Montrose areas)

My philosophical moments come unexpectedly, and, not often enough. It was early this evening and after reading between the veiled comments of text messages, I realized that my friend had once again fallen into a lifeless position on the couch in his home unable to move and unwilling to reach out. After digesting his situation, I surveyed my living space where I was organizing my gear to take to Dallas for work. …

Some morning in late 2015, 10:30 am, Massage School, Texas

Note: To protect their privacy, I have changed the names of those mentioned in this post. All of my posts, especially this one, are true.

I’m about to fall asleep in massage class. It’s the middle of the morning — that time when you want to find a private place at work or school and sneak in a fifteen minute power-nap. My airplane flight and travel demands from the night before have drained all of my energy reserves needed to plow through the remaining ninety minutes to lunch.

I never…