So, as it turns out, this Diablo thing is pretty fun.  You should see the bitterness that happens in our household when both of us are home and want to play.  "Just let me get to the next level and then I'll quit."  "Come on, I'm almost done with the quest... I can't stop now!"  "Okay, I'll let you play, but first I have to go to the town and sell my stuff and buy some scrolls and...."  It's bad.  There's dirty looks and whining and everything. 

If Tyler the Invisible Roommate wanted to play, we'd really be in trouble.  But Tyler is invisible.  He's Hollow Man.  The Hollow Homosexual.  We haven't seen him in fully three days.  I think he goes out to the gay clubs every night-- he's gone when we get home from work and he doesn't come back until the wee hours.  Yesterday I was awake until 3:00 playing Diablo, and Tyler never came home.  In a way, he's perfect roommate.  As long as he pays his rent, of course.

Originally, I was supposed to go to San Francisco this weekend.  But I haven't been able to coordinate with Gaston.  I kept sending him inquiring e-mails ("What airport should I fly to?  What train station should I come into?") and he kept sending me back e-mails that said, "I'll call you and give you the information."  He would call when I wasn't home and not leave a phone number.  No phone number in his e-mails.  No answers to my questions.  Very annoying.

We finally got to talk last night, and he was wonderfully gracious.  He suggested that I would be better off to postpone my trip until August, when apartments for September would start becoming available.  He also promised to look around for me, both online and in person.  Extremely sweet.  And now, I have his phone number.  Finally!  So I guess sometime in August, when I'm not jetting off to NYC, I'll be jetting off to San Francisco.  And this will be a weekend of delicious freedom.

Abby left for her own trip to New York (and the Caribbean) this morning.  She and I went out to Mo's for dinner so we could see each other before she left.

Going out with Abby is funny, because she really does go on and on about herself and whatever drama is happening in her life.  Then, an hour or so into it, she invariably switches gears and says, "So.  Tell me about your life." 

I just sort of sit there, staring at her, completely at a loss for words.  Sometimes I say, "Uuuh...." but usually I just stare.  After all, I haven't spoken in the past hour!  I forget how it works.

Her talk was full of Ash, of course, and how happy and in love she is.  I got to hear all kinds of really, super-personal stories.  Who ever thought my sister would be donning a strap-on (named Rex) or having sex in an El Torito?  And telling me about it, no less? 

Most of the stories are pretty damn funny, along the lines of, "Me and Ash were having sex in my room, and Mom knocked on the door, and we were naked, except I was wearing Rex, and we had to run and hide in the closet." 

Yes, Abby has a walk-in closet, and she's been hiding from our parents in there, with her lesbian lover, in the nude, wearing a strap-on.  In the closet.  I can't even make a joke here.  It's too easy. 

I am of course extremely wary of anything Abby has to say in Ash's defense, but I learned a couple of interesting things.  First, a lot of the stuff Abby accepted as fact came from Alice.  That gives it a little less credibility, since Alice is very capable of lying (before she got sober, she once told her family and friends she had AIDS) and since she's in love with Abby, she has a vested interest in seeing Ash badmouthed. 

Also, Ash's ex-girlfriend (Shana) has been saying things to Abby that turn out to be false.  For instance, Shana said that Ash was arrested for possession of crystal meth.  However, Abby actually saw the court documents, and it said in black and white that Ash had been arrested for possession of marijuana (under an ounce) and the charges were dropped.  Furthermore, Ash doesn't smoke marijuana.  (She does a lot of other shit, but not marijuana; Abby has seen her turn it down repeatedly.)  It was Shana's stash in the first place.

Among the things that may or may not be true:  Alice is the one who says that Ash used to have sex for money/drugs.  On the contrary, Ash claims she didn't even lose her virginity until she was 20.  Obviously, Abby is inclined to believe Ash.  I don't know what to believe. 

For my sister's sake, I certainly hope that Ash is not as horrible as I fear she is.  And I really hope that Ash stays sober.

One of the topics of conversation between Ash and Abby is Abby's coming out to our parents. 

First of all, my parents have to be the densest people in the world not to catch on to this whole thing.  They are in Abby's room all the time, acting completely suspicious.  Abby has hickeys all over her body.  She's constantly slipping... like yesterday, when she said, "...oh, does he know that I'm DATING ASH?" very loudly within earshot of them.

However, my parents may very well be the densest people in the world.  They keep asking Abby when she's going to find a boyfriend.  I don't know if they're hoping it's a phase, or if they're in denial.  It has to be one or the other, because if they really wanted to know, they could find plenty of evidence that my sister is the biggest lesbian since k.d. Lang. 

My parents also may be going with the tried and true, "Distract her, and she may stop being a lesbian" technique.  They are forever going into Abby's room (or calling her from the other line) to show her a bowl of popcorn (?), or tell her that something is on PBS, or to ask casually, "So... what's going on?"  Once, my mother even called and left a message on the machine: "I know you're in there.  I know you're lying on your bed.  Because MOTHER knows EVERYTHING."

Okay, Mrs. Bates.

So I guess Abby wants to come out, but she's scared of the reaction she'll get.  Currently it's a "don't ask, don't tell" situation, and my parents seem to like it that way.  But Abby's tired of sneaking around, and Ash wants the relationship to be "important enough" that Abby will stand up for it.

You know, I hate to say this (because generally when people say this, it's wishful thinking) but this may be a phase for Abby.  I know her well, but I am not 100% certain that she's gay. I don't want this to imply that I mind one way or the other, but I can see her someday going back to men.  In fact, on her graduation day, she kept saying it was her "last day as a lesbian" because she was going back to the dark side.

I am afraid of what message that will send to my family if she says, "I'm gay" now and then later reneges.  I don't want her to give my family the impression that being gay is a phase, or something you can turn on and off at will.  I think she'd be better off defining herself as bisexual, until she's completely certain that she is gay.  Otherwise it will just fuel the fire of my family's prejudices, and that would irritate me.  I don't want to sit and listen to "I told you she'd grow out of it" if Abby goes back to men.

Her newfound enthusiasm for lesbian sex, however, makes this increasingly unlikely.  At this rate, she'll not only come out of the closet, she'll come out wearing a strap-on.
 

There is a such thing as bad chemistry. I've certainly taken an instant dislike to someone, and it's only natural someone eventually will take an instant dislike to me. But-- I just hate to be confronted with it.