It’s time for the wearin’ of the green…

So Tuesday is St. Patrick’s Day, and yes - with a name like Kevin Patrick it is expected, well required, to celebrate the wearin’ of the green. In Denver, our Paddy’s Day parade is on Saturday so tonight I’m getting the kilt ready.

Yep - I will be wearing a kilt tomorrow to the parade, just as I have done for the past 5 years.

Now how come I can feel comfortable on a nude beach but I don’t feel comfortable on the streets in a kilt?

And did I mention I have 6 of them?

I envy men that can pull them off. I wear them when I’m going out sometimes and on St’ Patrick’s day. I’ve seen other men wear them and they don’t care who looks at them and how they are perceived which is the reason I started buying them. I wanted them as a replacement for jeans sometime - I mean how cool is it to show up in kilt and not care what other people think of it? More so, I wanted to be a man secure enough to wear one. My problem seems to be that most men that have the guts to wear them look great in them and I’m still not quite sure I do. If you’re big and muscular and attractive and look like you don’t give a damn and would kick anyone’s ass for calling it a skirt you’ll be fine - be a tall, skinny, bald, middle-age queer and maybe you’re not pulling it off, maybe you’re a wanna be…

I exchanged a couple of emails with a guy on Blogger when I first started and I quickly became leery. This kid is 20-something, straight, attractive, and a nudist and I’ll be god-damned if he doesn’t wear a kilt when he has to put something on; Now I don’t want to be the stereotypical gay man by coughing up one-liners from old movies but to quote Scarlett, I was pea-green with envy.

I mean really, some guys get all the luck.

No really - a handsome kid that looks good in a kilt and isn’t worried at all about what other people think.

Some guys really do get all the luck.

Really.

I’m pulling out the kilt right after this rant and I will wear it but with a little remorse. This sentiment isn’t because I don’t have the best calves or because I really am Irish and right about now I’m as lily-white as they come, and a tan could do nothing but help this situation. No, I am remorseful because this 20-something kid is right because he truly doesn’t care about how he looks in a kilt or even realize that he’s one of those lucky people that can get away with just about anything - it’s because this kid wears it because he likes it and he doesn’t care what other people think and more than anything I am striving to be that type of person.

Envy sucks - It’s the one nasty emotion I feel as a nudist sometimes and now it’s surfaced because I passed an email or two to this very nice kid who just dropped in on my blog to say hey…

So to my kilted friend, I’ll work on the envy and attempt to mirror the ease with which you live your life and follow your passions, and realize that since you stopped by only to share a word about our beliefs in body-freedom I should remember that since you didn’t shriek at the way I looked naked maybe I should stop worrying about everything so much.

Eric, my naked buddy, stay regimental or better yet, be naked and thanks for maybe teaching an old man a lesson.

Naked social networking on the internet or: How to make friends and piss off people in 12 easy steps.

Now anyone who’s been to this site could easily glean one thing; Kevin is feeling a little lonely and looking for friends. Kevin also likes to be naked and likes other people that are comfortable with this.

So Kevin goes onto the web in all of his glory (well, not so much glory but I did put it all out there) and I start to interact with people across the globe via the worldwide web. I’ve had exchanges with men and women in other states and other countries and for the most part, I’ve had a blast. I love the diversity in people who all share a small common bond but allow that bond to open up new relationships, regardless of all the differences in their lives. I don’t want everyone to be just like me and I am so glad there are others out in the world that embrace the variety others can bring into their day - the challenges and perspectives that someone else can present – beliefs and ideologies and experiences that make me ponder and question and learn...

And boy is I learning.

Let’s cover the bad part of naked social networking first:

If you want to have a conversation over a web cam, please make sure that we’re going to have a conversation and that I would be able to see your face, not just your genitalia. I personally appreciate genitalia and I am by no means prude, but on our first interaction let me see a face with a smile, and then ask me if I’m looking to watch you jerk-off - that’s the only request I make. I’m sorry if I make anyone mad and by no means am I saying this is inappropriate behavior between adults, it’s just that I want a little more.

Yes, Kevin is naïve.

But now the good part:

After going onto a site where I have a profile posted (and after shutting down IM to avoid pop-ups inquiring about joint masturbation sessions), I received a post regarding my profile; it was open and friendly and inquisitive and complimentary. I responded to this person and then the dialogue started to go back and forth. With each response, I found myself wanting to express more, say more about myself and learn more about this person in return. There were topics which made my replies exceed my approved allotment of characters in that darn little text box, and every new thread seemed to make each of us want to know more and share more of each others life and experiences and opinions.

I really like it when you feel you have something to look forward to each day because a new and interesting person has entered your life, digitally or otherwise.

New friend; thanks for being the highlight of a crappy day yesterday.

Now, since this person is happily married, it always brings up the topic of whether people who meet in this kind of climate can truly just be friends. I’m trying to be adult and say yes, but we all know what kinds of things can happen. I think I’ve already admitted I wear my heart on my sleeve and am the first to admit I misread peoples intentions and comments on an hourly basis – If we talk and I ask you to explain yourself or request that you be blunt, I’m doing this to prevent myself from making a bad assumptions, not because I’m stupid.

Okay – I can be stupid.

Anyway, here’s to new friends, the joys of naked surfing, and looking forward to opening your inbox…

End segregation now

So I took a little hiatus.

Not from blogging or anything else in particular, just kind of took a break from human interaction; at work I was more quiet and I found myself not participating in social environments and found myself holed up at home during the weekends just not wanting to talk to people. I’ve been this way from time to time all of my life and the people around me have come to accept it. I am now back to being my normal, overly-caffeinated self again

I’ve decided that after a rather interesting year I’m giving myself a well-deserved vacation and that means someplace I can curl up on a beach and read and just generally be lazy for 6-7 days. I’ve starting looking at Haulover beach and I think that next month I’ll treat myself to a week there. I’ve been researching it and it sounds like it’s one of the most diverse and unified beaches in the US. After a week of internally debating about being fiscally responsible (paying my car loan off) or spending a week with a bunch of other naked people, well I have to tell you that I am pretty sure that being naked is going to win.

Now, I am always slightly torn whenever I look into taking a trip to a nude beach, as there always seems to be one last mark of segregation still affecting us-

Which side is the straight side and which is the gay side?

First of all, please let me tell you that I am not “Pollyannaish” about the state of racism in these United States, however you won’t find any beach directories telling you which is the black side or the white side - at least we’re getting better about that even though we have a long way to go still in terms of racial equality.

With that said, when I tell you that I’m torn I have to re-emphasize that I’m a gay man, but unless you and I are in a gay bar and you buy me a drink and tell me that you’d like to get to know me better, then I assume you’re straight. So when I go to a beach I am conflicted in that yes, it is great to be among your own, to be safe with others that are like you and maybe you even think that if you start talking with someone you are at least approaching someone within your own dating pool. But when I go to a beach and talk with others enjoying the sun and the surf and the breeze, I like to think that I don’t exclude the chance to met wonderful, funny, insightful people that I might exclude myself from should I look for the area predominately full of men on rainbow-colored towels and then set my own towel among them.

My first trip to a legal nude beach was to Sandy Hook in New Jersey and I had done due diligence before I went, knowing exactly which side of the beach I was supposed to station myself on and I did such. I spent most of the day alone, not talking to anyone until I walked to a concessions stand. On may way, and by a chance encounter, I started talking with a family and ended up having the best afternoon. It wasn’t until after we said goodbye and thanked one another for the day that I realized I had broken the boundary that I thought would give me comfort; to this day I am still conflicted when I step foot on the sand at then end of my destination and have to decide between going left or going right.

Someone want to fix this for me? So far, the only thing that I can come up with is to lay down in the middle so I get to enjoy the people on both sides.