watched Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
last night on Bravo
and let me just say
if i had 5 gay men come and redo me
i'd be fabulous
absolutely fabulous
ab.fab.

sigh

walked into my first tattoo parlor last night after dinner
they are now legal in mass.
oh, don't worry, i was just browsing
i always think i'm going to get a tattoo, but just can't come up with a design
that i want to live with for the rest of my life

my favourite one last night was of tigger sitting on top of pooh.
holy cow.
how queer is that?
pun completely intended.

tattoos always get me thinking about the summer after my first year of college
i was a temp office manager (who am i kidding, i was a secretary, before the age of computers)
at the old Peter Bent building of Brigham & Women's Hospital
i would get called upon to do EKG's every now and again
squeeze gel here, attach electrode there, print out results
bada bing, bada boom

and one day i was asked to go help mrs. horowitz.
she came out in her hospital gown and i helped her onto the table
i was holding her hand when i noticed the tattoo on her forearm

at that moment, this baptist gal from arkansas,
realized the holocaust was not just a black and white documentary shown on pbs,
or the images of horror that I always assumed were far away and far removed.
this was right in front of me waiting for me to finish so she could go have lunch.

she was the person attached to that number.
she was there. it happened to her. all around her.
and now she was here.
and i have never forgotten.