A postal experiment, friends at Helios, and Flex turnabout night…

So, what happens when you mail a letter to someone, but instead of putting a 39 cent stamp from the post office, you just tape on some loose change adding up to 39 cents?

The letter was addressed from me (Philadelphia), to my girlfriend in NY.

39 Cents composed of one Quarter, one Dime and four Pennies were attached into the spot where a stamp would normally go. An additional 5 cents (nickel) was attached at the bottom right corner of the letter as a “tip” to the postal worker.

There were two expected outcomes to this experiment:

  1. The letter would be returned back to me for lacking a stamp, or
  2. The letter would be sent to my girlfriend.

Here is what the letter looked like before it was mailed:


Click to read the outcome of this little experiment.



I met Steve Nelson for breakfast at Helios, where he shared some photos and stories of his amazing trip to India.  I was actually moved to tears with one story. You might be gay if…

He went with a co-worker who is from India, so this was not at all a “tourist’s trip” to India, but rather a cultural and, at times, a profoundly spiritual immersion.  Good stuff.


After he left, I hung out and devised yesterday’s blog entry and started this entry.

Joe joined me later in the afternoon, and we went over some of his work-related investment decisions that he has to make as a new employee.


I love this simple “In Memoriam” entry in today’s N&O obits. It’s in remembrance of a guy named John Smith, who died in June of 2005. It says: “An extraordinary man with a very ordinary name. We all miss you.”


Joe and I had dinner at Moe’s Southwest Grill at Cameron Village. We saw “the piano lounge boys“—Greg & Kevin— there and they told us to “come on out” tonight as it should be festive with a lot of local theater going on in the area, and several of the cast members from different ones have been “dropping by.”


It was “Turnabout Night” at Flex, and we went pretty much solely to see Carl (our infamous line-dancer instructor) in drag. As it turned out, Adam (one of our illustrious Country Night DJs) was also in the show.

Carl did a Shania Twain number, That Don’t Impress Me Much, and I was impressed that he knew all the words and was able to recall them up on stage in front of a bunch of screaming drunks.

Adam did Brand New Key by Melanie. He was actually on roller skates on the stage. Cute.

We gave them lots of ones, and a five here and there, too, as all of their “tips” were going to Crape Myrtle.

Bill and I had a couple of serious belly laughs during the night: one, when he told me that when he was a teenager, when no one was home, he used to dress up in drag as a nun, and I said, “Oh, that is such a bad habit,” and then later when I said to him about the huge breasts that Carl had, which had “turned a little” as he was performing, “Nice nipples. All three of them.”


We did go over to CCs later in the evening, and we did check out the piano lounge, but it was close to one o’clock. I thought they played until 2:00, but it shut down at 1:00.

We did arrive in time to join in on the sing-along of The Gay National Anthem at least.

It was a festive night.

Leave a Comment