I've been striving for larger pecs for quite a while now. Brett's jokes and sniggers about my flat chest are becoming so tiresome! I mean, I know my chest isn't really flat, but he insists that, in the scheme of things, it's not that impressive, and I have to say I agree. I'm proud of my arms and shoulders, but the chest seems rather immune to my efforts. Part of it is genetic: after all, until the age of twenty-three or so, I weighed only about 170 lbs, which isn't much for my six and a half feet. And then there's the physics of the thing. Take the bench-press for example. Because of the length of my arms, I have much further to push the weights than most people, hence having to expend much more potential energy to get it up. So to speak. These, at least, serve as convenient excuses.

I decided to hire a remedial trainer at my new gym for a couple of sessions. I also had secondary motives; since I've been so tired in the evenings of late, a mid-week trainer (I only see Cecilia, my regular trainer, on Mondays and Sundays) could help me get through those hard workouts. Anyway, tonight was my first session. I'd gone through the book of trainers to find one that seemed sympatico, and settled on a kind-looking man I'd seen training others a few times. I chose him not only because he seemed like a kind, attentive trainer, but also because I was fairly sure he was gay.

Sure enough, he was as kind and caring as I'd imagined. Although I didn't really confirm that he's gay, I felt sure of it. He showed me a number of good ideas for getting more out of my chest workouts. The trick now is how to get Cecilia to incorporate them into our routines. She tends to get jealous if I see other trainers. If I suddenly start making the changes this guy suggested, she's going to notice immediately and figure out that I've been seeing somebody else. I suppose it's kind of analgous to a lover noticing that his boyfriend is suddenly doing something new in bed :)

It felt refreshing and encouraging to spend an hour with such a nice man, and I felt better, afterwards, than I had in a couple of weeks. It was a gorgeous, warm evening - one of many we've had recently - so I decided to drive over to the Marina and go running. There was a cool breeze coming in from the Golden Gate which felt delicious against my bare chest. Such a sensual feeling of vibrancy and health, with the golden air rushing past me.

"Sunny Evening in the Marina"

As the sun crept lower, I drove over to Union Street and parked next to Pasta Pomodoro to get some dinner to go, which I ate in the car, watching several cute, hunky Marina straight guys walk past.

The best part of the evening was still to come, though. My cell phone rang, and I picked it up to find it was my friend with whom I'd had the big falling out a few weeks ago. We talked at length - talked it all to death, in fact. There'd been so many miscommunications and misunderstandings! In the end, though, we kissed and made up, and it was such a relief that we could put it behind us and remain friends.

Now it's Friday morning, and another beautiful day, I might add. I'm working at home today, and tonight is my first movie in the San Francisco Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. I feel like it's the start of my weekend already, since I know I'm not going to get much actual work done today. Life feels good; today, at least.