It was the best of days...It was the worst of days....

[Talk2BigSteve]

Today I got rid of my walker!!! I now just have a cane. I am so happy. I thought it would take longer than this but I am glad that it didn't. That is the best of days part.

Tonight I get a phone call from a friend of mine who is 20. He is crying on the phone. He wants me to come over to his apartment, so that is where I have been for the past 4 hours. He found out today that he is HIV+. I am the one everyone calls at all hours of the day and night. I don't know how I got the job as the gay counselor but I have it. I do not know why all these young people think they are invincible, but that is how they act until reality bites them in the ass. So this is why it was the worst of days...

Big Steve /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[TomHimself]

Your Gay?

[Soul Daddy]

"It was the best of times. It was the BLURST of times? You stupid monkey!"

Very sorry to hear about your friend.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
Tonight I get a phone call from a friend of mine who is 20. He is crying on the phone. He found out today that he is HIV+.

[/ QUOTE ]

i hope this isn't the young man we were rying to convince you to date the other day?

[stigmata]

Not my place to say, but as I'm sure you know the anti-retrovirals are getting better all the time -- AIDS really isn't the life sentance it used to be.

Sure, its pretty rough for a young person, but I could think of many worse things that could happen.

[ QUOTE ]
how they act until reality bites them in the ass.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice selection.

Congrats on being walker-free.

[mslif]

I am happy to hear you are doing better but very sorry to hear about your friend.

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I am the one everyone calls at all hours of the day and night. I don't know how I got the job

[/ QUOTE ]
Perhaps it has something to do with your moniker? /images/graemlins/grin.gif


Sorry about your friend.

[craig r]

[ QUOTE ]
Not my place to say, but as I'm sure you know the anti-retrovirals are getting better all the time -- AIDS really isn't the life sentance it used to be.

Sure, its pretty rough for a young person, but I could think of many worse things that could happen.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I hope his friend has insurance though. In Houston, where i grew up, I knew people that worked at clinics that gave AIDS medicine for free to the poor. They basically spent almost all day every day waiting to get their pills.

I don't understand how people f-ck w/out condoms. I am very impulsive, but AIDS is my second biggest fear (first being prison and 3rd havning to get a real job), so I don't care how horny I am, I can always have enough self control to put the condom on. Of course, I think if you do it on a waterbed or in a pool you can't get AIDS. So, that is the only time I will go without a condom.

craig

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand how people f-ck w/out condoms. I am very impulsive, but AIDS is my second biggest fear (first being prison and 3rd havning to get a real job), so I don't care how horny I am, I can always have enough self control to put the condom on. Of course, I think if you do it on a waterbed or in a pool you can't get AIDS. So, that is the only time I will go without a condom.

craig

[/ QUOTE ]

You'd rather have AIDS than go to jail? /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[Shajen]

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Of course, I think if you do it on a waterbed or in a pool you can't get AIDS. So, that is the only time I will go without a condom.

craig

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm interested in your theories and would like to suscribe to your newsletter.

[craig r]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand how people f-ck w/out condoms. I am very impulsive, but AIDS is my second biggest fear (first being prison and 3rd havning to get a real job), so I don't care how horny I am, I can always have enough self control to put the condom on. Of course, I think if you do it on a waterbed or in a pool you can't get AIDS. So, that is the only time I will go without a condom.

craig

[/ QUOTE ]

You'd rather have AIDS than go to jail? /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Prison, not jail. And I guess if it was just a yearl then maybe I would take it instead. But, the chances of a kid like me getting raped is farily high in prison. And AiDS is very common ih prison anyways.

craig

[craig r]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Of course, I think if you do it on a waterbed or in a pool you can't get AIDS. So, that is the only time I will go without a condom.

craig

[/ QUOTE ]


I was actually just making fun of stupid myths that people used to think about pregnancy. I just changed pregnancy to aids.

craig
I'm interested in your theories and would like to suscribe to your newsletter.

[/ QUOTE ]

[HopeydaFish]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Of course, I think if you do it on a waterbed or in a pool you can't get AIDS. So, that is the only time I will go without a condom.

craig

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm interested in your theories and would like to suscribe to your newsletter.

[/ QUOTE ]

He also forgot to mention that you can't get AIDS if it's your first time.

[astroglide]

going to prison makes you really likely to get aids

[stigmata]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Not my place to say, but as I'm sure you know the anti-retrovirals are getting better all the time -- AIDS really isn't the life sentance it used to be.

Sure, its pretty rough for a young person, but I could think of many worse things that could happen.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I hope his friend has insurance though. In Houston, where i grew up, I knew people that worked at clinics that gave AIDS medicine for free to the poor. They basically spent almost all day every day waiting to get their pills.

I don't understand how people f-ck w/out condoms. I am very impulsive, but AIDS is my second biggest fear (first being prison and 3rd havning to get a real job), so I don't care how horny I am, I can always have enough self control to put the condom on. Of course, I think if you do it on a waterbed or in a pool you can't get AIDS. So, that is the only time I will go without a condom.

craig

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, I did forget about that [censored] in the US. We have a (somewhat ailing) public health system here which makes life a bit simpler.

[Nick B.]

[ QUOTE ]
Your Gay?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think his gay has anything to do with this post.

[poker-penguin]

Good to hear your good news.
Bad to hear your friend's bad news.

That sucks dude. If you want me to break one of your legs again so you can have a happier "getting rid of the walker" day, in a few weeks, let me know /images/graemlins/wink.gif

I think Magic Johnson has been hiv+ for years. He's still around. It's not a death sentence.

Many

[touchfaith]

You seem pretty cool Steve and I hope you or noone else takes this the wrong way (ok, I actually don't really care all that much), but...

At what point to people stop feeling sorry for themselves for contracting this disease?

You wrote...

[ QUOTE ]
I do not know why all these young people think they are invincible, but that is how they act until reality bites them in the ass.

[/ QUOTE ]

...and I couldn't agree more. Of course it is a terrible thing, just like any other life threatening illness, but it isn't 1980 anymore. It isn't like many forms of cancer where you 'just all of a sudden' have it. People know how to protect themselves from this (in most cases) and choose not too.

I think your counseling method needs to start incorporating some tough love and scare the [censored] out of these young invincibles.

[Talk2BigSteve]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
how they act until reality bites them in the ass.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice selection.

Congrats on being walker-free.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL a Newbie caught that, my one joke, in the thread, I am that person that deals with things with a laugh sometimes. Like in 1998 when we had a house fire, I just laughed and said "Well I don't have to decide what I am wearing in the morning."

Big Steve /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Stuey]

This got me to thinking.

What happens when a person finds out they have HIV?

Does the person have to contact all the people they might have given or gotten it from? I always thought this would be as bad if not worse than dealing with the fact you have the disease.

I got a prank call years ago from my own friends trying to scare me into thinking I had unprotected sex with girl that had HIV. I was sum drunk and turns out I didn't even have sex that night and the girl in question never had HIV. But it worked and I was a little more than mad when I found out it was a joke. But I did stop the unprotected sex and the blackout drinking /images/graemlins/smirk.gif from then on.

I guess my friends might have thought it was the best way to make me grow up, as I am sure I would not have listened had they just told me I was risking my life. I'm pretty sure they just did it for cheap laughs though but I should have thanked them.

[Talk2BigSteve]

[ QUOTE ]
This got me to thinking.

What happens when a person finds out they have HIV?

Does the person have to contact all the people they might have given or gotten it from? I always thought this would be as bad if not worse than dealing with the fact you have the disease.

I got a prank call years ago from my own friends trying to scare me into thinking I had unprotected sex with girl that had HIV. I was sum drunk and turns out I didn't even have sex that night and the girl in question never had HIV. But it worked and I was a little more than mad when I found out it was a joke. But I did stop the unprotected sex and the blackout drinking /images/graemlins/smirk.gif from then on.

I guess my friends might have thought it was the best way to make me grow up, as I am sure I would not have listened had they just told me I was risking my life. I'm pretty sure they just did it for cheap laughs though but I should have thanked them.

[/ QUOTE ]

When you get a positive test from the health department you have to do a "Sex web" where you list everyone you had sex with in the past 6-12 months. Then they contact them, and build the web.

Big Steve /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[craig r]

[ QUOTE ]
I think Magic Johnson has been hiv+ for years. He's still around. It's not a death sentence.

Many

[/ QUOTE ]

It is not a death sentence. But, if you have no insurance you are pretty much screwed. I mean Magic Johson has a lot of money. I don't think the majority of America would be in as good as shape as he is if they contracted HIV at the same time he did. This guy can buy all the medicine he could possibly need. I don't even know if my insurance company covers all costs if I were to contract HIV. I know there were a lot of clauses in my insurance agreement about HIV. I just didn't read them because I am low risk; i.e. i only share needles with people I trust or have at least met once, during anal sex i won't do it w/out a condom unless they tell me they have never done it before, etc....

craig