We arrived in Seattle

After a long and grueling month following our committment ceremony, Luis and I have made it to Seattle, where we'll stay for a day before heading to Victoria, British Columbia on Wednesday.
We were lucky to have enough points to upgrade to first class for the trip. As people boarded, Luis tapped my shoulder and pointed to a woman I did not recognize at first. "That's Rosie O'Donnell," he said. She was so nice. We told her we're getting married in Victoria. She said, "You could go to California." But I told her it still wouldn't help us because I couldn't sponsor Luis for U.S. residency. She said, "You better be careful coming back," referring to Luis not being a resident. I said, "We're emigrating." And she said something along the lines of it would be good to get out of this country. She's just as frustrated as I am that this country doesn't recognize gay marriage. My Mom said Rosie is waiting until every state recognizes marriage before she marries.
When we arrived, I called my sister Karen, who loves Rosie, and told her Rosie was sitting behind us. Then I said, "Rosie, my sister loves you. Can you say 'Hello?'"
She confirmed she was "Rosie O'Donnell, star of the Flintstones."
We're staying at the Executive Pacific Hotel. Tomorrow we're going to do the Seattle City Tour. If we still have energy at day's end, we'll do the Seattle Underground Tour.
When we arrived in the hotel room, Luis was so happy to have a TV after nearly a month without one in our house. It always weird watching the weather somewhere else and seeing a map of an entirely new place. The weatherman gave the weather for Vancouver through northern Oregon. It's supposed to be clouds in the morning, clearing up in the afternoon.
Back to Long Island... At the last minute, we found tenants for our house. It's a young couple and their friend, and all seem very nice. I have a gut instinct that I can trust them. The agent is sealing the deal tomorrow. Of course, I won't believe it until the check clears, given what's happened to me in real estate recently.

The most exhausting thing -- EVER

Luis and I just agreed that moving is the most exhausting thing we've ever done in our entire lives. We're both just physically drained.
Anyway, Luis said the TOEFL was easy in many parts but other parts required such quick answers that he didn't have time to answer. It's on a computer, and the screen just moves onto the next question very quickly many times. We hope he did well.
We moved my extremely heavy wood desk into the living room with two day laborers, one of whom appeared drunk. We thought we were 90 percent done yesterday but I guess we had more to do than we realized.

OMG!

Luis is the most balanced, calm, serene person I know. But he is really, really stressed about taking the TOEFL tomorrow. Furthermore, he is anxious about the home sale, or lack of a home sale.
Anyone how knows him would not believe this, but he is so stressed, that, (drum roll) he took a Xanax just minutes ago. (I asked him if I could post this.) I was in shock. When he finds out how good Xanax is, he'll never waste his time with yoga. Maybe if he takes Xanax regularly, he won't worry about an open toilet bowl cover stealing our energy. I could hear him now: "F--- Feng Shui! I'm leaving the toilet bowl cover open."

(un)just (not) married

I must say that I'm bitter that we can't legally8 marry here. Even if I marry Luis, the federal government won't recognize it.
Here's the slogan I created to represent that fact that we're not legally married in the United States.
I'm glad Canada is more progressive.

Picasa

I switched to Picasa Web Albums, by Google, the make of Blogger.
That means you can now download the photos and order them from whatever site you'd like to, or just keep some photos on your PC.
Here's the first album

G'night

We're exhausted. It's 2 a.m., and we're about to go to bed after cleaning the house of all the clutter. Though we had packed many things, the house was still in disarray with the items that remained. But we have really organized most things. Now we're ready to show the house.
Luis is studying for the TOEFL (English test) so he can get his equivalency for medical technology in Canada. I hope he does well. He has really mastered English over the last several years. (There are some benefits to television!)

Our dining room

We sold our dining room table to our friends Peter and Nora. I'm so glad to have friends enjoying our beautiful dining room set. Here's Luis eating off of the overbed table I had to use when I fractured my ankle and basically lived in bed. The boxes in the back are the few remaining boxes we have left. Most are in storage by now.

Good-bye NYP

I turned in my NYP (New York Press) plates at DMV in Huntington today. :( Being a journalist is so much a part of my identity, so it was very weird to turn in those plates. It also means I won't be able to get prime, free parking spaces in the city for the short remainder of my stay here.
I hope I get a job in journalism in Vancouver. But who knows? Maybe I would like some other career.
Tomorrow night a potential renter and later a potential buyer will be looking at the house. I'm not sure which one I'd rather have. I guess we'll see which one pans out. Maybe I'll let *them* decide. Whoever comes forth first with a good offer.

Intro

This is a blog about two guys leaving family and friends in the United States so they can get legally married in Canada. I'm Rich. My fiance is Luis. He's awesome, and anyone who has met him will attest to that, including, probably, one of his ex-boyfriends from years ago, who recently made contact with him through Facebook. :) That's OK. He's only a few thousand miles away in Colombia.
I said, "You can't be friends with your ex." Of course I was joking because two of my ex-boyfriends were invited to our May 31, 2008, commitment ceremony, and one showed up.
Anyway, I quit my job on March 11. And we sold the house, too, all in preparation for our move to Vancouver, where we have no place to live (yet) and no job (yet).
But that can wait. First we're going to get married in Victoria, BC, on July 4, in front of, well, no one we know. My friend Joe, who was going to come, couldn't make it. The owners of the lovely Bed & Breakfast will be our witnesses. On July 6, we head to Vancouver, where we'll be staying with a nice guy we met thru www.couchsurfing.org. Don't worry, Mom, he's a nice gay activist with good ratings on the site. It's like eBay. Everyone has ratings. He's going to show us around Vancouver. Luis and I will find a rental apartment, hopefully in downtown Vancouver with enough room for guests, hoping that those with fear of flying overcome that fear to make an awesome trip to a beautiful city. It's never to late to overcome fear!
Then on July 11 we fly to Toronto, where we'll meet my two brothers and my niece, who will have my car packed with our camping equipment. The five of us will visit Niagara Falls and Toronto. Luis and I will be staying with Colombian friends who live in Toronto.
Then Luis and I will head east to Montreal. He also has a friend there. Then we'll head west, camping along the way before arriving back in Vancouver in the beginning of September.