I ask fwooshmembers questions.
They answer them
Piffy " Toys, comics, whiskey, books, and music!"
Username?
At one point, I worked in a kitchen alongside a lady who had been my Boy Scout leader when I was little. This lady had known me since my Kindergarten year of school. After a few months, she amazingly seemed to have forgotten my name, so it was decided I needed a nickname. One of the other guys I worked with heard a Puff Daddy song on the radio, and made the correlation between our first names: Sean. “Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if we called you Puffy? No…no, that’s not gay enough. Puff…Puff…Piff Daddy…PIFFY!”. It stuck, and the rest is history. Eventually, my co-workers, my friends, my boss, and even my own mother were calling me Piffy.
What do you like to drink?
Whiskey. Yum! My drink of choice when I go out is either whiskey/ginger ale or a Manhattan (on the rocks!). I’ve taken to buying the stuff for my Manhattans at home now, and I’ll kick back after work with one of those instead of a beer now. Bourbon, Vermouth, and a splash of bitters. Mmm-mmm-good!
Where do you live?
My fiancé and I recently moved to Crystal City, in Arlington, Virginia. We’re right across the Potomac from Washington, D.C. now, which is where I work at now.
Where are you from?
Bland.
I looked at Bland , pop. 6500 just south of Hicksville.
One library and plenty of volunteers.
It seems cozy.
Yup, small place! Doesn’t feel like 6500, but that’s probably because it’s actually a larger area, so the people are much more spread out. In the area I grew up in, there are only spattering of houses up and down the street.
Also, we used to have a stoplight! They put it up when they were doing bridgework! They had to put up a sign to instruct people how to use it, too!
"Stop on white line when light turns red. Proceed when light turns green."
It got taken down, though, once the bridgework was finished. Good times!
Where do you work?
I work in downtown Washington DC. My company does outsourced work in the Records Management field for law firms. I was promoted in spring to Supervisor of my site, which is freaking awesome.
Who is in your family?
My blood family consists of my mother, her partner, my little brother (total rock star!), and my younger sister. My sister is recently engaged (runs in the family!), so I guess I should count my soon-to-be brother-in-law. At my new home, however, are me and Grantly, and our wonderful son and daughter: Honey and Spencer. Kittah!
What are your cats like?
Oh, lord. Honey and Spencer are our two little monsters. We’ve had Honey for about 2 1/2 years, and Grantly’s spoiled her absolutely rotten. She’s a very shy cat. She doesn’t warm up to people that aren’t the two of us hardly at all. She’s not mean towards people, she’d just rather live a simple, quiet life.
Which is why Spencer’s around to make sure her life is anything BUT simple or quiet! We’ve had him for about a month now, and he’s the highest energy kitten I’ve ever dealt with and I’ve been raising cats since I was old enough to walk!. He just has to get into EVERYTHING. No matter what.
You can practically see Honey eye roll when he walks into the room now.
When is your wedding and what are some of the things
you might plan?
Originally, we both had these grand visions of a very elaborate wedding, very formal and nice and just wonderful. But then when you start planning something like this, and especially a gay wedding, you start to realize seriously what is and isn’t a good fit.
With a gay wedding, we’re finding that so many conventional things just won’t work for our ceremony, partly because of the nature of the wedding itself, and partly because of family issues with such an occasion on his side. So when we started looking at the naturally unconventional aspect of the whole thing, it has started to take on a life of its own.
Basically, we’re looking at a much more casual affair at this point. Still a nice venue for the ceremony and a nice venue for the reception and good food and great music and such, but we want it to be…indicative of who we are as a couple, and not have to follow guidelines or whatever for the flow of things. For instance, we’re not really flower people, so those are pretty much out the window, and we couldn’t be happier! It’s still shaping up, but I suppose the best way to describe it would be "Elaborate Casual".
We really can’t wait for the honeymoon, though. Buenos Aires.
What is in your collection?
Mainly Marvel Legends. I’ve nearly completed my collection, lacking only like 12 or so figures. I also collect Batman characters, mainly villains. It’s my favorite Rogue’s Gallery in all comic-dom. Grantly collects LEGOs, which are also all over the apartment, and together we have a collection of Star Trek: The Next Generation figures. On top of our entertainment centre is my Transformers collection. Hmm. Oh, and also some LCBH. Wow. I have more than I thought…
Do you customize?
Not quite yet, but for my birthday this year, Grantly bought me the stuff to start customizing. He got me a Dremel and all sorts of tools. The only things I need to get still are sculpting compound and paints!
Are you artistic?
Yes and no, I guess. Not to reinforce stereotypes, but I really, really enjoy interior design. I love painting and decorating, and I think I do a damn good job at making things look good. Outside of that, though? Eh…I can’t draw or paint to save my life. I’ve only started customizing, so I guess I’ll see how that goes. I do enjoy writing, though it’s something I haven’t had time to do in ages. I don’t think that makes me particularly different than other dorks, though. I mean, c’mon. Who around these parts can say they DON’T like writing?
What type of music do you like?
I’m very eclectic in my musical tastes, actually. Let me preface this by pointing out that I *am* a gay man, so I do enjoy dance/club music. But my heart lies in rock. Some metal, some heavy rock, some alternative. Disturbed is one of my favorite bands ever! I’ve been addicted to their Believe album for a while. It’s even been my avatar! David Draiman=MmmMmmMmm! I also like Avenged Sevenfold, Nine Inch Nails, and Killswitch Engage, who I got to see in concert with Dragonforce and Chimaira!
Do you like to cook?
I absolutely heart cooking! Over the past few years of being on my own, I’ve become a snazzy little chef! I used to cook every time we had company over, which in the college days were like, every single night. My best friend is Filipino, so we used to love cooking together and blending our styles. We came up with some pretty tasty concoctions (and one or two that were…best left on the stove!). I also roasted my first turkey a couple Thanksgivings ago, and it was fab-u-lous!
What is your best dish?
I make a fanTABulous stuffed chicken. Honey ham, Swiss cheese, and Italian dressing stuffed chicken breast, coated with Dijon mustard and breaded with a mixture of Italian breadcrumbs, seasoning, and crushed up Captain Crunch cereal. Serve that up with my homemade pasta salad, and deeeelish!
You’re not really ‘angry’ in real life when you post are you?
I mean if I was standing in the room we’d probably be laughing.
I’m really not much of an angry person, I’m just very direct. Stupidity sets me off like you wouldn’t believe. But yes, if we were standing in the room together, chances are high that we’d be laughing!
Do others describe you as argumentative?
Let’s put it this way: I’m a Taurus, born on the cusp of Aries.
I am very stubborn, I’ll be the first to admit that. And I speak my mind a lot, which has led to confrontations in the past. That was something Grantly had to get used to VERY quickly. He’s learned to head me off at the pass when I get going.
For the most part…
What is wrong with you physically?
My nose. I have a large nose. But it’s not an ugly nose. I make it work for me.
What was your first comic?
Oh, gosh, I’m not really sure. It was definitely an X-comic, but I couldn’t tell you specifically which one. It was literally a matter of buying one comic one day, and the next day convincing my parents to buy me tons more. After that, I was buying them left and right.
What do you like to do?
Read. I’m a total bookworm. When I was very little and just learning how to read, I’d sit for hours on end teaching myself the words, and how to read them very quickly. I didn’t really know the name for it at the time, but I was definitely teaching myself to become a speed-reader. I can usually pick a book up and be done with it in two or three days, in a normal week. Borders and Barnes & Noble get a lot of my money!
What do you spend your money on?
Toys, comics, whiskey, books, and music!
What are some of your favorite books?
Authors? Genres?
Oh my. Let’s see. Favorite books…Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha is one of my all-time favorites, ever. I first read it during High School when I captained our English team, and it popped up on our reading list. Outside of that, To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) and Night (Elie Wiesel) follow directly behind it. I was fortunate enough once to meet Elie Wiesel, actually, and Grantly and I both got autographed copies of the entire Night trilogy from it. That was an amazing experience.
I am a dork, however, so I love love LOVE some sci-fi/fantasy. Anything by Michael Crichton or Stephen King is a guaranteed read by me. I love Douglas Adams’s Hitchhikers books, too. Also, timokay got me Blade Runner for Christmas (Secret Santa, FTW!), and I’ve since read it several times.
You are openly gay and a longstanding member of the fwoosh.
There are other openly gay fwooshmembers, but I feel you
have the highest profile and therefore you ‘represent’ them all.
Do you feel similar? Do you know what I’m trying to say?
I think I do get what you’re saying, and in a way, I do agree! There are a surprisingly large number of gay Fwooshers lurking about, which actually took me by surprise at first. I certainly started out being much more open about my sexuality around the boards, which kinda led to a "mass outing". Since then, many other board members have been more open, and we’ve had several new members of late join "out of the closet".
I think the "representative" aspect comes from the fact that I’m really all over the place. I do have a larger profile, which in large part comes from the fact that I’ve been here (and out!) longer than other gay members. The "Teh Homogay Thread" certainly took off in a huge way, which I think "elevated" the profiles of other gay Fwooshers. Ultimate Phoenix, ROGUE, and ricster9 especially have become fully integrated board members in their own right. I certainly have a soft spot for all our homos, though! I’ve chatted with several of them many times (firesprite and Nate_Grey!). I’d love love LOVE to organize a Gay Fwooshtogether sometime!
What is in your utopia gaywise?
My ideal gay utopia? Wow, what an interesting idea!
In a perfect world, I guess, I would run my own gay comic shop. I would love to have a place to hang out with fellow gay nerds and talk about things. Of course, it would be "straight friendly".
Thanks Piffy
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