When's The Last Time You've Been Tested???

- April 28th, 2010 - I'm negative for everything under the sun, including BS and I have proof -Diva

I remember in high school we took this health seminar, that was kind of a "scare you straight" moment. They showed graphic detailed pictures of every disease imaginable. I crossed my legs & vowed to keep my muffin box locked.
Well college happened, and let's just say, I shared my muffin a few times....but those pictures always lingered in my thoughts....which had me paranoid (even when I used prophylactics) so paranoid, that I decided to go cold turkey for long periods of time.

Last week the CDC released another HIV Study. It boggles me, how people are still getting the itchies, with all of the PSA's, posters, free condoms, etc. going on... Ummm here are a few DC specific stats:

• D.C.’s AIDS rate is higher than that of any U.S. state. DC AIDS rate is approximately 10 times that of the U.S. in general.
• D.C.’s AIDS rate is higher than these major cities: Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Detroit, and Chicago.
• From 2004 to 2008, 3,312 new AIDS cases were diagnosed in D.C. African-Americans accounted for 86 percent of those cases.
• More people in D.C. are testing positive for HIV: From 2004 to 2008, the “number of persons testing positive” for HIV in D.C. increased by 353 percent, from 246 in 2004 to 1,115 in 2008. (via Wash City Paper)

                                                                                                         
Moral of the stats - WRAP it up or keep your snakes caged & muffin boxes closed

REPOST: P.S.A: Shedding Light on Scary Words

I originally posted this in March, today seems appropriate to re-post.
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"It's time for another P.S.A. Don't skim, read it. Damn it." - Diva


There aren’t too many things that scare me. Spiders, nope. Monsters under my bed...nope. Having dreams about running in a naked marathon...not so much. But who knew that there would be three words, (sometimes four) that scare me. Or rather three acronyms.

Last week, and the week before last, I was obsessed. I tend to do it atleast twice a year. Stay up surfing the net, googling, and reading all of the latest info. Then talking to the nurse about new statistics...Diva, what are you talking about??? HIV, AID's, STD’s. Yep, those words scare the shit out of me and it boggles me, why they don’t scare other people. I mean, I would have to question someone who is more worried about getting preggers (or getting someone preggers) than catching one of these three letter words. Or maybe they do scare people so much, they can’t even bring themselves to utter the said word. So lets say it: HIV, AID's, STD's...

I remember the first time I went to get tested. My gosh, it was the longest 3 minutes and the longest week of my life.

I go into the center and am the only person there. This attractive counselor meets me and starts asking me all kinds of questions?

Him: Do you use needles

(In my head) - Do I look like I use needles?

Me: No

Him: Do you have multiple partners

(In my head) - How dare he?

Me: No, I’m celibate

Him: Have you engaged in sex with men, women or both?

(In my head) - WTF???

Me: Men

The questions went on & on. Then we did the oral swab (OraSure) and it was done. Just like that. But not quite. I had to wait almost one week for my results. That was the LONGEST week of my life. Someone calls me from the office, “can’t you just tell me over the phone?” - no, it’s policy, you have to come in, the voice replies.

I go in, and am forced to wait in the office. Then I’m called to a smaller room.

My heart stops beating. I can barely move. I feel like I could pass out at any moment.

The same counselor that did the swab is reading something to me. I don’t know, I can’t hear. My eyes are blurry...then he hands me the paper.

Him: Are you ok?

Me: Yes, I was just scared?

Him: Well you are ok, you’re negative. In my eight years of working here, I can count on one hand how many times I had to give bad news, and they were extreme cases. Just be sure to be safe, use protection and to get tested every 6 months to a year.

My heart started beating again. That was the year I stayed celibate. I was so utterly terrified, scared, and petrified of those scary acronyms...


Educate yourselves, use protection, get tested.

Start here:
http://www.avert.org/america.htm
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/stds-hiv-safer-sex-101.htm
http://www.aids.gov/
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm#hivest


(The fourth scary word is unrelated, another blog another time)

The Weekend Update: I Suck

So this post was supposed to happen yesterday but I’m addicted to twitter (follow me), so I did nothing. I suck. The weekend was cool. No dancing on bars since I’m not engaging in my favorite pastime. Day 16 no vodka. I’m really serious about rocking my bikini’s in the DR (this one, this one & this one). Last week I started running. No vodka. No soda. No juice. Just water, club soda or green tea (although I slipped & had cranberry juice when I was clubbing...just a buffer between me and the vodka, that’s all)

Speaking of going out, Friday I was supposed to go out with Latino Papi Alex. I really didn’t feel like it, so I decided to make plans 1) knowing he hadn’t sent flair messages by Friday morning. 2) I know he’s flakey, and 3) he probably has a girlfriend. Yep. He only sends text messages. No calls.

His m.o. is trying to keep the lines of communication open by sending me “Mami, I miss you messages” (probably mass text messages) weekly, then once he gets a response, setting something up to make it seem like he’s so interested. Little does he know, that Sprint has this little online feature. I can now block numbers I don’t want to receive text messages from, yea for Sprint! (I’ll be on there this week entering phone numbers) So anyways, back to Friday.

I made plans with some chick friends. We went bar hoping, then I met another chick friend on U Street, for this waaayyy cool “world beat” party. Everyone from every nationality was there. It was SO amazing. It was like an underground we are the world lets all hug and be friends kind of place. Although it began to feel like you were walking into a hot box after awhile, it was so much fun. I danced so much my dress was soaking wet by the time I made it home. Good times. Oh, and there were some absolutely gorgeous guys there.

Saturday I had to take care of business. Latino Papi Alex sent me text messages. “you forgot mami”. Ummm, no idiot, you forgot. I was extremely tired, but I received an invite to hang on U street again by a couple of different people. I went to one spot. Scoped it out, then decided, to bounce. Ummm, was feeling blah.

Sunday Devin & I hung out for a bit on U Street (noticing a theme here). We had a good time.

This weeks agenda...TBD.


In Other News:

Not to rain on your parade, but I have to be a good Diva & keep you informed. Yesterday I came across this: New HIV Strain Found. Wrap it up people.

Something's In The Water....Again

Tonight was one of those RARE nights I decided to stay home and pretend I'm an adult. You know, taking care of business, bills, apartment, etc. (although I spent most of the night catching up on blogs!). But everyone & I mean EVERYONE either called or text to see if I wanted to hang out, or to ask me where they should hang out, or to see what I was doing:

Tony-Texted to say he was thinking about me

Mr. Henry - Sext Messages all day and flashbacks to Monday and this past weekend

Brian- Wanted to see what I was doing and after he found out I was staying in, decided to stay in too

PATT - Was at Stir and wanted to know if I wanted to join her

Guy Who Intervened A Few Weeks Ago, re sandwich chick - Called to see if we could get together

Latino Papi Alex- Texted to see where he could hang tonight and to see what I was up to. I told him to go to Pure Lounge for salsa & hip hop, then we chatted about meeting up soon.

Co-worker - Asked me at a work event today if I wanted to go salsa dancing tonight

Wow, when I decide to stay in and "chill", everyone wants to do something....classic. So for my blogger's/followers who live in the area & want something to do tomorrow, first if you haven't checked out the Eyespyz do so, then here's my short list for things to do....

Diva's Off Beaten Track of Things To Do:

Silverdocs - Film festival in Silver Spring

Buck Naked Bike Ride (courtesy of SBMinNOVA) - Saturday, 3pm ride nude & cover your jewels, slightly... (UPDATE, I'm late on this one!!! It passed)

The Artomatic - DC Free Arts Festival, featuring various works of art on display and for purchase

Salsa Congress - Watch salsa, learn salsa, dance salsa all weekend long!


And Now, On To The Watering Holes:

U-Street Neo-Vibes
Marvins - Cool, non-profit, granola eating, world peace crowd, who does things like Peace Corp, and tree hugging
Alero - Margarita & bar specials, cool meet the co-worker there after work vibe
Jin - $5.00 apps & drink specials 5:30 - 8:00
Pure - $1.00 drink specials from 6-9. Cool beats.
Bohemian Caverns - The name says it all, love the decor though. Sometimes they have cool live musical acts


K-Street Junkies (Party Vibes)
Lima
Tattoo
Lotus
The Park
K-Street Lounge
The Eyebar (a block over)
Josephine's (a few blocks over)
The Shadow Room
Ozio's (on M Street)


Sports Bar Atmosphere:
The Rocketbar - Gallery Place Chinatown
Buffalo Billiards - Dupont Circle
Recessions - 18th & L downtown area
Penn Quarter Sports Bar - Near the Archives Metro Station
The Lucky Bar - You may not get lucky, but it's near a few strip clubs, so you can pretend (Connecticut Ave.)
The ESPN Zone - enough said.

Adams Morgan - So many Cool Places, Not Enough Hours In The Night
Bukom - West African food, live Reggae band
Left Bank - Had Brazilian night on Friday
Hookah bars - Enough said
Chloe - Young, college crowd that likes to dance
Columbia Station - Cool live jazz music
Havana Village - Sexy Salsa

My advice for Adams Morgan, just walk around & bar hop, you never know what you'll find. Over 50 bars (I think) in the area


That's my PSA for the year....if you live or have lived in the area, add to it? Where do you go?

Public Service Announcement (PSA)

This is a PSA. I wouldn't be a good Diva, if I didn't do this...WRAP IT UP, WRAP IT UP, WRAP IT UP. There's no excuse. I just found something new online as well. Has anyone ever tried this? If so, what were your thoughts? Be safe, go have fun for me. I'll be stuck in no-where-ville (actually it's a city...but nothing like DC) with the family for the week. Wish me luck, I'll need it......and a big bottle of vodka.