Combat Zone (undisclosed) wrote, @ 2004-01-22 17:14:00

A special message to Steven's friends
Before reading this entry, please read my last post (click here)

I guess I should start by introducing myself.

My name is Brad, and I am the author of this web log. I live in Tallahassee, Florida, where I work for the Florida HIV/AIDS Hotline. Recently, most of the work I have been doing is computer/database work, with only 3-6 hours per week on the phones. This has been the case for around six months. Previous to that I was a senior counselor on the hotline, working 40 hours per week like Steven. As you can imagine, when my job shifted from answering the hotlines to working on the back-end computer database, my pool of material for this journal began to dry up until there was nothing left.

Aside from those details, Steven and I are effectively the same person. He is a few months older than me, but that's only so that his birthday coincides with World AIDS Day or National HIV Testing Day, whichever is closer. Every call except for the ones about "Rose" are based on actual calls that I either answered or helped another counselor answer. The "Rose" calls are based upon the real-life experience of iwishyouknew who wanted me to share her story. Naturally, identifying information and minor details from these calls were removed and/or changed.

Thank you all for reading, and if you have not yet read Steven's blog from the beginning, please do so. I've been told it is quite good. Simply click here and scroll to the bottom of the page, where you can start from the beginning.

Also, if you're feeling especially ambitious, please spread the word about my journal. Tell your friends and post links to it from anywhere you can think of. I don't want my journal to stop touching peoples' lives just because I am unable to continue updating it.



---


So what's next for me? My graduate school applications went out in the mail last week, and so within 6 weeks I will know where I got in. With a bit of luck, I'll begin studying for my PhD in Counseling Psychology this fall. In the end, I hope to end up back in an AIDS service organization (or other infectious disease area) as a program/executive director or direct service provider. My fight against human suffering will continue.

In addition to that, my writing will continue. Over the summer I started writing a novel... a love story about a young man and woman who fall in love over a series of calls to a crisis helpline. I've got a few chapters completed, but much work is yet to be done. If I ever finish, even if it is years from now, I will come back to Steven's blurty and post an update about it.

And if you ever plan on visiting the Tallahassee area (or Gainesville Florida, or Knoxville Tennessee, depending on where I end up for graduate school), leave a comment here and we can have lunch sometime. I would love to meet any of you who find yourselves down this way.

Be safe,
-Brad

	thursday_next 2004-01-22 18:24 (link)
	All the best with your work, your studies and the novel. You know where I am if you would like to keep in touch! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	sparklingerin 2004-01-22 22:42 (link)
	best of luck with school and the novel. please keep us updated...i will miss your blog. you did a great service by making people aware that AIDs is not something that happens to "other" people, rather it's something that can strike anyone after a moment of carelessness. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	goldchaosdragon 2004-01-23 02:26 (link)
	Best of luck in grad school. n_n And you'll have to at least make a friends-locked post here if you ever get that novel published. And do stay in touch... Not sure if I'll ever be in your neck of the woods since I'm pretty much rooted to Maryland, but if you're ever in the area drop me a line on AIM and we can talk. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	ceadsearc 2004-01-23 02:42 (link)
	You know, once your novel is published I will be so proud to tell my friends that I got to know "Steven" in his Blurty days. I shall put links up to your journal from all my sites. And... I have already written it into a story I am working on. I hope you don't mind. It has touched my life. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	THE MAN BEHIND THE MYTH stroll 2004-01-23 09:31 (link)
	Hey! I demand you do a, um, non-fictional blurty. Not so much a demand as a wish, or suggestion. :) Good luck with graduate school applications! You will make an excellent counselor. (Reply to this) (Thread)

poe 2004-01-23 09:47 (link)

Thanks Brad (& Steven!). I'll see you on the news one day, talking about how you found a preventative for HIV - through public education and then continued this in your research whilst studying your PhD. Maybe you'll even talk about how you and your team were the ones to find the cure for a pandemic (sexually or otherwise) communicatable disease... Anything could happen.... the world is your trolley - erm - oyster ;) Take care :) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	redscreams 2004-01-23 10:40 (link)
	Wow. you did it :) i didn't think you would've done that, but it's cool. now people know who you are. i remember that story you were writing. it started out good. keep going with it and i hope you get it published! (Reply to this) (Thread)

eveninghawk 2004-01-25 12:10 (link)

Hey there, all the best in your writing endeavors. In some ways writing can be both a blessing and a curse. If you ever need support/suggestions/etc, you have a great community here at Blurty who are most certainly behind you. As someone who's been working on small publishable pieces, it's not an easy road. Seek the outlets you need for support and your writing will keep on truckin, so to speak. (Reply to this) (Thread)