Dave's Biography
Sir Dave, at his late Father's desk, where he wrote the new Bible.
David Alan Dedin is a fifty-five year old gay man who presently lives in Aurora, a historic Chicago suburb. Dave grew up in small-town Illinois, in a time, in a place where homosexuality wasn't accepted. He came of age in the early days of AIDS, where he witnessed first hand the devastation the virus caused on his immediate friends in the scene. Overwhelmed by the experience, Dave relocated to Phoenix in 1999 to refocus his life, join Barnes & Noble, and eventually to begin writing books. David returned to Chicago in 2006, where he is known in the BDSM community as "Sir Dave." In 2023, Dave discovered he suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, and is currently working to reintegrate his eleven different personalities.
Sir Dave is Now on TRUTHSOCIAL - Join him in the "LGBTQ for TRUMP" group
David Alan Dedin: GEEK
For those who've read Goodbye to Beekman Place, it's no secret I'm a geek. As a child of the 70s, I grew up in the era of Star Trek, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica. I still have my collection of sci-fi toys, and I proudly display them in my home. This photo is ten years old, but it gives you an idea of my current collection.
Yes, everything is out of package. I don't care. Toys are meant to be played with - not admired.
You can't see it in this picture, but my 1975 Star Trek bridge playset is autographed by William Shatner. (He signed the view screen.)
My Star Wars/Trek Christmas tree:) The Federation battles The Force, thanks to Hallmark ornaments! Note the black tree and white lights; it looks like space!
|
Getting ready to be a Mad Scientist at the Ren Fair.
|
To celebrate "Get Pop Cultured" month at Barnes & Noble, I brought in my 1974 Mego Enterprise bridge playset, and set it up on the breakroom table.
|
A better angle. You can just barely see William Shatner's autograph on the view screen just above the center control console.
|
Josie: The Cat Who Would Not DIE
Most gay men have nothing but memories of their first boyfriend, twenty years ago …
... but I still have the cat he brought home!
... but I still have the cat he brought home!
Still angry, even after 20 years.
|
"The hissing cat stood in the center of the elevator doors, back arched, tail curled forward, front paw poised as though ready to strike."
|
Josie, in the sun…and like "Pigpen" from The Peanuts, surrounded by a cloud of hair.
Bath Day - 5/21/2013
"I'm sorry. You're giving me a WHAT?"
|
Curled up on the couch, refusing to be touched or - God forbid - dried with a hair dryer.
|
Wet cat, too furious to look at me.
|
Josie, 20 years old. Once a HUGE cat, now barely a skeleton with fur. It's like watching a grandparent die.
|
UPDATE: The End
JOSIE: 1993 - 2013
Sadly, less than a week after IML, I had to put Josie to sleep. She had lived a long life, and if hissing at and/or swatting people genuinely made her happy, then she definitely had a happy one. After three days in Chicago, I came home to find Josie curled in a ball on my bed, by my pillow. My roommates told me that she hadn't moved - or eaten - the entire time I was gone, and in the days that followed, it was clear that her time was almost over. Our last few days were good ones. 😿
Jules: My next companion 🐈⬛
Ten months after Josie's passing, I was done mourning and ready for a new cat. I spent two weeks searching for kitties online, but didn't have much luck; Aurora it seems has plenty of stray dogs, but very few cats. (No comment on the Chinese Buffet up the street.) A coworker suggested I try "A.D.O.P.T Pet Shelter" in Naperville, Illinois. My coworker - Field Fred - was doing her internship at ADOPT , and encouraged me to visit the shelter - which I did., after much encouragement.
I hate it when people "shop" for animals in the same way they shop for clothes. I believe that we don't choose an animal - rather, the animal chooses us. When I visited ADOPT, the staff genuinely cared about their residents, and showed me three rooms of homeless cats. The rooms were packed. It was heartbreaking to see all of them, but I asked to be left alone with the animals. I then sat on the floor in a room that was the feline equivalent of a Dickens orphanage, and interacted with those animals who weren't afraid to approach me. That's how I found Jules.
After twenty years with Josie, I didn't want a kitten. I decided that an adult cat would be better, and shelters like ADOPT are filled with orphaned cats - adults that are passed the cuteness of being a kitten, and have developed their own personalities - a challenge for any pet owner. I wanted a cat with "attitude," a cat who said, "THIS is who I am: DEAL with it." As I sat Indian-style on the urine-stained floor, Jules was the only cat to come up to me and sit in my lap...and she was clearly an animal with a distinctive personality. Jules had been in the shelter for over two years, and I'd learned she'd been so upset with losing her previous owner (and joining the shelter), she'd literally pulled all the hair off the underside of her legs. I interacted with Jules for a good 90 minutes before I made my decision: "You're my next cat. I'm going to adopt you." I wish I could have taken several cats home, but Jules has been a handful - and I love her very much.
I will never forget Josie, but Jules is building memories of her own. She's a little shit...I forgot what it's like to have a cat with energy, but I still love her companionship - even when she sits on my computer:)
I hate it when people "shop" for animals in the same way they shop for clothes. I believe that we don't choose an animal - rather, the animal chooses us. When I visited ADOPT, the staff genuinely cared about their residents, and showed me three rooms of homeless cats. The rooms were packed. It was heartbreaking to see all of them, but I asked to be left alone with the animals. I then sat on the floor in a room that was the feline equivalent of a Dickens orphanage, and interacted with those animals who weren't afraid to approach me. That's how I found Jules.
After twenty years with Josie, I didn't want a kitten. I decided that an adult cat would be better, and shelters like ADOPT are filled with orphaned cats - adults that are passed the cuteness of being a kitten, and have developed their own personalities - a challenge for any pet owner. I wanted a cat with "attitude," a cat who said, "THIS is who I am: DEAL with it." As I sat Indian-style on the urine-stained floor, Jules was the only cat to come up to me and sit in my lap...and she was clearly an animal with a distinctive personality. Jules had been in the shelter for over two years, and I'd learned she'd been so upset with losing her previous owner (and joining the shelter), she'd literally pulled all the hair off the underside of her legs. I interacted with Jules for a good 90 minutes before I made my decision: "You're my next cat. I'm going to adopt you." I wish I could have taken several cats home, but Jules has been a handful - and I love her very much.
I will never forget Josie, but Jules is building memories of her own. She's a little shit...I forgot what it's like to have a cat with energy, but I still love her companionship - even when she sits on my computer:)
Jules, her third day at my house.
|
I spy with my little eye...
|
Ugh...waking up to a face full of cat.
|
Strike a pose, there's nothing to it...
|
Jules and her favorite toy: a bird on a stick.
|
Like Garfield, Jules loves sunbeams.
|
Putting on weight. Notice the furless arms - when Jules first came to the shelter, she was so nervous, she pulled out her hair.
|
Staring at those things that only cats can see. (And wondering when I'm going to open my water bill - which she's sitting on.)
What?
|
Chatty cat.
|
Grand Prize Winner: "If Dexter had a CAT" Photo Contest!
Lovin' the cat tree.
|
Still lovin' the cat tree.
|
VIDEO:
The day I brought the cat tree home. |
You move, you die.
|
When are you coming to bed?
|
The window above the couch: CAT TV.
|
Need help doing the laundry?
Daddy's Little Girl
|
Relaxing with me on the couch
|
Julies & Vinnie
|
|
Vincent, Jules' New Friend 🐈⬛🐈⬛
Radar and I got Vincent (AKA "Vinnie") at the ADOPT shelter in early 2022. Vincent was just a kitten when we brought him home, and with Jules being around 14 or 15, we figured that he would give her someone to mentor. We even chose a black cat, so he would look like Jules. They didn't like each other at first, but after six months they became the best of friends.
Yawn!
|
Ugh - Look at that crap in his eyes!
|
Peekaboo!
|
Not a care in the world.
|
Jules & Vinnie, sharing a sunbeam.
|
Sorry - this is my spot. You'll have to find another.
|
VIDEO:
Vinnie in the cat tree. |
It's my turn to write a book!
Apparently, today's entree of Friskies' Chicken & Tuna didn't quite cut it.
|
VIDEO
|