A HONEST & LOYAL DOLL FRIEND IS THE REAL HOLY GRAIL!

Korrine Doll originally in Marti's collection. Debumped and re-styled. Introducing - Miss ARI!

My friend Marti is one of those rare people in my life that makes me (literally) laugh out loud. Although, we don't live in the same state (he in NY and I in Florida), I probably keep in touch with him more than some people that I live with in the same city (thank Gawd for Facebook!). 

     

Marti being MARTI...even at work. BTW: Notice over
his shoulder...HE EVEN HAS DOLLS AT WORK! LIVE!

I met Marti a couple of years ago at my second FR Convention in Pittsburgh and outside of the dolls I would say he was the best acquisition made that year…a friend. 

Now I don't want to get all mushy and say that we are BFFs, after all, our common ground is dolls and that is what we normally talk about, but recently, I had a situation in which he proved himself to be not just a friend…but a great friend. 

To not bore you with the details (although they are juicy), I made a mistake. A faux-pas as it were unintentionally. And just when I was about to fly off the handle and rip someone a new asshole (verbally of course), I thought for a second,"Let me get a second opinion on this situation." So, I turned to the right of my screen and saw that Marti's little "green light" on FB IM was on. I let him know the situation and he surprised me with his answer. THE TRUTH. 

I measure friends very carefully. I've had my heart broken by "friends" a lot. And, there are two criteria that I find are really important in good friends - loyalty and honesty. Now, you would think those are a given, but they are commodities. Especially in the GLBT community.

     Marti is one of those friends that has enough love in his heart for his friends to tell them,"Gurl, I think you are wrong…." and friends that will do that are few and far between.

You see in OUR community, the "kids" love FREE Entertainment, so they stir up the pot of whatever drama is brewing in the air and they add their own potent mix of alcohol and venom to it just to see how long it take for a REAL feud to explode.

      Marti told me I was WRONG in my thinking concerning a situation that I had inadvertently gotten myself into…and he taught me a lesson which I accepted with an open heart and mind. I figure if someone has enough feelings for you to let you know when you are acting incorrectly (whether innocently or not) then they really have your best interest at heart.

I took Marti's advice and promptly fell on the sword of my own making. The situation was immediately diffused and I was relieved….because contrary to popular believe…I HATE DRAMA!

Marti aka ARI KIKI on his birthday performing on of his patented
NIPPLE RAPES!

    A couple of weeks ago, Marti and I did a "trade" in our doll collections. He and I have that in common…I much prefer to trade with a friend than to have money exchange hands. I received the dolls last week that were the ones coming from him and I know I can't help but to think of them as my "Marti Dolls"! So, even though I have only restyled one's hair (into a fierce asymmetric bun with a tiny braid…that unfortunately you can't see in the picture above) and have her proudly displayed in one of my cases, I've decided to rename those two ladies (which I never do) after my friend's alter ego - One is named Ari - while the other has been dubbed Kiki. The one above is Ari. Kiki will be forthcoming in a future picture (sorry…I have a life!).

     So this one goes out to my GREAT PERSON -  Marti Balloveras: doll collector, performance artist, nipple rapist but most importantly, HONEST and LOYAL friend that will tell you when you are being an idiot. Trust - in this world that is the TRUE HOLY GRAIL!

     Finally, one last pearl of wisdom from Marti that he told me last week. I have the unfortunate affliction of wanting to be liked by EVERYONE.  I admit it…I wish there was a PLEASING ADDICTION Rehab I could go to because I'd be there like Lindsey Lohan, Zac Efron and Dean McDermott (can you believe that rat bastard cheated on Donna Martin!?!). 

The One and Only - ARI KIKI! NOTE: Those lips are brilliant!

     Well, last week I was lamenting about someone who has decidedly and for no reason just has NEVER been friendly to me….regardless of my endless attempts to be friendly to them. Marti words were prophetic and have held great resonance with me since he said them to me. "Gurl (we start all our sentences with "Gurl") you and I have BIG personalities….and not everyone is going to be able to handle that….so get over it! You are not a candy…so not everyone is gonna like you. A lot of people LOVE you and me….so if a couple ca't take us…it's their loss….that is OK! In the end, there are more that love us that don't so let's concentrate on them and forget the haters" Truer words have never been said. They had a very FREE-ing affect on me and I'm starting not to feel such compelled to please quite as much anymore.

Thanks Marti once again for  your words of WISDOM. I love you….Happy Belated Birthday!

xoxxo,

Frank