Today is the last day of the year and I'm so freaking excited that I'm up at 5:30 a.m. writing a freaking blog. But I couldn't shut my mind down to fall back to sleep so here I am giving you my last thoughts of the year. First, I want to say THANK YOU! Your support this year has been overwhelming. We are nine months into this blog project and by everyone's standards, it has been a whopping success. I could not have done it without you ... It's true, #IcanntdoitAlone. I Heart You!!!

So now that I've given you your roses, let me give you a reality check. On Twitter I've created a hashtag #FuckinFriday. It's the day when people fuck without thinking. Now you combine #FuckinFriday with this being the last day of the year, I smell double trouble. Yes I know some of you have big plans for the night. Yes Lawd! And I know gettin that last lovin of the out-going year and new lovin for the next year is on the top of your list. STOP lying, if you can get you "some" tonight, you will.

I want to remind you that HIV is lurking in a whole lot of penises and vaginas. You can't see HIV cause it's on the inside of the good stuff between their legs. Yes it is! I been when you doing that thag it seems like the best thing in this freaking world. And, Oh Lawd, if your lover really knows what they're doing, you're think you are in heaven. STOP lying, this is real talk #ForReal #ForReal.

The thing is, you can't see HIV, that Bitch is invisible but it is lurking around seeking to devour and destroy. Yes, I've done the best I could with what I got, as with most people with HIV, but this is not the life I would have chosen for myself. But, it's a fact ... if I coulda, woulda, shoulda, don't mean a damn thing in the real world. This is the only life you got! If you fuck around and become infected with HIV, you will alter the course of your life forever!!!!!

And don't tell me you are in a monogamous relationship or that your man/woman lovessss you! That's some shit you have made yourself believe. If the penis ain't in your pocket, you have no idea what it's doing when it ain't with you.

To have sex without a condom and you are not married, you are a FUCKIN fool! And I believe that there is no man, women, pussy or dick worth your life. No one can fuck good enough that I would want to get HIV. Bullshit ain't nothing! So wrap it up tonight!

Be prepared, while you out shopping for that fabulous ensemble, pop into the drug store and buy some condoms. And ladies, if your man say they are to tight, well, Lifestyles sells super sizes. There is NO excuse. I'm pleading with you to bring the old year out how I would want to you, to want to live in the new year. Loving yourself enough to keep yourself safe. It's not enough to love and support me. You must love yourself enough to do right by yourself. I do what I do so you will never have to live this hard ass life.

If you have never used a condom with your partner, tell them, explain, you are bringing in the new year in how you want to live for the rest of the year. I promise you, If you give your partner a choice, NO sex or sex with a condom, they will say yes. And if they don't, then why are you fuckin someone who does not respect the choices you are making about your body. The fact is, 38% of all newly infected persons are infected by people who didn't know they were infected. The fact is, every 9 1/2 minutes a person becomes infected with HIV in the United States. Don't let that person be you tonight! Use a Fuckin CONDOM!!

See you right here, next year!!! Love you!!

RLT Updates

RLT Reads Book Club: Save the date! January 12, 2011 7pm CST, 8pm EST, will be the first discussion of our first book, What Looks Like Crazy On an Ordinary Day. I am in the process of setting up a chat room on the blog for the on-line discussion. I will announce the next book the same week. It will be a pick in honor of Black History Month. We will discuss it at the end of February.

Tea With Rae: Everyone who has entered this raffle to have High Tea with me so far is from out of town. I know there must be someone in Chicago who wants to have this experience. High Tea at the Peninsula one on one with me. But you cannot win if you do not enter ... So stop putting it off before the deadline passes you by.

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Rae Lewis-Thornton Speaks

Rae Lewis-Thornton is an Emmy Award-winning AIDS activist who rose to national acclaim when she told her story of living with AIDS in a cover story for Essence Magazine. She has lived with HIV for 27 years and AIDS for 19. Rae travels the country speaking and challenging stereotypes and myths about HIV/AIDS. She has a Master of Divinity degree and is currently working on her Ph.D. in Church History. Rae has been featured on Nightline, Dateline NBC, BET and The Oprah Winfrey Show, as well as in countless magazines and newspapers, including Emerge, Glamour, O, the Oprah Winfrey Magazine, Jet, Ebony, the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune, to name a few. She earned the coveted Emmy Award for a first-person series on living With AIDS for Chicago's CBS News.

Rae is an active user of social media -- read "Long-Term HIV Survivor Discovers the Power of Twitter," an article on TheBody.com about Rae's social media activities.

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