In this episode, I lie down with my housemate Rene.

Rene is the most genuinely enthusiastic person I have ever known. When I first met him, I didn’t trust him. I thought, “Is this guy for real? Is he really this happy?” He is! It’s incredible. In response to his tendency to fold other people’s laundry, I coined the in-house hashtag PRIMOVILLAN, and started regularly asking myself, What would Rene do? The question was like a lovingkindness tune-up.

Rene is quite a hunky fellow, and often genderfluid in the way he dresses, rocking skirts and shiny little short-shorts in the same way he rocks a bow tie and a sport coat. He’s the housemate who looks better in your clothes than you do! Rene and his 8-pack can be seen pole-dancing at the House of Yes, often on Pole Play Wednesdays — he actually defies gravity while Horizontal!

You can follow his pole journey on Instagram @The_Renesance, which is a nickname that I made up for him. I’m pretty proud of that.

In the *first half of our episode, we talk about our parent’s relationships, divorces, oral sex in the shower, compartmentalizing emotions, and Rene’s nearly unbelievable cheerfulness.

You’re invited … won't you come lie down with us?

* The second half of this episode has been released separately, by popular demand.

If you’d like to become a patron of the horizontal arts, support me on Patreon, a website for crowdsourcing patronage. Patronage allows artists like me to buy equipment, schedule tours of world domination, and devote my time to creating more horizontal goodness, for you! Becoming my patron has delicious perks, ranging from exclusive photos and behind-the-scenes video content, to handwritten postcards, spring cleaning phone calls, and creative input on future episodes. You can become a patron for $1 a month on up, and the rewards just get more sumptuous. patreon.com/horizontalwithlila

Horizontal’s theme music was created by Alan Markley. You can find his gorgeous blue eyes and rock star visage on Instagram as plasticcannons.

My saucy cover art was designed and illustrated by Shana Shay - check our her gorgeous character illustrations on shanashay.com

Every episode is mixed and mastered by Owen Muir, of Self-Disclosure productions. Owen’s podcast, Self-Disclosure, in which people speak openly, and often for the very first time, about their own experiences with mental health, is coming soon in August 2017. Listen, if you are a person. With Feelings. Owen can be found on Twitter as @psychdisclosure

For most things horizontal, head to horizontalwithlila.com and sign up for the mailing list. Detailed show notes with vocabulary words! And articles! And sensual photos! will be delivered right to your inbox.