Sunday, December 31, 2006
2006 -- The Year of Change
(New York was great and stories will follow on January 1 -- today's the day for the traditional "Year in Review" thingy)
The Chinese have the Year of the Snake, the Year of the Dragon, and so on, but no Year of the Change. Maybe they should, because let's face it, some years have more change than others.
One big change, unfortunately, was the crash of Diary-X early this year which took away my journal. I have backups of about the first 4 years, which I still need to finish uploading, but sadly there's about a 16-month period that has disappeared. Including, of course, last year's December 31st entry. So who knows what I predicted????
In January we made the final decision to return to DC from Colorado, and I got serious about finding a position here. I ended up getting my number 1 choice after one day of interviewing here, so at least we had that settled. Adrian and I thought we'd found a place to live, a new condo being built close to some of our friends, but after getting home we realized it was a little more expensive than we could handle and we backed off.
It wasn't long before February came around and we discovered where we would live...on Craigslist. Damn, that thing is good. We saw a condo for sale that looked really nice and also pretty reasonable. I came back here for work and took some time to come chack the place out. It looked good, so after talking it over with Adrian, we signed a contract when I was back here for work in February, and on March 10th Adrian and I closed on the condo. It was the first home we ever bought together and to me this was as close as we could get to being married. A very, very important day.
We sold our Colorado house after one day on the market in April. We are amazing. Some of that is no doubt due to the tons of landscaping rock we moved around.
We both came out here for work in April and Adrian stayed for a week to paint our new place. Once we managed to move here in June -- and our furniture arrived 3 weeks later -- Adrian designed a great space using our old stuff as well as new. We've had a couple big parties and a few small gatherings here and everyone loves the place. We pretty much do, too.
The new job has its moments. It's not fantastic, but I'm pretty much getting what I bargained for, so I can't really complain. I came here to work on Southeast Asian issues for the government and once I arrived my job quickly shifted to Europe. Not terrible, of course, but hey, I've been to Europe plenty of times and I'd like to learn more about, and visit, Asia. The bosses have promised I can stay engaged in Asia, but bosses' promises aren't worth much. Unless I'm the boss, of course.
Speaking of jobs, the day I left Colorado I was asked to return and interview for the department chair position in Political Science. I finally agreed to do so, more because I didn't want to burn bridges than because I wanted the job. I really don't feel like returning to Colorado, and this would be for about 10 years, so I didn't put my heart into it. They only interviewed 5 of us, I am pretty sure I was the #3 choice, and number 1 pulled out later while number 2 may not be available when they want her. So, it looks like I'd have a good shot at it...but I withdrew my name in early December. I thought about it and thought about it and as much as I enjoy teaching, I just don't want to do it there. Plus, let's face it, being a department chair is more about administration than academics and research anyway.
It was a year for travel. During my teaching I travelled to San Diego, which I hadn't been to in a few years, and also made my first trip to Moscow! I studied the language back in college so it was nice to finally put it to use all these years later. One thing I will say is that I'm glad I saw it when someone else was paying for it because, to be honest, I didn't really care for it. I didn't find the Russians to be very friendly, either professionally or personally, so if I don't go back again that's OK. But honestly, that's about what I expected, so I'm not really disappointed. They're pretty messed up over there, and I wish them all the best, but change needs to happen from the inside and I don't know if they're going to be able to grow the way they'd hoped.
As we moved out here we visited Omaha, where we saw my best friend from high school. We talked about it, and decided we could almost live in Omaha someday. We'd need to have a bunch of our friends with us, though.
Once I started my new job I hit Seattle, Honolulu, and Germany, but so far no place new. I am scheduled to hit Vietnam in February, though, so hopefully I can then blog about a new experience. In terms of personal travel, though, this was a good year...since October I have visited Bangkok, Singapore, Toronto, and had a few trips to New York. More on this later.
In the process of all this travel I have made some new friends, including most especially Ethan here in DC and Allan in Singapore. I also got to finally meet Jerwin in Toronto after knowing each other online for something like 6 or 7 years. I've also met a few folks along the way that I will keep in touch with and hopefully get to know better, like Jase, Tom, Eric, and Paul. It was also a year for reconnecting, getting the chance to see Raberd again in Bangkok and running around with Scooter and his partner Chris in NYC.
There have been some changes over the year with regard to Adrian's family. His brother Khamla graduated from the same cosmetology school as Adrian, and I am very proud of him. Adrian's father has started shaking my hand and his mother has even hugged me a couple times. That's a huge change, considering that when she first met me she would not even look at me. I guess a few years have convinced her I'm not too bad. Also, I've gotten to know his nephew a lot better and have spent some time tutoring him in math, which unfortunately is not my strongest subject.
I've changed "me" a bit too. I'm making plans for a big career change in 2009 and am spending the time now figuring out exactly what I want to do, and then how to do it, and that's good. I've gone back and forth with the gym but the bottom line is that my body has changed to a form I don't really like (though let's be honest, I'm NEVER happy with my body), and that's not quite as good. One of the funnest new things I did this year: dance. Yeah, I started hip-hop class on my birthday. How cool is that? I was hoping that once I got here my friend Dancin' Mike (he of Step Up fame) would be my new dance coach, but alas, he has flown off to Barcelona to go to design school (and is doing VERY well in the process).
The biggest change, unfortunately, has been "us." On my birthday/our anniversary this year, Adrian gave me a wedding band, and of course when we bought the condo that, to me, was like a marriage. Unfortunately, 2 months after we moved in he broke up with me. His reasons were mostly about problems he had with himself rather than with me, though there was some confusion about that as time went on. There are all sorts of issues involved in this, which is natural for a nearly 6-year relationship, and I will say that over time I began to assert myself better when it comes to how I feel about all this. This was the reason for all my solo, personal travel in the fall: a desire to just run away, and also take the trips that I knew Adrian wouldn't be interested in but that I wanted to take, like to SE Asia and Toronto. Hey, you can't get much farther away from your problems than the other side of the world. An upturn came toward the end of the year when Adrian suggested he would like to try to work things out and get us back to a good place instead of giving up on everything we had. I agreed, but also told him there was no guarantee that we would resolve this and come back together, and some things would really need to be worked on so these problems wouldn't happen again. I suppose on December 31st of next year I'll be able to provide all the answers to this.
I've had some adventures this year, and am looking forward to some great ones in 2007. I have some ideas about what I want to do and where I want my life to go, but who knows? 2006 had lots of surprises and I ended up somewhere pretty different than I expected last year. Then again, isn't that what makes life so great?
Happy New Year, everyone!!!!!
The Chinese have the Year of the Snake, the Year of the Dragon, and so on, but no Year of the Change. Maybe they should, because let's face it, some years have more change than others.
One big change, unfortunately, was the crash of Diary-X early this year which took away my journal. I have backups of about the first 4 years, which I still need to finish uploading, but sadly there's about a 16-month period that has disappeared. Including, of course, last year's December 31st entry. So who knows what I predicted????
In January we made the final decision to return to DC from Colorado, and I got serious about finding a position here. I ended up getting my number 1 choice after one day of interviewing here, so at least we had that settled. Adrian and I thought we'd found a place to live, a new condo being built close to some of our friends, but after getting home we realized it was a little more expensive than we could handle and we backed off.
It wasn't long before February came around and we discovered where we would live...on Craigslist. Damn, that thing is good. We saw a condo for sale that looked really nice and also pretty reasonable. I came back here for work and took some time to come chack the place out. It looked good, so after talking it over with Adrian, we signed a contract when I was back here for work in February, and on March 10th Adrian and I closed on the condo. It was the first home we ever bought together and to me this was as close as we could get to being married. A very, very important day.
We sold our Colorado house after one day on the market in April. We are amazing. Some of that is no doubt due to the tons of landscaping rock we moved around.
We both came out here for work in April and Adrian stayed for a week to paint our new place. Once we managed to move here in June -- and our furniture arrived 3 weeks later -- Adrian designed a great space using our old stuff as well as new. We've had a couple big parties and a few small gatherings here and everyone loves the place. We pretty much do, too.
The new job has its moments. It's not fantastic, but I'm pretty much getting what I bargained for, so I can't really complain. I came here to work on Southeast Asian issues for the government and once I arrived my job quickly shifted to Europe. Not terrible, of course, but hey, I've been to Europe plenty of times and I'd like to learn more about, and visit, Asia. The bosses have promised I can stay engaged in Asia, but bosses' promises aren't worth much. Unless I'm the boss, of course.
Speaking of jobs, the day I left Colorado I was asked to return and interview for the department chair position in Political Science. I finally agreed to do so, more because I didn't want to burn bridges than because I wanted the job. I really don't feel like returning to Colorado, and this would be for about 10 years, so I didn't put my heart into it. They only interviewed 5 of us, I am pretty sure I was the #3 choice, and number 1 pulled out later while number 2 may not be available when they want her. So, it looks like I'd have a good shot at it...but I withdrew my name in early December. I thought about it and thought about it and as much as I enjoy teaching, I just don't want to do it there. Plus, let's face it, being a department chair is more about administration than academics and research anyway.
It was a year for travel. During my teaching I travelled to San Diego, which I hadn't been to in a few years, and also made my first trip to Moscow! I studied the language back in college so it was nice to finally put it to use all these years later. One thing I will say is that I'm glad I saw it when someone else was paying for it because, to be honest, I didn't really care for it. I didn't find the Russians to be very friendly, either professionally or personally, so if I don't go back again that's OK. But honestly, that's about what I expected, so I'm not really disappointed. They're pretty messed up over there, and I wish them all the best, but change needs to happen from the inside and I don't know if they're going to be able to grow the way they'd hoped.
As we moved out here we visited Omaha, where we saw my best friend from high school. We talked about it, and decided we could almost live in Omaha someday. We'd need to have a bunch of our friends with us, though.
Once I started my new job I hit Seattle, Honolulu, and Germany, but so far no place new. I am scheduled to hit Vietnam in February, though, so hopefully I can then blog about a new experience. In terms of personal travel, though, this was a good year...since October I have visited Bangkok, Singapore, Toronto, and had a few trips to New York. More on this later.
In the process of all this travel I have made some new friends, including most especially Ethan here in DC and Allan in Singapore. I also got to finally meet Jerwin in Toronto after knowing each other online for something like 6 or 7 years. I've also met a few folks along the way that I will keep in touch with and hopefully get to know better, like Jase, Tom, Eric, and Paul. It was also a year for reconnecting, getting the chance to see Raberd again in Bangkok and running around with Scooter and his partner Chris in NYC.
There have been some changes over the year with regard to Adrian's family. His brother Khamla graduated from the same cosmetology school as Adrian, and I am very proud of him. Adrian's father has started shaking my hand and his mother has even hugged me a couple times. That's a huge change, considering that when she first met me she would not even look at me. I guess a few years have convinced her I'm not too bad. Also, I've gotten to know his nephew a lot better and have spent some time tutoring him in math, which unfortunately is not my strongest subject.
I've changed "me" a bit too. I'm making plans for a big career change in 2009 and am spending the time now figuring out exactly what I want to do, and then how to do it, and that's good. I've gone back and forth with the gym but the bottom line is that my body has changed to a form I don't really like (though let's be honest, I'm NEVER happy with my body), and that's not quite as good. One of the funnest new things I did this year: dance. Yeah, I started hip-hop class on my birthday. How cool is that? I was hoping that once I got here my friend Dancin' Mike (he of Step Up fame) would be my new dance coach, but alas, he has flown off to Barcelona to go to design school (and is doing VERY well in the process).
The biggest change, unfortunately, has been "us." On my birthday/our anniversary this year, Adrian gave me a wedding band, and of course when we bought the condo that, to me, was like a marriage. Unfortunately, 2 months after we moved in he broke up with me. His reasons were mostly about problems he had with himself rather than with me, though there was some confusion about that as time went on. There are all sorts of issues involved in this, which is natural for a nearly 6-year relationship, and I will say that over time I began to assert myself better when it comes to how I feel about all this. This was the reason for all my solo, personal travel in the fall: a desire to just run away, and also take the trips that I knew Adrian wouldn't be interested in but that I wanted to take, like to SE Asia and Toronto. Hey, you can't get much farther away from your problems than the other side of the world. An upturn came toward the end of the year when Adrian suggested he would like to try to work things out and get us back to a good place instead of giving up on everything we had. I agreed, but also told him there was no guarantee that we would resolve this and come back together, and some things would really need to be worked on so these problems wouldn't happen again. I suppose on December 31st of next year I'll be able to provide all the answers to this.
I've had some adventures this year, and am looking forward to some great ones in 2007. I have some ideas about what I want to do and where I want my life to go, but who knows? 2006 had lots of surprises and I ended up somewhere pretty different than I expected last year. Then again, isn't that what makes life so great?
Happy New Year, everyone!!!!!
Labels: Life
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
MomQuest Goes on the Road
Mom is here, but instead of staying in DC we are off to New York for the rest of the week. Mom wants to see shows, so we are seeing shows...five of them between Wednesday and Friday. Insane. But sure to be fun.
Tales, believe me, will be forthcoming.
Tales, believe me, will be forthcoming.
Labels: Travel
Monday, December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas to All
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Important Shopping Tip
Try to avoid checking out at the grocery store carrying only a bouquet of roses and a can of Redi-Whip whipped cream. You get some strange looks.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
I Wonder...
...are there Americans who visit Tokyo for the first time and are disappointed it doesn't look like anime?
Labels: Questions
Sunday, December 17, 2006
It Finally Happened
Friday night I was at a bar with Adrian and Mulan when a guy leaned over to Adrian and said, "Excuse me...aren't you on the web? Doesn't a friend of yours have a website?"
Adrian seemed a little taken aback, then said yes. The guy was saying "I knew it, I knew I recognized you" and then he turned to me and said, "wait...it's YOUR website. You're that guy!" Yes. Yes I am.
He had apparently stumbled across my site when we lived in Colorado and he remembered a few details, like the fact that I was teaching, and Adrian was doing hair, and of course he remembered my Friends page. It was years ago that he saw it but so many details had stuck with him...what a great memory! And how great it was to be recognized. Seven years after first putting the site online, someone finally recognizes me in public.
No autographs, please.
Adrian seemed a little taken aback, then said yes. The guy was saying "I knew it, I knew I recognized you" and then he turned to me and said, "wait...it's YOUR website. You're that guy!" Yes. Yes I am.
He had apparently stumbled across my site when we lived in Colorado and he remembered a few details, like the fact that I was teaching, and Adrian was doing hair, and of course he remembered my Friends page. It was years ago that he saw it but so many details had stuck with him...what a great memory! And how great it was to be recognized. Seven years after first putting the site online, someone finally recognizes me in public.
No autographs, please.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Where Does the Time Go?
It's been a week since my Toronto trip and I still haven't written about it. Weird, especially considering others were writing about it while I was still flying home. But I've been sick with a cold this week and by the time I got home in the evening the last thing I wanted to do was sit in front of the computer and type, much as I'd been doing at work all day. The first thing I wanted to do was sleep. But that didn't come easily.
Anyway, I'm feeling better now, so on with the tales...
This was my third trip to Toronto, the first was for work in 1997 and the next was in June 2001 to visit Scooter when he was home for the summer. This time was to see...hmmmm, let's call him "Max," to protect his privacy...an online friend for the past 6 years or so whom I'd never met in person. It's still kinda weird watching someone grow, watching their life develop, yet never meeting them. Sort of like a TV character on a long-running show except this one is real. And definitely a character.
Much of the reason for the timing of the trip was that Max had gone through a breakup similar to mine only a couple days earlier, with the ironic twist that he was somewhat more in Adrian's position rather than in mine. That has made for some interesting phone/e-mail discussions as it's helped me learn more about what happened here. We'd agreed a couple months ago that I should pop up for a visit but between his work schedule and my work and travel it didn't make sense until now. And also, Air Canada had a sale.
I stayed in a hotel just a block off Church Street, the heart of Toronto's gay village (and also the setting for the American Queer As Folk's "Liberty Avenue"). Max picked me up soon after my arrival and took me to Zelda's on Church Street, a cute little diner where they serve double rum and cokes, so yay for that. We'd agreed that our first night there we would not discuss the status of our relationships, and that gave us a great chance to fill in the blanks behind our websites. Let's face it, none of us are 100% open online, so it's nice to finally see the reality, kinda like VH-1's "Behind the Music," only interesting.
Max is sweeter in person than I could have imagined, wonderfully outgoing, sexy as hell, and a fun person to go out with. After a couple hours at the diner we headed out to Crews and Tango, a largely lesbian dance club that the gay boys take over, and immersed ourselves in the diversity that is Church Street. Plenty of cuties, good music, fun dancing, drinks mixed just right, and just a bit of grinding. Max, who's a closet goth boy (he heads to a goth club on Thursday night, so sadly I missed my chance) was wearing some great clothes that fit him just right. More on those later.
After running into an old/current/not really sure flame of his we called it a night. Max had a hard night the night before (take that any way you want) and needed his rest so we agreed to meet up Saturday for brunch. I got up a little early and took a walk down Church Street to feel a different atmosphere, and also to watch for boys making a Walk of Shame. Didn't see any -- either Tornoto boys are good boys or they all go home right after their fun. Or they pack an extra shirt. Who knows?
Max came by and we ran out to brunch, where a very nice but slighty confused waitress thought we were with a group of 4 women and managed to confuse our orders as well as the bill (we offered to cover the tip if the women took care of the bill, but they were too smart for that). Then he introduced me to the Toronto subway as we headed down to the CN Tower to get some amazing views of the city. Very nice. After seeing the sights and having some coffee we chatted about relationships just a bit. Afterwards we ran over to the Royal Ontario Museum and perused the Buddhist art exhibit as well as the Italian Design show, both of which were way cool. Great way to spend a beautiful day.
Max had a date Saturday evening so while he satisfied that obligation (which was very satisfying, from what I undertand) I kicked around town a bit, exploring different streets in the area. Later he picked me up and we ran off to Woody's for a few minutes, then cabbed to Chinatown for "Asian Express," a monthly party put on by an Asian group that was celebrating its resurgence in a really sketchy building. But it was fun, the DJ was very good, the drinks were once again excellent, and Max looked Supercute in his Superman t-shirt he wore just for me (I remembered it from a photo years ago). I started chatting with Sunny, a guy who'd ended up there by himself because his friends cancelled out at the last minute, and Max headed home by 1am because really, the poor boy hadn't gotten much sleep in a few nights. Sunny and I hung out and talked for a while then took off as the place closed. He was very cool, a nature photographer, and that's the best kind of photographer there is.
Sunday morn Max picked me up as I checked out and we went back to Chinatown in the daylight to have a dim sum brunch, which was very good and almost too much food. I like dim sum but it's very easy to get carried away. We did a little shopping at Eaton Centre, a big downtown mall where I found a couple cute shirts but also discovered that the great deals for Americans weren't quite as great as usual, given the current state of the US dollar. I told Max "I want to see the store where you got your goth pants," so off we went. I was just going to look, but as I tried things on...well, suffice to say, I'm going to have to take some photos. Seriously, some of these clothes look really hot, and since I never say that about myself, well, it must really be true this time! I wouldn't have gotten them but I did think they looked good, and pretty daring (for me, anyway) and Max really liked them, and he's a good judge, and, well, I'm just going to have to visit a goth club. That's just all there is to it.
And then I came home. End of story.
Except to say I had an AMAZINGLY good time, and I am so indebted to Max for showing me a cool city through his eyes, and for opening up his life to me more than he does for most, and for being a good set of ears, and just for being such a great guy all these years. I made a commitment when I jumped headfirst into the Web that I wouldn't get too close to people online unless I planned to meet them someday. I'm so glad I met this boy...he's very special, and not a "riding the short bus to school" kind of special but a "huge heart" special. Yay for him.
Anyway, I'm feeling better now, so on with the tales...
This was my third trip to Toronto, the first was for work in 1997 and the next was in June 2001 to visit Scooter when he was home for the summer. This time was to see...hmmmm, let's call him "Max," to protect his privacy...an online friend for the past 6 years or so whom I'd never met in person. It's still kinda weird watching someone grow, watching their life develop, yet never meeting them. Sort of like a TV character on a long-running show except this one is real. And definitely a character.
Much of the reason for the timing of the trip was that Max had gone through a breakup similar to mine only a couple days earlier, with the ironic twist that he was somewhat more in Adrian's position rather than in mine. That has made for some interesting phone/e-mail discussions as it's helped me learn more about what happened here. We'd agreed a couple months ago that I should pop up for a visit but between his work schedule and my work and travel it didn't make sense until now. And also, Air Canada had a sale.
I stayed in a hotel just a block off Church Street, the heart of Toronto's gay village (and also the setting for the American Queer As Folk's "Liberty Avenue"). Max picked me up soon after my arrival and took me to Zelda's on Church Street, a cute little diner where they serve double rum and cokes, so yay for that. We'd agreed that our first night there we would not discuss the status of our relationships, and that gave us a great chance to fill in the blanks behind our websites. Let's face it, none of us are 100% open online, so it's nice to finally see the reality, kinda like VH-1's "Behind the Music," only interesting.
Max is sweeter in person than I could have imagined, wonderfully outgoing, sexy as hell, and a fun person to go out with. After a couple hours at the diner we headed out to Crews and Tango, a largely lesbian dance club that the gay boys take over, and immersed ourselves in the diversity that is Church Street. Plenty of cuties, good music, fun dancing, drinks mixed just right, and just a bit of grinding. Max, who's a closet goth boy (he heads to a goth club on Thursday night, so sadly I missed my chance) was wearing some great clothes that fit him just right. More on those later.
After running into an old/current/not really sure flame of his we called it a night. Max had a hard night the night before (take that any way you want) and needed his rest so we agreed to meet up Saturday for brunch. I got up a little early and took a walk down Church Street to feel a different atmosphere, and also to watch for boys making a Walk of Shame. Didn't see any -- either Tornoto boys are good boys or they all go home right after their fun. Or they pack an extra shirt. Who knows?
Max came by and we ran out to brunch, where a very nice but slighty confused waitress thought we were with a group of 4 women and managed to confuse our orders as well as the bill (we offered to cover the tip if the women took care of the bill, but they were too smart for that). Then he introduced me to the Toronto subway as we headed down to the CN Tower to get some amazing views of the city. Very nice. After seeing the sights and having some coffee we chatted about relationships just a bit. Afterwards we ran over to the Royal Ontario Museum and perused the Buddhist art exhibit as well as the Italian Design show, both of which were way cool. Great way to spend a beautiful day.
Max had a date Saturday evening so while he satisfied that obligation (which was very satisfying, from what I undertand) I kicked around town a bit, exploring different streets in the area. Later he picked me up and we ran off to Woody's for a few minutes, then cabbed to Chinatown for "Asian Express," a monthly party put on by an Asian group that was celebrating its resurgence in a really sketchy building. But it was fun, the DJ was very good, the drinks were once again excellent, and Max looked Supercute in his Superman t-shirt he wore just for me (I remembered it from a photo years ago). I started chatting with Sunny, a guy who'd ended up there by himself because his friends cancelled out at the last minute, and Max headed home by 1am because really, the poor boy hadn't gotten much sleep in a few nights. Sunny and I hung out and talked for a while then took off as the place closed. He was very cool, a nature photographer, and that's the best kind of photographer there is.
Sunday morn Max picked me up as I checked out and we went back to Chinatown in the daylight to have a dim sum brunch, which was very good and almost too much food. I like dim sum but it's very easy to get carried away. We did a little shopping at Eaton Centre, a big downtown mall where I found a couple cute shirts but also discovered that the great deals for Americans weren't quite as great as usual, given the current state of the US dollar. I told Max "I want to see the store where you got your goth pants," so off we went. I was just going to look, but as I tried things on...well, suffice to say, I'm going to have to take some photos. Seriously, some of these clothes look really hot, and since I never say that about myself, well, it must really be true this time! I wouldn't have gotten them but I did think they looked good, and pretty daring (for me, anyway) and Max really liked them, and he's a good judge, and, well, I'm just going to have to visit a goth club. That's just all there is to it.
And then I came home. End of story.
Except to say I had an AMAZINGLY good time, and I am so indebted to Max for showing me a cool city through his eyes, and for opening up his life to me more than he does for most, and for being a good set of ears, and just for being such a great guy all these years. I made a commitment when I jumped headfirst into the Web that I wouldn't get too close to people online unless I planned to meet them someday. I'm so glad I met this boy...he's very special, and not a "riding the short bus to school" kind of special but a "huge heart" special. Yay for him.
Labels: Travel
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Good Times, eh?
A splendiforous time was had in Toronto. Many thanks to my fave goth boy, who I finaly met after more than 6 years of reading his blog. Uber-good times were had by all and tales will indeed be following shortly.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Brrrrrr
New York was FUN last weekend!!! despite USAir's best efforts, I managed to get there only a little later than I expected Friday night. After a quick cab into the city I got ready and headed out to The Web for some dancing and cute guys and more dancing. the music was good, and even though it wasn't quite as crowded as usual on a Friday night (according to one of the bartenders, anyway) there were polenty of guys to dance with and chat with and maybe give a goodnight kiss to. Oh, and at least one cute go-go boy...hi Christian!
In bed by 4 and up again at 10, it was time for a little shopping. NYC was kinda chilly but it was beautiful otherwise, and with all the walking around I stayed pretty warm. I did a little Christmas shopping at places that don't exist here in DC (i.e., Canal Street) and hit on a cute barrista at Starbucks. (How could I not? He was wearing a rabies tag as a necklace!) That evening found me meeting up with Jase and his friends for some drinks and groping at The Ritz. They were a fun bunch, and it was great to finally meet Jase after reading his blog for over a year. A shame his boopy couldn't come with him, but hey, that just made it easier to talk about how nice he is.
I'd planned to head back to The Web but had gotten advice earlier in the day that Roxy was more the place to be. But by the time I left the Ritz it was 1:30 and I was in no mood to shell out 25 bucks for a couple hours at the club, so I ended up going back to The Web after all. It wasn't all that crowded but I had another drink (which I probably didn't need) and had a cute guy try to fix me up with his not-so-cute friend. Hmmmmm. Anyway, I was back to the hotel by 3:30 or so, figuring I should sleep a few hours anyway.
Sunday I was up and waiting for Scooter and Chris and suddenly there they were, with Scooter looking even more Asian than before with his long hair tied into some sort of bun on the back of his head. I can't describe it right, but it was hot! We walked down to Food Bar for brunch...last time I was there was Labor Day Weekend, and it was a little more crowded this time, which was fun. Chris got hit on heading out of the bathroom from someone who looked like a grandfather, and that just made it all the better. We wandered through Chelsea and the Village, window shopping and getting coffee and walking through porn stores and walking through porn stores...oh, wait, I said that already. The day passed too quickly in my humble opinion...Scooter is a dear, old (well, he's 25, but you know what I mean) friend whose blog I started reading back in 1999 or 2000, and the last time I saw these boys was in March of 2004 in Montreal, before they moved to NYC so Scooter could go to grad school at NYU and then start working in urban planning. I look forward to seeing them more often, they're a great couple of guys.
Home this week, just getting through a lot of stuff at work, putting up a Christmas tree with Adrian the other night, lunch with Arlington Michael today, then Friday I'm off again, Toronto-bound. It's supposed to be right around freezing this weekend with snow on Friday...hopefully Jerwin knows some warm places!!!
In bed by 4 and up again at 10, it was time for a little shopping. NYC was kinda chilly but it was beautiful otherwise, and with all the walking around I stayed pretty warm. I did a little Christmas shopping at places that don't exist here in DC (i.e., Canal Street) and hit on a cute barrista at Starbucks. (How could I not? He was wearing a rabies tag as a necklace!) That evening found me meeting up with Jase and his friends for some drinks and groping at The Ritz. They were a fun bunch, and it was great to finally meet Jase after reading his blog for over a year. A shame his boopy couldn't come with him, but hey, that just made it easier to talk about how nice he is.
I'd planned to head back to The Web but had gotten advice earlier in the day that Roxy was more the place to be. But by the time I left the Ritz it was 1:30 and I was in no mood to shell out 25 bucks for a couple hours at the club, so I ended up going back to The Web after all. It wasn't all that crowded but I had another drink (which I probably didn't need) and had a cute guy try to fix me up with his not-so-cute friend. Hmmmmm. Anyway, I was back to the hotel by 3:30 or so, figuring I should sleep a few hours anyway.
Sunday I was up and waiting for Scooter and Chris and suddenly there they were, with Scooter looking even more Asian than before with his long hair tied into some sort of bun on the back of his head. I can't describe it right, but it was hot! We walked down to Food Bar for brunch...last time I was there was Labor Day Weekend, and it was a little more crowded this time, which was fun. Chris got hit on heading out of the bathroom from someone who looked like a grandfather, and that just made it all the better. We wandered through Chelsea and the Village, window shopping and getting coffee and walking through porn stores and walking through porn stores...oh, wait, I said that already. The day passed too quickly in my humble opinion...Scooter is a dear, old (well, he's 25, but you know what I mean) friend whose blog I started reading back in 1999 or 2000, and the last time I saw these boys was in March of 2004 in Montreal, before they moved to NYC so Scooter could go to grad school at NYU and then start working in urban planning. I look forward to seeing them more often, they're a great couple of guys.
Home this week, just getting through a lot of stuff at work, putting up a Christmas tree with Adrian the other night, lunch with Arlington Michael today, then Friday I'm off again, Toronto-bound. It's supposed to be right around freezing this weekend with snow on Friday...hopefully Jerwin knows some warm places!!!
Labels: Travel
Monday, December 04, 2006
Take The Monkey's Side
Some people have WAYYYYYYY too much time on their hands:
The Lost Seinfeld Episode
New York was a great weekend, tales to follow.
The Lost Seinfeld Episode
New York was a great weekend, tales to follow.
Labels: Web
