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I am now completely, totally, utterly the owner of a paid-off Honda Element. All I need to do is put the license plates on and then I can start driving the vehicle I've been driving for the past 6 months, with one new thing:

Now I get to name it.

I'm pretty sure he's a boy car because I can see his exhaust pipe.

Oh, and speaking of names, does anyone else think "Saturn is Dead" would be a great name for a band, or is it just me?

Labels: Stuff, Wandering Mind

Last week I was too busy having a life to blog about it.

Tuesday night I was thinking I'd go out but ended up just running errands instead. But then a friend called around 10pm and wanted to go for coffee, so off I went. Hey, it's not as if I had to get up and go to work the next day. Oh, wait a sec...

Wednesday night I dealt with DC traffic for an hour then met up with Stan to go to an art opening. It was a photo show by The Sartorialist who, in addition to being a photographer of random fashion, is also a monthly fashion columnist in GQ. He had a great show, though the photos started at $1200, so they were a little out of my league. He was in attendance, and Stan thought he was hot, so the night was a success.

We went out for Indian food after that, which was very yummy, and very filling...Stan ordered chicken and I'm pretty sure he got a whole chicken. After getting him home I headed out to meet danny around 11pm, after he got off work...and naturally, he was hungry, so off we went to IHOP. He had a big omelette, I had decaf, and we both had a bad waitress. We talked for 2 hours, much of it about AQUA...because of my background Danny occasionally bounces ideas off of me about how to manage the group...then i think he does the opposite, I'm not sure. (ok, truthfully, he has done some things I suggested and they've actually worked out well).

Thursday I was a tired bitch and was an hour late to work. But since I don't like my job, I wasn't too worried about it. I was determined, though, that Thursday night would be a quiet night here, and indeed it was. So yay that. Oh, and I had lunch downtown with Linh, and we did some good catching-up.

Friday night I went to a birthday party for a friend. It was at a straight place (where he works) that tries to gay-it-up about once a month...but this time the straight people really outnumbered us. I encouraged Linh, Danny, Justin, Hai, and Khamla to go, and they all did, which was good since together we comprised about half the gay boys there. We had a nice time, it's fun to get my various friends together in one place.

Saturday Stan and I did some shopping...hooray for H&M! But the week was starting to catch up with me. That night a group of us got together to celebrate Vu and Troy's 10th anniversary, and I had fun but knew I couldn't stay too late...fading fast...

Sunday...oh yeah, I slept in. Until 10am, which was about 9 hours of sleep, and yes, I needed every minute of it. I was determined, though, that this would be the day for my 9-mile run. In two weeks I'll be running in a 10-mile race, and I haven't run that far before, AND I'm out of town next weekend. so this week was my chance to see if I could handle something like the race distance. The weather was great so it was a really good chance to get out there. I was feeling like I had a pretty good pace until a cute young guy passed me about 2 miles into it. He had a cute ass so I stayed with him, until he stoped by the side of the trail to puke. heh heh I finished my run in either 75 or 85 minutes...I thought it was 75, but that seems fast...could I have misread the clock when I started, and maybe it was actually 85? Either way, it's good enough for the race...the main thng is, I know I can finish a distance like that, because I wasn't totally dead when I came in to the finish.

Sunday night, of course, was the new Futurama...Stan and Khamla both came over for pizza and Chinese buns (food, not Stan's) and Bender. Yay for Bender!!

So now it's Monday night, and I've packed, and am headed to San Francisco tomorrow for the rest of the week. What the hell, I'll have plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead.

Labels: Bars, Friends, Stuff

I have plenty to write about tonight, since I need to get caught up since Tuesday, but I'm still orgasmic over watching this on Comedy Central tonight:



Seriously, I need a towel.

Labels: Stuff

ETHAN (talking about guys): You know me, I never say never.

ME: Hell, you barely even say "no."

***************

MARY (in my office): I'm talking to a friend, she's about to have a baby, I can't believe she's still at work. She's saying "get this thing out of me!"

ME: If she'd said that 9 months ago while having sex she wouldn't be having this problem today.

(ok, they were funnier if you were there)

Labels: Friends, Stuff

The ironic thing about receiving this video today is, it was just last night that Stan and I went to an underwear party at a bar downtown.

Oh, and I was told in a SMS this morning by a friend overseas that I have a perky ass, and that totally made my day.

Labels: Music, Stuff

Got back from Atlanta Sunday. The business part of the trip was OK, the social part pretty slow. Friday night I went out to dinner and to a bar I used to go to, and I realized something: you can still smoke in bars in georgia. Huh. Kind of takes the fun out of it, when I'm used to DC, NYC, SF...why would anyone want to hang around a smoke-filled bar? I didn't run into Young Matt (who turns 30 later this year, so I guess he's not as young as he used to be...but then, who is?), nor did I run into Former Boyfriend Michael, also known as Michael the Antichrist (though I've gotten over my bitterness, the name still stands out in my mind). But I did talk to someone who knows him...small world.

Tonight I watched Boy Culture. the movie came out 2 years ago but I've kind of avoided seeing it...the book is one of my favorite novels and I hesitated to see the film because the images might not match up with the images in my mind. I read the book at least once a year and I have a picture in my mind of the characters that never changes. Would i screw up a favorite book by letting someone else's vision intrude on my own?


The movie was good. It was set in a different city, and some key elements were added or, in a few cases, changed in a way that changed the story. One of the characters was black, which didn't match his description in the book, though another favorite character was pretty much like I expected. But still, it was good, and it was fun to see them moving around instead of just being pictures in my head. Very often, a director really screws up a good book, but this time around he did all right. Oh, and i picked up on an important reference that I'd never gotten before...and it was a pretty obvious one, too, staring me right in the face.

The book is really good. Go get it. Then later, see the movie. Then write a blog post about it.

Labels: Stuff

OK, before getting into the main tale, I have to point out one of the TV channels on my cable system that I just noticed tonight:



hee hee hee Don't we all wish we could get a cute Filipino on demand, whenever we wanted one? Ah, but I digress...

Anyway, I did another photo shoot Saturday night. This one was with my friend Vu, the guy behind the Asian calendar. He likes to do shoots for his friends so they have lots of fun photos for their various blogs/Facebook/Fridae/MySpace profiles, and really, for any other purpose they have. We decided to try butch/military (do you love my Royal Thai Army t-shirt?), classy, and edgy. Which one do you like best?









By the time he was done with the raw shots and the PhotoShopped ones, he had over 200 pics for me. I'm going to have some fun with them!

Labels: Friends, Stuff, Website

All right, before I get into this story, a quick tale from last night...

So I go to a club and the guy checking IDs looks at me a couple times and says, "No way can you be this old." And I said yeah, I am, and in fact, "in two days I'll be even older."

A reference to my birthday, naturally. But of course, in two days, we'll ALL be older. By two days.

I'm stupid sometimes.

Anyway, this week I did some modeling. There's a photographer from Minneapolis whom I'd talked with last year after seeing some of his work. He had me send him some photos and then told me he'd like to use me as a model sometime...he travels a lot and had been in DC just a couple weeks earlier and thought he'd be back in 2008, so he said we could do it here or I could come to Minneapolis where he has his full studio. I thought about doing that, but as it turned out he had a last minute trip here this week and called to see if I'd be available. For that, I'm definitely available.

Anyway, he had me bring a bunch of different outfits (I had a backpack full!) and accessories and such. Some of the pics were thoughtful and serene, others were sexy, all of them were fun. We shot for about 2 hours and I saw some of the photos afterwards...nice! He will do some editing on them, working with PhotoShop or something more advanced, and I can't wait to see the final products! I know he won't use very many of them and I'm curious to see what he picks.

This is the first time anyone's asked me to do this. A year ago I don't think it would have happened...in fact, I would never have even considered it. I was pretty unhappy with my body and would not have exposed it to a camera. So yes, I'm very excited! It makes me feel good to have someone else think he can use me and show me and make something that people want to see.

A friend of mine is doing a shoot with me in a couple weeks, the same friend who did the Asian men calendar for this year. But that's a little different, he knows me...this was out of the blue, someone whom I'd never met.

A note to all my photographer friends: I am ALWAYS available to you (well, when we're in the same country) for something like this if you ever need a model or want to practice with one!

Labels: Age, Bars, Stuff

So yeah, I'm about 2 steps away from having an eating disorder. Tonight I came a little too close to that, getting a taste of what it would be like. And it wouldn't be pretty. So I think I'll back away from it slowly. And by "slowly," I mean "quickly." It's ridiculous to think that a 41-year old (42 as of this coming Sunday) man would have an eating disorder. of course, no one should have one, but for someone like me it seems particularly ludicrous. Of course, when you qualify that by saying a 41-year old (42 as of this coming Sunday) GAY man, then it becomes a little easier to understand, though still not a good thing. Fortunately, as I say, I've recognized the warning signs and will now go eat a cookie.

On the plus side, I saw Charlie Wilson's War tonight, a very good film with a somewhat sobering ending. I did not have flashbacks to Afghanistan when I saw it, which is good, but I got a little uneasy during the preview for Stop-Loss, which is about Iraq. I probably wouldn't freak out, though, which is good, as there are some actors in there I'd like to see. But I'm still not thrilled about seeing an Iraq war film yet. I've avoided all the others so far.

Labels: Life, Stuff

We headed off to a potluck at a friend's, planning to eat, drink, and be merry, countdown to midnight, then head out to a dance club. Adrian didn't read the invite very carefully, though, so in addition to inviting a friend at the last minute to the potluck, he invited one of his straight clients to meet us at the club at 11pm. While I wasn't in the mood to leave the dinner early, I realized this guy lived 40 miles away and was coming up there just to meet us (or so I thought...turns out he met other friends first) and would be a straight boy alone in a gay club for the first time. Not good. Anyway, Adrian didn't pay attention to the time, so we ended up not leaving the dinner until about 11:15pm...unfortunate, considering we had to drive to the Metro, take the train into the city, then walk a couple blocks to the club. And when we got there -- despite having called in advance and being told they were still letting people in -- it seems that during our 45 minutes of travel the club had reached its capacity and they weren't letting anyone else inside. Adrian not having his client's mobile number, we turned and headed back to another bar a block away, arriving outside the bar as the clock struck midnight, watching the revelers inside through the windows.

Fortunately, soon after getting inside Adrian's client sent him a text...turns out he was also late and couldn't get inside either. Adrian found him and brought him back with us, and the four of us -- me, Adrian, his client, and his last-minute-invite friend -- hung out for an hour and a half until it was time to catch the last train home. It's unfortunate that instead of just getting to spend the evening with my friends, I spent them it with one of Adrian's clients and one of his friends, and at midnight I was on the outside looking in while others had fun. I have felt very disconnected from friends in the past few years, and my friendships here have taken a beating in the last 16 months. That ends in 2008. Watch and see.

(ps: who called me on New Year's Eve, right around midnight KL/SG/HK time? I had a bad signal and tried to move to a better spot but lost the call, and the number didn't register on my new phone, which doesn't have all my numbers loaded yet, so I couldn't call back)

Labels: Bars, Friends, Stuff

One of my good friends called me Willy Wonka in an SMS...I suppose I will allow that, but ONLY during the holiday season. My friend should realize that since he and I have the same name, I know many of the bad nicknames that could apply to him as well, so he should be very careful. Personally, I even prefer the potato-related nicknames I earned this summer rather than Willy Wonka. Though Alex's recent idea, which led to me being called Wei Lian, works as well. Another friend calls me that all the time...and I like it. Who knows, maybe I am really Chinese on the inside...a friend here calls me "Secret Asian."

But yeah, Tuesday and Wednesday were food nights again. Tuesday night I finished some candy that couldn't get finished in time for the party. Tonight I made another batch of some cookies that went FAST the other day. I might do something more before Christmas but I'm runing out of tme, and i still have a little shopping to do...and someday, I guess I'm going to need to start wrapping these presents!

Wish I could send some of these Christmas goodies to my overseas friends but the long transit time would most likely leave them inedible and in a million pieces. So they will just have to trust me...they're FANTASTIC!!!!!!

Labels: Friends, Stuff

Yay!! The Christmas tree went up tonight!!!



Also today, I had lunch with Stan for 2 hours -- he's a very nice guy I met at Josh and Angelo's Halloween party who works across the street from me. He was actually off today, which made this a good chance to break away...I told my co-workers I was at a meeting, which was true, I just didn't say it was a friend I was meeting. Ooooh, I'm naughty.

Labels: Friends, Stuff

I finally posted my Hawaii pics.

Hawaii 2007

For a while, I was scheduled to be on another trip to Honolulu this week -- I would have arrived about an hour ago. But my bosses cancelled my participation. On the one hand that's OK, as I have enough to keep me busy here. On the other, a trip there would have helped get some research done on one project I'm doing. Plus I could've hung out with Kester again, and that would be way fun.

Today I called into work sick. But I wasn't sick. It's just that the apartment really needed cleaning and I didn't do it this weekend. MUCH better now. Though not perfect. Not by a long shot.

You know, 15 years ago I never would have done something like that. Then again, 15 years ago I didn't have enough stuff to make the apartment cluttered.

Labels: Stuff, Travel

Just got back from Adrian's salon's Christmas party. It was nice, had a good time, except of course I don't know any of these people, and there are like 70 employees so it's not like I was really going to get to know them tonight. And of course, 2 friends who were going to go decided not to. But it was nice, the food was great and the people were all really friendly. For some reason, after about 3 hours, I got all out of sorts. Not 100% sure what it was, but I was ready to go. Adrian, meanwhile, was on the dance floor, and he and his co-workers had a great time, so I wasn't about to suggest leaving. (I don't generally dance with a bunch of straight people -- I don't like being the "token gay" on display) Anyway, after another hour the party wrapped up and some of the folks were like "where are we going now???" Adrian asked if I wanted to go out and I said no. I ended up driving his car home, he'll catch a cab.

So the party was OK. And I got to drive Adrian's BMW. And then Monday, it's back to work again.

Oh, and Saturday night we had dinner with Paul and Maureen, old friends who unfortunately live an hour away so we don't see them very much. Had a fantabulous time, as always, though I drank too much, which I don't do very often. Got to bed about 3:30 this morning, woke up too early for my own good. Was a bit of a zombie all day.

Oh, and the Spice Girls announced a concert next February here in DC, and yes, I got tickets. So yay for that!!

Labels: Stuff

Yes, it's Friday night, and I'm home blogging.

We had our first snow this week. It was a small one. I like snow. Specifically, I like so that is so heavy, my office is closed and I can stay home.

I need a haircut.

There are more people in my condo's gym now. Two reasons for that, I think. First, there are the people who would walk or run outside, but now that the snow's here they've moved inside. Then there is the post-Thanksgiving crowd, the "oh no, I put on so much weight, I'm really going to start working out now!" people. They will fade out by Christmas, but then we will get the New Year's Resolution people for a couple weeks in January.

A lot of these people are carrying on conversations while walking on the treadmill or talking on the cell phones, or whatever. I don't really care if people want a hard workout or not, that's their business, but when I get into the gym and can't get on a treadmill or elliptical machine because of these people, then I get annoyed.

Danny is on vacation in Hong Kong now. Lucky bastard.

Linh has final exams now. I do not miss taking those at all. Nor do I miss grading those things.

I have been Christmas shopping and it feels good!

Tonight I made cookies. New recipe. We'll see how that works out.

The mall shooting in Omaha, Nebraska hit home for me this eek. That, of course, is where I went to high school, and I know that mall very well. The shooter is from Bellevue the town where I lived, though he went to a different high school. It's weird to see familiar places all over the news again in a tragedy. (I was also pretty familiar with Virginia Tech, the site of our worst shooting ever last spring)

I think it's time for the Christmas tree to go up.

My office Christmas party was today. It was a bowling party. Somehow, that doesn't quite say "Christmas" to me. I skipped it and stayed at the office catching up on work.

Kester in Honolulu is taking a choral class and is performing a couple concerts at a local mall. THAT says Christmas!

Kester, by the way, knows someone else I know from Singapore besides knowing Allan. Again, I am amazed by how tiny this world is sometimes. Facebook helps keep everything straight...even the gays.

My Gaylasian friends have discovered Facebook. I love that. I love them. I miss them.

San Francisco was a lot of fun. I like that city. Though Honolulu was warmer.

I find I'm getting out and doing more on the weeknights, and that is a good thing.

Richmond Michael will move away in a week and that makes me sad.

Eddie in Malaysia just started a new term at his university this week.

There are things in the air, amazing possibilities that are just a short reach away...we'll see what comes of them.

I'm glad I made it to the gym 4 times this week as planned, but the numbers on the scale haven't changed in a week. Not that they could change very much, of course.

Labels: Blogging, Friends, Stuff, Travel, Wandering Mind

Watched Transformers tonight, another one of those movies that came out while I was off saving the world for democracy in Afghanistan. Fun film, I'll bet it was great on the big screen. I never watched any of the Transformers cartoons as a kid so I didn't get some of the tongue in cheek references to the old show. But that's OK, because IMDB.com filled in the gaps.

A friend of mine in Malaysia took some photos over the weekend and showed them in his blog. They are beautiful, he's very talented, makes me want to take photography classes.

Speaking of friends in Malaysia, another finished his final exams Tuesday, and as it happens I'd sent him a little gift and it arrived the day of his last exam. So, big celebration day for him. I felt good, I think it made him very happy and I just wish I could have given it to him in person. Yay Eddie!!!

An interesting possibility has come up at work. The fact that I'm even mentioning the tiniest hint about it means I have probably ruined any chance it will work out (karma can be a bitch) but if it does I will be about the happiest man in the known universe.

Lastly, in accordance with Ethan's schedule, I ran 5 miles again today. That bitch.

Labels: Friends, Stuff, Work

Not a whole lot of sleep this weekend. Out dancing until 3:30am Friday night, to bed a little after 4 but up at 8:30. Last night, to bed before midnight, but up before dawn...at least I saw a nice sunrise.

Saturday night went to the Asian film festival here...they had a "Queer Shorts" session, and no, "Queer Shorts" did not mean "gay underwear." Speaking of that, I hiot a store yesterday with an underwear sale. Should I post some example photos here?

Anyway, the filmfest was good, and a few friends were there (one on a first date :P) and I may go see some more this week during other sessions.

Afterwards went to dinner at Thai Chef, great little restaurant in Dupont...guess I should get something besides sushi one day. ran into Aaron, a real sweetheart I met at a New Year's party, who happens to work there. He's a very nice guy that I hope to get to know better.

Today was a day for lounging. Started reading "A Dirty Job" by Christopher Moore following a recommendation from a friend in HK. I also bought some yaoi manga, just to see what the big deal is. And picked up Blades of Glory because, well, everyone should own it. Did some updating on my website, though I need to finish those updates before posting.

I'm eating a lot of grapes lately.

Yeah, that's it. Off to bed.

Labels: Stuff, Website

I scrambled around this morning looking for my Metro card, my keys, my shoes...yeah, I didn't get too organized after getting home last night.

Rode the late bus in. Thought I would leave early to get back here and go to the gym but instead I yelled at my boss and a colleague took me down to Starbucks to chill out and we talked for 90 minutes so I got home much later than expected.

Since I miss KL and HK so much, I had Chinese food tonight. But it is the kind of Americanized Chinese food you don't find overseas. General Tso's Chicken, anyone?

I need to go find mooncakes tomorrow. There's a Vietnamese bakery nearby that supposedly makes good ones. Happy Mid Autumn Festival everyone

I still have much to write up about my trip, but it's bedtime...just stayed up to watch the season premiers of Simpsons and Family Guy which we TiVo'd last night. Spider Pig, Spider Pig...

Oh, and I need to post photos too. Tuesday. Yeah. Gives me something to look forward to.

Wish I could access all this stuff at work. But the government takes a dim view of such things.

Now I suppose I should look for my Metro card before going to bed...

Labels: Stuff, Work

Following up on the six degrees discussion from a couple weeks ago, it happened again tonight but closer to home. We went to a party at Sean and Mike's (the "Boy-B-Que") and I got to talking with one guy who, as it turns out, went to the same high school I did. Not all that surprising, until you realize we went to high school in Nebraska, about 1500 miles away. As a matter of fact, his favorite teacher was also my favorite teacher. Also, he lives a block away from us. Tiny world indeed.

Of course, he went there 18 years after me, but that's not important.

Labels: Stuff

Adrian and I watched Step Up the other night, which features Dancin' Mike. I really, really miss Dancin' Mike.

I was hoping to get a weekend in NYC before going to Afghanistan, but it's just not going to happen.

Next year the Olympics are in China. I want to go but haven't even begun to look into it.

We meet interesting people at various friends' parties, but they're never interested in getting to know us outside of those parties.

Sometimes I think Jude Law is just trying to piss me off.

During the last week, as I've been dumping projects onto co-workers or finishing them up in preparation for my 2-month absence, I've had a real feeling of relief.

While out on a shooting range recently I ran into someone who made my professional life hell 4 years ago. I was tempted...

I like going back and reading my journal archives. Though it would help if we fixed our external hard drive so I could get my remaining archives uploaded.

I have some friends I'm trying to spend more time with, but they don't seem too interested in spending time with me. I think pulling back and isolating myself from people during the troubles between Adrian and I is having a long-term effect on those friendships. And my 2-month absence isn't going to help.

Labels: Stuff

What is up with this "week between postings" business? I have no idea! Well, actually, I have SOME idea. But I'll get past it and blog a bit Tuesday.

I suppose if I'm going to write about my life I should make sure I have a life first.

(oops, did I say that out loud? I meant to just think that)

Wo shi ni de, babe.

Labels: Stuff