Does birth order affect sexuality?

Here is an interesting article. Read it and discuss. I would like to hear from those of you who are gay if you have an older brother? And if you do, what do you think your birth order affected your sexuality?

If you are not gay, what do you think of this article?

I don't agree with the use of the words sexuality and homosexuality to refer to the LGBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transger) community. But that is another discussion.

***********************
Does birth order affect sexuality?
Men with big brothers more likely to be gay, researchers assert

11:04 PM CDT on Monday, June 26, 2006
Los Angeles Times


Having one or more older brothers boosts the likelihood of a boy growing up to be gay – an effect due not to social factors, but biological events that occur in their mother's womb, according to a study published Tuesday.

In an analysis of 905 men and their siblings, Canadian psychologist Anthony Bogaert found no evidence that social interactions among family members play any role in determining whether a man is gay or straight.

The only significant factor was the number of times a mother had previously given birth to boys, according to the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Each older brother increases the chances by 33 percent. Mr. Bogaert said that assuming a 2 percent base rate of homosexuality among men, it would take 11 older brothers to give the next son about a 50-50 chance of being gay.

"Biological older brothers, even ones they are not reared with, seem to be increasing the likelihood of male homosexuality," Mr. Bogaert said.

In a previous study, Mr. Bogaert and his colleagues estimated that about one in seven gay men in North America – roughly 1 million people – can attribute their sexual orientation to fraternal birth order.

Mr. Bogaert said he doesn't know what mechanism is behind the effect, which he and a colleague first identified 10 years ago.

The leading theory is that women pregnant with boys are exposed to male proteins that their bodies view as foreign, and they respond by making antibodies to fight them, said Mr. Bogaert, a professor at Brock University in Ontario.

Those antibodies could affect the developing fetus, and the more times a woman has carried boys, the stronger the antibody response would be.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/062706dnnatorientation.17caebb.html

Car woes

I had an early facial appointment on Saturday morning. The gear wouldn't move (I have an automatic...not sure if it is called a gear or not) and yes, the car was on. So I spent 20 minutes on the phone with the manufacturer and they walked me through what to do but told me I needed to get my car to the shop ASAP.

I was about 20 minutes from home and there is a car dealership close to my house so I was planning on driving home and just having someone pick me up from the dealership but I couldn't get a hold of anyone. Luckily there was a car dealership close to where I was having problems so I just stopped there. A few hours later they determined that my brake something or other was broken.

After a few hours of waiting I was so frustrated. I hadn't had breakfast or lunch and I had a horrible headache and it wouldn't go away. One of my friends brought me some extra strength pills and those seemed to help so we went off to dinner. I guess the day started off bad but it ended well.

You want to know what the best part of having my car break down?
They cleaned it for me :) I had not cleaned my car in about 9 months and it really needed to be cleaned.

Invisible

Have you ever been in a room full of people and felt completely invisible?

Well, I did...tonight.

I was my friend Chico's plus one at the end-of-season dinner for the gay rugby team in Dallas. I knew a couple of the players and everyone there seems like really good people. Unfortunately the restaurant staff didn't see me all night. Everyone got their dinner...except for me. Everyone got their dessert...except me. WTF?

At the end of the night the waitress came over and apologized, she was really sincere so all was good.

Anyway - tomorrow is Friday. I am so ready for the weekend!

Is anyone else excited?

The Arts Journal has published a partial list of the Dallas Museum of Art acquisitions for this year :)

Check out this link to see a partial list of the new stuff.

Take Action: H-E-B Grocery Chain Under Attack for Supporting Diversity

H-E-B Grocery Chain Under Attack for Supporting Diversity
Let H-E-B Know You Support Them!

On Thursday, June 15th, a San Antonio Christian radio talk show host for KSLR radio began an assault on the H-E-B grocery chain for its sponsorship of San Antonio's PrideFest 2006.

Adam McManus urged his listeners to flood the H-E-B website with protests, and to talk with in-store managers and ask them to reconsider sponsorship of PrideFest.

H-E-B has a long-standing commitment to honor the diversity of their partners (employees) and the communities they serve.

"Diversity asks us to understand and respect ethnic cultures and heritage, work and life experiences and personal attributes such as age, education, religion, physical appearance, to name a few. H-E-B's workforce differs by race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, physical abilities, marital status, parental status and in many other ways. We have a Partner (employee)-friendly organizational culture designed to develop the unique talents of each Partner and offer feedback consistent with each Partner's individual goals." Source: H-E-B website

Just last weekend, over 75 H-E-B partners (both gay and straight) participated as volunteers at the Pride Texas '06 Festival in Austin. H-E-B's commitment to diversity affords their employees the opportunity to actively participate in their local communities, and to do so with the support of their employer. This commitment to diversity should be honored, not attacked.

Please let H-E-B know you support their commitment to diversity!

Is he or isn't he?

Have I mentioned that I am not very good at telling when guys are flirting with me? Most of the time I just think guys are being friendly.

So here is a hypothetical for you: Let’s say I met a guy at an event last night. We didn't talk very much but we exchanged business cards. Later at dinner I caught him looking over at me a couple of times and sort of smile.

This morning he calls me and we chat about his job, my job, etc and he suggests that we get together for lunch or drinks sometime. We didn't set a day or time. So I can't tell if it is one of those things people say like "I will call you or let’s do lunch sometime."

Later, after the phone conversation I get a message saying how glad he is he went to the event last night. He didn't say it was because he met me...but I sort of think it is implied. Or am I wrong?

Do you think he is kind of flirting with me? A little? I can't tell. I normally send an email after attending an event telling people I met how great it was to meet them, maybe he calls people instead of emailing them.

I don't know. But he is cute; he is 32 but looks like he is in his early 20's.

Opinions? Observations?

I am tired

I am tired of people bitching about issues going on in the world or in their lives and then doing nothing about it.

You don't like the way gay people are being treated?
Do something about it

You don't like the way African Americans are being discriminated against?
Do something about it

You read an article you don't agree with?
Do something about it

Sitting on your ass and complaining about it to me is not going to get you anywhere. I will be more than happy to listen to you bitch 3 times, but if you haven't done anything about it after the third time don't expect me to be as nice about it. You are just wasting your time and mine.

I understand we all need someone to vent to but if the issue is really important to you then please do something about it. Don't take a passive role and expect someone else to do all of the hard work for you because if that is the case things will never change. I am not expecting my friends to go out and change the world but how nice would it be if everyone who is concerned about a social issue actually did something about it? Can you imagine the social impact that would have?

Cheers and Jeers

This post is a couple of days late but here it is:

Are you wondering how your senator voted on the marriage amendment act? Follow the link to find out: Results

How did your senator do? Do you want to thank them or give them an ear full for voting the way they did? You can find out who your senator is and their contact information HERE

TX senators voted for the amendment, they both got a nice little e-mail for me.

Don't be afraid to let them know what you think...and remind them if they will be getting your vote next time they come up for reelection.


Grouped By Vote Position
YEAs ---49
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Allen (R-VA)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burns (R-MT)
Burr (R-NC)
Byrd (D-WV)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
DeWine (R-OH)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Frist (R-TN)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nelson (D-NE)
Roberts (R-KS)
Santorum (R-PA)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Stevens (R-AK)
Talent (R-MO)
Thomas (R-WY)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)

NAYs ---48
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Chafee (R-RI)
Clinton (D-NY)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
McCain (R-AZ)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Sununu (R-NH)
Wyden (D-OR)

Not Voting - 3
Dodd (D-CT)
Hagel (R-NE)
Rockefeller (D-WV)

Hola

Can you believe the week is already over? It has been a very busy week with a lot to update so I am just going to do bullets today.

• Work

Work is going well. I have been really busy and I will probably be busy for the next 5 months. I am going to Mexico next month and I may be going to Malaysia in August. Not sure about Malaysia, I was suppose to go a few months ago and it never happened. Things are better at work and I like it a lot better now. Things have changed a lot.

• School

I just took an exam last night for school and I just remembered that I have to submit some process maps for one of my class before midnight. I am really enjoying my classes this semester, I am actually learning a lot and my classmates are all really awesome. Do you remember the guy I was taking a class with? Well, he is turning out to be pretty cool. He is all jokes outside of class but he is very smart, and always has great comments during class. We have been hanging out outside of class a bit. Cool guy.

• Free Time

I need a vacation soon!

• Work

Oh, is it bad that I smoked with my VP today? He was smoking, I wanted a cig, and he offered. It made me feel part of the club.

What is it about me that screams cheap whore?

I think I have mentioned that I have been going to the gym on a very regular basis, I haven't really kept you guys updated with my progress but it is going very well. I am now down from a size 33 pants to a size 31 and I have lost 10 lbs. It is very exciting for me and it helps motivate me to keep going back. Oh, and my arms are getting bigger hehehe :)

Anyway, on to the real story. After a long workout I like to go to the steam room and sit in there for 10 minutes before hitting the showers. One day I was sitting in there and an old man comes in and starts rubbing his crotch. He ws sitting in front of me so it was kind of hard not to notice. I didn't say anything just looked down and tried to ignore it as much as possible.

Yesterday I was sitting in there and an older man comes in and starts talking to me about my workout. I didn't think anything about it, I just thought it was a nice old man. As the conversation progressed he too starts rubbing his crotch and occasionally lifts his towel to show me his penis. It was nasty and I quickly made an exit.

It would have been one thing if these guys were anywhere close to my age but they were both at least 60 if not older. What is it about me that screams cheap whore?

Ladies who lunch

Did I mention I have been off of work since Friday of last week? Yes, I decided to take a few days of vacation and I have really enjoyed my time off. I haven't done much but I have really enjoyed everything I got to do. I was suppose to be in California during this time but that didn't work out so I just stayed home.

I drank way to much, I started drinking on Wednesday of last week and I have had a drink every day since then. Normally it is just one or two drinks, but that is still a lot of drinking. As of now, I have no plans to drink for the rest of the week.

My typical day has consisted of the following; getting up, going to the gym, meeting a friend for lunch, shopping, meeting a friend for dinner and/or drinks. Oh, I also tried to get some studying done during the week (not much though). It has been a very carefree week. I come and go as I please without having to rush to work, school, etc. It has been wonderful.

During lunch today I decided I want to be a lady who lunches. I met my friend for lunch at the restaurant in Neimans and there were so many ladies just shopping, having coffee and enjoying their day. Why can't I be one of those ladies? There are two issues right off the bat, 1. I am not a lady and 2. I don't have a rich husband or a husband for that matter. But wouldn't it be great to just enjoy your day without having to work for a living? Imagine all of the things you could do...all of the places you could see...imagine. I need to win the lottery so I too can be a lady who lunches.

Birthday Surprise

No it's not my birthday.

I was shopping for my nephews birthday present and I bought him a shirt and pants, while I was there I decided to buy myself something nice. I bought some underwear. Yes, some of my trashy underwear. Since I am not very good at wrapping I decided to have the store wrap them for me. Normally I would just buy a gift bag and throw the gift in but I decided to put some extra effort into this one.

I went to the customer service department and handed over my packaged to be wrapped while I did some more shopping. The gift was wrapped beautifully.

When I got to the party my nephew started opening gifts. Most of them were toys as you would expect but he did get some interesting stuff. When he got to my gift he pulls out a pair of pants, a shirt, and yeap...you guessed it...a trashy pair of underwear. My sister looks at me and I can feel my face getting RED and all I can say is "Those aren't for him". What else could I do or say? I am going to try to get a picture of him holding up the underwear so I can post it on here. :)

If you are in the US, I hope you are having a great day off.
If you are at work, enjoy your Monday!

Not so sure.

So I had a pretty busy weekend. Oh, by the way...I got my sister a gift card. Not very creative but it was a last minute gift. The party was a lot of fun, there was a lot of people there and the food was soooo good. Everything was going well until my niece (who is 19) fell and broke her foot. She is doing fine but it put a damper on the atmosphere of the party. She had to be carried off and people kept coming by to ask me if she was drunk. For the 100th time I repeat SHE WAS NOT DRUNK!

I was also a speaker at a leadership program this weekend and I had a great time. I met the love of my life there. He is from Ghana and speaks with a beautiful accent. Have I mentioned I like accents? If he doesn't work out there was also a guy there from somewhere in Latin America who was cute and spoke with a deep voice. Sexy. (No Kerry...I am not really in love so these don't count towards your numbers.)

Sunday SM, WM, and EM came over. I went to high school with SM and WM and EM is their daughter. WM helped me do some stuff around the house like fixing my toilet, my ceiling fan, an electrical outlet, and my car brakes. SM and I just hanged out really, we were going to plant flowers but I didn't find anything I liked.

EM is 2 years old and I have NEVER met a child with so much energy. I have 14 nieces and nephews and not even the boys in my family are as energetic as she is. I was cleaning up after they left yesterday and I kept finding her little hand prints all over the place like on the counters, my dresser, etc. She is not that tall so I am not sure how she got up there.

It was a good weekend overall.

Have I mentioned....

I am really bad at giving gifts? Not necessarily giving them but choosing a gift for someone. I have to events coming up that I need to find gifts for and so far the only thing I can think of is gift certificates.

My sister is celebrating her 10th wedding anniversary and is renewing her vows this weekend. I have known about it for about 3 months but I can't think of anything to buy them. Wouldn't it be better to buy them an American Express gift card they can use where ever they want? You are right, probably not but I can't think of anything to buy them.

I am also having a little Thank You lunch for the volunteers that helped us with the two fundraiser last week and I want to get them a little something to say thanks but I can't think of anything. I may make them home made chocolates but I am not sure how well that will go over.

Any suggestions?

More pictures

So this is what the pots ended up looking like.

This pot is my favorite, we planted my favorite flower, fuschia.








Oh, and I am thinking about asking the guy that is moving to NM out on a date. I would like to get to know him before he moves.

Weekend

So this weekend was pretty exciting.

Friday I went to see the movie Akeelah and the Bee and it was really, really good. I even teared up a couple of times. If you haven't had a chance to see this movie you should go and see it in the big screen as soon as possible. It kind of reminds me of my days growing in the Los Angeles inner cities. Well, not really but it was so good that I felt I was part of it.

I don't really remember what I did on Sunday. I did go have breakfast with my friend Juan and then we went to the farmers market. The rest of the day is a blur.

On Sunday my friends SM and WM came over to help me plant some flowers. I have a black thumb. I have killed every plant I have ever been given. SM on the other hand has a green thumb so she came over to help me out. WM is her husband and he came over to help out, install the water purification system, and wheater stripper. As you can probably tell, I am not very handy around the house. Thank God for WM, my brother, and my brother-in-laws.

Here are some pictures of our day shopping for flowers.

The next few pictures are of a nursery by my place. It is right next door to farmers market, the fruit and the flowers are very reasonably priced.



I love the view of downtown. Isn't it great?



This is my cart, I am not sure what type of plants these are but they are pretty.




Another great picture.

Your loves got me going so crazy right now

I think I am unlucky in love. No, it’s true and I have come to accept it.
So last night was the big fundraiser and it was a great turn out. Everyone was there except for my friends who decided not to show up. Yes, I am a little bitter but I think I will get over it…eventually. It just bothers me that some of my friends don’t support me in what I do. But I am sure they have their reasons. Anyway, this post is about love not about bitterness. I will write about how much my friends suck in a different post, actually not all of them suck. My friend D and J showed up.

So I have been crushing on this guy since the first time I met him about 3 or 4 months ago. Last night he was at the event and he looked good. He brings one of his friends with him and tells me his friend likes me. His friend is moving to New Mexico in 2 months so there is no reason to start anything serious with him. Later in the night our lips touched and saliva was swapped. Sparks…maybe. Since I can’t have the one I want I may go out with him.

Later I met two other guys. One was a tall Puerto Rican with dark skin, honey colored eyes, and a nice built. He was his friend who was not as attractive but his friend is the one hitting on me not the cute one. Why? Why couldn’t the tall dark and handsome guy be the one hitting me? I just don’t get it.

Anyway, I had a good time last night. My ass has never been grabbed, pinched, and slapped so many times in one night. Unless you count the night I was….oh, never mind. That is not a story I can share. I felt as if I was in a locker room with baseball players and I had just made a home run, every time I passed a group of people someone would grab my ass and tell how great the event was.

Updates

I have been really busy lately with school, work, working out and helping plan fundraisers. Things should get better though.

So I had a date last Friday with a really cute and smart guy. He is 22 and I met him through a friend, they work together doing accounting stuff. Normally accountants aren't the wildest people but the night I met him he had been drinking and was fun. The night of our date it was different, it was a struggle to carry a conversation. Part of it could be that he is shy but the other part could be that he is just plain boring. Who knows. Anyway, I don't see a second date anytime soon. He did ask if he could call me.

I have now lost 7 lbs, although I probably gained 3 with the ham, egg and cheese sandwich I had for breakfast this morning. My goal was to loose 10 lbs but according to the results of my wellness session I need to loose 14 to be considered in the "normal" range. I never...EVER...want to be considered normal so I am only going to loose 13.

I thought this was going to be a long post but I guess I don't have to much to say. I am trying to keep up with everyone's blogs but I am a little behind.

How is life treating you? Have you smiled today?

It's Tuesday

Do you know what that means? It's happy hour day at America's!!
My friend Chico and I have been trying to go to Americas for happy hour at least once a month, the staff is friendly, the alcohol is cheap ($3 drinks) and they have delicious free tapas. Its a win-win for all.
Today we will be joined by none other than Swirly Girl, I am sure we will all have a good time. If anyone that reads this blog lives in the DFW area would like to join us send me an email and I will give you the details.

So other than that I have nothing exciting going on in my life. Work has been really busy and it is about to get worse.

I also started school again this week. 5 more classes to go. I am going to be in class with a guy that I like (not in a romantic way) but he is to much of a joker. I may not be sitting next to him in class.

I really like my gym. I have been working out every other day and I think that if I was going to a gym like Bally's or 24 Hour Fitness I wouldn't be going as much. I feel skinnier already although I know I haven't lost any weight. I am getting my measurements taken again at the end of the month to see what progress I have made. Granted I don't have much to loose I still want to see some progress.

Tell me about your week, what do you have going on?

I have a league

I am tired. I am oh, so tired.
I have been working a lot lately, I seem to be enjoying my job a lot more these days and I am actually motivated to get my projects done so that is a good thing. I still don't like my company but my new VP is making a lot of changes and I hope it becomes a company I would want to work for.

I am taking Friday off and I can't wait to enjoy the day. I have some stuff planned already so I will be running around but it should still be fun.

Anyway, I was talking to a guy and he asked me if I would consider dating him. He is a nice guy and all but our personalities don't really go well together. So we talked about it and I told him that I didn't see it working out etc. So he tells me 'I didn't think you would, you are way out of my league.' Since when do I have a league? It seriously had nothing to do with his looks it was his personality.

Should I be flattered that I have a league or is that more of an insult?

Faith

I mentioned in my previous post that I was a bit stressed/anxious. I took an early lunch and I went and took care of what was bothering me.

It's weird because I should have taken care of it several months ago but for some reason I ignored it until it completely occupied my every thought from Friday though today.

It's also weird because I am not a very religious person but on Sunday I went to church. It's surprising how many people find religion or faith or whatever you want to call it in their hour of need. I went as far as trying to bargain with God. You know, "If you do _____, I promise to do _____." It seems to have worked in my case.

Anyway, everything is alright. Thanks for the text messages, voice mails, and emails. :)

The Weekend

How was your weekend?

My weekend was pretty uneventful. I did go to the gym, I am seriously committed to loosing weight this time. All I need to loose is 10 lbs and tone up. Wish me look and send good thoughts my way.

It was somewhat of stressful weekend. I spent most of the weekend trying not to think of something that has been worrying me for a few days. The more I tried to ignore the issue the more anxious I got. I know I need to deal with it but I really couldn't do anything about it until Monday so there was no point in trying to deal with it. I will take care of it Monday during lunch.

Chico and I were suppose to go to the Urban Arts Festival but when we got there it was pretty dead so we decided to go to the Main Street Fort Worth Art Festival. The FW festival is ranked number 1 in Texas and 8th in the nation. The art is pretty incredible but it is also extremely over priced. The two pictures below are from the festival:



The one below is of garden sculptures:


Rather than going out to the bars we decided to stay in, watch movies and drink. After a while we decided we were hungry and we started cooking. One should never cook after a few glasses of wine. NEVER, EVER!!
We decided we really liked garlic and used about 6 to 8 pieces of garlic in our pork. When two of my friends stopped by later that night they said they could smell the garlic in the street. Yeap, it was that much. 24 hours later my home still smells like garlic.

Funny story - one of us, I am not going to say who but it wasn't me, tried to get the pork out of the oven but forgot to use the oven mitt and grabbed the pot with his hand. He burned himself but it wasn't anything serious. It was pretty funny after it happened :) Sometimes I wish my life was recorded.

Isn't that a sign of alcoholism?

I had to lie about how much I drink. Isn't that a sign of alcoholism?

I was completing a wellness profile for my personal training session this morning and one of the questions was:

Drinking. In the past two weeks on how many days did you drink any alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, or liquor?
➀ Did not drink in the past year
➁ None in the past two weeks
➂ One to three days
➃ Four to six days
➄ Seven to ten days
➅ Eleven to fourteen days


I lied and said One to three days. When in reality I drank Seven to ten days. I am not going to blame anyone for my drinking, I take full responsability but it is just so easy to go out every day for happy hour. Last week I went to happy hour 4 days during the week, that doesn't include Saturday or Sunday. This week I have already been drinking once and it's only Wednesday.

If I went out drinking with you last week please note that I am respectfully declining your invitation to go to Happy Hour, unless you are paying. Thanks.

New Start

I have a lot of people in my phone book, I wouldn't call them friends, I just know them from school, work, or from other activities I am involved in. There are times when I am sitting at home trying to figure out what to do for the day and I go through my whole phone book and there is really only a hand full of people I actually talk to.
I also have a lot of my friends in my phone book but for the most part it seems like I am the one making all of the effort to keep the friendship going. On Saturday I was having lunch with my friend Hawk and we were talking about three of our friends who I just can't be around anymore. It seems every time we get together all they want to do is talk bad about someone, be catty bitches, and try to make someone else feel bad. I just don't want that in my life, why do you they have to put someone else down to make themselves feel better? I just want to be around negative people. Is that so wrong? I have made sure I was "busy" the last two times they all got together.

So last night I went through my phone book and I deleted a lot of people from my contact list, I am tired of always making the effort. I am tired of always having to call you when we get together, I am tired of having meaningless friendships that only bring me down. I am tired.

Check out Swirly Girl's entry, she put's it so much better than I do.

Kids say the funniest things

I was set up on a blind date by a friend. We were all suppose to go out and just hang out but our schedules didn't work out so on Friday we decided that my blind date, lets call him C, and I would just go out by ourselves. We spoke on Friday and we decided we would take his dog for a walk on Sunday morning. I thought, wow, how creative, this is definitely something I haven't done on a first date. I was really looking forward to the date and then I realized I didn't know what the guy looked like. I called my friend to get a description but when she started off with "he's tall about 5'4 or 5'5" I realized I couldn't depend on her for a good description. He was actually about 5'11.

We met at the lake and we started walking without even talking about how far we were going to go. We start talking and getting to know each other and next thing you know an hour has gone by and we are halfway around the lake, or so we think, and try to decide if we need to turn back around or keep going. We decide to keep going going...big mistake. We were no where close to the middle.
We were almost to the end when his dog decided she was done, she was so tired we kept having to stop every 15 minutes for a rest and water and at the end she sat down and we couldn't get her back up. C decided to go get the car while I waited with the dog. It took us 3.5 hours to walk all the way around the lake and I stopped liking him about 1.5 hours into it. Not because he is a bad guy or anything but because I was tired of walking. At the end we decided to get together for dinner sometime this coming week. I will let you know how that goes.

Oh, the title of the post:
I was talking to my sister about the blind date and my niece said "Are you going to be wearing a blind fold?" My sister and I laughed.

Happy Easter

Excerpt of a conversation I had with a friend over MSN -


Friend: What did you eat for lunch?
Me: McDonald's. you?
Friend: Was it full of MEAT???
Me: Oh, I forgot you can't eat meat today. I don't really practice that stuff anyway.
Friend: you are going to HELL
Friend: HELL
Friend: Hell wants you.
Friend: HELL is going to take you
Me: LOL. Why do you have to be so mean?
Friend: You being Gay and all, you should really try to follow all the other religious things you can

I admit it.

It's true, I have been neglecting my blog this week but it has been kind of crazy. Is anyone still out there?

My new manager started on Monday and it's been a bit crazy around here. There are a lot of big changes on the way. For example, I may have to start wearing suits again, even though I don't see anyone all day.

I also got my final grades for my classes this semester. I made an A- for that horrible paper I worked on for 2 months. I am not complaining, had I been grading the papers I would have given myself a C+. It was that bad. Overall, I made a B in the class, I think that is the lowest grade I have made in grad school. I made an A in my other class, it was pretty easy so I was expecting an A in that class.

My week has been kind of bad. I hope your week has been going a lot better.

I am DONE!

I took my last final for the semester today during lunch. 5 more classes and I have my Masters! I can't wait to be done.

Now I will have a month free to do absolutely nothing. Actually, I have some things I need to do during the next month:

01. Read the stacks of books I have stacked up - for pleasure, not text books
02. Catch up on my magazine subscriptions
03. Exercise more
04. Complete an HTML class
05. Organize my home
06. Buy some art/frames for my walls
07. Finish putting up the chair guards on my wall
08. Buy some plants
09. Re-arrange my bedroom
10. Maybe make it out to California to see my parents

Survey

I have been seriously looking at gyms these last few weeks and I have found some really good gyms in my area. Some of them range from over-the-top to brummagem to your basic gyms. The prices vary just as much. I am doing a one week trial at one gym this week and I am trying out another one next week. So here is the survey -

Do you currently belong to a gym?

If yes,
How much do you pay per month?


If no,
How much would you be willing to pay for a gym membership?

Top-less Bars

Have I ever mentioned I am surrounded by countless top-less Bars and "Massage" Parlors at work? Looking out the window I can see 8 different top-less places. That's right 8, and those are just the ones on one side of the building, I am literally surrounded by them.
If I was straight I am sure I would be in heaven but since I am not I don't really find these places appealing. My new boss starts on Monday and I hope he is not the kind of man that likes to go to these sort of places and if he is, I hope he doesn't ask me to go with him during lunch one day. I hear they have a great lunch special though.

One of these days I want to take pictures of all of these classy places and post them on here.


Sleep deprived
So I think I found a solution to my sleep problem.
Meet a couple of friends at a hip restaurant for drinks and tapas. Drink yourself silly until 8 and go home and go to bed. It worked for me last night. I met Chico and his co-worker Chris for drinks at Americas and had a few drinks. I sleep really good last night, I did wake up at 1 and again at 4 because of nightmares I was having but I was able to go back to sleep pretty quickly.

What's up with me and all of these dreams lately? Last night I had a dream that terrorist has destroyed all of downtown Dallas (Lets face it, its actually not that big of a loss.) and all of California. It's a very complicated dream so I won't tell all of it. But in my dream, one of my neighbors offered me sleeping pills. Even in my dreams I need sleep.

Signs

My body is sending me signs but I just don't know how to read them. For some reason my body refused to go to sleep before midnight and I have to get up at 6:30 to get ready for work. Unfortunately I require more than six and a half hours of sleep to function in the mornings. As a result of my sleep deprived state I am slacking off in other areas of my life. I just don't have the energy to do anything so when I get home I just want to sit there and conserve energy.

I am hitting the pillow at 10 pm tonight, I may not go to sleep but I will lay there until I do. Maybe a nice bottle glass of wine will do the trick.

Weekend Stories

Soccer
The most exciting thing I did this weekend was watch my nephews soccer game. They lost but it was still fun being out there and cheering. I learned a few lessons that days
- Only cheer for your team, it doesn't matter that the other team made a goal
- Never let your 2 year old nephew run into the field with 12 year old boys chasing a ball
- Do not flirt with the referee, he might miss something important

April Fools
Here is some back up info on April Fools

I was woken up early on Saturday morning by my 6 year old niece, how early? 7 am early.
The conversation when something like this:
Me - Bueno?
Raquel - Hi Tio (tio means uncle in Spanish)
I thought she had dialed my number by mistake, who calls that early?
Me - Hi Raquel, how are you?
Raquel - Why is my mommy mad at you?
Me - Your mommy is not mad at me.
Raquel - Yes she is, she was telling my daddy she was mad at you.
Me - What did she say?
Raquel - I don't know, but she is mad at you.
Me - Let me talk to your mother.
Raquel - April Fools.
Me - What? Raquel, you don't pull an April Fools at 7 in the morning.
Raquel - Sorry.
Off she went giggling. Apparently they April Fooled all of my brothers and sisters...at 7 in the morning. We were not happy campers.

I was later woken up by Wade who called me on his way to open one of his restaurants. Why do people call me so early on Saturday morning? (well, it wasn't so early 10 am, but still)

Confessions

O.K. I have another confession, and I feel like I should make this confession before I go out and indulge this weekend.
I like movies about dancing. I know, most of them are bad but I still go and see them or rent them. I think it might be the gay genes.
This weekend I am going to try to convince my friend Hawk to go see Tale the Lead with me. Actually, I am just going to force him to go and make him sit through this movie like he made me sit through Charlies Angels, Full Throttle.

Yea, so I love dance movies, especially when they involve inner city kids. Do you remember Save the Last Dance? What a great story, if you haven't seen it you should rent it this weekend and make it a block buster night.

Anyway, I hope you guys have a great weekend. It's going to rain here this weekend so I am not sure what I am doing. I may be going out with a couple of my lesbian friends, that should be fun.

What are you doing? Do you like dance movies?

Dreams, Random Comments and Updates

It's Thursday and I have never been so glad to see the weekend.

• I took most of the day off from work yesterday. I came into the office to create some reports for my vp and then I went home. It was a perfect day for being at home under the covers and sleeping. I am feeling a lot better today.

• I finished my paper yesterday. I submitted my rough draft for review last week and I got a note from my professor that said and I quote “Your paper sucks!” Well, maybe that’s not what he said but I can read between the lines so I made a lot of changes yesterday and I included a bunch of crap that will make him happy.

• I finish school in 2 weeks.

• Cirque du Soleil was on Tuesday. The show was very good, a bit different than other Cirque shows but it was still good. All of the alcohol I consumed before hand probably didn’t hurt either.

That’s all I have. I am spending the weekend with my family; I am going to my nephew’s soccer game.

Oh, I had another weird dream last night. My family (mother, father, little brother, maybe my brothers and sisters) were sitting in a theater along with other people. I can’t recall if we were watching something or listening to a speaker, it was probably the latter. My parents and I are in the front row and my little brother was a few rows back. I think I was a cop in my dream. For some reason my little brother took out a gun and wanted to shoot me. I, being a cop, told everyone to get down but nobody moved. I went down and was hiding behind the chairs and my brother was trying to shoot me but instead shot my father. We tried to stop the bleeding and all my dad wanted was a drink.
I don’t remember the rest but I do remember waking up and trying to figure out a way of shifting the blame away from my brother.

What do you think it means?
If someone you loved committed a crime would you try to protect them?

Career advice

There are a couple of people in my industry that I depend on for career advice. I sent my friends an email yesterday asking them for advice on some things I am planning on doing and one of them replied and was a BIG help. The thing I like about these people is that they totally get it, partly because they work in the same industry and partly because they know what I want.

I use to work with one of them and we would always share Mexican home remedies when we were sick. If you have ojo get some eggs and do a barida (sweeping), if your are praying for something, turn your saints upside down. etc. Anyway, she replied and this is what she said:

"I will have my fingers crossed, the candles burning, the eggs boiling, praying to all the saints and I will be pulling my hair for you. in other words I will be doing all the Mexican home remedies to send you good vibes."

I thought it was hilarious so I had to share.

My Television is Haunted

I normally go home for lunch and I either take a short nap or I read the paper depending on my mood. Yesterday I watched Martha Steward. Have you seen her show? It's actually pretty good. Anyway, when I was getting ready to leave I tried to turn off my television but it wouldn't turn off, I thought it was haunted. The night before I watched an episode of the Twilight Zone where two kids are haunting a house so I was a little scared. I just ended up unplugging the television but now it won't work at all. It could be a blessing in disguise, I am going to use the time I normally spend watching television reading or doing something else that's productive.
O.K. the truth is that I really don't have the extra cash to spend on a television.

Check out the competition

Yea, so today is another multiple-post day. I just wanted to update on my weekend.

I really wanted to concentrate on my paper this weekend so I didn't make any plans but sometimes life has its own little plans. On Saturday I decided to go to the office and get some school work done because I knew that if I stayed home I would get distracted and ignore my paper. I did manage to get a lot done which was cool.
Saturday afternoon was a completely different story. I ended up running errands with a friend and Saturday night was totally wasted. I ended up going out to the bars with this guy I know. We use to kind of see each other...now we are just friends(?). But here's a funny story for you, while we were at the club we ran into this guy I am kind of seeing (notice how I only kind of see guys)and they were both totally sizing each other up. It was kind of funny and cute at the same time. I quickly got the situation under control and I was able to prevent a bar fight (O.K. I am exaggerating A LOT...there was never really a threat of a bar fight). But it was a little flattering... it was all over little ol' me. Today I got a call from the guy guy we ran into asking me if I was dating the guy I was there with.

The plan for next weekend - Go out, celebrate the completion of my finance paper, and get drunk! Anybody want to join me?

Break me off, show me what you are worth

I signed up for classes and I am pretty excited about the classes I am taking over the summer trimester. I know, I know its very dorky to be excited about classes but both of the classes sound pretty interesting. I am taking a process mapping and a negotiations class.
They should both be pretty easy but I am really looking forward to the process mapping class. I just found out that this guy I know is going to be in my negotiations class. He is a nice guy but can be a bit overbearing so I have already told him I will NOT be sitting next to him. I know it was kind of rude but if I sit next to him I won't pay attention and I really want to keep my GPA up just in case I decide to go to law school.

O.K. so here is the story that goes with the title. Sunday morning I was working on my paper (yes still) and I sent one of my friends a text message asking him how to calculate a companies tax rate. I get a call back, we chit chat for a few minutes and he say "I will help you but you have to break me off, it's been a while." I thought he was kidding so I went along with it and I said "Sure, if that is what it takes to finish my paper." We talked some more about what kind of help I need and just for the sake of clarification I said "I was joking about breaking you off, you know that right" to which he replied "I wasn't".
So here is the question for the day, when is it O.K. to use sex to get what you want? Is it ever O.K?

For those of you who don't know what break me off means, click here.

Just for the record, I would not have sex just because he helped me on my paper.
I promise to stop talking about this damn paper on Thursday. After that day I will no mention it again unless I get a really bad grade :)

It's O.K. to whore yourself out...as long as it's for a good cause

Have I mentioned how I really like my new boss'? I do. I think I am going to learn a lot from them. I kind of become the numbers/project/go-to guy in the department for the vp and the manager. I like that because I have a lot of free time on my hands and working on these projects gives me something to do. It also gives me visibility and hopefully they will think of me when they start hiring for the senior analyst. We are also going to start doing some projects that might require traveling, so I am totally on board for that. I guess you can say I am trying to get on their good sides. I am not kissing their ass, I am just doing my job.

On a similar subject - I was talking to a guy I know and he canceled our dinner plans because he needed to take someone to dinner and ask him for a favor for his non-profit organization. Non-profit work is all about whoring yourself out. It is all about who you know and how they can help you achieve your organizations goals. It's true, you have to whore yourself out. Some call it networking but lets call it what it is...whoring yourself out.

What do you have going on this weekend? Anything fun and exciting? I have absolutely nothing planned. I may try to catch a movie with my friend Hawk. We also have dinner plans for Sunday but I may cancel because it will interfere with Grey's Anatomy. Other than that I will just be relaxing at home.

Have Medical Insurance, Will Date

I was reading The Wall Street Journal yesterday and there it is an article titled "Got Abs? Personality? Health Insurance Won't Hurt, Either." Apparently having health insurance is considered HOT these days among online daters. I found the article a bit funny, it says that people who have health insurance "flaunt it as an asset". For those of you who are single, do you consider health coverage as a turn on or is the WSJ on crack?

On a somewhat related note, my friend Chico and I are thinking about doing the speed dating thing. Basically you go to a place and you have a date every 15 minutes. You sit at a table and men come to you, you interview each other and at the end you tell the organizers who you would like to see again. If both of you like each other then they give you each others numbers. It sounds fun, I could potentially have about 30 dates in one night...that could be more than I had in the last few months.
Have you heard of this before? Have you heard any positive/negative feedback? Would you do it?

Confession
I have one more confession that I want to share with you guys. I haven't shaved in 5 days. 5 Days!
Two days without shaving gives me the sexy stubble look. Five days without shaving makes me look like a homeless person. I am shaving tomorrow.

Confessions

So I mentioned I went to the doctor yesterday. It seems like my body hates me. Those of you that know me, know I have had some minor health issues over the last few years. I had some procedures done a year or two ago that was suppose to take care of everything but it seems like things are back again. My doctor put me on medication so hopefully it will take care of that. Anyway, so now my confession -

confession 1
Every time I go see my gastroenterologist I wear my trashy, sluty, whore's underwear. Not because I think anything is going to happen with my doctor but because every time I see him I have to strip down to my underwear and get in one of those hospital gowns. I don't buy special underwear for my doctor, apparently...according to some of my friends...all of my underwear is trashy, sluty, and whore's.
I am sure my doctor things it's a treat. ;)

confession 2
I hate talking on the phone. I hate it. And I hate returning phone calls just as much. Every time I call someone I secretly hope they don't pick up and it sends me to their voice mail and they forget to call me back. Next time I call you, send me to your voice mail.
(There are some exceptions...I love talking to my KB, Chico, SM, and Juan!!!)

Where does the time go?

It is almost 11 am and I have no clue where my morning went. I had plans of writing a great post today about how great my evening was. But I am afraid I don't really have time anymore.

I have been working on reports for my new vp and they are really consuming my every minute.

Now I am off to see the wizard doctor. Nothing serious, don't worry.

Have a great Tuesday!!!

Oh, one more thing. I am going to FW this afternoon (again) and I am planning on picking up some hand made flower tortillas, hand made corn torillas, fresh salsa, Mexican sweet bread, and tamales. I am so excited, dinner at my house :)

Turn Around, Don't Drown.

I really like the new Mary J. Blige video Can't Be Without You. I just love the lyrics.

How was your weekend? Mine was rather uneventful. Did you guys see the news? A lot of Dallas flooded so I was forced to stay in most of the weekend. I live about 10 blocks away from one of the places that was heavily flooded. It was scary. I was considering going to buy a canoe or a small boat in case the floods came into my part of town. It is a good thing I don't live in a flood zone. It is still raining pretty bad, keep your fingers crossed and hope it doesn't flood my house.

I went to go see the movie V for vendetta with my friend Juan and it is amazing. You should go check it out. It has action, romance, comedy...well no comedy but it was still very good. I give it a 4 out of 5 stars. I even jumped a little in a couple of scenes. There are a lot of similarities between the movie and the current situation in the U.S.

I also went to go watch the play I am my own wife. It was a one person play. I have never really been a big fan of one person plays but I was really impressed that the actor was able to keep up with all of the characters and made me believe that each time he spoke it was a different character.

After the play Chico and I went go the Latino gay clubs where we were joined by Sergio. They were empty so we decided to go gay strip. We drank a lot, danced a little, and had a good time. I got home around 4 a.m. and picked up some fast food on the way home. I woke up with a horrible hang over to a call from my tenant in FW. It wasn't anything major so we took care of it over the phone. The rest of the day was pretty lazy, I did laundry, homework, and chatted online.

Try to have a good week!

Update
So my home didn't flood over night, which I was very thankful for but others weren't as lucky. There was even one fatality that I know of.
On my way to work this morning there was a building that colapsed because of the weight of water. Isn't that crazy?
Also, the parking garage at work was flooded so there is all kind of debris and lots and lots of mud.

Let me see you One Two Step

I had an interesting evening last night. I had a meeting for the non-profit where I drank way to much. Afterwards I went over to the Round Up for a little country dancing. They have classes on Thursdays to teach you how to dance so a few of the people I was with wanted to go. I gave it a good try and I was very unsuccessful. I am not very coordinated when it comes to dancing with other people or doing line dancing. But I did try. I am thinking about going back next week and trying it again, although I would really much rather take some Salsa lessons.

I am not sure what I am doing this weekend. I am going to watch a play but I am not really sure what it's all about.

What do you have going on this weekend?



From Life's Little Instruction Book, Volume II

533 - Create a little signal only your wife knows so that you can show her you love her across a crowded room.

Notify your Face

I am not ashamed to say that I LOVE Ricky Martin. There is no point to the story, I am just listening to the cd and I wanted to share with you guys. :) If he was here I would tell him "I don't care I just want to be yours".



O.K. so on to other news. I have a new VP and we get to meet him today. He is like a rock star in the Import/Export world. I have meet him before at seminars, industry training, etc. He has written several books and is always invited to speak at major conferences when changes in the industry are about to take place. I am not sure if I am going to faint when I meet him or if I will have my pen and book ready for an autographs. Every time my I think about it, my heart skips a beat.
Alright, I am joking about the autograph and the heart thing. But it is kind of exciting. He will add an additional layer between me and the Wicked Witch and he definitely knows what he is talking about, maybe there will be some good changes in this department.


From Life's Little Instruction Book, Volume II

517 - When you feel terrific, notify your face.

My inner Diva

I am trying to pin-point the exact day and time I become so absent minded. This morning as I am driving off to work I realize I forgot to comb my hair. I don't know if I mentioned this before or not but the last time I flew I lost my ticket 2 times before I had to board. Yeap, twice. The gate attendants were not very happy with me.

A lot of times I just chuck it up to my sleep deprived state but I will have to get it checked out eventually, alzheimer's runs in the family.

Speaking of sleep deprived, I stayed up until 12:30 watching the first two hour re-run of America's Next Top Model. Is anyone else watching this show? I am hooked! It could just be my inner diva trying to get out but I love it. I am going to make my prediction now and say that the two finalist will be Nnenna and Kari. But Nnenna will be the winner. I also think Wendy and Brooke are very pretty but I don't think they will win.

How about American Idol, is anyone watching that show? Does anyone else think Ryan Seacrest is annoying and immature? I don't really know who is going to win yet, I just know it will be one of the women. I am not to impressed with any of the guys so far.

Back to my sleep deprived state. So this morning I hit the snooze button for 30 minutes before I actually got out of bed. This is my morning routine, the alarm goes off every 5 minutes...I hit snooze...it goes off again...until I decide to get up. I use to be such a morning person, what happened to me?

P.S. My little brother is coming into town today and will be spending a couple of days with me. I am not sure what to do with a heterosexual 21 year old male. Any suggestions? I have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with a bunch of 'mos so I may take him to that and then to a straight happy hour afterwards. Suggestions please?

From Life's Little Instruction Book, Volume II

513 - Never laugh at anyone's' dreams.

Websites

I had a pretty uneventful evening so I don't have much to report. So instead I am going to share a couple of website I like.

Pandora
Pandora is an online music service that plays songs based on the songs you have told it you like. It goes off of rhythm, beats, etc. Give it a try.

Meebo
Meebo is a web based messaging system that allows you to be signed on to MSN, Yahoo, AOL, ICQ, and others at the same time from one window. I spend a lot of time on here chatting during the work week.

From Life's Little Instruction Book, Volume II

512 - Believe in Love at first sight.

Monday Post 3

I know it has only been a couple of hours but I have some updates:

1. Do you remember the guy I talked about that was thinking of moving to my complex? Well, he isn't :) His bid was rejected. My friend told me this morning and I was a little sad because I had gotten use to the idea.

2. I just got a call from one of my friends and she is moving to Los Angeles. Her husband got a job there and now they are moving at the end of the month. I am happy for her because she loves it there but I am a little jealous because I am going to stay here.

3. I just took my Finance midterm and I totally rocked it out. And when I say I totally rock it I mean I didn't totally fail like I thought I was going to do. I think I will end up getting an 80 on the exam which is low, but it is a lot higher than I thought my grade was going to be.

4. I lost my hammer. I don't know where it is so I may have to go buy one today. I do have two Home Depot gift certificates so I will put them to good use.

5. I have a lot of gift certificates right now. When I moved and bought my condo some people gave me gift cards as a "congratulations on your new place" or "house warming" gift type of thing. Although I never had a house warming party. Isn't that nice?

I have more but I feel I should keep my rambling to 5 points. Any more would just be crazy.

Monday Post 2

Yea, so today is going to be a multiple post day. Mainly because I am delirious.

So I always have the most interesting conversations with my friend KB (see link on the side). This morning she calls me and gives me some GREAT news and to ask me for advice and in my delirium I am not really being very helpful so she tells me "Where you even listening? It's like I am speaking with a heterosexual male today." I love my KB (except when she doesn't call me back).

Did anyone watch Grey's Anatomy last night? I missed the first 20 minutes because a friend was over at my house, can anyone tell me what happened during the first 20 minutes? Anyone?

Am I going to Die?

That was part of a text message I sent my optometrist friend and my other friend that works as his office assistant. Before I tell the rest of the story I would like to say that I am sleep deprived. I went to bed at 1:30 last night because I was up working and the damn finance paper. I have made some progress but I still need to crank out some more pages this week to turn it in on Thursday.

Last time I was at the optometrist he changed my contact lens solution to one called "Clear Care" which is a peroxide based solution that helps prevent build-up on the lens. It clearly says "Do not use in eyes" and I got a spill at the optometrist office about how it would sting if I used it in my eyes.
Well, this morning without even thinking I used it directly in my eyes. As soon as the first drop hit my eye a string of obscenities came out of my mouth cursing everyone from the ground I walk on to the skies. It was horrible! Horrible!!!
My eye is now this big red mess. It looks like I have pink eye and it still burns every time I blink. According to my friend I am not going to die so you can all breathe now but if you want to send a care package let me know and I will send you my address :)

My weekend was pretty predictable. I helped out with a garage sale for the non-profit I am part of. We made a lot of money but for the most part we were just selling to each other. I ended up leaving the garage sale with a wireless keyboard, a Sarah McLaughlin cd, and a book life's little secrets. The book is hilarious and I may use it every once in a while at the end of my post to share some of the wisdom from the book. I was going to start today but I forgot it at home.

I also had a facial, went to the St. Patrick's day parade on Sunday in the West End, the Dallas World aquarium and spent some time with my family. I love the Dallas World Aquarium. If you are ever in town you should check it out.

How was your weekend? I hope you didn't burn your eyes like I did.

Friday

Friday could not have come soon enough. I am so ready for this week to be over, although I do have a lot going on this weekend. It will still be better than being at work.

What do you have going on this weekend? Anything fun? Exciting?

I don't really have much to report today so I am gong to post this conversation I had with my co-worker as we were walking out to our cars yesterday afternoon.

J: Did you see the job opening at IBM?
Me: No, what is it for?
J: It's a sales consultant for their trade compliance software and the best part is that you can live anywhere you want.
Me: Oh, I couldn't do sales.
J: Why not? You have a great personality.
Me: Yea, but I hate people.
J: That is a good point. I hate people too.

I don't even know who you are anymore

One of my friends had a near death experience this week and now it seems he has done a 360 with his life.

He was hospitalized for a couple of days and the doctors told him that if had waited a few hours longer he would have died. If he got in a car accident and lost blood, he would die. If he fell and got hurt, he would die. Basically, he was going to die.

So after a couple of days in the hospital, a few procedures, and $9,000 later he seems to be alright. We were talking late last night and early into this morning and he has decided to make some changes in his life.

Drinking - Gone
Smoking - Gone
Coffee - Gone
Drugs - Gone
Milk - Gone

I am not sure why he is giving up milk but he has switched over to soy milk. He has also decided to buy a house and sell his business.

In the year and a half that I have known him, last night was the first time I got to really "know" him. We talked about stuff that actually matters and I couldn't help but wonder how I would feel if he was no longer in my life. I am not going to say that I love him (because someone is keeping track of how many times I fall in love this year), but I will say that I realized how much I care about him during this whole ordeal.

I am a masochist.

Well, maybe not a masochist but I do like to torture myself.

I took on the responsibility of being the chair of a committee for a non-profit organization (the same one I have written about before). I am also on the board of directors of this organization and I think I am going to have to do a lot of work that I really wasn't planning on. I knew it takes a lot of time because I was the president of the group last year but I was kind of planning on staying low this year. Oh well, maybe I can lay low next year. If any of you mo's (or anyone else) live in the DFW area and want to volunteer let me know.

Mo is short for homosexual. It's my new word, try to use it as much as possible. If you don't like that word you can use my other word. Delicious. As in "You are looking delicious today" or "That shirt looks delicious on you" or "Isn't this weather delicious?".

In other news - I have learned that a guy I used to..umm..date? no, go out with?...umm. I am not exactly sure what we were. But anyway, I learned that he is looking to buy a condo in the same complex I am in. I am not sure how I feel about it. He did call me yesterday and asked me a few questions. I was nice and told him what he wanted to know. But I don't think I want him living here. I want to make up stories about how people got shot at that unit or how horrible the neighborhood is or something. Is that terrible?

I haven't started my finance paper and I need to turn in my rough draft next week. It is going to suck. Is anyone here a finance major? Can I pay you to write my paper? :) J/K. (I am only kidding if you are, if you are willing to write my paper I am willing to pay) J/K. (No I am not).

How is your week going so far?

What do you think of me?

I am totally stealing this from Swirly Girl but I thought it was interesting.

Click here and follow the instructions.


After you are done make sure you check out Swirly Girl's muffins.

Welcome Back

Welcome back my friends from SAS.

Dreams

I had a weird dream last night. I was at school listening to a lecture from some sort of Christian Science lady. She was introduced by Donald Trump who apparently was the president of the United States. The Christian Science lady hated Donald and she went off on him. Later a few explosions were heard and we thought it was a car bomb so we started to panic. Dirty water starts coming towards us and somehow my sister and brother-in-law were with me and we started to run, as we are running the waves of water are getting higher and we are desperately trying to find shelter. We ran into one of the school buildings and we try to get to the stairwell (b/c Oprah said that was the best place to be in case of a terrorist attack) but the military was forcing us to stay on the ground level (even with all of the water) so we try to look for another access to the stairwell. When the water started to get into the building they moved us to a big conference/cafeteria type place and that is when I woke up.

What does it mean? Is anyone good at interpreting dreams?

In other news - Chico and I started playing tennis yesterday and we suck. I am not being modest, we SUCK. I think we need lessons. It was fun making Chico run back and forth across the court :) I had a good laugh.

In other news - I am really, really, really excited right now. Yesterday I got a call and I have tickets to go see Cirque du Soleil later this month at the AA Center. I love Cirque du Soleil! I am watching Delirium. I can't wait.

Collide

I spent Saturday with my niece and nephews and they completely wore me out. I took them to see the spot where John F. Kennedy got shot, to the West End, and to the Science and History Museum to see the people from Radio Disney. I didn't realize kids (ages 12, 8, 2) had so much energy.

While we were out I also picked up some visitor guides, just in case I have out of town visitors and I need to be tour guide. I am prepared, if any of you want to visit :)

That was really as exciting as my weekend got. I did some studying and I thought about starting on my paper that is due in two weeks. I am sure I will be rushing at the last minute to get it done.

I have been listening to the song Collide by Howie Day and for some reason this song makes me get all teary eyed. This would be the perfect song for a romantic movie after a guy and a girl break up and the guy is sitting by a window in NYC and it is raining outside. As the song plays in the background he is thinking of all of the happy moments they have gone through and he rushes out to find her. I love happy endings.

How was your weekend?

I need some motivation

I need someone/something to motivate me to get up in the morning and go for a jog. The weather is perfect for jogging right now I just can't seem to get out of bed. I have set my alarm to 5:30 am all of this week but when the alarm goes off I just ignore it and go back to bed until 7 am.

What motivates you to go to the gym or exercise at home?

Oh the gays

Another reason why some gay men should not be allowed to use power tools.

This video made me laugh my ass off. I especially liked it when they call each other bolimia and anarexia.

Crush from the past

I may not dislike myspace as much as I thought. I got a message yesterday from a guy I use to crush on in college. He was in my Spanish class and we never really talked much but he was friends with one of my friends so we were introduced once.

After graduation we would run into each other at the gay bars and we were always very excited to see each other but we never really exchanged names, numbers, email addresses, or body fluids contact information. The last time I saw him was about 2 years ago and he was moving to Minnesota or Wisconsin, I can't remember which. Anyway, he is back in town and we seem to be in touch now. All I need now is to figure out his name, give him my number, and schedule a dinner. I am pretty sure he has a boyfriend so it won't be going past that, it will just be nice to get to know him better.

Hump Day

I don't have anything to report today. So instead I am pointing out the blogs I recently added (two days ago) to the Blogs I Read.

I have been reading most of these blogs for a while now but I have been to lazy to add them to my list. Check them out, they are all interesting folks.

Alexander The Gay
Bedtime Stories
Me Talk Pretty Everyday
My lil sock drawer
'til the cows come home
What does the world look like

Happy Reading!

It's a Brand New Day!

It is Monday and I am having a hard time loving my job this morning. I know I said I was going to start loving it today but to much drinking and staying up late last night are not helping me accomplish my goal. I went to dinner with my friend Juan last night and after he dropped me off my friend D called and wanted to grab some drinks. I was in the middle of my Nip / Tuck marathon so he just came over and we drank wine and stayed up late watching Nip / Tuck. I am ADDICTED to this show now, I just can't watch some of the surgery scenes.

The weekend was very relaxing. I had the board meeting all day on Saturday so that ate up all of my day. We had great weather on Sunday so I just ran errands and relaxed (when I should have been doing homework). I was freaking out this morning because I thought I had a test this week but it turns out it is not until the end of next week so I have two more weeks to study.

On a different note: I decided to sell my old books on Amazon.com. I put them online last week and I have already sold three books for a total of $81. I have decided that I am going to buy a fancy coffee machine with the money I make from selling my books. The machine needs to have a self timer and a coffee grinder. I really could have used coffee this morning.

How was your weekend? Are you awake? Did anything exciting happen to you this weekend?

Love the One Your With

Friday is finally here. I can't wait to get out of here. I am going through a board training on Saturday so I will be doing that all day. I don't really have plans on Sunday other than sleeping and doing homework.

My co-worker and I have decided to love our jobs starting on Monday. We can't seem to find jobs so we are just going to love the one we have (isn't that a country song? Love the one your with?). I know, I know, it is sad but sometimes you have to convince yourself you are happy right where you are. This can apply to relationships, jobs, or just about anything else in life.

In other news - I don't have any plants or pets. Does that say something about me? I am not sure but I don't think I am comfortable with that. I may have to go buy a plant this weekend.

It is going to be a great day!

I am pretty much done with one paper and I have sent it to my editor. You guys know how bad my grammar is, FWmama as been reviewing my papers for as long as I can remember. I also sent her a presentation I have to do for school.

Here's an embarrassing story for you - Once upon a time in a school not so far away I was assigned a presentation for one of my business classes. On the day of the presentation I did handouts and made a fancy copy for the professor. While I was doing my presentation in front of the class the professor stops me and asks me who reviewed my presentation and points out that my presentation says asses instead of saying assess (as in assessing the situation). I was very embarrassed and I cried a little...right there in front of the class (no, I didn't really cry) but he did give me an A. I think he felt bad. (Just to clarify FWmama didn't review my presentation).


Have I mentioned how much I love my neighbors (the elephants)? Especially now that they are moving? I haven't been so excited in years. I am afraid that if I they didn't move I would be doing this to them.

One more day till Friday!!!

Oh, I actually got a decent nights sleep last night. Do you have any good news?

Disappointment

I woke up thinking it was Friday. I was very disappointed when I realized I have a few more days of work.

I am really tired, I have not been getting a lot of sleep lately and my body is starting to feel it. I think it is just stress but I am not sure. I have three papers due for school and I need to get them done really quick. One of them is almost done and I started on another one last night but I had to stop because a friend came over, I got pretty far, I was able to complete three pages before I got interrupted. Now I have to start on the hardest one.

Other than that I don't really have anything interesting going on right now. Did I mention I was tired and sleepy? I think I am going home to take a nap during lunch.

Oh, I am also tired of pseudo-intellectuals!

What is going on with you?

Helping the Straights Out

I like to think I am doing my part in helping straight community understand the gay community. A few post back, KB's husband wanted to know if gay men didn't mind the smell of farts. The gays weighed in and the results show and we can safely say that gays, just like straights, do mind the smell of farts. This is just one more thing we have in common.

Now Mr. D wants to know if gay men play swords. Send your response now and we will let D know of the results.

Oh come on...don't tell me you don't know what swords are? If you have to ask I might have to show you :)

Weekend Update

So I am watching the Olympic partner skating right now and they are playing a lot of Spanish music. I just heard some Celia Cruz, Luis Miguel, I heard an old ballad earlier and now they are playing some bossa nova. Does anyone know why? Is it a requirement?
Has anyone been watching the Olympics? This is the first time I have watched any part of Olympics, I enjoy the summer Olympics a lot better.

Anyway, on to better topics (maybe). This was a very relaxing weekend. It was terribly cold here and the roads were some-what hazardous so I stayed home as much as possible. I was suppose to go to a party on Saturday night but it got canceled because of the weather. So a few of the people who were going to the party decided to swing by my place instead. They brought the food they were going to take to the other party so we had plenty to eat. We just talked, ate, and played poker. I don't know the first think about poker, I think I might have played once or twice but I don't know what I doing. But I actually won, I was surprised. My strategy? Do you really want to know? Get them drunk then take their money. No, actually the guys that come over don't drink so it was a very calm evening. No stripping or flashing, or drunk dialing.

I started reading The History of Love by Nicole Krauss on Friday and I finished it today. I couldn't put the book down, it kept taking little twist and turns that I just wasn't expecting and I was hooked. When I got to the last page I kept flipping through the pages hoping there was more. If you get a chance make sure you read this book.

Other than that I don't have anything else going on. I have to go back to work tomorrow but I think I may go in late and let the icy roads melt a little.

I hope you had a great weekend.

Class Reunion Update and Weekend Plans.

Well, it is settled. I am not going to my class reunion.
After an email with he time and place of our reunion was sent out a chain of emails got started in which people shared their live stories, called each other names, and just made asses out of themselves. Watching their childish actions quickly helped me make my decision that I did not want to be a part of any of this.
I was planning on sharing a few of the comments but I decided against it. What's the point?

Is anyone else glad it's the weekend? What are your plans for the weekend?

I am going to study most of the weekend. I do have a meeting at 9:30 on Saturday morning (Who schedules meetings on Saturday morning?), a dance thing to see a guy Chico is in love with at 2, and I have to hurry home and make a coffee cake for a party at 7 p.m.
I was asked to bring something home made but I am not about to cook for these fools, so instead I am just going to throw together a coffee cake.

I don't really have much planned for Sunday. I need to do laundry at some point, clean house and maybe head over to see my family.

Reasons I hate My Space - #1

Please who you may not care to much for contact you.

I got this message on My Space account today -

"I went to (insert high school name here)... do you know me?"

Why, Yes I do know you. And if I wanted any sort of relationship with you I would talk to you when I see you out at the bars, at the clubs, at restaurants, at the mall, or at our mutual friends get togethers.

Class Reunion, Stress, Naps, and other ramblings

My ten year class reunion is coming up in June and I don't think I am going. FWmama and I have been emailing about it and there isn't anyone there I care to see. Maybe it is because I am in a horrible mood this morning but I just want to see those people.

Did you go to your reunion? If you did, did you enjoy it?

Are you having a shitty day like I am? I so, do you want to come over and jump in bed with me and take a nap? Naps always help me when I am having a bad day, it's like starting all over.


Other random comments:

1. I decided to change my concentration for my MBA. My concentration was supply chain management, now it will be project management. I may have to take a few extra classes but I think I will enjoy it more.

2. I am kind of stressed at work. I normally enjoy working under stress but this is not fun.

3. My finance paper for school is going to suck. I can't even pick a topic that my professor likes. I have suggested 3 different topics and he has turned down all 3. I am going in for my 4th today. If I don't have a topic by the end of the day I will get 10 points taken off my paper. I don't like him very much right now.

4. Any takers on the nap?

UPDATE - Read all About IT

First - I am a little offended that only one person took me up on the opportunity to take a nap with me. Thanks.

Second - I have a topic for my paper. After much pleading and crying he finally said my topic was OHIO Well, I didn't cry but I did tell him I had no bucking clue what he was looking for so he agreed to go with my second topic "even though it doesn't meet the criteria". So I hope he doesn't take points off when he is grading it at the end of the semester. Do we have any finance majors in blogdom?

I am Green

I am green with envy. My co-worker got a beautiful bouquet of flowers that has the office smelling so good. And yesterday I got a call from a friend and he received a bouquet of flowers at work from a secret admirer. The card says something like - I have been admiring you from a distance, I hope you feel the same way I do - We tried figuring out who it could be but we still have no clue. I am very excited for him because he has been single for about 3 years now.

A long time ago my friend FWmama use to send me flowers for my birthday. I don't actually recall if she ever sent me flowers for Valentines. Thanks for the flowers SM!

Do you have a Valentine? If not, do you wish you did?

Which would you rather get Flowers or Chocolate?

I did get a coat for Valentines. My little brother called me last night and there was a sale on top coats so he got me one. I should get it in the mail in about a week. I love coats, I have way to many so one more wont hurt me. And it really isn't that cold here, so I am not sure why I need a top coat. Maybe I will live in a cold city one day, and I won't have to worry about buying one then.

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

Two Week Recap

I have decided to just give you a short recap of the last two weeks instead of making this a long story.

D.C.
I love D.C. and I really, really, really want to find a job and move there. It isn't because of David. It turns out he isn't as cute as my co-worker said he was. But he is very nice. He actually reminds me a lot of Wade (Wade called me last weekend and we had a very long conversation, I will have to post about that another day).

It wasn't a bad week, I was staying at the Sofitel in Lafayette Square, which is a block away from the White house and about two blocks from where I was working. Worked totally rocked, the guys I was working with are really cool. I went to work at 9:30 and left by 4:30. It was great, that is how every work week should be. I learned a lot and I am ready to start using what I learned.

Since the museums close at 5 p.m. in D.C. I didn't have the chance to visit many of them. But I was able to skip work most of Thursday and visit some of the sites.

Here are some pictures of the places I went to:

The White House


Washington Monument


WWII Memorial - This memorial wasn't there last time I was there.


Lincoln Memorial


Smithsonian Castle / Enid A. Haupt Garden


National Gallery of Art


While I was in D.C. I went to Ford Theater to see the play Trying and it was amazing. The performance by James Whitmore was great. He is such a great actor, it was truly an honor to see him perform. This is the first play that has brought tears to my eyes...twice. If you have the opportunity, see this play.

Ford Theater is where Lincoln got shot and this is the box where it all went down:



After the play I was walking back to the hotel and I got to see the presidents motorcade. He was going back to the White House after giving the state of the union address. It was kind of exciting.



And of course - no trip to Washington D.C. would be complete without protesters. These protesters were there to protest genocide in Darfur.




I also went to the National Theater,
The Freer Gallery,
The African Art Museum, and
The National Museum of Women in the Arts .

Oh, and I also saw
Damn Yankees at
Arena Stage. The acting was great, especially by Meg Gillentine who played Lola. She is beautiful, she can sing, she can dance, she is - in one word amazing.

Chicago was less exciting. Worked sucked. My co-worker and I went to see
Wicked at the Ford Theater. The Ford Theater in Chicago is the most beautiful theater I have ever been to. The detail of the building is amazing.

I also lost my phone in Chicago, I left it in the cab. Luckily my co-worker was smart enough to call the cab company and the cab driver dropped it off at the hotel. In Chicago I also stayed at the Sofitel but it was a ghetto version of the hotel in D.C.

I got sick in Chicago, I guess my body isn't use to walking around in snow and the 20 degree temperature. My co-worker got sick too and we were both going to call in sick on Friday to recover but my wicked bitch of a boss told us we needed to be at work at all cost. She is pure evil. EVIL.

I didn't read blogs for the whole week. I was going through some withdrawals. It is good to be back sleeping in my own bed.

I know I said it was going to be short but once I started writing it just came out.

I am Back! (Part II)

I am back for good this time and I caught a wicked cold while I was in Chicago so I have been home all day with a headache and body aches. I don't really have much to report, I will update over the following days on my trips to DC and Chicago.

I am going to a gallery opening tonight but I am only going to stay for a short while. I plan to be home and in bed by 9 p.m. and tomorrow I will continue to work on homework. I am two weeks behind on school work so I need to catch up.

Oh, my friend Chico came over last night and he helped me clean my place. It was a mess since I haven't been home in two weeks. Thanks Chico!

Oh, one more thing. I love drunken calls :) KB called last night to ask me some questions about gay men and farts. Apparently her husband thought gay men didn't mind the smell of farts. We took a survey of the gay men in my living room (Chico and I) and overwhelming results are in. 100% of the people surveyed agreed that gay men do not, I repeat do not, enjoy the smell of farts.

I am Back!

And I am so tired. My flight got in around 9 p.m. last night and I really wanted to go home and sleep but my sister was having a birthday party for her husband who turned 40. So I went to the hall where the party was being held and I had a really good time. I got to see one of my two favorite cousins and the food was delicious.

I will post about my week in DC tomorrow, right now I need to catch up on my bills, laundry, and everything else that didn't get done last week.

I leave for Chicago on Monday so I won't be posting to much next week either unless I decide to take my laptop.

I hope everyone is doing well. I will try to catch up with you and your blogs over the weekend.