State Fair

I went to the state fair today and had a great time. This will mostly be a picture post. For those of you who have not been to the State Fair of Texas, it's all about eating. Eating fried food. And eat I did.


I went to the fair with my friend Kathy, her daughter Cloey, her niece, and her mom. Do you see the monkey in the picture? I won that playing a game at the fair.


For a Monday, there was a lot of people there.


The only game I rode was the merry go round.


We had a lot of food. This is my first corn dog. Kathy and I later shared a Jalapeno and cheese corn dog.


Tornado Fries


Fried Oreo Cookies. Sounds nasty...and it is!


The inside of the fried oreo cookie


Fried Coke
I am not sure how they fry a liquid. All I know is that it was NASTY!


More fried coke

I also has a bratwurst. I didn't take a picture of that.

I am getting old

My birthday is on the 7th of October

I will be 29

I am single

Next year I will be 30

And I will probably still be single.

Update

I just joined match.com.

The Weekend

I took Friday off to relax a little. I didn't really do much during the day, I just ran errands and I took a loooong nap. It was great. Friday afternoon I went to a screening of East Side Story that the gay group I belong to sponsored.

If you missed it, the movie will be showing again at the Dallas LGBT film festival, Outtakes. The director and the main actor where both there and the main actor is HOT. Unfortunately he is straight but he is still good eye candy.


Today I just had an overwhelming feeling to go see my family. Not sure what it was but I felt like something was missing so I went to FW and hanged out with my friend
SM and later with my sister and her kids.

I am just staying home tonight. I am walking for the AIDS LifeWalk.


Future Post:
The owner of a restaurant I go to is trying to set me up on a date.

Gay Advise

I received a message earlier today from my friend Sussy Q and it said "Call me back, I need gay advice."

With Sussy I always know it is going to be something strange. So I call her back:

Me: Why do you need gay advice?
Sussy: A guy told me I look like a lesbian, is that a compliment?

This is the same girl that calls me and ask "have you been thinking about me? I know you want me!"
To which I always reply, "The only way I would ever like you is if you grew a penis and had a better personality."

So she calls me and leaves me messages saying "C, how can I grow a penis?"

I guess I can't give her gay advice.

Hypnoticed

So I have lost a few more pounds in the last months but not enough. It has gotten to the point that I need to take some extreme measures.

That's right. Extreme.
I am not considering purging yet. But if I don't loose the weight soon I might have to do it. I just want to loose 10 more pounds and I am having trouble loosing them. Mainly because I still eat pretty bad. If I could just control my eating habits I would loose them in no time. But who wants to monitor what they eat? Not I.

The community center by my place offers hypnosis to help people loose weight and to stop smoking. It is only$30 so I am considering trying.

In other news, my arms are looking good :) I am starting to have some definition. :)

Random Stories

Sex
Me: I don't think I want to have a happy hour after all?
Friend: Why? (out of breath)
Me: What are you doing?
Friend: Nothing.
Me: Where you having sex?
Friend: (giggles)
Me: Why did you pick up the phone?
Friend: We are taking a break.


Kick you in the head
Scene - Gym with my trainer. At the end of the session we are stretching. I am on the mat he is standing over me with left leg up in the air, stretching it out.
His phone rings, he answers it. He drops my left leg and goes for the right one at the same time that I lift it and hit him on the head.

I had a good laugh.

Depressing Movies
I have seen two movies today. Both relate to prostitution. I don't like stories about prostitution because they make me sad and they make me feel helpless.

I was in San Antonio ones for a wedding with a guy I was dating at the time. After the reception we were heading back to the hotel and we stopped at a gas station. As he was pumping gas I saw a young girl across the street bending over a car with three guys in it. A few minutes later she got in the car.

I wanted to run over there and help her, at least ask her not to get in the car. But in the end I was helpless. I still have dreams about that moment. For some reason she keeps coming back to me in dreams.

These movies have put me in a funky mood.

Blogs

I have a lot of blogs to catch up on. I have over 100 unread blog entries. I try to read a few every so often but you guys write a lot :)
I will read blogs but I may not comment on all of them. Hope you don't mind.


I hope you had a great weekend. You exist because someone thinks of you, not the other way around.

Know that right now, I am thinking of you.

Birthday Parties--or Hapy Hours in My Case

A friend and I are celebrating our birthday's together on Tuesday, the 3rd--a day before her birthday and 4 days before mine. If we know you and thought you were cool or nerdy enough, we invited you.

Don't have your feelings hurt if:

1. Your coolness or nerd ratio were too low to garner invite. There are plenty of Happy Hours you can hit on a Tuesday.

2. You live outside of the Dallas/FW area. We didn't really think you'd want make a special trip.

3. We don't know you.

However if we did, by some crazy oversight, forget you send me an email and I promise to rectify the situation.

(This was taken from Swirly Girl's post. Check her site out)(and Yes, that is who I am sharing my b-day with).

Thursday Post 2 - Dinner, Drinks, Friends, and Cheating Boyfriends

I met up with two of my friends from high school on Tuesday. Actually, we weren't really friends in high school but we worked together so we knew each other. We became friends our last year of school. We really didn't hang out around the same group of people so we never saw each other at school.

We just caught up on our lives, we haven't seen each other in about 8 years so it was nice to just talk and have a few drinks. It is funny what people remember and what people choose to forget. We would all bring up different things we use to do but the others wouldn't remember. It was fun though.

One of the girls has been dating a guy for a month and a half and she was telling me about him. The more she told me about him the more suspicious I got about the guy. Here are the clues:
1. Dating a month and a half
2. Has a son
3. Hasn't invited her over to his place
4. Hasn't introduced her to any of his friends
5. Always calls her at the same time
6. Goes days without calling her without an explanation

So I am convinced he is married. He has to be, all of the signs are there. Do you agree or am I being paranoid?

I feel bad for even mentioning it but what if he is really married? It started out as a joke but the more she told us that more convinced I became he is either married or has a girlfriend.

She is not convinced he is married but we told her to keep her eyes open. I may have just ruined her relationship.

Thursday Post 1

(I am getting creative with my titles!)

So this is going to be a multiple post day...maybe. I haven't blogged in a while.

This past weekend was our pride weekend. Unfortunately it rained so I don't have any pictures of half-naked men to share. The parade still happened though and I got soaking wet. It was fun though and I was surprised to see so many people out there.

I was off on Monday and Tuesday. I don't remember what I did on Monday but I am sure it was alright.

Tuesday I ran around all day. I went to Fort Worth to see my mom and also met up with my old co-workers for lunch. Which was great because I haven't seen them in a while. And I also met up with some friends from high school. I will write a separate post about that.

Things are going well though. Life is good. How is your world treating you?

New Music Friday & I am hooked

New Music Friday

Do you know Sergio Mendes? He is an artist from Brazil and he recently collaborated with the Black Eyed Peas and other artist. The song with the Black Eyed Peas is called Mas que nada, watch the video.

Are you familiar with Fado? It is a genre of music from Portugal. I couldn't find my favorite artist but I did find a video of Amalia Rodriguez on you tube. Check it out.


I love this style of music because it sounds so sad, you can almost hear the tears in their voice.


I am hooked
My mom was here last week and she watches novela's (soap operas but in Spanish). She was here for a week and I got hooked on one of the novelas. The acting is good, the story line is great, and I can't stop watching it. I make sure I am home by 8 p.m. to watch it.

Here are some pictures here of Barrera de Amor, some of the guys are kind of hot.

What a Drama Queen!

Ignore my previous post, I was being way to dramatic.

I had a weird dream last night, my older brother gave me two white cats. One of them was completely white and the other one was white with tan/brown designs. Not sure what that means.

Anyway, have a great day!

Tough Week

It's been a tough week for me, I know it is only Wednesday but it has been rough.

It isn't anything in particular, or it could be everything in general. All I know is that for some reason I am just an emotional mess.

I have been working out regularly, so that is good. I have been waking up at 5 or 5:30 to go to the gym every day this week. I am going to try doing that for a while. Partly because I don't have time to go in the afternoons and partly because I feel some changes coming in my life.

All of the working out hasn't really paid off because I have been eating out way to much. The whole diet thing isn't really working. On Monday we took a co-worker to La Duni to welcome him to the department. For dessert I had their warm milk chocolate cake pudding, it is sinfully delicious.

All day on Tuesday I had a craving for fried chicken. Which is weird because I don't normally like fried chicken. So on my way home from yoga class I decided to stop at Brothers Fried Chicken. It is suppose to be the best friend chicken in town and I can see why. I had their chicken breast with fries, jalapenos, pickles, and bread. It was so good that I can taste it just writing about it.

And today...today I was a complete mess. I was so tired and so emotionally drained that I just wanted to go home and crawl under the covers. But instead I met one of my friends at Fuse for drinks and sushi. It was great just being able to talk to her about my problems.

I have been talking to my friend from college about my problems but it was nice to get a woman's perspective. Life is hard, and it seems like it doesn't get easier as we get older. But nobody promised me a rose garden, right?

There has been a lot of good news this week though. (Focus on the positive.)

My college friend is moving in with his boyfriend of 2 years. I am so excited for him. And he just got a dog :)

My friend has an interview for a job she wants. Keep your fingers crossed for her!

I turned in one of my assignments that is due tomorrow!

My sisters surprise b-day party is on Friday! I can't wait, great food, live music, and lots of family!

My friends daughter started saying "mommy"!

I received a random email from a friend telling me he loves me!

The weather has been great these last few days!

Focus on the positive!

There has to be an end

Have I mentioned I only have three more classes before I finish my masters including the ones I am taking right now?

I am taking two classes right now and they are both extremely labor intensive. Both courses have two huge projects due at the end. Luckily I am working in a group environment so I don't have to do all of the work alone but these first three weeks have been kicking my ass.

So much so, that I didn't sleep last night thinking of all of the work I have due on Thursday.

I am also skipping happy hour tomorrow to come home and do some more work. That is how much work I have. Normally I wouldn't even think about skipping happy hour.

Send good vibes my way.

And you were there, and you were there

He was in my dreams last night and I don't really know why. I haven't talked to him in months, actually, I just spoke to him twice.

I met Levi about 3 months ago at a party and we immediately hit it off. We talked for a couple of hours getting to know each other and ignoring the rest of the guest at the party. After a couple of hours we decided to leave the party and go somewhere were we could sit down and talk without interruptions. We went to a coffee shop and talked for hours. There was chemistry. There were sparks.

The shop was closing so we decided to go on our way, we said our goodbyes, exchanged numbers, and gave each other a goodnight kiss. A few days later I called him but I never heard back from him.

He called me about a month later and wanted to get together for dinner. I was a little hesitant at first but decided to meet up with him. His first question was, "Are you wondering why I didn't call you?" and of course I was but by then I had already had a bad first impression so I decided not to pursue it.

Everything went well, we talked, laughed, and had a great time. He talked about how great we would be together, etc, etc. But never called again.

I hadn't thought about him until he popped in my dreams last night.

Moms, the Anti-Spending

My mom is staying with me again this week and she is very much a home body which has helped me curve my spending. I love my mother and I love spending time with her but I need to get out every once in a while and be social. I take after my father in being social.

We really haven't gone out to eat this week, she cooks at home or I pick up something light for dinner at EatZi's. So last night when a friend of mine invited her to go to dinner at his restaurant I couldn't turn it down. But unfortunately she turned it down. So would I be a bad son and go to dinner without her or would I stay at home and keep her company?

I stayed home.

Then the same friend invited her to his house on Saturday to lounge by the pool and have cocktails. I was already imagining myself in my little bathing suit with a drink in hand. But unfortunately she turned that down also.

So it is Saturday night and I am at home.

New Music Friday

I have been listening to a lot of music lately so I want to share some of the music with you guys on Friday's. I am sure you have heard some of these artist but some will be new to you. Check them out.

1. Earn My Affection by Amel Larrieux
This is my favorite song right now. It reminds me of a beautiful man I know, who is a mess and hopefully he is working on improving his issues. Unfortunately the site doesn't have this song on it but there are other songs you can listen to. The lyrics say "You've got to earn my affection, put your back into it....Don't make me loose all my self respect, I ain't desperate yet...You're a beautiful mess..." I love the lyrics and her voice.


2. 1 Thing by Amerie
This is an old song but I still love it. I wish she would come out with another CD soon.

I am paying for what?

I opened my cell phone bill and I had a $20 charge for text messaging. I text message a lot but I purchased an option that gives me what I thought was unlimited text messaging. So I was a little surprised.

I called my service provider and they informed me that I only get 200 text messages and I am being charged .10 cents for every text message after the first 200.

On top of that, they told me I am also being charged for every message someone else sends me. Can you believe that? I couldn't. I can understand if they charge me for something I am in control of but not for something someone else is doing.

I called and complained but I only got credit for this pay period. So, stop text messaging me :)

What do you think?

I got this from my friend Fwmamma over there --------->
It has been modified because it was an email.

Here's what I want you to do. Describe me in ONE WORD...just one word!

And tell me about something someone has labeled you, e.g. procrastinator, smart, funny. How you feel about that label. Do you agree with the label? Do you resent it?

My 4 City Texas Tour

I was a little hesitant about the trip but I had a great time.

We left Dallas on Saturday morning and we stopped in The Woodlands to visit with my friends mother. His family is interesting/nice. Went to eat at the golf course, did some shopping and left for Houston.

After we checked in we went to have drinks at Cafe Adobe where I ran into 4 guys I know from Dallas. We left and did some more shopping in the neighborhood.

That night we meet up with my friends friends at JR's. I didn't drink that much and we were back in the hotel by 1 a.m.

Sunday was a lot of fun. Went to the museums and had a great time. We also went to a couple of places for drinks/brunch. We also got a manicure and pedicure later that day.

So here is the fun part:

We went to Berry Hill. It is a restaurant but on the weekends and special events they have a live dj, drink specials and tons of gorgeous people. It was a pretty mixed crowd (straight/gay) as well as racially diverse. I met a guy :)

Yes, a guy. We started talking as a fluke when he spilled a little alcohol on my shoes. We started talking later and he is a really nice guy. He is 28, lives in Houston. I am not sure where he is from, I thought he was black but he has an accent so he may be from the Caribbean somewhere. After about an hour my friends wanted to leave so we (the guy and I) made plans to meet at Jr's later that night.

Unfortunately I never made it back to Jr's. I met another guy at another bar. I was a bit whorish this weekend but I had a great time. I have been talking on the phone and text messaging a lot with the first guy. He is coming to Dallas in two weeks for work so we plans to go on a date. I am excited and nervous at the same time.

Buy he is really nice and he is my age. Did I mention he was HOT? He has great arms and chest and abs and lips.

We checked out early on Monday morning and drove to San Antonio for lunch. Then we went a little town, San Marco, where they have all kinds of great outlet stores. As you can see, I did a lot of shopping this weekend.

After all was said and done, I came home with 4 shirts, jeans, a pair of slacks, some home decorative stuff, and a great pair of Prada sunglasses.

I love long weekends.

Several things

Three of my third cousins got in touch with me over the last 3 days. They are all sisters, two of their are twins. I think one of them is a lesbian. I am not sure yet but we are going to get together when I come back in town and she is taking me to one of the gay bars :)

I am not sure if she knows I am gay or not and I am not sure if she is going because she is a lesbian or because she has gay friends. I can't wait to find out.

I am going out of town tomorrow morning for the long weekend (most places are closed on Monday in the U.S. for Labor day). I will post some pictures when I return.

My finger isn't broken. The swelling has gone down but it is still very sore and I can't really use it.

My new diet

I have decided to go on a diet. Not a food diet, well sort of. I seem to be going out to lunch/dinner way to much. I am spending so much money that I am blowing my budget month after month.

This week alone I have gone out to dinner 3 times, lunch 4 times, and breakfast 1.

Dinner isn't cheap. Especially in Dallas. So starting tomorrow I am going to cut back. I will only go out to dinner and lunch once a week. The rest of the week I will be cooking at home.

The only thing is that I am not really good at cooking. So I need simple recipes that don't require a lot of ingredients and are fast to prepare. Any ideas?

I have mentioned I work in a pretty bad neighborhood surrounded by strip clubs, a warehouse district, and a lot of homeless people.

This morning it took me 40 minutes to get to work when it normally takes me 10-15 minutes. As I turned on the radio I heard this story. It's sad that things had to end that way.

On a different note, I think my finger is broken. I have had a pain in my finger for a couple of days. At first I thought it was arthritis but this morning I woke up in the middle of the night with a really bad pain. I am going to get a brace from the pharmacy and see if that helps. If the pain gets worse I will go to the doctor but since there really isn't anything they can do I will try to wait it out.

I hope everyone is having an exciting morning like I am.

You want me to do what?

I had a talk with my boss last week about how I am completely bored out of my mind and I have nothing to do. He gave me a couple of projects that shouldn't take me very long to complete. One of them is really interesting though, I have to work with our web developers to create a website for our department. It should be fun.

So today, my co-worker and I get an email and he is asking us to log our time by 15 minute increments. He wants to know how we spend our day. Yea, you heard right. I am being freaking micromanaged.

If you are going to pay me this much money, do you really want to micromanage me? Did you hire me because of my qualifications or do you want to spend most of your time breathing down my back?

It is frustrating. I voiced my concern so we will see what happens, he said it was only for this week so we will see.

log my time..I don't f'in believe it.
What should I log the time I just used writting this blog? General Office Duties?

Weekend, Men, and other happenings

I had a pretty uneventful weekend. I had tickets for a concert on Friday at a small venue. The concert started at 11 and we got there at 10. The place was so hot we decided to leave at 12, before the band even started playing. I swear I was going to pass out.

We went to a leather bar instead. One of my friends has been wanting to check it out for a while. They have a little store where they sell sex toys and leather products. While we were there the guy behind the counter gave us a detailed demonstration of the stuff they were selling. One of the guys I was with even tried on a few of the items. While he was in the dressing room trying on a cock ring he called me back there and I got to see his goods. I have a crush on him...I have liked him for about a year now...so it was a bit..arousing. He spent the night at my place, but he slept on the couch :(

I went to see my mom on Saturday and that afternoon I just wanted to rest. Instead a friend called me to go see a preview of the movie Dirty Laundry. It is an gay African American film that is so funny and so touching that I teared up several times during the film. If you have the opportunity, go see it (when it comes out). The after party was at a hip lounge/bar/restaurant and there were so many HOT black guys. And I mean HOT. I think I fell in love several times while I was there...Which was only about 20 minutes.

That is all. I hope everyones weekends were more interesting.

Reminisce

I was sitting in a meeting this morning and all of a sudden I feel the exact same way I felt that cold afternoon as we walked down to eat at our favorite little restaurant. It felt so real, had I closed my eyes I could have felt his arms around me, his breath as he whispered something silly.

I couldn't help it. As soon as I left the meeting I called him, I just had the urge to hear his voice. We talked for about 20 minutes and he was telling me about his white water rafting trip he just got back from and the job search. I listened.

It's funny how sometimes you miss feelings that were never really yours to begin with.

The world is out to get me

I am convinced the world has it in for me. The last few months have been nothing but one bad thing after another.
First my car.
Then my air conditioning.
Now a leak in my ceiling.

I got home last night after being out at a pool party...where I drank way to much. I heard a thumb in my kitchen and my light fixture had fallen down. When I got closer to inspect it, I noticed there was water all over the floor. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from until I took a closer look and there was a small drip coming from the ceiling.

I went and nocked on my neighbors door to make sure it wasn't coming from their place but they weren't home. After a while the water stopped so I figured it was temporary.

I went home for lunch today and my neighbor came down to talk to me and his Ozarka water bottle (2 gallon) had a leak and it spilled on the floor. So luckily it wasn't a pipe but I may still have water damage. I am trying to find someone to come out and inspect it and make sure there isn't major damage and to put my light back on.

And hopefully it won't cost to much. The neighbor has agreed to pay for everything but it still sucks.

I am convinced the world hates me...that or someone has put a curse on me...which could be likely.

Mom proofing my place

So my mom and brother stayed with me for a couple of days. Right before they arrived I cleaned and mom proofed my place to make sure she wasn't going to find any porn, condoms, handcuffs, whips, etc.

I have a lot of condoms. A LOT! Had she found them she would have been proud to know I am at least being safe.

I took the day off from work and we went and did some more shopping, lots of eating, and just spent time together. They left today so this afternoon I met up with a friend for dinner to finalize plans for an event we are planning this coming week and to gossip. Or so I thought. Towards the end of the meal I was surprised and asked to consider joining one of the local steering committees for a national non profit organization. I had heard rumors I was being considered but I thought they were just rumors. I was also asked to join this group for a political campaign in November in Minnesota or Wisconsin...one of these states. I always get these two states confused.

I am going to consider it but I think I already do to much and I don't want to be one of those people who dedicate all of my spare time to working with others. Call me selfish, call me self absorbed but I need my 'me' time.

Not sure, I will sleep on it and make a decision later. The offer hasn't been formalized and I won't have to make a decision for a few more months.

Writing with an accent

I have been working on a training manual for all of or 65,000+ employees. I sent it to my vp for revisions and corrections. Today I have been trying to incorporate his edits into my manual. All of his edits were done by hand and he has really bad writing.

I asked my co-worker to help me decipher a phrase.

Me: What does this say?
Her: inclusion of duty. Is that all? That was easy.
Me: I can't understand his writing.
Her: Your writing is worse. You write with an accent!
Me: An accent?
Her: Yes, you know. A Spanish accent.

Interesting. Can someone write with an accent?

Wrench

Do you remember the Ipod Shuffle I won back in July?

I finally got it today...a month and a half later. My original plan was to take it back to Apple and get one of the bigger ones. Well, the company I won it from for has put a wrench in my plan. They purchased it online and customized it with their company name so now I can't return it.

But I want a bigger one...the shuffle only holds like 100 songs and I have way more than that in my current mp3 player. I am going to see if I can sell it on ebay or something. Any other suggestions?

The things people do

I don't think I have mentioned that my mom is in town for a while visiting. I took the day off on Friday to go spend some time with her but all we did was shop all day. She is going to be spending all of next week with me so that should be fun...and the food should be amazing. :)

I went to my sisters house early for breakfast but we were running a little late so we just cooked something quick. My mom is not much of a breakfast person so I was surprised when she said she was going to have breakfast. The pictures below is what she had. Can you tell what it is?





If you can't tell, that is coffee...with cereal...and animal crackers. Don't judge, she was in a hurry. I tried it and it actually doesn't taste bad at all. I guess it would all depend on the kind of cereal you are having.

So this lead to a very interesting conversation and we started talking about all the things we eat that are out of the ordinary. I am sure every family has them and here are ours:

1. Pizza - When my family orders pizza we always cut tomatoes in circles and add them to the top of the pizza. We also add lettuce and maybe onions. We also add hot sauce (not the store bought but the good stuff...the home made stuff).

2. Hamburgers - We always have radishes when we have hamburgers.

This next one is just me, my family things I am weird when I do it. I chop up onions and add it to my ketchup for my fries.

They are not weird but I am sure other families don't do them.

Is there anything your family does with food that is unique?

Music

I am going on a small road trip at the end of the month and I need to load some music on my mp3 player. What are your 5 favorite songs?

Holding Hands

I went to the Farmers Market yesterday to buy vegetables and fruit for the week. Since the market is close to home I tend to run over there at least once a week to get produce rather than buying it at the grocery stores.

While walking down the vendor isles, I saw something that completely caught me off guard. I saw two guys walking and holding hands. I stared. They probably thought I was staring because I was homophobic but I was staring and silently applauding their courage.

So I started thinking...many of us in the LGBT community fight to get the same rights and respect that others have. We have protest, pride parades, letter writing campaigns, marches, etc, etc, etc. But after our organized events are over we go back to our own little communities and nobody hears from us again until something else happens.

Why do WE pretend to be invisible? I expect those who are not comfortable with us to pretend we invisible but I simply don't understand why we help them pretend we don't exist.

If we really want to be respected (not accepted, because we don't need anyone's acceptance to validate who we are) and obtain the same rights as everyone else we need to be out in our daily lives, holding hands, making them face their discomfort and see us the way we really are. Normal, just like they are.

So here are a couple of questions:

If you are gay -
Why do you pretend to be invisible?
If you don't pretend to be invisible, when did you start living your life?

If you are not gay -
What would have more impact on your life, a once a year protest or pride parade or seeing two guys or two women walking down the street holding hands?

If you are bi -
Answer either one.

It's been a long time

It has been such a long time since I have made a post. I don't really have much to say, I have had a very boring/stressful/uneventful week. Work has been a bit stressful but in a good way I guess.

I am picking up my little brother from the airport today. He is finally back from London and I can't wait to hear all of the stories and see all of the pictures.

I can finally find out why he had to sleep in the streets in Barcelona and see his mohawk in person.

For now, I am going to go have breakfast :) Have a good one.

Update: I am cooking for me and a couple of friends...someone have the fire department on standby.

I am HOT...cont

I have someone here right now trying to fix my air conditioner. Funny story - the guys that were here yesterday were fixing the wrong unit. Not entirely their fault since the unit was mislabeled but they should have figured that out...this guy did.

They have to replace the motor and the blades and it could cost a couple of thousand dollars. I am not sure if the insurance is going to cover it yet. The repair guy is trying to get pricing on all of the parts and on a new unit. I will need to call the insurance and negotiate with them...I want them to cover it all :)

Whatever happens I will need to pay for all of it out of my pocket and then have the insurance reimburse me since I decided to use my own repair person and not their incompetent vendors. They also won't be able to fix it today since they have to order the parts I need.

Keep your fingers crossed...hopefully I won't have to pay anything out of pocket.

I am HOT!

No, really. I am hot!
My air conditioner is still not working. The repair people came over today to fix it.

12:45 - They arrive
1:00 - I was informed my a/c was working
1:02 - it stopped working
1:30 - the a/c repair guys said they had to leave and work on someone else's a/c
1:31 - I refused to pay them

It wasn't a good time for anyone. Apparently Camelot employs idiots who don't know how to find a relay box. Now, my a/c is still not working and I have already made two calls to family and friends to see if I can spend the weekend with them.

I am waiting to hear back from my insurance company because they are upset that I refused to pay their incompetent vendors. Now they may refuse to send someone else out.

I have a headache...not sure if it is the heat or the fact that I had to skip lunch to go wait for these idiots.

I am back

I am finally back in town. I spent 4 days in one of the border towns here in TX. I spent most of my time in Mexico for work and I had a very productive visit. I learned a lot and I met some great people. It is nice to be back home though.

My air conditioner still isn't fixed, they should be coming to fix it tonight and if they don't I will go postal. It is HOT!
I couldn't sleep last night. Late at night I called a friend to ask if I could come and sleep over at his place but I felt bad for waking him up so I decided to sleep at my place. Well, try to sleep anyway. I was suppose to be off today but what's the point? I would have been miserable at home.

I will post some pictures of my trip later...for now I have to get to my 200 or so emails I received while I was away.

Have a great weekend!

Sunset

I had the opportunity to see the most beautiful sunset set over the mountains today. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me and I don't really think I would have wanted to ruin the moment by taking a picture.

My trip is going well. It is a lot better than what I expected and I am finding the most beautiful men here.


Hope all is well for you.

The stories in my head

There are so many stories running around in my head right now and I want to share all of them but I don't have the energy to write.

Just as a reminder for me - I want to write about -

My brother in London and his daily emails about his adventures. He has a mohawk now.

My home a/c breaking. I won't get it repaired until Thursday. I am living in hell right now. It is a good thing we had a cold front come through and the temperature is only 92.

My sisters, crazy, funny...love them all.

Frienships lost. Lament or rejoice?

Work trip.

Tonight

I have managed to piss of a lot of people tonight...including aggressive guy....and there are people who think I get pissed off when they don't make it to my evets.

I had fun, that has to count for something right?

Born Different

I came across this site, Born Different on this site.

Check it out. It is an interesting advertising campaign about the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) community involving a puppy that moo's, its interesting...trust me.

Make sure you watch "What People Think" and Watch Norman on TV.

And you could always put it on your site to help increase understanding of the GLBT community.

The World Hates Me

I am convinced the world is out to get me today.
I was on my way to work today and I smelled something burning, I thought it was the car in front of me so I didn't pay any attention. A few minutes later smoke was inside my car. I was stuck in traffic so there wasn't anything I could do. I finally got off the highway and went to the nearest auto repair shop. After being in a car with smoke, I smelled.
The fan for my a/c unit stopped working.

Luckily I was able to call a friend to pick me up and take me to breakfast. I finally made it to work around 10. Later in the day I got a call from the repair shop and my car needed two new tires. So I decided to get my wheels aligned.

After all was said and done I paid close to $800 to get my car back and running.

I decided to go home and crawl back in bed to avoid anything else from happening to me (and I couldn't find anyone to go and have coffee or ice cream with me).

Federal Marriage Amendment

Are you tired of hearing about the Federal Marriage Amendment? Do you think your voice won't be heard?

I am very tired of writting to my representatives only to get a letter saying how they appreciate my views but they don't agree with them. And every time I get one of those letters I am a little discouraged.

But if I don't speak out who will? If I don't take 10 minutes out of my life to write an email about something I feel very strongly about, will those who don't really care even bother?

Probably not. So if you care, even a little, please click on the link below and contact your U.S. representative and let her/him know you oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment. It will take 2 minutes at the most and your voice can make a difference.


TAKE ACTION

Note to Self

Dear Self,
Next time you want to go out and stay out all night remember, you are 28, not 18.
Your body would appreciate it.

*******************************************
It was a busy weekend, as always. I had a thing to go to on Friday and I stayed there until midnight, everyone else left around 10 and the host, his friend and I just hanged out and talked. It was fun, but I should have gone home at 10.

Saturday I ran around all day with my family. When I got home I was so tired but I decided to go out anyway. I didn't get to bed until 5 am and I had plans on Sunday morning. My body hates me right now, and I don't blame it.

Sunday, I went and had dim sum with the guys from Friday night. Then I went home and took a 2 hour nap. It was good, but not long enough. Later that day Chico came over and we had dinner and just caught up. It was nice. We also went to see The Devil Wear Prada, again. It was my second time, Chico's third time. But the other guy that went with us hadn't seen it. I love that movie, it is very funny. Go see it.


New phrases I may start using:
1. Bye, Have SEX!
Overheard in the cab ride on Saturday night on our way to the bars.
This is going to be my new goodbye.

2. Would you like to try my root?
Me to Chico while having dinner. Jicama is a vegetalbe similar to a potatoe common in central america.

3. You don't deserve that. You eat carbs!
From the movie The Devil Wears Prada.

Lesson Learned

Do you remember my post about my progress from the other day?

I made the mistake of complaining to my trainer that I hadn't made any progress and he didn't take it very lightly. He basically said everything you guys said and took me back to the evaluation room to look at my results more closely.

It turns out I have only lost 12 lbs but I have lost quite a bit of body fat and gained some muscle. Go me!

The bad thing is that he was kind of pissed off at me after that so he worked me out really hard. So hard that I threw up. Go me!?

I got such a rush after throwing up that we kept going and had a really good workout. This sounds sick, but this was the best work out I have had in months.

Update on Date Night

Here is an update on Date Night:

So my friend who joined us called me this morning and wanted to know what I thought of my date. I told him what happened and how I really wasn't interested. Well, apparently my friend thought my date was cute so he wanted to know if I would mind setting them up.

So I called my date and now they are going on a date tonight. I am so excited for them, maybe it will be a match. Keep your fingers crossed.

My friend also noticed my dates package...wich is HUGE...I am not sure if that had anything to do with it or not...but we had a conversation about it this morning. It was so huge you couldn't help but notice.

Progress

I had an appointment with the fitness coordinator at my gym this morning. I wanted to get a confirmation that all of my hard work at the gym has been paying off.

I was a little disappointed with the results! After several months I have only lost 12 lbs., I went down 4 inches in my waist, and my body fat has decreased. But the measurements on the rest of my body haven't really changed much. My bicep, thighs, chest, etc have gone up a little, so little in fact that it is hardly noticeable.

So I either need to quit working out or I need to make some changes to my workout and my eating habits. I have chosen to make changes to my workout and eating habits. I don't eat badly; I just don't eat the right things so I have an appointment to meet with a nutritionist. Those of you who thought I was a food Nazi before better be prepared. I am officially starting a healthy diet (after I finish my chorizo, egg, and potato burrito)!

I am also going to cut back on the amount of alcohol I consume. If I cut back to about half of the alcohol I consume I can probably loose a few lbs. So...no more happy hours (every day), no more going out every weekend and drinking, no more!

In two months I will go back to get a reassessment and I better see some drastic changes.

Wish me luck!

Date Night

I had a date tonight.

With a younger man.

He is 25 and very cocky (as in confident...you dirty). Is it me or are younger guys more confident these days?

It didn't go very well, we didn't have much in common, and the conversation wasn't really flowing. It's a good thing one of my friends happen to be on a date at a restaurant two doors down and he stopped by joined us for a while.

The guy is very touchy and has very strong hands. He walked up behind me and started rubbing my shoulders...I was so tempted to bring him back to my place for a rub down...but I decided against it.

No second date for him.

These Boots Were Meant for Walking

I said I wasn't going out this weekend but I couldn't help it. I went to a birthday party and I ended up drinking a little to much and then going to the gay bars after. Since I wasn't planning on being out late I wore my boots. I love these boots but I don't get to wear them often because they hurt my feet. I have had them since April of 2005 and I have only worn them 4 times because they are just not very comfortable but they look so good. How can women wear uncomfortable shoes all day?

At the b-day party I learned I am an asshole. I was talking to a guy I met about a year and a half ago at another party. We run into each other at the bars or at other get-togethers every so often but we never really get to talk to much. Apparently he has been after me for over a year and every time he calls me I tell him how busy I am and how I won't be able to get coffee or have lunch with him for a few weeks and ask him to call me later. Every time I tell him this he gets discouraged. As he was telling me this I felt like an asshole. I am sure he thinks I am a pretentious little bitch. So I did what I do best, I made a joke out of it. I ran into him at the bars later that night and he was getting a bit to fresh with me so I quickly put a stop to that. I don't like him in a sexual way.

Which kind of ties in with a conversation I had with my sort-of-ex in the afternoon. He called yesterday but I was on my way to the Taste of Dallas so we couldn't talk. Anyway, the conversation turned into who we were dating, why we are not dating, and so on. Apparently he thinks I am way to picky (and I agree) and we had a good two hour conversation about relationships. He gives good advice.

Several Things

Picture from AP


Picture from photobucket.com

I was listening to NPR this morning on my way to work and I heard the story of Russian President Vladimir Putin kissing a boy on his stomach. Have you guys heard/read the story? You can read more about it here or here.

Anyway, I heard this story right before I started pumping gas and for some reason I found it extremely funny and I could not stop laughing. Some of you know how I get when I can't stop laughing, it's loud, I snort, and I get teary eyed. People were staring at me, It was awful but I had a good laugh. And after the week I have had I needed a good laugh.

In other news - I think my trainer is trying to sabotage my workouts. After our workout this morning we went to a Mexican restaurant and had breakfast. Last week he recommended this Mexican restaurant that is in my neighborhood and it is soooo good. I haven't had good Mexican food in Dallas but this place is amazing. It is a hole in the wall and the owners are super nice and friendly. I have now taken 4 people to try this place and everyone has loved it.
They have weird hours but I can work around that.

My school semester will be over in 2 or 3 weeks. I can't wait for a month vacation from school. I have ordered a whole bunch of books from the Library, hopefully I will get them in time to catch up on my reading.

I have more to update but I will stop now since it is already a long post. If you haven't checked out Swirly Girl's post about a conversation we had check it out and give your opinion.

Confession - Social Situations

I am always on the go to some sort of social activity. Some of my friends think I am a "social butterfly" but that couldn't be furthest from the truth. I secretly abhor being thrown into situations where I have to talk to strangers.

I should probably clarify, I don't have a social anxiety disorder, I just don't like making mindless chit-chat with strangers that I will probably never see again. I use alcohol as my social lubricator and after a drink or two I will talk to anyone about anything...as mindless as it may be.

Unfortunately, I have to do it. So I am trying to break out of my cycle and learn to enjoy it and be better at it. If that is even possible. So I have been reading a book about networking and how improving memorization skills. I also tend to forget names. I can remember faces and event entire conversation but don't ask me to remember your name.

Does anyone have any tips on mingling?

I got lucky

I got lucky last week. I normally have the worst luck in the world but the stars aligned, the planets were in the right house...the point is that I got lucky.

I went to a really interesting conference last week where I had to opportunity to see some old co-workers. They were raffling off an ipod shuffle for everyone who attended...and guess what? I won? I was just thinking about buying an ipod so now I won't have to spend my money. I am thinking about trading it in and getting one of the bigger ipods.

I am so excited.

Unsympathetic

I have talked about my friend Horatio,
here and here. Here is the quick summary. Horatio and Mike have been dating for 4 years now. They have broken up once about two years ago when they lived in another city in TX because Mike was cheating on Horatio. He confessed and everything. They moved to the DFW area after Horatio finished with optometry school and Mike basically stays at home and lives off of Horatio. Horatio is in his early 30's and Mike is in his early 20's.

Guess what? They are pregnant! No, not really. Mike is cheating on Horatio again. Well, I say again but he never really stopped. We ALL knew about it but Horatio never wanted to believe it. I got a call from Horatio last night telling me that he has broken up with Mike and has kicked him out. Mike has been sleeping with other men while Horatio is at work. He also goes out to the clubs and whores around. Horatio found out because one of the guys Mike has been seeing told him. Yeap, it is all very interesting. Well, not really.

Last night when he called I couldn't help it...but I just wasn't interested. I think he was expecting a lot more sympathy from me but I just wasn't able to give him any. I heard the story, he told me he was better off without him, and all of the usual breakup stuff. Normally, I would have been supportive and would have told anyone else everything they wanted to hear...but I just couldn't do it. Especially when he tries to pretend he just found out...uhmm...NO, you have known about it for almost 3 years. My comments were more like "Didn't you already know he was cheating on you?".

We are suppose to be at a BBQ on Sunday and I am dreading going because I know he is going to tell the story to anyone that will listen. He likes to play the victim and leaves parts of the story out that make him like look like he is at fault.

Anyway - Have a great weekend!

Did you make the cut?

I have made some changes to my blog roll. Some have been deleted (just ones that i don't read anymore...all of you are still there) but a lot more have been added. It has been a while since I have added the new blogs that I read so below I have listed new blogs that you need to check out, ready?

SM

- I am sure you have seen SM around. She is one of my good friends from high school and I love her to death! Check her site out!

Joey Destino

- Alright so not a new blog but Joey has changed sites. Check his new site out. Joey is a great writer and some of you have made comments about what a great writer he is.

I think I need a new heart

- Have you not been reading Kriss’ site? Where have you been? Nicest guy in the world

Will

- Check his site out. He and his partner have been together for several years now. An inspiration for all of us who think gay relationships are a myth.

Chad Fox

- Another blog I have been reading for a while. He is funny, a great writer and is cute.

Earl Interrupted

- I am also adding Mr. Earl. He is funny and has some great stories about his.


So what did you think of these sites?

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)