Where is the time going? I blink and two weeks go by. It's already August and summer is winding down and I am on the verge of a personal milestone. Truthfully, I've been on Facebook more than my blog since I am trying to reconnect with some old school chums.
Anyway ...
I have to finish up my road trip story and some other things I have been on my mind.
January 20th, 2009 gave us a new president, Barack Obama, but it also gave us something much better:
Aretha Franklin's hat. Its regality is only for a Queen -- in this case, the Queen of Soul. It is so glorious that there are now websites dedicated to her hat. Her voice is a gift, so she decided to make herself into a present, complete with bow. I was so inspired by the hat that I had to have it:
What's worst: not being invited to an invitation only party, or being invited to an invitation only party where the host doesn't know your name? I mean, they got the first letter of my name correct, but rest was WAY off.
This past Sunday, I went to my friend's house to so we and some other people can go out to dinner. I was walking from the parking lot to the complex where his condo was located when this man walked past me with his penis hanging out of his short-shorts. It wasn't accidental slippage, it was completely intention. I wanted to say to him, "Hey. Do you know you junk is hanging out of your shorts?" -- but I didn't because I thinks that's what he wanted. I arrive to my friend's place and I told him about it, he was like, "Oh yeah, that's Bob. He does that all the time." We all laughed headed to his car to go to dinner.
Coming off of the elevator, we turned the corner and there was man in the flimsiest of shorts with no underwear bouncing past us. We all gave each other a look and laughed. My friend asked if that was the guy I saw when I came in earlier. I told that this guy was new, but Bob is sitting on the step in front of his car. He mentioned that his complex is 95% gay and no one really pays any mind to all of these shenanigans.
First it was the guy in the sheer bathing suit, now this? I can't imagine what I will see when I go to his place for pool party for Pride weekend ... but I will try to bring my camera. :)
I just got back from a birthday dinner at The Porch and I am going though my packing checklist for all the items I need. The weather may be iffy while I am there so I need to bring some cold/wet weather clothing. Everything is laid out and ready to be stuffed in the luggage I just bought. It's got wheels, y'all! I never owned proper luggage and I got a start 7-piece set from Target that's pretty sturdy. I have to start somewhere.
I am loading up my iPhone my stuff to keep my occupied during my flight.
I just got the new Solange album, which is surprising good, so ripping my copy of the CD that arrived (just in time) from Amazon.com. I also have some videos that I want to watch so they are being loaded as well.
Not sure if I am going to bring my laptop because I will be tempted to do work, and that's not a good thing. So I think I am going to leave it at home ... but how will I upload my pictures? Hmmm....
I will be blogging here and using Twitter while in NYC.
Still nervous about the flight, but I am heading east no matter what.
You know what I find funny? I find it funny when you go to online chat sites (such as Gay.com) and you see user's profiles with a picture of them in their underwear from the neck down, or a full on naked (frontal or rear) picture under the heading: looking for friendship.
Really?!?
I think these site should two option categories for these people. For example:
1. looking for friendship 2. looking for "friendship".
I think the quotes speak volumes to their intent and it helps make their point clear. Unless ... these people are actually looking make friends by appearing (half-)naked? Which begs the question:
I went to Kiehl's the other day after getting back from the gym. I got to shop at 7:02pm only to find out they closed at 7:00pm. I saw the cashiers at the registered and tried to open the doors -- which were locked. I turned away and headed back to the care, when I heard one of the cashiers open the doors and invited me in. With her convivial attitude, she pointed me to the direction of the item I sought and made sure that it was the item I wanted. At the register, I paid for my item and she overloaded me with free samples. I said goodbye and thanked her for opening the store after closing time then walked to the Tom Thumb nearby.
At Tom Thumb, I noticed that I was being watched by the cashiers. After getting my cheddar cheese and tortilla chips for the taco salad I planned on preparing, I headed to the checkout line. While the male cashier scanned my items, he said:
"Sorry that we are all staring at you, but we never seen a black man shop at this store."
The Kiehl's and the Tom Thumb are both located in Highland Park Village, which is located a wealthy area of Dallas known as Highland Park. There aren't very many minorities living this area. This cashier and all the others were black, and we all laughed because his statement was probably true.
Yesterday when I was out and about when this guy came up to me and we started chatting. I was it started off as small talk and I let it be known that I wasn't interested in hooking up in anyway. He said he wasn't either, be just wanted to talk. After about a 10 minute conversation he started to asking really personal questions that typically leads to hooking up. I told the guy I wasn't interested and ended the conversation by saying it was nice to talk before I walked away. They guy was very handsome, but I don't hook up with people because it's not for me. It's a personal thing, and not a judgement call. It bothers me that the guy's intention was to try to hook up with me, but he said he wasn't. Why? It could have saved us both time if he was upfront about what his intentions were from the jump.
[addendum: this applies to online profiles/chats. If you state or your profiles says you are looking for friend/chat only, then don't ask sexual questions. It's a very "stranger with candy" scenario. Hypocrisy is not a good look on anyone. Case in point: Jeese Jackson.]
Ugh.
This weekend has gone by way too quick. I guess that happens when you are busy out and about doing things. Next weekend will be even more busy because I got a birthday party to attend and a tennis tournament.
I guess it is better to have too much to do, than too little.
I just bought my ticket for a tomorrow morning showing of The Dark Knight. I found this iPhone App where you can Joker-ize your photos. Just thought I would share.
I've decided to change my style a little bit. I love wearing polo shirts and either jeans or a pair shorts, but I think it is time to switch up my style a bit. I really want to start wearing button-down dress/casual shirts but it's difficult for me find shirts that fit properly.
I have broad shoulders/back, long arms and a small waist. If I find button-down shirts that fit my shoulders/back, the sleeves are too long and there is a ton of excess fabric to tuck into my pants. I think they only way to resolve this problem is to have my shirts altered to fit my proportions. I have about 10 button-down shirts I almost never wear because the fit is wrong and I would like to work them into my wardrobe. I am going to send one of my shirts to have it altered, and see if it really makes a difference. I may post before and after pics.
I am also thinking of getting some new jeans that are more form fitting to my body. My waist is 32" but I buy size 36" because I like them to be loose. As a result, there is about 3-5 inches of excess fabric around my thighs. They are really comfortable, but I think they make me look sloppy. I don't want to wear tight pants like Omarion but I want a more fitted look.
Maybe I have been watching too many fashion related television shows, but I think it is time to refine my look. I don't have to dress up for work so I think I have become lazy. So I think it is time to set up my clothing game and get some proper clothes.
In my efforts to get back in shape after my long illness, I decided to cut out my drink of choice: Sprite. I am trying to make a conscious effort to cut down on the amount of sugar and high fructose corn syrup I consume. So, instead of sugar for tea I will use honey; and instead of store brand syrup for waffles/pancakes I will use natural maple syrup. This past weekend during dinner with some people I know, I ordered a unsweetened iced tea, which caused some illicit stares. I explained my new "plan" and people seemed interested in what I was doing.
In an effort to find a new drink to tide me over, I decided to go back to the drink of my childhood: Kool-Aid. I went to the store yesterday to seek out my favorite flavor ... red. Red for me is either cherry or tropical punch -- strawberry is not allowed. I found the aisle and I began my search for some red. While searching, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that some people were watching me ... but I am not sure why. I got some red, orange (color, not the flavor), and blue. While walking from the aisle, I ran into someone from my tennis club. We said hello and looked at the items in my hand.
"Kool-Aid?" he asked.
I said yes and explained why I got the drink while he just smiled and nodded. We had a bit of small-talk before saying our goodbyes. As he walked away, he gave me this look. It was the same look that people gave me earlier.
Is there a stigma on Kool-Aid that I am not aware of?
I had a random thought about what my ideal person would be, and I couldn't think of anything. There are things that I am attracted to, but they are superficial. I know people who have set descriptions of what they want their partner to be, but after time those qualities could change, so would the relationship last since they no longer fit that set ideal?
This is just a random thought I had in my head after being approached today. The person seemed nice, but I was not interested for a number of reasons -- the main reason being that I am still stuck on someone else.
I saw a commercial a couple of days ago for Time Warner Cable offering 10 Mbps Internet connections. When I got my service in September they didn't offer that. So I called and asked, how much would it be to upgrade me from 6 Mb?ps to 10Mbps?
Yesterday I was chatting online with guy on gay.com and the person asked if they could ask me a personal question. The question was: are you masculine?
I was a bit flummoxed by the question because it was something I never really asked myself. I guess I would be in somewhere in the middle because I am not overly macho, and I am not nelly queen. I am just me. I don't butch up my persona around certain people to fix in, but I do act a bit campy around friends who know that I am just having a laugh. A couple of minutes went by before I finally answered -- yes.
What is masculine? I am masculine by definition because I am biologically male, but would I be considered less masculine since I don't follow socially gender roles?
I decided to ask this guy the same question, and his response was that he was "very masculine." I was curious and asked what made him very masculine only receive "because I am man" as a response. I wasn't sure exactly what that meant but I didn't want to delve deeper because it may have been a touchy subject for him. In college, someone told me a story of male friend of their's who had boyfriend but didn't considered him gay because he was the "man" of relationship. Interesting, huh?
What about this feisty drag queen:
would she be considered masculine, even in long blond wig?
So here is the question, would you consider yourself masculine? This is a question for everyone (male, female, straight, gay, etc..). Leave a comment.
A week after being pronounced dead, I got my 5 free HD DVDs in the mail today. I pretty much gave up ever receiving them because it has been like 13 weeks since I mailed in the form. But lo and behold, here they are ... taunting me.
I went to a party two weeks, and I was able to spend some time with the guy my friend is currently dating. He is a nice guy, and I enjoyed talking to him. This past weekend my friend told me that the guy he is dating thought I was preppy. I would have to concede that my style of dress is rather preppy, but I am not exactly sure what he meant by the comment. I was wearing a purple polo, jeans, and purple/teal Air Force 1s
I was, again, watching the Today Show and they showed some lowhighlights from the Republican debates last night when I noticed some different with John McCain.
Why is this skin on his neck pulled so tight? You can see that this skin is being pulled in some way. Is he trying to compete with the chiseled jaw of Mitt Romney?
I think so.
Cut to earlier that same day when Rudy (boo) Guiliani (BOO!) endorsed John McCain for the Republican candidate:
See the prominent jowls and the fat trying to escape from his shirt collar? He must bought some industrial strength Duck Tape to hold all that down for the debates.
I remember a time when I used to like John McCain. At that time he was a Republican who often broke from his party and was more "liberal". That all changed with him visiting Jerry Falwell's Liberty University to appear more "conservative" to get the Evangelical vote.
Do we really need any more reason to dislike him? Oh, here's another.
I was watching the Today Show yesterday morning before work, and I saw this ad for Chris Matthews show on MSNBC:
I knew it looked familiar but I couldn't place where I have seen it before. It took about a minute, but I figured it out:
How lazy is NBC's graphic department for using the same logo template?
I would love to see Hilary and Barack battle it out against American Gladiators for the Democratic nomination. But not with the new gladiators. I want the old school American Gladiators with name names like Malibu, Lace, and Nitro.
They should totally consider doing this in November to determine the next president. Think of the ratings! If it comes down to Hilary and McCain, I got my money on Hilary. She had about 40 lbs and 5 inches on him.
