GB:NY2 Update

Little sleep. Massive casualties in the brain and liver. Life is good.

Time Out

I think it's time for a break. I'll see about starting up again after GB:NY2.

Malediction

Despite my absolute digust at many of the things he authored while he was known simply as Cardinal Ratzinger and my general distrust of fundamentalists of any stripe, I raise glass and toast the new pope, Benedict XVI. May your papacy be as long and fruitful as the last German pope, Victor II.

Meme

Taken from various people:

Age: 36
Where did you grow up? Texas

WHAT DO YOU CALL:

1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks? Creek

2. What the thing you push around the grocery store is called? Shopping cart

3. A metal container to carry a meal in? Lunch box

4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in? Frying pan

5. The piece of furniture that seats three people? Couch

6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof? Gutter

7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening? Porch

8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages? Cokes

9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup? Pancake

10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself? Sub

11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach? Bathing suit

12. Shoes worn for sports? Tennis shoes

13. Putting a room in order? Cleaning

14. A flying insect that glows in the dark? Lightning bugs

15. The little insect that curls up into a ball? Roly poly

16. The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down? See saw

17. How do you eat your pizza? With my hands

18. What's it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff? Garage sale

19A. What's the midday meal? Lunch

19B. What's the evening meal? Supper

20. The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are? Basement

21. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places? Water fountain

22. Harass: Where does the accent go? Last syllable

23. Vehicle: Where does the accent go? First syllable

24. Latter: Pronounced with with a "T" in the middle or a "D" in the middle? With a "D"

25. Kitten: Pronounced with with a "T" in the middle or a glottal stop in the middle? Glottal stop

Great Headline

Woman Beats Off Burglar With Gnome

I don't think anything I write could top that.

Maybe, Maybe Not

I haven't quite decided, but I'm beginning to think that I should look for an apartment outside of Manhattan. I'm thinking about Astoria.

After thinking about it objectively, the main reason I chose to live in Chelsea to begin with was its proximity to the bars I like, a few of my close friends, Penn Station and my office.

But in truth, I rarely ever see those friends and when I do, we just meet for dinner or drinks, often in a different part of town. As for the rest of it . . . well, there are bars in Queens and getting to the Manhattan bars won't be too troublesome. Penn Station is still close to work, so that won't be too bad. As for being close enough to the office to walk, that won't be possible any more, but so what?

I suppose the deciding factor will be saving close to $400 a month in rent.

So if any of you Astorians hear about apartments near you, please let me know.

I See Dead People

So the stress of the upcoming move (and apartment search and packing and work, etc.) has brought on the zombie dreams. In the latest twist, I wasn't being chased around an old Victorian house; I was at a university. A university oddly similar to the one that I attended.

My 15 year reunion is this October. If it is anything like my dream was, I am so not going. While it would be great to see some of my old classmates and professors, I'm not willing to brave flesh-eating zombies in order to do it.

Free Beer

If anyone just happens to find himself with nothing to do this evening and would like to help me move some furniture out of my apartment (just down to my basement), give me a call (this presupposes that you live in NY and have my phone number).

Help me and I will buy you many beers.

Catch Up

Despite the sturm und drang of my apartment situation, things have been going fairly well. I had hoped not to write a laundry list of things I've been doing, but I don't feel creative enough to sit down and write anything else. So here goes:

I went to the Gay Men's Chorus' Absolutely '80s show with Jase. It was a blast. Before that we went to Swish Cafe & Shabu Shabu which was pretty cool. I've never had shabu shabu before (kind of a Japanese fondue), but I have had a Vietnamese version of it. Either way, it was an adventure going to a restaurant where I had no real frame of reference (I haven't gone to very many Japanese restaurants).

Let's see . . . I saw Millions which was a cute little movie with nary a zombie in sight.

I visited the Larry Clark retrospective at the ICP. Amazing photographer. Fucked up subject matter. Still, a really good exhibit. I plan to go back before it closes.

I went to the opening of Rick's new bar, Gym (it's a gay sports bar . . . real sports bar, not a gay fetish parody of one). It was great. They have cider and half a dozen televisions. And it's been crowded every night I've gone there. Woo hoo.

I had some friends in town and did a pub crawl on the Lower East Side (straight bars can be fun). I also took them to the MoMA, where it turns out I can get five free tickets per visit thanks to my company. If I start going every weekend, it might make up for not getting a bonus.

A friend of mine turned 21 and proceeded to get sloppy drunk at Gym.

I got a new tv stand.

I cooked an incredible Pumpkin Soup.

And that, my friends, is my amazing life.

The Other Shoe

Recently, I've been pretty happy with my life. Sure, some things aren't great. I'm not happy in my job. I don't have as much money as I'd like right now. Little things.

But overall, pretty happy. Better than in years past.

Naturally, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It dropped today. My landlord has decided to sell my apartment.

I have no clue what I'm going to do. I have three months, but when you're working full-time, that isn't a lot of time to try to find a place, pack and move.

Fuck.

Tonight 9 p.m.

No problem. I'll remember.

On Tuesday this week, Gene Wilder was signing copies of his new book over at B&N. I didn't write it down on my calendar because I knew I'd remember it.

Well, I did. Today. Crap.

He's someone I'd really like to meet.

And so it goes.

Next Tuesday is WYSIWYG. TinMan and Ultrasparky are performing. I really want to be there.

Also next Tuesday, Charles Busch is going to be at a networking event at Planet Hollywood. I really want to be there.

And also next Tuesday, my office is hosting a seminar and needs someone to check people in, point them toward the john and make sure they don't get lost.

Guess which one of the three I will be at.

Phone Sex

I have a couple of Gold Memberships for Interactive Male, a phone chat line (see interactivemale.com for very little info about the thing). 1000 free minutes for each pass. Together they are a $400 value.

Anyone want them? Chat lines aren't my thing. Shoot me an e-mail and I'll send you the info.

Not much else going on right now. I took most of last week off work to use up some vacation time that was about to expire. Didn't do much except work around the house and buy about $1000 worth of furniture and stuff that I can't afford, but need. New bookshelf, tv stand, getting my stereo fixed, etc.

I haven't been motivated to blog of late. In truth, I haven't been motivated to do much of anything. I did hang out with Jase some, saw Bride and Prejudice, read The Trouble Boy - the new Tom Dolby novel (and don't get me started on that), Looking for It - the new Michael Thomas Ford (good, not great, but good), and Boulevard by Jim Grimsley.

Ah well, maybe I'll find more to blog about. Perhaps after I see the Larry Clark exhibit at ICP. Since I work near there, I'm going to stop by during lunch some time this week.

Buh-bye

No, I'm not giving up blogging like certain other bloggers in my links (I hear that collective sigh of relief), I'm just heading out of town for seminar.

Even though I'll be away from my computer for several days, I will at least get to hang out with a couple of bloggers. Stebbins, you ready to hit the bars?

Busy Bee

Been really busy lately. Awards ceremonies, a conference, not-for-profit stuff. Too much, but what can you do.

I did at least have a good time at the Gay Expo this weekend. We had lots of people stop by the booth and hopefully we will get some of them involved in sports. We'll see.

I had dinner on Saturday with Jase. Nice. Then we went to the Habibi party where we were joined by John (Ruggerjohnnyd), his bf and some other rugby guys. The party was a lot of fun. Good music, good venue, good people. And for the first time in ages, I danced. Normally, I'm entirely too self-conscious, but for some reason (probably Jase and his unabashedly joyful style of dancing) I was able to put that aside (a little bit) and just enjoy myself.

I still dance like and old white guy (well, not this old white guy or this one), but I did have fun (and at least I didn't dance like her). Plus, I got to dance to a song by this guy (SIMARIK, which was really big in Europe in the late '90s.) The song was remade by some American hip hop chick as Kiss Kiss; it was lousy, but got a lot of airplay for about a week.

The next day, I was sick (not hungover, mind you, just sick), so I stayed in bed most of the day.

Some cooking (Roasted Turkey Thighs with Wild Mushrooms), some laundry, some cleaning. Same old, same old.

Maybe the K stands for Konvert?

Headlines you won't see:

Christian Serial Killer Arrested

Boy Scout Leader Was Serial Killer

Heterosexual Arrested in BTK Murders

But you know if he'd been gay, every headline would have mentioned it and anti-gay mullahs everywhere ("Rev." James Dobson, Fred Phelps, etc.) would have been on it like flies on shit.

Anyway, it won't matter in the grand scheme of things, but I sent a letter to the Boy Scouts today suggesting that it might be time to put as much effort into keeping serial killers out of scouting as they've put into keeping gays out.

Think I should hold my breath until I get a response?

With apologies to . . .

Tommy Lee Jones (who clearly needed money or was blackmailed into starring in this movie) and the entire audience of Man of the House which includes everyone in the State of Texas (especially those who went to or currently go to UT) and special needs patients across the nation.


George: "Where's your happy fayyyce?"


Condi: "This is my happy fayyyce."

Mixin' and Minglin'

I want to go out Saturday night after the Gay Expo (visit me at the Out of Bounds booth and I will prattle endlessly about gay sports in New York). So if anyone wants to join me, I'll be going to:

HABIBI PARTY
Middle Eastern gay/str8/bi/mixed party...
Dance and chill with Rai, amr diab, alabina, ishtar, rachid taha, khaled, faudel...
DJ iz
featuring the amazing EDUARDO

Saturday February 26th, 10 p.m.
at
RARE
416 w. 14 street
Manhattan
$10

I'll admit to being curious as to what exactly makes EDUARDO amazing.

Anyway, here's what I'm wearing, so none of you other byotches better show up in the same thing.

Texas, It's Like a Whole Other Middle Eastern Country

I'm sure the fine minds at the Texas Tourism Department didn't really think too hard before coming up with their latest slogan, "Texas. It's Like a Whole Other Country". Or maybe it's just that their original choices "Texas. It's the 9th Circle of Hell." and "Texas. We hate queers." never really caught on.

So here is the latest news about some of the fine, upstanding citizens of the great Whole Other Country State of Texas.

Two Men Unhappy With Restaurant's Service Threaten To Blow Up Pentagon

"Texas. If our fries are soggy we'll blow up the Pentagon."

What Happens in Bratislava, Stays in Bratislava

"You had me at 'Hello'."