My Life: Alex's Story

Inspiration From An Unlikely Place

2012-01-12T10:23:00.004-05:00

I think we can all agree that I am not a Burning Man type of guy, but I found this clip to be so wonderful and encouraging. It made me smile in all sorts of ways. The characters and the score are perfectly aligned to the story. "Oh, The Place You'll Go" by Dr.Seuss will always hold a very special place in my heart because it was a goodbye gift to me from a special guy I "dated." I still remember reading it with him the night we said goodbye, and tears that came with it. I know it's a children's book, but the message is so universal. Hope this clip brightens your day as it did mine.

Happy New Year my dear readers!

~A

This Christmas

2011-12-25T11:14:00.001-05:00

Christmas gift suggestions: to your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.

Merry Christmas ♥

~A

My Friend

2011-12-16T18:10:00.000-05:00

I found out yesterday morning from my friend Aaron that our friend Erin lost her fight with cancer.

Dearest Erin,

I am so grateful that I got to have you in my life. Thank you for the laughter, the good times and your wonderful energy. I love how you lived your life with no apologies and full of joy. You were a friend who knew how to make a person smile and feel at ease. I will miss you and want you to know that you touched so many people's lives. In my mind, you are some place better now: warm, peaceful, beautiful and most importantly, with an endless open bar. Erin, I refuse to mourn but will rather celebrate your legacy and all the happy elements of you.

~A

Heartbreaking

2011-12-06T23:06:00.000-05:00

When I saw this pop up on Facebook this past weekend, I didn't want to watch it at first. But I finally forced myself and was very glad I did. I cried the entire way through. The video makes me humble and grateful for the life I live. This boy is so courageous for sharing his pain and raw emotions. Now there are all these haters on the web claiming that the clip is fake; it isn't. Jonah has updated the clip, and at the bottom of the video, he elaborates on his hardship and how he has evolved. It's truly great that there is a medium like YouTube that allows him to tell his story.
What is also amazing is the support he has received. Lady GaGa even tweeted his video to the millions of followers she has. But I think the best response of kindness came from "AcousticJohnson."

Bullying is not acceptable. Hang in there little ones! There are so many of us out here who are on your team.

~A

The Mood

2011-10-28T10:54:00.000-04:00

Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play

And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues strong
It's always darkest before the dawn

And I've been a fool and I've been blind
I can never leave the past behind
I can see no way, I can see no way
I'm always dragging that horse around

And our love is pastured such a mournful sound
Tonight I'm gonna bury that horse in the ground
So I like to keep my issues strong
But it's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh woah

I am done with my graceless heart
So tonight I'm gonna cut it out and then restart
Cause I like to keep my issues strong
It's always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh woah

And given half the chance would I take any of it back
It's a final mess but it's left me so empty
It's always darkest before the dawn

Oh woah, oh woah...

And I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't
So here's to drinks in the dark at the end of my road
And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope
It's a shot in the dark and right at my throat
Cause looking for heaven, for the devil in me
Looking for heaven, for the devil in me
Well what the hell I'm gonna let it happen to me

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh woah

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah
Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah

And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back
So shake him off, oh woah

It is the truth...

~A

Manhattan Lifestyle

2011-09-26T00:06:00.000-04:00

I am alive and well. My first summer in NYC has passed, and fall is upon us. Life has been interesting. I wish I had it in me to go into the details, but not now. I wish you my dear readers all the best. Hope you are laughing and drinking. Cheers to that!

Lots of hugs and kisses. We shall chat soon!

~A

Country Heart

2011-08-08T10:53:00.001-04:00

If you don't know by now, I am actually a big fan of country music. Strange that a Gaysian guy from Southern California digs country? I don't think so...

I loved this song when Beyonce came out with it as her lead single for "I Am...Sasha Fierce." B's music video was amazing. Reba does the song justice, and I love the country spin on it. She is such a legendary singer!

Is it weird that I can totally relate to this jam even though I AM A BOY?! LOL!

~A

PS: I totally dig the super long emerald green gown Reba wears, so couture!

So Called Life

2011-07-26T19:03:00.000-04:00

New York is...

I am still kicking my dear readers. Hope you are enjoying your summer!

~A

My Kind Of Romance

2011-07-06T11:12:00.001-04:00

I want this song played at my wedding for my first dance, and the video is just so beautifully done. It's also SUCH a cute story line!

Lying here with you so close to me
It's hard to fight these feelings when it feels so hard to breathe
Caught up in this moment
Caught up in your smile

I've never opened up to anyone
So hard to hold back when I'm holding you in my arms
But we don't need to rush this
Let's just take this slow

Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Just a touch of the fire burning so bright
And I don't want to mess this thing up
I don't want to push too far
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
So baby I'm alright, with just a kiss good night

I know that if we give this a little time
It will only bring us closer to the love we wanna find
It's never felt so real, no it's never felt so right

Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Just a touch of the fire burning so bright
And I don't want to mess this thing up
I don't want to push too far
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
So baby I'm alright, with just a kiss good night

No I don't want to say good night
I know it's time to leave, but you'll be in my dreams
Tonight
Tonight
Tonight

Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight
Just a touch of the fire burning so bright
And I don't want to mess this thing up
I don't want to push too far
Just a shot in the dark that you just might
Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life
So baby I'm alright, oh, let's do this right, with just a kiss goodnight
With a kiss goodnight
Kiss goodnight

Amazing...

~A

PS: And can we talk about how sexy Charles Kelley is!

Emotional

2011-06-25T18:51:00.000-04:00

As many of you probably have heard, New York passed its marriage equality legislation last night despite a Republican controlled Senate. The joy in my heart when I found out the news at dinner was overwhelming. I still remember the night when Proposition 8 passed, and the huge sense of defeat I felt. Today is a new dawn. I am so proud to be a New Yorker and hope that California gets on the same page soon. Luckily, New York doesn't allow for voter initiatives so there can't be a recall. Love and equality for all!

I have been reading Kathryn Stockett's "The Help" recently because the movie is coming out soon, and I wanted to read the novel before seeing the film. The story focuses around two black maids and a white woman dealing with civil rights while living in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. I can't put it down! It also feels so relevant to the current struggle we face in society relating to gay rights. One section of the book surprised me in a wonderful way. It is told through the perspective of Aibileen:

"I looked after the Dudley family for too long, over six years. His daddy would take him to the garage and whip him with a rubber pipe trying to beat the girl out a that boy until I couldn't stand it no more. When we started working on the stories, Miss Skeeter asked me what's the worst day I remember being a maid. I told her it was a stillbirth baby. But it wasn't. It was every day from 1941 to 1947 waiting by the screen door for them beatings to be over. I wish to God I'd told John Green Dudley he ain't going to hell. That he ain't no sideshow freak cause he like boys. I wish to God I'd filled his ears with good things like I'm trying to do Mae Mobley. Instead, I just sat in the kitchen, waiting to put the salve on them hose-wipe welts."

I teared up when I got to that passage in the novel. This struggle is timeless, and I pray that one day no gay child or person will ever have to experience that kind of pain.

Take care of yourself my dear readers. Till next time...

~A

Just A Quick Note

2011-05-28T11:55:00.001-04:00

Life in New York has been going well. I am meeting a lot of wonderful people and enjoying a lot of new experiences. Of course, I already have hilarious stories to share. I also caved and downloaded Grindr, but not THAT much has happened on there. Summer is in full swing here, and there is still lot for me to see, taste, touch and enjoy. I don't miss San Francisco; I felt that I did everything I wanted to do there in my four year residency. What I do miss is the Working Gays. As great as my friends are in NYC, they aren't the same as my SF boys and girls. Perhaps it's because I've only known the NYC folks for such a short amount of time. Also in NYC, I do a lot more 1:1 hangouts rather than roll with a posse. People tell me that is how it is here.

I wish you all a great summer and lots of hugs and kisses.

~A

PS: Come visit me in Manhattan!

Can't Stop Crying

2011-05-04T00:28:00.000-04:00

I have never been more proud to be a Googler. For our company to make this commercial, not to mention, air it during "Glee," moves to me tears. This is what is needed for those who are uncertain, who need hope, who can't see the light. I literally cry my eyes out every time I watch the clip. Please pass on the message of acceptance and love. It really does get better!

~A

So Far

2011-04-14T23:31:00.000-04:00

Enjoying myself
Miss the Working Gays
Eating my way across this city
Work, work, work
Ann Arbor
Shut it down
3AM
10:30PM first dinner
Slore
No second dinner
Time difference
AmenJena
Chelsea Market

Highlights include:
Beauty & Essex
The Ritz
Soho House
Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert
Red Cat
Spice Market
Buddakhan
RockIt
Ward III
Tribeca Grand

So much more to learn and potentially conquer...so many stories to share...

~A

Next Big Chapter

2011-04-02T17:06:00.001-04:00

Well...I moved to New York City! Surprise! After a month of silence, this is the big news I have to deliver. It all happened so fast. The main reason for my move was because of a new role at Google. I originally applied for the job in SF and somehow through the interview process, the hiring team decided to send me out to NYC. It was a very hard decision for me to make, but I knew in my heart that it was time for me to leave SF and try something new. I lived in Manhattan for two summers interning here, but that was a very long time ago. The city has changed, and so have I. This is also a great career move for me (as long as I make my numbers). My parents weren't on board at first but have come around.

The Working Gays sent me off in style. The going away celebration went on for weeks. People were starting to get confused why I was still around...LOL! Bill even came out to help me move in, SUCH a good ginger. I stayed at The Standard for the first week while my apartment was getting renovated. I moved into a cute one bedroom in a walk up in the heart of Chelsea. The place was completely renovated, and I am the first person to live in here after all the work was done. Moving was a total pain but with help from Bill, Fouad, Kim and Neal, the place came together nicely. It feels like a home now. I hope to be happy here. It really is a great and adorable apartment.

I am still in the transition phase and getting used to NYC. I need to make more friends and find my groove. Not to mention, I need to work a lot in my new role and get to know the NYC office. I am nervous but excited at the same time. It has been a very long time since I've had to stretch myself this far. I hope to come out on top, but you never know. I also hope you root for me my dear readers. And with some luck and perseverance, I will have amazing and hilarious stories to share with y'all.

~A

PS: I joined David Barton Gym and saw March Jacobs, Anderson Cooper and Michael Lucas there already!

Announcement Soon

2011-03-30T11:21:00.001-04:00

Dear readers, I have been away from this blog because a lot of changes have been going on. I will update you when I am ready. Lots of love and xoxo to you all.

~A

OMG

2011-02-24T13:51:00.000-05:00

What happens when you do a Google Image Search for "rice queens?" Located as the first image is a picture of William, Chrisn, Jonathan and me at Hotel Rex having drinks before heading to Fresh. The image comes from this dear blog of mine. Chrisle's friend made this interesting discovery last night and posted on his Facebook wall. It's hilarious! But I am not sure if I am horrified or honored. I have no idea how that particular blog entry ended up so high in the search results. I know nothing about SEO by the way.

The irony is that the picture doesn't even make sense. We're all ASIAN! Why isn't it a picture of Bill or the hundreds of actual rice queens I know?! Erik, my trainer, also informed me of a new term. He isn't a rice queen, but he is an "Asian male enthusiast" instead. LOL!

~A

All You Need Is A Piano

2011-02-17T17:18:00.000-05:00

I heard that you're settled down
That you found a guy and you're married now
I heard that your dreams came true
Guess he gave you things I didn't give to you
Old friend, why are you so shy?
Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it
I had hoped you'd see my face
And that you'd be reminded that for me, it isn't over

Never mind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you, too
Don't forget me, I beg
I remember you said
"Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead"
Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead, yeah

You know how the time flies
Only yesterday was the time of our lives
We were born and raised in a summer haze
Bound by the surprise of our glory days

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it
I had hoped you'd see my face
And that you'd be reminded that for me it isn't over

Never mind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you, too
Don't forget me, I beg
I remember you said
"Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead"

Nothing compares
No worries or cares
Regrets and mistakes, they're memories made
Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste?

Nevermind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you
Don't forget me, I beg
I remember you said
"Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead"

Nevermind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you, too
Don't forget me, I beg
I remember you said
"Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead"
Sometimes it lasts in love
But sometimes it hurts instead

I had a dream last night about you...

~A

Speechless

2011-01-13T03:41:00.000-05:00

Is this guy my hero or just freaking crazy? You HAVE to watch the clip above. It's funny, honest, mean, wonderful, offensive and everything else rolled into one. No one can deny the dude has some very legitimate points though. Perhaps it's just some tough love?

xoxo

~A

2011 Ramblings

2011-01-04T00:25:00.000-05:00

2011 has arrived, and 2010 was a roller coaster of a year for me. I look back fondly but also remember a lot of drama and moments of disappointment. But all we can do is look forward. Fouad tells me that 2011/my 27th year of existence is the year of the boyfriend. I feel like he says that to me every year, and I am still single. I am kind of making peace with the fact that part of my life is just kind of a disaster zone. I personally think 2011 will be the year of Europe. I have been saying I want to visit that continent for years now. It is a goal to finally make it happen. With my promotion and Google's company wide rise, I should have the finances for it (as long as my SF lifestyle and Gilt Groupe addiction don't get in the way). I am hopeful for the year to come, and I think that's the attitude to have. Kudos to Ramy's ex Cameron and Jenny McCarthy for the Law of Attraction.

I also hope that the Working Gays grow closer and bigger in this coming year. We've had some departures and additions. Friendships have to evolve, but I hope some parts will remain consistent. I love my boys, and bringing them all together is probably one of the biggest accomplishments in life. Without my darling friends, I would have no joy. There would be no stories to share, laughter to be had or connections to be made.

"I drink champagne when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it - unless I'm thirsty." - Madame Lilly Bollinger: a little inspiration from New Year's Eve for you all.

So my dear readers, I send a lot of hugs and kisses your way. I have you in my thoughts and in my heart. May you have a glorious start to 2011!

~A

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T14:52:00.000-05:00

Christmas night, another fight
Tears we cried a flood
Got all kinds of poison in
Poison in my blood

I took my feet
To Oxford Street
Trying to right a wrong
Just walk away
Those windows say
But I can't believe she's gone

When you're still waiting for the snow to fall
Doesn't really feel like Christmas at all

Up above candles on air flicker
Oh they flicker and they float
But I'm up here holding on
To all those chandeliers of hope

Like some drunken Elvis singing
I go singing out of tune
Saying how I always loved you darling
And I always will

Oh when you're still waiting for the snow to fall
Doesn't really feel like Christmas at all

Still waiting for the snow to fall
It doesn't really feel like Christmas at all

Those Christmas lights
Light up the street
Down where the sea and city meet
May all your troubles soon be gone
Oh Christmas lights keep shining on

Those Christmas lights
Light up the street
Maybe they'll bring her back to me
Then all my troubles will be gone
Oh Christmas lights keep shining on

Oh Christmas lights
Light up the street
Light up the fireworks in me
May all your troubles soon be gone
Those Christmas lights keep shining on

May your holiday season be filled with love and all things magical!

~A

The First Annual Slore Awards

2010-12-23T12:01:00.000-05:00

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
is dolling himself up to attend the red carpet event of the year, the first annual #SloreAwards with @chris_nish and @wisswee

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
can't wait to see the glamor, the fashion and more! #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
feels anxiety for all the nominees wondering what award(s) they will walk away with tonight. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
doesn't want to be late to walk the red carpet. Hope the paparazzi will be kind and only capture shots at his good angle. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
found out that tonight's exclusive event is sponsored by Svedka Vodka. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
didn't prepare a thank you speech because that's bad luck.#SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
is not pleased his limo arrived late. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
has finally arrived at the 2010 #SloreAwards. Couture overload!

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
is now toasting the other nominees. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
thinks the anxiety in this auditorium is so intense. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
wonders what celebrity chef prepared the food at the #SloreAwards.

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
is over air kissing these bitches. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
now waits for the actual award ceremony to start. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
sees the lights are dimming. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
can't believe it's starting! #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
just teared up by the first award. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
can't believe he just won his first award! #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
was the best presenter. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
gave out the international award from San Mateo to San Paulo. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
says no in a sexy style. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
just won his second award. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
dedicates this to those who didn't make it. In memorium...#SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
was shocked at that victory. How could she?! #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
agrees with the most multicultural award. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
toasts the Academy and those on the list (the real winners). #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
thinks the 2010 #SloreAwards was really all about humanitarianism.

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
didn't think he would be so emotional. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
loves the #SloreAwards!

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
sees all the A-Listers here. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
hopes everyone joins us at the official after party at Boy Bar at The Cafe. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
congratulates all the winners. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
also would like to thank everyone behind the scene. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
learned that the theme for 2011 is Slore Without Borders. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
celebrates with cheesecake. #SloreAwards

Xander4EVR Alex Chen
is sad that the #SloreAwards has come to an end.

Till next year...

~A

My Days In Pictures

2010-11-30T23:41:00.000-05:00

Dear readers, I no longer share with you the happenings of my day to day. But it's actually still the same. I am the single Gaysian urbanite drinking up a storm (except not on the weekdays now) and documenting it every step of the way. I've missed sharing these stories with all of you. However, it's just not feasible for me now to do the types of updates I did in the past. So enjoy these photographic moments in place of my words.

xoxo my loyal readers. I always cherish our time together.

~A

Sex & Life

2010-11-30T01:30:00.000-05:00

Is monogamy completely out of fashion? It sure seems that way. I hear about so many cases and stories of people being unfaithful, both in the straight world and the gay world. I think people forget the pain that comes with infidelity, and everything situation is unique and different. But at the end of the day, someone is going to get hurt. Perhaps it's time to evolve into open relationships where both parties play with others. I am just not there yet, the idea of sharing my mate in anyway doesn't sound appealing to me. Open relationships work for some couples, but I can't help wonder if it's too great of a compromise. I don't want to be close minded, but I'm kind of traditional when it comes to relationships. And I don't want to change on this. I still dream of Prince Charming and a big white wedding (granted not in a church). I can compromise with the person I am in love with, but I don't want to compromise on the actual relationship.

Gay men or perhaps just men have this strong desire to sleep with as many people as they can. Yes I know, this is a fact as old as time. It is about quantity rather than quality for so many dudes. I saw this first hand recently, and it was disappointing to say the least. And I feel like it's more of a top thing than a power thing, but I do know some skanky bottoms out there who are dying for anything to be stuck up their ass. But thinking about all my top friends compared to my bottom friends, the tops tend to be more promiscuous (also more commonly the cheaters). I hate the feeling of being a choice of many, just waiting to be plucked and then dumped after being used. This scenario seems to be a lot more common among bottoms.

I don't really get a thrill from sleeping with more people. By no means am I a prude because I actually can't count the complete number of guys I've had sex with. I am confident though that it's definitely double digit and no where close to hitting three. But I would even say I would rather have good sex with one person rather than good sex with a lot of people. I like the comfort of knowing a routine, what feels good to the both of us. However, this routine isn't enough for everyone. Others find the unknown and the possibilities to be exciting. I comprehend that but just don't agree with it.

Sex can't always just be sex; emotions and feelings can get involved and make things complicated. Fouad tells me that I don't do the hook ups well, and that I get attached. I am confident to say that is not true, but there definitely have been times when things started out as just casual sex then evolve into a complete mess. I'm single so clearly I don't have a good evolutionary story to share here. Maybe this is also a top and bottom thing as well...nah...probably not.

Be faithful to the one who loves you and don't intervene in others' love affairs, nothing good will ever come from it.

~A

Dedicated To

2010-11-25T12:47:00.000-05:00

There’s a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch, it’s bringing me out the dark
Finally I can see you crystal clear
Go head and sell me out and I’ll lay your shit bare

See how I leave with every piece of you
Don’t underestimate the things that I will do

There’s a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch
And it's bringing me out the dark

The scars of your love remind me of us
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
The scars of your love they leave me breathless
I can’t help feeling
We could have had it all
Rolling in the deep
You had my heart inside of your hand
And you played it
To the beat

Baby I have no story to be told
But I’ve heard one of you
And I’m gonna make your head burn
Think of me in the depths of your despair
Making a home down there
It reminds you of the home we shared

The scars of your love remind me of us
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
The scars of your love they leave me breathless
I can’t help feeling
We could have had it all
Rolling in the deep
You had my heart inside of your hand
And you played it
To the beat

Throw your soul through every open door
Count your blessings to find what you look for
Turned my sorrow into treasured gold
You pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow

We could have had it all
We could have had it all
It all, it all it all
We could have had it all
Rolling in the deep
You had my heart inside of your hand
And you played it
To the beat

You know...

~A

The Strength In Being Gay

2010-10-16T21:08:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, there has been a spike in gay teen suicide recently. It is absolutely heart breaking to see young people so full of promise cut their lives short because of their current hardships. Suicide is never the answer and actually quite selfish considering the pain and suffering you cause those who have to go on living. But we must do something for these kids; they are indeed kids who still need guidance and love. Life can seem so small in your teenage years because it's hard to see the bigger picture and the road ahead. I remember my high school days when homecoming and grades seem like the most important thing on earth. But now I am in the real world living as an adult, it seems almost silly to have been so fixated on those minor things in the past.

Author and all around super guy, Dan Savage, started a series on YouTube called "It Gets Better" that feature gay adults and their allies who share positive stories of overcoming teenage hardship and discrimination. With the help of Perez Hilton, a lot of celebrities and courageous individuals have joined the campaign. I admire the work that these people are doing, but I want to take a different approach. I don't simply want to tell these suffering kids that life sucks for them now, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I actually want to share with them that being gay is WONDERFUL! It's a gift and something to embrace. The sooner they do that, the better their perspective in life will be.

My homosexuality has definitely gotten me some negative comments in the past, but I have never really suffered from being gay. But I actually think some of my strengths in life stems from the fact that I am gay, my ability to be different and still interact well with others. Being gay gives me strength and shapes a huge part of who I am. I wouldn't want to be straight for the life of me because I feel like I would lose so much of my personality, my friendliness, my openness and many other traits that have served me well in life. The idea that being gay is something to suffer through is not the right idea to be put forward. Don't get me wrong, I know there can be tough moments of discrimination and bullying but the positive will always outweigh the negative.

So I say to those of who are lost, confused and hurting, don't let others belittle you or make you think you are less than the straight people. You are actually better! You will experience things and learn skills that the heterosexuals would never have the opportunity to achieve. So when you are sinking into darkness, don't just think there will be light down the line, remember that you are actually special and gifted. Much love y'all!

~A

Invictus

2010-10-13T02:22:00.000-04:00

A prayer to myself by William Ernest Henley:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

That is all for now.

Enough

2010-10-08T02:56:00.000-04:00

The western gate crumbles after one too many battles,
tonight's burgundy sky takes over the air in a tight space
that no reflection can escape or flutter away.

My linen pants are stained with mud and my hands
closed awhile ago. I have indulged in this mood
with the absence of light and now shall be taxed heavily.

When did the bell tower stop ringing? The melody
solidified before the moon and her mother crossed
over to the correct side once again. Two Mistakes.

The water by the cliff looks beautiful this time of the year,
a shame that it will not remain picturesque. These sea
boats got locked away by the salty waves.

Please breathe again but with mouths and nostrils
opened, the minerals flow east through the human
passage way. Anatomy does not mix with the aquatic creatures.

Was it really a war? The scars have been carved
into the skin or perhaps it was the sky again. The gate
looks pathetic now with savage grace and leaded paint.

I learned the art of smiling a millennium ago. Skills learned
shall remain in frozen text boxes. Please don't whisper
because I know the answer from many times before.

~A

A Little Sake

2010-09-29T22:28:00.000-04:00

I had no plans last night, and it felt great to just go home to the Marina. I decided to get takeout from Marina Sushi on Lombard. I hadn't been there in years so I thought why not. When I was asking questions about the menu, the waiter had to ask the sushi chef for the answers. I quickly discovered that they spoke Mandarin. I told them I did too and was actually born in Taiwan. This revelation struck up quite the friendship between the restaurant staff and me. I learned that they just took over the restaurant from the previous Vietnamese owner ten days ago. That explained why the menu looked different than what I saw online. We chatted while I waited for my food. I told them that I live close by and eat out all the time. They were very intrigued by the fact that I work at Google. They even had me explain to their friend who owns Polk Street Florist how AdWords works. The best part was that they even served me two free shots of grapefruit sake. Our conversations were very simple interactions, but it made me so happy after a long day of work. I definitely plan on going back to support their restaurant. My friends constant tease me about my desire to be white, but they are definitely wrong. I am so proud of my Taiwanese heritage and my ability to speak Mandarin. I would never trade that.

Due to a certain trainer's persistence, (don't ever let people tell you to give up), I signed up for 15 personal training sessions. I got a great deal because Erik is my friend, but it still cost me a pretty penny. But knowing how much my friend Dustin paid for his 15 sessions made me feel much better. My previous trainer Ryan wasn't that great, but he did get me into a gym routine and that was what I needed two years ago. Erik however understands that now I have a different goal...I want to look even leaner with better arms, tighter abs and a bigger chest. That means pretty much no lower buddy exercise, no one really looks at your legs anyways. Thanks to all the classes I think I am in the best shape of my life, but I did feel like I am plateauing and need another push. I've done two sessions with Erik so far; they are definitely tough but strangely enjoyable at the same time. Yesterday was also the first time in years that I actually bench pressed. I'm sore right now, but this is a good thing. The most shocking part was that Erik informed me that I am in a "calories deficit" = I don't eat enough! O_o He said all my working out is like a factory working hard but lacking resources inside of it. I've always thought I was a BIG GIRL but apparently not. So now I am really stepping up my daily consumption especially more protein. I am not a breakfast guy but now I am having at least eggs in the morning. Let's hope we see some definitive results at the end of all this.

Promise this if I die before I wake oh
Promise this take a time to say your grace
On your knees you pray for me
Promise this to be the last to kiss my lips

Take good care of yourself my darling readers!

~A

Like A G6

2010-09-08T01:16:00.000-04:00

Y'all still remember me? I have been away and busy with living life. I feel bad neglecting my blog, but there is just not enough time and energy for me to keep up the constant writing these days. I think I just need a break. The daily updates and detail reciting of my life got to be too much. Don't get me wrong, I always enjoyed doing it, but I think I may need some time to store up some inspiration (and motivation) before dedicating myself to this online journal with the same zeal of the past. I hope you are all well though. One quick advice from me, I have been doing this new routine in the morning as I commute to work. I made a mental list of all the things I am grateful in life. I learned this through Tiny Buddha (follow them on Twitter), and it's supposed to help you start your day on a positive note. As you do it more and more, the daily thank yous will form a link of good energy. I enjoy doing it, try it out yourself!

Several weeks ago, Maryam, Megan, Matt and I met for a very early brunch at Lime. Dear Megan who was spending the summer in SF made the reservation for us. She sadly booked us a 10AM slot, and I never got the chance to change it. So I rallied and showed up to Lime at the designated time and was shocked to find plenty of people there already. Lime brunch has gotten completely OOC! But I am happy to see it as a SF institution but kinda sad to see more and more straight people taking over a lot of the tables. Of course the gays start something great, and then the breeders take over. We got seated at a wonderful booth and started the massive amount of mimosa drinking. Before we knew it, we were all pretty drunk. Too bad the food still didn't taste any better. In my drunkenness, I actually had the good sense to book the Working Gays a table for Castro Street Fair. The funniest thing was a table for ten at 12 or 1 on that day had already been taken. I ended up having to bed Laila (who is now a manager) to make an exception for me. She actually had to somewhat hack the computer system and enter him two passwords and her e-signature in order to pull it off. OMG! I was super grateful though. We drank and drank to the point that we actually used up our full two hours at the table. Laila asked us very nicely to vacate our table.

The only thing to do at that point was to start a Castro pub crawl. It was only noon though, and we were all like blackout drunk. I thought we should go to the LookOut because people always go there on Sundays except it was too early, and the place wasn't even open. We had to continue to mobilize down towards Castro Street. Trigger was up and running because of the Utopia party that day. We stopped by for their drink special, and Matt almost talked all of us of getting on the shuttle and going to Burlingame to attend the party. Surprisingly I was able to talk some sense into him about us not having bathing suits on and how expensive the tickets were. I decided it was best for us to move on before Matt changed his mind, and we all find ourselves leaving SF. Our next stop was supposed to be Badlands, but they were closed to. FML! So we went to Harvey's next door to have more mimosas and Bloody Marys until Badlands opened for us to take advantage of their 2:1 drink specials. In retrospect, I have no idea how we drank so much. It was also a surreal experience to be the only patrons in Badlands. Megan even got on the bar at one point! Also none of us can remember why we took pictures with some random old men on the street. In the end, we all sorta split up to go home. I somehow managed to get a Subway sandwich before jumping into a cab. We were all hung over and dying by 2PM. The next day, we all shared our via email. Sunday Funday was a total success! See all the pics from that epic Sunday here.

So that was a little snippet of all the adventures since my last update. Nothing new is going on with my life really, but I can at least say I manage to have fun. James told me once that I shouldn't be upset because I'm "fabulous." But let me tell you, the same kind of fabulous gets old. And I am deeper than just having fun and air kisses. Alright folks, I've written more than I anticipated. I should be in bed because we have a global all hands tomorrow at 7AM. And I need to save my energy to celebrate Chrisn's big night tomorrow. There is gonna even be carbs in the cards for him. It's his last day at his old job; the girl got a new gig at a bigger PR firm. Congrats again Chrisn!

~A

PS: Oh yeah, I can't stop buying jackets, shirts and pants from Gilt Groupe and H&M. So poor...but you can't blame me for wanting to look stylish.

Beatle

2010-08-24T00:49:00.000-04:00

Summer's moist licks the outer layer of everything,
the texture is rich like chocolate from Africa.
The sunset rests upon the curved part where yesterday's
horizon had shined a little brighter and warmer.

Insects survive all catastrophes, mystery to the eaters
and priests. Marble temples drenched in holy water,
a pretense that cleanses so well. The vapor from the heat
embodies aroma of jasmine and saffron.

Homes on fire look mesmerizing in the night with flaming
arm chairs singing a bitter melody. One cannot ignore
the chorus of dos and don'ts. For good this time
because originality tastes like lukewarm tap water.

One creature hides its wings for the sake of pleasantry.
Foolishness doesn't even begin to describe the mistake,
which will hollow out the essence of this fine piece of land.
Dream, dear creature, dream tonight again.

The bite hurts the worst so show them your teeth.

~A

Danger Of The Closet

2010-08-11T02:59:00.000-04:00

I watched "Outrage" this weekend and found it to be very good, and I am usually not a big fan of documentaries. The premise of the film was about closeted Republicans who are movers and shakers in DC and whose legislative actions have actually hurt plenty of gay people. I thought it was a film that needed to be made, and I came to the conclusion that I am a supporter of outing others (especially those in power). Barney Frank stated int he film that people dictate harsher laws when they think they aren't subjected to them. Gay politicians cannot be protected behind a veil of secrecy while they vote against marriage equality, anti-discrimination protection and AIDS research. It's not a just rationale to do these things for one's career. I understand there are very serious consequences to outing and it is a violation of privacy, but we have to think of the greater good when it comes to closeted politicians, where they are Republicans or Democrats. You can never lead my example and lie to yourself. More importantly, you are betraying your people. We gays have to fight against the straight homophobes; we simply can't be fighting traitors within our own community.

I don't think I was ever fully in the closet, and I never viewed being gay as a bad thing. I guess I was very lucky growing up that way. Keep in mind that I grew up in conservative Orange County with very traditional Asian parents, but I always felt comfortable and confident in who I am. And I can definitely rationalize and compromise when it comes to certain moral issues, but I could never further my own career and ambition at the cost of hurting others especially when it's a demographic I belong to. At the end of the day, we have to be able to live with ourselves. Even with money and power, I know I wouldn't be happy if I were living a double life like these dishonest politicians. You don't have to announce to the world you are gay, but you better make sure you don't help pass laws that hurt your fellow queens. When I was younger, there were instances when I was mum about my sexuality; I would crack a joke or divert the question. But today, I absolutely refuse to do that. I am proud to be a gay man and more important I am proud for the type of gay man I am. I am eccentric, loud and even flamboyant, but I am okay with all that. They are all traits to to my essence.

Please see this film when you have a chance. It's eye opening and shows you the importance of knowing who you are. Not to mention, it was strangely entertaining in a away. The last clip the film showed featured Harvey Milk who said that if every gay person comes out, we would win this culture war. It's such a simple idea, but I truly believe that is key.

"They have been chasing us for years, we're going to chase back" - D.C Council Member David Cantina

~A

San Francisco Of Canada

2010-08-06T22:41:00.000-04:00

I had mentioned awhile back that Matthew and I made a trip to Vancouver to celebrate Fourth Of July weekend. I know what y'all are thinking, how patriotic of Matthew and me to go visit our neighbor up North on the birthday of our great nation. Well at least it turned out to be Canada Day on the day I arrived. I had no idea the Canadians were so patriotic. Am I ignorant because I didn't think the Canadians had to go through any turmoil to become a nation. We on the other hand had to fight a war against the British to gain our independence. My first day in town was by myself; Matthew wasn't getting in until like 2AM. I checked into the very centrally located and elegant Sutton Place Hotel. Thanks to Matthew's AMEX, we got a very good deal. I need to travel more because I all freaked out that I wouldn't have my iPhone to direct me to places. Corey made fun of me and said that the last time he checked Canadians spoke English, and I could just go up to one of them to ask for directions.

Once I rested up a bit, I went downstairs to the concierge to see what to do around Vancouver. It turns out that the city is actually about half the size of SF, but that means I can walk everywhere. And y'all know I am not a fan of walking. I decided to go shopping on Robson street filled with a lot of stores. I bought two sweet shirts from Zara since they were on sale; there used to be a day when that would have been a great deal, but now that the Canadian dollar is 1:1 to the US dollar, it was just meh. After more shopping (without being able to check in on Yelp), I stopped by a pretty cool bar and had a martini. Hey, if I had to spend so much time by myself, I might as well be liquored up a bit. The bartender was pretty friendly to chat with a out of towner, not to mention super hot. That was also where I discovered that Canadians measured their shots of alcohol, total boo! It apparently was the law. Matthew and I later discovered that you also could only buy alcohol from licensed liquor stores (like in Pennsylvania). I decided not to have another drink and headed to the Davie street, which was the "alternative" part of the city as the concierge explained to me. It felt like I was in the Castro, I am not kidding! I went into 1181, which was super bumping (a special party to celebrate Canada Day). I ordered a Ketel on the rocks, also measured in a shot glass and sat down. I thought I could do the whole gay bar thing by myself, but I was dead wrong. It felt so awkward that I downed my drink and practically ran out. It was still kinda early, but I decided to grab some ramen and a Canadian beer to show my support for our neighbor. After dinner, I got a cupcake for dessert and decided to head back to the hotel. I took a long hot bath in the big bathroom and watched a marathon of "The City" before going to bed anticipating Matthew's arrival.

When Matthew arrived, the real adventure began. We hit up Grainville Island, which had a great public market and other miscellaneous shops and galleries. We took a water boat over, which was very rainbow themed; I guess Canadians really love their gays. Matthew wanted to drink a lot whenever we were on the island so we hit up several of the bars where he shared the wisdom, "We gotta eat cheap so we can drink." LOL! The island was gorgeous and clearly a highlight of the city; it was always packed with people. The food was also yummy, and we took advantage of tasting the seafood. Matthew had coffee and baked goods, which I passed on. We went back to the island on another day to watch the musical, "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," which I had always wanted to see back in the states. I was totes excited that I had the opportunity to catch it again, and the show was even altered to fit a bunch of Canadian references. The island was small but definitely a must visit in Vancouver. I also came to the conclusion that even if I had the money, I have no interest in buying a boat.

We took advantage of nightlife in Vancouver by having a lot of amazing dinners and hitting up Davie street together. The first night, we had an expensive meal at some bistro, which was mediocre. Matthew was very underwhelmed especially because of the price tag that came with it. Not to mention, the martinis were served in regular classes. So not classy! We did have an amazing dinner at Italian Kitchen, the past was out of this world. The staff was also super friendly; they seemed to love SF and NY where Matthew and I are from. One night we decided to do some more mellow so we watched, "The Last Airbender," which had seemed so good from the trailer. But M. Night Shyamalan royally fucked up in the making of the film. That dude seriously hasn't made a good movie since "The Sixth Sense." Davie Street was a lot more fun with Matthew. We went back to 1181 as well as Numbers, which I thought was actually a bathhouse. Well I was wrong, thank goodness! The biggest night club Vancouver had for the gays was Celebrities; we didn't make it because of the expensive cover. It was fine because we did class it up and ate several late night meals at Denny's, which had these amazing machines that the waiters bring to your table that automatically split your table's bill and let you pay separately very easily. Matthew and I decided that we would start a business back in the States selling these nifty devices.

There was also plenty of site seeing to be done. We walked to pretty every neighborhood in the city. There was the beach where we saw a super cool statue and some kinky Canadian woman putting her hand down her husband's pants, so not okay to be done in public! We went to Chinatown to get dim sum; the restaurant was busy, but the food wasn't very good, and the service was horrible. There was also a lot of poverty around the Chinatown area, which was pretty depressing. What I did like better was the Gastown district, which had a very classic feel with cobblestone roads. There was this steam clock tower that everyone was fascinated with. Yaletown was where we did some shopping (didn't buy anything because everything was super pricey), but we did pick a $30 bottle of Skyy Vodka. Eeek! It made me miss Safeway back in SF so badly. We also went to the Olympic Cauldron from the 2010 games; silly Matthew thought it would still be burning. Oh by the way, there were tons of Japanese restaurants in all the neighborhoods, more of them than coffee shops. I am totally not kidding. A lot of rice queens live in Vancouver?

The last thing to mention was that Matthew felt ambitious and decided that we would rent a car and get out of the city. At first, I was hesitant about the idea. But then I remembered that I did a road trip in Cabo, Mexico. Canada would totally be doable then. So Matthew took care of all th logistics and the driving. We got some information from our hotel and then hit the road. We first drove through Stanley Park, which felt just like Golden Gate Park. Matthew wanted to bike through it originally, but I totally preferred the automobile experience. Instead of taking the freeway, we took a very scenic route up to Horseshoe Bay, which was literally three restaurants, two shops and a Starbucks. It was a very cute beach town but super tiny. We had oysters there, but that was pretty much all there was to do. So we drove all the way to Whistler, a famous ski resort where a lot of the Olympic events took place. It took a good two hours to make it, and that was with Matthew's aggressive driving. I couldn't even tell how fast we were going because everything was in kilometers. Whistler was nice, but there wasn't much to do since we weren't spending the night, and we had gotten there pretty late in the day. I did eat a lot of nachos and drank two glasses of wine, which put me in an excellent mood!

Anyways, I am glad we went on the trip and saw everything we wanted in Vancouver. Thank you to Matthew for the wonderful idea. I really liked Canada, but I think I will stick around in the United States even though I can't get married here. Take a look at all our pics here and here.

~A

Quarter Life Crisis

2010-07-29T04:05:00.000-04:00

Perhaps that is what I am going through right now. I am anxious a lot of the time, and it ain't a pleasant feeling. Maybe it's all the stress at work or the general sense of lostness in my life now. I desperately wanna go on vacation, but I know it would just mean more work piled up when I return, the responsibilities of being an adult. And no, I don't wanna go back to school right now even though that seems to be the popular trend. I like making money and frankly, I wouldn't even know what to go back to school for. I guess getting a MBA would make the most sense. However, there is just no passion in me for it (at least in this part of my life). I'm going home to Irvine at the end of August, and that should be nice as long as my parents don't drive me crazier than I am now. Some sun and relaxation are good for the soul.

I haven't even been able to get myself to sit down and blog. I truly apologize about that. Generally, I always feel better after writing down my thoughts and sharing them with such a special audience like you. It's past 1AM, and I have an early meeting with Juliet. I really should go to bed. I need all my strength to make it through the week since I had to travel to North Carolina for work on Monday and Tuesday. Flying east is beyond exhausting especially when you don't have a direct flight.

My friends keep me sane and bring the main joy in my life. Below are some pictures from Pride 2010 that I never had a chance to blog about. And the last two are from an evening of dinner at Absinthe, Idina Menzel concert and Chicken Strip go go contest at the Cinch. One thing that is still going is my social life. I may not be able to pull many tricks out of my bad, but I still know how to have a good time with the Working Gays.

I love you guys! Without all y'all, my life would be bleak, and I probably would have left SF a long time ago. SF is an amazing city, but it's my darling friends who make this place what it is. Uniting the Working Gays is one of the best things I've ever done in my life. And I don't think it's a hyperbole at all!

~A

PS: This is my first entry using the new post editor, thanks for introducing it to me Letopho. It's still kinda confusing to us, but it's supposedly much easier to blog. We'll see

My Discovery Yesterday (Since It's Past Midnight Now)

2010-07-19T03:23:00.000-04:00

According to Wikipedia, Darin is a Swedish pop singer of Kurdish descent who was first runner-up in Idol 2004. Darin has after that gone on to become one of Sweden's best-selling singers, with numerous chart topping songs and music albums.

Just imagine how you would feel
If you would be the one they're picking on
Would you, would you be the who's gonna stand up strong

Honestly
Would you let us lie break down and cry, oh
Would you would you would you
Never let nobody step on your right

What if it was your brother, sister, mother, father, child
Then would it still be cool
Why can't you see your words are hurting
Everybody deserves to be themselves and no one else
So think before you move

What about if that was you
That would be the victim (victim)
Of the criticism and they treated you that cruel
What about if that was you
That would be bullied (bullied)
How would you feel if they were doing it to you

What about if that was you
How would you would you would you feel
Honestly
How would you would you would you feel
If they were doing it to you

Just imagine how you would feel
If everybody always laughed at you
Would you would you would you
They think it's ok with me and you

If you were me
And the people 'round you were having you down now
Would you would you would you
Like if they did that to you

What if it was your brother, sister, mother, father, child
Then would it still be cool
Why can't you see your words are hurting
Everybody deserves to be themselves and no one else
So think before you move

What about if that was you
That would be the victim (victim)
Of the criticism and they treated you that cruel
What about if that was you
That would be bullied (bullied)
How would you feel if they were doing it to you

What about if that was you
That would be the victim (victim)
Of the criticism and they treated you that cruel
What about if that was you
That would be bullied (bullied)
How would you feel if they were doing it to you

What about if that was you
How would you would you would you feel
Honestly
How would you would you would you feel
If they were doing it to you

What about if that was you
That would be the victim (victim)
Of the criticism and they treated you that cruel
What about if that was you
That would be bullied (bullied)
How would you feel if they were doing it to you

Great song especially for the gays and the disenfranchised. And yes, I am also surprised that Darin isn't gay.

~A

"I"

2010-07-19T02:52:00.000-04:00

My lovely readers, I think you are probably wondering why there has been a lack of postings. I just haven't been inspired to write, perhaps it's because I am so behind on updating all my adventures or cuz I just have a lot on my mind. I feel like I am in a strange spot right now, and it's really all internal. Nothing in my life has really changed. People often ask me, "What's new?" And I hardly ever have anything to share. Yes, I went out...ate at this great restaurant...still single...Is that sad? Or is no news good news? Chrisn and I had dinner the other night, and we were bitching about all the tough situations in our lives. But on the other hand, I know there would be people out there who would kill for our lives. Overall, we've got it good. But it's never enough. We want more money, more lovers, more experiences...I think it's just the culture we are accustomed to now. My mom actually told me that I shouldn't stress so much about work and making more money. She instead told me to live a simpler life and then that way I would have more money by saving. I told her she is removed from American society and reality. LOL!

Maybe I just need some kind of positive change, which is easier said than done. I don't know...I was really impressed to find out fellow blogger of "blah" decided to move to Seoul, Korea and totally did it! That is simply amazing in my book. I am not sure I am ready to leave SF even though several dear friends have moved on. But maybe that's the part of me playing it safe. On the other hand, I can't just move without a job or a place to live. And with my spending habits, we all know there isn't some money saved up somewhere for a rainy day. But I know deep in my heart, I will have to leave San Francisco one day. I wouldn't be surprised if I return eventually, but I can't settle yet. My dreams and ambitions are too big! If you are a young homo reading this and have yet to experience gay city life, I highly recommend SF to you (more than NY, LA or any other metropolitan areas in the US) because there is such a sense of community, culture and history for the gays here. It's just a feeling tied in the fabrication of this 7x7 town.

Don't call my name.
Don't call my name, Alejandro.
I'm not your babe.
I'm not your babe, Fernando.
Don't wanna kiss, don't wanna touch.
Just smoke one cigarette and hush.
Don't call my name.
Don't call my name, Roberto.

I'm growing out my hair, say goodbye to the fauxhawk that I've had since sophomore year of college. My hair is currently in the awkward stage where it's semi long and semi short. I went to my stylist David (who just opened his own salon with his wife called Lustre, such an amazing space; I am so happy for them) today to have him do some clean up. He recommended that I keep growing it out for another cycle before we actually cut it into a style. He said my hair has great potential; I am excited! The good news is if it doesn't work out, I can always cut it short again.

So in conclusion to this multi topic and random entry, I probably won't be updating y'all on all the day to day events of my life. I will still do that to a certain degree, but I am making peace that I can't blog about every drunken episode, party, dining experience. If you wanna still keep up on all the happenings of my social life, I recommend you add me on Facebook because I will always post pictures. Ultimately, I think this may be a good change for this blog...stay tuned!

~A

Happy SF Pride '10! California Boyz

2010-07-12T22:13:00.000-04:00

It took me over two hours last night to get all the pictures from SF PRIDE 2010 up on Facebook. Cropping, uploading and tagging photos really take forever. I've said this before but thank goodness I don't know how to use Photoshop because if I had to touch up pictures, I would never be able to make it out of the house. So SF PRIDE was a total blast this year. I always get so nervous about making plans and making sure the Working Gays have an action packed agenda. Things were kind of up in the air this year in the beginning, and that made me quite nervous. However, the gay gods smiled upon us, and we had a killer weekend. Everything started on Friday night with dinner at 2223. Chrisn, Tom, Bill and I gathered for a late dinner. Rudy, Cameron and Ramy were supposed to join us, but they missed their flight from LA. But we are SUCH good friends, we stalled at the table by drinking up a storm. Our waiter was actually all about liquoring us about. What can I say, the spirit of PRIDE was all around. Eventually, the three SoCal boys made it and got their order in time that our food pretty much came out at the same time. I hadn't been to 2223 in awhile, and it was quite delicious even though my seafood dish was kinda small.

After dinner, we wanted to go to Badlands first before heading to the The Cafe for Boy Bar, but word got to us that the line at Badlands was already very long. We totally lucked out that as we were walking to the bar, our friends were right at the front of the line. It was also quite the eclectic group of people, merging of several posses. It was great to see everyone though. I caught up with Jeremy and Aaron just to name a few. I still like Aaron even though he keeps accusing of me trying to steal STRAIGHT Corey away from him as a friend. Whatever! Well it turned out that William and Austin were at the front, and everyone ended up cutting in line. I am surprised the people behind us did not cause a scene and tackle us to the ground. There were so many of us! I was so grateful that we were able to get into the hottest spot on PRIDE Friday night with little difficulties. Thanks Cousin and Austin! Of course I used the line waiting time to conduct a mini photo shoot.

Once inside, the place was busy but not super packed. I guess The Cafe wanted to really control the crowd so nothing would be too out of control. I blinked, and we saw a bunch of the other boys we know. How did everyone get in so easily with the crazy line?! I grabbed Cousin and Chrisn and attacked the bar. I was surprisingly sober from all the drinks at dinner. But you can always count on the Castro bars to pour you some super strong cocktails. If we can't get married in CA, at least we can drink ourselves silly. The vibe at The Cafe was so friendly and not cunty at all, not always the case at Boy Bar. We danced, hugged, kissed and drank like how gays should behave. Surprisingly, nothing too scandalous happened in my recollection. No pants were dropped, no body part was whipped out or perhaps I simply didn't stay late enough. But who says gay men need raunchiness to have a good time?! Yeah right...we were at Boy Bar after all with near naked go go boys gyrating all around us.

Towards the end of the evening, Chrisn, Juan-Carlos and I all got that look in our eyes. What look? The second dinner look! We walked to Bagdad, which thankfully still had some open tables. Should we have been embarrassed by this?! JC and I ate like big girls while Chrisn got something healthy, so unrewarding! We tried to feed Chrisn French fries, but he wasn't having it. It was also a miracle that I actually got a cab home. I had thought I would be stranded in the Castro for forever. Not too shabby for the first night! See all the pics from PRIDE Friday here and here.

~A

Engage

2010-07-08T01:28:00.000-04:00

I have returned from my vacation in Canada and really need to buckle down to catch up with my blogging. Two weeks ago was our Americas Sales Conference where many of our offices around the world descended into SF for a week of team unity. It was overwhelming to have so many people in the SF office, but I thoroughly enjoyed our conference. It's really important to get together once a year. The first day started with an offsite that I helped put together. We all gathered at Hillstone for appetizers and a lot of wine (we brought our own in bulk since there was no corkage fee, score!) We all got quite buzzed before heading over to our night cruise of Alcatraz. In the spirit of adventure, a group of us decided to sneak onto the boat the rest of the wine we had left over. We had our own booze cruise. It was all great and grand until two of our team members got caught. And the security guard of Alcatraz was a total hard ass. It was totally ridiculous! I had no idea what was going down on the dock until it was all said and done; I felt so bad for W. and C. Wa wa wa...but W. escaped with just a citation even though there was the threat of arrest. After the tour, several of us finished the night at Red Jack Saloon, fun but so trashy!

The next morning we had our Local team meeting at Yerba Buena Park. It was nice to be outside and discuss our business, team, culture, obstacles, wins and goals. We had a very honest conversation about many things that were top of mind. I give Juliet mad kudos for speaking her mind, that is one trait I have always admired about her. I also won the award for that special someone that makes work pleasant. I felt to be dubbed that title because it was the perfect award for me! Too bad the prize was a cheap plastic toy, oh well! I will take what I can get. After several hours in the park, we headed back to the office to do some work and of course take some fake executive photos. Brian, Corey and I looked amazing! We are professionals ready to close some deals! I love these two "bro'ed out" frat boys. And this is proof that I can get along very well with straight guys.

Tuesday evening started the big conference, and that was where the intensity started. Mayor Gavin Newsom welcomed us with a grand opening speech. We heard from several more teams and speakers before ending the night with a food festival at Mint Plaza. Google rented out all the restaurants within the plaza; the food was amazing! I couldn't stop eating. Then the party moved to Mezzanine. I started drinking doubles there, which was a total mistake. Thankfully, I didn't get too drunk to sing karaoke. That would have been embarrassing beyond words. I do remember having some crazy dance party at the front of the stage. This year, those of us who live in SF didn't get hotel rooms so I somehow got my drunk ass home that night. Thankfully I wasn't too hung over the next, which was the longest day of the conference. I got a special shout out by our Director because he had me film a video segment talking about my favorite client. It was quite the amazing exposure; people said I was famous! LOL! I definitely am not famous, but it was surreal to be seen on the big screen by over 2000 people. I will skip the rest of the business details but I was excited to see the CEO of Gilt. A part of me wanted to let her know her company is the reason why I am so broke all the time!

The party that evening took place at the Moscone Center. We ate and drank while watching a dance talent contest; all the performers were quite good. Too bad Travis and Rebecca's team didn't win though, but our Ann Arbor folks did knock it out of the park. I had so many drink tickets because I am friends with the event planner. Sadly, I didn't realize that the tickets were only good at Moscone and not at the after party. I should have given more of them away in the beginning because the Gayglers all mobilized to Trigger instead of the official after party at Mezzanine again. It was my idea to go to Trigger, and I was horrified at first when we arrived because the whole place was dead empty. Luckily, we needed to an empty place to house all the Gayglers who ended up showing up. It also made me happy that some non-Gayglers like Jason and William also showed up. I barely remember the evening because I made the mistake of mixing all sorts of alcohol. Bill's ex (a Director) bought tequila shots for people, but no one wanted to drink them. So I had to take one for the team and drink several of them, which didn't mix well with the wine I had before and the vodka and Red Bull I had after. Apparently, Bill had to put me in a cab because I was too messy. Bill likes to exaggerate my drunken episodes, but when I saw a pic of me with my arm around a Managing Director, I was shocked speechless. Granted that I got messy in the Castro and not at the official work party. For some odd reason, that made me feel better. No matter what, the Gayglers and their straight friends took the Castro by storm! Too bad I didn't last till the very end (to find out who went home with who). See all the pics from that night here.

The next morning was ugly. I felt like death and discovered that I had probably thrown up somewhere considering the condition of my clothes. I was happy though that I was in my own bed with all my belongings with me. Through sheer will power, I made it to the rest of the conference. That afternoon was painful, but I am glad I went. I remember sitting there in the audience thinking that I never wanted to drink again...don't worry, that thought didn't last long. When ASC was finally all over, I went to the gym for a quick run. I needed some exercise to badly to keep my sanity. In the evening, I made a quick stop at Juliet's house party all the way out in Cole Valley that she threw in honor of our Ann Arbor team members. I didn't stay too long because I was exhausted. I managed to take the 43 home and get some dinner at Noodle Theory before calling it a night. Sleep felt amazing that night!

~A

Airplanes & Shooting Stars

2010-07-01T02:02:00.000-04:00

BET Videos

Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now
Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now

-

Alright let's pretend Marshall Mathers never picked up a pen
Let's pretend things would have been no different
Pretend he procrastinated, had no motivation
Pretend he just made excuses that were so paper thin,
They could blow away with the wind

-

Airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars
I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now

Songs can transcend rhythm and emotions and take you to a very special place.

~A

PS: I'm going on vacation to Vancouver, Canada tomorrow. I shall blog again when I return early next week. Peace!

It's A Wrap

2010-06-30T02:23:00.000-04:00

Bill and I went down to Mountain View on a Friday to attend a speed dating event with interns at work. Wait...let me clarify, we weren't going to date the interns but rather to meet them to see if we could be compatible as mentors and mentees. The event was super intense, 5 minutes with 10 interns back to back. I was tired of talking and smiling in the end. But I met a lot of cool people, and it brought me back to the days when I was an intern in New York. Gosh I was so young back then. I ended up getting paired up with an intern named Alex who is working on my team in SF. I am glad I am participating in this programs. He is a great kid from the University of Wisconsin and actually lives in a building close to mine in the Marina. Talk about a small world!

Later that evening, Anthony along with his boyfriend came into town because a real estate mogul wanted Anthony to perform at his daughter's 21st birthday. She was apparently a huge 'Rent' fan. Anthony's sister is a total power shaker and mover in SF (She was just chatting with "Eric," our CEO at an event a couple of weeks ago. Alyssa has also met Jerry Brown and other CA politicians). WOW! She came through and got us a reservation at SF's hottest restaurant, Quince. Chrisle has been raving about the place for forever. At 9PM, Anthony, Michael, Alyssa, her gorgeous friend Katherine and I met at the restaurant. Bill of course showed up twenty minutes late. I told him to take a cab, and he said he wouldn't have to. Hmmm...Alyssa was quite the wine connoisseur and chose three phenomenal bottles of wine for us to pair with our meal. We started with a bubbly white, then another white and a medium bodied red. I wish I remembered all the intricacies and descriptions of the wine. The food was definitely amazing, and Quince lived up to its hype. The wait staff was phenomenal but also potentially because several of them recognized Anthony. The dinner time conversation was deep filled with talks of art, politics and culture. I was exhausted by the end of meal from having to think so much...I like the Working Gays' conversations made up of sex and celebrity gossip. LOL! It was wonderful to see Anthony and get meet his inspiring sister who just is quite the woman. Bill wanted me to go with him to the Castro to meet the boys, but I just wasn't up for it considering dinner ended at like midnight. I took a cab home and read in bed instead. YES, I do read and YES, I did do it on a Friday night.

The next evening was Cindy's fundraiser for Jane Kim who is running for Supervisor in District of SF. The event was taking place at a fancy loft down in Soma. I ran into horrible traffic getting down there because Genetech was doing some kind of charity concert at AT&T Park. My cab driver was actually so nice in that he gave me a discount. I tipped him well to make up for it. But I did finally get to the event where I brought Scott, Bill, Dave and William. Cindy put me down on the hosting committee to give me some recognition for recruiting the gays. That was sweet of her! It was my mini version of hosting a HRC table. The event was an Iron Chef cook off. Cindy chose the secret ingredient to be kimchi. While the two chefs stressed in the kitchen, the rest of us drank a lot of wine and toured the loft. Dave and Bill kept nagging me about my drinking; they should know I would never get messy at a political event hosted by my cousin! I have common sense. The chefs ended up delivering some amazing dishes using kimchi. I thought both of them knocked it out of the park with delicious and innovative recipes. And it wasn't because the wine made all of us hungry. The dude I voted for won in the end. The candidate eventually showed up to give a speech and chat with us. She was very eloquent, approachable, intelligent and super pretty! I hope she wins; Cindy thinks she has a really good chance. Towards the end, a bunch of people helped to clean up the apparently because the hosts' parents were visiting the next day. I offered to wash the dishes, but Cindy wouldn't let me because she felt guilty putting me to work. I am not really THAT big of a princess.

The boys went home to change before heading out. I knew if I went home to the Marina, I would not make it out. I remembered that Harrison's going away party was happening at the LookOut. I wanted to meet Austin at Badlands, but I think he was too drunk to text me back. I arrived at a pack house at the LookOut. To my surprise, there was actually good music playing and dancing! That never happens at the LookOut. Harrison and co. were quite drunk already. That's the way you gotta do it if you plan on leaving SF. I actually knew several guests who were there. Bill, Jason and William met up with me there as well. Bill got Lindsay and Jen to show up as well. Lindsay was back in town for our sales conference after having moved back to Atlanta. And the girl was looking good! The South did wonders for her. We partied it up BIG TIME! I even got to meet the infamous Gus (wink to Chrisn and Cousin). After being liquored enough, I decided to go home even though Bill thought I was gonna go slore. Yeah right!

See all the pics from Saturday night here. The weekend ended with shabu shabu at Cafe Mums with Chrisn and Emily. Such a yummy meal!

~A

No Stopping

2010-06-26T20:33:00.000-04:00

I am finally done with our Americas Sales Conference but am now in the middle of Pride. Life never slows down for a second. Before all the ASC madness began, I met up with Jessica for a wonderful Greek dinner at Mezes in the Marina. Chrisle had recommended that we go there for their special Monday night prix fixe dinner and take advantage of their BYOB option with no corkage fee. Too bad he went to South America when we actually went. Sadness for him...not really...I would love to go to Brazil and Argentina. Jessica and I had a delicious meal and got quite the buzz from all that wine. It was because of the wine that I came up with the best slogan for Jessica's PRIDE shirts, which I will reveal on a later entry.

The next day, my old manager Katie, my current manager Shannon and I took Deb, our Industry Marketing Manager for Education, out for drinks after work. Deb was visiting us from NY. I originally wanted us to go to The Bubble Lounge, but they wouldn't let us in because Deb didn't have her ID on her. Stupid move because Deb is clearly over 21 and married, and The Bubble Lounge was completely empty. We moved onto to Aventine around the corner who also asked for ID but didn't cause a fuss. The bar was super cute, and we were able to snag a table right by the window from a bunch of businessmen. We had a great time chatting. Corey (my lawyer friend, not my AM) walked by randomly even though we had planned to get dinner after drinks. What a coincidence! We went to Caffe Macararoni for pasta and wine and caught up with our lives. The waiters were super Italian; it felt quite authentic. After dinner, Corey took me to Tosca, this very famous and classic bar in North Beach, for more drinks. I loved the aura of the place. I was exhausted by the end of the night and didn't have it go to the strip bars with Corey...LOL...kidding! We're classy gentlemen and don't do that.

Wednesday night, Bill and I grabbed dinner with Chrisn who was leaving the next day to go down to Irvine for a concert performance. Chrisn' old choir teacher was retiring, and a bunch of the alums reunited for a special concert. So sweet of Chrisn to do that! We went to CPK, a classic favorite and discovered that we could do half orders of different flavors in one pizza. Chrisn and I were so excited! It felt the discovery of the decade considering how long we both have been going to CPK. Chrisn left to go practice singing with Jay while Bill and I headed to A-List at Ducca. Bill and I haven't shown up to A-List together in forever, and a rumor was brewing that it was because we were fighting. We had cocktails and sat around a big table having some great conversations with old friends and new ones. A-List is fun when there are tons of people, and you are air kissing up a storm, but sometimes it's even better to actually sit down and talk to people.

Thursday was great as well...LOL!

~A

Coworker Love

2010-06-21T02:16:00.000-04:00

I love working with Corey and Brian. I call them my frat boys. They are so funny, and the three of us make quite the team. I am sad that Corey will be switching pod and working with Bill next quarter. He will still sit close to us, but it won't be the same. Bill and Annie are cool but nothing like Brian and me. We BRO'ed out! Lee Anne dubbed us the best dressed pod, and we do somehow seem to coordinate our outfit pretty often. We decided that we would do a pink shirt day, which was a total hit! Everyone was asking us about it; some people actually thought we did it by accident. LOL! That would have been a bit much. On another coworker front, Jen left Google last week to go get her MBA at Columbia. She was an old timer whom I adored. I was sad to see her fall victim to attrition on our team. We all gathered at Palomino for one last happy hour with Jen. I had a really good time, and Katie (who was both of our manager at one point) ended up paying for all the drinks and all the appetizers. Super nice of her! I wish Jen all the luck of the world and hope to see her in NY one day.

After happy hour, I went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for a Dine About Town dinner with Chrisn, Cindy and William. Ruth's Chris is like my favorite DAT dinner because for like $45, we get a salad, 16 ounces of steak cooked in butter and a divine dessert. We also got a very nice bottle of wine at a special rate. We pigged out galore, and I had got my red meat fixed. I still think Ruth's Chris serves the best steak in the city even though it is a chain. We cabbed it to William's apartment afterward to have more drinks. Cousin and I did the majority of the drinking while Cindy and Chrisn pooped out. John also came over at one point to hang out. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't convince Chrisn and William to come out to Boy Bar at The Cafe. So John, William and I made the journey. The first thing I noticed when I arrived was Tom's new platinum blond hair. I was shocked! He told me I would get used to it. I ended up getting quite intoxicated and saw plenty of the regular Castro crowd. What was surprising was seeing Conor's straight friends whom I hadn't run into since his birthday party two years ago. They were friendly breeders who had an Asian friend whom John befriended quite quickly. Before I knew it, there was definitely some tongue and mouth action going down. I had been away from The Cafe for awhile, and that Friday night was quite the return. At the end of the day, it's always the same crowd and the same scene.

I was so hungover on Saturday. I had expected to have a mellow evening. Bill, Juliet and I went to see the Golden Girls tranny show in the Mission with Dustin and co. The drag queens were funny as always despite the intense heat within the small theatre. After the show, Ryan led us to get Vietnamese food at Bodhi. I've always wanted to try that place. The food was very yummy, and I drank more wine than I anticipated. That's probably why I told Ryan "Bless your hole" when I meant to say "Bless your soul." The table couldn't stop laughing, and that became my slogan for the night. I wanted to go home after dinner or perhaps have one drink with in the Castro. However, I was forced to go to Bootie. I said no, but Ryan literally put me over his shoulder and forced me to go. Talk about a type A top personality! I knew it was futile to argue. We all walked over to Soma to get our dance on. Ryan was very nice in that he payed for everyone's cover to get in. Apparently, Ryan is BFF with a bartender who poured us some super strong Ketel One vodka drinks for free. Jonathan and Dustin couldn't even drink theirs so I decided to be SUCH a good friend and drink theirs for them. So much for an easy evening. Needless to say, I blacked out. I apparently made a fool of myself in meeting this new hot guy at work. I remember shaking his hand and meeting him but don't remember a single word I said to him. Bill also told me that I apparently pushed some girls and a big dude (who was ready to kick my ass) aside when I was so excited to see my old Optimizer, James. But we all know Bill always exaggerate when it comes to my drunken tales. Lastly, I sorta remember jumping/falling off the stage at one point. No worries, I landed on my feet/other people. LOL! It was a messier night than my adventures at Boy Bar. I am usually not a big fan of Bootie but glad I went that Saturday so I don't have to go back any time soon. Big shout out to Tom who came to Bootie to meet up with us and then drove me home to the Marina. He is SUCH a good friend!

~A

PS: I am sad I didn't bring my camera out on that Saturday, thinking I wasn't gonna go out. That was a mistake!

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

2010-06-19T20:11:00.000-04:00

One Friday afternoon, Chrisle and I met up in Union Square to do some shopping. We looked for a housewarming gift for Chrisn and Emily. Chrisle ended up buying something from this trendy home gift store. SUCH a good friend! We then hit up Se7en For All Mankind because Chrisle was thinking of getting their organic jeans, but the only pair was in white, and he didn't think he could pull them off. We did both hit jackpot at Shotwell though. I have always wanted to go into that trendy boutique, and I was glad we did on that Friday. Chrisle and I ended up buying harnesses! LOL! I know what you are thinking, but MINE wasn't meant to be sexual. I bought it as an accessory to wear as like suspenders. Chrisle's black one with shoulder pads on the other hand was totally for Folsom Street Fair. The sales people kept telling us how good we looked and what amazing purchases we got. The only down part was how expensive these harnesses were. Mine was $113 and Chrisle's was like $160. WE IN A RECESSION! After Shotwell, we meandered into Naracamicie, this really cute Italian designer shop with super bright shirts. The owner was super nice to us and even offered us wine. I wanted to buy a shirt but decided I needed to save some money after my splurge earlier. Chrisn met up with us for a Dine About Town dinner at Campton Place at the Taj Hotel. The meal was yummy but kind of small, which was the perfect reason to go get second dinner. Chrisle and Chrisn wouldn't even entertain it, boo! After dinner, we decided to have a mellow evening and watch 'Get Him To The Greek' instead of binge drinking in the Castro. When I first saw the trailer to the movie, I wasn't thrilled to see the movie, but I wanted a comedy that day so agreed to give a try. The movie turned out to be really funny and entertaining actually. Diddy made the movie! It was kind of refreshing to go home sober that night.

The next evening was Chrisn and Emily's housewarming where I debuted my harness. Everyone was shocked that I wore! But I thought I looked good! I thought I was late to the party, but the rest of the Working Gays were even later. Poor Emily had to work before her own party so when the time came, the girl was ready to drink! Her roomie, Chrisn, was not in the mood to disappoint either. The two of them became the messiest people at the party, but in a hilarious way! My favorite moment was when Chrisn spilled some wine on the carpet, and he actually fell to the floor to try and lick it up. It was hilarious to see other people messier than me. The "classy" party was a blast but a total downward spiral. Emily's former roommate and his wife loved our over the top personality. The wife kept telling her husband to be quiet so we could finish our stories and jokes. HEART! Chrisn's hot college roommate came, and we kept trying to pimp him out to my cousin, Cindy. And don't even get me started with Emily and her coworker, mum is the word on that one. Joanne took the party to the next level when she broke her housewarming gift, let's just say Chrisn liked it the best. I was totally excited to see Juan-Carlos show up. He was in the Bay Area for a family thing and managed to sneak away long enough to come to the party. Finally at the end of the night, Chrisn and Emily both passed out. A small group of us headed to Blackbird where more people commented on my harness. I couldn't drink anymore there and was ready to go home. Bill took the last ones standing to Trigger while I waved for a cave home while debating whether or not to pick up a slice of pizza. See all the pics from the party here.

Sunday was a total bust because I was exhausted and hungover. I tend to only leave my apartment on Sundays to go pick up lunch and dinner. Monday night, PD and I met up to hang out. He chose for us to have a super fancy meal at RN74. And how could I have said no to that?! He had a gift card so we went big. We each got a salad to start, split the scallop special entree then I had chicken while he had duck. Yum, yum. We ended up spending a lot more than PD's gift card, but who cares?! To continue with the deliciousness, we went to watch Jake Gyllenhaal in 'Prince of Persia: Sands Of Time.' The movie wasn't very good, and I didn't dig everyone in Persia having British accents, but Jake was delicious eye candy that made everything alright. His rugged body was perfection. Reese should have never let him go. Can we say REGRET?! I had a fantastic time with PD, and we always can make each other have a good laugh. That's what life is about, being able to share a good laugh with dear friends.

Tuesday afternoon, I participated in Google Serve, a week long event where Googlers give back to our local community. I went to the Jewish Vocational Service to talk about our careers at Google and then do some mock interviews. The JVS help people with barriers to employment build the skills needed to succeed in today’s workplace. Everyone was super nice, and I think it's a great organization providing a very needed service in SF since our city's unemployment rate is still pretty high. At the job panel, I was the youngest Googler there. There was a lesbian software engineer who was hilarious, three people from People Ops (HR) and me. We had a really good panel, and everybody wanted a job at Google. It's crazy that I have been with the company for four years now. After the panel, I did a mock interview with a woman with a PhD but practically no work experience. I tried to help her the best I can, but she really just needed more confidence. I was able to sneak in some gym time after Google Serve before meeting Cindy at Sunflower to pick up some takeout. We then went over to William's place to watch the season finale of 'Glee,' which turned out to be kind of mediocre.

~A

Summer Looks Good

2010-06-14T00:54:00.000-04:00

I got back to SF from Washington DC quite early on Friday since I took a 7:30AM flight out. I arrived home to relax and unpack. But I really wanted to find out what I missed in SF and see the boys. So Chrisle, Chrisn and I met up for dinner at Bistro St. Germain in the Haight. It was wonderful seeing the two of them again. We had some yummy French food and caught up. I always get excited to see the other two Musketeers again whenever I go away for a time period. There is a certain chemistry that just flows through the three of us. We had a super friendly waiter who answered our twenty million questions. It was just the kind of dinner I needed to get my flow back on the
West coast.

Wednesday after work I grabbed an Indonesian dinner with my cousin Cindy at Borobudur. I hadn't seen her in awhile. We pigged out and talked a lot about our family. The only weird part was that Cindy was barely drinking. She was trying to be healthy while she was doing boot camp. Good for her! But that meant I just drank extra. After dinner, I headed to Clock Bar for A-List. I spent the majority of the time chatting with John and Richard. It was a mellow conversational evening, and we definitely covered a lot of topics. I even found out about John's escapade with a certain Asian twink. Didn't see that coming, but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

John: The fire alarm went off in my building the other night. I thought of you.
Me: Why would your fire alarm make you think of ___________?
___________: Because I was over one night, and it was like 3 in the morning when it went off.
O_o

LOL! Clock Bar was nice but totally overpriced. I had two martinis that ended up close to $40. As I always say, WE IN A RECESSION! I was tempted to go get ramen, but I stopped myself and instead jumped into a cab back to the Marina.

The next night was Jay and Austin's birthday dinner. After work, I walked over to the Ferry Building to pick up some birthday presents for them. I settled at Sur La Table and got them a bunch of stuff of their kitchen...so they can have us boys over more often. I got done pretty quickly and headed to Butterfly. Since I was there so early, I waited at the bar for a bit before Dustin, Chrisce and Nate showed up. Soon everyone arrived, and we sat down for our prix fixe meal. It was great to see all the boys together and celebrate two dear friends' birthday. I thought the food was good but apparently everyone else didn't like it. The kitchen was very slow in getting everything out, especially the dessert. With the alcohol flowing and all our laughter, we still had a great time! I think the two birthday boys enjoyed themselves so that was what was important.

I discovered that I am bad liar when I am drunk. When I declared to the table, I had to run errands at 10:30 at night, no one believed me. Wa wa wa...

~A

Hood Love

2010-06-11T21:20:00.000-04:00

I am finally gonna blog about my DC trip to see Fouad. It was a long time coming for me to head East to see the Ice Princess. He had been mandating me to visit him since his last trip out to SF so I had to oblige. It was also what I needed after all the stress in SF. DC wasn't really a vacation spot, but I had a great time with Fouad. When I arrived, I explained to Fouad that I didn't really want to do very much. When I was young, my parents took me to DC to do all the touristy things: white house, museum, historical monuments. And we all know that the stones haven't changed. The Washington Monument still looks the same, and the Lincoln Memorial hasn't moved either. This was supposed to be a relaxing vacation for me, not some big tourist trip. Fouad did drive me through some of the sights of the Capital, which was just the right amount of sight seeing needed. Unlike my trip to visit Fouad in Richmond, this trip was quite action packed.

EAT:
POV at The W - The first dinner of the trip where Fouad had the wisdom to reserve a table with a killer view. It was quite hot, but we had a prized reservation. It was kind of annoying that people kept trying to move in on our table. Fouad ended up having the waitress move the extra two seats away. Total breeder scene! Glad we went though.
Sticky Rice - I wanted Asian food so we went to this hipster Japanese restaurant in the hood of Washington DC. "It's up and coming! And they are putting in a trolley," said Fouad. I don't think a trolley is gonna fix that ghetto. Service was horrible. Don't go to H street by yourself at night!
Zaytinya - Dinner with Fouad's mother. He was nervous for this meal thinking I would embarrass him with inappropriate comments and overtly sexual conversations. Fouad knows me better than that. I do so well with parents. The dinner was pleasant enough, and Bessie loved me. She said my/our company was the highlight of the meal. The food was good but not amazing. Small plates never quite do it for me.
Le Pain Quotidien - This was Fouad's favorite brunch place. He wouldn't stop raving about it. And the place lived up to its hype. The neighborhood was still a little hood love
Masa 14 - Best meal of the trip! The Asian fusion menu was so tasty. I told Fouad he had to take Chrisle there when he visits. The place was also known for its many brands of tequila, but Fouad and I passed on that. We're vodka gals at the end of the day.
Rosa Mexicano - Apparently it was some kind of high end chain. The guacamole was out of this world. I was stuffed with Latin love. Oh please, get your mind out of the gutter!
Hook - Seafood, white wine, a lot of rich people, oh that's right, we were in Georgetown.

DRINK:
JR's - Kind of a depressing bar with horrible 80s music. But it was good to be among our people after the total straight scene at the W. The bar itself wasn't that memorable, but my drunken desire for panini was hilarious!
Mova - Used to be Halo. The martinis were way overpriced. $15?! Bitch, please! Did they think we were in NY? I decided to talk to this ugly drunk dude who turned out to be a total loser. He first dissed SF and then went onto put in crouch in mine. Eeew! Fouad didn't help by pushing me back into him. Thanks BFF!
Cobalt - I guess it was like the Badlands of DC. It was also the first place I got to see Josh, which was nice. The two story club was packed. It was also hot as balls, which was probably why Fouad acted like a total slut and took off his shirt. It was one big blur with the loud music and all the dancing! I do remember that the bartenders were shirtless and hot. Oh and also, Fouad kept telling Josh I made out with some guy even though that was a total lie. I wish I did!
Nellie's - I don't believe in gay sports bar. It's a total act. We know none of the gays are there to watch sports. So it didn't help that some black dude kept screaming at the screen over some Lakers game. Ummm...honey...you in DC, I'm from Southern Cali, and I ain't even half as excited as you.
Town Dance Boutique: I love the name, and the place was probably my favorite bar in DC. It was a larger club, which was also pretty trendy. They played techno versions of pop songs. It was two storied with plenty of room to dance. Mikey drove in from DC and met us there. This was also the venue where someone died a few weeks before my visit. Heart attack apparently. Fouad made his friends stay even after the death because they paid a cover. Girl gotta get his money worth.

OTHER:
Fouad's Gift To Me - I wanted his suit that he lent me once in college, but he instead provided me with condoms and a note from management.
Dynasty Warriors - Fouad introduced me to this super fun and super Asian video game. I would have been happy staying in the whole trip and playing it on Xbox. I was totally hooked even though Fouad kept yelling at me when we played together. I like being the skanky female characters.
Brian Smith - It was sad that Brian had his tonsils taken out the week I arrived in DC so he was not out and about. We did swing by his super nice condo to pay him a visit. He knew exactly where Crew Club was and gave us explicit directions on how to get there. I love that kid.
Sex And The City 2 - I loved the movie. The critics who gave it a bad review can go fuck themselves! I felt like it was fun and light hearted. This second movie was kind of a collection of several episodes. Not to mention, the ladies were fabulous as ever!

I had a fabulous time in DC but also realized that it wasn't a town that I wanted to move to. I am glad Fouad moved there because it is a total upgrade from the dirty South that was Richmond. Do I need to go back anytime soon though? Nope...see all the pics from my trip here.

~A

Living Is Breathing

2010-06-07T02:30:00.000-04:00

My lullaby, hung out to dry
What's up with that? It's over
Where are you dad, mom's lookin' sad
What's up with that? It's dark in here

Why, bleeding is breathing
You're hiding underneath the smoke in the room
Try, bleeding is believing
I used to

My mouth is dry, forgot how to cry
What's up with that? You're hurting me
I'm running fast, can't hide the past
What's up with that? You're pushing me

Why, bleeding is breathing
You're hiding underneath the smoke in the room
Try, bleeding is believing
I used to
I used to

Why, bleeding is breathing
You're hiding underneath the smoke in the room
Try, bleeding is believing
I saw you crawling on the floor

Why, bleeding is believing
You're hiding underneath the smoke in the room
Try, bleeding is believing
I saw you crawling to the door

Why, bleeding is believing
You're hiding underneath the smoke in the room
Try, bleeding is believing
I saw you falling on the floor

This is an oldie but fits the moment just right. The song is melancholy yet beautiful.

~A

So Much Here To Feel

2010-06-07T02:12:00.000-04:00

My dearest readers, will you ever forgive me for neglecting my blog for this long? There has just been so much going on, and I have not found the will to sit down and write. I have so much to share with you, my trip to Washington DC to see Fouad and all the adventures since I have been back. My dear friends, I shall try my very best to get back on track. Let's rewind to about two weeks ago. Friday afternoon I met Jason for happy hour at Q Bar. It's been my new spot for 2:1 drinks on Fridays because it's so much for calmer than Badlands. I had to hold down the fort by myself for a bit since Jason had to travel up from Silicon Valley. Being at a bar by yourself is not fun at all! Eventually Jason showed up, and we drank and caught up with our lives. I found out that he would be going to Israel soon for a big vacation, totes jealous! Eventually Jason had to leave to go watch a movie with a friend in Twin Peaks. I was drunk and stumbled into Osaka for Japanese food. This was the exact path that I took the week before with William and Scott. I ate by myself this time though, which was kinda awkward on a Friday night. Luckily, the vodka running through my veins made me care less about the potential social judgment from the others.

After dinner, I looked at the time to discover that it was only 8:30. Chrisn and I planned to go to Dragon that night but not until 10:30. I had nothing else to do so I phoned Chrisn to see how dinner with his college friends were going. I ended up cabbing to the Mission to crash their dinner. I felt a little awkward at first, but everyone was very nice. Dinner lasted forever even though I got there as they were finishing up their main courses, but meals do tend to last long when you catch up with old friends. Chrisn and I said goodbye to the breeders (bless their hearts) and made our way to Soma. We haven't been to Dragon in forever; people may tell you that the Working Gays are there all the time, but it's a total lie. We ran into Josh, and I met this dude named Maveric who is friends with the Jeremy and Co. gang. Next we ran into Adrian (who said he loved all my pics on Facebook followed quickly with the fact that he wasn't stalking me) and Scott. Dragon was popping, but it wasn't as crowded as I remembered it to be. Perhaps all the rice queens and the Asians were saving their strengths for Shangrila the next day. That was what John was doing. Chrisn and I had a blast though. Dragon's music was off the hook that night! My favorite part was towards the end of the night when I pulled up Kelly Rowland's new single, 'Commander' on my iPhone and actually got the DJ to play it. Score! Of course Chrisn and I had to go get second dinner so we cabbed to Bagdad to soak up some of the alcohol we had consumed. Chrisn even ate French fries! See all the pics from Dragon here.

Saturday during the day was a waste. I just social networked a lot breaking for lunch and what not. In the evening, I headed to the Castro for William's and Sanjay's housewarming and more. I thought I would be late but turned out to be one of the first boys there. The Working Gays really aren't known for being punctual. A cute boy I had met at happy hour in the past showed up, but I was too shy to make a move. I don't think he was interested anyways. It was a darling housewarming though with a lot of booze. And boy did we drink fast. I felt like I was quite drunk by the time the majority of the guests arrived. It was a nice mix of straight people and the gays. We all had a great time. Towards the later part of the evening, Susan Ferocious came out to play. I kept yelling for everyone to get out and mobilize to the Castro. That's what William and Sanjay wanted FYI. But everyone was so drunk and so slow to move. Chrisn was so drunk that he didn't even make it out and somehow injured his ankle in the three minute walk home. The rest of us braved the cold and walked to Toad Hall. This year's weather in SF is completely out of control. You would think our current summer is actually winter. We did make it to Toad Hall eventually, but I peaced out before the majority of our party got there. I was too drunk and needed to go home. Too bad I had to eat a burger at Sliders before going home. I didn't feel that bad because I didn't get to eat dinner. Check out all the pics from the housewarming here.

I was so hungover on Sunday. It wasn't fun, but I got whole wheat pizza for dinner from Paxti's, which totes helped! Monday was a total drag at work; I couldn't wait for the day to be over. I convinced Dustin to go grab a drink and have dinner with me. We were also supposed to go see his friend perform stand up but came to the concensus to bail. We instead went to Cityhouse at Parc 55 and had a huge steak dinner to improve our mood on that particular Monday. Tuesday was another rough day at work, but I got to meet up with Chrisn for dinner at Bisou. We had a yummy prix fixe menu then watched the Lady GaGa episode of 'Glee' at Midnight Sun. The bar was filled with homos. Apparently it usually isn't that packed on Glee Tuesdays, but that particular episode got all the queens excited. And that was my agenda of social activities before heading East to see Fouad.

~A

Love Is Your Color

2010-05-27T01:57:00.000-04:00

Last Monday, Chrisle, Jessica and I were supposed to go to American Cupcake in the Marina for dinner. But Chrisle discovered that there was gonna be a Flavors Of San Francisco Expo that night. The expo was to showcase local small businesses. What does that mean for the three of us? FREE FOOD! We reported promptly to the 4th floor of the Metreon to stuff ourselves with dishes from local merchants. Some restaurants and catering companies were very generous. Chrisle and I ate so much food so fast. There was such a plethora of choices. But thank goodness Chrisn wasn't there because it was quite carb heavy. I surprisingly didn't drink too much even though one booth had amazing Bloody Marys. Chrisle on the other hand got drunk. And he wanted me to get buzzed so I would accompany him to...Anyways, it was a fantastic event and showcased the importance of supporting local/small businesses. And the best part was that we got to eat for free. I do wanna go to American Cupcake at one point though.

Tuesday night was Cousin's 30th birthday! The Working Gays gathered at Starbelly for a birthday dinner. We got a huge table in the back, and Cousin even ordered us champagne to celebrate the special occasion. We ate heartily and laughed carelessly. The only problem was that we were late for Jay's dinner even though I told our waitress a million times that we had to be somewhere at 8PM. GGGIIIIRRRRRLLLLL! It was worth it though. Austin was like Santa Claus and brought the birthday boy and all the previous birthday boys their gifts. He is SUCH a good friend. After our bellies were stuffed, and we had the tiniest little buzz, we walked to the church where Jay's concert was taking place. Even though we were late, we didn't miss any of Jay's performance because another female group performed first. Jay's choir group is quite classy and only sings the classics and the religious hymns. Every time the Working Gays go, we put down Mariah Carey as music we would like to hear the next time. Sadly, The Golden Gate Men's Chorus never listens to our request. Austin of course egged everyone on to laugh and be inappropriate. There is something horrible about Grindr in church. I'm just saying...After the show, some of us went back to William's and Sanjay's apartment for some celebratory drinks. I needed a drink that night...

The next night, the 3 Musketeers gathered for dinner at Sushi Groove in Russian Hill. Chrisle was leaving for Santa Fe on Friday so we wanted to get together for a meal beforehand. I haven't been to Sushi Groove since I first moved to SF. And we had a great time there probably because of our fag loving waitress. It turned out that she used to work at Barracuda in the Castro and sorely missed her gays. That was probably why she was so obsessed with us. And I am not exaggerating honey. The food was delicious, and the best part was that they poured their sake in martini glasses rather than just small cups. Screw being traditional! Chrisle got something he wasn't crazy about so our waitress gave us a free round of sake shots. Of course she and a hostess had to get in on it too! The two girls were a riot. In my drunkenness, I actually got the waitress' phone number and texted her "You rock our world." Yeah...I am not sure who the crazy one was anymore. Sushi Groove was super trendy and filled with quite the attractive crowd. Being the BIG GIRLS we are, we of course had to go across the street to Swensen's to get ice cream. The place is famous, and I am glad I finally went. It definitely lived up to the hype.

The night didn't end for me there. I cabbed it to Soma to go to A-List at Zare at Fly Trap. I chatted with John and Antoine and had two rounds of drinks. I was planning on going home when William texted me to tell me he was heading to Trigger's one year anniversary party. So against my better judgment, I headed to the Castro. Even though it was already kind of late, Trigger was still popping! It was a cowboy theme and apparently I missed the pony outside. I saw some of the Castro queens I know including 'Don't Hug A Stranger' Matt who told me it felt good to be finally recognized. LOL! Sometimes all white people just blend together. I don't know how William did it, but he talked me into going to The Cafe where the top three trannies of this season's RuPaul's Drag Race was performing earlier in the night. I was surprised that we got in because William said The Cafe was practically shut down an hour beforehand. William really wanted to see the trannies, but they were hidden away. Too bad... We grabbed another round of unneeded drinks. We tried to grab a second dinner, but nothing was opened. YAY for not eating!

To no one's surprise, I was exhausted and kind of hungover the next morning. I took it easy that evening, well...not that easy. A boy's gotta do what he's gotta do. LOL!

~A

PS: I probably won't be able to blog again until some time next week since I will be leaving for Washington DC tomorrow to spend Memorial Day weekend with Fouad. Wish me luck!

Only In San Francisco

2010-05-25T02:57:00.000-04:00

Josh came to SF for a visit, and I was very pleased that I was able to see him, Paloma and Justin on a Saturday night. Then I invited, William, Chrisle, Chrisn and Sanjay to come along as well. I made reservations for all of us at Barracuda. We arrived at 8PM for drinks and dinner. It was wonderful seeing Josh; I haven't chatted with him since his last trip SF, which was probably more than a year ago. I also need to stop being such a stranger with Paloma. She lives in SF now, and I barely see her. That has gotta change. The drinks were quite good and my udon with foie gras was even better! Dinner conversation was hilarious of course. "You've never been to a sex club?!" "I don't wanna lose my virginity that way. I want my first time to be special" O_o LOL! I love my friends and how sexually expressive we are. After dinner, we headed Blackbird because we knew it would be packed; too bad no dancing though. It was a total scene but not as plastic as Boy Bar at The Cafe. We had several more rounds of drinks before calling it quits since everyone wanted an early night due to the big festivity on Sunday. William, Josh and I ended up at William's apartment for charcuterie. We so classy! See all the pics from Friday here.

The next morning I got early for Bay To Breakers, also known as Pride for Straight People. It is an annual race that many runners fly into SF to compete in, but the important part is that the city of SF all get dressed up in crazy costumes, get on floats, get super drunk then follow the behind the runners. Plenty of indecency and nudity are involved. I have avoided this event every year since I've lived in SF, but this year was finally gonna be different. The catalyst was that Chrisle kept me off the thread for the event, and once I found out about it, I knew I had to suck it up and embrace the experience. Our posse came up with the theme of POOL PARTY at the last minute. So on Sunday morning, I put on my boy shorts, a wife beater, floaties, sunglasses and armed with a very strong mix of Vitamin Water and Absolut Vodka, I headed out into the madness. The 22 was just pulling up to Fillmore and Chestnut as I went sprinting towards it. This was the third time that weekend I had to full out sprint for the 22 at the exact same spot. It was crazy! The bus ride was slow and filled with (already) drunk people. There was this huge frat group next to me screaming up a storm on the bus.

I finally made it to Cyndie's party on Fillmore and Hayes, one of the center spots of the race. It was absolute madness, but I was able to find Chrisle and Jessica. I felt a little uncomfortable at first, and it didn't help that it was freezing. But once I got my drink on and soaked in the vibe, I really enjoyed myself. Cyndie's party drew all the crowds toward us. People would walk by and go crazy because of the DJ spinning the sweetest jams. We had a huge dance party on the door steps. And I saw plenty of people I knew walk by to say hi, James, Lexi, Malcolm, Alex, Harrison, etc. I didn't want to leave Cyndie's. There was eye candy everywhere! So many hot guys marching around practically naked, and everyone was super friendly. My favorite group costume was the Tibetan monks who carried a huge Buddha statue and had signs that said "Bald Is Beautiful" and "Calm The Fuck Down." AMAZING (even though kind of sacrilegious)! The hot blue Smurfs who took a pic with me did come a close second. It took forever for them to get to the party, but Chrisn, Emily and William finally met up with us. After we danced some more, we decided it was time for us to start walking. It was such a slow march because there were just so many people. Chrisn kept screaming, "I wanna have sex with a straight guy!" And he wasn't the only one. But I told him that he just needed to wait to go home and Google himself. LOL!

We made it to Alamo Park (which was only a few blocks away from Cyndie's party) before we decided that we were too cold, hungry, drunk to go any further. Not to mention we had to pee so badly. Some of us had to relieve ourselves next to a car. We ended up walking to Laura's apartment, which wasn't too far away. We stormed Green Chile Kitchen for burrito. Chrisn and Emily went big and even got mimosas. The place was packed and filled with drunken people in costumes. Once we got all our food, we stumbled across to Laura's place to dig into our feast. We were so messy eating our food and sprayed vodka into each other's mouths with mini water guns. We laughed, gossiped and ate, even digging into Laura's dessert stash. After we were satisfied, we headed back towards Cyndie's house because a bunch of the girls left their stuff there. The 22 pulled up, and I said goodbye to the gang. I had enough and wanted to go home. Chrisn wouldn't let me go, and Emily had to talk him into it. I ran into Corey on the bus who was quite hammered and upset over his broken phone and girlfriend drama. It was only 1:30PM when I collapsed in my apartment. I spent the rest of the day indoor and ordered Vietaamese delivery from Aux Delices to get some more nutrient into my weary body. I surprisingly didn't pass out until about midnight.

I am glad I finally did Bay To Breakers. Did I love it? I am not sure. Will I do it again next year? Probably...but I think we need to come up with better costumes. I think my pictures will describe the event better than my words. See the crazy and wonderful pics here.

~A Vietnamese

Pick Me

2010-05-23T14:16:00.000-04:00

'Dancing On My Own' from Robyn on Vimeo.

Somebody said you got a new friend
Does he love you better than I can?
There's a big black sky over my town
I know where you're at, I bet he's around

Yeah, I know it's stupid
I just gotta see it for myself

I'm in the corner, watching you kiss him, ohhh
I'm right over here, why can't you see me, ohhh
I'm giving it my all, but I'm not the boy you're taking home, oooo
I keep dancing on my own

I'm just gonna dance all night
I'm all messed up, I'm so out of line
Stilettos and broken bottles
I'm spinning around in circles

I'm in the corner, watching you kiss him, ohhh
I'm right over here, why can't you see me, ohhh
I'm giving it my all, but I'm not the boy you're taking home, oooo
I keep dancing on my own
I keep dancing on my own

So far away, but still so near
The lights go on, the music dies
But you don't see me standing here
I just came to say goodbye

I'm in the corner, watching you kiss him, ohhh
I'm giving it my all, but I'm not the boy you're taking home, ohhh
I keep dancing on my own

I'm in the corner, watching you kiss him, ohhh
I'm right over here, why can't you see me, ohhh
I'm giving it my all, but I'm not the boy you're taking home, oooo
I keep dancing on my own
I keep dancing on my own.

My feelings exactly...

~A

Hustle Day To Day

2010-05-23T14:04:00.000-04:00

One Monday night, Chrisn, Emily and I met for dinner at Andalu. I was late to the restaurant because I was exploring a part of Soma with a new friend. Eventually I made it to the Mission for dinner. I knew Andalu was a tapas restaurant but somehow managed to order the same thing as Emily, my bad! We were supposed to go to Elixir afterward to support Emily's friends who were bar tending for AIDS awareness. But we were all too tired, and my bus was on its way. The next day was dinner with BB at Tommy Toy's. The classy Chinese restaurant was one of the best Dine About Town experiences I've ever had so BB and I decided to go back. We got a prix fixe menu that was delicious but with the martinis and dessert, our total tab came to around $200. Eek! I don't care if the economy is getting better, I still can't be spending money like this. I recently recommended Doug to take his team there for a group dinner as well. There is just something wonderful about Tommy Toy's, from the aura of the restaurant to the genuine service.

All sorts of drama went down on Wednesday at work. I felt so deflated at the end of the day, and I don't wanna go into details, which would bore all of you. I skipped the gym that afternoon and came back to the Marina for an upper. That was very needed. When the evening time came, I ordered takeout from Dragonwell and got into my PJs. I felt so bad about missing A-List at the St. Regis, but I couldn't motivate for the life of me. Jeremy and John were both there, which made me feel wa wa wa about missing it. But I did get to have an hour long conversion with Matthew from NY, which was very nice. Thursday night, the 3 Musketeers met for dinner at the classy Westfield Food Court. We classed it up even further by getting the Buckhorn wine special. I guess we were feeling big that night cuz we ended up drinking three bottles of it throughout dinner; we all got pretty tanked. We may not be able to close down bars, but we definitely closed down the Westfield Food Court. We were the last patrons to leave as the staff there were putting up the tables and chairs. Another adventure was to be had after dinner, but Chrisn bailed out right away. I walked Chrisle to the gate but couldn't cross it myself. It was finnnneeee because Chrisle did well all by himself.

The next day I met Scott for happy hour at Q Bar. I hadn't seen him in ages because he was in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Dubai for the entire month of April. It was great to catch up with him and talk more about empowering the Gaysian community. William joined us from Badlands. After a few rounds of 2:1 drinks, we went to Osaka next door for dinner. William had originally wanted something with grease, but we forced him to do Japanese instead. Dinner was super yummy, but I got too wasted from all the sake Scott kept pouring me. He even ended up paying for dinner, Scott is SUCH a food friend!

We met up with John who was having dinner in the Castro and headed to Curtis' birthday party at Bisou, which recently replaced Panam. We were one of the first ones there. Curtis is friends with the executive chef there so we got hooked up with free drinks and appetizer. William apparently wanted to leave so he texted Chrisle and Chrisn that they needed to come ASAP to help hold me up. TOTAL LIE! I was finnnnnneeeeeeeeee. The party was soon filled with the Castro crowd, and Bill even showed up (late of course). There was this big dude who clearly was into Bill and got Bill a drink. Bill was annoyed that I kept encouraging the dude to pursue him, LOL! The guy wasn't Asian anyways. Curtis was a great birthday host and kept going around offering people drinks. I also found out that night that he and Ricardo are now dating. I met Ricardo through Curtis a year ago at A-List's three year anniversary event. It's great to see that their friendship has evolved into a relationship. Bill wanted to go to The Cafe after the party, but I was done. The line was super long, and I wasn't in the mood to pay a cover. I grabbed a cab and went home.

See all the pics from that Friday here.

Taste The Rainbow

2010-05-19T20:00:00.000-04:00

Two Fridays ago started a very fun and action packed weekend. After work, I swung by Cindy's apartment for her Condoversary. It has been a year since my very responsible cousin purchased her first piece of real estate, and we all gathered to celebrate. We had plenty of drinks and snacks. I already agreed to sell 5 tickets for Cindy's fundraiser to elect some chick to the Board of Supervisors. This is my mini version of being a Table Captain for the HRC Gala...LOL! So all my rich friends, I will be hitting you up. After several rounds of drinks, we headed out to Tom's birthday dinner. William was tanked! We were supposed to get burgers, but Tom requested that we had a location change and get Chinese at Brandy Ho's instead. And how can we say no to the birthday boy. Dinner was delicious; some Asians (like my parents) complain about Americanized Chinese food, but sometimes it just really hits the spot.

After dinner, we went to Boy Bar at The Cafe to go twink hunting for Tom. The bar wasn't that packed yet when we arrived so it was easy to get our drink on. Tom informed us that it was a German tradition for the birthday boy to buy everyone drinks, which we thought was odd. We did manage to buy him a few shots though. Soon the place was filling up. I always see a lot of the gays I see on A4A and Manhunt at The Cafe. It's sometimes kinda surreal to see them in person after seeing their presence online. What is even more awkward is if they turn out to be friends of friends...you look familiar, yeah you do too...LOL! Like every other experience at Boy Bar, we danced like crazy on the dance floor, and I drank too much. Apparently I massively powered down, and Austin got stuck holding onto me. Wa wa wa...Weekend At Bernie's as Austin described it, LOL! I don't remember this at all, but a pic on Facebook thanks to Chrisle provided the evidence. I also met Tyler's boyfriend that night who wouldn't stop sucking face with Tyler. But I guess that's what happens when you see each other in a long distance relationship. As messy I was, I did make it to second dinner with Chrisle, Chrisn and William. Chrisn ordered but canceled at the last minute and walked home cuz he was too drunk. We found out the next day he woke up with wet pants and a wet bed...and NO he didn't pee himself...but we are all wondering what actually happened on his walk home. See all the pics from the night here.

The next night was a night that I had been waiting for. Chrisle and I were going to see Kate Nash in concert! She is a British superstar and even won a BRIT (the UK version of the Grammys). I blogged about her way back in the day when I first started this online journal. She has just recently released a new album, 'My Best Friend Is You.' Chrisle agreed to see her with me since I (sorta) went to Bonobo with him. We met for an early dinner (since I got the time of the concert wrong because I apparently can't do math) at Sally's After Dark. The restaurant is only opened for dinner and rents out the space of Sally's Restaurant, which is open during the day. But we found out that the two establishment are actually owned by different people. How interesting! Chrisle and I got a three course hearty meal for $25. It was one of the best meals we've had in a long time. The comfort food was amazing; just like the waiter explained, they pride themselves on fresh ingredients and simple and good food. Chrisle and I decided that anytime we have a car, we are driving out there for dinner. I can't stress enough how everyone should pay a visit to Sally's After Dark.

We still had a lot of time to kill after dinner so we headed to Project One, this fancy bar/gallery, cuz I really wanted champagne. Too bad they were closed for a private event so we ended up at some trashy dive bar instead. The good news was that the drinks were dirt cheap. There was some band who was gonna start playing, but we headed to Bottom Of The Hill for Kate Nash just in time to escape their noise. I thought Bottom Of The Hill would be a venue like The Fillmore or The Independent, but it turned out to be just a regular bar. Kate Nash had sold out the place so I was super excited. Some annoying young girl group opened up for her; they were called Supercute, which was cute, but I wasn't impressed by their music. After what felt like forever, Kate Nash came on and did an amazing set. She is funny and quirky in person, and I loved the show. I only wish she had done more songs from her first album. At one point in the show, Kate asked the lights to be dimmed, and she started 'Mansion Song.' Chrisle had told me before the show that if she played that particular song, he would hit/hate me. LOL! I gotta admit it's a terrible track filled with screaming. The rest of the show was great, and I was so happy to see her in such an intimate venue. Chrisle and I were supposed to meet up with William and Chrisn at Chanpory's Tom Of Finland party, but the two of them had left and were at 440. Since we were already on the 22, we decided to just take the bus home. It was refreshing to go to bed on a Saturday night sober. Below is Kate Nash performing one of my favorite songs from her new album.

Sunday night, Emily, Chrisn, Chrisle and I met for a special Mother's Day dinner at Luna Park since they were doing 50% off. Luna Park is always yummy especially when we get a discount! After dinner, we decided to make our moms proud by going back to Chrisn's and Emily's apartment for a "banana tasting" lesson. Emily needed some tips from the gay boys on the proper ways of eating a banana; too bad her friend Jasmine couldn't make it, but we took notes on a Google doc that we could share with her. LOL! We drank two bottles of wine while the tutoring session was going down; it was so informative even for me. I learned about not using the hand too early and all sorts of other new tricks. I was surprised at how graphic the lesson turned out to be especially when I looked at Chrisn. Bananas are delicious and good for you so suck, I mean, eat more of them!

It was one hell of a weekend!

~A

The Boy Is Mine

2010-05-17T02:41:00.000-04:00

My coworker Annie decided to have a housewarming dinner and invited several of us from work over on a Tuesday night. Annie and Randy prepared an amazing Mexican feast for us featuring fish and ground turkey tacos. Lexi and Malcolm made a great guacamole deep, and I couldn't get enough of Christina's salad or Megan's corn salsa. Shirin baked an amazing cake from scratch for dessert Bill and I were lame and brought ice cream and wine. I freaked out when I discovered that my bottle was a twist top. I quickly learned that apparently more vineyards are embracing this to cut cost or for some other reasons. Dinner was fantastic as we sat in the living room, pigging out and laughing. It was requested that I shared my New York fire alarm story, which apparently delighted the crowd despite my embarrassment. Shirin even left me a Facebook comment the next day saying how much she loved my story. I may not have everything in life, but I do seem to have plenty of amazing stories to share. And I feel blessed to experience all the good moments that have happened so far. Hopefully the best is yet to come.

The next night I met Jeremy for dinner at Starbelly. He had originally wanted to go to Frances, but no reservation was available that night. I am so grateful that Chrisle got us a reservation on opening night because the place is getting so much buzz now in SF. I hadn't been to Starbelly since the restaurant first opened. I liked it better this time; my pork chop was cooked perfectly. It's always pleasant to dine with Jeremy and catch up on our lives. After dinner, we headed to Trigger for the four year anniversary of A-List. It felt extra special since A-List didn't happen for the entire month of April because Antoine was on vacation. The place was packed, oh yeah it was also Cinco de Mayo (which is not Mexico's independence day by the way), but I was excited to see the A-List crowd and get my drink on. A lot of boys showed up, but I was sad that Chrisle and Chrisn left before I got there. Dinner took longer than anticipated. I also did something different that Wednesday by going to Booty Call Wednesday at Q Bar after Trigger due to the urging of Chrispy and Tom. Booty Call was alright; I hated the music but did like the 'Protest Arizona's Immigration Law' portrait with Chrispy. I had us take the picture right as we got in before the line was too long. There were some queens deciding what signs to hold up for their picture, and Chrispy and I swooped in while they were being indecisive. The rest of the night was blah. After I had a free tequila shot with my Corona, I decided it was time to go home.

Thursday night was a pod offsite for Corey, Brian and me. The two of them always quote from the movie 'Step Brothers,' and I finally wanted to be a part of the cool crowd so we gathered at Corey's apartment for a special viewing. I arrived to find the two of them in baseball caps either to drink wine (surprised we weren't having beer) and eat pizza. The movie was very entertaining and funny; Corey was worried that I wouldn't like it, but I thought it was great. After the movie, Corey's roommate Al came home, and the three of them were like bro'ed out. LOL! I love my two frat boys but the talk of girl and Vegas just wasn't my thing. Brian and I said our goodbyes as Corey and Al made plans to head to the Cow Hollow Triangle. Brian's next destination motivated me to keep the night alive with my own activity.

~A

One Love, One Life

2010-05-15T21:22:00.000-04:00

I was SUCH a good friend and took the Friday off for Ramy's visit. In the morning, I went to the post office get my passport processed, which turned out to be quite the ordeal. I lucked out that the Marina post office is so much nicer than the Rincon center one and actually did it for me. I felt bad that a huge line formed due to me. But oh wells, I needed a new passport for my trip to Vancouver, Canada with Matthew (from New York). I will blog more about this Fourth of July trip at a later day. After the post office, I went to pick up laundry and grab bagel sandwiches for Ramy and me. Then it was time for my haircut, which meant Ramy had to entertain himself with my TV featuring no cable. LOL! When I got back to the Marina, we grabbed a late lunch and kept striking out with restaurants that were closed. I don't believe in places closing for an afternoon break, that's stupid! We ended up at Delarosa, which Ramy loved so I guess it all worked out in the end. After lunch, we thought about watching 'The Backup Plan' with Jennifer Lopez, but the movie got such bad reviews we decided against it. We instead went back to my apartment to watch 'Inkheart' on DVD, which turned out to be horrible. At least we didn't have to pay for it.

Ramy took a quick power nap then it was time to get ready for the night. We cabbed it down to the St. Regis for a Gayglers happy hour. We arrived to quite the fanfare and ordered martinis right away. I invited some of my nonGaygler friends and were quite pleased that they showed up. Even more impressive, I actually got to hang out with the elusive Chrisce who has practically disappeared from our social circle. I ended up chatting with mostly my friends but did meet a few new people, including a cute recruiter in our business development department. I think it was his height and chest that really did it for me. There was also this drunk ghetto queen who I found amusing, but I think (s)he annoyed some of the other Gayglers. I believe that this type of event is very beneficial for networking purposes and even a sense of gay unity within Google. The only thing (which I don't mind) is that it's mostly guys with very little sprinkling of lesbians. But I guess that's the way of SF in general. We gay boys rule the Castro, while the lesbians get...Bernal Heights? I got pretty buzzed but was horrified to discover that Ramy and my six martinis ended up costing close to $100. FML! That's why we should do happy hour at more affordable places. And no...I didn't land myself a rich sugar daddy at the fancy hotel. Till next time...

We had to leave the St. Regis to go to Karin's goodbye party at Candybar. I was sad that Karin was leaving SF, but I think it was a good for her. I think she always left her heart in NY. She moved out here to try something different and be more independent. She conquered SF gracefully and probably felt ready to return to her home. I wish I had spent more time with her when she was living here. Ironically, I knew Karin from CMU, but my SF friends ended up hanging out with her more than I did. I was starving when I got to the dessert bar and had a glass of champagne with an ice cream sandwich before having dinner. Karin's friends and coworkers came out in full support. We had a great time seeing her off in style. The boys and I got too hungry to stay any longer without dinner so we headed to Little Star Pizza(I wasn't in the mood for pizza, but I went with it). We had to wait for a table but thankfully the alcohol helped with my patience. Chrisle and his straight visitor Bo happened to also be dining at the same establishment.

When our bellies were stuffed, we cabbed it down to the Castro to get our dance on. Where did we end up on that Friday night? Boy Bar at The Cafe of course. We convinced Chrisle and Bo to come too even though Bo had his huge suitcase because midnight would be Chrisle's birthday. The Cafe was packed with the usual Castro crowd. I of course drank way too much and attacked the dance floor with the boys. I do remember seeing Kyle who has also been MIA due to his new job. Tom had this crazy idea about buying Jager shots for Chrisle, which I knew was a bad idea. I've thrown up pretty every time I've had Jager so I had to turn down Tom's generosity. Chrisle somehow managed to get it down though. Ramy was starving after the club so we made a late night trip to IHOP; I was so exhausted and fell asleep in the cab and had to be awaken when we arrived at our destination. See all the pics from Friday here.

Saturday morning was rough as both of us were hungover. We eventually mobilized to get brunch at Squat & Gobble, one of Ramy's favorite SF restaurants. The weather was beautiful so we dined in their back patio. The Marina eye candy was an extra perk as well. After the meal of Asian chicken salad and curried chicken crepe, we headed to Union Square for Ramy to do some retail damage. The problem was that I ended buying stuff too...this is not a good idea considering how I need to save more instead of spend more. We did a very extensive tour of all the stores, and I was DEVASTATED to discover that the Energie store closed down. That was my favorite place in Union Square! Will this recession spare no one?! I did end up finding the perfect shirt at H&M to match my bow tie that I wanted to wear later that night. I did also splurge on a shirt at Aristo, but it was on sale! Before we headed back to the Marina, we went to the Castro for Ramy to purchase some comic books. With all the stores we were going to, I ended up breaking into Yelp's Top 5 Most Checked In members.

After we dressed up for the night, we headed to Joe DiMaggio's Italian Chophouse. in North Beach for dinner. My bus passes that restaurant all the time, and Corey said it was yummy so I decided it was time to go. I went real big with a 20 ounce rib eye steak with truffle mac and cheese. The steak was seasoned and cooked to perfection, but I think I still prefer Ruth's Chris' butter steak. But Joe Dimaggio's was definitely a close second. The next stop for the night was Chrisle's birthday Quinceanera at Esta Noche. LOL! I had always wondered that this scary looking Mexican gay bar was like. And the inside was definitely much better than the exterior. We arrived to see Chrisle in all his drag glory. "You look beautiful." "I feel beautiful." LOL! Chrisle was decked out in his $7 baby blue dress with a flowing blond wig and pearls and a tiara. I could not stop laughing. Chrisle transformed into Maria who was ready to enter womanhood. Dustin and Nicky's drag personalities were also hilarious. I did tell Dustin that if he plans on topping again, he needs to stop doing drag every opportunity he has. Chrisn was running around sharing his dirty secret of the night, but he ended up telling everyone. So much for it being a secret! I think the regulars at the bar were a little shocked by our group's arrival, but some of the Latinos really took to us. Two patrons wouldn't stop stalking Ramy despite his announcement that he had a boyfriend already. This pocket sized Latino kept grinding with me and grabbing by ass. He even twirled me around several times. I couldn't escape from him fast enough. The drinks were also dirt cheap at Esta Noche, $3 screwdrivers carried me through the night!

The highlight of the night though was when the drag queens went on stage. The hostess declared that there was going to be a beauty contest and brought Maria/Chrisle on stage. The whole audience then sang Chrisle happy birthday! I was screaming like a teenage girl in the front row. The tranny looked down at me at one point and said, "Jujubee, you should have won girl!" The entire bar burst out in laughter. Chrisle went on to down two shots of tequila and then declared as the winner of the beauty contest. Chrisle said, "Miracles happen on your birthday." LOL! We danced the night away to pop songs and Latin hits. It was kind of refreshing to be surrounded by something other than the usual Castro and Soma scene. When the crowd started to die down, the strong ones jumped into a cab and headed to Blackbird. I have no idea why we went there but that last part of the evening was just a haze. I remembered that Jeremy and Doug were there, but that pretty much it. Chrisle entered the bar with a huge fur coat, AMAZING! Ramy and I were torn about grabbing a second dinner that night, but in my drunken haze, I had the cab driver change directions and head back to IHOP again. It was so embarrassing that we had the exact same waitress from the night before. See all the pics from Chrisle's Quinceanera here and here.

The next morning, Kenyatta drove up from Campbell to have brunch with Ramy and me. We went to Fog City Diner, which was quite yummy and upscale. I wanna hit up that place for dinner because I think it would be even better than brunch. I said goodbye to Kenyatta and Ramy after they took me home. I always love it when Ramy comes up to visit. Later that afternoon, I met Chrisle and William for Noodlefest that featured the best pasta and noodle dishes from Chinatown and North Beach. So weird that Chrisn missed the event. Cindy organized the event, and we went to support her. We got to taste so many delicious dishes, but the North Beach restaurants were so much better than the Chinatown ones. Thank goodness we hit up the Italian section early because towards the end the line was totally OOC. Cindy did well though because they sold out of tickets, and everyone seemed to be having a blast. We eventually ate enough of our carbs and went shopping for chopsticks and noodle bowls that William needed. Tyler was hosting a BBQ at Jay and Austin's place so we headed there next. I wasn't planning on attending because I was supposed to go to Heaven at Infusion Lounge, the new Sunday T-dance with BB, but he bailed on me. At the BBQ, I got a text from Matt who I had agreed to meet there so I quickly jumped into a cab and headed towards Union Square. Heaven turned out to be fun and a lot more mellow than Fresh. Since event is still quite new, the attendance wasn't too bad. Matt and I drank Long Islands, which was a mistake and led me down a messy path. Sometimes I wonder what people think of me as they examine my crazy actions on the dance floor. Is it intrigue or horror? I am glad I went though. At the end of the night, I somehow had enough consciousness to pick up Chinese food at Dragonwell before heading home. It was one action packed weekend!

~A

Food & Health

2010-05-10T02:25:00.000-04:00

My personal belief is that most gay men work out and are concerned with their dietary behavior for aesthetics reasons rather than health purposes. I know I am definitely one of these gays. I gym it five days a week because I know that's what will make me attractive to the other queers in society. There is an element of physical satisfaction, but that is definitely not my prime motivation. Everyone knows gay men are vain and probably spend more time at the gym than any other demographic. But besides working out, there is also such a love/hate relationship with food. This is a huge fixation within my group of friends. What is even crazier is that not of us are actually overweight. Society would consider us skinny, but we fixate on our diets and bodies to ridiculous proportions. We want boys to like us, and we recognize that our physical build is an important part of that. Our inner securities tell us that we will die alone if we gain any weight.

However, I think I have become enlightened on this issue. I will never have the body of a Abercrombie & Fitch model (unless extreme measures are taken), but I am comfortable in my own skin. I like how I look naked. I currently weigh 148 lbs and would ideally like to weigh 145 lbs, but if that doesn't happen, I will be fine. Just to give you some idea, in my adult life, I have ranged from 135 lbs to 160 lbs. And I like where I am right now. I feel healthy and confident with my figure. With my classes at Crunch and portion controlling my food intake, I think I have found a good balance in my life. But most importantly, I eat what I want. I will eat carbs, fried food and dessert. However, I will have brown rice and wheat bread if those healthier options are available. I used to say life is too short to not eat what you want, and I still believe in that to a certain degree, but one should not pig out on every whim either.

For my friends who deprive themselves of certain foods, I am not sure that is the best idea. It might make sense from a diet point of view, but I don't think it's good for the soul. And ultimately, life is about being happy rather than being skinny. Cutting out all carbs might help you get down to your ideal weight but not having those positive and gratifying feelings when you eat is quite sad. Food should be something enjoyed and not merely consumed. And when you cut off a huge portion of what you enjoy, I think you fall victim to developing a complexity with eating. That's why I really recommend people (especially gay men) to still eat what they like but just in agreeable portions and to make sure you exercise. I think this way, your body, soul and mind will be happy. You also lower the risk of massive binge out sessions due to constant depravity.

And we really shouldn't care so much about what others think about our physical shape. Why must we all big pecs, bulging biceps and chiseled abs. Attraction is really about diversity and confidence. I think back to the guys I have dated or hooked up with, and they have all varied in size. Granted, I will confess that I do like a stud with a hot body, but it doesn't mean I will like a dude any less just because he has a few extra pounds. There is also something called a personality when it comes to dating. If a guy isn't interested in you because you are a few pounds heavier, then that guy is an ass and definitely not THE ONE.

So my dear readers, take care of your body but also your soul. Don't let society dictate how you should look or let the airbrushed models on magazines force you into unrealistic goals. Be confident with who you are. And if you are unhappy, make some doable changes. Go to the gym, I promise if you get into a routine you will enjoy it. Not to mention, you can always drool at the hot boys in the locker room. LOL!

~A

PS: For those of you interested, this is how my fitness week currently breaks down:
Monday - Beach Body (The countdown to summer starts here. In this class, we focus on sculpting and toning a different body part each week to get you ready to hit the sand and surf with a beach ready bod. Members who attend class regularly will be entered to win an all expense paid beach vacation for two.)
Tuesday - Chisel (Use weights and calisthenics to sculpt and shape muscles)
Wednesday - Absolution (Concentrated abdominal and back work followed by a deep stretch.)
Thursday - Urban Rebounding (We’ll have you bouncing you’re way through a workout that simulates the rigors of city life using a mini trampoline. It’s a low-impact workout that works your whole body.)
Friday - The Ride/Spinning (A fantastic heart-pumping workout. Taught on a stationary bike you will climb, sprint, and train to incredible music and extraordinary instruction.)

My Dudes Bad

2010-05-05T02:53:00.001-04:00

I haven't gotten a facial in forever. And no, I am not talking about THAT kind of facial you slore. Skincare facials are usually a luxury that I can't afford. However, Chrisle forwarded an amazing Living Social deal for one of Apotheca's customized facials for more than 50% off. I simply couldn't resist! I showed up to my appointment to discover that there wasn't a receptionist but simply a check in room. Everything was self service, and I couldn't get the door open for the life of me. The electronic lock was totes complicated, but I eventually figured it out just in time for my wonderful facial. The aesthetician was super professional and communicated well before doing anything on my face. The facial was super relaxing except the extraction part, but I was prepared for that. In the end, Kirsten said I had great skin and to thank my parents. But I told her I also had to thank Accutane. Side note, there are a lot of potential negative side effects from Accutane, but it definitely is the silver bullet cure for acne. There is no denying that. Kirsten had two easy recommendations for me. First was to not put too any chemicals on my face in the evening and then to drink a little bit of coconut juice everyday. I thanked her and tried to tip her, but she said no. That was surprising. After the skin treatment, I met up with BB for dinner at Daily Grill in Union Square where we consumed one too many martinis.

The next night was Dining Out For Life. I always love participating in AIDS fundraising events because I really believe we need to find a cure. Chrisle booked us a table at Baker and Banker. Nick had raved about the place to me, and I was dying to try it. The restaurant had a really cool vibe, and the menu looked good. However, I would say overall it was a disappointment because I hate nice restaurants with small portions. Our $20 something entree barely had any food on the plate. My halibut was good, but I could have eaten another order of it. No matter how good the food is, if there isn't enough, that is always a black mark in my book. Ramy came from the airport to meet us for dinner because he was visiting for the weekend. I was totes excited to see him! Ramy and I always have a blast whenever he comes up to SF.

Since the portions were so small, we decided to get a second Dinner at Tres Agaves in Soma. Chrisle had a car so it was super to get down to Soma. I wanted to go to Paragon instead but overruled. Dustin and Ramy were the only ones to get more sultry food. I got a dessert while Chrisle and Chrisn just pigged out on chips and salsa. Everyone loves Tres Agaves' margaritas, but I am just that not impressed. And I've had it many times. Maybe I am just not a big margarita fan in general. I would pick vodka over tequila any day of the week. One good thing about Tres Agaves was that we could be as loud as we want, and no one cared. And y'all know we have voices and laughter that carry.

I was tired but force myself to perk up for Ramy's sake. Chrisle took Ramy, Dustin and me back to my apartment so we could drop off our stuff. Then Nicky came to pick us up to drive us down to the Castro. First stop was Badlands due to my request. That place is popping every night of the week. We got several rounds of drinks and even did some dancing. But eventually Dustin, Nicky and Ramy got bored. And the music went on a bad turn so I didn't have any reason to stay either. We were going to go to Toad Hall when we saw that the place was dead empty. We quickly turned around and headed to Moby Dick. Dustin bought me a Red Bull, but I was just too powered down. I said my goodbye; thank goodness Ramy had my extra keys. I cabbed it home except I was a bad boy and had a slice of drunken pizza before arriving in the Marina. It turned out that Ramy, Dustin and Nicky ended up going to The EndUp and stayed out till 3:30AM. Mama no!

~A

Weird Not Taking Pictures

2010-05-04T02:11:00.000-04:00

So after spending all of Sunday night stuck at the office building a presentation, my Optimizer, a Display Specialist, a TV Specialist and I headed to Salt Lake City on Tuesday morning to see a client of mine that I have been managing for three years now. I've seen them grow so much and do so many innovative things; it has indeed been quite the journey. It was a very long day considering we flew in, did the three hour sales pitch and then had to fly back to SF on the same day. All our hard work paid off though because we landed one of the biggest deals I've sold. It was a wonderful moment. We celebrated with lots of drinks and fried food at the airport. I resumed SF social life in full force the next day with a satisfying Wednesday night. The next day, I had a great workout at Crunch then met up with Kristine for happy hour at Palomino. By the way, the Palomino off of the Embarcadero is now doing all day happy hour; it's quite the good deal! Kristine and I gossiped about boys and sex. I gotta admit it was interesting talking about straight sex, not my favorite but I do like learning about new things and experiences. LOL! Kristine said the booze helped her loosen her tongue. I on the other hand talk openly about my sexual dalliances all the time.

Friday, I lost my virginity...to Spin class, YOU PERVS! Just like my other first time though, there were a lot of "resistance" and "positions;" not to mention, my legs and butt were quite sore. Thanks to Jonathan such a memorable first time! It was definitely a tough ride but a great workout. I shall be returning this week. In the evening, I met up with Chrisle, Tammy, Laura, Dustin and a hairy and nice straight dude named Max for dinner at Oola. I arrived late so I had to take a lot of flack, but I totally had muni woes. Dinner got better once I had two vodka martinis. After the meal, Chrisle, Max and I walked to Mezzanine to watch Bonobo, this electronic band that the two of them loved. I had never beent o Mezzanine before so was intrigued to see the venue, only to be disappointed by the super expensive drinks and the blah blah blahness of it. We watched some bad opener until Bonobo came on. I tried, really tried to get into the music but just couldn't do it. And all the marijuana smell was making me sick so I had to bail on Chrisle, but at least Max was there. I jumped into a cab and headed to The Cafe where the rest of the boys were. When I arrived, I tried to talk my way out of paying a cover but no. I hadn't been there in months and forgot what a total scene that place was. All the gay boys were drinking and dancing up a storm. It was fun, and I enjoyed being able to sing along to the music. I had more CHEAP drinks and then headed to Bagdad for a second event with William.

I relaxed Saturday during the day, and it had been the first time in a long time that I didn't have something planned and set to go on a weekend night. I actually thought about staying home and doing some reading. But I got a hold of Jeremy, and we made plans to hang out so I knew 'The Overnight Socialite' had to wait. But before I met up with Jeremy, I had something else I had to do, which almost made me late. We were planning to get drinks at Osha, but the wait was horrendous so we went to Betelnut across the street. Jeremy was extra thirsty that night; I couldn't keep up with him. He was downing his vodka martinis faster than I could. We ended up getting some food as well. After three rounds of martini, Jeremy suggested that we go to Big Top at Bar Eight. I was down because I had never been. It was surprisingly hard to get a cab from Union St. Big Top turned out to be kinda empty, but we didn't care because there was booze! I don't remember how many rounds we had before deciding to head to the Castro (where I always seem to end up). We went to Toad Hall where Austin and Dave were. Everything was so blurry, but I think we didn't stay very long because Jeremy had to meet his friends at Blackbird. We cabbed it there as well since it was so cold, and we were too drunk to walk. I pray I didn't make a fool of myself in front of Jeremy's friends, but I don't remember anything there. I did learn from Jeremy the next day that I peaced out without saying goodbye. Wa wa wa! I don't think think I am meant to have quiet evenings at home.

Sunday morning was messy, but I had to drag my ass out of bed because I was going to the beach with Maryam and her friends. It was so hot and would have been a total waste to stay indoor. She came and picked me up around noon; we made a quick trip to Safeway to pick up booze and food to BBQ. Then it was off to China Beach, a hidden beach that was perfect for the day. I didn't want to go to Baker Beach where we would have to deal with the twenty other million people who decided to be out. We lounged around all day, and I got to meet Maryam's straight friends (including Sean, a total straight bro), and it was actually the first time in a long time that I enjoyed myself at an event exclusively with breeders. I guess I shouldn't glare at straight people whenever they walk by me. They can be good people, LOL! I got some nice color from that day. And we all know you look thinner when you are tanned.

~A

No Choking Please

2010-05-04T00:27:00.000-04:00

I swear that every time I wanna catch up on this blog, something comes up! But anyways, let's rewind all the way back to Saturday after my super messy evening at Badlands. I was hungover and exhausted and wanted to get Chrisle a credit (only insiders will get that one), but it wasn't meant to be. So I was super frustrated by Friday being shitty, and Saturday not going my way either. I really just wanted life to throw me a freaking born. So when night time rolled around, I was super happy to meet Chrisle for dinner at Bar Tartine. Due to his trip down south and a busy week, I didn't have a chance to meet up with him. I cabbed it down the Mission and had a BG4J feast with my favorite hippie. We split this duck pate, which was so delicious that I even broke my no carbs rule and ate bread with it. Chrisle and I caught up on all the happenings including Bill's birthday bash and Chrisle's last minute sales pitch in Southern Cali. The dinner was just what I needed after another shitty day.

When we were stuffed, I thought we were gonna head to the Castro to meet up with Tom, Dave and Austin. But Chrisle kidnapped me, and we went to Lonestar for another Soma leather adventure night. I guess it's good that we see different parts of the city. Before we knew it, Paul and Brian joined us. It was nice to meet Brian again when I wasn't drunk off my ass. He was as tall as I remembered. Chris and Matt came as well, and our posse was complete. We were clearly out of place, but we didn't care. The drinks weren't very strong at Lonestar so we mobilized to Chaps II, which we knew poured super strong drinks. It also turned out to be uniform night there, which was quite interesting. Chrisle kept wanting to go in the back where were a bunch of leather daddies who looked like they were ready to tie us to the spanking board. I felt so uncomfortable. At least the bartender was super generous with the booze, it was so strong that I couldn't guzzle it down at the regular speed that I was used to. Eventually we got tired of all the leather and the bears, William decided we would head to Blackbird to help get Brian laid. I was beyond gone at this point. I do remember that the cab wouldn't take all five of us so Chrisle volunteered to stay behind. I offered to cab with him, but he said it was fine because he wanted to attend 'midnight mass' around the corner. LOL! Chrisle is so devout. I don't remember anything at Blackbird but apparently had problems opening the bathroom door. That's when Paul and William decided to stick me into a cab. See all the pics from the night here.

There was slowing down the social activities. The next day, I had booked a table at Barracuda in the Castro for Paul's (heaven knows which number) going away event. The boy was going back to Africa and then heading to Yale for grad school. It also turned out to be Juan Carlos' last day in the Bay Area. He landed a job for Anchor Blue in Orange County. I was so happy for him because I knew he really wanted the job but so sad that he would be leaving us. We had a terrific mimosa filled Japanese brunch. I couldn't get drunk for some reason; I blame the low quality of champagne. At least I was sober to pay attention to all the hotties who were in the restaurant. Brian was quite taken aback by the Working Gays' open natured conversations about sexual fetishes and being uncut or cut. What can I say, we are a close group of friends. We might scream and talk about inappropriate things, but we are always laughing the loudest and having the best time.

Since the weather was so beautiful, everyone wanted to go to Dolores park. I wasn't really up for it but went with it. We stopped by William's apartment to pick up some blankets while Marco and Kristine changed into William's clothes for more comfort. That was very kind of Cousin because I am actually not one to share clothes with friends. The park was packed of course with plenty of gay boys running around in speedos and underwear. We laid out and just soaked up the sun. I was tempted to strip down to my underwear to get some color on my legs but decided that would be too slutty. I am a lady after all! We lounged around while Paul and Brian left to go find boys to slore with.

I had to leave after a couple of hours because I had to go into work to build a presentation for a business trip the following week. It was so hard to drag myself out of the sun and travel to Soma and work in a stuffy office. There was no air circulation while I slaved away; I guess it's our company's effort to be green. I ended up leaving the office some time after 10PM. FML! But the result looked good, and I was proud of my hard work.

~A

Week Of Feasts

2010-04-29T02:51:00.000-04:00

Which made my tummy happy but left my bank account quite empty.

Monday - Woodhouse with Chrisn, dessert with at La Fraiche
Tuesday - Ebb & Flow with BB, chocolate pudding from Tartine
Wednesday - Osha with Jeremy, a slice of cake, a donut and ice cream from Safeway (TOTAL BG4J!) as second event
Thursday - Burger Bar with Bill for his birthday dinner, their famous chocolate burger for dessert. Followed by watching the very comical 'Date Night.'

And two Fridays ago, life was shitty. Everything that could have gone wrong, did! I was on the verge of tears. I felt like the world was just against me. I couldn't focus at work because of all the drama, and my Account Manager being out for vacation did not help the situation. I couldn't wait for the work day to be over. I went to the gym to get out some of the frustration. Too bad I missed spin class because it would have helped with all the resentment I was feeling. I arrived at Badlands with an insatiable thirst and was ready to down my sorrow. And boy did I do just that. I was drinking so fast that people started giving me their second 2:1 drink. My friends are SO nice. It wasn't the best idea to binge drink my problems away, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. What happened during my blackout? Apparently I ended up in the middle of a group of guys who were very hands on with me. They weren't so fond of my outfit that day so they decided to take matters into their own hands, which resulted a bar back from the fine establishment to give me some "recommendations." After the incident, I told my friends we had to make our exit.

We stumbled across the street to Zapata to get burritos. The meal was just a big blur, but I do remember Chrisn making sure we had whole wheat tortilla. Even in his blackout, Chrisn still knew not to eat carbs. I love that kid. There were some super unattractive pictures taken of us eating. When we were stuffed, I don't know whose idea it was to go to Toad Hall. I think I drank more there. But I remember within a short period of time, everyone had left. Those bitches couldn't hold their alcohol. I decided that being blacked out drunk alone at the bar wasn't a good idea so I wandered over to the ATM for some cab fare. I couldn't get the ATM to work for the life of me. And all of a sudden, I get attacked from behind. It was Paul! And his friend, Brian visiting from DC. It was not the best moment for me to meet someone new, but I rolled with it. With their help, I realized that no cash was coming out because I was using my parents' credit card rather than my ATM card. FML! I wanted to go home, but I wanted to hang out with Paul and Brian. More importantly, I needed confirmation that I wasn't banded from Badlands. Luckily the three of us made it in with no trouble. Apparently I couldn't stop commenting on how tall Brian is, and Paul wouldn't stop telling me how hung Brian is. LOL!

In my recollection, I was ready to hit up Boy Bar with those two slores, but they ended up putting my 'falling asleep ass' into a cab. That was probably for the best! See all the pics from that tragic Friday here. At least, I lasted till midnight.

~A

Ménage à Trois & German Send Off

2010-04-26T02:24:00.000-04:00

Sorry dear readers that I am so behind on this blog. I don't what is with me these days, but I am just barely finding any time and strength to dedicate to writing. I am trying to hype myself up though. Quick side story,I went to Pacific Catch in the Marina last night to get dinner to go. When I got home, I realized that they got my order completely wrong. I was annoyed and sent out a Tweet about it. The next morning, I was @ by the restaurant, their head chef, their general manager and their COO, all apologizing and asking me how they can remedy the situation. After a few private messages, they looked up my order and realized it was completely their fault. They said they will refund my credit card and asked me for my mailing address to send me a gift card. Talk about customer satisfaction!

Now back to the continuation of Klaus' visit. Even though we have amazing restaurants in SF, Klaus surprisingly liked The Cheesecake Factory and California Pizza Kitchen the best. LOL! Granted those are some amazing chain restaurants, but I think the SF local fare is so much better! We actually ate at CPK two nights in a row because it was the best restaurant near Bill's, Dustin's and Vinny's birthday bash. The three birthday boys wanted their guests to dress as famous trios. Chrisn, William and I ended up being kinda lame and went with red, white and blue. We all got American apparel deep Vs then got some American flag flare. I know it wasn't the most creative, but we at least looked really cute. In the 11th hour, I actually though of the best idea. We could have gone as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Who would have been the ugly you might be asking? Well I would volunteer for that by wearing an outfit with Bill's worst photos pinned all over me. Or we could have dressed up as the three birthday boys. Chrisn could have done Vinny's emo weedster, Cousin could have done Dustin's tranny wish trash, and I could have done Bill by wearing a tiara, a bag of rice and a beauty sash (I think you get the idea). HOW AMAZING WOULD THOSE HAVE BEEN?! We would have totally won the costume contest.

After a late dinner, we headed to the main event at The Rickshaw Stop that the three birthday boys rented out. Too bad we had to pay a cover because Bill wanted the birthday party to also fund raise for NCYLS. At least, it was for a good cause. The place was packed by the time we got there. Since I had been sick the week before, I hadn't seen a lot of the Castro gays I was used to interacting with. It felt like a return to society. After all the greetings and kisses, Chrisn, William and I attacked the bar where we got HUGE vodka and Red Bulls. Those drinks were the reason I ended up getting so drunk. The birthday boys went as sex, drugs and rock and roll. I will let you interpret their costume by the pictures. Several party guests did some creative themes like red, yellow and green lights; the Kardashians; top, bottom and middle (which won the costume contest thanks to blowup dolls and dildos). Bill's friend was the DJ and played all the best gay dance songs for us. We danced our brains out especially when we heard Miley's 'Party In the USA,' which was Chrisn's, William's and my theme song that night.

Upstairs, Vinny's friend Richard who is a great photographer actually set up a photo shoot area. I almost missed our photo opportunity because I was drunk and wondering around, but my friends knew I would never forgive myself if I missed the opportunity so they somehow reigned me in. I was so drunk at that time, I barely remember having the photos taken. And as you can see, I was horizontal a lot. LOL! But I do love the one with Paul leaning into me and me looking at the camera.

After the photos were taken, I was so excited to discover that Corey, my Account Manager and Brian, my Optimizer had also showed up to the party. It was like the first social event our pod attended. More and more people showed up, and we just didn't stop drinking. I think the majority of the people were blacked out. Apparently at one point, Bill was making out and chatting with his trick of the night. I went up to Bill, didn't acknowledge his tricked, pulled Bill away and said "You can't talk to him because he isn't Asian." EEEK! I still can't believe I did that, but I have no recollection of it. Let's just say Bill found out later that the dude was not pleased with me. I think when I am sober I am so tactful that I just let it all go when I get hammered. Wa wa wa...just watch the dude is gonna turn into Bill's boyfriend and hate me forever. Klaus and I stayed pretty much till the end of the party when the place was practically empty. I think I tried to convince Chrisn to get second dinner, but that was a no go so the three of us shared a cab home. What a fun night! See all the pics from the party here.

Even though I was hungover as hell, I dragged my ass out of bed the next morning to go help Cousin move to his new apartment in the Mission. I think I was SUCH a good friend for doing that because I don't even really do my own moving. I am a strong believer in hiring movers who are so much more efficient; it's totally worth the cost. Cousin didn't wanna go down that path because he thought he didn't have very much stuff, but he turned out to be wrong. Marco was the star of the day though. He helped Cousin and Sanjay do some crazy heavy maneuvering. Chrisn, Cindy and I were definitely not able to move large furniture pieces. After a couple of hours, we got everything from the old place to the new place. I was exhausted but honestly didn't even do that much. Cousin was so encouraging though because he probably knew I needed the most validation to do manual labor. LOL! I went home for the rest of the afternoon to relax while Klaus was out doing more sight seeing. In the evening, I headed down to Ti Couz in the Mission for dinner. William and Sanjay wanted to thank those who helped with the move earlier in the day. We had strong drinks with some super yummy crepes. I also met Sanjay's friend Sherry who is practically a dude. She was so funny though! Let's just say we talked a lot about sex.

We headed to the LookOut next because Klaus really wanted to go there. I am not a fan of the LookOut on Saturday night because they actually have the audacity to charge a cover and offer no real perks except the fact that they take credit cards at the bar. The music was surprisingly good that night though. The DJ played a lot of UK hits like Cheryl Cole's "Fight For This Love" and The Saturdays' "Ego." We also met some super friendly Brits who are in the cast of "Peter Pan," a new that is opening in SF soon. They were probably wasted, but a lot of fun to talk to. Too bad Chrisle was out of town because it was his idea for us to get tickets for the show. Ironically, we still haven't done it yet. Klaus apparently had quite the crush on Sanjay, but I pulled them apart at one point just as they were talking about their respective childhoods. Why do I keep pulling people away?! I am usually such a uniter. Oh well...after several rounds of drink, we were all over the LookOut, which was still pretty empty. We head to Toad Hall to do some dancing. But apparently we all didn't last very long. The alcohol got the best of us. See more pics here.

The next morning was raining so hard. I told Klaus it was because SF was crying about his departure. We grabbed breakfast in the Marina before I put Klaus in a cab to the airport. I am so glad Klaus came and stayed with me for a week. Now the ball is in my court to go see him in Europe.

~A