Thursday, June 21, 2007

Happy Moments of the Evening

*** Sweating my ass off as I worked out watching the Best Week Ever podcast on my iPod.

*** Seeing a swarm of about 50 skateboarders who had taken to the street pass me by as I walked home.

*** Excusing myself to pass two Sheriff's Deputies and a Parole Officer who were blocking the sidewalk, mentioning, "We wouldn't want to be Interfering with Pedestrian Traffic, would we?"

*** Seeing two people patiently help a handicapped man out of a city bus.

***Being allowed to exchange a pair of pants I had bought at Target OVER A YEAR ago and never worn for a new size. (One more reason why I f'in LOVE Target)

*** Watching an episode of West Wing from the new boxed set I recently purchased while eating one of my favorite meals and then a cup of Caribou Caramel Swirl.

Some days it's just the small things.


Musical Fodder for my Writing:
"Because the Night" 10,000 Maniacs,
MTV Unplugged

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

My Incredibly (un?)Justified Fear of Shoe Shiners

See, maybe it's that I'm a guy who buys cheap shoes... I had a friend the other day laugh at me when I acknowledged that most of my shoes have come from Payless. But only recently have I been wearing better shoes that might be worthy of taking care of. Shoes that deserve a good shine.

I'll admit it: I never really learned how to shine my shoes. My Boy Scout troop was all para-military, but that was never something we had to do. So now, in my adulthood, I face a dilemma: I must either go out and buy the materials (shoe polish, brush, etc.) to figure out how to shine my own shoes, or I can pony up the $6 to have one of the many many shoe shiners in Skyway do it for me.

Except: they scare me.

I don't know where this comes from, but for some reason I am really uncomfortable about the prospect of someone else shining my shoes. Perhaps its because I always think that the guys sitting up in those chairs reading the Wall Street Journal look like pompous asses. Part of it is that it is SUCH a subservient role for the person doing the shining, and I'm not particularly comfortable about that. Part of it is also that the fag in me doesn't want a professional judging my footwear thinking to themselves, "Well, maybe he didn't get these at PayLess, but he certainly could have."

Well, earlier this week I decided to face my fear. I went and paid my money, sat in the chair, and listened to the crazy Zydeco music playing at the little shop where the guy nearest my office sits. He seemed to be quite experienced, and I tried to make polite conversation with him so as not to feel like a pompous ass in the process. (I left my WSJ on my desk.)

But here's the problem: he FUCKED UP MY SHOES!!!

They now look worse than when I started: black sole paint on the leather, scuff marks on the top!

Now I am not only scared of shoe-shiners, but have a fucked up pair of shoes to legitimize my phobia.

Maybe its "do it yourself" time. Fuck.

My First Smile of the Morning

Now that I'm back to my normal day job, I have to be at my desk at 7:30 in the morning. This normally means that I am up at 6:15, and don't have the most leisurely morning routine to get out of the door. This morning wake-up comes altogether too early, especially since I have not yet gotten into the habit of getting to bed early enough to provide me with my requisite 8 hours of rest (plus last night was hot and sticky, so I didn't sleep well). Anyway, I realized this morning that throughout my morning bus ride and walk to work, I have a fairly dour expression on my face. "Seriously, I have to do this again?" (And this is when I LOVE my job, I can only imagine how painful it would be if I hated it.)

But I also realized that there is always a moment of the day that gets me back to my cheery (who are we kidding) self.

Every morning when I walk in the door of the building I am greeted by (Juan). (Juan) is our custodian, and every morning when I walk in the door we greets me with a big ole smile. He's this cute little guy and he's always working his butt off. For a while last summer when he would see me he would dart over to push the handicap-button on the door so it would open for me. I would always laugh and thank him, but finally told him he really doesn't need to do that for me. He is perhaps the hardest working guy in our building and he certainly doesnt need to play doorman for me, the ... not hardest working guy in the building.

I can only presume that since (Juan) works for the government that he is legally in this country. He's very obviously first generation Mexican immigrant, and lives here with his wife and very young daughter (he loves showing pictures). They all go to English classes together.

I couldn't help but think of (Juan) and his family and their efforts to make a better life for themselves here when I heard a recap of Tom Tancredo's racist, xenophobic bullshit at the Republican primary debates. His idea of halting all immigration (legal and otherwise) until all current residents in the U.S. have been forced to assimilate to (white) American culture is pure bullshit. At the debate he actually said that immigrants must "cut ties" with their country of origin and even their families in those countries. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!! Since when has that been a requirement to be American? To my knowledge we still have St. Patrick's Day parades in just about every city in the United States.

Tancredo also specifically referenced his spite at phone lines that make users "Press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish..." This I totally don't understand. NO ONE IS MANDATING such phone options! What Tancredo is bitching about are U.S. companies who have seen a market for goods and services and are trying to fill that market as best as possible. What's more American than capitalism? What Tancredo, and many like him including my grandparents, fear is that the culture of America will (once again) change, through the efforts of those who live here.

I'm sorry, but the "I was here first" argument just doesn't hold water: otherwise we'd all be speaking Navajo/Algonquian/Iroquoian.

Musical Fodder for my Writing:
"Follow You Home" Nickelback,
All the Right Reasons

Monday, June 11, 2007

Taking the Lead

Damn this is sick. I mean really. To take any amount of joy out of someone's death (besides Jerry Falwell's). I'm truly a sick fuck.

But it does mean that I am winning.

Some of my law school friends started a "Dead Pool." Essentially, you create a list of the top ten people you think will die by the end of the year. The person with the most points at the end of the year wins (points are allocated based on the 100 minus the age of the decedent, that way betting on a geezer is worth less than betting that Paris Hilton dies from teeth chipped from hungrily attacking her jail bars).

And with the death of Republican Senator Craig Thomas last Monday, I pull ahead! I now have 26 points, SWEET!

And my most sincere condolences to the Thomas family. Really. Nothing Personal. Please don't hate me for betting on a man with Leukemia. Oh my God Im going to hell.


Musical Fodder for my Writing:
"Hear Me Out" Frou Frou,
Details

Good Damn Weekend

Well, the Guy has officially left. We got to spend one last glorious night together last week, fed by the passion we have developed together and the longing we knew that we will have as we part ways. Asi es la vida. In some ways it helped that we had that break-up a few weeks back, because I had already divested some from the relationship, but I'm certainly glad that we had gotten back together to spend what little time we had left together to truly remember how good we are together. Or were. Or will be. Who knows?

He left me with a little plastic ruler, which now sits at my desk reading "No one measures up to you." Ahhh.

The last week of work saw me wrap up my "top secret" project that I had been focusing on for a few weeks. It was controversial, heated, and I just tried my best (sometimes not so well) to stay above the fray. Well, my part has been played, now I just get to sit back and watch.

Friday night I went out with the folks from work. Predictably, we we ended up having too much fun, kinda crashing a Bachelor/Bachelorette party bus, obliterating a few styrofoam coolers along the way when we all fell cascade-style on top of them when the bus braked suddenly. Good times. Took my mind off the stress of the week, for sure.

Saturday I started training to bartend at Karma. They started training me at about 11pm, and had me out the door by midnight. Sound a little abrupt? It was. The thing was that the guy training me asked, "Do I need to train you to mix drinks?"

"No, I've been bartending since I was 18."

"Well, do I need to show you how this computer system works?"

"No, I used the exact same system at my last bar."

"Hmmm... well, let's just let you go at it then."

So, I bartended for about an hour, getting filled in on the particulars of the bar and the way things work there, and then the guy decided I was good to go. So then I meandered my way down to the Saloon, met a couple of friends there for a few drinks, then made it an early night home.

Yesterday went for a glorious brunch with my Roomie and her friend. Great brunch at Campiellos. Then literally laid around and napped away much of the day. Wow. That's a nice way to spend a weekend. It just felt incredible to not have any major work hanging around my neck.

Musical Fodder for my Writing:
"Open Your Eyes" Snow Patrol,
Eyes Open

This should help me get a job.... Definitely.

See about 6 Minutes in... Oh to be a nationally famous porn addict. Too bad Mom's not around to be proud.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Once Again I Bartend!

Well, as I noted briefly last Monday, I was offered a job at a club that I had been hanging out at. Ironically the job offer came from me being a sassy drunken bitch to the bar owner:

As we were leaving, he asked our group, "So did you guys have a good time tonight?"

My response: "It would have been better if your bartenders didn't suck ass."

We got into a quick discussion about what was wrong with the bar service, and he ended up telling me to call him about a job. Sweet.

So I went in and talked to the bar manager, and will be starting this Saturday. I will be working for the gay nights they host about once a month, which are always kick-ass parties, and possibly some pick-up Saturday shifts along the way.

I have seriously missed bartending. It's a great social outlet, and a great break from have "the law" be the only thing interesting going on in my life. It's hard to believe that it has been over a year since I left BOOM!. Not that I entirely miss that place in particular.

So here's where I'll be:


Now I just need to start studying my Drink Flashcards again. (Im not kidding.)

Musical Fodder for my Writing:
"Everybody's Leaving" Elkland,
Golden

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Made my Morning

Im not a huge Enrique Iglesias fan, but you have to give amazing esteem to any man who is this comfortable with his sexuality. This clip taken at G-A-Y Club in London (honestly one of the best dance clubs I've ever been to).



Thanks Towleroad