Las Vegas weekend with Jerry

11 09 2007

Since Jerry was going to be in Las Vegas for a week, I decided to fly down for a couple days so we could hang out. This was just a few days after I got back from New York, so it was a busy week! I’m glad I did because we had a pretty good time. Here are some pictures and stories.

The first night we got some pizza at New York, New York and then spent a long time walking up and down the strip checking out all the sights and having a few drinks.

New York Las vegas
It was kind of cool to be able to see the real New York, and the Las Vegas version in one week!

Jerry in Las Vegas
I tried about a million camera settings to get this picture to work!

So for clubbing we settled on Studio 54, which turned out to be kind of a strange crowd. I was glad to see that they still had the trapeze show, but the music was kind of hip-hoppy, and there weren’t many people there. Definitely not what we had in mind, although we did have several more drinks.

Jerry thinking
Here’s Jerry thinking, “Hmm, I think I’ll throw Jerry’s shirt into a tree later.”

But for afterhours we discovered the basement club at Drai’s, and had a good time dancing for the rest of the night/morning. The next day I had to work from the hotel for awhile, until we got ready in the evening to go to dinner at the Wynn. Afterwards, we met some celebrities…

Jerry and Elton John

Me and Whoopi

We wrapped up the evening with some clubbing at Piranha, where Jerry got hit on yet again by a disenfranchised lesbian (not Whoopi, another one), and drove back to Phoenix the next morning.


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SOS

24 08 2007

Welcome back! I’ve only been gone a little over a week, but a lot has happened since we last left off. The most obvious change is the new website, and I’m really excited to have a new site I can grow into with new sections of content.

The Governors Mansion has been put up for sale. I’ve had an itch lately to move closer downtown where I can walk places and catch the light rail that’s happening soon in Phoenix, so I decided to take some of my own advice and stop thinking about it and just do it (you’ll realize the irony of this later). I’ve already settled on a building downtown, so now it’s just a matter of passing this gorgeous house to one lucky buyer stalker.

I’ve almost completed week three of my personal training “body transformation” program, and happy to report that I’m seeing some really good results. While the diet and meal logging, cardio and intense workout sessions have been a little inconvenient during the last few busy weeks, it’s been well worth it and I’m sleeping better and feeling good.

The diet is interesting, because it actually feels like too much food. I have to eat 6 times a day, which is hard to always remember, and I’m not even really that hungry throughout the day. Especially in the morning, when I choke down like 6 eggs plus something else that’s gonna fill my calorie requirements. And then eat 2 hours later, ha. But the end result is that even though I’m not realy trying to lose “weight” (I’m only trying to build muscle), I have actually lost 7 pounds.

I went to see Mama Mia tonight with Jerry and Melanie, Jason and Steve. Jerry and I agreed that the music was pretty good, although the story line was a bit too melodramatic for our tastes (again with the irony). But of course I realized how much I really love some of these ABBA songs, and this brought back some memories from the White Party.

When you’re gone, how can I even try to go on?


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The training wheels are off

25 07 2007

I’ve returned from San Diego Pride with my friends, and although I’m a bit exhausted today I thought I’d take some time to reflect on the weekend.

I challenged myself last weekend to start talking a little more to people I don’t know. Circuit parties are highly social events, and so I have found them to sometimes be a little intimidating. Ok, maybe really intimidating. I don’t know why I’m shy, but I just am. Now this wasn’t a new challenge, I’ve been gradually building up to this point during the course of the year, but I really gave myself an ultimatum this time that I really want to get myself over the worst part of this shyness and put that all behind me.

Luckily, it wasn’t really a challenge. I found it quite easy (both sober and not) to say hi to people, introduce myself, and make some casual conversation. Actually I’m really amazed at the number of people I met because I don’t think I’ve met that many new people in one weekend before, even at some of the larger circuit events. The primary goal of the weekend is of course to hang out with my best friends, but it was also nice to expand the social circle a bit. For once I actually remember the people from the weekend better than the music! And I think I’ve returned to Phoenix with a greater feeling of self-confidence than I’ve ever had before.

Speaking of trying new things, Jerry met me in San Diego for the closing party of the weekend, and it was a lot of fun having him there. While having drinks one night with Jerry last week, I made an offer to buy his ticket if he would come out to one of the parties with us. It turned out he had the required days off, his girlfriend was going to be out of town so he didn’t have any plans, and so he accepted. The next day I was a little afraid that he might have accepted just because we were out at the bar (aka drunk talk), but I immediately bought his ticket anyway and sent him the details of the party. It turned out he was serious about coming, and so we made plans for Sunday.

Despite initially being a little out of his element for obvious reasons, I think Jerry had a great time. He danced like a circuit boy and socialized with some of my newer friends throughout the course of the evening, hopefully getting a good taste for what these events are all about – challenging yourself, letting your guard down and meeting new people, and enjoying some great music and entertainment. It really meant a lot to me that he was willing to try out an event like this, knowing how much I enjoy them. And so whether or not he decides to do it again, at least he may understand a little bit more about what I’ve been up to, and I can tell him stories of future travels without him thinking I’m completely crazy!

So, thanks to Tony and DJ for their top notch hospitality, and thanks to new friends and best friends for spending a great weekend with me in San Diego. I couldn’t imagine life right now without you.


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UFC (Ultimate Fantastic Core)

27 05 2007

Last night was our UFC Core party at Vicky’s house where we drank, ate, and watched the homoerotic spectacle known as UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) on pay-per-view. We also got a chance to see Jason and meet some of the members of Vicky’s secret social group.

Honestly? It seems gay just to watch this UFC stuff. I have no idea what the straight people get out of watching nearly naked guys rolling around in near simulated sex scenes. I asked Jerry about this later in the night, and he tried to explain that it’s not gay if punches are also being thrown. I think all the other guys in the room would have made similar statements if asked. If, like me, your BS meter is getting a suspicious reading from that statement, well…


This is Alessio Sakara from the weigh-in before UFC 70. Weigh-ins are indistinguishable from underwear photo shoots.


Bruce Weber directed this weigh-in of Rich Clementi


This move is actually called The Anaconda


I think this is called frottage


Another example of The Anaconda. That look of pain on his face tells you this isn’t gay.


This is what’s known as a power bottom


Honestly, these captions just write themselves at this point

I’m not going to harp on this too long, because a lot of straight guys don’t like being backed into a corner where they have to admit to themselves that they enjoy a little homoerotic display now and then. Personally I enjoyed the fight. And even though it’s an odd culture I can certainly appreciate it for what it is…soft core porn.

Note how girls are used in the background of the weigh-ins so that all those guys don’t feel completely gay for assembling to watch two UFC fighters strip down to their underwear…

So you see what I’m saying about this thinly veiled homoeroticism. I mean, I almost lost it last night when Joe Rogan started talking about how one fighter was “giving him the Anaconda from behind.” Ok.

Later in the night, some sort of tension developed about what to do after the fight was over. I’m not really sure how that started or what it was really about, but I ended up feeling a little uncomfortable about it.

Deanna and I headed back to the Governor’s Mansion where we decided to get a cab and meet Jerry out at a new bar for us called Bar Smith. It’s an interesting space next door to Burn, and we remarked how the crowd was a similar version of Scottsdale. After Jerry left just a little early due to an early work day he had planned, Deanna and I went next door to Burn where we were really surprised that they wanted us to pay $20 cover for the remaining hour that they would be open. So after nixing that idea, we walked to Seamus McCaffrey’s to have a few drinks with Daren.

So, there you have it. I’m going now to do some more UFC research…


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Hooks and nachos

14 04 2007

Thursday I intended to get back to my workout program with Daren and Jerry, after taking a few days off after White Party to make sure my body properly recovers from the excitement of the weekend. But I decided at the last minute to take an extra day off, and instead headed out with Jerry and Daren for some drinks and adventure.

Jerry and Daren wanted to go to “The Armadillo” but I protested on account of a) that it’s a restaurant, and b) the last time I dove by the place they were advertising their “World Famous Fried Pickles.” Ha, I’m sure they’ll leave comments trying to convince me that it’s not a restaurant…but it is. ;-) The last few times they tried taking me to restaurant dive bars I have been less than pleased (yes I’m a little picky and stuck in my ways when it comes to night time drink venues), so I tried to spice things up by offering a night at Burn for the new Club Mistress event. After hearing the words “lesbian S&M” Jerry quickly agreed and we were on our way.

Upon passing Burn, we noted that there wasn’t much of a crowd yet, so we decided to go to “The Irish Bar” for a couple beers first.


Daren at Seamus McCaffrey’s pretending the stains in the ceiling aren’t there

After a couple beers and Jerry and Daren’s game of video bowling, we walked down to Burn. Burn was moderately attended for a Thursday, and after sharing some weekend stories with Angela some of the entertainment began.


See Daren, you shouldn’t have left early!

—

On Friday night, Philip and Rob got in town for pride weekend. Rob is the super nice guy that I met last weekend at the White Party, known to the rest of the gang since their trip to Montreal last year, who lives in London right now. So I went out with Rob, Philip, Rich and Justin to Burn again for drinks. We met up with Bruce and Tracy, and Mike and Nate for some casual talk, dancing and drinks.


Rob and Tracy


Mike and Nate


Rich


Justin, Travis and Philip

For the After-Burn, we went to Charlie’s for some dancing and pigging out on super nachos grande delux and carne asada burritos from the taco cart. As is typical with Charlie’s, the evening was a little awkward between confrontations with drunk queens and when I was slammed in the eye by the hat bill of a drunk mess plowing into the bathroom. Odd energy lives at Charlie’s, and I have no idea why I keep going back. Eh, live and learn.

So now it’s offiicially Pride weekend in Phoenix, and we’ll be headed out to the Adonis Party tonight at the Icehouse venue in downtown Phoenix. Interesting to note that my attendance at this party last year immediately precluded a breakup with my last boyfriend. I actually went last year by myself. So I’m glad that this year things are under different curcumstances, and I know I’ll have a good time with friends.


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Evanescence is a Christian band

5 04 2007

Many of you have argued with me in the past about my assertion that Evanescence is a Christian band – ok mostly Jerry, but the rest of you know who you are. In fact I don’t think anyone has ever agreed with me on this point. But today my Yahoo start page loads up, and they have a promo about Evanescence’s new video…Sweet Sacrifice. Oh please! It is so glaringly obvious to that Evanescence is a Christian band (my first tipoff was all the Christian-oriented lyrics) that I decided to do a little research.

Evanescence was originally promoted as a Christian band, in Christian stores. In fact Evanescence started out as an “underground independent group in the Christian Music scene” before being signed. In a 2000 interview with guitarist Ben Moody, he was quoted as saying “the message we as a band want to convey more than anything is simple – God is Love…We hope to express in our music that Christianity is not a rigid list of rules to follow only out of fear…”

After the success of Fallen, the band supposedly (according to their label) suddenly decided that they wanted to be considered mainstream (secular). So in an effort to push the band out of the Christian genre, their label recalled all albums from Christian stores, Christian radio, and Christian charts – which was once intended to be their primary market. Read the Christian Music Central story here.

Evanescence’s about face seems to have started with some bizarre comments made to the media in an interview published by Entertainment Weekly. Their (Christian) label seems to have been so embarassed by the comments, that they instantly went to work rebranding Evanescence as a secular band, to avoid any damage to the genre as a whole. Read the Rolling Stone article here.

To be fair, Evanescence no longer wishes to be considered a Christian Band, and most likely realizes that it would now be a tragedy for the band to be reclassified to the Christian genre. In 2006, Amy Lee was asked about the band’s Christian reputation, to which she responded “Can we please skip the Christian thing? I’m so over it. It’s the lamest thing. I fought that from the beginning; I never wanted to be associated with it. It was a Ben thing. It’s over. It’s a new day.” Read the Billboard interview here. In another interview, she tries to deflect negative press by saying “There are people hell-bent on the idea we’re a Christian band in disguise, and that we have some secret message…[our music is] simply about life experience.”

To fight this image further, a website has been set up called Evanescence Is Not A Christian Band. Surprisingly, this website was set up by the same person who designed the websites for the Tacoma Christian Reformed Church and the Northwest Mercy Ministries.

The bottom line? Evanescence was a Christian band for a long time until they embarrased their Christian label with bizarre un-Christian comments, and got dropped from the genre almost overnight. This may or may not have been a stunt in order to get them solidly into the mainstream alternative genre, where they are clearly more profitable and influential. However, their music continues with strong Christian proselitizing undertones that largely go unnoticed by the general population.


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R A V E N O U S

30 03 2007

Likely a testament to how hard I’ve been working out lately, tonight I simply craved the thickest and rarest steak I could get my hands on. I interpreted this as a sign that my body needed protein for some serious muscle building, so I gave in and headed to Safeway where I bought a couple choice top sirloins. I threw one on the grill, but only for long enough to get it warm and juicy.

Exquisite…lemon flakes performed admirably (as they always do) as I sliced and stabbed my way to heaven. Rare, soft and juicy, and just perfect. A perfect finish to my evening of running a mile and working out in the gym.

I’ve been working out fairly regularly for about 6 weeks now. I’m starting to see some real results, and it has me excited since I think I may be in the best shape I’ve been in for a few years. That’s both physically and mentally. Funny how both efforts have been actually very closely tied together.

Working out with Jerry and Daren has been really fun…and there’s actually a lot more involved to our evenings than just the workouts. We’ll also often go out to a bar or two afterward (or hang out at Jerry’s loft), drink some beer, and hang out and bs with one another. Steve also started hanging out with us, and we always have a good time. Talk about dates, significant others, work, etc. Jerry describes this as his new fraternity, and that’s a fairly accurate description of how it feels.

Hanging out with Rich, Justin, Philip and Bernard is a very similar fraternal part of my life lately. I am impressed, and humbled, by what strong bonds exist within this circle. And deciding to do some of the party curcuit with them this year is what’s motivating me to stick with those workouts, stick to my diet, and what had motivated me last year to finally give up smoking.

I’m not quite where I want to be yet, but I know my goals are achievable and right around the corner. So, cheers to all of you that help. My shoulders are looking better, but what’s on top of them is feeling pretty good, too.


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Core VIP

25 03 2007

Well last night was the Core event with Jerry, Vicky, and Deanna. We went to La Cage Aux Folles at the Arizona Broadway Theater, to Burn where we met Daren, Rich and Justin for dancing and drinks in our VIP cabana, and then finished the night at the governors mansion. I didn’t acually end up with as many pictures as I thought, but we all had a great time and it was fantastic as usual to see everyone!




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St. Patrick’s Day Weekend

22 03 2007

Here are some pictures from last weekend…


Friday night I went with Rich and Justin to the Red Magazine anniversary party at Burn. The club actually cleared out pretty early, and it felt like we had the place to ourselves!


Saturday evening I was invited over for a St. Patrick’s Day dinner at Mary Lou’s house (that’s Jerry and Vicky’s mom). Dinner was delicious, and afterwards we played an Ireland trivia game. In this pic you can see Mary Lou reading a question while everyone gets excited to blurt out the answer! Mary Lou always goes all out for holidays, and I’m always amazed at the traditions that their family has for each one!


Saturday night started at Fate for an after dinner drink with Rich, Justin, Mark and Andrea. Then we headed to Burn for dancing and more drinks. Notice how hard I’m working on my tan for the White Party? :-) Oddly, I was the only one wearing green.

Sunday night, Rich and Justin called me up to go to dinner with them since they were in the area “taking a drive.” Well, I knew right away why they were in central Phoenix, and that’s because they were looking at neighborhoods and houses! Even though they recently decided they were going to move to LA sometime soon, I think they are starting to get cold feet because of the prices there. So it seems that a move to central Phoenix might be a good compromise for awhile…they get to be in a more urban setting than they’re in now, without having to commit to a much more dramatic move to Los Angeles.

So anyway we went to dinner at Ticoz, where the food is delicious and the waiters make you blush by remembering really old online conversations. Then we decided to go to Padlock for drinks, where we all took our shirts off so that we could get the drinks for half price. It was actually a really odd and unpredictable day, but fun of course. See Rich and Justin, you can’t do this stuff in Mesa!


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Where to start

4 03 2007

Ok so I usually try to have a point with most of my blog posts, as I realize that this is a little more than just my personal journal and so would like to keep the interests of others. However I’m not sure what the point of today’s entry is, so I’ll just start in my usual way by giving you a rundown of recent events.

So Friday Rich, Justin and I headed down to Burn for the “White Party Fashion Show.” Last weekend while I was in Flag, Rich and Justin heard at Burn that the customers are also supposed to dress in White for event – so we did. The lighting at Burn was really cool, and they had portions of the club draped in white cloth, with a new catwalk adorning the middle of the dance floor. The show started at around 11:30, and we all thought it was a really cool event for a Phoenix club to have, save for one thing…almost none of the models were wearing white clothing! We were a little confused as to what made this a “White Party Fashion Show” other than that the fashion show was taking place in front of a little mini white party…which is fine, except that we were really hoping for some outfit ideas for the White Party!


Some of the first models take the catwalk


The audience in white

So after the fashion show, Jerry met up with us after he got off from work. I had texted him earlier to tell him to wear white, and so he kept his work shirt on for good measure.


The boys in white

After Burn, we all headed back to my place for more drinks and conversation about parties, diet, excercise, and Rich’s upcoming week in LA. I had lost my voice earlier in the evening from my lingering sinus infection, so I was barely able to croak out any words at all by the end of the night. The next morning…

I had a terrible hangover. I guess it was because I may not have been ready to start clubbing so soon after being sick. It could have also been the pint glass drinks at Burn that seem to get stronger and stronger (I’m told, anyway) and the fact that I never seem to be able to keep track of how much I drink when I’m around Jerry, Rich and Justin – we just have too good a time. Anyway, I decided to drive up to Desert Ridge for some shoppingto take my mind off my headache.

Saturday night, Justin and I went back out to Burn – Rich had left for his LA work week at Philip’s pad, and Jerry and Daren decided to go out by themselves to “the irish bar.” Chiara says I’m an official barfly now, maybe so but we always have such a great time at Burn. Bruce and Tracy were there for Bruce’s birthday, and they are always a lot of fun to dance and talk with.


Bruce and Justin – both wearing red tonight

When we got to the bar, both Justin and I were immediately welcomed in by our favorite door staff, and we quickly saw Angela and exchanged greetings and chatted for a moment. One of the reasons that we like going to Burn so much is that everyone there makes us feel so welcome, and it really sets a great tone for the night. Jerry used to have this with his bar Shepards (ha, which later became the new leather bar in Phoenix) and it really is nice to have a place like this again…I haven’t had one since BS when I used to live in Tempe/Scottsdale and go there all the time.

Justin, Bruce, Tracy and I danced nearly the whole night. Justin and I decided that since we drank so much the night before, we were going to alternate alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks tonight. So I started out with a vodka/redbull (hangover gone by the end of that glass). We were then going to have plain redbulls, but then decided what would be the point of that since there is plenty of redbull in a vodka/redbull? I think you can see where this night was headed…

Justin and I had a talk about The Secret. Lately a lot of people have been calling out my cynical attitude, and how I tend to manifest those results around me. I’ve picked up a new nickname – whose various forms center around the term “the anti-secret.” The turning point for me was tonight when I said that I really liked the lighting, and was so glad that they weren’t using any of the annoying strobes. Justin immediately caught this, and told me that since I complained about the strobes they were probably going to start using them – well he was mid-sentence when they did indeed. This is a really minor example, but there have been others for the past few weeks – and tonight some things made me think that I do actually need a bit of an attitude adjustment.

Somewhere around 1 or 1:30, I met someone that I spotted standing by the bar when I was talking to Justin. We talked for a few minutes, and then danced together until the bar closed.

Justin and I decided we still wanted to dance some more, so we headed over to Charlies for a couple more hours. The music was really good at Charlies, and we continued to have a great time. However, I couldn’t get my mind off of the person I had just met and felt really distracted for the rest of the night. Even today as I write this, I’m really distracted with these thoughts. Sometimes for me, something will happen so perfectly that I wonder if I’m imagining it.

Well, I really do need to get some things done today. I’m off to LA on Thursday for a weekend with Philip, Rich and Justin!


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