Sunday, March 01, 2009
Final Weekend
As DanielHenry pointed out to me on Facebook, it's not like I won't be back. But when it comes to living in Singapore, this is in fact my last weekend.
I gave my final exam last Monday and it went OK. I only got my research paper grades turned in that day so I decided not to grade exams but instead take the afternoon off from grading and resolve some other administrative things. Grading kicked off Tuesday and lasted until Thursday evening, so it did go faster than the research papers but not by much.
As Friday rolled around I went into school for my final day there. That morning I wrapped up the last of my paperwork for grades, turned in my keys, took some final photos, and headed out around 1pm. My experience at the university was really a great one, and the feedback I got from students (except for the one who was crying about her grade) made me feel really good. It's not often in life that you KNOW you made a difference, but this is one of those times.
I'd already had one farewell dinner earlier in the week, but heading into my last weekend I had a few more final meetups planned. First, though, I needed to have dinner with one of my students...I wouldn't normally spend my last Friday in town at a dinner like that but he's a diplomat here and I figured it was good for keeping up good relations between our countries. Plus, he was one of my more interesting and challenging students and I thought we'd have some good conversation, and I was right. I figured I'd head out for a drink afterwards but I drifted into a nap onto my couch after getting home and woke at 1am. I took that as a sign and went to bed.
Saturday was a gym day, followed by lunch and a movie with Derek. I said it last week and will say it again: I'm really happy to have finally gotten to know Derek in person after following his life for years online. We expect to see each other when I visit here again later this year.
Afterwards I met up with Ed, who took me to the Night Safari. After 3 times in Singapore I still hadn't been so he wanted to make sure I experienced it. Unfortunately it was raining, so the shows were cancelled, but we got to take the tram ride and see plenty of animal who were out enjoying the rain, and once the rain died down a bit we also walked some trails, and did not get eaten. We headed back to town, dozing in the back of a taxi, and grabbed some nasi lemak before heading to DYMK for a bit to meet some friends. I called it a night about 1.
Today I met up with Jasen for breakfast around 10:30 and we got caught up on what's been happening since we saw each other 2 weeks ago, and had a chance to say our farewells. A second friend cancelled out on me so I got some work done before meeting gary the Bubble Tea Guy, who's been running the stand at school that I visit everyday. This was the first time we hung out away from the university and it was pretty fun, even though the sudden rain made things a bit messy.
Tonight I'm out to dinner with my trainer from the gym, then am hoping to go clubbing later (though if the rain doesn't stop I don't know how excited I'll be about going out again). Starting tomorrow I need to be settling things around town, visiting with more friends, and doing anything I have been meaning to do but haven't done yet.
I'm also learning that Chinese people don't like long goodbyes, and I'm OK with that.
I gave my final exam last Monday and it went OK. I only got my research paper grades turned in that day so I decided not to grade exams but instead take the afternoon off from grading and resolve some other administrative things. Grading kicked off Tuesday and lasted until Thursday evening, so it did go faster than the research papers but not by much.
As Friday rolled around I went into school for my final day there. That morning I wrapped up the last of my paperwork for grades, turned in my keys, took some final photos, and headed out around 1pm. My experience at the university was really a great one, and the feedback I got from students (except for the one who was crying about her grade) made me feel really good. It's not often in life that you KNOW you made a difference, but this is one of those times.
I'd already had one farewell dinner earlier in the week, but heading into my last weekend I had a few more final meetups planned. First, though, I needed to have dinner with one of my students...I wouldn't normally spend my last Friday in town at a dinner like that but he's a diplomat here and I figured it was good for keeping up good relations between our countries. Plus, he was one of my more interesting and challenging students and I thought we'd have some good conversation, and I was right. I figured I'd head out for a drink afterwards but I drifted into a nap onto my couch after getting home and woke at 1am. I took that as a sign and went to bed.
Saturday was a gym day, followed by lunch and a movie with Derek. I said it last week and will say it again: I'm really happy to have finally gotten to know Derek in person after following his life for years online. We expect to see each other when I visit here again later this year.
Afterwards I met up with Ed, who took me to the Night Safari. After 3 times in Singapore I still hadn't been so he wanted to make sure I experienced it. Unfortunately it was raining, so the shows were cancelled, but we got to take the tram ride and see plenty of animal who were out enjoying the rain, and once the rain died down a bit we also walked some trails, and did not get eaten. We headed back to town, dozing in the back of a taxi, and grabbed some nasi lemak before heading to DYMK for a bit to meet some friends. I called it a night about 1.
Today I met up with Jasen for breakfast around 10:30 and we got caught up on what's been happening since we saw each other 2 weeks ago, and had a chance to say our farewells. A second friend cancelled out on me so I got some work done before meeting gary the Bubble Tea Guy, who's been running the stand at school that I visit everyday. This was the first time we hung out away from the university and it was pretty fun, even though the sudden rain made things a bit messy.
Tonight I'm out to dinner with my trainer from the gym, then am hoping to go clubbing later (though if the rain doesn't stop I don't know how excited I'll be about going out again). Starting tomorrow I need to be settling things around town, visiting with more friends, and doing anything I have been meaning to do but haven't done yet.
I'm also learning that Chinese people don't like long goodbyes, and I'm OK with that.
Labels: Bars, Friends, Living in SG, Teaching
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Fun Weekend
Had a nice weekend after my final day of classes, even though I still had a few research papers to grade (I am convinced that grading final exams next week will go MUCH faster). Friday night I met up with my friend Ed for dinner and then we later headed out to a pub with some of his friends. I like being around Ed and his friends...when they are together there's a lot of laughter within the group and from anyone who happens to pass by and get caught up in the conversation. Also, they don't all start speaking in Chinese around me, and I appreciate that. In terms of pubs, they spend more time at a place called DYMK than at Tantric or the other pubs, which tend to be louder and more crowded. DYMK is a nice little place, a bit more mellow, and I like it.
Saturday was gym day, though it was shortened a bit because I tried to grade a couple papers first. Afterwards I met up with Derek and his friend James for lunch and off we went to the food court, which is a very different (and much more yummy) experience here than back home. We went to see Slumdog Millionaire, which is really good, if a bit shocking and unnerving at times. Well acted, great production style, but it made me a little uncomfortable at times. I guess good filmmaking should do that.
Derek had to head into work afterwards so I had a coffee with James and a couple of his friends, then wandered home myself to knock out some more papers before going dancing, so I could enjoy my time out more. As it turned out I still didn't get all of them done...it takes longer than you'd think to grade papers like this, and I try not to let one student's paper influence my opinion of the next, so there I need to take a few minutes in between...everyone gets judged on their own merits.
(I should point out that I really, really like Derek, and am SO HAPPY we finally met after reading each other's blogs for years. I always found it strange that I met his best friends a year before I met him, but I'm glad we finally met and are getting to spend some time together.)
But I did make it out and got to Play a little after midnight. I had a good time there for a couple hours, heading home around 2:30. James was there but I didn't see him until late because his phone battery had died, which is almost unheard of here (or so I've been told). By the time I saw him he was pretty drunk and I'm not sure he even realized I was there. heh heh There were some cuties on the dance floor, and one non-cutie who kept trying to get me to come off the dance floor and hang out with him, but he was drunk and I was having a good time dancing and he hurt my finger and so I finally managed to get rid of him.
Had plans for lunch today but they fell through so I finished grading and did some reading for school, and tonight am off to a foam party. I probably won't be providing too many details about that.
Final exam is Monday. Hope my students are studying.
Saturday was gym day, though it was shortened a bit because I tried to grade a couple papers first. Afterwards I met up with Derek and his friend James for lunch and off we went to the food court, which is a very different (and much more yummy) experience here than back home. We went to see Slumdog Millionaire, which is really good, if a bit shocking and unnerving at times. Well acted, great production style, but it made me a little uncomfortable at times. I guess good filmmaking should do that.
Derek had to head into work afterwards so I had a coffee with James and a couple of his friends, then wandered home myself to knock out some more papers before going dancing, so I could enjoy my time out more. As it turned out I still didn't get all of them done...it takes longer than you'd think to grade papers like this, and I try not to let one student's paper influence my opinion of the next, so there I need to take a few minutes in between...everyone gets judged on their own merits.
(I should point out that I really, really like Derek, and am SO HAPPY we finally met after reading each other's blogs for years. I always found it strange that I met his best friends a year before I met him, but I'm glad we finally met and are getting to spend some time together.)
But I did make it out and got to Play a little after midnight. I had a good time there for a couple hours, heading home around 2:30. James was there but I didn't see him until late because his phone battery had died, which is almost unheard of here (or so I've been told). By the time I saw him he was pretty drunk and I'm not sure he even realized I was there. heh heh There were some cuties on the dance floor, and one non-cutie who kept trying to get me to come off the dance floor and hang out with him, but he was drunk and I was having a good time dancing and he hurt my finger and so I finally managed to get rid of him.
Had plans for lunch today but they fell through so I finished grading and did some reading for school, and tonight am off to a foam party. I probably won't be providing too many details about that.
Final exam is Monday. Hope my students are studying.
Labels: Bars, Friends, Living in SG, Teaching
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
And Just Like That, I'm Back
That was probably the mellowest trip I've ever had to Bangkok. It was also the first time I haven't suffered from jet lag after 24 hours of traveling. It's nice living only 2 hours away!!
Got to the hotel Friday night around midnight, dropped off my bag and freshened up and was back out the door. Bars in Bangkok close around 1am now so rather than heading out to the sit-down bars on Silom Soi 4, which by this time would be emptying out as people go dancing, I instead opted for the go-go bars, where I hoped to catch the midnight show. Sure enough, the doorman to one club pulled me in promising the "Big Dick" show was going on, and he was not kidding. These guys seemed to have some kind of metal implant under their foreskin because they'd swing their dick against a metal pole and it would make a "metal-on-metal" sound. (I wish I was making this up, but I'm not). Afterwards they did a sex show. Two guys, moving around the bar while connected. Wearing masks. Intriguing. During the show I invited one of the earlier performers to sit with me and have a drink as he had a number of tattoos and I wanted a better look. Sadly, his English was almost nonexistent, so he couldn't tell me much about them. I also was unable to ask, and did not check to see, if he had metal balls under his foreskin.
Or was all of that more than anyone wanted to know?
I've been to Bangkok a few times before so didn't feel the need to be all touristy. There were a few familiar places I wanted to visit, a few new things I wanted to try, but mostly I wanted to see my friend Bom and relax a bit over the weekend. Mission accomplished on both counts.
One of the new things I did was go to a Thai boxing match. I spent Sunday afternoon at one of the TV stations where they have a small arena they use for muay thai. This was my first time seeing it live and it was pretty cool. The matches were very entertaining, especially at first, when I started to get the idea that the guys were so good at this that they weren't actually hurting each other. They were even smiling and seemed friendly toward each other. Even when two guys came flying out of the ring (and, unfortunately, did NOT land on me in a sweaty threesome) it seemed like this was just very competitive but still pretty safe. Then I saw a guy get knocked out by a kick to the head and I realized how wrong I was. Suddenly, I'm not quite so sure I want to go to kickboxing camp later this year.
I got pulled out of the line going in by one of the station employees and I wasn't sure what was happening, until he tucked me into one of the ringside seats...I think he realized I might not know where to go once I got inside so he took the guesswork out of it, and once in there I was thankful. The crowd seemed to be largely made up of regulars and I would have been very confused if I'd been wandering around on my own.
The other new thing I did was go to a ladyboy bar. I'm glad i did, but I think once was enough. They were MUCH more aggressive than the guys at the go-go bars. At the boy bars I can ask to have someone come sit with me, buy him a drink, chat a bit, then tip him for his time. At the ladyboy bar I had someone come sit next to me within 15 seconds of arriving and ask me for a drink, as did half the wait staff and dancers, I realized I was being taken advantage of but kept track of my tab and decided how much I was willing to spend before leaving. It was all in good fun, a new experience, and it was Chinese New Year, so what the heck. But yeah, they were much more predatory and greedy than the guys are. I have one good friend in DC who's transgendered and I think my expectations were based on knowing her, but I think that when in Bangkok I'll stick to what I know from now on.
Got to see Bom Sunday night and we went to dinner with some of his friends far outside the central part of town. None of the others spoke a lot of English, and that made the evening go pretty slowly at first. But his friend Nathan showed up, and not only had he gone to grad school in he UK and now works for an English-language magazine, he also realized i was being left out, so he totally switched the tone of the evening. I'm glad he did, that saved the night. Afterwards Bom and his friend Pham and I went back to Soi 4 and a bar called Tapas, where Bom and I first hung out over 3 years ago. Yay for ending the night on a nice note.
I'm noticing that English proficiency seems to be on the decline in Bangkok since my first visit in 2005. Not sure what's up with that. maybe living in Singapore has spoiled me and it's just always been this way in Bangkok, but I'm not sure...
Mostly it was a time for some reading (and writing) at coffee shops, wandering through shopping districts, collecting info on attending Thai massage school later this year (on the same trip as kickboxing camp, if I still do that), and getting pampered. I had a facial at a salon I always go to and also got a couple massages (one of the massages guys had gone to Wat Po school and told me a bit about the program, which was helpful). I spent a little time at DJ Station and also at the Soi 4 bars, but never got hit on or really even flirted with, which in Bangkok can be a little bit of a letdown (when even the money boys aren't flirting, something's wrong, no?)
I like Bangkok a lot, and I'm glad I had a chance to go while living over here. And it was better than just running up for 2 nights. Its an interesting place, and I find that I learn stuff about myself while I'm there. So yay to all those who suggested I go...thanks!!
Got to the hotel Friday night around midnight, dropped off my bag and freshened up and was back out the door. Bars in Bangkok close around 1am now so rather than heading out to the sit-down bars on Silom Soi 4, which by this time would be emptying out as people go dancing, I instead opted for the go-go bars, where I hoped to catch the midnight show. Sure enough, the doorman to one club pulled me in promising the "Big Dick" show was going on, and he was not kidding. These guys seemed to have some kind of metal implant under their foreskin because they'd swing their dick against a metal pole and it would make a "metal-on-metal" sound. (I wish I was making this up, but I'm not). Afterwards they did a sex show. Two guys, moving around the bar while connected. Wearing masks. Intriguing. During the show I invited one of the earlier performers to sit with me and have a drink as he had a number of tattoos and I wanted a better look. Sadly, his English was almost nonexistent, so he couldn't tell me much about them. I also was unable to ask, and did not check to see, if he had metal balls under his foreskin.
Or was all of that more than anyone wanted to know?
I've been to Bangkok a few times before so didn't feel the need to be all touristy. There were a few familiar places I wanted to visit, a few new things I wanted to try, but mostly I wanted to see my friend Bom and relax a bit over the weekend. Mission accomplished on both counts.
One of the new things I did was go to a Thai boxing match. I spent Sunday afternoon at one of the TV stations where they have a small arena they use for muay thai. This was my first time seeing it live and it was pretty cool. The matches were very entertaining, especially at first, when I started to get the idea that the guys were so good at this that they weren't actually hurting each other. They were even smiling and seemed friendly toward each other. Even when two guys came flying out of the ring (and, unfortunately, did NOT land on me in a sweaty threesome) it seemed like this was just very competitive but still pretty safe. Then I saw a guy get knocked out by a kick to the head and I realized how wrong I was. Suddenly, I'm not quite so sure I want to go to kickboxing camp later this year.
I got pulled out of the line going in by one of the station employees and I wasn't sure what was happening, until he tucked me into one of the ringside seats...I think he realized I might not know where to go once I got inside so he took the guesswork out of it, and once in there I was thankful. The crowd seemed to be largely made up of regulars and I would have been very confused if I'd been wandering around on my own.
The other new thing I did was go to a ladyboy bar. I'm glad i did, but I think once was enough. They were MUCH more aggressive than the guys at the go-go bars. At the boy bars I can ask to have someone come sit with me, buy him a drink, chat a bit, then tip him for his time. At the ladyboy bar I had someone come sit next to me within 15 seconds of arriving and ask me for a drink, as did half the wait staff and dancers, I realized I was being taken advantage of but kept track of my tab and decided how much I was willing to spend before leaving. It was all in good fun, a new experience, and it was Chinese New Year, so what the heck. But yeah, they were much more predatory and greedy than the guys are. I have one good friend in DC who's transgendered and I think my expectations were based on knowing her, but I think that when in Bangkok I'll stick to what I know from now on.
Got to see Bom Sunday night and we went to dinner with some of his friends far outside the central part of town. None of the others spoke a lot of English, and that made the evening go pretty slowly at first. But his friend Nathan showed up, and not only had he gone to grad school in he UK and now works for an English-language magazine, he also realized i was being left out, so he totally switched the tone of the evening. I'm glad he did, that saved the night. Afterwards Bom and his friend Pham and I went back to Soi 4 and a bar called Tapas, where Bom and I first hung out over 3 years ago. Yay for ending the night on a nice note.
I'm noticing that English proficiency seems to be on the decline in Bangkok since my first visit in 2005. Not sure what's up with that. maybe living in Singapore has spoiled me and it's just always been this way in Bangkok, but I'm not sure...
Mostly it was a time for some reading (and writing) at coffee shops, wandering through shopping districts, collecting info on attending Thai massage school later this year (on the same trip as kickboxing camp, if I still do that), and getting pampered. I had a facial at a salon I always go to and also got a couple massages (one of the massages guys had gone to Wat Po school and told me a bit about the program, which was helpful). I spent a little time at DJ Station and also at the Soi 4 bars, but never got hit on or really even flirted with, which in Bangkok can be a little bit of a letdown (when even the money boys aren't flirting, something's wrong, no?)
I like Bangkok a lot, and I'm glad I had a chance to go while living over here. And it was better than just running up for 2 nights. Its an interesting place, and I find that I learn stuff about myself while I'm there. So yay to all those who suggested I go...thanks!!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Cough Cough
Grrrrrr, I'm feeling a little sick this Sunday. I woke up this morning with a sore throat, and I don't need that right now. It's a shame, I don't have to work tomorrow so was going to take this opportunity to go out to a Sunday night club but finally decided I needed to just chill out at home.
So I just spent a lazy day today, going for coffee, doing a little Christmas shopping and going to a movie ("The Day the Earth Stood Still" -- yay Keanu Reeves!). Yesterday was pretty lazy too, though I got to meet my friend Joshua for coffee. He's my straight friend, and it's nice to have one of those here. :-) Earlier this week I saw Luke for the first time in a few weeks, had dinner and a movie with KK, and also got to celebrate Alan's birthday with him. So it was a week filled with nice guys.
I finally checked out a dance club here and yay for that, because I've found the place I want to spend my Saturday nights. If you're looking for me after midnight you'll find me at Play. I haven't been dancing in FAR too long, so last night felt good, at least until around 3am. Then it was time to go. I found the dance floor crowd moves in a cycle and after you enter the mass you get pushed through the same route and out the other end. After the third time, it's probably time to go.
Here's a question: is it weird to see a guest actor on "Heroes," google him, see in his IMDB profile that he went to the same university as you, then look him up on Facebook, find someone who seems to be him, and e-mail him and ask if he was on "Heroes" last week? Yeah, that's not weird at all, I shouldn't worry about it. Anyway, it was him, and he complimented me on my attention to detail. We determined we had different majors at UVA, and he was there a few years after me.
I'm taking a trip for a few days later this week. More on that to follow.
So I just spent a lazy day today, going for coffee, doing a little Christmas shopping and going to a movie ("The Day the Earth Stood Still" -- yay Keanu Reeves!). Yesterday was pretty lazy too, though I got to meet my friend Joshua for coffee. He's my straight friend, and it's nice to have one of those here. :-) Earlier this week I saw Luke for the first time in a few weeks, had dinner and a movie with KK, and also got to celebrate Alan's birthday with him. So it was a week filled with nice guys.
I finally checked out a dance club here and yay for that, because I've found the place I want to spend my Saturday nights. If you're looking for me after midnight you'll find me at Play. I haven't been dancing in FAR too long, so last night felt good, at least until around 3am. Then it was time to go. I found the dance floor crowd moves in a cycle and after you enter the mass you get pushed through the same route and out the other end. After the third time, it's probably time to go.
Here's a question: is it weird to see a guest actor on "Heroes," google him, see in his IMDB profile that he went to the same university as you, then look him up on Facebook, find someone who seems to be him, and e-mail him and ask if he was on "Heroes" last week? Yeah, that's not weird at all, I shouldn't worry about it. Anyway, it was him, and he complimented me on my attention to detail. We determined we had different majors at UVA, and he was there a few years after me.
I'm taking a trip for a few days later this week. More on that to follow.
Labels: Bars, Living in SG, Movies
Sunday, November 30, 2008
8 Days?
Hmmm, how did THAT happen?
Well, the last week has been a busy one, though I've taken some time (not much, but some) to chill this weekend.
Sunday was a day to catch up on some things around town, then meet Alan (not to be confused with Allan) to see Bpdy of Lies (not a bad picture) and try out the pizza place across the street from my apartment (yummy seafood pizza!). Alan's a friend of friends that I met a couple weeks ago and a nice guy who can carry on an intelligent conversation and is fun to hang out with.
Monday night I was off to the gym and then got to welcome DanielHenry and Froggy, along with Ben and Nicholas (whom I hadn't met before but am now glad I did!) to Singapore. It was nice to welcome them to MY city for a change (even though, as DanielHenry points out, I still have a US passport and only live here temporarily). They were in town for Kylie's concert Tuesday so we met up at a cute little bar called Clinic where the seats are wheelchairs and hospital beds and you can get drinks served in IV bottles and blood bags. Tourists stopped to take photos with us.
Tuesday night I went running at school then got back and met up with a fellow from online for a couple drinks, a Singaporean who has lived in US for 14 years and is back for his twice-a-year family visit. He was trying to find out about gay life here so I told him we could meet and I'd pass along my wisdom. I love the fact that I can provide info to a native. Also, he'll be in DC next week so I gave him all the gay bar info he was looking for.
Wednesday night I got home from work and my friend KK came over. he was headed to Cambodia the next day and since I'm thinking of going to Siam Reap next month we went over his travel plans so I could get an idea of where to go and how to get around. He gets back today so I'm hoping for a debriefing before I have to finalize my plans.
Thursday I was at the gym again, then headed out for Thanksgiving. Allan had arranged dinner with me and 4 other expats (one American, one Canadian, and two Brits) at the local Hyatt, which was offering a traditional (and somewhat high-class) dinner. A nice time was had filled with good food, though I'm pretty sure that since I had one drink and others were splitting bottles of wine, I ended up subsidizing them when we split the bill evenly.
Friday night I relaxed for a bit...got back from work, fixed a little dinner here, downloaded a couple TV shows from iTunes. I've found that I can't access Hulu.com or Fox.com outside the US, so if anyone has suggestions about how to find Heroes, Family Guy, American Dad, and Simpsons without buying from iTunes, please let me know. I later wandered out for a drink but made it a short night...one drink, one hour, and I was headed home (it's nice living only 5 minutes from the bar).
Saturday I ran errands during the day then went to the World AIDS Day Concert with Alan. There were half a dozen local groups, including a singer named Stephanie Sun who's not well known in the US but who people around here definitely know. The concert was actually sponsored by the government, which sounds cool (can you imagine the US government sponsoring a concert to educate people about HIV/AIDS and discourage discrimination about afflicted people?), but I talked to the producer later and he said the government folks actually had problems with things like mentioning the word "condom" (that finally got back in) or saying anything about gay people (that never made it into the script). Craziness.
Oh, and yeah...work's going great. I started with 13 students, but ended up with 24 for the term. Either I'm popular, or something else got cancelled.
As you can see, I'm keeping busy. Next week will be a little slower. Not much, but a little.
And I'm really, really, really going to try to post more than once a week. :P
Well, the last week has been a busy one, though I've taken some time (not much, but some) to chill this weekend.
Sunday was a day to catch up on some things around town, then meet Alan (not to be confused with Allan) to see Bpdy of Lies (not a bad picture) and try out the pizza place across the street from my apartment (yummy seafood pizza!). Alan's a friend of friends that I met a couple weeks ago and a nice guy who can carry on an intelligent conversation and is fun to hang out with.
Monday night I was off to the gym and then got to welcome DanielHenry and Froggy, along with Ben and Nicholas (whom I hadn't met before but am now glad I did!) to Singapore. It was nice to welcome them to MY city for a change (even though, as DanielHenry points out, I still have a US passport and only live here temporarily). They were in town for Kylie's concert Tuesday so we met up at a cute little bar called Clinic where the seats are wheelchairs and hospital beds and you can get drinks served in IV bottles and blood bags. Tourists stopped to take photos with us.
Tuesday night I went running at school then got back and met up with a fellow from online for a couple drinks, a Singaporean who has lived in US for 14 years and is back for his twice-a-year family visit. He was trying to find out about gay life here so I told him we could meet and I'd pass along my wisdom. I love the fact that I can provide info to a native. Also, he'll be in DC next week so I gave him all the gay bar info he was looking for.
Wednesday night I got home from work and my friend KK came over. he was headed to Cambodia the next day and since I'm thinking of going to Siam Reap next month we went over his travel plans so I could get an idea of where to go and how to get around. He gets back today so I'm hoping for a debriefing before I have to finalize my plans.
Thursday I was at the gym again, then headed out for Thanksgiving. Allan had arranged dinner with me and 4 other expats (one American, one Canadian, and two Brits) at the local Hyatt, which was offering a traditional (and somewhat high-class) dinner. A nice time was had filled with good food, though I'm pretty sure that since I had one drink and others were splitting bottles of wine, I ended up subsidizing them when we split the bill evenly.
Friday night I relaxed for a bit...got back from work, fixed a little dinner here, downloaded a couple TV shows from iTunes. I've found that I can't access Hulu.com or Fox.com outside the US, so if anyone has suggestions about how to find Heroes, Family Guy, American Dad, and Simpsons without buying from iTunes, please let me know. I later wandered out for a drink but made it a short night...one drink, one hour, and I was headed home (it's nice living only 5 minutes from the bar).
Saturday I ran errands during the day then went to the World AIDS Day Concert with Alan. There were half a dozen local groups, including a singer named Stephanie Sun who's not well known in the US but who people around here definitely know. The concert was actually sponsored by the government, which sounds cool (can you imagine the US government sponsoring a concert to educate people about HIV/AIDS and discourage discrimination about afflicted people?), but I talked to the producer later and he said the government folks actually had problems with things like mentioning the word "condom" (that finally got back in) or saying anything about gay people (that never made it into the script). Craziness.
Oh, and yeah...work's going great. I started with 13 students, but ended up with 24 for the term. Either I'm popular, or something else got cancelled.
As you can see, I'm keeping busy. Next week will be a little slower. Not much, but a little.
And I'm really, really, really going to try to post more than once a week. :P
Labels: Bars, Friends, Living in SG, Running
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Very Nice Weekend
I've been told in the past by Ivan that when i go a few days without posting he gets worried, but I think I'm getting to the point where a week between posts is becoming common so no one's worried about it. Anyway, I find myself up late at night either catching up on e-mails or working on another project and this blog has gotten lost in the dust. Alas.
But even though it's Wednesday, I had such a good weekend that i want to share it.
First, on Friday, i got to celebrate Linh's birthday with him. We went downtown for a nice dinner and he even got to rise in the Bug for the first time, which I'm sure was the highlight of his weekend. He'll be leaving for the summer soon, but we're going to overlap in Bangkok for a couple days when I'm there in June (he's there all summer for an internship...lucky bitch) so that will be fun.
Saturday I drove down to Charlottesville with Stan, who's considering going to the University of Virginia for grad school. It was his first time there and I'm pretty sure he was in awe and probably came three times just looking at the place. He didn't buy a t-shirt but I think I'll get him one for Christmas (Stan went to the University of North Carolina -- BIG rival school -- and would probably be beaten with a large stick for even considering UVA). Oh, and we had Gusburgers for lunch, which is a hamburger with a fried egg on it.
That night after we got home we went our separate ways to get beautiful (well, I needed a few hours to get ready...Stan just took a nap) and then we headed out dancing, the first time I've been clubbing in DC in 2 months. Angelo and Josh joined us and a fun time was had by all. Stan convinced me to flirt and dance with this one really cute guy who was all booty-rubbin' against me and stuff, and then when we were leaving and I said goodnight he asked, "what's your friend's name?" Yeah, he was using me to get to Stan. Ah, such is life.
Sunday I wandered downtown for a photo shoot with a couple dragon boat teammates for a local gay mag. If I make it into the shot (the photographer was shooting at an angle and I, the only white guy, most likely got cut out) I'll post it up. Afterwards the four of us went out for dim sum and ran into a bunch of other friends...good food, good time, bad service, but hey. I wandered down town for coffee and writing and then that night fixed a little dinner for Adrian, Stan and I while we watched Return of the Jedi, thus completing their introduction to the original Star Wars trilogy...it amazed me that educated people like them had never seen these. What are we teaching in our schools???
I realized this week that I'm a tired bitch now.
But even though it's Wednesday, I had such a good weekend that i want to share it.
First, on Friday, i got to celebrate Linh's birthday with him. We went downtown for a nice dinner and he even got to rise in the Bug for the first time, which I'm sure was the highlight of his weekend. He'll be leaving for the summer soon, but we're going to overlap in Bangkok for a couple days when I'm there in June (he's there all summer for an internship...lucky bitch) so that will be fun.
Saturday I drove down to Charlottesville with Stan, who's considering going to the University of Virginia for grad school. It was his first time there and I'm pretty sure he was in awe and probably came three times just looking at the place. He didn't buy a t-shirt but I think I'll get him one for Christmas (Stan went to the University of North Carolina -- BIG rival school -- and would probably be beaten with a large stick for even considering UVA). Oh, and we had Gusburgers for lunch, which is a hamburger with a fried egg on it.
That night after we got home we went our separate ways to get beautiful (well, I needed a few hours to get ready...Stan just took a nap) and then we headed out dancing, the first time I've been clubbing in DC in 2 months. Angelo and Josh joined us and a fun time was had by all. Stan convinced me to flirt and dance with this one really cute guy who was all booty-rubbin' against me and stuff, and then when we were leaving and I said goodnight he asked, "what's your friend's name?" Yeah, he was using me to get to Stan. Ah, such is life.
Sunday I wandered downtown for a photo shoot with a couple dragon boat teammates for a local gay mag. If I make it into the shot (the photographer was shooting at an angle and I, the only white guy, most likely got cut out) I'll post it up. Afterwards the four of us went out for dim sum and ran into a bunch of other friends...good food, good time, bad service, but hey. I wandered down town for coffee and writing and then that night fixed a little dinner for Adrian, Stan and I while we watched Return of the Jedi, thus completing their introduction to the original Star Wars trilogy...it amazed me that educated people like them had never seen these. What are we teaching in our schools???
I realized this week that I'm a tired bitch now.
Monday, March 24, 2008
A Little Catching Up
Last week I was too busy having a life to blog about it.
Tuesday night I was thinking I'd go out but ended up just running errands instead. But then a friend called around 10pm and wanted to go for coffee, so off I went. Hey, it's not as if I had to get up and go to work the next day. Oh, wait a sec...
Wednesday night I dealt with DC traffic for an hour then met up with Stan to go to an art opening. It was a photo show by The Sartorialist who, in addition to being a photographer of random fashion, is also a monthly fashion columnist in GQ. He had a great show, though the photos started at $1200, so they were a little out of my league. He was in attendance, and Stan thought he was hot, so the night was a success.
We went out for Indian food after that, which was very yummy, and very filling...Stan ordered chicken and I'm pretty sure he got a whole chicken. After getting him home I headed out to meet danny around 11pm, after he got off work...and naturally, he was hungry, so off we went to IHOP. He had a big omelette, I had decaf, and we both had a bad waitress. We talked for 2 hours, much of it about AQUA...because of my background Danny occasionally bounces ideas off of me about how to manage the group...then i think he does the opposite, I'm not sure. (ok, truthfully, he has done some things I suggested and they've actually worked out well).
Thursday I was a tired bitch and was an hour late to work. But since I don't like my job, I wasn't too worried about it. I was determined, though, that Thursday night would be a quiet night here, and indeed it was. So yay that. Oh, and I had lunch downtown with Linh, and we did some good catching-up.
Friday night I went to a birthday party for a friend. It was at a straight place (where he works) that tries to gay-it-up about once a month...but this time the straight people really outnumbered us. I encouraged Linh, Danny, Justin, Hai, and Khamla to go, and they all did, which was good since together we comprised about half the gay boys there. We had a nice time, it's fun to get my various friends together in one place.
Saturday Stan and I did some shopping...hooray for H&M! But the week was starting to catch up with me. That night a group of us got together to celebrate Vu and Troy's 10th anniversary, and I had fun but knew I couldn't stay too late...fading fast...
Sunday...oh yeah, I slept in. Until 10am, which was about 9 hours of sleep, and yes, I needed every minute of it. I was determined, though, that this would be the day for my 9-mile run. In two weeks I'll be running in a 10-mile race, and I haven't run that far before, AND I'm out of town next weekend. so this week was my chance to see if I could handle something like the race distance. The weather was great so it was a really good chance to get out there. I was feeling like I had a pretty good pace until a cute young guy passed me about 2 miles into it. He had a cute ass so I stayed with him, until he stoped by the side of the trail to puke. heh heh I finished my run in either 75 or 85 minutes...I thought it was 75, but that seems fast...could I have misread the clock when I started, and maybe it was actually 85? Either way, it's good enough for the race...the main thng is, I know I can finish a distance like that, because I wasn't totally dead when I came in to the finish.
Sunday night, of course, was the new Futurama...Stan and Khamla both came over for pizza and Chinese buns (food, not Stan's) and Bender. Yay for Bender!!
So now it's Monday night, and I've packed, and am headed to San Francisco tomorrow for the rest of the week. What the hell, I'll have plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead.
Tuesday night I was thinking I'd go out but ended up just running errands instead. But then a friend called around 10pm and wanted to go for coffee, so off I went. Hey, it's not as if I had to get up and go to work the next day. Oh, wait a sec...
Wednesday night I dealt with DC traffic for an hour then met up with Stan to go to an art opening. It was a photo show by The Sartorialist who, in addition to being a photographer of random fashion, is also a monthly fashion columnist in GQ. He had a great show, though the photos started at $1200, so they were a little out of my league. He was in attendance, and Stan thought he was hot, so the night was a success.
We went out for Indian food after that, which was very yummy, and very filling...Stan ordered chicken and I'm pretty sure he got a whole chicken. After getting him home I headed out to meet danny around 11pm, after he got off work...and naturally, he was hungry, so off we went to IHOP. He had a big omelette, I had decaf, and we both had a bad waitress. We talked for 2 hours, much of it about AQUA...because of my background Danny occasionally bounces ideas off of me about how to manage the group...then i think he does the opposite, I'm not sure. (ok, truthfully, he has done some things I suggested and they've actually worked out well).
Thursday I was a tired bitch and was an hour late to work. But since I don't like my job, I wasn't too worried about it. I was determined, though, that Thursday night would be a quiet night here, and indeed it was. So yay that. Oh, and I had lunch downtown with Linh, and we did some good catching-up.
Friday night I went to a birthday party for a friend. It was at a straight place (where he works) that tries to gay-it-up about once a month...but this time the straight people really outnumbered us. I encouraged Linh, Danny, Justin, Hai, and Khamla to go, and they all did, which was good since together we comprised about half the gay boys there. We had a nice time, it's fun to get my various friends together in one place.
Saturday Stan and I did some shopping...hooray for H&M! But the week was starting to catch up with me. That night a group of us got together to celebrate Vu and Troy's 10th anniversary, and I had fun but knew I couldn't stay too late...fading fast...
Sunday...oh yeah, I slept in. Until 10am, which was about 9 hours of sleep, and yes, I needed every minute of it. I was determined, though, that this would be the day for my 9-mile run. In two weeks I'll be running in a 10-mile race, and I haven't run that far before, AND I'm out of town next weekend. so this week was my chance to see if I could handle something like the race distance. The weather was great so it was a really good chance to get out there. I was feeling like I had a pretty good pace until a cute young guy passed me about 2 miles into it. He had a cute ass so I stayed with him, until he stoped by the side of the trail to puke. heh heh I finished my run in either 75 or 85 minutes...I thought it was 75, but that seems fast...could I have misread the clock when I started, and maybe it was actually 85? Either way, it's good enough for the race...the main thng is, I know I can finish a distance like that, because I wasn't totally dead when I came in to the finish.
Sunday night, of course, was the new Futurama...Stan and Khamla both came over for pizza and Chinese buns (food, not Stan's) and Bender. Yay for Bender!!
So now it's Monday night, and I've packed, and am headed to San Francisco tomorrow for the rest of the week. What the hell, I'll have plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
I Can Hang
Went out with my former student yesterday after arriving, and that was very cool. We grabbed a couple beers and got caught up on all we've done since we last saw each other nearly 2 years ago. I came back to the hotel and did some work while he ran errands, then we got together with his girlfriend for dinner...after that the three of us met up with some of his friends and we went to shoot pool and have some excellent Portland beers. A good time was had by all, especially by me when his friends thought I was a student, too. heh heh heh
This morning I had a minor problem with my alarm clock...somehow it was turned off, I don't know if I did that or not. Anyway, I woke up 10 minutes before my first meeting. I'm proud to report I made it on time AND i looked sharp!
This morning I had a minor problem with my alarm clock...somehow it was turned off, I don't know if I did that or not. Anyway, I woke up 10 minutes before my first meeting. I'm proud to report I made it on time AND i looked sharp!
Friday, March 07, 2008
Contrast
Last night Stan and I went to a discussion at a major think tank. We heard an author discussing a new book about changing relationships in Asia, about the nature of agreements between countries there, about the role of the United States and China in Southeast Asia, how India and Russia fit into all this. Very interesting stuff that ties in nicely with a research study I'm currently doing. The audience, as is common in Washington DC, was made up of professors, retired diplomats, senior government officials, and some other very smart people.
Afterwards, we went to a bar where, if you take your shirt off, you get free drinks.
Afterwards, we went to a bar where, if you take your shirt off, you get free drinks.
Labels: Bars, Friends, Life, Work
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Dinner and Dancing
The day after a Lunar New Year dinner and some clubbing with AQUA.
Asian Friend: There was a second guy at the club last night who looked a lot like Doctor Erick.
Me: What was he wearing?
AF: A blue t-shirt.
Me: ...
AF: ...
Me: That was Doctor Erick.
AF: It was? But I thought Doctor Erick was wearing a white shirt and vest?
Me: No, that was Lin.
AF: Oh. Well, truthfully, we all look alike to each other, too.
Asian Friend: There was a second guy at the club last night who looked a lot like Doctor Erick.
Me: What was he wearing?
AF: A blue t-shirt.
Me: ...
AF: ...
Me: That was Doctor Erick.
AF: It was? But I thought Doctor Erick was wearing a white shirt and vest?
Me: No, that was Lin.
AF: Oh. Well, truthfully, we all look alike to each other, too.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
New York, New York
I spent this past weekend in New York, one of my favorite cities anywhere. For fun -- and to save money -- I took one of the Chinatown buses, going from DC Chinatown to NYC Chinatown. Kinda like my bus trip 2 weeks ago, it was...interesting. After we'd made a stop in another city I didn't expect, and as I listened to the stupid college girl sitting in front of me talk about nothing for a few hours and to the driver screaming into his cell phone (in Chinese, of course) I just kept telling myself "this is a lot cheaper than the train, this is a lot cheaper than the train..." In any case, it left me with extra money to buy gifts if I wanted to.
I went up to see my friend Scott (aka Scooter, who is going to be upset with me about one of the photos on his page, and I'll change it, I swear!), a Filipino-Chinese friend from Canada who now lives in New York...could you follow all of that? I met Scott online 8 years ago through his blog and we've been good friends ever since, but the last time I saw Scott was here in DC last May just before I went to Afghanistan. He and I had a lot of catching up to do, and we haven't had any one-on-one time with just the two of us in almost 6 years, so I was glad we were able to talk. We went dancing Friday night after I got in, heading out to The Web (of course I'm going to go there!) and it was Scooter's first time. We got there around 1 and ran into Paul and Son, two of my friends from here who were also spending the weekend in New York. Scott and I danced a lot and drank a bit and stuffed a few dollar bills into go-go boys' pants (well, OK, I did that) and basically stayed until after 4am when they looked ready to close down. I had a cute Japanese guy flirt with me but he was VERY drunk, and I was afraid he might throw up on me.
Saturday I got up after 5 hours of sleep and took the train to Scott's neighborhood in Jersey City, about a 15-minute train ride across the river. He has a great apartment with a deck and a view of the city. We had a long brunch at a nearby French place that is BYOB...you bring your bottle and they will mix your drinks, so we got a bottle of champagne and ordered orange juice and had mimosas. A LOT of mimosas. After wards we hung out at his place for a couple hours, waiting for the champagne to wear off, then headed back into the city. We hot some shops in SoHo and yes, I got clothes at Uniqlo (new pants that make my ass look good and were on sale...VELVET pants!) and Scott got a nice sweater. We also visited CB2, a spinoff of Crate and Barrel, and fantasized about home furnishings. We went out for sushi later and ate way too much! We had been out really late Friday night, so Saturday night I was tired, and I think Scott was dragging a bit, though he seemed more alive than I. We decided to call it an early night, and I was back to my hotel by 11:30. I laid down to take a nap for an hour and then think about going out dancing, but when the alarm went off an hour later all I did was reset it and go back to sleep!
I got up Sunday, with about 8 hours sleep so feeling much better, and did some walking around town, but it was COLD, it was below freezing, and the wind was blowing...brrrr. I visited a leather store in the Village (and I don't mean leather jackets!) and I went to a store called Pearl River Market that is full of Chinese stuff. Scott met me at his favorite dim sum restaurant (yay for Dim Sum GoGo...but there were no go-go boys) and we had a very nice meal, then we had about 3 hours left before my bus home which was not enough time to do much, and we didn't want to walk around outside, so we just found a café and had coffee and talked...we talked SO MUCH this weekend, and it felt really good. Anyway, i caught my bus home, and despite the driver taking a smoke break while fueling the bus (!) we got home OK, in only about 5 hours (for what is normally a 4-hour trip).
Whenever I go there I think about my friend Eddie's (in Malaysia) parents. They've have been living in the US for 12 years, in NYC Chinatown. I often go to Chinatown, like when we went for dim sum, and I always wonder...am I sitting at a table next to them? I mean, it could happen, and I wouldn't even know it. I always feel like maybe I should check on them for him, but I don't know what I would say. "Hi, Mister and Missus Chen, your son is really cute," yeah, THAT would go over well. But it would be fun to tell them about what an amazing guy he is, how he is so smart and so nice, how he has grown into a wonderful young man they can be very proud of. Maybe I should just walk around Chinatown showing people his picture and say "are you his parents?"
So, it was a good weekend. I'm not sure I want to live there...I'd have to be making a lot more than I am now to have a fun life like I'd like to have...I can do more as an occasional visitor than I can as a permanent resident, I think. But regardless of how much time I spend there, I'll always enjoy it.
I went up to see my friend Scott (aka Scooter, who is going to be upset with me about one of the photos on his page, and I'll change it, I swear!), a Filipino-Chinese friend from Canada who now lives in New York...could you follow all of that? I met Scott online 8 years ago through his blog and we've been good friends ever since, but the last time I saw Scott was here in DC last May just before I went to Afghanistan. He and I had a lot of catching up to do, and we haven't had any one-on-one time with just the two of us in almost 6 years, so I was glad we were able to talk. We went dancing Friday night after I got in, heading out to The Web (of course I'm going to go there!) and it was Scooter's first time. We got there around 1 and ran into Paul and Son, two of my friends from here who were also spending the weekend in New York. Scott and I danced a lot and drank a bit and stuffed a few dollar bills into go-go boys' pants (well, OK, I did that) and basically stayed until after 4am when they looked ready to close down. I had a cute Japanese guy flirt with me but he was VERY drunk, and I was afraid he might throw up on me.
Saturday I got up after 5 hours of sleep and took the train to Scott's neighborhood in Jersey City, about a 15-minute train ride across the river. He has a great apartment with a deck and a view of the city. We had a long brunch at a nearby French place that is BYOB...you bring your bottle and they will mix your drinks, so we got a bottle of champagne and ordered orange juice and had mimosas. A LOT of mimosas. After wards we hung out at his place for a couple hours, waiting for the champagne to wear off, then headed back into the city. We hot some shops in SoHo and yes, I got clothes at Uniqlo (new pants that make my ass look good and were on sale...VELVET pants!) and Scott got a nice sweater. We also visited CB2, a spinoff of Crate and Barrel, and fantasized about home furnishings. We went out for sushi later and ate way too much! We had been out really late Friday night, so Saturday night I was tired, and I think Scott was dragging a bit, though he seemed more alive than I. We decided to call it an early night, and I was back to my hotel by 11:30. I laid down to take a nap for an hour and then think about going out dancing, but when the alarm went off an hour later all I did was reset it and go back to sleep!
I got up Sunday, with about 8 hours sleep so feeling much better, and did some walking around town, but it was COLD, it was below freezing, and the wind was blowing...brrrr. I visited a leather store in the Village (and I don't mean leather jackets!) and I went to a store called Pearl River Market that is full of Chinese stuff. Scott met me at his favorite dim sum restaurant (yay for Dim Sum GoGo...but there were no go-go boys) and we had a very nice meal, then we had about 3 hours left before my bus home which was not enough time to do much, and we didn't want to walk around outside, so we just found a café and had coffee and talked...we talked SO MUCH this weekend, and it felt really good. Anyway, i caught my bus home, and despite the driver taking a smoke break while fueling the bus (!) we got home OK, in only about 5 hours (for what is normally a 4-hour trip).
Whenever I go there I think about my friend Eddie's (in Malaysia) parents. They've have been living in the US for 12 years, in NYC Chinatown. I often go to Chinatown, like when we went for dim sum, and I always wonder...am I sitting at a table next to them? I mean, it could happen, and I wouldn't even know it. I always feel like maybe I should check on them for him, but I don't know what I would say. "Hi, Mister and Missus Chen, your son is really cute," yeah, THAT would go over well. But it would be fun to tell them about what an amazing guy he is, how he is so smart and so nice, how he has grown into a wonderful young man they can be very proud of. Maybe I should just walk around Chinatown showing people his picture and say "are you his parents?"
So, it was a good weekend. I'm not sure I want to live there...I'd have to be making a lot more than I am now to have a fun life like I'd like to have...I can do more as an occasional visitor than I can as a permanent resident, I think. But regardless of how much time I spend there, I'll always enjoy it.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
(Click) (Click) OK, Give Me Pouty (Click)
All right, before I get into this story, a quick tale from last night...
So I go to a club and the guy checking IDs looks at me a couple times and says, "No way can you be this old." And I said yeah, I am, and in fact, "in two days I'll be even older."
A reference to my birthday, naturally. But of course, in two days, we'll ALL be older. By two days.
I'm stupid sometimes.
Anyway, this week I did some modeling. There's a photographer from Minneapolis whom I'd talked with last year after seeing some of his work. He had me send him some photos and then told me he'd like to use me as a model sometime...he travels a lot and had been in DC just a couple weeks earlier and thought he'd be back in 2008, so he said we could do it here or I could come to Minneapolis where he has his full studio. I thought about doing that, but as it turned out he had a last minute trip here this week and called to see if I'd be available. For that, I'm definitely available.
Anyway, he had me bring a bunch of different outfits (I had a backpack full!) and accessories and such. Some of the pics were thoughtful and serene, others were sexy, all of them were fun. We shot for about 2 hours and I saw some of the photos afterwards...nice! He will do some editing on them, working with PhotoShop or something more advanced, and I can't wait to see the final products! I know he won't use very many of them and I'm curious to see what he picks.
This is the first time anyone's asked me to do this. A year ago I don't think it would have happened...in fact, I would never have even considered it. I was pretty unhappy with my body and would not have exposed it to a camera. So yes, I'm very excited! It makes me feel good to have someone else think he can use me and show me and make something that people want to see.
A friend of mine is doing a shoot with me in a couple weeks, the same friend who did the Asian men calendar for this year. But that's a little different, he knows me...this was out of the blue, someone whom I'd never met.
A note to all my photographer friends: I am ALWAYS available to you (well, when we're in the same country) for something like this if you ever need a model or want to practice with one!
So I go to a club and the guy checking IDs looks at me a couple times and says, "No way can you be this old." And I said yeah, I am, and in fact, "in two days I'll be even older."
A reference to my birthday, naturally. But of course, in two days, we'll ALL be older. By two days.
I'm stupid sometimes.
Anyway, this week I did some modeling. There's a photographer from Minneapolis whom I'd talked with last year after seeing some of his work. He had me send him some photos and then told me he'd like to use me as a model sometime...he travels a lot and had been in DC just a couple weeks earlier and thought he'd be back in 2008, so he said we could do it here or I could come to Minneapolis where he has his full studio. I thought about doing that, but as it turned out he had a last minute trip here this week and called to see if I'd be available. For that, I'm definitely available.
Anyway, he had me bring a bunch of different outfits (I had a backpack full!) and accessories and such. Some of the pics were thoughtful and serene, others were sexy, all of them were fun. We shot for about 2 hours and I saw some of the photos afterwards...nice! He will do some editing on them, working with PhotoShop or something more advanced, and I can't wait to see the final products! I know he won't use very many of them and I'm curious to see what he picks.
This is the first time anyone's asked me to do this. A year ago I don't think it would have happened...in fact, I would never have even considered it. I was pretty unhappy with my body and would not have exposed it to a camera. So yes, I'm very excited! It makes me feel good to have someone else think he can use me and show me and make something that people want to see.
A friend of mine is doing a shoot with me in a couple weeks, the same friend who did the Asian men calendar for this year. But that's a little different, he knows me...this was out of the blue, someone whom I'd never met.
A note to all my photographer friends: I am ALWAYS available to you (well, when we're in the same country) for something like this if you ever need a model or want to practice with one!
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
A Strange New Year's Eve
We headed off to a potluck at a friend's, planning to eat, drink, and be merry, countdown to midnight, then head out to a dance club. Adrian didn't read the invite very carefully, though, so in addition to inviting a friend at the last minute to the potluck, he invited one of his straight clients to meet us at the club at 11pm. While I wasn't in the mood to leave the dinner early, I realized this guy lived 40 miles away and was coming up there just to meet us (or so I thought...turns out he met other friends first) and would be a straight boy alone in a gay club for the first time. Not good. Anyway, Adrian didn't pay attention to the time, so we ended up not leaving the dinner until about 11:15pm...unfortunate, considering we had to drive to the Metro, take the train into the city, then walk a couple blocks to the club. And when we got there -- despite having called in advance and being told they were still letting people in -- it seems that during our 45 minutes of travel the club had reached its capacity and they weren't letting anyone else inside. Adrian not having his client's mobile number, we turned and headed back to another bar a block away, arriving outside the bar as the clock struck midnight, watching the revelers inside through the windows.
Fortunately, soon after getting inside Adrian's client sent him a text...turns out he was also late and couldn't get inside either. Adrian found him and brought him back with us, and the four of us -- me, Adrian, his client, and his last-minute-invite friend -- hung out for an hour and a half until it was time to catch the last train home. It's unfortunate that instead of just getting to spend the evening with my friends, I spent them it with one of Adrian's clients and one of his friends, and at midnight I was on the outside looking in while others had fun. I have felt very disconnected from friends in the past few years, and my friendships here have taken a beating in the last 16 months. That ends in 2008. Watch and see.
(ps: who called me on New Year's Eve, right around midnight KL/SG/HK time? I had a bad signal and tried to move to a better spot but lost the call, and the number didn't register on my new phone, which doesn't have all my numbers loaded yet, so I couldn't call back)
Fortunately, soon after getting inside Adrian's client sent him a text...turns out he was also late and couldn't get inside either. Adrian found him and brought him back with us, and the four of us -- me, Adrian, his client, and his last-minute-invite friend -- hung out for an hour and a half until it was time to catch the last train home. It's unfortunate that instead of just getting to spend the evening with my friends, I spent them it with one of Adrian's clients and one of his friends, and at midnight I was on the outside looking in while others had fun. I have felt very disconnected from friends in the past few years, and my friendships here have taken a beating in the last 16 months. That ends in 2008. Watch and see.
(ps: who called me on New Year's Eve, right around midnight KL/SG/HK time? I had a bad signal and tried to move to a better spot but lost the call, and the number didn't register on my new phone, which doesn't have all my numbers loaded yet, so I couldn't call back)
Monday, December 24, 2007
'Twas the Night Before Christmas
Christmas Eve at my parents' house. They finally have broadband, and I have spent much of the last 36 hours setting up their new computer, so yay for all of that. Drove down here Sunday and have been lazy ever since. Except for wrapping Christmas presents and setting up the new Dell, I've pretty much been letting Mom take care of me, and that's nice...I've done a lot the last couple weeks, between baking, shopping, a small party, oh, and working sometimes too, I suppose. It's nice to take a break.
Had a very fun weekend, especially Saturday night. A friend works at a local Asian bistro and they've been recently started running a Saturday night party there until 2am, with a DJ and small dance floor. They decided that, to increase the crowd, they wanted to encourage "the gays" to come out. And we did. Only about 12-15 of us, but it was plenty. The place was packed with starigt (mostly Asian) people, and though at first us fab boys were just chatting and having to drinks and getting to know each other (I only knew my friend, Adrian actually knew one other guy from Fridae), we soon hit the dance floor. Some of us were REALLY out and proud, some were just super sexy, and some were...well, we just were. I'm not sure what the straight people thought...some seemed a little uncomfortable with us dancing all up on each other (yeah, by the end of the night, we got to know each other very well). I think most of the women thought it was great, some of the guys semed a little less sure, some obviously were cool with it, and some looked like they wanted to join us (but their girlfriends might be upset). Even though we were in the minority, no one looked like they would bother us...I think if you have two guys dancing together in a straight club they might have trouble, but when you have 10 or 12 (and a couple of the guys were totalley buffed) nobody wants to challenge you because they might have a dozen guys jump them, and not in the good way. I think my Gaylaysian friends have discovered this, since when I saw them out in a crowd (and from party pics I've recently seen) they don't hide stuff but aren't too worried about it.
Best line of the night: as we're leaving the club around 2:30am, in a crowd of a dozen of us, mostly Latino, black, or Asian, we are making a bit of noise. One of the guys says "quiet, we don't want cops coming after us, there are lots of white people living here!" The he turns to me: "Oh, hey, no offense."
heh heh None taken.
So yeah, lots of fun was had, I have found some new folks who will be fun to hang out with, and yeah, some of them are VERY cute, giving me all sorts of naughty thoughts to last me during my time at my parents' house (notice how I came full circle there?).
Tomorrow is Christmas and that will be a nice family day here. I'll head back to DC Tuesday afternoon (I'm working Wednesday) and Adrian and I will have Christmas Tuesday night. Hope he likes his gifts!
I've tried to send cards, or at least e-mails, to folks, but I know there are some I've missed. I don't have access to my regular e-mail here, and I'm out of cell phone range so text/SMS doesn't work. So for anyone I've missed (and this especially goes out to you, Eddie) MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!
Had a very fun weekend, especially Saturday night. A friend works at a local Asian bistro and they've been recently started running a Saturday night party there until 2am, with a DJ and small dance floor. They decided that, to increase the crowd, they wanted to encourage "the gays" to come out. And we did. Only about 12-15 of us, but it was plenty. The place was packed with starigt (mostly Asian) people, and though at first us fab boys were just chatting and having to drinks and getting to know each other (I only knew my friend, Adrian actually knew one other guy from Fridae), we soon hit the dance floor. Some of us were REALLY out and proud, some were just super sexy, and some were...well, we just were. I'm not sure what the straight people thought...some seemed a little uncomfortable with us dancing all up on each other (yeah, by the end of the night, we got to know each other very well). I think most of the women thought it was great, some of the guys semed a little less sure, some obviously were cool with it, and some looked like they wanted to join us (but their girlfriends might be upset). Even though we were in the minority, no one looked like they would bother us...I think if you have two guys dancing together in a straight club they might have trouble, but when you have 10 or 12 (and a couple of the guys were totalley buffed) nobody wants to challenge you because they might have a dozen guys jump them, and not in the good way. I think my Gaylaysian friends have discovered this, since when I saw them out in a crowd (and from party pics I've recently seen) they don't hide stuff but aren't too worried about it.
Best line of the night: as we're leaving the club around 2:30am, in a crowd of a dozen of us, mostly Latino, black, or Asian, we are making a bit of noise. One of the guys says "quiet, we don't want cops coming after us, there are lots of white people living here!" The he turns to me: "Oh, hey, no offense."
heh heh None taken.
So yeah, lots of fun was had, I have found some new folks who will be fun to hang out with, and yeah, some of them are VERY cute, giving me all sorts of naughty thoughts to last me during my time at my parents' house (notice how I came full circle there?).
Tomorrow is Christmas and that will be a nice family day here. I'll head back to DC Tuesday afternoon (I'm working Wednesday) and Adrian and I will have Christmas Tuesday night. Hope he likes his gifts!
I've tried to send cards, or at least e-mails, to folks, but I know there are some I've missed. I don't have access to my regular e-mail here, and I'm out of cell phone range so text/SMS doesn't work. So for anyone I've missed (and this especially goes out to you, Eddie) MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!
Labels: Bars, Flirting, Friends, Life
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Tired Tuesday Night
Because someone (a different someone this time) asked for it, here are two more pics. But seriously, that's it.
On a less gratuitous note, Adrian and I had a long talk last night, a couple hours' worth. A lot of things that had been building up during the last few weeks finally came out, things I'd been thinking about, things underneath (and often hidden by) the bad emotions that had been simmering. Last night seemed to be a turning point, but then, there have been a few of those during the past year, and I've been disappointed each time, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up TOO much. But at least we talked about these issues and Adrian agreed on the need to do some things, so there is a faint glimmering of hope. One thing I've realized, if we are able to come back together, our relationship will be a bit different from what it was before. Part of that is because whatever we had before led to a breakup, and that's not good. And part of it is, considering this has dragged on now for over a year, we've both changed during that time...whatever we had is gone because those two people are gone. But that's not necessarily a bad thing...maybe this is just a way for relationships to naturally evolve.
Hmmm, that's getting a bit heavy. My advice: just go back and look at those pictures again.
On a less gratuitous note, Adrian and I had a long talk last night, a couple hours' worth. A lot of things that had been building up during the last few weeks finally came out, things I'd been thinking about, things underneath (and often hidden by) the bad emotions that had been simmering. Last night seemed to be a turning point, but then, there have been a few of those during the past year, and I've been disappointed each time, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up TOO much. But at least we talked about these issues and Adrian agreed on the need to do some things, so there is a faint glimmering of hope. One thing I've realized, if we are able to come back together, our relationship will be a bit different from what it was before. Part of that is because whatever we had before led to a breakup, and that's not good. And part of it is, considering this has dragged on now for over a year, we've both changed during that time...whatever we had is gone because those two people are gone. But that's not necessarily a bad thing...maybe this is just a way for relationships to naturally evolve.
Hmmm, that's getting a bit heavy. My advice: just go back and look at those pictures again.
Labels: Bars, Friends, Relationships
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Propaganda
I'm at the Hong Kong airport starting my journey home. It is 8:15am. 3 hours ago, I left Propaganda, the big gay dance club here in HK. I walked back to my hotel, showered, tossed my club clothes into my bag, put on my new clothes, and checked out. I haven't done that in...come to think of it, I've never done that.
Oh, and what is it with toilets? First in KL, now in HK...as I was getting ready to leave the club a cute but drunk guy started dancing with me, holding onto me so he wouldn't fall, I think. Anyway, he tried to get me to go into a stall inthe toilet with him. I said I needed to catch a plane. I'm not sure he believed me.
I'll have more about KL and HK once I get home. That should be in about 23 hours.
Oh, and what is it with toilets? First in KL, now in HK...as I was getting ready to leave the club a cute but drunk guy started dancing with me, holding onto me so he wouldn't fall, I think. Anyway, he tried to get me to go into a stall inthe toilet with him. I said I needed to catch a plane. I'm not sure he believed me.
I'll have more about KL and HK once I get home. That should be in about 23 hours.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Friday Fun
Friday night a good time was had by all. My brother Chuck came into town for a Saturday conference and since we hadn't seen each other in something like 2 1/2 years we figured it might be a good idea to meet up, seeing as he was only about 7 miles away.
We headed out to Cafe Asia, my third time there in a week so yay for that. It occurred to me just how much Chuck looks like our dad. One difference, of course, is that Chuck eats a lot more sushi than our dad does, especially when it's happy hour at the restaurant and, frankly, it would be a crime not to. He's to be doing very well, he and his wife are both professors at a big university and it seems to be working out well for both of them. This is what they've wanted and they have a good idea how to manage the tenure track for the next few years. More importantly, I think, is the fact that they get to live together full-time now, which during the course of their marriage hasn't been the norm due to various career opportunities and requirements.
During dinner he told me that he'd realized the night before that Friday night there was a dinner for the conference speakers, but since we'd already made plans he e-mailed the organizer and bailed out. Anyway, after a couple hours at the restaurant we wanted to go hang out somewhere else to chat, and rather than drive back to the condo we just walked down the block to his hotel and hung out in the lounge. Of course, it turns out this was right outside the room where the dinner was being held, so about 45 minutes later his fellow speakers emerged to see him sitting in the lounge, having obviously blown off the dinner. Oops. Some of them decided to join us and before I knew it I was at a table with 4 economists, and even though I was an Econ major as an undergrad -- or, perhaps, BECAUSE I was an Econ major -- that was an excess supply of economists. Plus, I was going clubbing later. So off I went to get home and change. Good times, and I'm very glad Chuck popped into town.
Headed out to Apex later for the first time in a while. Picked up Justin and Richmond Michael and off we went. I needed to get out dancing with some friends so this was much fun. We all ran into people we know, Michael more so than Justin and I combined. At one point Michael came back onto the dance floor and I said, "Quick, pretend to be my boyfriend!," and he proceeded to dance up on me and generally look slutty. Then he asked, "so, who was hitting on you that you wanted to scare off?," and I said "no one, I just wanted you to pretend to be my boyfriend."
I'm bad.
We headed out to Cafe Asia, my third time there in a week so yay for that. It occurred to me just how much Chuck looks like our dad. One difference, of course, is that Chuck eats a lot more sushi than our dad does, especially when it's happy hour at the restaurant and, frankly, it would be a crime not to. He's to be doing very well, he and his wife are both professors at a big university and it seems to be working out well for both of them. This is what they've wanted and they have a good idea how to manage the tenure track for the next few years. More importantly, I think, is the fact that they get to live together full-time now, which during the course of their marriage hasn't been the norm due to various career opportunities and requirements.
During dinner he told me that he'd realized the night before that Friday night there was a dinner for the conference speakers, but since we'd already made plans he e-mailed the organizer and bailed out. Anyway, after a couple hours at the restaurant we wanted to go hang out somewhere else to chat, and rather than drive back to the condo we just walked down the block to his hotel and hung out in the lounge. Of course, it turns out this was right outside the room where the dinner was being held, so about 45 minutes later his fellow speakers emerged to see him sitting in the lounge, having obviously blown off the dinner. Oops. Some of them decided to join us and before I knew it I was at a table with 4 economists, and even though I was an Econ major as an undergrad -- or, perhaps, BECAUSE I was an Econ major -- that was an excess supply of economists. Plus, I was going clubbing later. So off I went to get home and change. Good times, and I'm very glad Chuck popped into town.
Headed out to Apex later for the first time in a while. Picked up Justin and Richmond Michael and off we went. I needed to get out dancing with some friends so this was much fun. We all ran into people we know, Michael more so than Justin and I combined. At one point Michael came back onto the dance floor and I said, "Quick, pretend to be my boyfriend!," and he proceeded to dance up on me and generally look slutty. Then he asked, "so, who was hitting on you that you wanted to scare off?," and I said "no one, I just wanted you to pretend to be my boyfriend."
I'm bad.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Straight Bars
I've been blogging for over 6 years so I'm sure I've discussed this before, but I'm too tired to go looking for it (the switch to Daylight Savings Time always messes me up for a couple days) so I'll just write about it now.
Straight people are fantastic. If it weren't for straight people we wouldn't have any gay people (think about that for a second). But, straight bars? I don't like 'em.
Friday night we went to a birthday party where some folks had rented out a bar in the early evening for their friend. It was a nice place, but when the end of the rental time came and the regular crowd started coming in we realized it was a straight bar. Bear in mind this is on P Street in the Dupont Circle area of DC, about the gayest place you can find here.
Afterwards we were meeting up with Kenneth, an old friend from "The Before Time" (actually, the guy who introduced me to Adrian) and he suggested we meet at this beer place around the corner that was full of very straight, very just-out-of-university-or-maybe-in-their-last-year looking people. The reason for this was obvious when Kenneth arrived and the friend with him was straight. The wait for a table promised to be long so we convinced them to go across the street to a gay bar, even though Kenneth's friend was a little nervous about it.
I guess I didn't think about it until Kenneth asked him, "do you mind going to a gay bar?," and I thought, "no one asked if we mind going to a straight bar."
I mentioned the whole straight bar theme of the evening later to Kenneth and he said, "that's an issue for you, huh?" and he got me to thinking. Yeah, I guess it is. Part of it is the idea that it's "natural" for straights to be uncomfortable in a gay bar but not the other way around. And part of it is that far too often I've found straight people in bars get a little too drunkenly loud, in an exaggerated happiness kind of way, almost like they're putting on a show, which frankly they probably are, in the hopes they can get laid. Us gay folk don't always put on the same loud show...we just grab someone's ass. Gay clubs are full of posturing and attitude and all that sort of stuff, but it tends to be kept a bit quiet, done in more subtle ways. Straight clubs, especially with a younger crowd, tend to have lots of obnoxious loud people. And I'm not into that.
Niche clubs would be different, I think...I still want to go to a goth club, and that will be mostly straight, and going to hear live music is different, too. It's just the "sit around and drink" bars, I think.
Maybe part of the issue for me is that, given my job, I pretty much have to be "straight" all day, so I have no desire to be pressured into a closet when I'm out for fun.
Of course, any place can be a gay place if we go in big enough numbers, but the reality is we're outnumbered something like 9-to-1. So we can try to take over, or at least have an obvious presence. But we can also get the snot beaten out of us if some people don't like it. And yeah, that does still happen here.
By the way, apropos of nothing, I've decided I really REALLY like gummy bears.
Straight people are fantastic. If it weren't for straight people we wouldn't have any gay people (think about that for a second). But, straight bars? I don't like 'em.
Friday night we went to a birthday party where some folks had rented out a bar in the early evening for their friend. It was a nice place, but when the end of the rental time came and the regular crowd started coming in we realized it was a straight bar. Bear in mind this is on P Street in the Dupont Circle area of DC, about the gayest place you can find here.
Afterwards we were meeting up with Kenneth, an old friend from "The Before Time" (actually, the guy who introduced me to Adrian) and he suggested we meet at this beer place around the corner that was full of very straight, very just-out-of-university-or-maybe-in-their-last-year looking people. The reason for this was obvious when Kenneth arrived and the friend with him was straight. The wait for a table promised to be long so we convinced them to go across the street to a gay bar, even though Kenneth's friend was a little nervous about it.
I guess I didn't think about it until Kenneth asked him, "do you mind going to a gay bar?," and I thought, "no one asked if we mind going to a straight bar."
I mentioned the whole straight bar theme of the evening later to Kenneth and he said, "that's an issue for you, huh?" and he got me to thinking. Yeah, I guess it is. Part of it is the idea that it's "natural" for straights to be uncomfortable in a gay bar but not the other way around. And part of it is that far too often I've found straight people in bars get a little too drunkenly loud, in an exaggerated happiness kind of way, almost like they're putting on a show, which frankly they probably are, in the hopes they can get laid. Us gay folk don't always put on the same loud show...we just grab someone's ass. Gay clubs are full of posturing and attitude and all that sort of stuff, but it tends to be kept a bit quiet, done in more subtle ways. Straight clubs, especially with a younger crowd, tend to have lots of obnoxious loud people. And I'm not into that.
Niche clubs would be different, I think...I still want to go to a goth club, and that will be mostly straight, and going to hear live music is different, too. It's just the "sit around and drink" bars, I think.
Maybe part of the issue for me is that, given my job, I pretty much have to be "straight" all day, so I have no desire to be pressured into a closet when I'm out for fun.
Of course, any place can be a gay place if we go in big enough numbers, but the reality is we're outnumbered something like 9-to-1. So we can try to take over, or at least have an obvious presence. But we can also get the snot beaten out of us if some people don't like it. And yeah, that does still happen here.
By the way, apropos of nothing, I've decided I really REALLY like gummy bears.
Labels: Bars
