Notes from the Observation Deck

:: I bought regular unleaded gas today for $2.25 a gallon. If it goes below $2, I promise to do something entirely insane to celebrate.

:: I think I have some serious personal issues to work on. I manage to put a cap on one thing and another situation bursts open. Frustrating. I thought I was better at analyzing my feelings. On the other hand, I'm pretty happy with the way I'm handling what could be an awkward situation (one of many).

:: Went to Bandera restaurant in Corona Del Mar on Saturday night. It has pretty good food. The cornbread in a skillet has jalapenos... yum. And the manager is kinda hot. Not as hot as the manager of the Abbey though.

:: I'm slowly becoming a Facebook convert. MySpace just doesn't let me stalk my friends the way Facebook does.

:: Gonna do the detox thing again. I'm scared. I like eating!

:: I don't like daylight savings anymore. I used to like it getting dark early... but now I just find it depressing!

March in November

On Saturday, I went to an Anti-Prop 8 rally in Downtown Los Angeles. There were a LOT of people there, and it was nice to see an overwhelming showing of not only gays, but straight people, too (identified by their signs proclaiming their straightness and support of gays).

The rally began around 10:30am with speeches that went on until about noon. Lots of different people spoke, from LGBT leaders to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to Xena, Warrior Princess and Ricki Lake. I think most affecting was a straight girl who was raised by two homosexual fathers and a lesbian mother.


Later, I marched with David and his coworkers from Dr. Fresh. His friend Ele made signs with his boyfriend, which we took turns holding up. I held one for a while, but those things are heavy =) There were lots of cool posters, but it was hard to catch them all. This one of Homer Simpson was kinda cute.

I think we quit about half-way through the march to eat at the super spicy ramen place in Little Tokyo. I thought the rally was pretty cool... it was nice being part of something that was so important to people and I enjoyed the feeling of unity. I thought the speakers did a great job of trying to get everyone to come together and not let misguided anger divide the community.

I came home tonight and my mom asked, "So is it true that gays are throwing rocks through church windows? I heard some even took away some woman's cross!" Well, first of all, it's not like I get a newsletter emailed to me, updating me on all the gay activities throughout the land. But secondly, it irks me that 1) Some gay people push things too far and give the cause a bad name... their own intolerance ends up making the community look like hypocrites. and 2) That people will take these isolated examples and use it to generalize the gays and lesbian movement as violent and irrational. Gay people aren't saints, but I hate it when the actions of a few allow bigots a chance to slam the entire group. I wish the speeches at the rally could have been televised... for the most part, they were logical, heartfelt, passionate and inclusive of all groups -- gay/straight, black/white, religious/non-religious, etc. I hope their message somehow finds its way to people like Bill O'Reilly -- who disgustingly try to pit one group against the other. I look forward to going to another rally... and also to a time when we don't have to have these rallies.

San Francisco Weekend

FRIDAY: Billie, Ellen and I flew into Oakland, and then had a late dinner with Paigie and Eric at that one Chinese restaurant we always go to. Then we went back to Eric's where we watched "Hookers and Johns" on HBO In Demand. Very enlightening. And creepy.


SATURDAY: It rained most of the day. We went to Shanghai Dumpling King, where we once again had the best dumplings ever. The birthday dessert thingy was really good, too (see above).

Then we went to Half-Moon Bay and bought wine. Went to TJ Maxx and bought a few things. Then went to dinner at Jordan's at the Claremont Hotel. The hotel is supposedly haunted, so that scored big points with me. The food was also really good. Later, Paigie and I went with Billie to hunt down a copy of "Eclipse," the third novel in the "Twilight" series. This proved difficult as we went to 3 different book stores before finding a copy.

We went back to Eric's with the intention of heading out to the bars, but we all fell asleep watching a documentary on a Nevada brothel where a man had a threeway with a midget and an African American woman (thereby satisfying three "to do" things on his list all at once). We also watched a horrible show called "Parental Control" on MTV. It's a "reality" show that's so poorly scripted, it's embarrassing and hypnotic at the same time. Nate had previously already exposed me to this show the night of Monster Massive when Bad TV literally kept us up all night (stupid Paris Hilton and her BFFs!).

SUNDAY: We met up with Christine at the Thai Temple in Berkeley, where once again, they ran out of certain food items. Those temple people really need to stop being so lazy and cook some more food! Then we went shopping at Walnut Creek before Billie and I headed to the airport. We rode Jet Blue, which is always nice. First timer Billie noted that the Jet Blue Flight Attendants were hotter than on other airlines. I heartedly agreed, having already spotted the super foxy David, Flight Attendant Hottie.

When I arrived home, I learned I had left my radio alarm clock on all weekend and my parents had to shut it off each day. I noticed the radio had been moved and the mail that I left in front of it had also been disturbed. To my dismay, I noticed that a catalogue of gay porn websites that Ellen had given me months ago was among the papers and I'm pretty sure my parents must've seen it and carefully placed another set of envelopes on top of it. So I guess now they must think I'm some pervert who's addicted to gay porn. And no, that is NOT true!

Sticky and Sweet Tour

Billie and I attended Madonna's Sticky and Sweet Tour on Thursday, November 6th. We had floor seats for the first time... the pic is the view from our section. It was cool being that close up, but it sucked not being elevated. Made it a little hard to see.

I was nervous about the tour being held outdoors, but the weather was decent. She started the concert 2.5 hours late, which was annoying, but Billie and I kept ourselves busy by watching the "colorful" fans arrive. Some guy wasn't wearing pants (he wore briefs), another was wearing one of Madonna's old costumes. Paul Oakenfold spun a set, which was awesome. He played my favorite song of his -- "Faster Kill Pussycat." We also witnessed a parade of B-level celebs like Donald Sutherland, Dennis Quaid, Ryan Seacrest, Chris Kattan and Tila Tequila. The bigger names apparently entered from the correct side of the stage and we didn't see them (like J.Lo, Drew Barrymore, etc.)

The rumors of Britney and Justin making an appearance turned out to be true. Britney briefly joined Madonna on stage at the end of "Human Nature" to proclaim, "It's Britney, bitch." And later, Justin came on to duet with Madonna on "4 Minutes."

My favorite performance was "Like A Prayer." The mix was amazing. I also greatly enjoyed hearing "Borderline" which I don't think she's done since the 80s. Other highlights included "4 Minutes," "Heartbeat," "The Beat Goes on," "Dress You Up," "Into the Groove" and "Give It 2 Me." When Madge succesfully pulled off a round of Double Dutch jump rope, I would have squealed with delight... if I were the type of guy who squeals. All in all, a fun concert.

I'm Ready to Fall in Love!

I'm starting to get excited for "Australia," the new Nicole Kidman/Hugh Jackman movie from Baz Luhrmann, the director of "Moulin Rouge." The way it's described, the movie should have everything I love... high comedy, romance, action and drama. If it lives up to potential, could be one of my favorite movies ever... We'll see. Comes out November 26th.