Red Planet

The last three or four days have been pretty crazy down here. Anyone who's not living in a cave knows that half of San Diego is on fire. Work has been closed for the last three days, so I've been more or less cooped up at home. Everything smells like campfire and with the exception of yesterday and today, since the fires started, the sky has looked like sunset all day long (Picture). People are running around wearing masks over their faces, except those who temporarily remove their masks to light up a cigarette (I guess there aren't enough toxins in the air). It hasn't been too bad for the last day or two, but on Sunday and Monday, there was quite a bit of ash in the air and everything on the ground was covered in it. It looked like a white Christmas, a few months early. Fortunately, the fires have started to move away from some of the more populated areas, which has helped to clean up the air a bit.

Before all the madness caused by the fires began, I attended the pirate party on Saturday night. The night began with Al, Eric, Kevin and me getting all dressed up in our pirate getups and heading off to a pre-party down in Hillcrest. On the way, we stopped off at La Salsa to grab a bite and Al and I split a pitcher of beer. When we arrived at the pre-party, I thought we were going to be the last ones there (we were running a little late), but, as it turns out, everyone else was running even more tardy. Oh well, that gave us more time to drink. By the time we left the house an hour later, I'd consumed an additional six beers and was ready to board the ship.

We waited for taxis to pick us up and take us to the boat. By the time we got there, there was still a line to get on the boat, but it seemed like most people were already on board. We finally made it up the gang plank and headed straight for the bar. A couple more beers and it was time to party! The next 4 hours absolutely flew by. Everyone had a phenomenal time, while being entertained by some very interesting costumes, exotic-esque dancing, a slave auction, and your basic pillaging and plundering.

Tonight, I'm heading out with a bunch of people to hit downtown. Pictures forthcoming…

Movin' on out

With the obvious lack of updates lately, it looks like I'm going to have to change the name of my site. Things have been pretty quiet as of late, with most of my recurring activities going well. I've been playing some good hockey these days (not to mention, a lot of it). I'm really enjoying the league I'm in over at UTC, where I'm averaging about a goal a game. Bowling has been going well too. Last Monday, I bowled a 225, a 223, and a 204 for my highest series yet.

This weekend, I'll be attending a pirate party on Saturday night. The party will be held on an actual ship (the Star of India), so it should be a lot of fun. Reviews from people that went a few years ago were nothing short of positive. Costume parties this time of year can only mean one thing; we're less than a week away from Halloween! I think that Halloween has come to be my favorite holiday of the year. As always, this year's costume will be a secret until next Friday night, but I assure you it's an original one.

In other news, I found myself in Home Depot the other night, pricing out toilets. Why was I involved in such an odd activity? Well, because I'm currently in escrow right now, buying a condo! How crazy is that?! Those of you that know me know that I've been casually looking for the last year or two to buy a place. A few weeks ago, Erik (of Hemet fame, and my old boss) sent out an email notifying people that he was selling his condo and getting out of the landlord business. I read the email and thought briefly about buying the place and then didn't give it another thought, but I didn't delete it, either. About a week went by, and I was cleaning out my old email when I found the message again. I started to think more seriously that this could be my chance to break into the real estate market down here. After all, this was a great opportunity to buy a place that was owned by someone I knew, a fact alone that would save us both a lot of money by allowing us to buy/sell without calling in a realtor. It was close to work and I would always be able to find renters due to its close proximity to campus. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea.

I gave Erik a call the next day. My timing couldn't have been more last minute, as he was standing in the middle of a realtor's office, getting ready to list the property. Fortunately, I reached him before his pen hit the paper and he walked out the door still in charge of his own fate. I took a look at the place the next day and started talking things over with my parents. After hearing the complete rundown, they encouraged me to go ahead and make an offer. I did so and Erik accepted. We entered escrow a few days later and the experience has been nothing short of crazy ever since. It's going to be hard to leave everything that I have now at Kevin's place, but at the same time, I'm extremely excited about owning my own place. Furnishing it will be quite a project and there are a few other undertakings that I hope to perform (such as doing a little remodeling in the bathrooms and kitchen). A housewarming party will certainly be in order!

It was a great birthday (or so they tell me)

Last Tuesday, I celebrated my 26th birthday. The festivities started as soon as I got off work; since she couldn’t make it out to dinner with everyone else, Rene took me to Rock Bottom to grab a couple beers on my way home from work. I knew I had a long night ahead of me, so I tried not to drink too much before the night really got started. The schedule for the night was to have dinner at Buca di Beppo and then head out for some drinks afterward at a nearby bar. There were some people that couldn't make dinner, but wanted to come out later; knowing that we would probably be consuming a bit of wine at dinner, I made up a list of folks to call when we were done eating. I think I should have used even more foresight and made calling the people on the list someone else's responsibility.

Kevin drove the two of us down to Buca di Beppo, where I had instructed everyone to meet at 7:15. The reservation was actually for 7:30, so I figured this would get people to the restaurant on time. Folks started trickling in, and by 7:30 there were about 20 people present with more coming. By the time we sat down, there were 26 people in our group, which truly flattered me that that many people came out on a Tuesday night, no less, to celebrate with me. We had our own room in the back with a colorful waiter (who also happened to moonlight as a fashion designer). Knowing that we were going to have such a large party, I did some preliminary preparations with regard to ordering so that we wouldn't end up with an extra 50 pounds of food. And, what would be an Italian dinner without wine? For good measure, I ordered one of the 3 liter bottles of Chianti for the table as well.

The amount of food was perfect, and a second 3 liter bottle seemed to keep everyone's thirst in check as well. More precisely, it kept the ten people that were drinking wine well lubricated (that's the equivalent of 8 bottles of wine, for those keeping score at home). As I mentioned earlier, our waiter had a penchant for fashion; he also kept the majority of his shirt unbuttoned. Somewhere between dinner and dessert, he asked if we needed anything else. The whole table turned quiet as everyone turned their attention to the waiter. Always one to seize the moment, Nik took this as an opportunity to order some coffee, "with a side of nipple." The waiter's face instantly reddened by at least a dozen shades as everyone in earshot tried to stifle their laughter. That was the last time we saw the guy for the next twenty minutes.

After dinner, most of the group called it a night, but about 10 of us walked over to Yardhouse to really do me in. From this point forward, the details became increasing fuzzy. I remember everything up to, and including, the first two drinks that Chris and Jenny put in my hands; the rest is bits and pieces. Some highlights: everyone buying completely different drinks, ensuring that every type of alcohol would be represented in my stomach. Finding out later that I'd taken shots that I have no recollection of taking. Bill making me purge the contents of my stomach in the bathroom at the bar. Refunding the rest of what was in my stomach on the side of the freeway on the way home. Waking up on the bathroom floor, still totally drunk, in the morning.

I haven't drank like that in a long time; and I hope it will be a long time before I do it again. Still, it was a great birthday and I'm glad I got to spend it with so many good friends.

Pictures of the madness can be found here.

So that's what it feels like to be a woman

This past weekend proved especially noteworthy. On Friday night, I got together with Dana, Sheri, Mindy, and June to see the movie, School of Rock. The movie was really funny and yes, this time I was able to sit through the 30 minutes of ads and previews. After the movie, we drove over to City Delicatessen in Hillcrest for a late-night bite.

On Saturday, a group of my co-workers was going out and invited me along. Their first stop was at Lips. Lips is billed as a "drag queen diner." Unfortunately, I had a hockey game at the same time as the reservation, so I was unable to attend dinner. I was later informed that I missed out on quite the experience. I did, however, promise to meet up with them later in the evening.

After I got home, showered up and grabbed a bite to eat, I got in touch with the rest of the group. They told me to come down and meet them at a bar called Bourbon St. I knew nothing about the bar, but a hurricane sounded good, so I put on a nice shirt and headed off for a most interesting night. I found the bar rather easily, and after having my ID checked, I stepped through the door into an elaborately decorated haunted house. I made my way through the dark, winding corridors until I could see the light of the bar ahead of me. As I stepped out into the faux courtyard, something definitely wasn't right. It took but a second for me to realize that there were no women in sight. Turns out, Bourbon St. is a very gay bar. Naturally, it took no time at all for me to find the rest of the group, since it contained the only three non-penis bearing people in the place.

There were four people from my office (3 women and one man) as well as two men I'd never met before (they were neighbors of one of the female co-workers). All the women were straight and all the men were gay. When I walked up to them, it was fairly obvious that they were all somewhat intoxicated and felt the need to get me on their level. We bellied up to one of the bars, on which a guy was dancing in nothing more than his underwear, all the while being gawked at by a room full of men. It was certainly a new scene for my eyes. One of my friends from work bought me a drink and before I could take a sip, another co-worker came over, handed me a dollar bill, and told me to put it in the guy's underwear. I, in turn, assured her that there wasn't enough alcohol in the bar for me to do so. Dismayed at my refusal to invest in the dancer's shorts, the group discussion then turned to the size of the guy's package. Being the only person in the group with no experience handling other men's meat, I didn't have too much to contribute to the discussion; however, everyone else got really into it. The discussion became more heated and reached its pinnacle when one of the women decided that she was going to cop a feel and end the package debate once and for all. $5 in hand, she strutted her way over to the edge of the bar and waited at the dancer's feet. He bent over and she asked him what she could get for her $5. Because she was a woman, he told her that she could feel him all day long. Diagnosis? He was a bit short-staffed.

As for me, I spent much of the next 30 minutes trying to avoid making eye contact with the guys in the room throwing me looks and once in a while accepting a drink from one of the neighbors in our group who seemed to take a bit of extra interest in me. Before long, the girls decided that they wanted to dance, so it was decided that we would go to another bar with dancing, and I was assured, a more even ratio of women. Bar number two turned out to be a place called, Numbers, which also turned out to be another gay bar. There was, however, the promised dancing, so I ended up being the only disappointed member of the group. I danced with the girls for a bit and before I know it, I become involved in a deeply heated political discussion with my friend from work (the one that bought me the drink earlier) while we're still on the dance floor. I went back and forth with her for about 10 minutes, before I finally stopped her and asked if she found it weird that we were in the middle of a dance floor in a gay club, with men making out all around us and we're sitting there arguing about the recall election and whether or not illegal aliens should have licenses, etc.

After the debate, I started to look around in hopes of at least finding a fag hag somewhere in the club. Miraculously, I spotted a girl on the hip-hop dance floor who was relatively attractive, but more importantly, not gay and, hopefully, not interested in talking about politics. I approached her and started talking to her. I found out that she was there with her brother, who looked very at home in the crowd. We talked for a minute or two, but then everybody else wanted to go home. I was pretty tired at that point, so it was as good a time as any to leave.

'Frisco Kid

No sooner had I unpacked my bags from New York that I found myself repacking them for San Francisco. The trip to San Francisco was a family vacation of sorts, symbolizing the end of summer.

I got into San Jose around six on Friday night, met up with my dad in the airport and then waited curbside for my mother and sister to pick us up. The four of us made our way into the city to our hotel, The St. Francis. The weekend we were in town was a very popular weekend in San Francisco due to the USC/Berkeley football game. Just looking around the lobby proved that USC was well represented. Checking in, it became apparent that our room had been given away to someone else. To even things out, the hotel ended up giving us somebody else's room; a much, much nicer room than our original reservation, which also happened to be on the preferred customer floor. When we entered the room, there was a huge fruit basket along with a personalized note, made out to whoever was supposed to be staying in the room. Also notable was the double showerhead in the shower. No regard for water conservation on this floor!

After getting settled, the four of us, plus my sister's boyfriend Jannick and her friend Sarah, headed downstairs to the bar in the hotel for a quick drink before dinner. We then made our way over to a nice Italian restaurant around the corner. The restaurant must have been run by the same people behind the front desk at the hotel, because they too seemed to be unable to make good on our reservation and we were stuck waiting for almost an hour before we were seated.

After dinner, Alexis, Jannick, Sarah and I took a cab over to the W to check out the scene at the bar there. The place was pretty quiet that night and, to be honest, I don't think any of us really fit in. The crowd was much older and a little more on the pretentious side. Regardless, we stuck around for a drink and just enjoyed our immediate company.

The next morning, I opted to sleep in for a bit, so I didn't get out of bed until about 10:00. When I did finally join the conscious, it was time for brunch. We went to a relatively famous restaurant whose name now escapes me. But, the food was excellent and it was right on the water. After eating, my parents drove Alexis and me around San Francisco, showing us where they lived when they were there and some of the places they went when they were dating. We also took a quick trip through Golden Gate Park. The remainder of the afternoon was spent doing a little shopping, including trying to bring the casual portion of my father's wardrobe up to date.

Dinner that night was at a Peruvian restaurant out in the city. It's really neat how San Francisco has so many unique little restaurants. How great it must be to know it's possible to go out every night of the year and eat in a completely different place (country?) each time!

Alexis, Sarah and I went out that night and met up with a bunch of Sarah's friends at a bar on Union St. The place was pretty packed and there were a lot of attractive people out. We stayed out fairly late that night, but not late enough to close the bar.

Back at the hotel, I was riding up in the elevator (we were staying on the 20th floor and the elevators were glass and on the outside of the building, offering a great view of all the buildings around the hotel) and had my first voyeur experience. I was checking out the building across the way, when I happened to glance over to my left. In the hotel that was perpendicular to ours, the lights were on in a dozen rooms or so, but the curtains were drawn in nearly every one. There was one room in particular, however, in which both the light was on and the drapes were wide open. From my vantage point, I was afforded a perfect view of the bed in the room, as well as the lingerie-clad woman lying on the bed being jackhammered by the guy on top of her. I had to rub my eyes a couple times to make sure I was really witnessing their carnal pleasures. A second or two later, I was off the elevator and heading back to the room to pass out.

The next day, I got up pretty late again and by the time I did so it was already lunch time. We went across the street to a little sushi place that had sushi-laden boats traveling around the bar. Michelle came out and met us for lunch as well. It was good to see her again and to hear that everything was going really well for her. She was able to hang out with us for part of the afternoon as well as we did some more shopping. Again, I was reminded of how little fashion exists back here in San Diego. For every designer section in a department store, there was a full store dedicated to that brand alone, often taking up the better part of a city block, within a couple blocks. Amazing.

Before long, our time in the city was up and we were headed back to the airport. After two action-filled vacations, it was nice to touch down back in San Diego, knowing that I'd be able to relax for a bit.