pride 07.

Pride ’07 was insane.

It started off with a sinus infection on Friday, which sidelined me from going out that night, although that was prob for the best, since going out each and every night would have been baaaad…Saturday was Pride Brunch, well, it was just me, LS and PB (for those just catching up, that’s Little Steve and Power Bottom, aka Chris), but regardless it was fun. We walked up and down 8th ave about 6 times and basically had our own little parade. ‘twas fun.

Saturday night, TFJ (TFJ, little Andrew, the fake jew) had a pre-party at his hells kitch apt, and all the boys showed up. There were fights, there were twins, and there was lots of vodka to get the night started. Off to Avalon (formerly known as Estate, formerly known as Limelight) we went, and our group suddenly dwindled down by a few as one party-goer opted to run across the street and puke his guts out…*cough*bklyn chris *cough*…danced til 3, woke up, met brennen at our pride spot at Christopher and Gay Streets, where we have been watching the parade for years.

Then the luau. How much f'in fun was that! There were literally over a hundred people at our party in our backyard (see pic below!). It was insane! Sooo much fun! Of course, me being me, I went all out on the decorations. There were fishing nets and fish. There were flip-flops and hibiscus flowers. There were leis everywhere and there was a 6 foot tall palm tree that doubled as a cooler. I made a 4 hour mix and just let it run. It was awesome. Afterwards we all went dancing at Hiro, then to the diner where we met a hot (albeit incredibly gregarious) Canadian who was in town (alone) for his 35th bday. The boys went home, I went home, and the weekend concluded. Monday was hot, laid out on the pier with LS and just enjoyed the day…after cleaning up for hours in the sun. that part was no fun.

Good friends, good times, great pride.

ugh, its been a crazy couple of days for me, i won't lie. I had to serve jury duty for a few days which was interesting, yes, but very arduous. I got out of it fortunately, so now I’m backlogged at work, which is no fun.

i think that i am making progress in my life. my relationship is over, and slowly i think i am getting over it. sure, some people will say "well, you broke up 2.5 months ago, you should be over it by now!", but i think that its ok to take time to get over someone you love. i wrote abuot this last year, and i stick by what i said. i think that i can take as much time as i need to get through this.

honestly, i feel like every two steps that i take forward in my life, i'm always taking one back. (i am soooo not referencing paula abdul). I’m trying to move forward with things, but I feel like there are always stumbling blocks. For instance: *CONTENT EDITED* , and we are at the La Brea Tar Pits, and immediately I think of TA because we went there together last December. looking at hotels for my stay i came across the hotel we stayed at, and the one that he wanted to stay at. I can’t help to think of him in so much that I do, because everything about my life since Sept-05 was about him. I care(d) about him so much, and think about him all the time.

Yes, I still wear my "jew star" necklace he gave me every day and I still always give it a lil kiss when I put it on. Someone asked me why I still wear it, and honestly, besides the fact that its beautiful, it makes me think of TA. Is this a bad thing? Is this causing me to take a step back? Maybe, but you can forget the past and those who touched your heart.

Last night I had a crazy dream, and TA called me saying something like “I know you told me to call you when I needed some bud, so hi, how are you”…the conversation went on, and it was a mad long dream. I basically expressed how I miss him and how I miss us, but I know that there can’t be an "us" anymore, and it just made me upset. Then there was something with a chipmunk in the dream. Yeah, it was a weird dream to say the least....

Anyway, I think that after this crazy weekend of pride and our big-ass luau that we have planned at the 262, I’m hoping that in the next month or so, I will be able to muster up the strength to know that I can call him and speak to him as a friend, and so that we avoid that chance that we will awkwardly run into each other at a bar somewhere.

I just want to walk forward, one step at a time, and not look back.

My Time Out NY "New York Age"...yikes!

My New York age is 48

This New York age puts you-generally speaking-into the old-age category. Don't worry-this isn't a bad NYC age to be. Your tastes are more refined and developed, and people have always told you that you're mature for your age anyway, right? Still, you may want to see more live music (check out Studio B) and should probably visit Superdeluxe.com. Olde English is funny at any age.

Does your age reflect how you're living? Let us know.

What's your New York age? Take the Time Out New York quiz and find out!

i must be crazy.

I really must be! Here’s the sitch: the exact day that I was offered my *CONTENT EDITED* I was asked to come in for an interview for a multi billion dollar Canadian fashion conglomerate called nygard which is the largest and most popular fashion company in Canada. They found me resume on monster and they thought that I would be perfect for a newly created events coordinator position. I would be in charge of all the fashion shows and personal appearances in the US for the owner, who is named peter nygard and he like a celebrity up north.

Anyway, for the past 2 months, I have been covertly going in to meet with people at their US headquarters, and I had several phone calls up to Winnipeg and Toronto as part of the process. Slowly I started to realize that it wasn’t the position for me. I even emailed the director of recruitment and told him that I think that I was going to pass on the opportunity, and he said “no, you are perfect for the job, how long do you need to tell your current job that you are leaving?” It was non-stop with this guy. He was recruiting me like I was this hot commodity (and, I mean, I am, yeah…), and he made it seem that he really wanted me as part of their team.

Throughout the process however, the way that the employees were speaking about this nygard character, it sounded so odd. Everyone just kept on saying that he was ‘intense’. ‘Intense’. That’s the only word they used. They just weren’t painting a great picture of the guy who I would be spending a great deal of time with. One employee even told me that she had an 8-hour conference call with him discussing, and I wish that I was joking, the shade of purple to use in a napkin. Ri-god-damn-diculous!

After doing some of my own investigative research, I found out more about the man and how the company runs, and how he is quasi-insane. He yells, he screams, he gives you a blackberry and emails you 24 hours a day and expects you to be at his beckon call, regardless of whether you are asleep, on vacation, wherever. At this point really I knew that I didn’t want the position, but I wanted to see what they would offer me. Would I pass on this opportunity because I am doing well right now or would sell my soul for the money?...it really all depended on what they were going to offer. Well, yesterday, I got the offer, and let me just tell you that it was a lot of money. A lot. Lot. Lot. Lot! It would have bumped me into the next tax bracket. Base salary, bonuses, clothing allowances, etc. But I’ve in positions where I hate the people who I work for. People who yell and scream, people are clinically insane, and I can’t do that to myself again. I can’t put myself in a position where I am miserable.

I turned down the job. I turned down a lot of money. Am I crazy? Maybe. Am I smart, probably.

pop it, pop it, don't stop it, pop it.

Well last night was a doozy.

First I conquered a fear and took the train to the w4th street station. Yes, say what you want, but the area still holds heavy in my heart, so it’s hard for me to be there since I spent so much time in the vicinity. Anyway, moving on, I met up with E’s at his brand-spankin-new apt. ok, so lets be honest, I usually don’t like E’s taste in furnishing, but he and J did a SICK job in their new place. ok, so i knew it was a big apartment when i saw it during construction, but it wasn't until i saw it fully furnished that i can say, its huge. When I say huge, I’m talking chad hunt huge. Bedrooms and bathrooms and living rooms and enough closets to make any gay man weep. The place is stunning. Anyway, had din with E & J at surya which was delish, and then I met up with my boys at the 262.

after some heavy arm-twisting, they got this former publicist to join them at pop rocks at bar 13. LS, Big A, Little A (who will now be known as TFJ, or The Fake Jew, because he is masquerading as one with his last name!), Shim-a-roo, J.Mo, BklynC, and the rest of the scragilly crew. i haven't been out on a thursday in faaar too long!

This was the first time I have been to pop rocks in about 2 years. I seriously, seriously miss the days of when it was held at plaid, those were great times. i used to go every thursday for months and months when i first moved to the city in '02. Hanging with Rik Parker and Matt Tratner in their booths, booze flowing until the wee hours. Seeing Pam Anderson, David LaChapelle and Amanda Lepore chilling in one corner while Boy George was holding court in another, Junior Vasquez spinning in the back room...ahh, good memories...

Well last night we danced, we drank (corona out of a can), and we watched go-go-boys (and here is that go-go-boy blog that i was talking about last night)...it was great Thursday night.

And now it’s Friday and I’m paying for it. blah.

going green.

"If every household in the US replaced 3 conventional lightbulbs with environmentally friendly florescent bulbs, the green house gas emissions would be the same as removing 3.5 Million cars from the road."

Last night I was able to go to a really cool event at the Theory headquarters hosted by the National Resources Defense Council and Robert Kennedy, Jr. The theme of the event was "In Theory, It's Easy Going Green", part of the Theory Icon Project. Basically the night was set up to discuss how we as a community can go green and help do our part to stop global warming. There were electric cars, a green market with interesting environmental vendors, food from Pure Food & Wine, and a cute crowd to boot.

I do want to share one thing with you: in the fab one lucky duck gift bags, we were given a free 1 year subscription to greendimes, which is a service that you sign up for and they basically contact direct mail companies and get rid of most of the junk mail that you receive. In addition, they will plant 1 tree for you per month! To produce junk mail for one year, we use 100 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water! Insane!

This being said, I want to pass along the gift certificate to all of you. Go to greendimes and when it says enter gift cert code, its THEORY, and now you'll get a lot less junk mail, and you'll have trees planted in your behalf...how cool is that?

Global warming sucks, and as I learn more about it, I realize that there are certain things that we can do to offset the bad stuff that others do, like joining greendimes. It's not much, but I think its a good first step for all of us. I hope you all do this, it literally takes about 2 minutes, its free and its doing some good, so thanks in advance!

Thanks to J.E.H. (who looked resplendent in white last night) for the invite! Had a great time!