tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5647711471243546402009-11-25T09:14:06.379-08:00the ideas, comments and general rantings posted here reflect what is happening in my real-time life, my subconscious dreamings, or in my 'alternate reality'...proceed with caution! sometimes what you see and read here will be of a very adult nature intended for a mature audience, 18 and over. consider yourselves warned.danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.comBlogger427125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-53627941507082120372009-07-22T07:55:00.000-07:002009-07-22T09:27:13.924-07:00Could it be that social networking sites have become so saturated by gen-x and gen-y folks that the first generation of gen-2k teens and tweens are over it?<br /><br />I only ask because we had the nephews and nieces over for a BBQ this past Sunday and the subject came up. Just imagine two boys and four girls ranging in age from 13 to 19, each armed with a cell phone. It was like a texting battle to see who would shoot off the most messages. So during the constant volleying of messages I asked the kids if they tweeted but the resounding response was as if I had asked them if they wanted to listen to music on a hand-held transistor radio.<br /><br />"uncle Danny, I don't even myspace anymore!?", said with that OMGRU4REAL tone by four of the six iGen kids. And the other two, they were just indifferent to the idea. <br /><br />I didn't get it.<br /><br />I thought tweeting was supposed to be the coolest shiznizzle for social interaction amongst the i-generation of kids. Apparently it is not so!?<br /><br />According to the kids, except for Andrew and Serena, the youngest of the kids at 13, they dropped their usage of social networking sites altogether; no myspace, no facebook, no Twitter! And there I was so proud of myself for being uber-hip because I Twitter from my iPhone.<br /><br />Makes me wonder what it's going to take to hook these kids into some newer, shinier and hipper way of living their lives out loud. <br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />"I drink too much. The last time I gave a urine sample it had an olive in it."<br /><br />-Rodney Dangerfield.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-5362794150708212037?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-9968307592887391112009-07-17T09:47:00.000-07:002009-07-17T14:06:36.021-07:00yesterday was a bit of an eye-opener in terms of how i see my father; because we had had a huge almost 15 year gap in our relationship, it's still awkward for me to relate to him in that adult-to-adult way even though i am 40 and he is...retired, or retarted...yes, retarTed, as my step-mom calls it. i assume it must be some allusion to my dad's obscure and obtuse humor, which i did inherit, or his tendency to release his gases inappropriately, which i did inherit as well. apparently these are not recessive traits. hm, that's all well and good <span style="font-style:italic;">and</span> totally beside the point.<br /><br />so last night i had the opportunity to spend time with my dad and step-mom at the home of one of their friends. the wife is a notary public and is handling some legal paperwork for our family; a story which will be related sometime in the course of this post. this was the first time i had met this particular couple and wasn't quite sure about how this evening would go down, like something gangsta was going to happen, right? any<span style="font-style:italic;">driveby</span>, we hit upon some great topics of discussion: <br /><br />1) how much i love my iphone. yes, i am now a convert...don't judge! so i had my phone on the table and everyone wanted to know if it really was the greatest thing ever invented, which it is...well, it does rank right up there but chocolate is still numero uno, and i explained how it fits my lifestyle: using internet radio is so much more my style than being limited to what i have on the ipod, the bart and map apps save my life as a commuter, and that solitaire and tap tap revenge <span style="font-style:italic;">really</span> save my life as a commuter. and as i'm explaining these cool things about my phone, the phone begins to tweet...which lead the conversation towards...<br /><br />2) kids who think their parents should not join facebook and even more adamantly how they should stay away from twitter<br /><br />this particular topic was interesting since my parents and their friends still are unclear on how their e-mail accounts work so facebook is just slightly above their heads yet they are willing to try if it really bugs the kids that much and that although they are not necessarily text savvy, they are willing to try twitter as their new call method to rally the seniors for their daily stroll around the mall. <br /><br />well good luck! since i don't believe any of them has internet access on their cell phone plans. so if you happen to be at serramonte mall and see a bunch of senior filipino men hanging out, it will either be because of a small miracle or because someone's kid filled them in on the secret.<br /><br />speaking of kids...<br /><br />3) the grown-ups began talking about my younger siblings and how my brother and i inherited great genes from my dad since we can still get away with shaving at least ten years off of our ages...and i'm being literal. if i shave off my mustache and goatee (which by the way is the only shape facial hair grows on my face...couldn't grow a beard if my life depended on it) i easily look like i'm 12...okay, maybe 15...alright, 19...well, damnit, 25 is my lowest offer! but seriously, no facial hair makes me look like i'm still in my twenties...and i'm not specifying if it's early, mid or late!...which is my secret weapon for when i hit my forties...that's when i will start shaving again so i can look like i'm in my thirties! wheeeeeeeeeeeee! <br /><br />any<span style="font-style:italic;">botox</span>, these people know my brother well but were only meeting me for the first time so the inevitable was asked..."so how old are you? 32? 33?"...um, you had me at 32, hello!? i chuckled. my brother is 31 and they only padded by a year or two because they knew i was older. they were slightly dumbfounded when i told them i was forty! did i mention that these are my new favorite friends of my parents?<br /><br />any<span style="font-style:italic;">icouldkeepgoingwiththisstorybutiwont</span>, i enjoyed spending a few hours with the grownups...and don't think for one second that i won't always see these people as the "grownups", while i remain forever young...well, more like <span style="font-style:italic;">immature</span>, but why quibble over the details, right?<br /><br />now let me get on to something more serious and related to the story i mentioned earlier...<br /><br />the woman who is a notary public is trying to make it easy for my parents to hide money in the philippines, erm, not really <span style="font-style:italic;">hide</span> but just kinda not let the IRS know about it. apparently, my dad's older brother and his younger sister are in a financial dispute over a business and related properties we all have a stake in. sadly, if a sale goes through that would mean the end of my grandfather's lifelong dream and the confirmation that certain relatives are only about the money.<br /><br />right now i am really disappointed in my aunt and uncle for not trying to keep the business going. of course, it's easy for me to point the finger since i haven't ever actively participated in the operations of the business but i do know how much this all meant to my grandfather and how hard he worked to create this for the family, for all of us to have something to be proud of...well, i suppose it is a small blessing that he doesn't have to witness the demise of 40-something years of his work. (r.i.p.)<br /><br />so i am waffling between disappointment and anger, but mostly letting myself just be melancholy about the whole thing. there are moments though that i think about what the business and the property might be worth since there are quite a few of us to spread the wealth amongst: my uncle and his family are 9, my aunt and hers are 4 and my dad with us make 5. so there are 18 of us who stand to inherit from what i think will be a sizeable amount, but i don't want to build castles in the air like i believe others already are. i also wonder what illegitimate siblings may come out of the woodwork since it's no secret in the family that my grandfather had a hard time keeping it in his pants...er, well, you know what i mean.<br /><br />any<span style="font-style:italic;">dangerousliaison</span>, i am still hoping that even if the business has to sell, they will figure out a way to hold on to the property because it is in a prime commercial district with thriving businesses along a major transportation route. well, i suppose it all looks good on paper and then the reality of it could totally be crap.<br /><br />there was actually another related topic to this albeit tangentially tethered by a hairstrand, but i'll save that for another day...it could be quite a controversial discussion and i just don't feel up to it right now. i suddenly started to feel the wave of melancholy wash over me as i was writing about this situation in the family. i still can't get over the idea that my grandfather would be crushed by how easily his hard work is going to be pissed away.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />"I drink too much. The last time I gave a urine sample it had an olive in it."<br /><br />-Rodney Dangerfield.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-996830759288739111?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-91732630960980918522009-07-08T22:37:00.000-07:002009-07-08T23:06:41.614-07:00I was surprised with a new iPhone from the hubby and the kid yesterday. Ironically, I have been wanting to get a new phone, but I was expecting to get a new blackberry. "What!?!," says you all who know my ambivalence to phones on technological steroids; I just want a phone to ring when someone calls and to dial when I need to reach someone. Of course, a phone having the ability to entertain me with music-playing capabilities and mindless arcade-like gaming is something I might begrudgingly allow myself to enjoy...just don't tell anyone.<br /><br />Anyway, because I can do way more things with this iPhone than I ever really thought I would, my mind has opened to the possibility of maximizing this phone's features and may blog a bit more although Twitter<br />and facebook may still be the medium of choice of those who own phones-on-steroids!<br /><br />No worries! You'll find me somewhere on the interwebnets... <br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />"I drink too much. The last time I gave a urine sample it had an olive in it."<br /><br />-Rodney Dangerfield.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-9173263096098091852?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-33162390434745003372009-02-03T11:31:00.000-08:002009-02-03T16:21:00.919-08:00well, being mr. popular...like i am prone to be...yes, i know! i can hear your eyes rolling into the back of your heads...i have been tagged multiple times to do a meme about 25 random things about me...as if there is anything about me that isn't random...but i digress.<br /><br />so, originally, i was tagged by friends on my facebook...and, yes, these are real friends: people i actually see or talk to in person! they are not imaginary!?!...and in the interest of casting out a larger virtual net into the sea known as the internet, i am cross-posting this meme...um, because i am a sharing kind of person; most generous in sharing useless trivia about myself...yikes! i think i have already given about 25 random things about myself without even having started to write them out formally...see? generous to a "t"!<br /><br />okay, so without further ado:<br /><br />THE RULES: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.<br /><br />mats christiansen<br />ethan duran<br />misa nikonov<br />gwynn andaya<br /><br />1. i have a love/hate relationship with these "memes": love to write about myself, but hate that i won't become famous or rich...er, i mean "any more famous AND rich" from posting them; because, you know, i am secretly getting paid a penny for my thoughts...how about you?<br /><br />2. oh, and yes, i know, i am getting waaaaaaaaaaaay overpaid for my thoughts!<br /><br />3. i would blog and facebook all day if people would just leave me alone and not harass me with their lame requests of me to do my job and/or take care of household responsibilities. why are they so hateful!?!...sheesh!<br /><br />4. i used to bite my nails...hm...i could even bite my toenails when i was younger. i know. eewwwwwww, right? just don't ask me to tell you how i found out that i could do that.<br /><br />5. if you haven't already guessed, i like to poke fun at myself as much as i poke fun of other people. so not only am i generous, i am also fair and just.<br /><br />6. i learned to poke fun of myself when i had an epiphany at the age of nine. i was so highly-wound to be "the perfect kid" that when my parents were told during a parent-teacher night at elementary school that i was an excellent student but was overly-sensitive, tears welled up and i almost started to bawl like a little girl...hello, nine-year-old gay boy, remember?...but instead i decided to GET OVER IT and "man-up"...um, hello, nine-year-old gay boy? "manning up" and "poking" myself were only inevitable. ;-]<br /><br />7. despite getting over trying to be "perfect" at all times, i still had it in me to become the consummate people-pleaser, bending over backwards and jumping through hoops just to make others happy.<br /><br />um, shut up! yes, that's how it happens in the bedroom too but do you have to be so immature about it?...really?<br /><br />8. remember item #3? well, yeah, good luck to me if i manage to finish this list before the end of my work day!?! damnit!<br /><br />9. if i were born a girl, i would soooooo have auditioned to be a pussycat doll.<br /><br />10. i have never really worried about following a specific career path. i like to metaphorically wander about taking the time to smell the different roses and sometimes nap in a meadow under the warmth of the sun. life is too short to be stuck doing something you don't enjoy just for the sake of money.<br /><br />11. considering the fact that i have flat feet, i have always been able to stay on my feet in arch-less shoes for up to 12 hours and sometimes even longer, but i still used it as an excuse to avoid the military recruiters when they hounded me; the whole "gay excuse" was my back up plan.<br /><br />12. hehehe...i said "gay" and "back up" in the same sentence!?!<br /><br />13. i wish i could spend more time with certain family members but there's just so many of them. of course i'm not going to be specific...like i need a civil war to erupt amongst the family members, crazy!<br /><br />14. i will say that i am glad that my little sister and i can talk about anything despite the years we spent apart.<br /><br />15. i should be better about keeping up with my friends, but i'm sooooo bad about even just sending out a mass e-mail saying "hello"...okay, we'll call it lazy!...hm, can i blame it on #3?...please!?!<br /><br />16. i have been very lucky in my romantic relationships. as complicated as some of them have been, i have no regrets.<br /><br />17. when it comes to politics, i wish there really was a separation of church and state. <br /><br />18. when it comes to aging, grace and i are not friends. she is just upset that i look better than her...um, even if i am cheating a little...hey, i said "a little".<br /><br />19. turning forty this year just seems inconceivable to me.<br /><br />20. we were well on our way to becoming millionaires at one point, but invested badly. oh boo! still, nor regrets.<br /><br />21. i have been weening myself off of spending wildly and have found that h&m and zara are great alternatives to major designer names.<br /><br />22. do not show me accessories!?! ever! they are my fashion kryptonite: belts, watches, wallets, and even socks. the impulse to buy becomes even greater when these things are on sale!?!<br /><br />23. i am really thankful that i did not spend my youth and formative years growing up in virginia...hello, during the 80's!?! can you imagine? i'd probably be wearing wranglers and plaid and rockin' the mullet right now.<br /><br />24. i am spoiled from having grown up in the bay area; wouldn't change it for anything.<br /><br />25. i need motivation to get back into a regular gym routine. not even posters of ripped, hard-bodied hotties plastered all over my bedroom help.<br /><br />oh please, like you all don't have posters of ripped, hard-bodied hotties plastered all over your bedrooms!?!...oh...so it is just me. hee.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />"I drink too much. The last time I gave a urine sample it had an olive in it."<br /><br />-Rodney Dangerfield.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-3316239043474500337?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-69543293060719810982009-01-13T15:47:00.000-08:002009-01-13T17:09:13.351-08:00so i've never really been one to do the "new year's resolutions" thing because, you know: my life is always perfect and could never be improved upon no matter what time of the year. so who needs to worry about spending the first few days of the year worrying about becoming a better person? mentally. spiritually. emotionally...really? i always think that the betterment of these things are what we should already be working on daily and not just thinking about convincing ourselves to do on the first of each january.<br /><br />okay, let me get off my high horse and get real...i don't do resolutions because i know that, as each year passes, it just gets harder and harder to take me out of my comfort zone. i suppose i'm not in that bad of a place to be saying this since my comfort zone is still pretty wide and all-encompassing compared to most. but i do find myself enjoying sleeping in more and not feeling so guilty about totally vege-ing in front of a computer monitor or a tv screen for hours to wile away my evenings. of course this is not the most productive way to spend one's time and it isn't the only way i spend my evenings; on evenings after work, there are spontaneous dinners, happy hours at the local bars, and whatever other invitations that pop up. i even just wander around the busy streets of downtown drafting off the energy of the throngs of people racing by. i'm a simple guy and that's all i need to fulfill my need to feel like part of the world. it's the balance that keeps me from becoming a complete couch potato at night vege-ing in front of a computer monitor or a tv screen for hours.<br /><br />anyway, i don't really have a point that i'm necessarily trying to make with this except that possibly, this year will be about embracing the unexpected and going with the flow since there will have to be changes made this year, not just for the sake of making changes, but out of necessity and every opportunity will have to be explored to its maximum advantage, but...but there must also be some down time to let it all sink in and process lest it all become overwhelming.<br /><br />huh, sage advice or just common sense coming from me?<br /><br />maybe it's really more like me just bullshitting.<br /><br />meh.<br /><br />i told you i really didn't have a point.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />"I drink too much. The last time I gave a urine sample it had an olive in it."<br /><br />-Rodney Dangerfield.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-6954329306071981098?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-11407149080377553022009-01-10T14:17:00.000-08:002009-01-10T16:37:06.861-08:00from being neglected for extended periods of time?<br /><br />ironically, it seems that as i have been becoming more fulfilled in my personal life, my blog life has been left to fend for itself and flounder in the nether regions of the blogosphere: not that i can necessarily guarantee that this situation is about to change. it's just that somewhere along the way, from my last post until now, i lost my need and want to record my daily dealings here in this forum. it feels sad to lose connections with fellow bloggers whose lives i had been privy to glimpse into and yet liberating that i didn't have to share mine; not that sharing has ever been an issue. it was always more about the time it took to concoct a meaningful and coherent retelling of note-worthy events.<br /><br />any<span style="font-style:italic;">gettothepoint</span>, i'm back, if not for good, at least for today, taking time from the work routine to jot down some thoughts. in and of itself, this is indicative of some of the changes in my life that have occurred over the past few months...me, working at a "desk job"? on a saturday? huh?<br />thankfully, it's all been part of a good life change that has kept me from going stir crazy sitting at home wondering what to do with myself. um, yeah, i know exactly what to do with ~myself~...but that's not what i'm talking about here; or is it? i suppose it all depends on how you interpret those quotes around "desk job".<br /><br />but seriously, "desk job" is code for "i answer phones and chit chat with clients as they come in and out". nothing dubious about that, right? well, i suppose that also depends on where you draw the line between "chit chat" and "flirting". but i would never mix business with pleasure...er, oops! never say "never". okay, so what else is there to do on a beautifully sunny saturday in the city but be friendly and chatty and maybe just a teensy bit flirty?<br /><br />so back to the question that started this all: "do blogs suffer permanent emotional damage from being neglected for extended periods of time?" well, i certainly hope not but i'm sure this blog could use some therapy to get back on it's feet. a few changes here and there to make it feel just as good as i do now that i've made some real-life changes. maybe some re-vamping of it's looks: dropping a few of the doodads that seem to occupy more than their fair share of visual space on small monitors and laptops and that suck valuable memory out of many unsuspecting computer. but whatever; these things will happen when they happen. it's just a miracle that i'm even thinking about it.<br /><br />any<span style="font-style:italic;">virtualcomeback</span>, i think i shall end this post with a little happy anecdote from my day at work. even if this story does nothing for the emotional well-being of this blog, it will surely keep my self-esteem on the high side...<br /><br />so as i was walking back from the chinese buffet to-go located down the street and around the block from the building wherein i am currently seated typing this, i was pleasantly given an affirmation that i am, at least in visage and posture, still worthy of a jaw-dropping ogle and an overt compliment...by a very good-looking, just-barely-twenty-something hottie ~and~ in german no less. theoretically, he could have been making a derogatory comment but i assume that a smile and a wink mean nothing but good in any language.<br /><br />luckily, i have had this little bit of goodness to hang on to and get me through my very long day. maybe i should be rudely awoken at 5 a.m. on a saturday by the inconsiderate cat and then proceed to get ready for work and catch the 7:18 BART train to san francisco and then open up shop by 8:30 a.m. if only to be ogled by a hottie-euro-homo sometime later that day but with enough time to share with the people at work...um, hello, because we work in the "beauty industry" and stories like this are just the fodder from which we feed our egos...oh and of course with enough time to bask in the glory of it all as i share with you fabulous readers who are still remotely interested in anything i have to say.<br /><br />any<span style="font-style:italic;">backtoreality</span>, i wish everyone all the best in this new year, even if you are a first-time reader who just happened to be curious enough to read this.<br /><br />peace. love. positivity!<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />"I drink too much. The last time I gave a urine sample it had an olive in it."<br /><br />-Rodney Dangerfield. </blockquote><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-1140714908037755302?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-18993594767293111632008-10-03T10:07:00.000-07:002008-10-03T12:46:57.824-07:00well, last weekend brought together a small portion of my maternal side of the family for the joyous celebration of my cousin's wedding in canada. the key words being "joyous celebration". all together it was a joyous celebration but, on this side of the family, "joyous" is always tempered with a bit of its antithesis, "misery".<br /><br />so although this is all starting to sound like a bashing of my beloved family...and there is no sarcasm in that statement. or is there? no, my family is awesome even in it's dysfunction. yes. we are awesomely dysfunctional...er, yeah, so this isn't about bashing the family at all. it's just that when your mother has five sisters and six brothers, all social interactions are bound to be fraught with middle-child syndrome...who's going to be the center of attraction now? ~then~, then there are the offspring of these siblings, of which i am one, whose number dwell somewhere around 43 to 45 and range in age from 7 to 50+. yikes! fortunately for this retelling, i won't have to try and figure out how many second-cousins there are now too.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SOZ0dfFQ5XI/AAAAAAAAGOw/MD0MWelFK0E/s1600-h/n820570713_4435800_1035.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SOZ0dfFQ5XI/AAAAAAAAGOw/MD0MWelFK0E/s400/n820570713_4435800_1035.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253014065282868594" /></a><br /><br />looks like "be fruitful and multiply" was an imperative and not just a mere suggestion for our family. so on this particular occasion, it just reminded me of the particular struggles we each personally go through as we figure out where we fit in the bigger picture when there are those whose position is to sit in the audience while others play background characters to the few in the spotlight. actually it sometimes is better to not get caught in the bright lights of being center stage. it can either be your shining moment or an exposure of your greatest flaws. luckily for me and a small select group of my cousins, a few of whom were in attendance, we learned years ago that we could use our greatest flaws to entertain the masses; the pressure of being a blacksheep in the family turned to our advantage. yet, there are still those times when escaping the critical reviews from those who seem to know better just isn't an option; no matter what age we are and how deep we are into our adult lives, we are never too old to be treated like a child. oy!<br /><br />say for instance, on the night before my cousin's wedding as we were getting ourselves ready for bed, the bride's mother, my aunt, decided that this would be an appropriate time to scold and point fingers and "i have just one more thing to say..." my cousin. for obvious reasons, the bride-to-be fumed. it only took until about almost 3 in the morning before we convinced her to let it go; the wedding day preparations starting a mere four hours later. um, i suppose it was a ploy to make my cousin forget about her wedding day jitters. see? the parents always know better.<br /><br />or how about when my own mother decided that as we were leaving the wedding reception that it was my fault that i was not my brother's keeper. it was very inconsiderate of me to not have yanked on my brother's leash as he bid farewell and goodnight to our just married cousin and her newlywed husband since it was keeping the bride's parents from heading home; we were passengers in their car. you should have seen the looks on my mom's face that she kept throwing my way as she impatiently waited for me to physically drag my brother out of the venue. silly me. i thought that at 30 years of age, my brother was old enough to berated for his actions and shot daggers at directly by our mother. but apparently that would break from the tradition; as the older brother i am always and forever going to be responsible for his actions. thankfully, he is a better man than me...hi? remember me? blacksheep.<br /><br />and here's another one. my cousin, m.c., at 41, the oldest of our group of cousins who attended the wedding got the brunt of the dysfunction. on the last evening that we cousins would be able to share together, she had the misfortune of getting stuck with her mom, my mom and the bride's mom; three of the toughest sister's who singularly can be a nightmare when angered, but when put together, ~are~, the perfect storm...pull up those crabs traps and head for shore, people! this is no joke.<br /><br />yes, so on our last night, the cousins wanted to have a "farewell" dinner of sorts with the newlyweds but m.c. was being manuevered away by the parental units back to the bride's parents' house where the parental units would do, um, whatever it is that old people do...hehehe. so in a last ditch effort, m.c. called us before she would be led past the point of no return. we suggested that she either take a cab or be left somewhere where we could pick her up; she at that point was within a five to ten minute driving radius of us, so we thought it a great idea...so we thought.<br /><br />the parental units thought otherwise: you are in a strange country. in a strange city...canada? vancouver? really?...how could you even entertain the idea!?! um, hi? m.c. is ~41~ and she has two kids, 17 and 14, but don't think that those facts stopped her mom from telling her "no" emphatically, followed by, "you will stay with us and have dinner and then go to bed!" as funny as that seems, i kid you not. those were my aunts words, practically verbatim. scary!<br /><br />but regardless of the madness that runs through our veins, we are still family...er, whether we like it or not. and for the most part, the past weekend's festivities only show that despite the sacrifices many had to make, we could come together and show our support for one of our own. and despite all outward appearances and untoward actions, the dysfunction is a sure sign that all is right in the world.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-1899359476729311163?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-78321440425785494872008-09-16T22:33:00.000-07:002008-09-16T23:34:34.740-07:00i just had an interesting evening of conversations that made me feel less embarrassed...well, ~embarrassed~ is not exactly the right word but it's close enough...where was i?...oh yeah...less embarrassed about where i am in my life right now. after a couple of job interviews over the past month that didn't pan out, i really questioned whether or not i was being dismissed as unworthy to be hired because the interviewers thought me to be a loser for having gotten myself into a situation where i was now desperately looking for employment. then the flip side to that was that maybe they believed i was over-qualified for the positions. maybe i was just being too hard on myself and second-guessing what i thought the interviewers were thinking. but regardless of the reason for not getting hired, i was still left feeling like...like...like a failure. arrrgh!<br /><br />so there i was before, during and after these interviews feeling all socially retarded just because at almost 40, i never expected to be in a position to be out looking for a job. luckily i did find a little something that is currently keeping me somewhat busy and will eventually get me on track to doing something i truly enjoy but i can't just settle for this right now. i am still out there hoping to pick up something else that will keep me entertained and to which i can put my other wonderful talents to good use. eventually that will come and hopefully i haven't jinxed it by putting it into the ether-regions by posting it here. but that's not the point...the point really is that i am not alone in my quest for gainful employment.<br /><br />thanks to facebook and a generally great out-going personality...yes, it's true, so stop laughing at me...where was i?...oh yeah...i find myself sharing stories with friends who are in the same predicament. no one is immune to the great economic crisis affecting our country right now. oddly, i am finding hope in numbers; i am not such a social retard after all. woo hoo!...okay, well, under other circumstances, i am a social retard but i'm trying to make myself feel better here, so just play along, thanks!...so although it sucks to not have a steady and dependable source of income, it helps to know that it's not something to take personally and nothing to feel embarrassed or ashamed about. and in a weird way, it's making me open my eyes just a tad bit wider...um, no slanted-asian-eye jokes, okay? i'm trying to be serious; and you know that isn't easy for me...yes, so my eyes are just a tad bit wider to the world and scanning for opportunities unnoticed before...before: when i was i blissfully unaware that i would need to jumpstart a career again at this age...and i see something just on the horizon from this new perspective. it isn't anything i can describe yet but i feel a change is gonna come and life will be better than i ever imagined.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-7832144042578549487?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-46910375614618978042008-09-03T20:10:00.000-07:002008-09-03T22:26:35.757-07:00strange how most of the past 24 hours has been haunted by ghosts...not eerie creepy looming spectres but the kind that are surreal, where you recognize people and places, events and situations but then you are no longer sure about what it is you recognize. it's all so familiar and yet it's all so completely foreign. <br /><br />anyway, it all started on facebook when one of my friends posted a third grade class photo from 1975!?! i wasn't actually in it but just seeing the faces again of people who i would spend a decade of my life going to school with was just strange. the whole idea of re-connecting with childhood friends on facebook <em>is</em> just strange. anyway, having "conversations" with these friends has been stirring up a bunch of deeply-buried memories. so the innocent memories of a nine-year-old working their way through thirty years to the present have been really nice but overwhelming as well. it made me realize that to get through those thirty years, the innocent nine-year-old had become slightly jaded and cynical. but just slightly. remember, i am still an eternal optimist despite the sarcasm. the sarcasm is just a ploy to make me sound witty and amusing. it works, right?...okay, don't answer that!<br /><br />anyway, today was another milestone in terms of staring the past right in its face. my mother and i finally had to go through the boxes of photo albums in her storage unit. she was finally ready to start to release her attachment to memories of my step-father, frank, and to my dad. she's already re-married again but she is a very loyal mate and takes her commitment vows to heart, so i know it was difficult to go through the pictures and decide what to keep and what to pass on to me and my brother. i think it was obvious that letting go of the past she shared with my dad took less of a toll on her since they have been divorced now for almost 25 years!?! but it wasn't until today that she finally gifted me their wedding album; like i said she was a loyal mate and stringent in her commitments even if she was the one who left my dad. anyway, it was the right thing to do. you know, to give me the wedding album. oh, and the divorce was a pretty good idea too. er, and giving me a few other albums of times when life between them was good; times that even i could remember.<br /><br />so of course when their divorce happened, i was ambivalent about it but at 15, i was old enough to understand it. there were too many years of dissatisfaction and disappointments for my mom so i was happy when she met frank. my stepdad was not just good to her but he was truly good for her. so if you can just imagine how much she avoided looking at the albums full of their vacations together, of birthday parties with friends and family and just a myriad of other shared moments. despite being remarried now, she can't yet revisit these images of a previous life and not still feel a certain sense of longing which pains her immensely. she is still not ready to completely let go of what she once shared with him. needless to say, i looked through the albums and got misty-eyed for my own reasons: frank was just the best stepdad to my brother and me. so it did hurt me a little to think that his own daughter who i know my mother and stepdad tried to support in every way possible was not there when he passed away or for any of the subsequent funerary arrangements; not because she couldn't be, but just because she didn't care. this made me mad even though i was looking at pictures of happy people enjoying happy times. totally surreal. <br /><br />so back to speaking of surreal experiences, is it weird to think that your parents were total hotties? even during the seventies!?! looking back at the photos from the era brought to mind a fairly vivid memory where they brought me to a friend's house for an <em>adult</em> gathering one night. any kids that happened to be brought along, me included, were told to play in one of the bedrooms with the door closed so the adults could be left alone. all that was fine and dandy until us kids started to hear moaning from beyond the bedroom door. being kids being kids, we of course had to find out what was going on. but quickly we discovered that the adults had barricaded us from the living room. and again, being kids being kids some of the more agile ones managed to wend our way past the barricade and into the kitchen which was directly adjacent to the living room. and from the kitchen we wiggled ourselves on the floor into the adjoining dining room and under the dining room table. and from there we got a glimpse of what the moaning was all about and of what had been distracting the adults long enough to allow us kids to go unnoticed. it was a porn flick! the seventies baw-wow-chicka-wow-wow kind!?! anyway, i remember the scene being one where the woman was getting a <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facial_(sex_act)">facial</a></em> from a man who was <em>speading the cream</em> from about six feet away. um, can i just say i was totally impressed. hello!?! young impressionable mind and all. now, you all know why i am such a whore, er, i mean, <em>sexually liberal</em>.<br /><br />any<em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_necklace_(sexuality)">pearlnecklace</a></em>, my parents were pretty swanky dressers and kept themselves considerably fit back in the day. maybe it was part of that seventies swinger mystique, but it still shows even to this day. well, except that in my dad's case, he still actually owns <em>and</em> wears some of those clothes he used to look swanky in. who knows? he may one day be in fashion again or be ready for swinging to revolutionize the sexual culture just one more time. uh, yeah, right!?!<br /><br />any<em>kinky</em>, i can't wait to go through the albums with anthony. he always said that he wants me to look like my dad as i get older since my dad fits a certain <em>type</em> that anthony likes. it's kinda weird, no? and still almost like a compliment; albeit a weird one. anyway, after perusing some of the albums, i think i see what it is that anthony finds hot about my dad. so, yes, i am basically saying that i think my dad is a hottie. <em>blurghhh</em>...i think i just threw up a little.<br /><br /> <br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-4691037561461897804?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-83570212551839835922008-09-01T19:11:00.000-07:002008-09-01T19:53:07.804-07:00it was only three days for training and i feel pretty good about how it is all panning out at work. everyone seems happy with me and it's been very easy to fit right in; a testament to the fact that it really was meant to be. yip to the pee!<br /><br />any<em>careerchoice</em>, it will still be some time before it really goes in the direction i really want but it is very promising; i could be doing as a profession, by the beginning of next year, something i have always enjoyed but never took seriously enough to pursue. and should things really work out the way i hope, i will be back to being self-employed again. in the meantime it leaves me time to do something else that i had left behind many years ago: working in retail visuals.<br /><br />yeah, i never thought i would ever go back to it but i suppose all my professional pursuits have always included working in a visually creative medium which was closely tied into customer service, retail or otherwise. for now, it's a part-time side job but more importantly, it will allow me to shop, with a generous discount, for appropriate attire that will suit me in my other job. plus did i mention that since it's a downtown retail location, the hours are nothing like those maniacal suburban mall hours, especially with the holidays looming ahead. so it's all good!<br /><br />and even better is that both are located within blocks of each other which thrills me to no end since that means i'll really be working in the city almost daily. my social life with my gay friends will once again exist. no longer will going out for drinks with the gays be relegated to the occasional once in a blue moon. funny how no one ever wants to come aaallllllllll the way out to the 'burbs for a night on the town. oh yeah, because our suburban town shuts down by ten. damnit!<br /><br />any<em>excuses</em>, i think i am finally getting over having to explain my situation to people regarding why my life has done a 180 since the beginning of the summer. i used to be embarrassed by it; too proud maybe. so it's been a slow process which started over a year ago but i am satisfied that everything is as it is supposed to be. i've weathered the storm and can finally enjoy the rainbow. wow! that was really gay, now wasn't it. but you get what i mean. i think.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /><br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-8357021255183983592?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-14976021042597042332008-08-29T00:32:00.000-07:002008-08-29T00:47:32.067-07:00<strong>The early afternoon commute:</strong><br /><br />I am on a new career path. I’ve talked about it before but have been reluctant to do anything more about it. The last time I even mentioned it was last summer. I think. See? It’s been a long time in coming. <br /><br />On the one hand I am really excited about this change while on the other I am melancholy and sometimes bitter. This decision has been so difficult to make because so much of my professional life has been intertwined with my personal. That’s just what happens when you own your own business.<br /><br />So for a year and a half now I have been standing on the edge. Waiting. Hoping. Not knowing. Expecting someone to either push me or pull me back. And it’s been the scariest year and a half of my life. Staring into the nothingness of the future. No clues as to what might happen should I finally decide to jump into it; the past still anchoring me to a reality that is no longer there, and a present that suspended my disbelief and comforted me in blissful ignorance for only as long as a day turns into night.<br /><br />But I finally did it. Much like I used to when I was younger and believed myself unconquerable except that this time the most recent of life experiences had beaten me down a bit and left me less sure. I still remember those days when it was so easy to run right into the future with no fear of the consequences, but much has changed over the years, and my memory is less clear these days about how I went about living life so haphazardly. Yet I look at life now as a new beginning; a perk for having reached this stage in my life. Today marks the moment when I take a chance to go ahead and follow a passion. <br /><br />Too many years were spent doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons. And I made do. I created a life based on someone else’s expectations and I became content. Content in its ease and its normalcy. I had the life that many coveted and were willing to destroy just to make themselves feel better. I know it sounds bitter and a bit self-indulgent to say that about others, but I am only speaking the truth of the situation. There have been those who have done nothing but try to destroy what I had created and been more than gallant in making sure I knew it was their plan. I don’t know why I let these people get that close, but, I did. Maybe it’s because of my belief that all people are good. Naïve? Perhaps, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I cannot let the actions of others dictate my own. I have a destiny to fulfill and it will have nothing to do with spiteful intentions and revenge against others. Fate and karma? We have a different path.<br /><br />So that brings me to where I am today. On a new adventure, just like it was all those irreverent years ago. Only this time I have a stronger sense of who I am and where I want to be. Oh why did it take so long to figure these things out? Well, at this point who cares? Look to the future and all that, right? Anyway, I am on a BART train heading to the Montgomery station. The train might be stopping there but that isn’t the end of my journey. My path continues on. Hopefully on to the life I have always thought possible but always been too scared to pursue. I wish I knew that this is truly the right way to get there, but I’m also kinda glad that I don’t . what’s an adventure without a bit of suspense and a few surprises along the way? Boring. A year and a half of that has been plenty for me. So enough of that already. Oh and don’t get me wrong, there have been some great moments during that year and a half but professionally, it has been stagnant. Collecting dust had become my job. <br /><br /><strong>The late Evening commute:</strong> <br /><br />(after I had gotten the chance to hang out with a friend from undergrad at Berkeley whom I haven’t spent time with since 1996!?! Yeah, dinner and dessert in the Castro. I’m loving being a city boy again. Even if it is just for work.)<br /><br />I am totally excited about where this is going. My first day on the job was just training, but it was a good day. One minor flub. Damnit! Fortunately, no one died from my lack of experience. Just seriously injured with cause for immediate medical attention. Hehehe…just kidding. Okay someone needed a band-aid. No. not even that. <br /><br />Anyway, I’m being funny because that’s the atmosphere that I am working in; professional yet totally allowed to have a good time. The work responsibilities will eventually bore me but the people I work with and the ones I come in contact with, won’t. And that’s all that matters right now. Plus I get to have my hair-did for free anytime I feel like and I get to wear jeans and boots and flamboyant accessories without anyone thinking twice about it. The spirit of creative self expression runs rampant and free to do as it feels. I’m so psyched. Yeah, I said “psyched”. I know. You’re jealous. <br /><br />Granted this isn’t the position of a lifetime but it makes me happy. And happy is plenty of recompense for now. Actually, did I mention that the owners have no qualms about me checking my personal e-mails or poking people on facebook if I don’t happen to have any work-related tasks to perform? Now I know you’re jealous.<br /><br />Tomorrow is more training, but actually it’s going to be more about reinforcing what I learned today. It’s not rocket science but all you brain surgeons beware. I could cut you up by the end of my shift if things go as swimmingly as they did today. I don’t know how I managed to luck out. It was kismet if there ever was such a thing.<br /><br />Really, I went in on Tuesday morning just to drop off my resume with the front desk and it so happened that one of the owners saw me, and only just saw me for a brief moment, as I was leaving. And as I was standing just outside the doorway, I heard him remark to the girl at the front desk that he liked my look. He couldn’t see me and I couldn’t see him but overhearing that comment made me feel as giddy as all get out. I was hoping he would actually call me back in but that didn’t happen. So I left somewhat disappointed yet somewhat pleased with myself for having put together an outfit that was worth commentary. Woo to the hoo! But as fate would have it, within a couple of hours, when his schedule had freed up, he had the receptionist call me back in for an interview. The same day!?! And boy did that go well; all i needed was the personality to go with the already commendable looks. Hello!?! I got the job and I’m writing about it aren’t I? Sure I’m way too over qualified for the job but in a way the job calls for it. It isn’t for the timid and faint of heart. <br /><br />It’s an establishment that can choose to have a discreet location and an exclusive clientele. Not just anybody comes knocking on their doors. It’s a bit intimidating, like trying to get past the bouncers and the velvet rope at the newest, hottest, <em>IT</em> dance club, but once inside it’s just as much a party; one that I am now privy to hosting. I like being part of that. Call me a snob but it suits my inner celebrity. Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, they ain’t got nothing on me.<br /><br />Okay, that really sounds superficial and crass, but I don’t think that this same job in any establishment that catered to the every-man or -woman would have the same appeal for me. So I am going to embrace it because deep down I know I’m still just an average Joe, but for now, I’m an average Joe that gets to wear the persona of a prince. You know the one formerly known as. Purple pant suits with stacked-heeled Cubans; I am soooooo there. Ass-less yellow pant suits soon to follow. And no one is going to think twice about it. I know. You’re so jealous I can smell it through the Internet.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /><br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-1497602104259704233?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-24239291854664219412008-08-24T21:09:00.000-07:002008-08-25T00:18:36.819-07:00i am honestly too wiped out from hanging out on facebook so much lately to devote any real thought to writing something intelligent here. not that you come here looking for intelligence anyway...<em>trust me. the mars probe stopped by here and found nothing remotely intelligent to report back. sigh</em><br /><br />so instead of trying to amaze you with the remnants of what was once a straight-a student's mind, i will razzle dazzle you with smoke and mirrors; mind-trickery the likes of which captain spock could only imagine. yes folks, i present you with a meme; one that if you squint at just the right moment will reveal that it was gleaned from the blog pages of my friends <a href="http://willyorwonthe.blogspot.com/2008/08/food-glorious-food.html">will</a> and <a href="http://lettinggo-sageweb.blogspot.com/2008/08/100-foods-for-my-belly.html">sageweb</a>.<br /><br />and now, without further ado, the following is a list of foods from which i may or may not have partaken. so in the interest of making things clear, i follow the example of will and sage by making <strong>bold</strong> those items i have eaten and if the item also happens to be in <em>italics</em>, that just means i have no interest in partaking in the consumption of that item ever again. like ever. in my life. again. never!<br /><br />but i must warn you: there will be snide commentary and possibly superfluous usage of inappropriate language. then again, you do expect that of me... <br /><br /><strong>Venison</strong>...yummers! my youth was spent in the woods in wait of the one unfortunate buck who would happen to cross paths with my father: the deer hunter. seriously. i went hunting a lot with my dad as a kid. for reals! stop laughing!?!<br /><br />Nettle tea...i had a suspicion of what a nettle was but googled it. just in case. why would you make tea out of nettles?<br /><br /><strong>Huevos rancheros</strong>...ha! you should try the ones i make with my homemade salsa. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!<br /><br /><strong>Steak tartare</strong>...must be totally fresh and well-seasoned otherwise i completely understand will's aversion to ever putting it in his mouth again.<br /><br /><strong>Crocodile</strong>...hello!?! you can't eat in new orleans without eventually sticking your fork into it. hm, i don't think it tasted like chicken at all.<br /><br /><strong>Black pudding</strong>...i haven't officially had the british version, but we filipinos do have a "chocolate" meat dish called "dinuguan" and i totally dig it.<br /><br /><strong>Cheese fondue</strong>...what's to say about cheese fondue other than "move over bitches. i've got a pick in my hand and i know how to use it!"<br /><br /><strong>Carp</strong>...as long as it isn't from the koi pond. leave the pretty ones alone, i say.<br /><br /><strong>Borscht</strong>...why yes, thank you. i actually have made borscht according to a traditional russian recipe and was told it was just like mama used to make. <br /><br /><strong>Baba ghanoush</strong>...eggplants? did someone mention eggplants? i think i've just died and gone to heaven. but where's the pita?<br /><br /><strong>Calamari</strong>...yes, please! beer-battered and deep fried. of course.<br /><br /><strong>Pho</strong>...hi!?! it's soup. who doesn't like soup?<br /><br /><strong>Peanut butter and jelly sandwich</strong>...with banana slices if you don't mind.<br /><br /><strong>Aloo gobi</strong>...throw in some basmati rice and i'm good to go!<br /><br /><strong>Hot dog from a street cart</strong>...after a late night of drinking and dancing, it hits the spot.<br /><br /><strong>Epoisses</strong>...the smellier the better! i'm just weird like that.<br /><br /><strong>Black truffle</strong>...too bad it's so freakin' expensive. otherwise i'd cook with it more often.<br /><br /><strong>Fruit wine made from something other than grapes</strong>...meh. i didn't dislike it so i won't put it in italics. <br /><br /><strong>Steamed pork buns</strong>...just because it brings back memories of shopping san francisco's chinatown with my mom. before it got all touristy, damnit!<br /><br /><strong>Pistachio ice cream</strong>...i'm with will on this one: (small body shaking orgasms) <br /><br /><strong>Heirloom tomatoes</strong>...they can make a boring salad look spectacular!<br /><br /><strong>Fresh wild berries</strong>...when i lived in berkeley we had a brook behind the house where wild raspberries grew. totally organic. and free!<br /><br /><strong>Foie gras</strong>...why do i like all the things most people find weird!?!<br /><br /><strong>Rice and beans</strong>..."casamiento" to those who have ever been to my house.<br /><br /><strong>Brawn or head cheese</strong>...i'm pretty sure i was tricked into eating it when i was a kid. since then, no one i know has ever offered it to me so i'm not sure that i won't try it again. but you won't find me running to the market to buy it.<br /><br />Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper...ooh, i like spicy but i don't think i want to risk what happens once it passes, you know, "down there".<br /><br /><strong>Dulce de leche</strong>...i enjoy this just a little too much. damn hagen-das for making it into an ice cream flavor!!!!<br /><br /><strong>Oysters</strong>...especially raw and from the northwestern pacific waters or the big gigantic ones from point reyes on the barbeque.<br /><br /><strong>Baklava</strong>...more almonds and more honey. and if you know me, dipped in chocolate.<br /><br />Bagna cauda...can't say that i've tried it, but it does sound good.<br /><br /><strong>Wasabi peas</strong>...bags and bags and bags full of them from the asian market.<br /><br /><strong>Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl</strong>...only because i grew up so close to fisherman's wharf.<br /><br /><strong>Salted lassi</strong>...but i like the sweet version better. especially flavored with mango.<br /><br /><strong>Sauerkraut</strong>...serve it to me on a hot link and you'll forever be my bestest friend.<br /><br /><strong>Root beer float</strong>...i always thought my dad invented it just for me.<br /><br /><strong>Cognac with a fat cigar</strong>...but only in florida.<br /><br />Clotted cream tea...i shall try to find a place that serves it around here given this testimonial from will: (Oh god yes – home made scones, clotted cream, fresh strawberry preserves and a good strong cup of tea – God is in her heaven and all is right with the world.)<br /><br /><strong>Vodka jelly</strong>...i guess the author of this meme speaks in british vernacular because i wasn't sure if these were "jello shots". and they are; in case you are as confused as i was.<br /><br /><strong>Gumbo</strong>...most definitely, despite the weird french-kissing-a-vegetable sliminess of okra.<br /><br /><strong>Oxtail</strong>...mmmmmmmmmm, in a traditional filipino peanut curry the way my mommy makes it.<br /><br /><strong>Curried goat</strong>...theoretically it depends on the kind of curry. but i'm obviously not that picky if you haven't noticed.<br /><br />Whole insects...as much as my mom enjoys them, she never made us eat them. i think i can die content without ever having tried.<br /><br />Phaal...er, i haven't been daring enough to try. see reaction to raw scotch bonnet pepper.<br /><br /><em><strong>Goat’s milk</strong></em>...hey, finally something i've tried that i really don't like.<br /><br />Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more...can't say that i'll ever bother trying it since i'm not much of a whisky drinker.<br /><br />Fugu...as much as i love sashimi and sushi, the idea of dying from a tainted piece unnerves me.<br /><br /><strong>Chicken tikka masala</strong>...oh god, i'm getting hungry for the tandoori restaurant. <br /><br /><strong>Eel</strong>...oh god, now i'm hungry for the sushi boat.<br /><br /><strong>Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut</strong>...my eyes just glazed over from thinking about yummy glaaaaaaazed dooooooooough-nuts.<br /><br /><strong>Sea urchin</strong>...i love seafood especially served as sushi or sashimi. the only thing with sea urchin is that i have to close my eyes before putting it in my mouth. not the prettiest of things, you know.<br /><br /><strong>Prickly pear</strong>...duh, nopales, if you're mexican! but they have to prepared really well or else there are serious consequences. who wants to be pricked from the inside out. from the outside in is a whole different conversation.<br /><br /><strong>Umeboshi</strong>...now these will make your lips pucker and leave you with that stink face expression, but i can't eat just one.<br /><br /><strong>Abalone</strong>...in soup or in fritters anytime.<br /><br /><strong>Paneer</strong>...not my favorite of cheeses, but i do it eat if served with my indian meal.<br /><br /><strong>McDonald’s Big Mac Meal</strong>...growing up these were a treat for doing the chores and staying out of trouble so occasionaly they are still a guilty pleasure. oh, by the way, i wouldn't suggest it if you have to pay for it euros. freakin' expensive.<br /><br />Spaetzle...weird? wonder how these got past me? sounds like i need to get to an oktoberfest celebration, don't i?<br /><br /><strong>Dirty gin martini</strong>...gin martinis? do you know who you're talking to?<br /><br /><strong>Beer above 8% ABV</strong>...isn't all beer above 8% ABV?<br /><br />Poutine...i might try these at least once but with will's strong disapproval of them: (I have never, will never eat the national dish of Québec! Why would you ruin perfectly good french fries and gravy with cheese curds?) maybe not.<br /><br /><strong>Carob chips</strong>...not that i won't eat them, they're just boring. so not a chocolate replacement.<br /><br /><strong>S’mores</strong>...in unquantifiable amounts if i could.<br /><br />Sweetbreads...even i draw the line here. shouldn't the person who named these be sued for false advertising?<br /><br />Kaolin...what is this? googled it and its a rock mineral. wtf?<br /><br /><strong>Currywurst</strong>...must include fries!!!<br /><br /><strong>Durian</strong>...in halo-halo, of course! another yummer.<br /><br /><strong>Frogs’ legs</strong>...tasted like chicken so it can go without italics. just don't think about it and eat them.<br /><br /><strong>Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake</strong>...because i will one day be free of worrying about my weight.<br /><br />Haggis...no one around here serves it. luckily.<br /><br /><strong>Fried plantain</strong>...caribbean and asian style!<br /><br /><strong>Chitterlings or andouillette</strong>...i ate a lot of pork products growing up.<br /><br /><strong>Gazpacho</strong>...so good on a hot summer's day.<br /><br /><strong>Caviar and blini</strong>...i don't hate it but only if i have to.<br /><br />Louche absinthe...definitely reason enough to visit switzerland. is it anythiong like ouzo or sambuco? i have enjoyed those.<br /><br />Gjetost, or brunost...i don't know if i've ever had it on a gourmet sandwich so i'll have to leave it until i know for sure.<br /><br />Roadkill...someone tried when i was in texas years ago, but, no thank you.<br /><br /><strong>Baijiu</strong>...i haven't officially tasted a chinese baijiu, but my grandfather used to make something similar.<br /><br /><strong>Hostess Fruit Pie</strong>...lemon is my fave.<br /><br /><strong>Snail</strong>...sauteed in butter and garlic, of course.<br /><br />Lapsang souchong...i have tried a lot of different teas but this one has eluded me.<br /><br /><strong>Bellini</strong>...only the ones we have at brunch.<br /><br /><strong>Tom yum</strong>...did someone just mention thai? i'm hungry again.<br /><br /><strong>Eggs Benedict</strong>...but please poach the eggs properly and don't curdle the hollandaise.<br /><br /><strong>Pocky</strong>...i'm asian. of course, in chocolate and strawberry.<br /><br />Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant...sadly, no.<br /><br /><strong>Kobe beef</strong>...in bite-sized cubes as a main entree. damn those prices!<br /><br /><strong>Hare</strong>...but it has to really be cooked right or else it's just dry and jerky-like.<br /><br /><strong>Goulash</strong>...i like stews.<br /><br /><strong>Flowers</strong>...but only if they are candied.<br /><br />Horse...hm, maybe next time i'm in europe or the orient.<br /><br /><strong>Criollo chocolate</strong>...but it would be an expensive habit to maintain.<br /><br /><strong>Spam</strong>...sliced thinly and fried like bacon served for breakfast with eggs and rice. hello!?! did i mention i was filipino?<br /><br /><strong>Soft shell crab</strong>...in a po'boy sandwich or a spider roll. oh yeah!<br /><br />Rose harissa...haven't had the pleasure but it sounds de-lish.<br /><br /><strong>Catfish</strong>...yes! cooked in any southern style.<br /><br /><strong>Mole poblano</strong>...on cheesy enchiladas is the best.<br /><br /><strong>Bagel and lox</strong>...every weekend for over five years.<br /><br /><strong>Lobster Thermidor</strong>...not enough times in my life. damnit!<br /><br /><strong>Polenta</strong>...looks pretty if you let it set with whole tarragon leaves sprinkled on top.<br /><br />Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee...maybe one day; when i go to jamaica or find a decent jamaican restaurant in the city.<br /><br />Snake...i can eat eel, but snake freaks me out. go figure.<br /><br /><br />so you can see that i will basically put anything into my mouth and enjoy it, which not only makes me an adventurous eater but also very popular with the boys in the backrooms of dark, dingy bars, er, i mean, popular with my friends who want to try different cuisine from around the world...yeah, that's it. that's what i meant.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-2423929185466421941?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-75704883498032414002008-08-20T18:38:00.000-07:002008-08-20T19:35:25.903-07:00well...<br /> <br />hm...<br /><br />well, the response to yesterday's post was soooooooo overwhelming...<em>by the way, thanks, sarah. you have maintained your status as my favorite canadian cousin by stroking my ego with your comment</em>...that i have chosen not to submit my portfolio to <em><a href="http://www.oxygen.com/janice/">janice dickenson's modeling agency</a></em> nor to the next season of <em><a href="http://www.bravotv.com/Make_Me_A_Supermodel/index.php">make me a supermodel</a></em>. god forbid that my presence on either of these shows sends millions of you, my loyal readers, to mob the sets of either show and disrupt the filming schedule.<br /><br />i know...<br /><br />you are all disappointed...<br /><br />the millions of you...<br /><br />my loyal readers.<br /><br />but let me assure you that there shall be more gratuitous photos of me here on this blog for your viewing pleasure.<br /><br />okay now that all is right with the world again, i would like to share with you a ponderance i had as i was walking back home from the gym today:<br /><br /><blockquote>why is it that regardless of how far we may have gotten from the original traditions of the olympiads, we seem to be getting closer to one of the most obvious: competing naked?</blockquote> <br /><br />i'm sure i'm not the only one who has noticed that the garb that is used in most sporting competitions have gotten shorter and tighter- like really short and really tight. you can see <em>ev-ry-thing</em>! not that i'm complaining.<br /><br />i do find myself enjoying my evenings by watching men in teeny tiny speedos competing in swimming and diving competitions or men in supertight running suits...<em>should we even call them "suits"?</em>...that hug and grab every curve of the male form. actually they are unitards like the ones weightlifters and wrestlers use. still the thing that unifies them in my sullen, dirty, sex-crazed mind, is how much tighter they have become. hm, did i mention that i'm not complaining- just <em>pointing out </em>the obvious. yes! pun intended. <br /><br />so, yikes! i feel like i should be subscribing to one of those adult channels and paying $3.99 a minute to watch the summer olympics; which i would gladly pay, but thank goodness i don't have to. the cable bill at the end of the olympics would be outrageous. yet, again, i'm not complaining- just sayin'...<br /><br />any<em>overexposedwhooooooowheeeeeees,</em> why couldn't the summer olympics be an annual event!?! i can't wait to see how much smaller, shorter, tighter and grabbier the uniforms become in the future.<br /><br />now that last statement, that was complaining. hello!?! the title of this post is after all, "a couple of bones to pick".<br /><br />and speaking of complaining...<br /><br />i don't want to hear anyone gripe about me not posting gratuitous pictures of olympians in their teeny tiny uniforms. what? you think i have all day to just google pictures of more-than-half-naked men? oh, yeah. i do. but that doesn't mean i won't be too distracted to think of sating your personal needs. obviously, i'll be too busy taking care of my own.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /><br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-7570488349803241400?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-26981483262165553082008-08-19T11:42:00.000-07:002008-08-19T13:02:13.425-07:00i just got a hold of the pictures my mom and my little sister took while we were in europe and there are a crap-load. not that the pictures are crap, of course, but there are a bunch.<br /><br />so in the interest, er, i should say, the self-interest of the author of this blog you will all be subjected to his need for adulation and accolades. so please feel free to leave him as many comments as you like about how stunning he looks...really! don't be shy. there will be no limits on the many ways you can stroke his ego.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsVxrjxHbI/AAAAAAAAFjo/wEqtbFv-QX4/s1600-h/012.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; DISPLAY: block; TEXT-ALIGN: center" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236302934998850994" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsVxrjxHbI/AAAAAAAAFjo/wEqtbFv-QX4/s400/012.JPG" /></a> me and my mommy<br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsVx_8YcVI/AAAAAAAAFjw/d9ebmcIgUdY/s1600-h/020.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; DISPLAY: block; TEXT-ALIGN: center" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236302940470800722" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsVx_8YcVI/AAAAAAAAFjw/d9ebmcIgUdY/s400/020.JPG" /> <p align="center"></a></p>me looking surprisingly, er, awkwardly "come hither", especially since it was my mom who took the picture...disturbing!?!<p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsc9UVnmYI/AAAAAAAAFkQ/dAE0r3mSS64/s1600-h/9a07b713.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; DISPLAY: block; TEXT-ALIGN: center" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236310831505316226" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsc9UVnmYI/AAAAAAAAFkQ/dAE0r3mSS64/s400/9a07b713.jpg" /></a></p><p align="center">loreli and i...hehehe, that rhymes! </p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsc9rwWiFI/AAAAAAAAFkY/jx_rj6q4ZVc/s1600-h/db586d39.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; DISPLAY: block; TEXT-ALIGN: center" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236310837791459410" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsc9rwWiFI/AAAAAAAAFkY/jx_rj6q4ZVc/s400/db586d39.jpg" /> <p align="center"></a></p>i'm sure i was giving some brotherly advice regarding chris' impending nuptials at which he inappropriately just laughed out loud. jerk!<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsc-Db7itI/AAAAAAAAFkg/LfEFyH2kBGE/s1600-h/96e95cd3.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; DISPLAY: block; TEXT-ALIGN: center" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236310844148255442" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsc-Db7itI/AAAAAAAAFkg/LfEFyH2kBGE/s400/96e95cd3.jpg" /> <p align="center"></a></p>my lil' sis and i: the wild ones<p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsc-fTzd-I/AAAAAAAAFko/7QufvMZHKbs/s1600-h/b2338330.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; DISPLAY: block; TEXT-ALIGN: center" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236310851630364642" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsc-fTzd-I/AAAAAAAAFko/7QufvMZHKbs/s400/b2338330.jpg" /></a></p><p align="center">a new beginning: me and my dad</p><p align="center"><em>anthony is pleased that my dad is aging well. he hopes i'll do the same. jerk!</em> </p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsc-Xldh3I/AAAAAAAAFkw/CM1HYkOYBwQ/s1600-h/f0475a4b.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; DISPLAY: block; TEXT-ALIGN: center" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236310849556940658" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsc-Xldh3I/AAAAAAAAFkw/CM1HYkOYBwQ/s400/f0475a4b.jpg" /> <p align="center"></a></p>my brother and his husband, er, i mean, best man, florio. <em>hehehe</em><br /><br /><p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsVyE7yuPI/AAAAAAAAFj4/mD6J6nkiNB4/s1600-h/IMG_1156.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; DISPLAY: block; TEXT-ALIGN: center" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236302941810505970" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsVyE7yuPI/AAAAAAAAFj4/mD6J6nkiNB4/s400/IMG_1156.JPG" /></a></p><p>the groom and his groomsmen taking the edge off with a glass of white wine before the ceremony.</p><p><em>if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll see that i was accessorizing my suit with a black and white zebra-striped pony hair belt. sure it clashed with the tie; but see? wild!</em></p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsVyjAH1ZI/AAAAAAAAFkA/kn9j2OHPlTI/s1600-h/IMG_1160.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; DISPLAY: block; TEXT-ALIGN: center" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236302949881730450" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsVyjAH1ZI/AAAAAAAAFkA/kn9j2OHPlTI/s400/IMG_1160.JPG" /> <p align="center"></a></p>eeny-meeny-miney-moe, how many homos are in this picture? the answer is ironic.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsVzOodAoI/AAAAAAAAFkI/WJ4HG3r421E/s1600-h/IMG_1163.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; DISPLAY: block; TEXT-ALIGN: center" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236302961593614978" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKsVzOodAoI/AAAAAAAAFkI/WJ4HG3r421E/s400/IMG_1163.JPG" /> <p align="center"></a></p>looking good...feeing good!<p align="center"><br /></p><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /><br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-2698148326216555308?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-23661143271165653372008-08-18T15:24:00.000-07:002008-08-18T16:53:41.923-07:00so yesterday afternoon i was having a discussion with a friend about turning forty. yes, the dreaded four-zero!?! i only say dreaded because that seems to be the reaction most people have to turning f-o-u-r-z-e-r-o, but i don't see it or feel it. i look at pictures from as recent as my brother's wedding and feel like a stranger would be hard-pressed to look at the wedding entourage pictures and definitively pick me out as being 20+ years older than the rest of the group.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKn3vaOgWeI/AAAAAAAAFjQ/YcFmjdl2gXs/s1600-h/n560463764_1156913_4865.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKn3vaOgWeI/AAAAAAAAFjQ/YcFmjdl2gXs/s400/n560463764_1156913_4865.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235988435660986850" /></a><br /><br />granted we were all dressed up and looking mature which levelled out the playing field, but still; can you tell?...okay, that's rhetorical. well, unless you want to tell me that i don't look a day over 25. okay, i'll take 35, but that's my final offer! <br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKn4aJQPZHI/AAAAAAAAFjY/ORsa9YwXPY8/s1600-h/n560463764_1156920_6593.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKn4aJQPZHI/AAAAAAAAFjY/ORsa9YwXPY8/s400/n560463764_1156920_6593.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235989169839236210" /></a><br /><br />any<em>fathertime</em>, i've been reminded rather frequently over the past few days that i'm no longer a spring chicken...no longer milkable for farmer's cheese. <em>you'll have to read back to one of yestereday's post for that to make sense</em>...because fistfuls of people from my childhood and teenage years have been re-connecting with me through facebook. and each time someone from my past adds me as a friend on their facebook account, it brings back the memories of the days from when i and that person ran around wild and carefree; back to a time when i had no concept of what forty would look like or be like...yikes! ignorance is bliss, now isn't it?<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKoLPNUbbgI/AAAAAAAAFjg/jpmhBHNFwh4/s1600-h/n560463764_1156915_5375.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKoLPNUbbgI/AAAAAAAAFjg/jpmhBHNFwh4/s400/n560463764_1156915_5375.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236009872672910850" /></a><br /><br />so here i am thinking that instead of being depressed about turning forty...<em>which by the way won't happen until may 2009, but mark your calendars now!...</em>i think that i am blessed to still be around and be healthy despite the over-indulgences i am too weak to keep at bay, and that having people remember me from 20 or more years ago is quite a testament to the kind of person i am and the kind of people that have been part of my life. <em>like totally tubular. like gag me with a spoon!</em><br /><br />all i can do is embrace turning forty and all that it entails. at least for now i will.<br /><br />we'll see how i really feel about it next year when the white hairs take my scalp captive...ha! that's taking for granted i still even have any hair by then...or when the joints crack at the mere suggestion of getting out of bed, because these things are already happening to me. i suppose i shouldn't dwell; those are inevitable changes that arrive with time and today, time is still a good friend. i'll just have to be sure to add him to my facebook.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-2366114327116565337?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-68932149162966625372008-08-17T17:29:00.000-07:002008-08-17T17:46:24.536-07:00i haven't been posting a lot of pix of the wedding because i didn't have my camera with me that day. so i am relying on the kindness of others and stealing their photos of the momentus occasion. anyway, this is a nice one of my brother and his blushing bride as we were leaving the church and on our way to consume a number of the dishes that i wrote about in my previous post.<br /><br />anyway, i introduce you to mr. and mrs. christopher mariano, married 08-08-08. lucky 8's; so asian!<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKjCePhEQXI/AAAAAAAAFjI/WT1KmzboqJg/s1600-h/n537399061_1202083_7227.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4M0LiHriaVw/SKjCePhEQXI/AAAAAAAAFjI/WT1KmzboqJg/s400/n537399061_1202083_7227.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235648391635288434" /></a><br /><br /><em>aside:</em> my poor s-i-l is still contemplating how she would like to sign her new name now. she would like to keep her maiden name and hyphen her married name, but trying to write her signature this way the rest of her life would require the use of a carpal tunnel wrist guard and at least ten minutes lead time and real resolve to see the task through to the end.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-6893214916296662537?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-62787997158120380012008-08-17T13:03:00.000-07:002008-08-17T23:34:42.007-07:00okay, so i just might be a bit biased as to how beautiful i claim my physique to be, but we can't all be lithe-bodied anomalies like michael phelps, now can we? although, it does make me a little jealous to know that dara torres is around my age and still kicking twenty-something asses participating in the olympics. but hey i'm doing my part as an olympic spectator. jumping out of my seat and lifting my beer stein multiple times during the swimming events should count as heavy physical activity, no? but i digress...<br /><br />really what has ruined me physically is the sheer number of meals we consumed just in the three days of celebrating my brother's wedding. for the wedding rehearsal dinner, many of the guests believed that the twenty-itemed first course was actually the main course: hand-made breads and pickled fishes and veggies and cheeses and dried meats and endless bottles of wine. it was easy to think that this was more than enough to satisfy the hunger of even the hungriest among us, but that was just the first course. after that came six more topped off with a fresh zabaione for dessert. i wish i could recount what was actually on each plate but my mind is still in shock at seeing so much food in just one sitting. i do know for sure that italians take their food seriously. you would think that each course would be something along the lines of small plate appetizers, but in this case, each course was a normal full-sized portion; actually, i think that most american dieticians would even think them to be double-sized normal portions. but hey, when in rome, do as the romans and eat, eat, eat!<br /><br />so if you've lost count, let me remind you that for the rehearsal dinner, we consumed 7 courses. this number will become important as i count down the number of succeeding meals over the next two days.<br /><br />on the evening of the wedding, the celebratory meal was beyond filling. after many of us had commented to my brother about the number and size of the courses from dinner the previous night, he replied that he had chosen the dinner menu for the wedding reception with the least number of courses because he knew any more than that would have sent us all over the metabolic edge. and still, the menu was huge with only six courses; yes, six courses: pasta, risotto, flambeed whole fish, a crisp green salad, seafood, and even beef wellington. and again, every course a full-sized meal in and of itself. by the time the main course arrived, which was the beef wellington with garden vegetable terrine, we could barely breathe. but we took short breaths in between bites just to get the job done. of course, let's not forget that there a "wedding cake" as well. the cake was really a two-tiered almond cream confection. totally delish! and totally worth the extra fifty pounds gained.<br /><br />anyway, that brings us to 13 meals consumed in just two days and we still had the day-after-the-wedding brunch. when i think of brunch, i think of three, maybe four, light courses. but then that's because i think in american standards. in italian, those are very low standards. <br /><br />to finish off all the wedding-related meals, for brunch, we had six more courses. breads, dried meats and cheeses started our meal. one of the most remarkable things about this opening course was the cheese; the one in particular was a creamy farmer's cheese. now, the only reason i mention this is because i had such a great time entertaining everyone at the table with my version of what farmer's cheese is. no one at the table really knew what farmer's cheese was but someone speculated that it might be made of goat's milk. so i decided to be funny and tell them that it was a mixture of different milks provided by the various animals you would typically find on a farm- chickens being one of them. although they were all incredulous when i made that statement, i managed to convince them that it was true. then like in the scene with ben stiller in <strong>meet the parents</strong>, i showed everyone how chickens are milked with the index finger and thumb. totally hilarious if you can imagine it because everyone thought i was being serious. then a perplexed look came over some of the faces as it dawned on them that they had never noticed nipples on any of the chicken breasts they unwrapped from store-bought packages. hello!?! and from there, the conversation became surreal as we discussed how annoying it would be to be a chicken and have your chicks constantly pecking at your breasts in order to breast feed or what animal milks would make the best flavored farmer's cheese or that whenever any of us saw farmer's cheese at trader joe's that we would always remember that the best farmer's cheese was the one we ate in rome. needless to say, i never had such an entertaining and altogether amusing conversation in my life; well, at least not while completely sober.<br /><br />any<em>chickenmilk</em>, that was just the first course. it was followed with a penne rigatone and gamberi plate. and if any of you know what a penne rigatone is in italian sexual innuendo well then you know where i went with that conversation. hello!?! <em>shrimp</em>? <em>penne rigatone</em>? this dish is traditionally served in celebration of weddings. i suppose i shouldn't have been surprised. at least i wasn't as surprised as everyone else who wasn't as well versed as i am in the italian sexual innuendo.<br /><br />any<em>bloating</em>, there was another course that was served which we found amusement in. i guess that since we were past formalities of dining etiquette and civil table manners, i went full force at ridiculing it. it was a cold rice salad. <em>cold rice salad?</em> this was a totally foreign concept to me as a filipino especially since it looked like fried rice the way a filipino makes it, vienna sausages and all. yes folks, it had slices of vienna sausages mixed in it. the only thing that was missing were the cubes of spam. see? that would have made it a very traditional filipino dish. anyway, that's all beside the point; the real kicker was that the plate itself was warm but the food served on it was refrigerator cool. a very strange combination. because to a filipino, vienna sausages and spam mixed into fried rice is normal but cold rice on a hot plate!? now that's just weird.<br /><br />of course that wasn't the end of ridiculing this dish. because it was too unpalatable to me to consume a cold rice salad...and trust me, i tried to enjoy this dish; i even ate all the vienna sausage bits...the rest just sat on my plate almost untouched. and i say "almost untouched" because by the time the waiter came to clear my plate from the table, i had made a cute little smirking face out of the bits that never made it into my mouth: bell pepper strips for eyebrows, green olive slices for eyes and yellow corn kernels to resemble smokers' teeth. not only did we at the table find this amusing but so did the waiter as he tried not to giggle at the sight of my rice dish.<br /><br />any<em>fatass</em>, despite having mocked another traditional italian wedding dish, three more courses were served. at the end of the brunch we had consumed yet again, six courses. and at the end of three days, we had consumed 19 course- each one a complete meal by itself. so to put it in more health conscious terms, we ate 19 dishes in only three meals. and if you normally eat one full meal a day, we ate enough for NINETEEN DAYS.<br /><br />now you know why my beautiful physique is ruined and why i won't post regularly for at least the next two weeks. i'll be too busy at the gym working it all off.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /><br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-6278799715812038001?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-59561489570861470042008-08-15T16:16:00.000-07:002008-08-15T23:55:18.264-07:00if you all remember, the whole reason for going to rome was to be part of my brother's wedding. of course, the impending nuptials were reason enough for a celebration and having the ceremony in rome was just pure buttercream icing on the cake. but there was so much more that happened during this trip that sweetened the experience for me even more. here, i attempt to capture whatever comes to mind...<br /><br /><br />1. one of the things i never thought i'd see: my parents and their respective significant others having civil conversations especially when we were all seated at the same table for the wedding reception dinner. even though our parents have been divorced for more than two decades and that they both happily re-married, deep-seated resentments and unresolved issues have always managed kept the two of them guarded and steeled- ready to strike, whenever in the presence of one another. <br /><br />2. during the wedding rehearsal dinner and actually during most of time when the entire group of us was together, i got to provide timely comic relief. i'm all for crying at weddings and wedding-related festivities but there were moments that just needed to be tempered with laughter. apparently being an unrepentant smart-ass has it's benefits during high-anxiety situations.<br /><br />one of the more memorable moments was during the rehearsal dinner: my brother was giving a speech where he wanted to thank everyone for making the effort and the sacrifices to be part of this special occasion. and in the process, he also paid respects to those in the family that had passed on and couldn't be part of the festivities. and if you can imagine, things got kinda heavy in the room since the bride-to-be's father and our stepfather were mentioned among those that had passed. the mood in the room had become uncomfortably somber, so when my brother, with tears in his eyes and voice wavering, tried to close his speech with how sharing this moment was beyond priceless, i chimed in with "until you convert it into euros!" and with that bit of witty sarcasm, i got everyone in the room to laugh through their tears. i'm such a good older brother.<br /><br />3. an unexpected benefit of being cloistered in a foreign country with a bunch of people with whom i had varying levels of familiarity is that at the end of it all, everyone becomes as close as family.<br /><br />before going to rome, i knew many of my brother's and my future sis-in-law's friends from gatherings over the decade that they had been dating, but the majority of them i barely knew by sight, let alone by name. so having been drawn together for something as intimate as this small wedding celebration, i really got to know the people my brother and s-i-l felt comfortable enough to share in their wedding plans. i know i came away all the better for letting down my guard and accepting everyone as extended family. i now have more than a handful of younger siblings, a couple of aunts and an uncle who make up my flourishing family garden...<em>obviously, a family tree with this many people would fall over from all the weight</em>...even though i was only expecting to gain a sister.<br /><br />i just hope that i can live up to all their expectations. for some reason i was in constant entertainment mode, making sure no one got bored, well, at least not while i was around. i'm sure they'll have lots of stories to tell everyone about how crazy i am.<br /><br />4. i fell in love once. and only once. it happened in france and was but for a brief moment; okay it was only lust but still, it was altogether fulfilling. i'm easy like that.<br /><br />surprisingly, i thought i would have fallen in lust with more euro-hotties but gay euro-hotties are hard to tell apart from the straight euro-hotties; not that it really mattered if they were gay or straight. but in case it ever came down to approaching a euro-hottie for a lusty tryst, it would be nice to know that i wouldn't be rebuked for making untowardly advances on a straight man. but during my short time amongst the euro-hotties, i discovered that dressing flamboyantly is a european standard amongst all men.<br /><br />imagine my surprise when a good-looking man wearing the gayest bright orange capri shorts with a red, white and yellow floral/abstract print had a wife and two kids in tow. of course a wife and two kids in tow don't guarantee heterosexuality but that just isn't the way the gay men i know typically accessorize. personally, i opt for tight jeans with a big-buckled belt and pointy-toed boots to match. in europe, though, the men don't care to send such obvious signals with their dress code.<br /><br />5. it has been deemed by me along with all of those who witnessed the wedding of my brother to his longtime girlfriend that all their kids be named after saints. since my brother's name is christopher and his wife's name is theresa <em>and</em> they got married in rome, then it only seems appropriate that their offspring be named after the respective patron saint of the day they are born. look at how convenient that is! they'll never have to argue about what their kids will be named.<br /><br />but then again, their first daughter will have to be named theresa. that way there will be three women named theresa mariano who are directlty related: my sister, my sister-in-law and my eventual niece. it will also make it easy for me to play practical jokes between the three of them. fun!<br /><br />6. the only reason the names subject came up is because we had a lot of random conversations. actually, this came about one day while on the metro in rome. i made comments to my brother's best man and his wife that they should name their children after some of the station names: flaminio and ottaviano being major contenders. you see, the two of them have uncommon names. he is named <em>florio</em> and she is named <em>loreli</em>; and to maintain the very filipino tradition of combining the first names of the parents to arrive at the names of the kids, they have decided that their children will be named floreli, lorio, loreflo, rioli and any other combination they can heretofor come up with. how sad for these kids, no?<br /><br />at the end of it all, i suggested that they just randomly grab the scrabble letter tiles and have at it...blank tiles and all, of course. because wouldn't it be the coolest to have "fill in the blank" letters in your name?<br /><br />7. ultimately, not only was there a coming together of two people in matrimonial commitment in rome, there was also a reuniting and reconfirming of familial commitment. thanks to my brother and my s-i-l, i am at total peace with my father. granted, there's never been anything inherently perfect about our relationship, but my dad and i did share a few moments together in rome that came awfully close. and for that, i will always be thankful. i used to worry that something would happen to my father and we would never get the chance to move beyond our issues if not just resolve them once and for all. and although i can't honestly say that we have found resolution to what has kept us apart for so many years, we have at least agreed to leave the past behind us and chosen to live fully in the present. so as it stands now, we are going to be just fine. <br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-5956148957086147004?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-65130686085159887412008-08-15T15:44:00.000-07:002008-08-15T16:05:11.008-07:00i am really quite pleased that after over a year since having opened my facebook account, i am finally seeing its power as a social networking database. just within the past month i have found myself re-connecting with a hug number of friends from my childhood; people i remember from as far back as first grade. it's totally cool! then again, facebook has also been a fun way to stay connected to people whom i met through blogging but in a non-bloggerly way where staying in contact doesn't require a fully written post.<br /><br />any<em>throwathong</em>, i also find facebook amusing because of all the silly applications that are available in which to interact with your friends. sending drinks and designer handbags are all the rage amongst many of my girlfriends. way fun, of course! then there's the application where you can buy and sell or even just give away your friends as property. and god knows that's how i treat them in real-life so why not on the interwebnets too?<br /><br />so that is my short and sweet endorsement for any and all of you to join facebook. i hope to someday be <em>superpoked</em> by each and every one of you. there really is no better way to say, "hello!", when you don't have time to write an e-mail.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-6513068608515988741?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-5714170589084167392008-08-14T12:45:00.000-07:002008-08-14T13:25:35.569-07:001. i totally loved the way "euro" was pronounced in italian: <i>eh-oo-roh</i>.<br />even though it doesn't roll so easily off the american tongue, it still beats our boring pronunciation: <i>you-row</i>.<br /><br />2. it was a bit of a shock to see so many filipinos living and working in rome. my grasp of the filipino language is spiderweb thin, so it made me jealous that these filipinos i would randomly run in to working in shops or on the metro could speak fluent tagalog and italian. i should have taken tagalog in college too.<br /><br />3. although i only got to meet up once with a fellow blogger whose blog some of you also follow (<a href="http://willyorwonthe.blogspot.com/">willy or won't he?</a>), it was a very nice meeting for lunch and a caffefreddo. so lorraine and sageweb, i must tell you that will is a total sweetheart and that his little profile pic does him no justice.<br /><br />4. my next trip to rome will be comprised of nothing more than a tour of all the museums. there are just too many!?!<br /><br />5. i spent a lot more time around the vatican than i ever thought i would. maybe i'm not such a bad catholic after all!? hm, i'm sure that i still am a very bad catholic regardless. <br /><br />6. speaking of bad catholics: there was an unexpected sight while walking just outside the gates of the vatican's swiss guard headquarters. a rather heavy-set woman decided that the weather was too hot but found a natural way to stay cool as she walked the streets. with shaved head and only a backpack for clothing she shocked more than just a few tourists.<br /><br />7. the tiber river was not as nice as the seine. the sight of the tiber's waters made me very wary of walking too close to its edge.<br /><br />8. feragosto festivities were just beginning as we were planning our departure. it looked like fun. our next trip should be scheduled around this holiday. there was actually a french-counterpart to this holiday where "beaches" were created along the seine in celebration of the month of august.<br /><br />9. august is also one of the best times to go shopping in rome. suddenly all the stores are named "saldi" according to the uninitiated since all the store front windows are plastered with the word "saldi" which means "sales". apparently, there are two times within the year that "clearance sales" happen: the end of summer being one of them.<br /><br />10. speaking of shopping: don't fall into the trap of transposing the dollar for the euro. when things cost 5 euro, it's easy to think that you're only spending $5. but that is so not the case. 5 euro equalled about $8.50 at it's highest when we were there. so when you start to think in ten euro and twenty euro quantities, it really is quite expensive. would you ever spend $14 on a salad from mcdonald's? well, you just might in rome if you're not careful.<br /><br />11. always ask for "sconti" when making purchases at the souvenir shops. if the shop owners are in a good mood, you could get a decent discount.<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-571417058908416739?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-76464177434456070932008-08-13T15:39:00.000-07:002008-08-13T18:08:13.306-07:00or more of a nightmare, really.<br /><br />so this is still part of the recounting of my rome trip:<br /><br />for many years, years going as far back to my high school days, i had dreamed of visiting italy. but back when i was 17 or 18, while i was sleeping one night, i had a glimpse into a past life, a life lived and ended somewhere in italy. at first i thought it was just a dream but there was something very different about the whole experience. there was something all too familiar with what i saw unfolding before my eyes; although the people in this vision were from the time period of pirates and unseemly drinking pubs, i knew the italian barwench being chased up the stone tower's steps by a drunken and rapacious not-so-gentle gentleman was, me. and fear was in my eyes as i approached the top of the tower; there was nowhere for me to hide and no way to defend myself. hello?! i was a damsel in distress.<br /><br />anyway, after a bit of cat-and-mouse on the tower, my assailant grabbed me and flung me to the edge of the tower. the exact details of what happened next are fuzzy but i do know that the eventual outcome was of me, the italian barwench, falling to my death; drowning in a turbulent sea hundreds of feet below.<br /><br />so for many years i wondered that if there was ever a time when i would visit italy, would i somehow experience deja vu of this incident.<br /><br />jump to august 9, 2008:<br /><br />the morning after my brother's wedding, a group of us were going to the vatican. everyone else was going to take one of the tours but i, having taken a tour the day before, only went along to drop off the rest of the group. i, instead, was going to check out the shops in the nearby area to finish up my souvenir shopping and then eventually meet up with the group later in the afternoon.<br /><br />at the time i had left the group with the tour guide, the shops were just barely even considering whether to open or not. so i thought that i would be a bit adventurous and hop on the metro and get off at a station that i had chosen simply by jumping my finger back and forth over the map while reciting eeny-meeny-miny-moe. i wanted to explore the areas outside of rome and see how the locals lived. as my finger claimed moe, it turned out that <em>baldo degli ubaldi</em> would be my destination, two more stops away from the vatican. "awesome", i thought to myself as the adrenalin kicked in a bit.<br /><br />while i awaited the adventure that lay ahead of me, i got a little nervous. the nerves then began to play with the two glasses of blood orange juice and the caffelatte i had during breakfast making them suddenly feel heavy in my bladder. i was okay though. i could easily go another 15 to 20 minutes before i would go into panic mode. the last thing i would ever want is to get arrested for public indecency and vandalism of private property while in rome. had i been in san francisco, i would have just whipped it out and relieved myself in some alleyway; no problem. but this was just outside the vatican and i'm sure the pope would look down upon such behavior.<br /><br />anyway, my stop only took a few minutes to get to and to my relief, this particular station had a public restroom. not all of them do, so i lucked out. well, except for the fact that i needed a 50 cent euro piece to use the facility and all i had was a one euro piece, 2 twenty cent pieces and a ten cent piece. theoretically this was more than plenty to pay for the use of the facility, but the door only opened with a 50 cent piece. so i headed back towards the station agents' office which i had passed along the way to the restroom. after a brief conversation with the agent, i found out that he carried no change and that there were no change machines in any station. um, damnit! he did try to be helpful and suggested that i go up to the street level and look for a store or something because there would be one or two open just outside the station. at that point, i'm thinking: <em>don't lose your cool. you'll get to a bathroom and relieve yourself soon enough. </em> but in the back of my head, i'm freaking out a little bit; i don't know where i am and there's no guarantee that i won't just pee myself within the next few minutes.<br /><br />but i was a trooper and i made my way up the escalators to street level. when i finally reached the final step, i found myself in the middle of a fairly steep, sloping street lined with highrise apartment buildings on both sides. at first i thought, "damnit, where is a store to get change at?" so, i took a moment and scanned the area and realized the first level of the buildings were retail establishments. yes!<br /><br />just behind me was a deli. and i was relieved.<br /><br />as i entered the deli, i saw that in the back corner was a restroom. yes! but not wanting to be rude and just make a beeline for the restroom door, i stopped by the drinks fridge and picked up a bottle of acqua minerale frizzante to purchase.<br /><br />while at the counter, i asked the cashier if i could use the restroom. she smiled at me and then sort of nodded her head and shrugged her shoulders followed with a certain look of disappointment and said, "mi dispiace, mai il bagno sta fuori di servizio." huh!?! it took me a second but it finally registered in my head that the bathroom was out of order. okay, no big deal. i'll just make my way back down to the station restroom now that i have change from the purchase of my acqua minerale frizzante.<br /><br />then i looked down into my palm filled with change and realized that there wasn't a fifty cent piece. so i asked the cashier if she could exchange my two twenty and one ten cent pieces for a fifty cent piece. again, she smiled at me and then sort of nodded her head and shrugged her shoulders again followed with a certain look of disappointment and said, "mi dispiace, mai non ci sono pezzi di cinquanta."<br /><br />shit! i was screwed. she had no fifty cent pieces to offer. at that realization, the urge to take a piss grew just that much stronger.<br /><br />so i took my bottle of acqua minerale frizzante and said "grazie" anyway. it wasn't her fault that i had decided to go adventuring in her neighborhood.<br /><br />when i stepped out the door, i took a deep breath and scanned the area once again. just ahead, down the hill a bit, was a newsstand. of course, they had to have fifty cent pieces. i was saved!<br /><br />at first, the cashier seemed a bit perplexed when i asked him to exchange my useless twenty and ten cent pieces for a fifty but he complied. so i gave him a quick, "ho bisogno di occupare il bagno." and ran off for the station entrance. it would be a miracle now if i didn't go home with a nasty wet spot on my jeans smelling like urine with my head bowed down in shame.<br /><br />any<em>peepeedance</em>, after what seemed like an eternity on the escalators taking me back down into the depths of the station, i ran straight to the restrooms as soon as i hit solid ground.<br /><br />it was such a relief to put the fifty cent piece in the slot and have the restroom door open before me. but i did take a second before entering the facility. i was expecting the lights to go on as soon as the door opened, but they didn't. so i took a quick visual snapshot of the inside as it was lit by the flourescents over my head. mentally, i had a made a map of the interior and knew that within a step or two i would be within peeing distance of the toilet. even after the few seconds it took me to make my mental notes, for some reason, the light still hadn't come on. driven by desperation, i was willing to take a chance and risk peeing into the dark even if it all ended up on the floor. i just really had to pee by now.<br /><br />so i stepped into the metal room and immediately got a creepy feeling that this particular unit wasn't functioning properly. the door began to close and the lights still hadn't come on. a sense of dread overcame me. it was now pitch dark and the sounds of mechanical gears began to fill the room. whirrr...whirrr...whirrr. my plans of peeing into the dark had now changed to plans of how to mcgyver my way out of this tin can of a bathroom before i died the most embarassing of deaths: drowning in a public toilet. hello!? i had seen it happen on an episode of <em>csi: new york</em> so it wasn't totally impossible.<br /><br />then after about ten of the longest seconds i have ever lived through, the lights came on. somewhat relieved but still completely freaked out, i undid my jeans and peed as quickly as possible. there was still no way to know whether this would be how i spent the last few moments of my life. all i could think was that no one knew where i was and that it could be days before anyone in my group of family and friends would be contacted by authorities telling them of my untimely demise. this was so not the way the tragedy of my previous life was going to manifest itself in my current reincarnation.<br /><br />so as soon as i was done, i decided to forgo spending any more time in this metal sarcophagus and hit the button labeled "uscita", or exit, not even worrying about washing my hands. i know. ewwww! but it was a matter of life and death at that point and i wanted to live.<br /><br />i had already drowned once in italy in a previous life, but this time my fate would be different. <br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-7646417743445607093?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-76859083523564021742008-08-13T14:22:00.000-07:002008-08-13T15:38:16.759-07:00so there is just so much stuff that happened in the week while i was abroad. it was a whirlwind of sights and sounds jam packed into as many hours as i could stay awake...and let's just say i got very little sleep. therefore, i'm still a bit foggy about everything we saw and did and am trying to make organized sense of it all. i think to begin i will just give my first impression of rome and of paris since we did see them on the same day we arrived. yes, as soon as we arrived in rome, we had a few hours to sightsee before we headed back to the airport and got on a commuter flight headed for paris. see? jam-packed from the very get-go...<br /><br />but before i get to my first impression of paris, i will tell you that rome is a city of competitive drivers. really competitive drivers. and i know what i'm talking about because i have been to countries where rules of driving are merely a concept which the everyman has no time to wrap his head around. driving is all instinct and intuition: the law of survival of the fittest. laws of civility be damned! so specifically for roman drivers, the streets were nothing more than racetracks and the drivers were all competing for either team lamborghini or team ferrari despite the type of vehicle they were driving: mopeds, smart cars, buses, taxis. i loved it! although there were moments when my life flashed before my eyes, our drivers always managed to get us from point <em>a</em> to point <em>b</em> before i ever saw my demise. there was nothing that made me feel more alive.<br /><br />as for the city itself, it was everything i ever imagined it to be- old. very old. after innumerable hours of studying and memorizing many of the historic landmarks and their relevance to architectural history years ago as an architecture major, rome didn't disappoint. it was really overwhelming actually- too much to see in too little time.<br /><br /><br />now talking about too much too see in too little time...paris! by the time we arrived in paris, it was fairly late: 11:30 p.m. theoretically, 11:30 isn't that late but by the time we solved our hotel room fiasco...yes, there was drama as soon as we drove up to our hotel, but i'll save that for a different post...it was about 2:30 in the morning when we finally had dinner and were able to go to bed. for some reason, the idea that parisians had a strong dislike for americans started playing in my head. any<em>foreboding</em>, with breakfast at 7:00 a.m. looming in just a few short hours, and a full day of sightseeing ahead, i worried that it was a tragic mistake to have planned to spend just one day in paris, but we wanted to get as much of the european experience as we could before my brother's wedding activities. there was even the brief thought that we could squeeze in a visit to london if we really tried. hello?! stupid americans. <br /><br />anyway, despite the inauspicious beginnings of our time in paris we did actually get to see quite a bit. all i kept thinking was: i wish i had my video camera; still pictures only captured the surface. paris is a city of many visual layers, a city where the beauty is in the details. <br /><br /><br />hmm, oh yeah, speaking of details, i did also have another impression of rome that didn't make itself obvious until a few days later: cobblestone streets SUCK! i did most of my exploring of rome on foot and my feet were in revolt every night as i tried to get comfortable for bed. anyone want to give me a foot massage?<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-7685908352356402174?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-38559631777398374592008-07-31T14:43:00.000-07:002008-07-31T18:55:15.963-07:00well, <em>hahaha</em> on me! my last post was about how quiet the house seemed to be. and for the most part it was. but just over these past few days the house has really started to feel like an international layover hub for the jet set. <em>please be sure to verify your arrival/departure times at least 72 hours in advance for any and all international travel destinations.</em><br /><br />while i myself have been preparing my luggage for my impending trip to rome...<em>of course i've actually been preparing my luggage for the past three weeks or so: putting outfits together and then changing my mind later just to come back the next day and decide i should leave well enough alone but still try a few more outfitting choices only to <em>massage. rinse. repeat.</em> the whole process again. but admitting that to the general reading public would make me sound totally anal retentive and somewhat o.c.d. according to anthony; and i wouldn't want any of you to think that of me, now would i?...</em>er, oh yeah, so while i have been preparing for my trip, there have been a host of other travel-related issues to deal with or work around that have nothing to do with our rome trip. at least not directly. thanks to my mom and her penchant for aligning people and activities via itineraries, we had been short-listed accommodate a visiting relative on her behalf since it would be two days before my mom would be arriving and able to take over hosting duties. more details of this to come.<br /><br />so, since monday, anthony and i had been helping our friend/roommate stelios tie up some loose ends as he himself prepared to see his wife and kids finally after having spent most of the summer apart since their move. but after a raiding of anthony's closet for lightweight summerwear tuesday night, we were able to send stelios off yesterday to his family looking calm, cool and collected; ready for his brief two weeks in france before having to return to the daily grind of work here at his current job.<br /><br />that of course can't be all to the story...so on tuesday night we also took in my mom's cousin who is visiting from japan. although, she and my mom were very close as children, there was never a time in my life that i can remember where i got to enjoy my aunt's company. apparently the last time she saw me was when i was just over a year old. i'm thirty-nine now; so it doesn't take a math genius to figure out that it's been a <em>few</em> years. any<em>bygoneera</em>, it has been great to play host to her, as anthony and i found her to be very much like my own mother, even in appearance, but without all the quirkiness that sometimes makes my mother a handful to deal with. thank you god!...<em>anthony says she's just like my mom but only nicer. ironically, my mom agreed with him when he told her that over the phone. my mom and anthony have a "special" connection. it's even more entertaining when you see them interact live and in-person. hehehe</em><br /><br />so yesterday was amusing in the fact that as we left stelios off at the airport like a shuttle service, we then had to change our figurative hats and take on the responsibility of playing tour guides giving my aunt a personal tour of the bay area and san francisco. as we pointed out the landmarks and scenery, we explained to her their significance geographically, historically and personally. in basically a few short hours, we covered years and years of anything and everything that should somehow bear importance to a visiting relative who has had no physical point of reference to which to tie down the many details of our life stories that, previously, she could only imagine...<em>by the by, if you ever plan on sightseeing san francisco in the summer, be prepared for heavy fog everywhere that's supposed to have spectacular views despite how sunny and warm the rest of the bay area happens to be. my aunt now has many pictures of fog; historic monuments, landmarks and scenic vistas be damned! at least she got to experience san francisco just the way the natives do.</em><br /><br />any<em>familytree</em>, we made the best of our excursion and ended the day by having dinner at our favorite cafe in the castro with my brother and his future wife. we had a superfantastic time making a colorful first impression on our aunt. having never shared in the dra-medy that is our lives, we took advantage of the situation by sharing every anecdote we could recount to our aunt of our lives with our mother. we easily managed to laugh away almost four hours of dinner conversation; shedding new light from our perspective on the personality our aunt never gets to see of our mother. *f-ing hilarious stuff. we'll probably be disowned. but this stuff was just too funny not to share with our aunt. actually, we even traumatized my future sister-in-law a bit. even though she and my brother have been together for almost ten years, there were stories that only anthony could recount with an unbiased voice as an in-law, a "familiar outsider", of how mother can let her quirks get the best of her. and us. the best of all this as it pertains to the days ahead is how mother has to have an itinerary, especially when she travels. <br /><br />my future sister-in-law has only recently been privileged to experience what it's really like to have a mother-in-law who lives her life off of an itinerary. sure, she has been around for family functions where mom has had a schedule that everyone was to follow, but most of those were more relaxed and had no lasting consequences should the schedule have veered from its course; but all that changes when mother is in travel mode. god forbid that anyone should oversleep while on her watch: tours are booked weeks in advance with breakfast, lunch, dinner and even snack times limited to minutes and sometimes even seconds just so that her valuable free time to shop and sightsee can be micro-managed. any changes to her itinerary must be written and turned in for approval at least, AT LEAST, twenty-four hours in advance or else. the repercussions of falling behind or making spontaneous changes shall be evidenced by emotional bloodshed and tears. seriously. anthony has fallen victim on more than one ocassion and can attest to the fact that it can sometimes take a year for the wounds to heal...<em>my mom? <em>type a</em> personality? control freak, you say? yeah, just slightly</em>...so my future s-i-l let out a nervous laugh as it sunk in that mother has plans for all of us while in rome...<em>slacker beware! best to keep more than one piece of time-keeping appartus on your person at all times: one showing the local time zone in military and one showing the home time zone in standard; lest there be any confusion over what time you are supposed to be somewhere. no joke.</em><br /><br />as for our aunt, she just scoffed at the idea that our mother would ever act this way. the person we were describing bore no resemblance to the woman my aunt remembered while growing up. so of course, fate stepped in to help confirm what we were saying; right at that moment my brother's cell phone rang. it was mother. she was checking in on us to make sure we were all on her schedule. so to prove our point, we signaled to my brother to pretend that he had no idea what was happening; according to him, anthony and i had yet to call him and make sure that our aunt would be arriving to his place to stay the night. that was where mother and our aunt would rendevous tonight when her flight arrived from canada. at first it was all fun and games on our end, but then after just a few seconds and a couple of <em>uh-huhs</em>, my brother's tone took a turn for the serious. he heard <em>the tone</em> in her voice and quickly back-peddled to assure mother that we were all together having dinner-that everything was under control even though we had deviated from her itinerary without prior approval...<em>may i have your confirmation number, please?</em>...then after a few more <em>uh-huhs</em> and <em>yes, moms</em> he turned the phone over to our aunt so our mother would have verbal confirmation that he was speaking the truth. when mother was assured that everything was fine, she hung up. we then quickly got back to the business of laughing about what had just happened. but, in just minutes, when we thought we were in the clear, i got a text on my cell phone from mother telling me to check my e-mail as soon as i got home: <strong>she had just sent me a revised version of an itinerary</strong>.<br /><br />only then did our aunt and my future s-i-l understand what we were <em>joking seriously </em>about.<br /><br /><em>roman holiday here we come!</em><br /><br />good thing we'll be close to the vatican. it's somewhat reassuring that the pope and god are close at hand.<br /><br />hehehe<br /><br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-3855963177739837459?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-50657115291784012482008-07-15T18:35:00.000-07:002008-07-15T19:06:01.187-07:00it's been so quiet around the house today, even our dogs have been so blissfully unaware of all the usual things that they love to bark and growl at. the mailman got away with nary a peep.<br /><br />usually we have andrew and his friends around but we shipped him off yesterday to spend a few weeks with his dad in el salvador. and for the past two weeks or so we have had our friend stelios staying with us. he's our roommate (as we like to joke) while he takes care of some loose ends here before he makes the final move to join claire and the kids in france. but he's been away on a business trip since sunday.<br /><br />so it's been almost surreal that i haven't been annoyed by andrew's obnoxious conversations with people he plays his xbox games with. he tends to swear unquietly like he has tourettes . but then again, that's just part of his charm.<br /><br />but at least tonight stelios returns and we'll go back to smoking like chimneys as we watch totally mindless late night movies on cable. very dorm daze, no? just this time, there shall be no *ahem* funny cigarettes involved. just some greek ones that stelios brought back from one of his trips back home called <i>assos</i>, which we have of course promptly renamed <i>assholes</i>. totally dorm daze!<br /><br />so feel free to join in the fun and make all the jokes you can about <i>smoking assholes</i>. you know we are!<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /><br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-5065711529178401248?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-564771147124354640.post-84343823550721898052008-07-14T22:42:00.000-07:002008-07-14T23:18:49.628-07:00i'm just glad it's not mine. <br /><br />i love my brother and my sister-in-law-to-be and have to give them a lot of credit for the incredible stresses they are willing to subject themselves to just to get married. of course the idea of getting married in rome is completely...dare i say it?...romantic! but the fortitude one must have to leave so much of the wedding preparations to the hands of someone you won't meet until basically just hours before the big event because they are thousands of miles away is nothing less than incredible.<br /><br />after having to deal with a truly miniscule part of their wedding process i think despite all my talk of having a grand affair to celebrate our union, anthony and i are going to elope instead. and trust me, from our business experience, i know what it takes to put together a wedding here, locally. now take all that and translate it into a different language and culture and, well, that's enough to make me crap my pants.<br /><br />anyway, i am the only one in the family who had learned any practical italian and i can only hope that although it's been a decade since my last real conversation in italian, i can still use it to some advantage. right now it gets mangled with french and spanish, which i suppose is still understandable since they're all romance languages, right? then again, i don't want to <i>parle</i> when i should <i>parlo</i> instead.<br /><br />hm, maybe, i'll pick up an italian phrase book just in case. <br /><br /><br /><blockquote><b>but before you leave, let me remind you...</b><br /><br />“Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.”<br /> <br />-unknown</blockquote><br /><a href="http://gaycampguide.blogspot.com/">visit GAY CAMP</a><br /><a href="http://gayvilleannex.blogspot.com/">visit GAYVILLE</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/564771147124354640-8434382355072189805?l=ink2metal.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>danny/ink2metalnoreply@blogger.com7