Whoa. I cannot believe another Christmas is past. Amazing. The year flew by, didn’t it? This has got to be the best holiday season since we moved to San Diego. First of all, my new Store Manager let us managers have our 2 days off per week! Usually we got only one. Of course we worked every weekend, but our days off we together when possible. So for the first 3 weeks I was off Monday and Tuesday! Soooo nice. It was like a weekend off. So for the entire month I didn’t get that overwhelming exhaustion. Sure I got tired. I am tired. It is a crazy time! But I am not *exhausted*. There’s a difference.

Christmas eve was a failure. We didn’t really plan for ourselves and the house wasn’t stocked, cleaned, or ready for us to have a “relaxing holiday”. It was chaotic and annoying. All things that could go wrong did, right down to the cat knocking my dinner onto the floor. We did watch Julie & Julia though. And that was a good movie, so I guess that’s the silver lining. Christmas itself was a total win. We slept in late, “irished up” our coffee, did some chores around the house, and then got dressed and headed out the door. Our neighbors happened to be outside about to ring our bell to drop off cookies!! Awesome having friendly-normal neighbors! After a brief chat we parted ways. We were off to C Level (my idea!) for a relaxing cocktail and amazing views. It was such a clear beautiful day, and the folks working there all in festive moods. It was nice. After that we were off to Sheila’s for a bacon feast! She had a turkey-ham thing, twice baked potatos (with bacon, bacon cream dip, bacon wrapped chick and dates, and more… Not to mention the amazing Dessert Table. After we all had eaten our fill the 8 of us there headed into the living room to play games. I am not sure what the first one was, but we also played Taboo. I love Taboo. It is always a laugh riot! We topped off the holiday with a trip out to the Gayborhood to meet up with some of our favorite local tweets on Twitter. So much fun! I even went to a bar named after a body part. Which was a big deal for me. It was a place that always made me say “ew”. Well, now I’ve been, and I didn’t die. It was a good time actually!

Anyhoo, that’s my holday. Now time to get ready to go back to work. One more week of crazy to go!

tagged: work christmas twitter holiday neighbors cat bacon

daniel · lunch time · say it · ping it

So I decided this year I’d do the Wreath Auction at Martini’s Above Fourth as damage control. You see, last year Richard went solo, with friends, and actually bought a wreath. For a lot of money. Like a lot. The wreath, while pretty, matches NONE of our existing holiday decor. It was very expensive. OMG I HATE IT!!!

So, anyhoo. This year we went together. It was fun. There were the muscle boys in sleep bottoms, sans shirts, AKA Wreath Models. The wreaths were.. interesting. There was lots of booze. But I gotta say, after hearing about last year, I was disappointed. First and for-most, the wreath models were being abused by this snatch-y queen in an untucked dress shirt and tie. Gross. She was also abusive to the guests. Secondly the wreaths, while impressive, were nothing like the one Richard bought last year that I love to hate. In fact there was only one that compared, and the price immediately soared out of reach, yet 90 percent of them went for chump change!

I was amazed tho, as to the holiday spirit we encountered. There was a man sitting close-by. He was bidding on everything. He had already won a lot of wreaths. He gave our friend 100 dollars to put towards her wreaths if she won any. She didn’t, but the thought behind it meant a lot. Richard bought him a drink or two.

Later we were famished and ditched the auction and went to Urban Mo’s for real food. It was too much fun and after too many drinks, a 7 ft. tall drag queen, and meeting some gay neighbors from a block away, we called it a night. Good night moon!

tagged: richard gay holiday neighbors booze sleep night money friends boys

daniel · the wee hours · say it · ping it

So if you have ever been to our house you have heard stories of Bad Neighbor Kitty. We aren’t quite sure where he lives. He torments our cats by hanging out outside the windows. He torments us by peeing in our yard and knocking stuff over. He torments the neighborhood by sitting in the road and yowling for no reason. It’s a hoot. In that really annoying way. Anyhoo, the other day he caught a bird. One of the birds that lived in our backyard all spring. He saw me pull up and darted into the bushes. The bird just seemed to have bent feathers. I figured he’d be okay, not realizing that it couldn’t fly well, since it managed to fly into our backyard. Well apparently he has been grounded since. Because Richard was out with our cat Coco, who found the bird in the bushes and tried to bring it in the house. Yes, I said he tried to bring it into the house. Ew. So it turns out that Bad Neighbor Kitty has been toying with the mangled bird for the last 2 days because I have heard him yowling in the backyard in the night, and the little bird was clearly much worse off and bleeding.

What do we do? Clearly it’s nature (kinda) taking course. The little bird is at this point in the neighbor’s yard (Richard tried to move him and he managed to fly that far). I don’t think he’s long for this world, and I can hear Bad Neighbor Kitty close by… Yowling.

tagged: richard neighbors cat cats night house backyard birds coco bad neighbor kitty

daniel · early evening · say it · ping it

My alarm went off at three. I am up, having coffee, and generally getting ready for work. I went to bed at 9 so it’s not so bad.

Across the street they had a party that is still going on. I can see them across the way…

I hate that. Not that I’d be partying if I were off today. I’d still be asleep. Heh.

tagged: work neighbors party three am

daniel · terribly early · 3 comments · ping it

So you all know how I bitch endlessly about the little neighbor girls across the way? Well they’ve actually been really super quiet and well behaved lately. Surprisingly so, in fact. Their landlord must have really let them have it after the last incident with the barfing girl at 4 AM.

Anyhoo. This morning afternoon I was getting ready for work when I heard some loud machinery. I looked out to see a woman loading their car onto a tow truck. Looked to be a flat tire. But as I watched the tow woman load it, I saw there was little tire left. It was only torn edges and rim. They had driven the tire right off. You could tell. How did I not hear that pulling in last night? 

tagged: neighbors flat tire nosey me tow truck rim

daniel · early afternoon · 1 comment · ping it

Remember those loud sorority girls across the street? Yeah, the loud ones with the poor parking skills… The ones that stayed out all night at bars and/or clubs only to come home really wasted and loud waking the whole block? Well apparently the dress like a skank ass ho and hang out at the sidewalk sale out side the club till 4 AM thing totally worked for them. They have a whole new gig now! The plus side is that they don’t come home at 4 in the morning totally drunk and loud. I mean, it is good to look at the bright side, right?

Some damn bright side… It’s because now they never leave the house. It seems in the many weeks of late night clubbing 2 out of the three have landed themselves some mens! Ooh er! So now they stay in and drink all night and get loud with their boyfriends. This morning, after a sleepless night due to their noise Richard got up at 5 for work. While he was getting ready he noticed that the last light across the way was finally shut off as our very popular neighbor gals ‘called it a night’. Woo! They are busy!

Anyhoo, I think tonight there may be some kind of gathering. It sounds like a party, but mostly guys. Did the new BF’s have their BFFs over to meet the gals? I think there is still one without a man of her own. Maybe they are trying to pimp her out introduce her around. On a Wednesday too. Wow, it sounds like a lot of people! (Where did they all park? /parking police)

Dude, it sounds like I totally have been spying! Dirt! I haven’t, I SWEAR! It’s just that it IS summer, windows are open, and they are THAT LOUD. It’s not like I am sitting at the window with binoculars… Besides, they shut the blinds. I didn’t think they knew how. Maybe there is some drug use happening too. How glam of them!

tagged: neighbors party loud drunk boys pimp gals glam

daniel · late at night · 1 comment · ping it

So I go outside to look at the sky. It was 2 AM after all. Just the right time, right? So I am looking blankly at the sky when the neighbors in the next house over drive up. As they are unloading themselves I can tell they are really drunk. Like really drunk, even though no english is spoken. The two guys are all dressed up, and there was a girl that I had not seen before. She was dressed in a very tight black mini-dress. When I say mini I mean mini. Now I ain’t one for spying, so as loud as they were I tried to focus on my night sky. I got my own issues yo.

After a few minutes they got louder and I just couldn’t ignore them. The gal had apparently gone out back. One of the guys had followed. They were arguing in some english and some other language combo. I got the impression that he thought she was gonna be fun, and she wasn’t feeling so fun. Anyhoo. It got quiet after that. Since I wasn’t seeing so much as a spark in the sky, let alone a meteor, I went into the house. I went back up to the den and sat at the computer. It was a few minutes later that I heard the screams through the open window behind me. At least I thought they were screams. They were coming from the same house. The next one over. But I wasn’t sure what I was actually hearing. All of a sudden the music started. It was so loud as to be all distorted by the speakers. I went upstairs to look out a window with a better view of that house. The blinds were drawn, but there were camera flashes. Weird.

It has quieted down now, but there is still a lot of banging and loud voices. Are they just kinky or is someone being injured? I just can’t tell. It’s not even loud enough to make a noise complaint at this point. Maybe it is my imagination. It has been a really bad night for me. Not to mention my sore foot…

Haha, now the sorority gals are home. This ought to be a fun night!

tagged: neighbors weird loud kinky screams meteors sorority gals

daniel · the wee hours · 2 comments · ping it

...was amazing. Well, maybe not amazing. It was outstandingly good as well as unique. You see, our neighbors (not the well endowed drug dealer or the asian sorority girls, but the ones behind us that are quite a normal couple) had invited us over for dinner last week. Of course after that we didn’t see them at all. When Tuesday finally rolled around I was convinced that they weren’t home. Top it off with the fact that they hadn’t been out with their dog ALL DAY. I was positive that we were stood up. I didn’t even want to go knock on the door! How embarrassing, to be standing on the stoop with a bottle of wine and get no answer… But I was wrong. Not only were they home, they were dressed all cute and stuff. We were in shorts. Mine were cutoffs. AND they had invited their other gay neighbor. He was dressed well too. I could vex about my poor outfit all night. I thought they weren’t home!! Anyway, so there we were: 3 gays and a straight couple. Believe it or not the conversation flowed easily! It turns out that only Richard and I were ‘new additions’. They had been neighbors with the other guy for a while and had socialized pretty regularly. The dinner was a Raclette style. It’s almost like a fondue, but a grill. You cook your meats, veggies, and cheese on it at the table. Too fun.

And they poured a bit of wine too. No glass was ever dry. My neighbors totally got us drunk. LOL! Actually I think everyone was a bit toasty… But no one was driving and the company was great. Good times!

It did leave me and my boo a bit of a wreck today. We were too tired and moody to do the group SYTYCD viewing. I feel bad about that. But yo. I think I had a hangover. I never get hung over. Heh. The funny part is that my message to Fred was that the neighbors had us up late. True, but not the neighbors I am sure he is thinking of…

tagged: neighbors sytycd hangover meat dog outfits raclette

daniel · late at night · 3 comments · ping it

You should hear these new bitches across the street try to take their trash to the curb for pick up. OMG.

tagged: neighbors loud noise bitches

daniel · the wee hours · 2 comments · ping it

I saw it coming for an hour. The neighbor right next door (not the sorority girls, the ex-football player) had some guests over. Two of the cars were parked in front of our house, one of which was actually in front of the driveway. You just have to imagine where we live. It’s not really a street, but a common driveway that all the houses share. Any miss-parked car is in the way… Anyway, when Richard finally got home he could not get into the garage without driving through the landscaping. Of course he was bitter. I expected that. I did not expect him to lay on his horn and start shouting. The ‘girlfriend’ of the week came out and apologized. She was going to move her car, but Richard sorta laid into her about respect and rules and police and stuff. (Well, we think it was her drunk ass coming over that woke us up at two in the morning!) She went in and got the ex-football player. My heart stopped as I stood at the window listening. I know. I am a wimp. So the man doesn’t actually come out (phew!) but he stood on his balcony and shouted down at my Richard. He started arguing with Richard about the security guards and how they told him it was us reporting him. That really bugs me. Those idiots should NOT share that information. That puts people at risk. As in WE people. The shouting outside continued. They got into respect, rules, contradictions, oil stains, property values, music at noon (?), and other crap until Richard finally came inside.

What a mess. I hate neighbor drama. Nobody wins. Now I am all nervous and stressed out about what the repercussions will be. I mean the man is huge, for one. Also I have found that angry neighbors just get louder and more obnoxious. What ever happened to the good old days. Remember? The days your grandparents would speak of? Back when you used to be able to run next-door and borrow a cup of sugar, use the phone, or get your ball out of their backyard? Nowadays it’s every man for himself. None of our neighbors speak to us or each other, other than to bicker about parking, just like it was when I was growing up. I have been more stressed and irritated by neighbors in my life than any other group of people. That just seems wrong. What if there was an earthquake and one of us was without water? Would we just continue to ignore each other or fight?

What a sad existence. I think I finally understand people that live on enormous farms with no neighbors for miles.

tagged: neighbors noise neighborhood drugs parking trouble new people condos assholes ex-football players

daniel · early evening · 6 comments · ping it