How is life? Mine, well, pretty good actually. My parents just left Saturday after a fun 7 day visit. Yes, I did say fun. My parents are young for my age as well as young for their ages (it makes sense, think about it). So we were on the go every day. I woke up early, well early for me, every day and took them on an adventure!
Saturday, after fetching them from the San Diego Airport we stopped off at C Level to toast their arrival and enjoy the view. Sunday we headed off to Old Town, where to my surprise there was an Art Festival! We looked at everything. After we were done there, Mom insisted on a trip to the Swap Meet. Ew… we capped off the day with dinner at the Turf Supper Club. Awesome place! What better way to follow up a meal in a dive than a trip to the shishy-est sky bar Altitude?? Monday was all about rest and a home cooked (by me!) meal. Tuesday we did the Geocaching with dad, since it was Richard’s day off. Plus, we wanted to try it with our iPhones. It works! So now we have a log in at the site and 7 caches under our belt. LOL. Obviously Mom had other plans, and was off for a Shopping Day with one of our friends. Later we de-parented at the big SDTweet-Up (#sdtweetup). That was, as always an amazing time! Wednesday my folks and I were off to Temecula Valley Wine Country for a day of tasting and scenery. Fantastic! Thursday was more Geocaching around town. That Geocaching is a great way to see some great sights you wouldn’t otherwise… That night I was pooped so Dad manned the grill and we dined out on the patio at home. Friday was when I finally had to sleep in! Well, till 9:30.. we lazed at the house till Richard got home. He had ditched work early so we shopped and hit up Bing Crosby’s Piano Lounge until it was time for the crowning jewel of the visit: dinner at Kous Kous. My folks got to eat well (very well! you MUST go to Kous Kous!) and meet up with our friends and generally have a great night out. Although we had drinks first at Martinis Above 4th, where the owner stressed me out when he KISSED Richard hello in front of my father. That’s when my father realized we had taken him to a GAY bar. OMG OMG OMG. He never would have known otherwise… Oh well. No harm was done. All was erased by the amazing food at Kous Kous!
As for Saturday… Well that was for packing and the Airport. Buh-bye!
I have to say. Day 2 of The Parental Visit was great. We were out early, and the plan was to hit Old Town. Tourist-y right? So we get there after a trip to Starbucks (of course) and we find that most of the streets are closed. Why? WTH? It turns out there was an Art Show. Eeeeeew! But Mom was excited. So we looked for parking, and after a bit of drama we find a spot right in front. Rock Star parking! So things were looking up. We did the festival as well as many, if not all shops in Old Town. THen it was off to the… Swap Meet? Really? Well, Mom was looking for this specific type of Mexican ceramics and she heard thru the buzz at the festival that the Swap Meet was a good place to look.
Now Richard has been trying to get me to the Swap Meet for like three years. I have always refused. Ew. I mean, really? shopping amongst other peoples crap? We have a garage full of our own crap, for cry-eye! But it is my mother after all so off we went.
It was the single most depressing thing I have ever seen. It was mostly just what I thought. Trash spread out on pavement for sale. Hrm. Luckily at that point my foot started bleeding from my Lesbian Sandals so we had to cut our “shopping” (ew) short. It was back home for a quick lunce then off to the mall! Where Richard and I retreated to Bing Crosby’s for a drink while Mom got a new handbag. Well Mom is a power shopper and in just twenty minutes she had bought at 4 stores!! Go Mom!! At least she did manage to accomplish the handbag goal as well. Phew! Back home for a wardrobe change and we were all off to dinner.
My plan was risky. A place we never heard of before, that was suggested by a bartender and was well liked on Yelp. The Turf Supper Club. A dive of a place. Grill your own and in a weird neighborhood. It was a hit! Read my review here... We followed that with some relaxation and cocktails at Altitude. It was a perfect low-key night. Pictures on Flickr soon…
Now as for the rest of the week the parents are here, help??
OMG. My parents will be here in San Diego, IN my house in just a few hours.
I think I am ready. Well, kinda ready. I mean, I put fresh sheets on the guest bed, cleaned, polished, scrubbed, vacuumed, and otherwise freshened the entire house. Richard trimmed the backyard to tropical perfection. The house is as ready as it will ever be. But… Am I?
I haven’t seen my parents in a year and a half. We get along great. I miss them a lot. However, there is always that nagging feeling that I will be judged. I hate that feeling. Last time they both told me I was fat. Nice, right? Well I have lost a few pounds, so maybe that won’t come up. Hopefully they won’t think we spent to much money in the nearly 3 years since they’ve been out. Hopefully my mother won’t be critical of our friends. Meh. It’s all probably a non-issue. They really are good people. But these are the things in my head. It’s my parents. They give me stress, That’s normal right?
Speaking of all my friends, I met them all through this blog that my parents know nothing about. How the hell do I juggle the conversations if I introduce them to people? As soon as I turn my back Mom will ask “So how do you know Dan and Richard?”. So?? What do I do? Ask all my friends to lie? Really?
So anyhoo, What has been new here? Well other than being “All Pirate, All Day”? Well, I’ll tell ya. Not much. Between working all those weekends in a row, Richard’s birthday, and getting ready for my parents (who arrive Saturday) I am a busy and tired boy! You never realize how much time you spend at work until you try to have a life outside of work. This November and December will be the toughest yet, for that very reason. I will want to spend lots of time with my peeps, but will be working more than ever! *sigh*
So what do we think of fall decor. I have a few changes that I make around the house every fall. It’s a tiny bit early, but I think it will be fun for my mom to see it all *fall-ish* around here. I don’t think they do fall in Florida. At least not well anyways… LOL. So what? Do I put it out for mom or what?? Who knows… Tell me with a comment?
In fact, where did summer go? I mean srsly? It’s already Back to School! (I capitalize it, because in my industry it’s more than period of time, it’s an event.) I have to say tho, I have been having a blast. Every weekend off Richard and I have had places to go, things to do, and met new folks all along the way. It has been the Summer of Twitter, as we have made a few Twitter friends into real friends. That’s always odd at first. Going from contacting someone online thru Twitter, to actually dialing them up on the phone and getting together for drinks or meals. Heh. I love Twitter. Anyhoo, I think my summer is coming to a bit of an early close, as my work schedule has me booked the next three weekends. I don’t socialize much on my working weekends because the hours are just to extreme, what with the 5 and 7 AM starts or the late closing shifts. After the 3 weeks of work my parents arrive. 7 days of tour guide. Wee! Then we are already into October. Bam. holiday. 2 months of loooong work days, few days off… Another year passes.
Do you see why I am always tense? The passing of time is so cruel for us career retail people! Gawd I am stressed out now. Heh.
Did you see that? Did a tumbleweed just blow through? Can’t be. It’s winter! Even here in San Diego! But I do have to admit, it has been quiet in this place. I swear, every time I sit down to chat with you all, or type something interesting I just find that I am too tired. Tired and burnt out. To tell you the truth, no matter how ‘easy’ I claim my December to be, it is always the same as far as mental burnout. Something about the holidays, or winter, or my birthday. Something about the whole thing just makes me tired. Plus I hate this month.
Anyhoo. So yeah. Hi! I missed you all. I am sorry for all the link-tastic content. And the You Tubes. How has your December been? Really, I want to know. Does it kinda suck for the non-retail folk too? It has to. I mean unless you are independently wealthy with a staff of your own, I cannot imagine December to be one of the ‘fun’ months. Like July. I love July! It has to be my favorite! And I don’t even like the heat so much! Well, I like it better than I did. Something about a convertible in San Diego made me see the light on that one. So what else? Why was I here up in your face for today? *thinks* .. Hrm. I dunno. I really don’t have a lot to talk about since I am like 90 percent at work lately. I could tell you stories about that but I think we all know the gist of what goes on… selfish, self-important, slobbish, rude, messy.. you know. You see it when you shop!
So, did you know it’s my birthday tomorrow? Srsly. In like 15 minutes I will have aged one more year, officially. I hate that shit. Oddly enough, this year I had to go in to the DMV for the license renewal bit. New picture and prints, right? Well I went thru the whole procedure. I followed all the steps correctly. What did I get in the mail today? My new Driver License. I look like a bloated lesbian. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But still. Talk aboot fugly. I am contemplating pretending I never got it for a re-take photo. I am quite sure I do not look like that. And I think the photo is too cropped. You cannot even see my hawt new Levi’s. I look good in those!
But enough about that. I was talking about my birthday. It’s tomorrow. But at work they got it into their head to do a singing thing today. Why? I do not know. It was clearly last minute. I don’t eat cake. They got nachos. Would have been fine, but they got beef on them. I don’t eat beef. Ever. Then it turned out to not be beef nachos but carne asada fries. Basically like a nacho but with fries instead of chips. Ew. Kinda gross. But they sang. I served them the fries I wouldn’t eat. Weird. It was all kinda uncomfortable. I do appreciate the gesture tho. I hate having a December birthday. It sucks more than one would think. Every year. Even my parents couldn’t even get a good birthday gig for me that time of year. And, any gift had holiday wrap. Or comics. What the hell with the comic pages? Cheap much? I’d have rather had holiday wrap. Even as a child.
Turns out there is no plan for tomorrow either. I was originally working all day, 12-9… I told Richard I was moving my shift, but he forgot and assumed I’d just be at work. So he asked me what the plan was!? I think he’s taking me to our usual little Mexican place for dinner, since that is what I told him I expected. At least, anyway. No plan for my birthday! Not even a stand-by! Has this happened to you? So now I am having to wake up for an ugly 7 AM start time, with no reason. No dinner plan. Nada. I wish I had kept my 12-9. At least I could’ve slept in.
I fucking hate December. [/self centerd bitch-fest]
So now that my blog might be outed (thanks hon!) and my mother could very well become a daily reader I figured today was a good a day as any to introduce my new knitting forum. It’s called Yernin’ Fer Yarn.
Okay I kid. My mother does not knit. But she could be joining us here at dp.com very soon. I am officially as blog-outed as I can be without direct links going out in email. What if it happens? What if mom does become a regular reader? Hell. I think I am filtering now… wait till that day comes. Would I block her? Could I? Do I have to? I am not really offensive. I am out of the closet. No surprises there. Sure there are a few things I’d rather not have her (or my father) know about my life, but done is done. What could it hurt? So I have sex. So I lied as a kid. So I partied a bit heavily in my youth. So I almost dated a drug dealer. So I said that my parents splash water when they wash their hands. I really have nothing that I am ashamed of here. I just don’t want yet an other ‘known’ audience member to write for. I cannot picture myself publishing some of the things that I do knowing my MOTHER might read it. Part of me would want to delete my whole online existence. Part of me says SCREW THAT! I have put a lot into this for the last 4 (FOUR!!!) years. What the hell? I could block their IP addresses if they come. But that seems extreme. It’s my family.
I hate that I have to even consider this. OMG. The problems caused by one stupidly created email.
So yesterday I was all busy getting my sleep on. I was rudely awakened by the doorbell. Oh no. It was like 8:45 in the morning. I was not getting up. Who could it possibly be anyway… No one important calls on me at that hour. I was not expecting anything. I hadn’t ordered anything. I am on a budget right now! So I went back to sleep, leaving the door unanswered. Later as I was leaving for work I saw the FedEx message on the door. FedEx? Had Richard ordered something? I put the tag upstairs and took off. I called Richard from the car but he was clueless as to why FedEx would be delivering, but he was unsure. So I was like whatever.. The next day (today) I was busy sleeping in, but Richard was home. Apparently FedEx came again. When I woke up Richard told me that I had a package. Bleary eyed and confused, I went downstairs to investigate. Sure enough, it was a small box addressed to me.
I was hesitant as I opened it. I mean, come on. I had no idea where it was from. There was no return address, no sender name. What ever it was, it was wrapped in white once I got thru the cardboard. There was a small envelope. I cracked that open first. It was a small white card, about the size of a business card. It had one question printed on it, “Who loves ya baby”. Richard! What had he done??
I took off the white wrapping. It was an iPod Classic. OMFG. I ran upstairs to Richard. As I was speaking, excitedly announcing the iPod to Richard, he looked more and more confused, insisting he knew nothing about it. Weird. I went back down to admire my new toy. I removed the packaging slowly. Any Apple aficionado can tell you that the packaging is part of the experience… I savored it. As I held the amazing little machine in my hands I noticed that it was engraved.
It was from my father. “Who loves ya baby” on the card. Of course. My parents! In my mind the value of the thing just quadrupled. The thought alone that in this nothing month, far from holidays and birthdays, they thought of me. And out of all the Apple products I am currently lusting after, this is the one that fills the most needs/wants in one item. I am amazed.
She’s back!! My BFF Betty Nicole is back from.. well she didn’t actually GO anywhere. She had parents visiting, and taking up all her time and being parental and junk. Eew.
Hi. I'm Daniel. This is my blog. I don't update like I used to, but my awesomeness requires an actual website.
211 days and 10 hours until my birthday!
really random quote
“I think people talk too much anyway. Sometimes people are talking to me and in my mind I'm just like 'shut up, shut up, shut up...blah blah blah'.” - Ellen
temperature: 64°F (18°C)
feels like: 63°F (17°C)
humidity: 72.7%
sky conditions: overcast
conditions: clear
wind: from the S at 14 mph
visibility: 8 mi ( 12.9 km)
updated: 05/24/2012 10:51 am
So here we are again, on 
sour, bitter, and jaded. 
