Whew! What a week! What a summer!

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.

tagged: work holiday people twitter retail time weekend parents summer early

daniel · late morning · say it · ping it

Okay. No it didn’t. Well it kinda did.

You see, our good friend Fred was going to skip pride and drive down to LA for an event. After much debate and confusion Richard and I ended up tagging along. The itinerary was this: Leave San Diego by noon, drive to LA, check into hotel, go eat, go back to hotel to get pretty, go to Outfest movie premier, and hit after party at a club. After that there was no set plan other than an eventual return to SD on Saturday no later than 5:00 PM.

Well kids, it was exactly as planned. The drive to LA is about 2.5 hours. Thankfully Richard and I had our iPhones. More thankfully than that, Fred’s car has multiple power outlets. Heh. So the drive up passed pretty quick. We checked into a surprisingly nicer than expected Days Inn. It wasn’t great, but not horrible either. It was right next to an In-N-Out Burger, which became the immediate solution to our second task upon getting to town. I refused. I was trying to be as flexible and non-bitchy as possible. I know I don’t travel well, so I tried to be nice about it. It was a fine choice for them, but I’d still need to eat soon too, and I won’t eat burger. Luckily, after I carefully got that out on the table, Fred’s innate Cruise Director Instincts took over. He suggested a trip to The Grove. Brilliant. Many food choices for everyone. We hit the road. Of course as soon as he pointed it out, we had decided on The Whisper Lounge. It is pure glamour. An open-air establishment with drapery and pretty people and.. I can’t describe it really. It’s just fabulous. So we went in and proceeded to order up snacks and cocktails. I don’t remember when he noticed, but Fred made us aware that Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott were behind us with their family (we assume). OMGOMGOMG!!! As soon as he said it I could HEAR HER. I mean, she has a distinctive voice. OMG. We tried not to make a scene. I *really* wanted to get a photo, or talk to her… Something. Fred wisely reminded me that I need to “act normal” and treat her like anyone else. “We don’t want to ruin her time, right?” He’s good like that since he knows people. I took his advice and refrained. Richard staged a bathroom trip so he could ogle them. I sat and listened in. We stayed a long time… Tori and crew had several bottles of champagne. Well, at least 2. LOL. Finally our time was up and we had to go get pretty. Richard insists that Tori smiled at him as we left… OMG!

So getting ready for the Premier was pretty stressful since I had forgotten a belt. My outfit NEEDED a belt. I tried to con my man out of his, but he was having none of it. So we went out on the town with me already feeling kinda insecure. I mean really. LA? Without a belt? As soon as we arrived at the Ford Amphitheater I forgot all about it. Not only is the venue gorgeous, but there were soooo many pretty people. Pretty boys… I mean it *was* Outfest, right? So anyway, the theater is backed up to a hill, and the natural landscape is the main feature of the place. It’s really awesome, actually. We headed up to the top, where they was a concession stand, as well as the entrance for the celebs… Red carpet people! Wich in this case was a red mat taped to the sidewalk with an “Outfest” logo’d backdrop. Hrm. Fanceh. But whatever. We hung out, sipping our drinks. Fred found a photographer friend of his that chatted with us a bit and snapped our picture. Woo!

So the movie was Mulligans. It was actually really good. I liked it, tho the story was painful. But a movie that makes you feel anything has done it’s job. Plus the actors were a pretty bunch. Heh.

After the movie we headed over to Eleven for the VIP after party. Fred was on The List. Richard and I hadn’t been to a nightclub like that in years. It was a big time. Especially the part were we got to go upstairs to the VIP area and hang out with the cast of the film. Again, Fred was on The List. It was awesome… I got to meet Reichen Lehmkuhl who was also at the after party. Let me just pause a moment to let that sink in…

OMG!OMG!OMG! REICHEN!!! OMG!OMG!OMG!

Okay. So after we got tired of the madness of the club we headed to some sidewalk bar/restaurant for a bit. That was a great time as we got to watch the crazies of WeHo pass by as we ate and enjoyed a few more cocktails. We made it back to the hotel by like 2:30ish. LOL

The next day (Saturday) we didn’t want to rush right out. Obviously a bit of sleeping in and hydrating were in order, plus the traffic going down to San Diego (Pride morning) could be icky… So we left the hotel at checkout time and had an amazing brunch-ish meal at Hugo’s followed by a trip to the old Xanadu site and another trip to The Grove, for shopping. A perfect morning. My friend Fred really is an excellent Cruise Director. Plus he knows his way around. AND he drove. Really, really awesome. As we cruised slowly to the freeway Fred spotted a familiar face. As he pointed out Ms. Doris Roberts, she bent over right on the side of the road to pick up… A COUPON! LOL! Classic! Once on the freeway, on the way home, we sang songs from the Xanadu soundtrack with the windows down in traffic. Just in case people weren’t already aware that the car was full of ‘mos. LOL

Fred pulled up to our house to drop us off at like 4:57 PM. Three minutes to spare. Talk about sticking to the itinerary! 

tagged: richard people shopping party omg photo house fabulous pretty boys

daniel · early evening · 2 comments · ping it

As you can tell, the San Diego TweetUp was a huge hit. The Meet up, coordinated by the Jennifer Van Grove, took place at The Lafayette here in San Diego. There were tons of local tweets and twitter friendly folk. We gathered poolside, enjoyed an open bar, and mingled.. I love these events because it is always such a diverse crowd. You got your web professionals of course, then there are military people, teachers, and retail folk, to name a few. I think Richard and I made up the retail portion. LOL. Anyhoo, there is a lot of networking which is awesome because it is social networking as well as business because these are “Twitter people” after all.

So if you are local, and on Twitter you really should check it out.. Oh, and if you are a local straight man (I won’t name names, you know who you are): dude, there are hawt chicks there!

tagged: richard san diego people twitter tweets networking tweetup #sdtweetup

daniel · early morning · say it · ping it

Since moving to San Diego Richard and I have been very lucky to have become part of a circle of friends. We all hang out, separately or all together all the time. We always have fun. Whether it’s our weekly SYTYCD parties, movie nights, BBQ’s, or going out to Hillcrest or Downtown and “painting the town”. I consider these people my San Diego family! But lately we have been noticing that we are a bit of a clique. There aren’t really any new faces (well, since Richard and I). No fresh blood. We just aren’t meeting any new people and that makes it tough for the single kids in the group. Not that we want to be matchmakers. Good gawd no! But when you hang out with new people you meet their people… Maybe one of their people might know another single guy and through just getting together our single kids will be exposed to more quality singles? Cause let’s face it, when you hang out at bars every week to meet people you are going to meet people that like hanging out in bars. And aside from all of that, we are a group that likes to entertain. It’s more fun with more people! Right? We decided that Sheila’s BBQ was our big event. We were all to bring new people.

So for me, I am not surprised by any of this. I have been trying to meet people with interests like mine lately, going to the SD Tweet-ups and Blogger Meet-ups, and actually going out and meeting the people I have been talking to on my various online social networks. My goal has been to get some friends who understand what the hell I am talking about with my SEO, CMS, tweets, plurks, and whatnots. People who understand why I constantly check my phone! In the meantime I have met a fair amount of people that I see or talk to regularly enough. So for this past BBQ I was pretty confident that I could get some new folks to come around. As it turned out, not so much. I do understand tho. One I asked at the last minute, and the others, well I mean given the choice I think I’d pick existing friends over newbies… I guess.

My other friends tried different approaches. One tried picking out someone that looked like they’d fit in with us at Mo’s and just walking up and chatting with him for a bit, followed up with the big invite. The guy actually seemed cool about it after the initial “we aren’t hitting on you” stuff was out of the way. He actually agreed to come by, and we got his number. In the end he flaked. Sheila invited her local barista that she chats with at her coffee place all the time. A good idea, I thought! He was a no show as well. So out of 6 new people invited 100% declined or flaked at the last minute.

I guess my point is this. I understand how to meet people. At least online. (Richard and I aren’t single. In the gay world I find making new friends in real life so awkward… People are out looking for dates, not friends usually.) Besides, I think I have a number of great resources right now that are more reliable than just picking someone out of the crowds. I have met people. How do I get them from the acquaintance stage to the friend stage? How do we as an established group assimilate new folk? I can tell you it was a long time before I felt comfortable with everyone… How do we make that easier? 

tagged: richard gay online people sytycd bbq family meeting networking

daniel · late morning · 6 comments · ping it

So today is my mother’s birthday. Aw. My mom! And I am nowhere near her. I sent her flowers tho. They got there early. I figured since they screwed up the last time so bad (the 1-800-Flowers people, I mean) I sent them over to her 2 days early to account for the delivery suckage. I don’t know how much she liked them. I didn’t hear from her for a full day after I got the delivery confirmation in my email. Weird. And even then her note was about so many other things. I dunno. I hate being so far sometimes. I miss my family. It’s the things like birthdays and Mother’s Day that make me feel it more. Don’t get me started on Christmas…

Anyhoo, tonight is pretty low key. Richard is watching the shows he’s missed somehow even tho I saw them. (Isn’t the DVR technology just grand?) I am up here in the office looking at a lot of blogs but not commenting. I need to comment more, I know. I am just in a weird spot right now. I figure if I can get posting on my own blog 3 times a day again it will be time to go play more social again. You see, I was reading this interesting post over at The Blog Herald. And before you can even say it, yes. Yes I am a blogger that reads about blogs and blogging. I find it balances all of my celebrity gossip consumption. 

So yeah, it was a post about what to do if you find you are off your blogging path, so to speak. Whatever, I know what people are thinking. It’s a blog. It’s not a job. No one reads it, it’s not even in the ‘top 25’. Right. I realize not everybody thinks like that. I kid. Kinda. But srsly. There were some valid symptoms and these interesting questions presented:

Why am I blogging?
Who am I blogging for?
What am I blogging for?
What is my blog’s purpose?
What is my blog’s mission?
Where was my blog a year ago?
Where is my blog now?
Where will my blog be next year?
Where will my blog be in two years?
Where do I really want it to be?
Do these answers make me happy right now?

I know at first glance it seems silly to contemplate a blog. I took it seriously because I actually take my blog seriously. No, it’s not a serious blog. But dude, I have like 4 years tied up in here. Good times and bad. Good writing and bad. Mostly bad, but it’s still an exercise. It’s a commitment that I have made to myself and for the most part stuck too. I think in the course of this blog I have only missed like 5 or 6 days (maybe 10?) of posting. Total. In four years. That’s awesome! I totally feel like I lived up to the commitment I made in the beginning, before the link whoring, before the snazzy designs, before my self proclaimed internet fame. Heh. But I do think of quitting the blog sometimes. Shocking. I don’t really want to tho. I dunno. I think I need to go old school for a while. Less bitching, possibly less Idol, and much less filtering what I want to say. This may include the ‘what I did today’ posts more often, because that’s where it started. That’s where I got my footing in the beginning, and the core of what I avoid here now. Put on the iPod and just type my life. That’s what I want to get comfy with again before I go on to the next thing. Whatever that might be.... 

tagged: blogging blog people internet christmas birthday exercise questions whoring filtering

daniel · evening · 1 comment · ping it

Tonight I think I discovered my new favorite place. It is called, quite simply, Martinis. I love it there. First off, there is an elevator to get up there. Fabulous, right? Especially on Girls Night (where oddly there is always only one girl, but that kinda makes sense if you know Sheila. She is loved..) so those in heels aren’t climbing stairs… It’s in the gayborhood. The decor is great, and it seems to be a great mixed crowd. The pretty people, the average, and a few of the tragic. Heh. Srsly, there was a group of people playing quarters with their martinis. Not pretty. Oh! I didn’t mention the best part about this place. The martinis! There must have been sixty different kinds.. Kinda overwhelming, but in that good way. Plus, the glasses are really enormous.  I have decided I want my birthday in that place. Maybe the next one at least. And just imagine it, with my new diet there can be no cake. So obviously there will be a theme martini! I am sure they could do one that tastes like cake…

[This post brought to you by Booze. Mmm, boooze...]

tagged: people birthday booze night fabulous pretty girls cake mmm martinis   Erasure - Star    

daniel · the wee hours · 1 comment · ping it

All I wanted was my dry cleaning. I was dropping off, as well as picking up. I go to the same place all the time. It’s handy. Right next to my grocery store. I think I need a new place… Anyway, so I walk in and one of the usual young gals greets me. Not the pretty one, but the other one. So she steps over to the counter and starts to like process my transaction. How many, laundry or dry clean, etc. All pretty normal. But then she suddenly looked a bit pained and hammered at her chest. “Excuse me! I am not used to drinking Sprite.” Okay, ew. Gross. But I tried to be nice and chuckled. Wrong move on my part. She began to talk about how she once burped totally loud in front of a customer and had to ‘pretend’ to be embarrassed and like lady-like, but she really wasn’t cause it ‘felt so good’.

Oh. My. Gaaawd.

So there I am, trapped as she goes on about her gas issues. “Sometimes when I am sitting at home I just totally let it out. I don’t care which end it comes out, it all feels so good.” Wait, lemme repeat that in bold, for effect: “I don’t care which end it comes out, it all feels so good”. At this point I was convinced the place smelled funny. It was so hard to be polite and ignore the whole thing. Cause that is what I usually do when someone, even close friends say inappropriate things. I ignore it and change the subject. No, this time I wanted only to leave. But I was a bit trapped. Thank god they always keep the door propped open. Heh, now I know why!

How to I find these people? 

tagged: people laundry grocery ew gas fart dry cleaner gross gal burp

daniel · the wee hours · 2 comments · ping it

I really don’t want to go to work.
I have to go to work. I have so much to do.
I really don’t want to go.
I have people waiting for me there.
I really don’t want to go.
I am a responsible adult. I will go.

Dammit!

tagged: work people responsible strength dammit   drained

daniel · early afternoon · 1 comment · ping it

So apparently there is some American Idol buzz that is not so favorable. Instead of linking to a reputable gossip source, I thought it’d be fun to post the email conversation flying about my inbox. Heh. Cause I love my friends. I love them and want them to be a part of my blog… Plus, I have been up since three in the morning and it is now four thirty in the afternoon. I’m exhausticated.

(Oh and all of this reminds me that I totally missed out on doing a Top 24 post. Damn!)

From: C
Subject: Idol Drama

Let the games begin.  Stories are already being released about Carly Smithson, formerly Carly Hennesy.  Apparently a couple of years back Carly had a major label (MCA) deal that went bust.  Her album only sold a couple hundred copies and she was dropped from MCA.  And now she’s on Idol trying to make her come back.  She’s already taken a spot in the top 24.  Contreversy asks whether or not she deserves that spot over some of the ‘unknowns’ who didn’t get in because she did.

What will Idol do?

From: C
Subject: More Idol Buzz

Yahoo profiled the top 24 today and uncovered that Carly Smithson isn’t the only Idol who has had professional backing.  Idol must of been worried about ratings this year and have managed to stack the deck with semi-professional contestants this year.  Apparently the judges weren’t being hopeful when they said it would be the best Idol yet.

From: F
Subject: Re: More Idol Buzz

Isn’t this like the debate a few years ago, where people thought it was slightly unfair that a contestant’s mother was a vocal coach?  I do not think it is unfair to have had a recording contract, and be a contestant.  As long as that said contract is no longer active, you should be able to compete. 

From: C
Subject: Re: More Idol Buzz

The argument is that those who had their chance once (or twice) already are taking the chance away from someone who hasn’t been as fortunate.  Personally I don’t care because I’m all for having experienced singers duke it out.  I’ve always preferred competition such as Nashville Star or the INXS search for a lead singer.  Which were based on more experienced performers.

Hmmm… Have we heard about this? What do you think?

tagged: american idol people drama idol american yahoo carly smithson contestant missed judges   Garbage - Hammering In My Head    
  tired

daniel · late afternoon · 3 comments · ping it