Since the year is almost to an end... I now present the CDs that I couldn't stop listening to this past year (and yeah, I know some of them came out last year):



They're in no particular order... but the Sigur Ros was probably my absolute favorite of the bunch...

Michael Jackson Baby Drop is about the funniest thing I've seen lately...

This is terribly sad. Stereolab has been one of my favorite bands for most of my adult life. They've been absolutely brilliant on every album they've ever done.

I'm sure that the band will go on, but one of my favorite things about their sound has always been the blending of the vocals of Laetitia Sadler and Mary Hansen. And now Mary's not gonna be there anymore...

:(

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miramax is foolishly not promoting the movie Equilibrium and didn't release it on very many screens across the country.

I saw the trailer on Apple's website a few days ago and thought it looked kinda keen. Then Aint It Cool News starting raving about how good it was. So, I went to see it today.

HOLY SHIT! Miramax is run by idiots. This movie totally fucking ROCKS. Christian Bale, dark dystopic future and amazing action. There are some of the best filmed action sequences I've ever seen in any movie. And it's a really intelligent film. And Christian Bale is about the hottest man on the entire planet. And there's a really cute puppy in it.

Seriously, before this movie disappears from the theaters, go see it!! NOW!!!

Okay.... I'm gonna see this just cuz I love the concept of Bollywood meets Grease in that one scene...

One should be careful what one wishes for...

I've been bitching because New Orleans doesn't (as far as I can tell) have any sort of electroclash nite at any bar. So... last nite, a friend of mine who manages a bar calls me out of the blue and offers me a job DJ'ing one. Um... I don't know how to be a DJ...

I have such disgust for the tactics and commercials of the Republican party in the current Louisiana Senate election, that I will NEVER in my life ever consider voting for ANY Republican candidate again.

And I hope Suzanne Haik-Terrell dies soon of a terrible lingering illness. Or manages to be impaled by a large piece of metal for several hours before she dies...

It's about damned time... And I'm so very proud of the fact that one of my best friends, Brian, is one of the attornies working on the case.

So, last nite, I ducked into Sav A Center to buy a bottle of wine. And just as I'm grabbing the wine off the shelf, they announce over the intercom, "Attention shoppers, we will be closing in 5 minutes. Thank you for shopping at our 24 Hour Sav A Center."

I was a bit confused...

And by the way, no one has guessed correctly yet.

A bad moment is when you comment to the guy cutting your hair, "I toyed with the idea of getting a mohawk, but decided against it" and he then replies "well, you could kind of have a mohawk now" and you reply "god no, fauxhawks are dead" and then you look into the mirror and notice the guy cutting your hair's fauxhawk.

This extremely gay run on sentence brought to you by Drew.

And since I never blogged it... San Francisco was WONDERFUL.

Cuz I've barely blogged at all, I'll give ya something juicy...

One of these statements is a lie. Care to guess which?

1. I've recently slept with both partners in a couple. Neither of them know that I slept with the other.

2. I've had sex with more than three guys in one nite.

3. I've had sex in the bathroom at Oz.

4. I recently slept with one of my friend's boyfriends right after they bitterly broke up.

5. The only sexual contact I've ever had with a woman was a blowjob.

6. I've slept with my regular doctor.

7. I've had sex in the bathroom at Lafittes.

8. I once met a really hot guy in a bar who had me go to another bar and hit on his boyfriend so his boyfriend
would think a threeway was 'his' idea.

9. I've slept with three escorts who donated their services for free.

apologies... but i don't have the emotional energy to blog lately... or to answer email...

ennui is here... help

As usual, I've ended a pleasant much needed vacation and gone back to work ready to be REALLY into my job and walked back into a hellstorm. I have vacation curse...

For now... I will tell him three answers...

1) yep
2) not anytime soon... but ya never know... maybe someday...
3) three... and god are my feet fierce... *sigh* the biggest impression I made was shoes, huh? :)

San Francisco stories soon... i promise...

My blog is well named today... I am so on tender hooks...

I leave for San Francisco tomorrow morning at 6:25 am. So, no updates to this page until Tuesday the 12th, most likely. If I have access to a computer while I'm there, I may post an update or two before then though.

Anyways... back to packing and such...

Well, I did my civic duty today... I voted.

What about you? If not, get off your ass and be responsible.

I spent today in Baton Rouge at the hospital visiting my father and mother. When I got there, my dad was gone to dialysis, so my mom and I sat in his room and talked for a while, until I convinced her to accompany me to the hospital cafeteria for lunch. Eventually, my dad came back to the room. He looked way better than he did a week ago. He's still a shell of the person he was a couple of months ago though. But, seeing him improved makes it a lot easier for me to go ahead and proceed with my previously scheduled vacation this week.

While I was there, a woman came by the room to start the process for my father's continued dialysis once he returns home. Once again, I found myself in one of those weird situations that growing older brings to you. My mom was presented with form after form to sign and I could tell that it was really upsetting here and she felt like she didn't really know what all she was signing. So, I dutifully grabbed the stack of papers and read through every one of them and assured her that she hadn't signed anything that she shouldn't have.

It's weird when you have to start caretaking your parents, even in small ways...

Curious... my little bit of posting seems to have sent the amount of people passing through here back up a bit... *waves*

I'm utterly and completey re-obsessed with my favorite band of all time... Saint Etienne... all over again. Some extremely kind soul has created a super secret ftp site of their rare and out of print tunes... and I can't stop downloading...

Soon, there shall be no song by them, produced by them, written by them or featuring even one member in any way that I don't have...

I scare me.

Speaking of flying... have I mentioned that I'm going to San Francisco from next Wednesday to the following Monday? cuz i am...

So.. one day after bragging about not being sick anymore... the sinus infection I didn't know I had hit me full force... the last two days, I've at pondered doing the following things:

1. sticking a knitting needle into my ear
2. clawing my left eye out with my fingers
3. picking up a really sharp pencil and plunging it into my face right on my left cheekbone

However... I didn't think any of them would relieve the pressure...

Pray for me... I have to be on a plane in 5 days... this had SO better be done with by then, or you'll all hear me screaming as I fly over your cities...

Whoo hoo! I'm finally not sick anymore. I hate being sick. I love getting better after being sick. I feel simplisitic today.

Two days into what was supposed to be five days off of work for me to enjoy the Halloween festivities going on this weekend in NO has so far consisted of two days of me being horribly ill with a virus of some sort. Two days solid of horrible headaches and an inability to stay hydrated.

And my father just got moved into Intensive Care...

An interesting thing has been happening this week... people keep using an adjective to describe me.

nice

"You're such a nice person."

"You're just one of the nicest guys I know."

It's interesing mostly because I think of myself as a relatively mean person... but I do try to be nice...

But, on that note... I do hold grudges. And I've had a really HUGE one against someone for a couple of years. Someone who made my life so uncomfortable that I had to make major changes in it to ensure my own personal happiness. Luckily, at just the right times avenues opened up that allowed me to stay on the path I had chosen.

For a long time, I've hoped that one day that person would get their due. But, it seemed like it would probably never happen.

But...

Through various grapevines and mysterious sources, I've found out that this person's world crumbled around them seriously this past week. His foundations were knocked from beneath him. The people surrounding him all turned against him in the moment that they could have saved him. His career has been permanently marked with the sort of thing from which it can never recover. His professional reputation is in tatters. He's become a bit of a laughingstock after years of extreme arrogance.

He's been brought lower than I ever could've dreamed.

And you should see the size of the smile on my face.

Still think I'm so nice?

Dustin Hoffman Syndrome noun: the state an aging male actor enters after achieving a level of fame which is proportionally greater than his level of talent; symptoms include chewing of scenery and stage, extremely loud delivery of lines, broad gestures.

see also Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, Nicholas Cage, Tom Hanks...

Catch Me If You Can... if you'd told me that I'd wanna see a Steven Speilberg movie starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio, I'd have spit in your face... but... it kinda looks good...

NO NO NO!!!! Saint Etienne is playing San Francisco a week after I leave San Francisco... I gotta go break something...

I had one of those rare moments in life tonight when you have a HUGE revelation.

My father is seriously ill. Seriously as in we don't know if he's going make it through the next few days. And I was sitting on my front steps pondering this and pondering life. Thinking about my father and my relationship with him, or lack thereof.

And something suddenly occurred to me that I've never realized in my life. Despite never feeling that close to my father or having an intimate relationship with him, I am, in many ways, the same person as my father.

So very much of who I am and how I interact with the world (and my close friends will understand what I mean) is exactly the same as my father's actions and interactions. And I've never realized this in my entire adult life.

hmmm...

I'm currently reading Donna Tartt's The Little Friend . I'm only a couple of chapters into it, but I'm already sure that this is going to be THE BOOK for this year.

It's been over ten years since Tartt published The Secret History, her first novel which catapaulted her to instant literary fame, and justifiably so. She's evidently spent a great portion of that time crafting this single novel and the attention to it shows on every page.

It's set in Mississippi during the same time period as my childhood, which evidently wasn't so different from Louisiana in the same time. The dialogue and characters are all extremely true.

Hopefully, the entirety of the novel will be just as good as what I've read so far... If so, we have a modern successor to Harper Lee and Carson McCullers on our hand.

just got back from seeing a sneak preview of The Ring.

it's the best horror movie i've seen in the last ten years. and that's all i'm gonna say...

Why don't you ask me what it feels like to be a freak?

Since everyone seems to make their comments to me by email anyway... and as I read my way through other blogs, the whole 'Comments' thing just seems like a big circle jerk anyway, I killed the comments.

The clumsy twirler diaries is currently the only blog I'm really enjoying reading. I like life to be a bit blurry...

The sniper up East has upped the drama factor in his 'rampage.' Leaving a tarot card with the message, "Dear Policeman, I am God" on it brings this whole thing onto another level of future obsession for people.

Although, I think that The Hanged Man would've been a more appropriate choice than Death. Kinda sounds to me like he's going for the impact of the image of Death on the public as opposed to any sort of creepy literal mystical reading of the cards.

and since someone i met recently who had read my blog commented that I seemed obsessed with music... here's what I've been listening to:

Beck Sea Change

Ladytron Light & Magic

St Etienne Finisterre

The Beck album is one I had no expectations for and no great desire to own... but... BUY THE FUCKING CD! It's amazing. It's hands down the Album of the Year. It's cry in your beer wonderfully somberly heartbreaking fanfuckingtastic. Seriously. I knew the guy was talented, but I never knew he had a CD like this in him. I honestly think this album is an instant classic. Five stars. Six even. An A+.

Reward yourself... please... buy this CD now...

np: Air: Playground Love

there came a point for me when blogging wasn't so easy anymore...

i've always considered myself a bit of a moral relativist, and it would be a lie to say that i've had some great revelation that this isn't true... but...

i've always blogged a lot about my personal life. and i've been blogging for about 18 months now... and a lot of people that I come in contact with now seem to have come across my blog. and that makes writing about some things a bit more difficult for me.

it's hard to come home and write about a date when you know the person you spent the evening with may read it the next day, whether what you wrote was positive or negative. it's even more difficult when you're dating more than one person and you don't want those relationships to be colored by those people reading about themselves and the others...

anyways... i'm still sorting all that out... but i'm gonna try to make a return to this.

thanks much to the people who've emailed or stopped me to say that they missed me writing... i don't really know what's so great about all this for ya, but...

i'm back.... i think...

Aunt Esther died... :(

Finisterre is now in my greedy little paws thanks to Jonathan, the best friend a boy could have... a boy who worships St Etienne especially...

but, no worry... I have a real copy preordered to be shipped the day it's released...

now, i have to go listen to it!!!

A lot going on at work and a slight headcold have consumed most of my energy lately... back soon, i promise....

And this is what I woke up to in my neighborhood yesterday morning...

They saved the dogs though!!

Go here now!!!

Today is all about hugging my dog and telling her how much I love her.

One of the things I love most about my neighborhood is that it's very dog friendly. Probably a third of the people living in the Lower Garden District have dogs. We're a dog loving bunch.

My next door neighbor for the last two years has had a dalmation named Posey for nine years. Posey and I have always had a bit of a distant but genial relationship. Whenever I arrive home and she's outside, she always comes running to my car with her tail wagging and then darts away at the last second before I can pet her. It's like she's telling me that she knows I belong here and I'm part of her territory, but I don't really belong to her. I belong to another dog. Every once in a rare while, she'll actually come up to me when I'm sitting on the steps and sit next to me and let me stroke her back.

Her owner is a chef and he's been out of town, touring as the caterer for a very famous rock star. A couple of weeks ago, while he was out of town, Posey starting getting weak spells and passed out a couple of times. His girlfriend took her to the vet and got her onto medication and she's been a little better. Kent got back in town last week while the tour breaks for a couple of weeks. He's been nursing her along and she's been better but still really weak and the vet hasn't been sure what's exactly what's wrong with her.

Last nite, I had just finished washing my car when Kent got home. He let Posey out to run around a bit. She was doing her usual shy act with me. Then she started towards me on the steps, took two step and fell over in the grass in front of her house. I lept off the steps and ran to her while screaming for Kent. I stroked her head and she wagged her tail a bit while obviously struggling for breath. Kent came out and got her up and she seemed to perk back up pretty quickly. He told me he was a bit worried but that she was actually doing much better, but he would take her to the vet again this morning to have her checked out.

Around 10 AM this morning, I heard Kent drive up and then there was a knock at my door. I opened it to Kent standing outside and he simply said, "she passed away, man." He'd taken her to the vet and she'd passed out there again but revived. I'm not sure exactly what else went on at the vet's office, but Kent started home with her and she seemed okay. And then, while he was driving home, she had a seizure in his truck. And this time she didn't wake up.

We just stood on the porch for a couple minutes, both crying, uncomfortable as guys get when we cry.

I'm reallly glad that Kent and Posey got to spend her last week together. But, geez...

Now Keisha's just confused as to why I keep hugging her so tight.

a crazy long cranky week at work has kept me from blogging... apologies...

And I don't really feel like continuing last weekend's saga at this point. Know simply that Clee was here until Tuesday and I'm pretty much smitten with him bigtime... we'll see what happens... he lives in San Francisco... so... we'll see...

Ok, one quick mention about last weekend... on Saturday we went to a birthday party for Flynn and Richard at the home of Richard & Jonno. Kick ass house, fun party. Richard has pics on his page, including one of me and someone he thinks is my boyfriend. Hmmm.

Nothing interesting has happened this week at all except for me realizing I spent too much money last week and putting myself on a budget. Well, except for the purchase of comic books and the new Battle of the Planets action figures. Mark is SOOO hot. The biggest package ever on an action figure, i think...

I'm finally off work tomorrow and intend to work on my tan at the Country Club all day.

But.. here's a random pic of Clee...

I'm tired and grouchy and I had a really crappy day...

the people at work are gonna drive me over the edge one of these days...

so, no blog tonite...

but... Who's Dave? So, am I the hottie or did he send people to the wrong page? hey... lrtony.. let me know...

*sigh*

So, as I write... Clee should be safely back in San Francisco...

This past weekend was great. I went into it with knowing I was glad that Clee was coming back to visit but with a lot of trepidation over having a houseguest for 4+ days. I'm a solitary guy. I like my space. And I can get bitchy.

No space was needed. Clee is perfection to hang with. There can't be a more laid back guy on this planet. And Keisha likes him a lot. So, all was well. Better than well. All was pretty much damned near perfect.

A brief rundown of the weekend:

Thursday: I picked him up at the airport and, at his request, we went to Juan's Flying Burrito for dinner. Then we hit the Quarter for drinks and standing about at Lafittes, the Pub and Good Friends. I'm in love with the video screens at Lafittes. Everytime I go there I see a video that I fall in love with or that I've just never seen before. Thursday nite it was Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Get Over You, which is absolutely my favorite video right now, and Alcazar's Crying at the Discoteque, which is one mindfuck of a freaky video. Clee couldn't watch the Alcazar video.. evidently dancing animal headed people freak him out... Jonathan met us out at Lafittes. We ran into James at Good Friends for a bit and then headed over to the Pub, just in time for the end of the strip show.. ugh. And then dancing commenced... And then home and snuggly good sleep...

Up next... Friday... altho, in the meantime you can get a preview of Saturday here... make what you will of the little box that pops up over a certain picture... (ok.. don't make too much of it... Sturtle just makes assumptions...)

Just for comparison purposes... here's Clee from yesterday playing with his new Transformer that he bought at Target...

Clee is in town. And I'm too tired to blog about our misadventures thus far... here's a photo to show what we did this afternoon tho...

18 hours and counting... I dunno if I'll be posting much at all over the weekend... someone is almost here...

I am loved.

I found out last nite that another friend of mine had bought me an Advance copy of White Apples as well...

I'm a lucky boy.

A truly beautiful person stopped by my store tonite while I was at lunch and left me a copy of the Advance Reading Copy of White Apples.

Life am good.

Recently...

I made a detour on the way home from visiting the parents and met another blogger. Cute boy. Gotta love the awkward conversation when you meet an online friend in person for the first time...

I've been listening to this CD a LOT.

I betrayed a friend's confidence and feel crappy about it.

I've been smoking too much and drinking a lot less.

I've been reading this book.

I got a Google hit off of "ass kissing mania".

Last Thursday, I blogged that I wouldn't mind running into Jonno again soon. And Thursday nite, someone grabbed me from behind at the Pub and guess who it was?

And James turned up just in time for Jonno and I to jointly yell at him for labeling us a winters on his sidebar.

Hmmph... winter...

Oh yeah, and Mr Jonno who has a floaty little bubble thing over my link on his page that says "needs to smile more" told me that he'd never seen me smile so much as that nite.

Confidence, baby...

White Apples has a website!!!

And he's touring! Anyone up for a roadtrip to Austin on November 9th??

(as revealed to Mark earlier tonite)

unknown Drew fact: i own over $200 worth of Japanese temple incense...

Overheard while eating sushi earlier this week:

"...and all the bigger alligators eat the little alligators... it's a tough society... alligator society"

god, i love New Orleans people...

Ok... Jonno gets his link back on my sidebar cuz there's been some activity on his site... and he is the one who got me into this... and the one who (sort of) taught me html...

now if the bastard would just return one of my emails... i sorta miss hanging out with all that attitude...

If you're not doing anything on Sunday August 18, 2002 from 1 to 4pm (and if you are, cancel), then you need to come by the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of New Orleans at 2114 Decatur for a reception for one of my favorite people. I promise that you'll love his paintings.

Seriously! I'm gonna be there! You should be too... c'mon...

R.I.P., Timmy... :(

for the record... Joe the Latino is a Spic, but is not necessarily a Whore... he is cute however... and should probably be careful of requests that he makes to Bloggers while he is drinking...

Jesus christ, life is good...

I was off work again today and it was a lovely amazing wonderful incredible fantastic amazing day leading into evening.

I woke up early, surfed a bit and then met a friend at the Country Club (the bar with the pool) around 11:30 am. We ordered food delivered poolside from Bywater BBQ and gnoshed down on some incredible fried shrimp poboys. And then I sat poolside with Denise and Beau for almost 7 hours. The weather was perfect, breezy and alternating between cloudy and sunny. It was a everso quickly passing afternoon of strawberry margaritas and observation. We people watched until our eyes hurt.

Then, Beau and I decided to head to the Quarter for the early evening Sunday festivities. We met up again at the Pub and pretty much immediately both met cute guys. He snagged an English hottie with tattoo sleeves. And I got chatted up by a cute latino guy. Cute latino guy was familiar with my blog and has asked that i refer to him as Joe the Latino (Spic Whore). So, um... there... Joe the Latino (Spic Whore) was a sweetheart of a guy. We had lots of nice conversation. And that's it. We'll see if we meet again.

Beau went home relatively early and I wandered down to Lafittes. I sat at the bar and watched retro 80s videos for a bit. While there, a friend of a friend sat across the bar from me and started flirting by mimicking my movements and singing to me. It suddenly occurred to me that he was cute. Hmmm. He left after a bit though. And then the guy I blogged about a while ago who I met out at Lafittes a while ago came wandering into the bar. He came over and apologized for not keeping in contact. He claims he's been out of the state. We'll see...

So, I leave Lafittes and wander back thru the Pub. I run into friend of a friend. We chat. He says he'll see me out next weekend when i say I have to go. I say I'm not going out next weekend. He firmly insists he'll see me out next weekend. Hmmm.

I leave the Pub and head to my car, it being around 11 pm now. I decide to pick up a book from my car and walk to Angeli for dinner before I head home. A bit later, I'm happily full of a Portabella mushroom sandwich. I get my car and head home, singing loudly along to Le Tigre and Sophie Ellis Bextor....

Now... a bath, lotion for my slight sunburn... and blissful sleep....

Life am good...

and, um...i think it's 9 days till someone gets here....

well... it's official...

at work tonite, i ran into my ex's sister in law... she told me *drumroll* that I look the best she's seen me in the seven years she's know me and that i was *drumroll #2*...

a sexy beast

it's all about the confidence...

Confidence.

It's an odd thing. It's a make or break state of being. When you lack it, you're truly screwed. Having it means everything.

Lately, I seem to have it in spades. I'm not sure why exactly, but I've entered into a state of calmness whenever I'm out and about or dealing with boys. I've been flirting like crazy when we go out to bars. Eye contact across the bar, flitting smiles, etc etc. And then I just don't really care if they come over or not. I've entered a zen happy to be me phase. I'm okay with my imperfect body, my (slightly above ) average looks and slightly witty and sly personality.

Jonathan and I have gone out to the Quarter the last 3 nites and I've been had an absolute blast each nite. I've been offered phone numbers, i've been pinched in a few places, there were attempted gropings and lots of lots of smiles. And I just floated through it all with a smile on my face. And rejected them all left and right.

I'm hoping this state lasts for a bit. I like it.

I'm thinking it may have something to do with someone's impending visit.

Oh my fucking god... i DO NOT know where you can purchase the eiffel tower thingie that the Osbournes have in their house... so, if that's why you are one of the seemingly dozens of people who've found my blog through a google search for Osbournes+Eiffel+Tower... you're shit out of luck...

thanks much to Courtney who emailed me with an explanation of why I've been getting all these hits...

someone take pity on me and buy me this! It's a great value!

C'mon... i've had a crappy month...

i'm SOOO tired of waiting for this book....

Hah... take this, James.... guess who I chatted with tonite...

Meanwhile... where the hell has this one disappeared to...?

As the weekend draws to its inevitable close, I now recap for you...

Friday nite, I worked till midnite. My friend Jonathan called me early in the nite and suggested going out. I wasn't sure. But, the idea sounds nice as the nite goes on. I get off at midnite. I call him. He wants to stay home. I go home. I sit around for a bit. I decide to go out.

I get lucky and get a decent parking spot in the Quarter for a Friday nite at 1 a.m. My first stop is Good Friends for a raspberrry stoli cosmopolitan. In my defense, I must admit to having watched a lot of Sex in the City this past week. It's so good, I get another. The bar is pretty crowded for a Friday nite to my surprise. I notice a guy that I think is pretty cute. Midway thru the first drink, he comes over and says hi. I'm a bit surprised, but manage to make decent conversation. But...he has a REALLY annoying voice. Regardless, we talk a while until his friends drag him off to the Pub.

I wander aimlessly for a bit, to Lafittes, which is terribly boring, to 735 and the wind up at the Pub. I buy a bottled water to pace myself for the evening. The bartender, David, is having none of it though. A huge shot appears in front of me on the bar. The polite thing to do is to drink it, so I do. I wind up running into the guy from Good Friends again and talk to him a bit more, but manage to pull myself away from him. As I'm walking around the bar, a reasonably cute guy yells out at me from a barstool. He then apologizes for being so loud, but he evidently really wanted to get my attention. We chat. He's visiting for a wedding and staying on the Northshore. I comment on the horrible long drive he's going to have. His response? "Well, I could always drive back in the morning..." Um... no.

I extract myself again. As I'm walking around the bar, I see a guy who I went on a couple of dates with a couple of years ago who calls me infrequently but never actually makes plans with me. In a playful (and slightly tipsy) mood, I run my finger across his oh so manly chest as I pass him. A couple minutes later he's at my side. He's all, "i was leaving but I could stay if you want me to." I'm all, "hey... you look really good... stay if you want... it's up to you." He goes on with the usual "do you want me to stay" routine. And I act sort of disinterested because I'm annoyed over him calling me so intermittently. And I comment as much. He walks away saying, "I'll be here for a little while yet."

I go upstairs and wander around, running into yet another former date of several times, Jewel. This one being a bit of a major crush of the past as well as a really sweet guy. We're having decent conversation when a really cute blond guy stops to say hi to Jewel. He introduces us and the cute guy kisses me as a greeting. I turn to the bar to get a drink and look back and the two of them have their hands down each other's pants. Seriously. Next thing I know, they've disappeared. Hmmm. I run into Jewel later and comment on the cute guy and wonder whether he's a potential love interest for him. He responds, "no.. he knows the deal between us." Um... okay...

A bit later, I'm tired, so I head home. I go to bed thinking how cool I played it with Mr Intermittent Phone Guy.

Except... I wake up the next morning suddenly realizing that I got Mr Intermittent Date Guy confused with The Really Hot Guy That I See Out Every Once In a While. That wasn't who I thought it was. It was this total hottie that I would never ever normally talk to much less run my finger over the chest of... And he wanted to stay at the bar longer to talk to ME. And *I* blew him off.... Ay carumba... I can only hope he was drunk and doesn't remember too much.

I'm feeling a bit hungover early in the day, so I sit around and do nothing. I watch The Witches on DVD. I love Hammer horror movies... While I'm watching it, my friend Beau calls but I miss the call. He's heading to the Country Club to lay out.

A couple hours later, I get the message and head over there. Hardly anyone is there, but a friend from work meets me there. We hang in the late afternoon sun and have a pleasant time. Then, I head out for a little shopping at the new Target store. Very exciting Saturday nite.

Today I worked all day... And now I'm going read a trashy novel...

HELLSITE!

Yes... yes... oh, yes... there are few things in life that get me as worked up as Hellboy. See geek Drew salivate in utter superdrooly delight.

back in sweet suburbia...

What am I listening to lately? Action by Saint Etienne over and over and over and over and over again.

It's not out yet, but I have my ways... if anyone else out there is a big fan, I can provide it for ya, as long as you PROMISE to buy the new CD, Finisterre, when it comes out this fall.

And if anyone else has the remixes to Action and would like to provide me with them... you can be my buddy...

ladies & gentlemen... we have added comments...

it's even more exciting than a bag of kittens...

I have decided that my new hip happening phrase is going to be "bag of kittens." As in... well he's cuter than a bag of kittens. Or... he couldn't swim at all, he went to the bottom of the pool like a bag of kittens.

When I someday form a band... Bag of Kittens will also be the name of my band.

Take the What
animal best portrays your sexual appetite?? Quiz


linked from the Poppy Z Brite forums...

make of this result what you will...

Last nite after work, I met James, TJ and Jonathan at the Balcony Bar for a couple of drinks and random chat. Twas fun.

Jonathan and I then proceeded to the Quarter for a couple more drinks at Lafittes and the Pub. The Pub was fun because they were playing scads and scads of funny gay moments from sitcoms and old MadTV and SNL sketches. Love when they do that... although I was on Will & Grace overkill by evening's end.

Slept a bit late this morning and now I'm off the Country Club with a friend to catch some rays. And later, I'm gonna get to see my old roommate Theresa, who moved to Portland. Haven't seen her in a couple of years and it'll be great to see her.

ok... i'm just gonna say this once....

in case you haven't noticed...

i have a mad crush...

and he'll be here again in 22 days...

I've mentioned the fact that I bought a new car. What I haven't mentioned is the fact that over the last couple of weeks I've had major problems with my BRAND FUCKING NEW CAR. And I've discovered how aggravating dealing with dealerships and service departments can be. My car developed this annoying habit of jerking very noticeably when I would come to a stop.

So, last week, I took it in to the dealership near where I work, which wasn't where I bought the car. They have it all day. And do nothing to it, not even look at it. I leave it overnite. Halfway thru the day after several phonecalls from me they finally look at it and change out a sensor. But they then call me and tell me that there's an indication of transmission problems and they need to look at that. And they can't do that for another 3-4 days... if i leave my car there the whole time. I go balistic. I call the dealership where I bought the car which is about an hour and a half away and scream madly at them. I go to the local place, get my car and get up at 5 am the next day to take it to the other place. They test it, look at it and inform me that the first place fixed it. They know exactly what the problem is because there's a bulletin from Dodge about it and they assume the other place reprogrammed my car's computer.

I go home.

The car runs fine for two days. And then, as I coast to a stop at a redlight.... a big jerk. So, I call the place of purchase and scream more. Make arrangements to go there on Wednesday. This afternoon, I stop by the local place to find out exactly what they did do to my car last week. Suddenly they're nice. They offer to look at the car that afternoon and to drive me to work.

I accept.

Four hours later, they call me and tell me they're pretty sure it's fixed permanently. I pick it up. It drives better than it has since I got it.

I feel as though seventeen large chimpanzees and one really big ape are suddenly no longer sitting on my shoulders....

unless of course it happens again....

So, when I got to work today, some workmen had been staining or painting or something in the District Manager's office, which is in our store. And the breakroom and back office were full of fumes. And I spent a good half hour in them. Which led to me, the store manager and the other assistant who was there being mighty goofy. And... i showed them my blog.

I know I was high on fumes... eek...

Gee... I usually hate Robin Williams... but I really can't wait to see this movie.

Okey doke... i updated the Archive page now too...

i should also say that I'm not sure about how I feel about suddenly getting deluged with hits because some guy named Ken Layne used me as a
"random site" to illustrate how amusing it might be to confuse journalists... um.... ok... evidently, i'm a proxy for the chief correspondent of the NY Times.

that would be the same James who informed me that my new colors were garish and that the brown really didn't go with the greens... and that maybe I should start watching some gay interior design TV show...

um... no...

thanks to a random IM from James, I adopted a critter to live on my page. His name is Zedd. and he's a marginal little guy...

For the sake of nothing in particular... my recent Google hits:

Belle Sebastian Buffy
Hawkgirl Toys
Fifi Mahoney
All Batman 4-Packs
Shim Sham Club Bartender
New Orleans White Linen Night
Dominican Naked Guys
Marvel Legends Iron Man
Tender Loving Gay Sex
Haysi Fantaysi
Ricardo Pinto
Jon Fluevog
Canteloupe Vodka
Nina Perssons
Brother PC6500

oh... and speaking of the dead Tagboard....

James... it was Gorey...

Dave... who exactly saw my pic?

ok... so i've redesigned everything in an effort to jumpstart my desire to blog.

the Tagboard is gone... i refuse to pay for it... a few links are gone... if people can't be bothered to return my emails, then I can't be bothered to link their pages... and if they're not posting to their page... again, no link...

i'd really started to hate the old design... i like simple... this is simple... it's not as great looking as some other people's recently redesigned blogs... but i can live with this...

currently under renovation....

Apologies to one and all, but i seem to be hopelessly mired in ennui...


just call me Neville...

Oh yeah... and I got an email today from someone who had stumbled onto my blog... and he asked me to email him about possibly writing something for a local publication of some sorts... interesting... very very interesting...

New Orleans is in the midst of summer and how. It's blazing out every day now. The humidity is out to get me, I tells ya.

I've thought more about signs... and I'm still very conflicted about it. I can't tell why without spoiling the movie and I won't do that... grrrr.... I REALLY want to like this movie, but there's this one thing about it that I just unable to... accept. And, believe me, you have no clue what I mean by that...

Tonite was a nice nite. I got off of work and went by the mall. I scored a belt, 2 pairs of pants and 2 shirts for about $60. Total. Pants for $12.99... And this is after buying a pair of jeans, 5 shirts, another belt, a canvas bag and 3 pairs of pants for $250 yesterday. Total scores in the clothes department this week.

Then I came home and took Keisha for a nice long walk to the dogpark, where I ran into Tracy & Brian and their adorable son, Iain. I got back just in time to have a friend of mine call and ask if I had been at the mall earlier. Why did he ask this? Because two friends of his saw me at the mall and thought that perhaps I was drewnola from gay.com, so they followed me around for a bit. Evidently they also thought I was nice looking. heh.

Then I did a welcome wagon thing. I went to dinner at Semolina with a guy that I chatted with on gay.com last nite. He's just moved here and doesn't know anyone. I NEVER do things like this, so it was out of character. And it was a nice dinner and nice conversation. And, no babes, it wasn't a date...

A couple months ago, I blogged about how excited I was about the movie, signs. I've also blathered on a bit to a few of my friends about it.

And one of them invited me to go this morning at 10 a.m. to the local press screening of it. So, this morning, three weeks before any of the rest of you, I got to see signs.

It's by the director (who has a difficult name to spell) of Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense, so I knew to excite a languid dreamy movie with some twists. And I love those other two movies, so I had high expectations.

And much like I remember feeling after seeing Unbreakable, I'm still processing the film overall. I will say that it has some extremely scary and creepy sequences. Very very spooky.

I won't tell you what it's about. Or how it ends. Or anything else.

It has above caliber acting by everyone involved. All of the actors, including the kids, hit every note in the film just right.

Anyways, more about it when I think it through...

Ok... why I haven't been posting...

because the last week SUCKED!

Last Tuesday, I was blissfully driving to work. And then, while making a perfectly legal U-Turn (something that you have to do constantly while driving in New Orleans... there's no such thing as a left turn here), a Vietnamese teenager whacked into the rear passenger side of my car and threw me out the street into the parking lot of a mall. And there were lots of little concrete barriers on the edge of that mall parking lot. And I went right over all of them.

So, I was physically fine but completely freaked out. The kid stops. I call the police on my cellphone. A witness gives me her phone number. While waitng for the police the kid says to me, "oh... my parents gonna take car now.. this my third accident." It was almost (ALMOST) sort of amusing. (ALMOST... as in not really amusing at all at the time...)

My poor car had the front passenger tire blown completely out and the rim quite mangled. The rear side of my car had lots of crushed impact areas in the metal. And the rear passenger tire wasn't flat but it was pushed in at a strange angle and had part of the leather bib from his car somehow trapped between the tire and the rim.

So, the police come. They ticket the kid. In the meantime, my friend Carlos happens to be passing by and stops when he sees me. And, Denise, my store manager drives over from the store after I call her.

A towtruck takes my car away to some place with the ominous name of Champ's Collision Center.

I go to rent a car later that day and discover that the renewal sticker on the back of my driver's license is missing. No car rental. I get a ride home from my saintly friend, Robert.

The next day Robert kindly takes me to the DMV to fix my license and then to rent a car. But all of this is highly stressing.

So, Thursday begins four days off of work for me. Should've been sweet. I'm feeling a bit better since I have the rental car. And I have a pleasant fourth hanging out with Tom and Brian. We go to the river for the fireworks. And then I go out to the Quarter for a bit with Tom and his friend, Kelly. We dance at the Shim Sham and drink at 735.

Then, Friday, I'm trying to continue to put it all past me. And the call comes around 4 pm. "Mr Zeigler, your car is totalled. We'll cut you a check on Monday. And you have the rental paid thru Wednesday."

Fuck me.... I have 5 days to buy a new car. So, Saturday, I basically carshop from 9 am to 5 pm, covering an area of about 100 miles wide. I finally find a car I like in Denham Springs, a good hour and ten minutes from New Orleans. And they have a rebate going on for $2000 thru Monday.

So, I stop at my parents' house that nite, exhausted and stressed from carshopping all day in a 105 degree heat index. My sister and her family are there. My sister valiantly volunteers to drive to New Orleans on Monday to pick me up so I don't have to deal with getting the rental back to NO after buying a car.

Sunday, I basically sit around and totally stress out all day. And do a lot of research on the Internet.

Monday, I head to work for a 7 am 2 hour mandatory meeting. Then I rush around NO, picking up and deposting the insurance check and getting all my stuff out of and the license plate off my old car. And then I rush back to meet my sister at my store. We head to my parents' again, because my father has to be involved in the haggling.

So, two and a half or so hours later... I'm driving a 2002 Dodge Neon SXT with an EXTREMELY LOUD yellow paint job. It's loaded out with power everything, a sunroof, CD changer, etc... (And if you don't like Neons or think my car sounds cheap and tacky... well, fuck you...)

And I finally feel like a gigantic weight is off my shoulders. Whew.

just as an FYI... i'm still out here... the last week has just been... interesting...

and stressful... and very very busy...

details within the next 24 hours, i promise...

Whoo hoo... I'm currently the first hit you'll get if you search Google for "Redemption Ark".

Anyways...

One of the things I love most about New Orleans is the it's literary pedigree, of sorts. You encounter the city a lit in literature. Authors love it, with good reason.

While Anne R*ce has long been associated with the city, there was another horror author out there writing about the city in much more literate and horrific ways... Poppy Z Brite.

Living in NO and working in a bookstore, as well as being pretty active on the Internet, I'm lucky to have somewhat of a tenuous relationship with her. She shops in my store and we converse a bit there and email infrequently. And she's a genuinely nice person.

She's not published a major novel in years. Several short novels and story collections have appeared from small publishers, but no BIG novel. But, she's finished one. And it's not a horror novel. From what I know of it, it's a New Orleans novel. Other major authors who've read the manuscript, Neil Gaiman for instance, have raved about it. Andre Codrescu (who I personally loathe) called it the best New Orleans novel since Confederacy of Dunces.

And so far, no major publisher has picked it up to publish because it's not a scary vampire novel. But, there's hope. She's got a new agent and I feel confident it's gonna appear on the horizon soon.

Meanwhile, she's publishing a prequel to the novel, The Value of X, through a small press, Subterranean Press. Go here now and download the first 15 pages and see for yourself how good it is.

I'm dying to read the rest of this novel and the other...

I am book happy.

Coraline just rocked my world.

Acid Row by Minette Walters is currently providing me with my British mystery fix for a bit...

And, most importantly, Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds is winging it's way across the Atlantic Ocean to me as we speak... a total score here, because I ordered the hardcover version from Amazon UK only hours before its availability status went to "Special Order, Available in 4-6 weeks". Which means I barely managed to score a true first edition. Whoo hoo. I rock.

In email from Dominican Dave today:

Walking back to the hostel, I passed a little grocery store and they had a stereo blasting out front, like they all do here, but as I got closer I realized that the song I was hearing was "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" by the Smiths. That was so fucking weird that I just stopped and stood on the sidewalk until it was over. And the next song was the usual bachatarengue crap. I think it was some kind of sign from God. Although I feel reasonably happy...

sometimes life is really like a movie, huh?

Does anyone out there possibly have a copy of the movie A THIEF IN THE NIGHT? I would kill for a copy of it, but I don't wanna pay cash to a bunch of evil Xians to get one.

This movie left an indelible mark on my psyche. If you grew up in a Baptist or fundamentalist family of any sort in the 70s, you know exactly what I mean. For years as a child, anytime I found myself completely alone for a minute, I was convinced that I'd been 'left behind'. That the Rapture had come and poor little me had been left to fend for myself against the evil minions of the AntiChrist. That at any moment someone was gonna come around and try to put a barcode on my hand or forehead. That eventually I was gonna meet the guillotine.

So, um... I'd really like to watch it again...

So... um... I don't really meet many people that I really click with as far as dating goes. I'm a bit of a unique individual for a gay guy, I guess. I don't think I'm better than anyone else or more special or anything... I just don't meet many guys that I could see myself getting into anything longterm with.

There really hasn't been even one person since Dave and I broke up, almost five years ago, that I've really felt like I could just totally click with.

So, now... I think I've met someone that could really do it for me... and they live on the other side of the country...

I'm sort of wigging over this a bit... and have been for a couple weeks...

Oh yeah... i forgot that I also bought some action figures today. I found the brand spanking new Masters of the Universe action figures at an independent toy store this morning and I just had to get the new He-Man figure. Check him out... is he hot or what?



And I also bought some of the Where the Wild Things Are action figures. I found Max, the little boy in his animal pajamas, at clearance prices, so I snagged him.

I had my first day off of work in almost a week and it was lovely. I spent most of it watching movies. I saw Minority Report and Sum of All Fears in the theater. And I was a bit shocked that I liked Sum way more than MR. The latter movie had plotholes that you could drive a semi through. And those missing pieces just destroy the whole movie. I won't go into them cuz I don't wanna spoil it for anyone, but I think that this movie is getting way more praise than it deserves. Meanwhile, I thought Sum was a pretty tight and thrilling movie. *shrug*

Then I came home and read Coraline, Neil Gaiman's new children's book. It was pretty darn phenomenal. If you like dark twisted children's lit, check it out.

And then I ended the night by watching Showgirls. heh. talk about UNDERrated movies....

I need to stop reading the press on the whole issue of the Pledge of Allegiance or I'm going to have an aneurysm. Right now, I realize that separation of church and state means absolutely nothing to the fucking idiots we've elected to run our country, especially that raging fuckhead (former cokehead), that some of you idiots elected as our president.

Right now, i'm just completely done with the Republicans, the Democrats and pretty much everything in between.

There is NO FUCKING GOD, you FUCKING idiots.

How the hell did humanity become such a mass of stupidity? Is there no hope for rationality, science or reason ever winning the day?

This is what the major issue of the day is... whether or not our government should exalt the Christian God? It's pretty clearcut, IMO, that it shouldn't. But a cornerstone of our Constitution means nothing balanced against superstitious bullshit. And do you really think all of those politicians believe in God? I sure as hell don't.

Meanwhile, the fucking FBI can go to the library and find out every book I've ever checked out, because privacy also isn't guaranteed anymore...

Police state, anyone? To fight governments like the Taliban ours must become more like them?

Got it... i have no right to privacy and I have to worship YOUR god... is having sex with another guy gonna be illegal next? Oh that's right... it already is in Louisiana...

I'm not sure I haved a lucid point here besides the fact that I'm pissed off...

Okay... you can tell that I've been feeling crappy all week when all I blog about in a week's time is my dislike for god...

heh...

You know... I've never really thought much about the issues in this court ruling. But, I think the ruling is correct.

It is somewhat personally offensive to me that the Pledge of Allegiance requires me to recognize a god that I do not believe exists. That the currency of our country also takes note of him. As does our national anthem. What's up with that?

Of course, I don't think for a second that this ruling won't be overturned. Because, a bunch of hypocritical judges are gonna kowtow to popular opinion or to their own personal beliefs instead of doing the right thing...

I don't believe in god. I don't need god. And I thought the constitution of my country was supposed to protect me from his believers...

okay... having grown up thinking this movie was gonna come true in my lifetime, I find this article kind of scary...

heh...

ok... the pic problem should be fixed... and hopefully adding the pic off to the side didn't trash everything...

if so or if the pics are still huge, someone let me know... it all looks fine to me...

I need feedback... are the pics I'm putting on my page showing up as gigantically huge and bigger than the browser? Dominican Dave says they are for him... I see them as smaller size.

Please let me know...

Okay, you...

(inspired by Jonno's response...)

I love...

New Orleans
dogs and their unconditional love
tattoos and hot boys with tattoos
sushi
Krypto the Superdog
Dave, my ex... my bestest friend for forever
Apple Computers
books, for filling my head with so much information and so many dreams
music, for providing a soundtrack for those dreams and my life
romance
sex
dark movie theaters
my friends, each and every one of them

and on the really really good days...

i just love life

ok... i do think i need a haircut though...

I've had a terrible self image the past couple days because all of the pics I've taken of myself have been horrible... but someone suggested that i take some in natural light at an hour earlier than 11 pm...

and I think he was right... i feel much better about this...

my octopus...

craptacular, no?

So, today at work we had our big Summer Reading Kickoff party in the kids' department. And I took pics...

They're here, here and here.

Some pretty cute pics. And I'm WAY impressed with iPhoto. It made it extremely easy and unbelievably easy to download, edit and post the pictures to the Web. Seriously... WAY WAY WAY impressed.

So, Jhames isn't the only one with a doggie...

I introduce you to Keisha...

I am DAS UBER geekboy...

I am geekboy... here me roar...

I'm feeling like spending some cash this week...

do I...

1) get a new tattoo?

2) buy a digital camera?

3) buy clothes?

someone wrote a poem with me as it's subject...

Just because I haven't mentioned it lately... i am still in FUCKING LOVE with my new computer...

Apple, you rock my world...

What
kind of clothes should I be wearing? by Evelyn

Heck yeah...

If you're flash equipped, I suggest a trip to here to see what I think is gonna be a classic children's book...

I think I fixed it... i need emails confirming this if so...

Jhames, Robbie... one of you fellows who knows HTML wanna help me out? The code that the Tagboard page is giving me to put on my page is just wrong... i can tell by looking at it... Someone wanna let me email it to them so they can fix it for me? :)

Ok.... it seems the problem was the Tagboard... anyone have any advice? I liked it, damn it.

Grrrr.... where oh where is my blog? Can anyone besides me read this? Hopefully, adding this post is fixing the problem...

While reading a few NOLA blogs just now, I came across this post.

I'm not gonna repeat any of the info. You can go there and read it. If you're pro-choice and have the time, emotional stability and energy, help out somehow if you can.

I was a volunteer worker for NARAL (the National Abortion Rights Action League) as well as a clinic escort back in Baton Rouge several years ago. Back in the day when Operation Rescue went from city to city having BIG events where they blockaded clinics, Baton Rouge was their target in the summer of 1992.

It's sort of hard to believe it's been ten years. I have a lot of extremely vivid memories of that period.

In 1992, Operation Rescue was trying to repeat the success of their "Summer of Mercy" the previous year in Wichita. I think they thought they'd find a bunch of idiotic southerners who would pretty much turn a blind eye to them and let them have their way. They were very wrong. The pro-choice community mobilized and the city leaders did an exemplary job of preparing the city. The police department sent people to Wichita to learn all they could about the previous summer. When Operation Rescue arrived in town, they found that the city had blocked off a several block area around the main women's clinic in town and built a chainlink fence around it. The police department controlled the access and trained escorts were inside the fence to provide protection.

As one of those escorts, I began the week spending the middle part of the day at the clinic. By the end of the week, I was basically living at the clinic around the clock. It was July and we had very little shade during the day. And all day every day, we were hit with verbal abuse from the "Christians" on the other side of the fence. The clinic stayed open the entire week though.

Being a NARAL volunteer before the siege started, I had a bit more responsibility thrust onto me than a lot of the volunteers. I spent a lot of time just standing in the corners of the clinic lot with a walkie talkie watching the crowds.

Moments I remember that week...

-watching over the fence while several hundred people rush through the back field towards the clinic after breaking one fence while being chased by the police (they never made it to the inner fence);

-wading out into the crowd of "pro-lifers" once to bring in a woman who I suspected had come to the clinic without her prearranged escorts, trying to confirm her identity against a list I had in my pocket while not drawing the attention of the crowd and then getting her through the police cordon once the crowd realized what was going on. the look on that one woman's face made the whole week worth it...

-sleeping on concrete curled up next to Dave, who came to escort as much as he could, giving up school or work time...

-gatorade... i remember drinking lots and lots of gatorade...

-the cops being surprisingly sympathetic to us, but I guess the fact that they were being screamed at as much as we were helped in that area...

In the end, their Summer of Mercy failed miserably. It sort of broke the momentum that Operation Rescue had built up and they never really managed to have anything on a really large scale again.

I kept working as an escort at the clinic for a while. Finding myself as part of a non-violent human barricade holding crazy people away from the door of the clinic more than once. After a short while though, it took an emotional toll on me and I realized I had to stop for my own sanity. And I did.

And, honestly, i dunno if i can go back and do it again. I have to think about it a bit before I decide to volunteer this time. I want to, but...

I wouldn't, however, change one moment of the volunteer work I did before. So, again, if you feel you can help, please do so...

The past several days have been brilliant. I started 6 days off work on Thursday.

So, Thursday started with several hours laying of sun at The Country Club. Then I headed to the Quarter to meet the weekend's special guest, a fellow blogger spending a long weekend in New Orleans. I've been talking to Clee online for a while now and reading his blog just as long, but I'd never met the boy in person, so I was a bit nervous bout the whole shebang. On the way to Good Friends, we arranged to meet, I saw a cute guy on Bourbon Street. After a bit of a doubletake, I realized that the cute guy was Clee at about the same moment that he realized who I was. So, we head to Good Friends for a drink and so I can use the ATM. Then it was on to the Shim Sham for 80s nite.

For some reason, I've never really gotten that into 80s nite. Well, this week was an exception. I was shaking it on the dancefloor all nite. The big discovery for us that nite was that Sweet Child of Mine is very much a dance song. Why didn't I ever realize this in the 80s? It's got a total dance beat. Anyways, Jonathan met up with us at the Shim Sham as well and a good time was had by all.

Post Shim Sham, I wandered the streets a bit with Clee (that's pronounced like a posturpedic would be, by the way... Sealy) before grabbing a cab home. Beyond that all I'm gonna say is that someone is a very good kisser.

Friday, I met Clee back in the Quarter for lunch. I took him to my favorite complete tourist restaurant.... Cafe Maspero's on St Peter Street. Maspero's has huge sandwiches for small prices but it's always way packed with tourists. But, it was all good. Clee then go to experience the tropical nature of New Orleans, because by the time we finished eating, a ferocious rainstorm swept into the Quarter. The streets and sidewalks were flooded like crazy and trying to take cover under balconies did no good, they all leak and drip on you. Clee had to hop a cab to make an appointment in the Marigny for an upcoming artshow he's doing, so I ran into Virgin and browsed before hopping a bus home.

Friday nite, Jonathan and I went for a late dinner at La Peniche in the Marigny. I had a scrumptious shrimp platter. Afterwards, we went to the Quarter to meet up with Clee and Bud, a San Fransisco expatriate that he had dinner with. We all were pretty bushed so we called an early nite of it.

Saturday, back to the Quarter to meet Clee for coffee. We decided to ride around a bit in my car, mainly so we could hit More Fun Comics. Now, here's a guy after my heart... he's happy to go comic book shopping while on vacation. I picked up my weekly comics, including the first issue of The Filth, the latest offering from the brilliant mad brain of Grant Morrison. After comics, I introduced Clee to the yumminess of Juan's Flying Burrito. Then we just spent the afternoon hanging out and talking. A bit after 7, Clee and I met up with Jonathan, Robert and Steve at Lola's. Lola's is an amazing little restaurant on Esplanade Avenue. It's sort of Spanish, i guess... paella, ceviche, gazpacho, lots and lots of garlic. We waited about an hour for a table, standing outside and sipping wine in the humid evening. But, it was all good, good conversation, anticipation of an amazing meal. I was a bit surprised when two of my employees came walking up and said the were driving by and saw me and stopped just to say hi. That made me feel kinda nice, I have to say.

Anyways, dinner really was brilliant. I had calamari, gazpacho and seafood paella. We consumed quite a bit of wine. Conversation flowed as easily as the wine. A pretty great evening. Then we headed back to Robert's for a bit of conversation before calling it another relatively early evening.

Sunday, was another hang out in the Quarter day. I met up with Clee and we just walked around. Then my friend Brian called and met up with us. Then Jonathan called and met up with us. We wound up at Good Friends again, having frozen drinks called separators, just missing a bakesale where a cake was reportedly sold for $300.

After Good Friends, we wandered down to Tea at the Bourbon Pub. I ran into scads of people that I knew. I felt ever so popular. Twas a bit weird actually... Unfortunately, Clee had to leave pretty early to get sleep since he had an early flight out. Jonathan and I tried as hard as possible to get him liquored up so he'd stay longer but we failed... darn it...

So, we then proceeded to stay out until about midnite, getting quite soused, before grabbing a late nite snack at Angeli.

And today has been total 'sit on the couch and watch movies while eating junkfood day.' And I succeeded wildly at this....

A great fucking weekend... now I just have to figure out how to deal with a crush on someone on the other side of the country...

Ok... I added a tagboard... i dunno if it's gonna stay on here or not... what I really don't want is for it to become a little blog clique thingie of cute comments by the same five people having a conversation that no one else gets... but, if you have a comment or something to say... go for it!

wake up number 37...

wowzers... i just got through watching The Mothman Prophecies and i'm creeped out of my skin.

great great great horror movie... why the hell didn't i see this one in the theaters?

Three songs to wake up to with long languid stretches and messy hair:

All I Need - Air
Get Up - Amel Larrieux
Destiny - Zero 7

take the cher test.


and go to mewing.net. because laura isn't cher.


And thank god for that... link via my friend, Jonathan, who is 110% Cher... a fact which at this moment is causing me to reevaluate our friendship...

A stupid fact about me...

I've always wanted a Magic Eight Ball. You know, the toy that answers questions. So, all of my life whenever I've seen one in a store, I always pick it up and ask it, "should I buy you?"

Not once in 20something years has one ever given me a positive answer. So, I don't own a Magic Eight Ball.

So, no work for six days...

I slept late (8 am... sad, huh?) this morning. And quickly dove into some long overdue housecleaning and laundry. Geez, it feels good when you pick up all your crap and clean your house. Maybe there's something to all that feng shui shit... or maybe it just feels good to know I'm not gonna accidentally rip any covers off comic books by stepping on them...

Then the poor doggie got a bath followed by banishment to the backyard to dry off. I think I brushed about a cubic meter of hair off of her.

As I clean... i look around my apartment and realize that I live in the home of a retarded twelve year old... I have action figures and comic book art everywhere, combined with the best furniture that Ikea and Target have to offer , much of it as brightly colored as this webpage and quite a bit of it on big wheels.

I actually wonder if some people would be surprised to see my apartment. Out in the world, I wear dark colors mostly and tend to be a bit on the quiet and serious side... unless I'm Mr Happy Drunk Boy. So, seeing this fantasia that I live in might be a bit shocking for a few people. I dunno...

Regardless... i'm gonna spend the afternoon baking by the pool at the Country Club. And then I'm gonna spend the nite boogying to 80s tunes at the Shim Sham. With special guest in tow...

I really dunno why I'm so picture happy on my blog this week...

I am SO FUCKING jealous...

Go now and behold the most charming little romance unfold before your eyes...

What I'm listening to a LOT lately:

Sleep sure can make life look better...

My life has pretty much sucked for the last week or so. Work has been horrendous. I've been a total bitch to my coworkers. My work schedule has been grueling. I've had hardly any free time. I have bags under my eyes. I'm borderline depressed. The guy I was supposed to have a date with never called me back and when I finally did talk to him said he'd been sick and was gonna call me soon... uh huh...

But one more day and then I have six days off of work... it can't come soon enuff...

ok... so Jhames quit... i can understand why...

So, Blogwhore the Game has begun.

dunno bout you... but I'm rooting for Jhames...

a decent enuff day..

got up a little before 10 and went to brunch with a few friends at Feelings in the Marigny. Oysters, crabcakes and a whole bunch of mimosas.

Which led to a long nap with my doggie.

And then a romp in the dogpark, where I got to meet Iain, the spanking new son of my friends, Brian and Tracy. A total cutie.

And capped the nite off with my friend Steve watching Undercover Brother. Funny movie if you've seen lots of blacksploitation films of the 70s...

The date I was supposed to have this weekend never happened tho... typical... i'm terminally single...

I don't think I can stand the fact that this book isn't out until October... someone buy me an advance copy off of eBay...

Ok... what the heck happened at the Eiffel Tower involving the Osbournes? Over the past 24 hours, I've gotten 3 Google hits from "eiffel + tower + Osbournes"...

Obey the Monkey

Sometimes people just amaze me...

I went out a bit ago to walk my dog and drop a burned CD of Bran Van 3000 Discosis off to the guy who cuts my hair. It's a beautiful day out, warm and moist without being overly humid.

On the way back, I noticed a guy with a boxer puppy on the sidewalk, so I went into the street so my dog wouldn't snack on his. He looks over and smiles and says thanks. He's adorable.

My dog stops at the corner. His puppy runs closer. I compliment him on how goddamned cute it is. We talk about dogs for a second or two. We both start to walk away. And he calls out, "have a good day... and you take care of yourself." Which was so damned sweet.

I'm still smiling.

I was pondering the people in my life the other day...

My closest friends consist of...

a 20ish former barista and soon to be college student
a professor of neurobiology
a corporate attorney
his boyfriend, a nightclub manager
a voodoo priest

and me, a bookstore manager...

eclectic, no?

On the Batman action figure front...

I was shopping at Walmart for various sundries (heh, I just like saying that... "various sundries") and I came across the unexpected... three new Batman animated action figure two-packs.

Whoo hoo.

They were:
Batman & Two-Face
Batman & The Riddler
and
Batman & Robin

The last one is the important one... because it's the Tim Drake Robin (that's the younger one), but he's painted in the colors of the Dick Grayson Robin (that's the older one). Now see.. only a complete geek like me would even understand WHY that's cool...

Just trust me... it's cool...

So, last nite, I was safely wrapped in my covers in bed, when I happened to glance at the author photograph in the back of my copy of The Standing Dead and noticed an itty bitty web addy. So, leapt out of bed did I, speeding to trusty iMac.

That's right all you google drive-by people... Ricardo Pinto has a website.

I've added a link to it and two of my other favorite authors off to the side of the page.

I've also taken this opportunity to get rid of the Guestbook. Nobody ever used it. So, it's dead. Bye, Guestbook!

Yay... I just got through talking to Dave on Instant Messenger for the first time since he went to the Dominican Republic... then he had to go... cuz he had to shut down the center where he works... cuz it was Siesta Time...

Why don't we have this concept in the US????

I think the most reassuring thing to me about reading other people's blogs is that there are other people out there as obsessed and even more obsessed with music than I am...

Okay... i brought a new book home with me to read tonite, so no big update... but I did just add a link to a blog that I think is worth reading. One that was vastly improved when i went over to read it tonite over the last time I checked it out. The boy seems to have a new attitude.... and I like it!

So, I've been crawling around on different boy's blogs this morning... and it's amusing to me how I can be thinking "gee, this guy is really cute... really cool..." and then i get to the page where they list books or music or movies or general media likes and suddenly I'm, "blech!"...

I'm shallow...

Well, this was addictive for all of about five minutes... best i did was 510,000 and something...

I've never put in a link... and I don't think i've ever mentioned it, but my AOL Instant Messenger handle is...

zeddnola

So... say hi sometime...

I just took a shower... and...

I have sunburned armpits...

and the day gets BETTER!

Last nite, I left a spastic phone message for the guy from Sunday nite. And he called back tonite. And we had a nice little chat. And, after we both get thru the next few busy days, we're gonna hang...

yay...

And seriously... this is an AMAZING album.

I spent a GREAT day today just doing absolutely nothing but baking in the sun and listening to my iPod at The Country Club. A slim crowd made for a nice lowkey atmosphere, although I was one of the few non-naked guys there.

Today's listening consisted of Sigur Ros, Bran Van 3000, Sophie Ellis Bextor and the amazing new Dot Allison album. Visual entertainment was provided by the three cute and one ugly guy in a group grope in the pool...

Since I keep getting Google hits on " Ricardo Pinto "... if Ricardo Pinto happens to find this page, he should know I think he's awfully cute... and I'm wondering if he still has a boyfriend...

just FYI...

THE song of the moment is... Astounded by Bran Van 3000

Absolute required listening for this summer...

By the way... I just did a massive update on my Wishlist...

the Memorial Day weekend wrap-up... it was a $40 fast cash ATM kinda weekend...

This has been a BEAUTIFUL weekend! It all started with work on Friday. We've been prepping all week for a visit from our Regional Director and our new District Manager. And it went better than we ever could've hoped. They loved us. They loved our store. We really blew them away and it was obvious that we had. When the last thing the RD says to the store manager is, "Thanks, you just made my entire week", that's a very good thing.

Then I went to Toys R Us afterwards and found the new Marvel Legends action figures. I bought Iron Man, the Hulk and Captain America and they're SWEET. Massively articulated and great sculpts. I'm looking at them across my living room right now. *waves at Iron Man*

Friday night, I went out with Jonathan to the Quarter. We started off with dinner at Angeli. Then we wandered over to Good Friends for a drink and the use of the ATM. Then we spent most of the rest of the evening just hanging out and drinking at Lafitte's. Ran into Beau for a brief moment and made plans with him for later in the weekend.

Saturday, I slept late and then salvaged a Weber grill that had been abandoned behind the apartment complex next door. A bit of scrubbing and it was good as new. Then I went to the New Orleans Wine and Food Expo at the Convention Center. I had a free pass to the $75 Grand Tasting and also got my friend Robert into it. A GREAT afternoon spent tasting dozens of wines and champagnes. Robert is a lot (LOT) more knowledgable about wines than me, so having along was a trip.

I've been trying to eat out more at finer restaurants of late and one thing I've discovered while doing so is that I really like nicer wines. So, the Expo was an opportunity for me to learn quite a bit and discover some wines that I might like. A really nice moment was having Robert tell me, "you're good at this" in reference to my attempts to describe the "experience" of each wine. He's not someone to give out untrue compliments. I think I may need to take some wine-tasting classes...

Anyways, after tasting a LOT of wine, here are a couple that I'll definitely be buying (and they're all pretty inexpensive - under $20):

Jacob Creek Chardonnay
Heathfield Ridge Sauvignon Blanc (very sweet, almost tastes like a Riesling)
Heathfield Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon (this wine blew everyone I knew at the Expo away - incredibly yummy)
J Lohr Cabernet Sauvignon
King Estate Pinot Gris (especially the Reserve, but this has been a recent favorite of mine anyway)

After the Expo, I came home and took a nice nap. Can't imagine why I'd need it after a Wine Expo... and then I used the new to me grill to make some burgers.

Then back out to the Quarter with Jonathan to meet up with Robert. Drinking at Lafitte's again and then dancing at Oz. Not normally one of my favorite bars, but since all the little tweaky fags that I hate (um... sorry, Jonno) were in Pensacola, it was pretty fun. Not so crowded that you couldn't actually dance on the dancefloor and lots of cute toursit boys. I did learn that I need to get over the paranoia that I sometimes have. Early in the nite, I saw this boy continually staring at me and talking to his friend and sort of laughing. I was convinced they were laughing at the way I dance. Later in the nite, the boy walks by me and strokes my arm. So the boy LIKED me, duh. Anyways, home around 4 am...

Sunday, bloody Sunday... Got up around noon and headed to Bywater Bar-B-Que to meet Beau for brunch. Very yummy and we sat in the courtyard (gotta love New Orleans). Then we went to The Country Club for the afternoon to lay out and catch some sun. First time I'd been there during they day and I loved it. Very casual atmosphere, 95% gay, of people just hanging out, swimming, catching rays, being naked if they choose to be so, and etc. A nicely mixed crowd of older, younger, hipper, not so hip and not many divas at all. I'll be back...

After a quick shower at Beau's we headed to the Quarter AGAIN, just in time for Tea Dance at the Bourbon Pub. We bounced from there to Oz to Lafittes over the course of the nite. Beau was on the prowl for a boy. I was pretty laid back.

And then...

I met someone very interesting. I was instantly attracted to a guy Beau introduced me to. Older than me by a couple years, but dressed exactly like I would want my future boyfriend to be dressed. (um... not that I'm getting ahead of myself... seriously) He was a goofy obnoxious guy who was singing along loudly to the 80s retro videos that Lafitte's was playing, and making up his own extremely funny lyrics half the time. He had a great green snake tattoo curled around his arm onto his back. His knowledge of semi-obscure 80s dance music rivals mine. He remixes records as a career (sorta unique for New Orleans). He lives uptown, not too far from me. He's damned cute.

And he interrupted his singing long enuff to tell me that I was cute.

And then he interrupted it long enuff to offer his phone number to me. Which I took.

And the last thing he said to me when we left was, "call me."

And I'm gonna...

Now... I still have two days off of work... what to do... what to do...

This has been long tedious week.

The conference that i went to in Dallas was long and boring and I was paired up in a hotel room with a guy that I absolutely can't stand. There was one really cute guy from the corporate offices there though. Not too sure if he likes girls or boys though...

The rest of the week has been consumed with preparation at work for a visit from our Regional Director and our new District Manager. And that happened today.

And it went beautifully. We blew them away.

Now I need a nap...

or a drink...

regardless, I have the next 4 days off work. This is a good thing.

OH MY GOD...

the season finale of Buffy...

the last scene....

OH MY GOD...

the fall tv season cannot start soon enuff...

I feel incredibly boring cuz I ain't said a damned word of interest, if a word at all, of late...

I'm off to Dallas for business meetings (that sounds SO mature) for the weekend. Not a fun trip, flight there one day, meetings meetings meetings, flight back. Feh. And I'm SOO procrastinating packing.

It is SO totally all about fischerspooner right now. Seriously. They are IT as far as I'm concerned.

I know that downloading music and having fast access is old hat to most of you.... but.... wow. I downloaded more songs off of Audio Galaxy in half an hour this afternoon than I have in the last five days.

And I find it really fascinating when I notice on gnutella that someone is uploading from me a song that I downloaded only a few minutes earlier. Craziness.

oh wow... downloading music is SOOO much faster when you're not using dial-up...

so, can someone explain to me exactly why CDs still cost almost $20 each? My incentive to buy them now is what???

At last... at long long last... DSL has come to my home...

The only good thing to happen today after getting too much sun yesterday and being sick as a dog all nite as a result...

I'll update in a bit... if i can get my ass off the sofa for that long...

Accordigng to recent reports both here and here, i'm no longer mysterious...

Wait... i was mysterious???

Not much has been going on around here besides work. Work work work. And downloading music. I just discovered (again with the blond issue) that AudioGalaxy does indeed work with Macs. God help me. GOD HELP ME!!!

Now if only Earthlink could get my damned DSL hooked up...

Looking back at old posts is dangerous... I just realized that I said that Dave was desperate for American music... so i'm going to send him the Hives... a Swedish band...

hey... i'm blond...

Ok... someone else did a much better job at setting up a website for Dave, the ex who joined the Peace Corps.

Go visit the site and be a real saint and take part in the tape contest he's conducting. You computer geeks out there can just burn a CD off your computer and then tape it on a cassette. Dave and his fellow volunteers are dying for some good old American music.

Dave's tastes run to Sonic Youth, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Yo La Tengo, etc etc... I'm sending him the whole Hives compilation CD. I know he's gonna dig that.

Seriously, folks, it doesn't matter that you don't know him. Dave would LOVE to get tapes from strangers. And throw a comic book in the box when you mail it.