more richmond

as i got into town from anna and sam's house, i ended up parking my dad's car right on grace street, directly in front of my old apartment at 1120 west grace st. it was quite fitting. so i spent the day with marshe and casey at rumors. being that most everyone is at work, i just kicked it with the ladies and bothered them while they worked. and to my lovely surprise, lauren healey popped in. i got a two-for-one. she hooked me up with a pastrami sandwich as well. man, it feels good coming home. we then ran to the salvation army in the soggy and cool weather. that much rain was sort of nice to experience, for a hot sec. on the way back we made a pit stop at lauren's new house in northside. i quickly became stoked and jealous of the property ownership...but ultimately stoked! she gave me a few pieces of jonny's artwork and i started to well up again. it was a bit much. i've been having those moments here and there since being back. it gets very overwhelming at times and hard to breathe.

after a breathtaking, confusing, amazing and tight episode of lost, anna, erin and i went to godfreys. the drag show was fun, as per usual, but a little long as we were all anticipating hearing the single ladies jam. we did, we danced, we moved on. on my bike ride back i had a reflective moment about my time in richmond. everything always feels so comfortable when i come back that i find myself asking why i really left, why i stay gone and if i'll ever be coming back. i love the community, the friends, and the memories of an old life. i just know that at this moment in my life i need to see if i can survive in a large city, to see if i can even do it. only time will tell.

richmond

i just got here yesterday in the early eve. i picked up anna at the clothes rack and we went back to her and sam's crib.  they made delicious whole wheat pizza.  marty, frank and rasul came over. we reminisced about brunswick, the compound, allen street, et. al. whew, how time goes by.  it was so very good to see the guys again.

another attempt

lets try this again.

jan.2009.

new years at the house of babes. time well spent.  i met this guy, heath, so that made me happy. erin foley was in town as well, that melted my heart.  nicole was in from portland. also a plus. it was a wonderful party indeed.  elizabeth birkenbuel sorta took the cake for most drunk. she's a doll. the french were there as well.  they were very sexual, to the say the least.  and then there were rude, drunk hipsters that came, drank, ate, and were annoying.  we laughed about them the next day.  we also watched slum dog millionaire. beautifully done i thought.

i've been unemployed as of the christmas holidays.  still looking for work, even harder so after the new year.  full time job looking for a job. it's true.  in the meantime,  i joined elizabeth, avi, nick and dre in the very informal and continually growing unemployed hiking club.  it's a great way to stay active and sane while looking for work. plus, it's LA, so it's always nice to find new hikes to appreciate the urban mess of a city.

also been passing my time by reinstating the animal facts club in los angeles. members include zoe, natalie, patrick and myself.  i hope the group becomes larger as time goes on.  we've only had one meeting thus far.

i got wasted with christopher and his friend jonathan (from england) at this hollywood hills party.  so euro!  karaoke, dancing, dude from project runway, girl from lost, ohh the LA life.  hung over the next day....terribly hung over the next day.  quelled the fire with cheese pizza and two liter of coke.  the usual. later that day i met up with frau fiber in regards to worn again LA. all systems seem go. i'm excited.  a lot needs to be done but i think it will be a really fun event. i'm so very stoked to have met her and to work with her on this project.

inauguration day=one of the best days in my life in such a long, long time.  it's coming very close to election day...which i think at this point, takes the cake.  the day had come and it still didn't seem very real. it still sorta doesn't.  it was such a refreshing morning and by refreshing i mean 85º.  it was fucking hot.  everyone was in such a great mood. tears, tears everywhere...married with a sense of relief and understanding of hard work ahead.

and then i left to come back east for a bit.  now i'm here.  on the east coast for a couple weeks. i just visited my girl ashleigh up in pittsburgh. we laughed....A LOT...as per usual. we drank too much wine....ate a bunch...danced a whole lot. places of interest included, her apartment with her adorable roomate Mala aka Mall-Man!  Ashleigh=Shleighman, i'm Paul-Man. we also went to some bars, a house party with so many gays, stinky ones too (yumm)...we went to the andy warhol museum.  we were little kids in the space room with the silver balloon-pillows and fans. it was too much fun.  we ate bagels, drank coffee, froze our asses off, had a hoe-down, drove in her stinky, moldy car, watched 30 rock, bridget jones, lost, and giggled like school girls.  words include: totertots, lits aka literally.  the first night there we danced to old school funk and soul. i got hit on by this guy that looked like he was 14.  she got hit on by a gay guy that looked like he was 12.  we went to the sunoco afterwards and the queeny cashier thought i was a kept man.  i told him, "honey, i wish."  he retorted, "ain't nothing wrong with that."  we stumbled over our laughter as we left the gay station.

i drove back on sunday. it was a quick, cold, and somewhat scenic ride.  chilled with my bro and his girl lucy for the night. watched death becomes her and the kingdom. left for dc on monday to meet tim, metal megan and kerry's good friend from seattle, that now lives in dc. we at lunch in chinatown (in coincidental celebration of the chinese new year (the ox)).  we headed to the museum of natural history but before we made it we took a detour to the botanical gardens.  a very pleasant and much needed stop considering the bitter cold and the extreme warmth the gardens had to offer.  we went to the jungle, did the canopy walk. it was nice.  after our culturally rich day of dinosaur bones, wing spans, whale exhibits, national geographic photography, and the glamorous hope diamond, we headed towards.....uh...well...it was close to dupont.  we chilled out....warmed up...what have you.  i met some very interesting people, dega, melvin and al.  melvin, tim and myslef went to the uber gay bar, halo.  as i'm writing this, i'm listening to the song halo, by beyonce, and this was not intentional. i swear. i sorta like the song.  

i got wasted. i was drunkzilla. through the course of the night i broke a beer bottle, dropped my chinese food, lost my scarf, dropped a bagel at tim's house even later in the night yet somehow managed to pay my expensive tab and not loose vital stuff.  yep, still got it.  tim, on the other hand, was "losing" things all night.  first his phone, etc, etc, and then would pull out various forms of jewelry and accessories in search of his "lost" items.  it was funny at the time. thanks tim for a great time. solid guy.

now i'm getting ready to head to richmond.  yay!  more later....later.