Home.

It's day 6 of my vacation here in good ol' Bowie, MD.  I'm at the parents' house just waiting for everyone to get up.  I'm still on west coast time but it's already 9:00am here!!!  Gee -- don't people work around here? Oh wait -- they're retired.  LOL.  Anyway -- it was a whirlwind weekend with the ENTIRE family in town to celebrate my little neice's 2nd birthday.  It was also family portrait day this past Friday.  My baby brother and his new wife came down from Toronto to take part in all the "fun".  Believe it or not, I also survived an entire day at church this past Sunday!  Anyway -- it's time to hang out with all of my friends now until next Tuesday when I fly back to LA.  The only bummer is that none of my friends are responding to me.  Hmmph.  Oh well, time to mow the lawn.  WHAT?!?  Long story.....

Up, up and away.

I look thrilled, eh? Even my perennial eye bags had eye bags! I think I got a total hour and a half of sleep. The plane was full and since I was traveling on a space available pass (courtesy of one of my aunts), I was the last one cleared to go for the flight.  I really can't complain -- for the equivalent of $50+ I got an aisle seat on a non-stop flight across the country.  Oh yeah -- did you notice that I was in the last row right by the restrooms???  It was MOST pleasant after the refreshments were servered and people started lining up for the toilets.  Oh well. At least I'm on vacation for the next 10 days. It will be great to visit family and friends again.

The Getty.

I love going to The Getty.  Aside for the $15 parking fee (!), it's one of the few free things you can go here.  We spent most of the day just enjoying the grounds and took a couple of tours outside.  We did, however, catch the Rembrandt drawings exhibit.  It's totally not my thing, but I was just in awe seeing masterful books and prints that were over 350 years old!

Anyway, thank goodness it was a beautiful and clear day in LA.  After all of the rain we had in the past couple of weeks (not that it's a bad thing) and the cooler than normal weather, it was nice to be out and about on my day off!  Sorry I had to resort to using my camera phone, but the pics didn't turn out THAT bad, right?  LOL.

TGI...Tuesday?

I went to T.G.I. Fridays for some after work cocktails today with some coworkers.  I'm all about margaritas for some reason.  Anyway, sorry for the dark pic.  It's hard trying to take a covert picture when the people you are with REALLY REALLY don't want to be photographed!

I am finally getting my car back from the mechanic tomorrow.  We won't mention how I have been without my own wheels for over a month now.  We also won't mention how my back-up wheels (my relatives' late model mini-van) busted a fan belt while I was driving it last week.  Something tells me maybe I shouldn't be driving???  Anyway -- over the past week or so, I've been getting to work through the kindness of the fellow co-workers I had drinks with tonight.  On the days I'm not able to hitch a ride, I've been taking the bus.  Getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to get ready to go to work is NOT cute.  What is normally a 20-25 drive to work has been escalated to about an 1 hour and 15 minutes riding the bus with a transfer of lines in the middle.  'Tis the life of living in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

Lunch break.

Just me and Katie from work having lunch at a local Japanese restaurant.  We had a couple of rolls and some tempura.  Mmmm.  I don't know what I would do without rice.  LOL.  Meanwhile, it's totally not helping with the Dr's recommendation of me losing 40 lbs for this anticipated surgery this summer.  Ugh.

I miss _____.

...my friends from back home. I moved away from Washington, DC over 3 years ago and miss my old gang a lot. I generally try to make a trek back there to visit every 6 months or so, but things don't always work out that way.

Dumpage on WEHO.

From Pic a day

Mike + Steve

From Pic a day

Jerome + Mike

The Motherlode just dumped into the street (just like every other bar in West Hollywood) at 2:00am. I had a great time with Steve and Jerome from Paris. Thanks for getting me out of the house on a Friday night! The Eagle - Faultline - Eagle - WEHO barhopping is something I probably wouldn't have done on my own! :-)

Vacation Pix.

I need a better camera than the one on my phone! ;-)

Summer Vacation 2009

Friend.

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Friend - Jerome Isma-Ae Remix - Silky Sunday

Here are the lyrics (from what I can figure out):

so why don't you just say all you wanna do
all you wanna
all you wanna do
all you wanna do
all you wanna do

everybody needs a friend sometimes
why dont we
everybody needs a friend sometimes
why don't you bring it in
everybody needs a friend sometimes
i'm gonna stand by your side
everbybody needs a friend sometimes
why don't you bring it in

i'm gonna stand by your side
i'm gonna stand by your side


The words really don't make any sense but put into context of the music and how song is sung, it just gives me chills every time I hear it. It's haunting and sad yet optimistic all in one. I know this is kind of old (originally released last year) but I thought I'd post this for someone I know.

I'm all about this progressive type of sound lately. It's dance music yet not all that danceable. Totally something to listen on your headphone with your eyes closed or just driving down the highway with the radio blasting! I hope you like it.


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Heart attack on a plate.

... and boy, it was GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!  ;-)

Yesterday's excursion into LA proper was spent with my old roommate from DC Glen and his cousin Malou from San Francisco.  They were just visiting for the weekend and we decided to take in some of the sights.  We basically just ATE.  Probably the biggest highlight was a visit to ROSCOE'S HOUSE OF CHICKEN n WAFFLES.  I'll just let the pictures speak...


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Happy _____.

Parol. from Michael Almacen on Vimeo
(you can mute the sound unless you wanna hear the dog bark)

I took the video above myself from my doorstep. It's called a parol and it's one of the Christmas decorations my family here put up on their house. I will spare you the continuous 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' 8-bit Atari theme it comes with.  We were already spoken to by the neighbor.  

The holidays are interesting here in Southern California. As an east coast transplant, it's definitely a big plus that I don't have to deal with the bitter cold, inclement weather, and overcoats. It does become a lot cooler than average here, however. The scarves actually start to come out around October when the temps drop below 60 degrees Fahrenheit!  ;-)  Seriously, though, it does kind of creep up on you.  You notice it more at night because the temperature changes drastically.  60 degrees with the sun out in the day is a whole lot different than let's say 50 degrees at night ... by the beach.  Trust me.  By the time night rolls around, you are just not prepared for it with the coats and things.  Just call me a baby -- I'm sensitive!

Anyway -- it's the end of an old year and the start of a whole new one.  I've started to get a lot more blog readers.  For years I used to think that I wrote to myself.  Considering I really don't advertise my musings of a whole lot of nothing, it's not bad I guess.  Thank you to all of you who do read.  More comments would be most appreciated.  Making dj mixes has also become a new hobby of mine.  Give me another year -- I'm sure I'll improve a lot.  As for work ... well, it's work.  There are a few things brewing up for me to jump on when the time is right.  Either way -- it involves some change and will eventually be the deciding factor for me to continue living here in Los Angeles.  I've been here for more than 2 years and I'm ready for a change.  We'll just leave it at that for the time being.  What else ...... ?  Oh yeah, my relationship with my family has changed a lot (for the better) this past year.  We've gotten a lot closer despite being split between coasts.  My brothers are all grown up and adults now.  My parents are now both retired and have a lot of time on their hands as well.  With the birth of my new neice, they've mellowed out big time.  Good for them.  Better for us.  Ha!  Lastly, going back home to DC in late November gave me a big boost on my personal morale level.  Seeing my family again and hanging out with old friends again is something that I miss.  We'll see what happens soon to help remedy that.

The new year is definitely a time for change on many levels.  Without the triteness of setting resolutions, I just wish everyone the best and let's start this one out with a bang.  Happy New Year everyone!

I'm Back!

Yes, I'm back ... home in LA that is. Never mind the fact that it has taken me almost a week to recover from my 10-day holiday back home in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. It was such a whirlwind experience! Other than being home in Maryland and DC, I drove down to Richmond and even took the train up to NYC for a little bit of shenanigans! I got to hang out with my family for the first part of the trip and the later part I spent it with friends. I even got to spend some long lost time with old friends from high school with the help of Facebook! No matter how hard I try to document my experiences with photos, I always seem to forget that I have a camera on hand to take quick snapshots. Either way, fond memories last longer, right? I really miss home.

Mulan's Asian Invsion Tour 2008 (LA edition)

 

It was my 40th birthday this past Friday. It was also Labor Day yesterday which garnered a 3-day weekend here in the US so my friend Mulan flew in from DC to help me celebrate. We did everything from sightseeing to clubbing to just general touristy things like visit Universal Studios Hollywood where the above picture was taken. The more I look at it, the more I think we look like asian gansters or something. LOL. Anyway, I had a blast but as I type this I'm just wiped out. I had to work today and just was NOT in the mood. Thank goodness my normal day off during the week is tomorrow. I'm definitely just going to relax. Being an ambassador of goodwill and general craziness takes a lot out of you. LOL.

Fierce Hot Tranny Mess (Mike and Jay Remix).

Mike and Jay at ..., originally uploaded by flip4bearz.

Not so much the TRANNY. Most definitely FIERCE HOT MESSES! Miss Jay 'Super K' was in town visiting this weekend and we tore it up!!! Jay was my partner in crime in many a sketchie endeavors from back in the day. We would always trade visits in New York and DC and just dance. It was great to revisit those good ol' times once again. Both nights started us out a The Abbey in West Hollywood. Ever have an orange mojito? Yum! On Friday we also went to Rage. Last night was a little dance marathon at Avalon with awesome DJ Victor Calderone. The one unifying thing that brought it all together were the crazy little asians. Jay and his friends are taller than the 'norm' to put it bluntly. Couple that with me at 5'9"+ you just had our group looking over at a lot of people's heads in the crowd. ASIANS are just everywhere here and there were particularly a lot of 'extremely enhanced' ones out last night just doing a particular dance that involved a lot of shaking. It was just a little too much for words. Don't think I'm a hater or anything, but I really am! LOL. Just back from where we're from, we just weren't used to it all. I'm going back home to DC in April and Jay says he'll make the trek down for Cherry Weekend. I can't wait!

Disney California Adventure.

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I spent the entire day today with my friend Mike C at Disney's California Adventure theme park (the 2nd theme park at the Disneyland Resort). The park is located in Anaheim which is about an hour or so away from where I live. You can see photos on my flickr account. It was a bit overcast and cooler than expected, but I had fun. Mike had an extra 2nd-day ticket from a previous visit earlier this month and I took advantage of the opportunity. The normal $56 single day 1-park admission is just a little too steep for me to just blow on a whim if you know what I mean. Call me cheap, but ...

The day began with us arriving shortly after the park opening at 10:00am. Somehow we got stuck at the furthest parking lot that was actually off property and a good 3-4 blocks away! There was some kind of cheerleading competition going on as well and there were hundreds of girls of various ages swarming everywhere - matching hair extensions, ribbons and bows galore! The first ride was the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I immediately got ill after the 3-4 drops in the ride. I also kept one comparing it (and the whole experience) to the original ride and the bigger park in Orlando, FL. IMHO, the Orlando experience is much bigger and better. Anyway, Mike probably heard it so much, he zoned it out. Bless his heart. ;-0 We also wanted to take advantage of their 'Fast Pass' system where you can get advanced placement in a special line when you came back to an attraction at a specified time. All you need is your original entrance ticket to use at a special 'Fast Pass' machine. By the time it came to use our 1st attraction pass, Mike lost his entrance ticket. This was only about 2 hours into the day!!! BLESS HIS HEART, INDEED! I was totally over the whole experience by then but I just kept on going. It was FREE after all, right?

The day continued on and we saw a 3-D Muppet Movie which was cute. We also saw some kind of film about the history of California that was dramatized with Whoopi Goldberg as some kind of ethereal host / character taking part in key point in the past (original indians, the gold rush, asian immigration, etc.). I walked away from it with a sense of, "Why did I sit through and watch this piece of California propoganda?" The whole think just came across as being just a bit too schmaltzy for me. After the movie there was an outdoor performance selected songs from HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2. Halfway through that, we noticed that were the only 2 adult males watching the show WITHOUT little children in tow. LOL. I didn't care -- the dancers and singers were cute. Oh yeah -- we were standing behind Gelman (from the KELLY AND REGIS SHOW) in the crowd. It appeared he was with his family and kids and they had some kind of VIP escort shuffling them around. We silently stalked him on that side of the park for a little while.

The day, as a whole, was a nice break from the norm - I normally don't get Saturdays off. Too bad the weather wasn't nicer. We probably would have spent more time there. Maybe next time.

Going ....

somewhere ... figuratively speaking! I haven't blogged in a while. Nothing much going on really. Just work and getting by. Today was the first time in a long while where I was able to do some 'touristy' stuff in LA. I went to see the Murakami exhibit at the MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) in the morning and then to the Griffith Observatory later in the afternoon with a coworker. Pictures available in my Flickr stream. In keeping with the Japanese theme of the day, I ended up having dinner at a ramen noodle house in Gardena. Fancy, huh? LOL.

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The dance.

Joe.My.God. is one of the blogs that I've been regularly reading lately. In the above, he posted a video about being 'middle aged' and still going out dancing in clubs. I was definitely guilty at gawking and possibly making comments about certain older types out and about in the clubs, but after watching the above posting, I definitely have another point of view now. I've gone on and on about it here in my own blog that I'm more than a club music fanatic. It's in my veins and simply just a part of me that I can't explain. I've been going out since after high school in '86, but I didn't actually become a 'club kid' per se until the early 90's after college. Those shenanigans really culminated up until this past summer where I was part of a group of friends in DC who were part of the A-list so to speak. I would actually be able to go out on a Friday night and actually know more than a few dozen people in the place. They were more acquaintances really than friends, but they all knew me and I knew all of them. There was indeed a sense of community and within that community I have some dear and great friendships. For some people, nightclubs and nightclubbing is just a vapid and superficial playground full of drunkenness, drugs, and sex. Well YEAH! Duh! If you're looking for it, all of that stuff is easy to find. For me -- it's really about the music and dancing and getting lost in it all. All of that other stuff is just icing on the cake I guess. I've moved on from my old clique back in DC and definitely don't go out as much. Maybe now is a good time to take a new lease on my social life. My little taste of it last weekend in West Hollywood with my friend Tony brought back a lot of good memories. It's a new crowd here in LA. I'm definitely creeping up into the one of the 'older guys' at the club status too. It doesn't matter. I'll just go out and dance and have a good time just like I always have!

One night in LA.

Sunday night one of my best friends (and former roommates) was visiting LA on a layover from work. He’s a flight attendant and was in just for Sunday night. I haven’t seen him since last summer and was really happy that we got to meet up even just for a few hours. We ended up hanging out in West Hollywood and went to a really fun party at a place called HERE. The music was great – a lot better then what I hear at the local bear bar parties I’ve been attending in Long Beach that’s for sure. We ended talking about how much we did and DIDN’T miss that whole scene from DC. It was more of a social thing that we missed than the actual ‘partying’ per se. Either way, we just had a couple of light beers and I was really digging the music. That’s what I really missed most from that time. I danced and jumped around regardless. Maybe it’s time to actually make the effort and not just hide out at home, huh? Oh well – it was a relatively early night for the both of us since we both had to be at work the next morning. I ended up dropping him off at his hotel clear across town by the beach. On the way back home, lo and behold, I get pulled over by the Redondo Beach police! Apparently it was because of my suspicious turn into the driveway, immediate exit, AND busted left tail-light! Wow – of course I’m not driving a car in my name (it’s my aunt’s that I’m living with)! Of course I appear to have somewhat slurred and hesitant speech (I was tired – it was 1:00am and have been awake since 7 the morning before)! Of course, my driver’s license is still from Washington, DC (technically by law, I should have changed it over to California after 90 days of claiming residency). Of course I appeared to smell of alcohol and cigarettes (from the visit to the bar the hour before)! We then proceeded to do standard simple sobriety tests like following the officer’s finger from left to right without moving my head. As they were running the check on my driver’s license, the officer interviewing me just wasn’t convinced that I was okay to drive. “If I ever had a dollar for everyone telling me they just had one drink…” I was asked to get out of the vehicle and stand straight up and do the same visual test. It still wasn’t good enough. I then had to stand still, tilt my head back, and then count to 30. Of course I wasn’t drunk, but I was scared shitless at this point. Luckily I managed to keep my cool. Things just got a little surreal as the other officer was writing me a ‘Fix-it’ citation for the vehicle. The original interviewing officer started talking to me about the weather, life in DC, whether or not he should go visit, and me enjoying my ‘new’ move to California. It was just beyond words at that moment. Stuff like this never happens to me and it just brought back some crazy memories of the last time I got pulled over a few years back. For the sake of argument and being a whole other topic – I won’t go into ‘that’ moment right now. It all ended well. They told me that the stop was for my own safety, yadda, yadda, yadda. I was thinking they were just bored. Of course they were cute too, so while I’m just sitting there on the curb for the whole thing to get over with, the cop fantasies were just going full force. Would I have put out? OF COURSE! ;-)

Happy New Year!

The year 2006 has finally come and gone. For the past few weeks, I’ve been trying my earnest to try to come up with something a little more than interesting to post as my “end-of-the-year” wrap-up. I can truthfully say that I’m pretty much at a loss for words … profound ones at least. LOL. I know for a fact that in 2006, I probably fell into one of the deepest holes of depression I’ve probably ever encountered in my life. After quitting my job with the airline back in February, I distanced myself from my immediate family for quite a long time. Instead of trying to get on with life and move on, I pretty much wallowed in the emptiness of endless partying and drugs and the like. It got to the point where I’d go 3-4 days straight without sleeping trying to keep the party going and going until my body just couldn’t. I started falling for my friends really hard (more so than normal) which led to a lot of unnecessary heartbreak. Oh yeah, speaking of friends … I gained a lot and unfortunately lost a few because of the “party” so to speak. I waited until about my birthday in August to put everything into perspective and make the big jump from DC to LA to start to get things right. In hindsight, I’m still pretty amazed to see how I was able to survive for about 6 months or so without a full-time job and living on my own in a house with roommates. Of course during this time, I depleted all of my savings, spent my 401K, ran up credit cards, and ran down bank accounts. But hey, I did have a good time at least, right? Come to think of it, with all of the various things I snorted, smoked, drank, and ingested, I really didn’t feel like eating a whole lot and lost a ton of weight in the process! LOL.

Craziness, huh? It’s all good though. In all reality, I don’t really regret anything that I have done in my life this past year. Drugs definitely bring out many evils in people you know. You definitely learn how to tell the difference between who your REAL friends are from just mere acquaintances. This is just a statement of fact so please don’t imply that I’m passing judgment on anyone here. I’ve met many cool and interesting people and gained some great true friends in the process. I just definitely could have done other things that weren’t so “interesting” of course, but that’s just life. You really don’t live it until you LIVE IT! I suppose you can just take it all in as one big learning experience and then move on, right?

So it just turned 2007 and I’m glad to say that I’m still alive and breathing in Los Angeles! I’m thankful that I have family here to help me out with a place to live and a car to drive while I get myself back together. I don’t smoke cigarettes as much. I certainly haven’t touched any of those little party favors that are simply known as various single letters of the alphabet since I left DC. I do think about it now and then, but it’s no fun when you don’t know anyone to do with them with. A good thing for now I’m sure. New Year’s resolutions are a bit trite so I’ll just set some “guidelines” to live my life by this year. For starters, (1) I need to get healthier and start exercising and lose some weight in a good way. (2) I really need to find a good job that I REALLY like. (3) I also really want to move and eventually settle in San Francisco. How’s that for being vague yet to the point? LOL. Wish me luck so that 2007 will turn out to be a fantastic year for me!!!

friendships are such an important factor in my life. i grew up as an only child in a relatively decent family for about 12 years before my fist sibling came along. just your general middle class immigrant family in the suburbs of maryland. i was born in the philippines, from my understanding, into a fairly affluent family. i grew up with my grandparents taking care of me while my parents worked abroad. i even had a personal nanny take me from the philippines to the united states. from that end, i was never really close to my parents because they probably didn't know how to deal with me let alone come to a foreign country where we didn't have maids and cooks attending to us. back in the 70's i was your typical run of the mill latch-key child. i remember as young as 6 i would have a key around my neck to get me into the apartment and wait until my mom got home from work to cook dinner. for about 3-4 hours in a day, i'd be at home putzing around and watching tv or something. this probably resulted in me always feeling alone and was very much an introvert most of my life. as i grew older, i slowly came out of my shell. i have come to terms with me being gay. i have grown to understand why and how my parent's and the rest of my family have become BORN AGAIN CHRISTIANS. i have progressed a lot in my personal well being and growth -- just as anyone else should as they grow older and experience life. fast forward to 2004 -- i move back to washington, dc after a few years hopping all over the country basically trying to get through with life. i have come across a group of friends in dc who i have grown into a very close relationship with. more so than possibly any instance in my lifetime. with this set of friends comes along an exponential amount of ancillary other people i have gotten to meet, yet keeping the core group strong and (somewhat) healthy. as i have rambled on in my other postings here over the past few years, my acquaintance level has skyrocketed in the past 6-7 months compared to who i knew previously. acquaintances, yes, i have many -- friends -- or better yet -- FAMILY -- i just have my key core group. over the past few months and more specifically in the past 24 hours, things have more than fallen apart. no need to go into specific details. suffice to say, i'm still trying to be my typical self -- even keeled, relatively unaffected, holding it all in until that one day or moment where it will just explode. whenever THAT happens -- god help the soul who's on the other end of that conversation. trust me -- it gets messy. that's just one of my non-confrontational passive aggressive things that i do. i really need to work on that.