Odds and Ends
hey guys, so this post is going to be all over the place. i just wanted to mention some of the various highlights of the past few weeks before they disappear into oblivion. so... lest i digress... here we go..
a few weekends ago, i went to not only my first pride parade in houston, but in all truth and honesty, my first pride parade at all. and it was in general a fun evening i have to say. now, the houston pride celebration's hallmark is that its a night parade, due to the fact that when it all started, people realized real quick that a day parade in houston's june heat... well, somewhat of a drag to gay mirth. anyways, after doing odds and ends at home for most of the morning and afternoon that saturday, i finally met up with esau and hector to go see the parade. we were planning on going to the "festival" before hand but the weather wasn't really cooperating... and we just hoped that the rain would let up for the actual parade... which it did. you see... God loves his little gay children too... ha.
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the time before the parade actually started was a little annoying... crowds, and nothing really to look at. but once the floats started rolling by, and mardi gras "beads" were being thrown everywhere.... well, it was really fun. i guess it was my little taste of mardi gras as well, another urban festival i have yet to partake in. haha, i did get a little excited i have to admit trying to catch all the beads being thrown in my direction.... after an hour or so, i had gotten a nice little collection. bead collecting was i have to say really the only part of the parade that was fun... the float themselves were really nothing to note... except for the "asians and friends" "float".... a group of older bearish white men... and one asian... all dressed in these huge white boxes resembling chinese take out boxes... with little "coolie" hats. haha... thank god everyone was in a good mood... otherwise.... this little spectacle i have to say bordered on being somewhat racist... for the imagery, but also for the fact that there were mostly only "Friends"... and hardly any "Asians". Haha... gay culture and race relations as usual. what can you do? :)
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after the parade ended, our little party went asian as well... for a late meal that is. we went to "hollywood"... the vietnamese/chinese staple in montrose. the meal was typical except for our encounter with "star"... another example of the species fagus hagenisis tour de force. she came up to our table, slid into the booth ever so nicely and began chatting us up. eventually we found out that she was the fag hag of the uncle of the 16 (yes, i said 16) year old gay boy that was eating with her and that said “child” thought esau was the hottest thing... so “star”, came up and chatted us up to see if esau would want to say hello and take a picture or what not. ha.... this would have been fine, except star also felt the need to justify her "straightness" by enlightening us with her previous forays into beaver munching. ok... yeah... so last season o?. strangely enough, esau played along... and when “star” asked for our number so that she could "hang" with us later... esau told hector to give his. in a classic move, hector whips out his cell phone, looks at it briefly, and then gives "his" number. later we find out hector did a quick one, two and gave esau’s number to “star”. haha.... classic. i love it. i would not have been so quick i have to admit.
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we finally got rid of “star” and the 16 year old youth… but i am glad he was coming out and enjoying his first pride... because the way he looked and carried himself... he really didn't have a choice to "not" come out in my opinion... haha. yeah. so after hollywood we traveled to "south beach"... the houston one and the only "typical" gay dance club. south beach honestly was a lot of fun. we met up with andy and kahl ... a british couple we've been getting to know, who are really cool in my book. andy likes to dance so he and esau and i went to south beach and boogied the night away... while kahl and hector being alcoholics went to JRS and a few other bar joints. all in all, the evening was great fun... music rocked at south beach, and i have to admit.. the rihanna song... i'll be your umbrella... was rocking! haha. even got hit up once or twice dancing around, and like the fool i am, ran the other way. good times good times! before you know it, it was 4 am, and for us old 28 year olds, time to go home. it was a great pride!
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a little after pride, we got to get to know the "brits" a little more when they invited us for a nice little dinner at their memorial area townhome... which was very "nice". i saw it once before and it indeed was a "sale-able" house.... lots of beige and classy "european" furniture. yeah... i would add a little color... but that's me and "my" taste. anyways.... andy is classic british but his boyfriend is british indian... interesting couple. andy is the breadwinner and kahl is "studying" and otherwise the house-husband. andy is the bottom, kahl is the top.... god... what a delicious couple! haha. anyways... kahl was making an "indian" dinner... which was fabulous. dinner was great and company and conversation equally entertaining. however, for some strange reason, i was somehow being painted more and more as the "biggest bottom slut" as dinner progressed. now... there is some truth to that.... but come on... i'm NOT THAT BAD! haha. all in good fun though.
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there was an interesting piece of drama too that sort of simmered that evening as well. this drama was between esau and a certain guy named molte... who although i've known him for a few months now, i don't think i have ever mentioned him. anyways, the 411 is that he's a german foreign worker employed by siemens i think, anyways, he lives at esau's apartment and for a few months was totally pining after esau. esau in his classic fashion of being an attention whore just "kept him on the line" so to speak. poor molte... honestly. i think eventually molte gave up and was satisfied with just "friend" status. anyways... molte at the time of the dinner was just about wrapping up his houston experience, his company moving him now to north carolina. a few nights before the brits dinner, we were all invited to another party and later on decided to go see a movie. in some strange exchange of words, molte was originally suppose to come but then had a fall-out (again) with esau (esau if i haven't mentioned can be VERY difficult... as he was this night that i am writing this, i'll talk about this later). anyways... molte basically left it in the sense of saying that he was tired of this shit from esau... which this evening i completely understand. molte didn't come with to the movies obviously.
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fast forward to the dinner, molte was also invited... and although not very perceptible (because all the attention was apparently orientated at me)... molte and esau said NOTHING to each other. oooh.... gay drama. anyways... molte's last week in houston, i was finally able to actually hang out with him a bit more and, even though i have to say i've always liked him in an "acquaintance" kind of way... i was saddened somewhat that he was leaving and we wouldn't be able to be "real" friends. oh well.
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just a little comment though about my friend esau. he's my "oldest" friend here in houston... but he is an amazingly trying friend... at times. i know he is a "good" guy inside... but his sense of inadequacy and insecurity have a way of transforming into the snidest manifestation of queeniness and petulance. its really unfortunate... and most of the time, i feel like i am very relaxed about these outbursts, because i know he has been "there" for me and i know he has the capability of really being nice. but this evening, i apparently couldn't deal with it. a little digression...
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so i invited the "guy" to share an apple pie that i had baked last night and to watch a movie at my house... low key, just fun get-together. the evening started allright until i served the pie. esau apparently made it known that "i knew" he didn't like chocolate and questioned why i added chocolate to the pie. i know i have a faulty memory sometimes and if i was suppose to know he didn't eat chocolate, i apologize for the fact and offered him some alternatives. in typical esau fashion he accepted everything half heartedly and in my opinion, was just being a rude ass about the whole thing... in my house. and then we started watching a film.... and after an hour of "trying it out" i say that this really isn't my type of film, try to excuse myself graciously, suggesting the other two (hector was there as well) just continue watching it and i'll go and keep myself occupied. esau INSISTS that i watch it and pauses it while i try to keep busy with cleaning up. he was in full force... and honestly... i had a long day... i didn't need this shit. i told him he was pissing me off, that i didn't appreciate his snide attitude about the pie and that i did not purposely make a pie "i knew" he wouldn't like... despite his belief that I KNEW he didn't like chocolate... and that i was not going to sit through a movie i didn't like... JUST BECAUSE HE SAID SO. i find it simply insulting that his belief that “i knew” he didn’t like chocolate was basically insinuating that i made on purpose a pie he would not enjoy… he simply accused me of being petty and mean… which i am far far from when i am making a pie, spending time and energy, hoping my friends will like and at least somewhat appreciate it…. and to think he’s constantly accusing others of being non-appreciative of what he does.
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you know... i really do consider myself a patient man. i will let attention whoring people have a little say in having the world revolve around them... because i know thats how they need to perceive it that way in order to be the "best" they can be. but i am NOBODY'S doormat! after saying that they were welcome to continue watching the video but it was not my liking and i had better things to do, esau got up and left. and honestly... thank god he left... because that film was HORRENDOUS! you see the core of it is... esau needs to control the people around him and feel like he is the center of everyone's social relations and that it would not exist at all without him. be that true or not, that is no excuse to make me feel like crap because i somehow insulted him in some way. Esau’s greatest modus operandi is the guilt trip, because he is of course above all that pettiness.
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bullshit.
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so anyways... that was this evening... but going back to what i was describing before, the brits dinner was thoroughly enjoyable. a week or so later, i felt the need to repay the favor and invited the same crew (plus some "friends" who were visiting esau) to a pre-fireworks July 4th dinner at my house. a little last minute, and originally suppose to be "low-key"... but come on who am i kidding? i woke up that day and the first thing i did was look up a new napkin folding technique and setting up the "dining room" table for a party of eight. haha. classic alex. later that evening i whipped up haute cuisine sloppy joes (the spicy blackberry ribs shredded and served on buns), a roasted spice pork shoulder, corn on the cob, mash potatoes ala esau, plus these meat pockets that he also brought. i also whipped up an interesting stewed tomato, okra, and roasted red peppar compote with orzo for andy... who is a vegetarian. dinner in general was great, although doing "plating" service...a first for my parties... was a little crazy... just getting use to it that's all. mei was there actually so she was a great help. at first, i have to be honest i was a little trepidatious with her being with the "boys"... she was the only girl and she was also the only "straight" person there... but you know what... she was great! i think she was amused by all our gay mirth and had a good evening overall.
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another moment of "hmmm"... just happened. so my cousin JUST called me... or actually writing this journal made me want to call her and ask her about the apple pie i dropped off at her place this afternoon. she said it was ok but was a little surprised by the cinnamon in it. oh well... THEN she asked me if i was "like" my friends... or... aka... are you gay? haha. oh my! an interesting conversation ensued but overall it was good. in the end, i basically just said that yeah i was... most of my friends were gay, we have a good time as friends, and the only reason she doesn't know or i didn't tell her was because my parents made the explicit statement to not tell her... years ago. but she's completely cool with it and made the typical "straight" remark... are you a "man" or "woman"? haha! yeah... she's a straight girl oh my! the conversation ended with her saying that she wants to go clubbing with us next time we go to south beach... and she likes my friends... and sometimes her friends are a little boring, so if nothing else, at least she could spice up her own social life. you know.... these are the moments when i have to thank esau.... he said, i think you under-estimate your cousin. and yeah... he's right. i'm pleasantly surprised by what just happened.
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ANYWAYS... so my little july 4th party was absolutely fabulous. dinner was itself fairly brisk but very much enjoyable. esau brought a friend of his from NYC, robert... who was one of the biggest flamers i've met... but in a completely non-queeny way. he was lovely. and an alcoholic with the red wine... but all good. after plating dessert with quick glaze i made with mixing grape jelly with water (it worked great!) and some flared strawberries, we had a little more convo. then everyone car-pooled to downtown and we watched a great show on the bayou park. after the show, we came back, and chatted some more, had more drinks, just had a good time. six fun gay men and a straight girl... guess mei wasn't as oblivious as i may have thought about how gay the evening was. it was good 4th! too bad it was in the middle of the work week and i had to go to work the next day.
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and i had a date the next day. i went out with the guy i went out with a week and a half ago...and was suppose to do date number 2 if i hadn't thrown my back out. this was date two... and just as i feared... i think he's a great guy but there just not really any "chemistry". i mean, he started letting his gaurd down a little and acting out some of his quirks... which were cute... annoying... but cute and real. but still... no real va va voom... so to speak. i'm afraid i'm gonna have to suggest we just be "friends". oh well.
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finally, the last thing i want to mention if how i finally checked off one of those "crazy" things i wanna do before i turned 30 kind of things... skydiving. i originally got the idea that that was how i wanted to celebrate my 28th... three months of waiting for esau's rare weekend off days... and we went on 7-07-07. how lucky huh? mei also came with us as well... another one of my concerns before because i had suggested to both mei and esau to come with but was thinking i might have to do it separately... i do under-estimate her. i was pretty psyched... and the excitement made the two hour wait somewhat bearable. and i really wasn't nervous at all... when we finally were getting ready... i didn't feel any hesitation getting suited up, getting on the plane, watching the ground disappear above the clouds. the final moment of like.. "what the fuck" was watching esau and his tandem guy jump out and IMMEDIATELY disappear into a tiny fleck, and my tandem guy edging me to the edge of the plane but facing the propellers... OH MY GOD! just the vertigo was crazy and the immediate rush of the air throwing into your face free falling... absolutely crazy! all i remember was the constant force of air being slammed into my face...making it difficult to breath... impossible to scream because air was being slammed into your mouth... and why would i scream anyways? my ears were completely depressurized or whatever and i was deaf. somehow i came to my senses and realized if this feeling was gonna be the whole way down i better calm down before i start hyper-ventilating. so i calmed down and somewhat enjoyed the fact i was free-falling to my death... haha.
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then the guy on my back tapped my arm telling to check the altimeter as i was approaching 6000 feet and then to pull the cord for the parachute...whoosh. and then it was cool as we glided down to the ground, doing little swoops here and there and just looking at the crazy vista of being 1000s of feet in the air. it was absolutely exhilerating! absolutely.
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i purchased my second jump right after... it was a great deal anyways... as opposed to the ridiculous $200 i popped for a minute or two of crazy fun. haha! good times good times.
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i like to see my life through signs... jumping out of an airplane made me see the world in a different way... having my cousin ask me about my sexuality made me see her in a different way... and unfortunately, standing up for myself and refusing to be forced to feel like i so wronged someone, made me see a "good" friend in a different way. life is a series of these quick moments that flash before your eyes isn't it?
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then the guy on my back tapped my arm telling to check the altimeter as i was approaching 6000 feet and then to pull the cord for the parachute...whoosh. and then it was cool as we glided down to the ground, doing little swoops here and there and just looking at the crazy vista of being 1000s of feet in the air. it was absolutely exhilerating! absolutely.
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i purchased my second jump right after... it was a great deal anyways... as opposed to the ridiculous $200 i popped for a minute or two of crazy fun. haha! good times good times.
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i like to see my life through signs... jumping out of an airplane made me see the world in a different way... having my cousin ask me about my sexuality made me see her in a different way... and unfortunately, standing up for myself and refusing to be forced to feel like i so wronged someone, made me see a "good" friend in a different way. life is a series of these quick moments that flash before your eyes isn't it?
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posted by faux chink @ 9:42 PM
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