Monday, May 29, 2006

Leather Queens

I really didn't have any plans for the weekend. I was gonna be hiding out from the world. I mean, I wasn't gonna totally shut myself off. I did go workout Friday and Saturday but I wasn't really planning on doing much beyond that.

That was until I got a phone call from Huey inviting me to hang with his friends at the International Male Leather party being held at Palmer House. It was the premier event of the Memorial weekend and all the hot men (or those who thought they were the stuff) were going to be there.

Huey told me that I would get a kick out of it. I got that kick alright and a little more.

I arrived at Huey's apartment a little after 10PM. I met his long-time friend Tommy and his soon to be ex-bf Huey'sEx. Tommy and Huey were still getting ready so I was entertained watching old music videos. I saw among other videos Goodie Mob's Soul Food. It reminded me how much I miss Soul Food the TV series. If only they release the other seasons on DVD already. But I digress.

So Huey, Tommy, and I head off to the Palmer House hotel. We found parking a few blocks from the hotel and made our way towards there.

Once we were near the vicinity of the hotel, I saw what would be a common site, half-naked men clad in leather thongs, jeans with holes in the buttcheeks, bodies that were a work of art and bodies that longed for the sanctuary of an XL t-shirt.

The lobby was pretty much predominated by gay leather men and their worshippers.

I myself didn't wear any leather (well except for my leather wallet...*LOL*). I thought I was being a slut by wearing a small t-shirt that hugged my bulging pecs tighter than a baby's vice on an extended finger and teasingly showed off my invisible abs. But I was tame compared to what I described earlier.

So we head up to the sixth floor, which was a slow ass journey on the elevator, since men were trying to enter the elevator from every floor. When we finally got off, we were greeted by an even bigger population of men. All the men were making their way towards the Adams ballroom for the Onyx dance.

I saw some really interesting folks on the dance floor. There were the couples where one half was chained literally behind the other person. Then there was the couple where the one guy was sucking on his partner's dick in the middle of the dance floor. I think it's part of that whole dominant/subordinate thing some folks get off on. I even saw a guy sporting a gas mask.

But that was just the beginning. I ran into several cats from that infamous A4A site that I may or may not have had relations with. Of course the majority didn't acknowledge me.

One interesting encounter was with Winifred. He was that guy that I was supposed to meet last year but never got around to meeting. Actually we did finally get around to meeting up last month. I actually drove to his place and he cooked dinner. The evening date I thought went well and not wanting to give in to temptation, I went home. Of course, things quickly went sour like all my potential relationships do. He wasn't really interested in getting to know me so nothing came of it.

It turns out that Huey knew of Winifred and didn't really have much fond memories of him. I did tell Huey about Winifred beforehand. Huey and I were standing near the elevators when Winifred came out. Huey was all 'look at Winifred try to avoid us'. And odd thing, Huey was right.

Winifred looked like a deer caught in the headlights when I saw him. Of course I said hi to him and what not. He acted shocked the whole time. We made some small talk before Winifred ran off to catch up with his friends.

Five minutes later he came up to me and asked me how I knew Huey. I told him that Huey and I met a few months ago and were friends. Huey himself came up a second later and they frostily spoke to each other. Seconds later, Huey walks off and tugs at me to follow him. While walking out, Huey told me that I should've told him that we fucked. Crazy.

Needless to say, I'm sure I definitely won't hear from Winifred again anytime soon. Not that I was going to.

Later in the evening, Huey got propositioned by some guy and he went off to have relations with said guy. He later told me how two other hot guys walked in on them after they did the deed and wanted their piece of Huey. Crazy.

I found myself caught in the middle of a bad ABC afterschool special when Tommy hooked up some dudes to smoke pot. I was with Tommy at the time and he had me tag along with them to this guy's hotel room. I clearly was not comfortable with the smoking going on. (Remember I have a sucky poker face.) So after a minute, I got up and excused myself. I called Huey who was pretty much done with his sexcapades and told him to meet me back on the 6th floor.

It was after 3AM when I made my way back to the Onyx room. By then the party had ended and folks were leaving in droves. I ran into Tommy's cousin and the cousin's friend who I met earlier in the evening. We chatted for a few minutes until they both were ready to take off and do their own thing. It was another twenty minutes before Huey showed up.

We went back to the hotel room Tommy was at to retrieve him and head out. We had contemplated hitting the club afterwards but we all decided to call it a night. I got home a little earlier at 4:30AM.

Overall I did have an enjoyable evening and it was interesting seeing what the hoopla surrounding the annual IML party was all about. The experience was a bit surreal.

With all the half naked dudes (and some women) walking around the hotel, I would've hated to have any families with their kids exposed to that. Hell I wouldn't want my parents to see that. I mean, imagine booking a hotel the same weekend as that event. The IML group took over that hotel literally. I would hope the hotel would tell prospective customers about that but they really don't have any obligation to do so.

But with that said, I may have to come up with an excuse not to go home for Memorial day next year...*LOL*.

Aside from going to work out early today, my Memorial day was uneventful. Back to work Tuesday. Sigh.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Hear E Yet Again

E talks about coming out to Sally, work blues, Memorial weekend plans, Miss New York, and Brokeback Mountain observations.

Vocals 1
this is an audio post - click to play


Vocals 2
this is an audio post - click to play


Vocals 3
this is an audio post - click to play

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Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Find Me A Man

Find Me A Man - Toni Braxton

I'm just a girl
That doesn't like the thought of being alone
I need to be loved and held real close
I'm the kind of girl
That needs to be caressed and kissed so soft, yeah
There's no better way to turn me on
I need a man who
Who's gonna treat me right
I need a man who'll be with me every night
So I've gotta

Find me a man
With sensitive eyes
One who understands
Love is stronger than pride
So I gotta
Find me a man
A sensitive mind
Not just any man
One of a kind

I know what I'm looking for, and I know
He's gotta be wonderful, cause I know
I am too beautiful, to settle for nothing less, ooh
I know what I'm searching for, yes I know
It's someone incredible, don't you know
That I won't give up until I've found the perfect man

Today's entry is kind of short and sweet.

Aside from the I'm just a girl part because well even though I'm gay and folks can tell it a mile away apparently (and I need to get over that...*LOL*) , those lyrics so mirror what I'm feeling at times.

My friend Huey was telling me that I should write down a list of what I want in a guy. Of course, there are things that you may have to compromise on...that's a given. But there should be three things that you absolutely must have in your perfect guy. And yes, I know there's no such thing.

I'm just going to list a few of my criteria at random. I'll narrow my top 3 another time.

1) He must be gainfully employed.
2) He should have his own apartment, condo, townhouse, whatever.
3) He must be between 5 foot 8 and 6 foot 4, weighing between 180-220 pounds.
4) He should be somewhere between 29 and 45.
5) He needs to have some common sense.
6) He should be considerate of other folks feelings.
7) His face should be pleasing to my eyes.
8) He must be a great kisser.
9) He needs to prove that he's into me without losing himself.
10) He should bring out the good qualities I have and strengthen the ones I lack.

Those are all I can think of right now. As Toni Braxton would say, I am too beautiful to settle for nothing less than the best.

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Sunday, May 21, 2006

Sally The Fag Hag

I was lamenting just weeks before that I was in search of a pretend girlfriend all my own. Well I may have found her in my long time friend Sally.

I called her moments after posting about my liberation from that site. On that note, word Taylor, I think your assessment that the site could be addictive as meth is spot on. Lord knows I myself logged into several times a day for nothing really. But it was like a two year bad train wreck that I couldn't step away from. I'll definitely take that one day at a time.

So Hemingway I told Sally that I was gonna get a quick workout in and then meet her at her condo a little later. So I get my workout in and then head over to her condo.

We were talking about a movie but then nixed the idea. We decided to get lunch at a nearby eatery. As we were walking, I was getting the urge to share with her my secret homosexual life.

I've wanted to tell her numerous times over the last year or so but always chickened out at the last minute. The thing is that I knew she wouldn't drop out of my life but I wasn't ready to share that part of my life with her.

Until yesterday. Since we hadn't chatted in a while, she threw a blanket statement asking about my love life, financial life, and work life. I quickly told her my love life was lame, finances were okay, and work was crazy. All those statements were pretty accurate but very vague.

Sally harped on the love life and threw out that we needed to go to some mixers so I could find me some girls. I gave her a grunted sure. The thoughts of telling her popped in my head again. But the setting wasn't right.

So after lunch, which was a bit cheaper considering they forgot to charge for my dish, we headed to a local African store. We looked over a few items before we both purchased some shae butter. I'm hoping it'll help my dry skin a bit, especially around the lips. We'll see.

We walked back to her condo in order to drop off her leftover pizza. We then decided to walk along the lakefront on Sheridan. During the walk, Sally and I saw from a distance a pair of lovers making out along the pier. She made some kind of comment that if it was two guys, she might've thrown up. I looked away from her.

We continued the walk along the lakefront, passing up couples left and right. The weather was perfect. In fact, it was the first perfect day in weeks in Chicago. It wasn't too cold nor was it too hot. The surroundings were conducive to my confessing. But I held back.

I'm sure ya'll are like, get to it already. Give me a paragraph or two...*LOL*.

So here we go. We went back to her condo and she needed to give me a copy of Madonna's latest CD. My assignment is to learn the lyrics before our June 14th concert. Sally wanted me to test out my copy on her player. I cracked up inside when Madonna's Sorry came on. Eugene sings the refrain to me all the time. I don't remember him telling it was Madonna. But the fact that it came on seemed to be a sign.

I then became antsy. I wanted to tell Sally but as usual didn't know how. So I paced back and forth. Sally asked me what's up. It was now or never.

I told her that I had something to tell her. After her jokes with me on what it could be, I told her that I liked men. Her reaction was a bit unexpected.

She was so happy. She told me that she knew. I guess Eugene was right. I told him about a conversation almost a year ago about the suburbia party she took me to that was being held by a gay couple. The week before we went to dinner and she was inviting me to it and her comments about how she's accepting of gays almost made me want to tell her about me. When I told Eugene that, he told me that she knew. Of course I was like, no she didn't.

Hemingway we had a nice conversation after my revelation. She told me that all her friends knew about me before she did. I guess I'm gayer than I thought. So all you DL cats better not hang out with me or you'll be outed by association.

I shared with her my molestation story and how I was confused for many years over that. I told her about some of my sexual escapades. I told her about this date I'm supposed to have today but I have a feeling the dude's gonna stand me up.

She was lapping it all up. It was like she was finally hearing a whole other side of me. And get this...now she wants to go to gay bars with me. I think I created a monster.

But I felt such a relief that things went smoothly. I did wind up going to Generator later that night. I even brushed up against a dude I was interested in. Maybe next time I'll actually chat with him.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

A4A No More

I finally did it. I decided I've had enough of the bullshit I've encountered time and time again on Adam 4 Adam. Guys who claim to want to develop a friendship but really only want sex. Guys that claim to want to meet up but inundate my box with email after email and present excuse after excuse.

I was reading Mr Cash's recent dilemma of whether to open an A4A account and realized that I don't know why I still have one there. I was telling him not to sign up. So if I was telling him that, why was I still on there? That was all the motivation I needed. Thanks Cash.

I'm grateful I at least got the pleasure of meeting Eugene. He's the best thing that's ever happened to me. It's just nice having someone to talk to about my experiences to. A little update on Jay. Eugene told me that Jay's been a bit distant lately. He's concluding it's because he's sticking to his guns about not having random casual sex.

Hemingway as of 11:45 AM this morning, I wrapped up on my breakfast and am just waiting for it to digest before heading to the gym. I may hang out with Sally today and catch a movie. Later on, I may be heading to Generator with a new potential friend I made that's originally from New York. He's a bit on the queeny side but otherwise seems like a cool person. I mean, he loves bowling. What more can I say?

I hope everyone has great weekends planned.

Friday, May 19, 2006

Beep This!

There may be some hope for Half & Half. Rumor has it that TV One may be looking into housing a couple of the shows that didn't make it on CW. I don't know how true that is but I would be TV One's new best friend if they pick up Half & Half. I just have to figure out if Chicago has TV One in its roster and how I can get it. I sent TV One an email about picking up the show. Hopefully the rumor will become fact.



Hemingway my obsession with the Pussycat Dolls has been crazy. Their song Beep has been playing in heavy rotation at chez E all week and I've been hahaing left and right with the girls. I don't know. There's something about the song lyrics that may apply to me. I'm wrapping up week 5 of my gym workouts and I've noticed that I've been getting a lot more stares from guys and girls out in public. Of course I don't dress nearly as provocative as the Pussycat Dolls (that'd make me a crossdresser...*LOL*). But I do think about the catchy refrain and smile.

"It's funny how a man only thinks about the *BEEP*
You got a real big heart, but I'm looking at your *BEEP*
You got real big brains, but I'm looking at your *BEEP*
Girl, there ain't no pain, in me looking at your *BEEP*

I don't give a *BEEP*
Keep looking at my *BEEP*
Cause it don't mean a thing if you're looking at my *BEEP*
I'm a do my thang while you're playing with your *BEEP*
Ha, ha-ha, ha-ha, ha-ha"

You know. I may just have to go out and buy their album or at least download the single. Beep would be a good addition to my workout music jams.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

I Hate CW

I had a really bad feeling about the fate of Half & Half since I first heard about the merging of UPN and WB. Stacey-Deanne's blog entry with her opinions about the merger pretty much mirrored what I was feeling. CW ended up dumping Half & Half from the new roster.

Out of the eight current black UPN comedies in circulation, only three were chosen to move to CW. The first was Everybody Hates Chris. That one was sort of a no-brainer considering the high praise the series had gotten during its debut season. It had one of UPN highest ratings when it first premiered. The show is pretty funny (at least the few times I've seen it since I was usually bowling that night). The buzz since the merger news hit was the EHC was safe. Just about every single article citing the stupid merger mentioned them in the fall line-up.

The second series to survive was Girlfriends. Despite the uneven writing over the last couple seasons(Seasons 1 - 3 remain IMHO the strongest seasons), it did seem logical that the network would renew Girlfriends. I will give GFs a tiny bit of credit. Their season finale was actually very good, even though it seemed to knock Joan way too much. I mean, forgive a sister for deciding to look out for #1 after years of being taken advantage of time and time again by her so-called girlfriends. But whatever, GF is safe for another year.

The third UPN series to survive is All Of Us. Other than the association with Will Smith (of Fresh Prince Fame) and Jada Pinkett (of A Different World fame), I'm at a loss as to why this show was picked up another season. I don't know. I guess I'm cynical but I really couldn't get into this show at all.

I'm equally disturbed that the network decided to renew 7th Heaven for half a season. That show has been crap for many years. But like a cockroach, the shit survived again.

I don't know if I'm going to watch the CW at all. I'm really disappointed that they chose to dump Half & Half after they've had their strongest season yet. I guess if there is a bright side to this whole debacle, Half & Half is IMHO ending on a strong note. It's definitely better to be remembered as an overall solid series rather than having a few strong seasons and then experiencing a slow decline. My only hope is that the show gets released on DVD. But I don't think I'm holding my breath for that one. I'll miss seeing my weekly dose of Phyllis and BDD going at it. I'll always remember their Mother's Day duets, which were an annual treat.

Fuck CW!

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Is The Chase On?

Mona had a really tough choice to make during the season finale of Half & Half. Her ex-boyfriend Lorenzo managed to creep his way back into her life and caused the break-up of her relationship with Chase. So Mona handled the break-up badly, lashing out on family and friends at the job. She finally reined in her feelings and even went to a therapist that wasn't her Mom, but relapsed a bit when Chase was still hanging out with the family.

Her therapist suggested Mona date both Lorenzo and Chase to decide which guy she wanted. So things were going good on that front. I mean, hello, two hot brothers competing for her affection. Sigh...if only I were that lucky. I can't even get one to show any half-way interest in me. But Hemingway...

So after all the fun she had, both guys forced her to make a choice. She went back and forth, not getting much help from the family, until finally with advice from her Dad to listen to her heart, she made her selection. Of course, she didn't say who that selection was.

Assuming the new CW isn't stupid, we'll know her choice in September.

So who do you think Mona should choose?

Should she get with this? ---->

<---- Or should she get with that? I know I'd choose Chase because Chase is where it's at? It's no contest really. Chase totally was making my insides warm when he first appeared on the show. Lorenzo's hot too but he didn't really do it for me.

I hope we get to see the choice Mona made.

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Sunday, May 14, 2006

Match That Blogger

Okay...I'm bored and home alone on a Saturday night. I actually had a pretty active day. I did some volunteer work weeding a city park despite the sucky weather. I then had a great afternoon workout at Bally's. Today's workout completes my fourth week of 4-day a week workouts so that's been great. I don't know why I can't get anyone to hang with me tonight. But whatever.

I thought I'd do a little quiz to see if you can match that blogger to a few words that they wrote. The following bloggers are being quoted from: Rose, Karamale, TeeBee, Essequibo, LJ, Cash S., Norris, Ms. Holiday, Big Marz, The No Game Team, and BlkynDiva. I searched for the 15th entry of each blogger in question and rewrote what they wrote. Your job is to guess who wrote what. Ok...here we go.

1) "She woke me up at 6:15 this morning. "What is today she asked?" as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and before I could speak she said, "you don't know what today is?" She was upset because she thought I had forgotten. You see I didn't open my eyes quick enough and scream, "it's your birthday, it's your birthday." So she assumed that I forgot. Jumping out of bed I said, "Happy Birthday baby, I didn't forget"."

2) "When I got off of an airplane, the first thing that I did was to head to a fast food eatery. Burger King, McDonald's, Arby's or whatever. I stopped doing that. I started to head to Subway instead. From that time until June of this year, I lost 15 pounds, and that was without any exercise."

3) "not bragging...just sharing. cheers!"

4) "Rejection line: If you are a woman/man and are constantly approached by unattractive or undesirable women/men asking for your phone number,give them this number:

Atlanta: 770-908-7383 Baltimore: 410-347-1488 Boston: 617-658-7083 Charlotte: 704-559-4169 Chicago: 773-509-5096 Cleveland: 216-556-0051 Denver: 303-575-1696
Las Vegas: 702-387-2619 Los Angeles: 310-217-7638 Miami: 305-460-3285
New York City: 212-479-7990 San Francisco: 415-356-9833 Seattle: 206-781-3928
Washington, DC: 202-452-7468

Call the phone number . It's hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

5) "I can think of several relationships or situations I have been involved with, dating back to my earliest forays into this quagmire we all call romance. In one situation in particular, the short-lived relationship feel apart because she told me I wasn’t able to share my REAL feelings with her. She wanted me to tell her all kinds of things I thought were already there. We were close, and good friends too, but I now wonder if I was really listening to what she was saying rather than acting on what I thought I was hearing. Apparently, there is a difference."

6) "While we were sitting around we paid a visit from this guy everyone seems to think I look like. We'll call him Confused (he hasn't realized what everyone else has realized about him). I do have to admit he is a cute guy, although we don't look alike (I look better lol), and he does have a nice set of mitties (man boobies lol). We chatted till we headed off to Jomos, he ended up coming with us although I think his invitation got lost in the mail."

7) "Thanks to a good friend, I was able to get my hands on some old, old skool Rare Essence and Junk Yard Band. So, to all my DC heads, I am with you in spirit."

8) "As I posted yesterday, me and the girls went club hopping and started from the gayest of clubs and ending with the thuggest, where all of us including my gay friend Gary felt most comfortable. So as Jay-Z boasted at us from the speakers how he has 99 problems but a bitch ain't one, I noticed a tall, yellow colored, thug o'licious guy with reddish brown hair cut close, hazel greenish eyes, and juicy lips staring at me from the bar and me being the shy girl I am walked over and told him he was the sexiest motherfucka I seen all night, he told me in a deep smooth voice "I know". I asked him how'd he know that? Then he grabbed his dick through his jeans and said "this shit is like a drought detector, it knows when a sexy girl like yourself ain't had no read dick in a long time." Oh you think you got it like that?, I don't even know you I said back...."Baby my name is Butter, cuz I'm smooth and yellow and I go down easy in your mouth."

9) "I have a break at my daytime location. So I decided to post and post early. This way, I'm not doing it when I get home in the evening and cutting into my study time(lawd help me). But it's all good. Today is going well so far *smiles*, of course, I was late coming in because I could not find any parking yet again. I had to walk in about 4 blocks. But I accept responsibility. I hit the snooze button three times this morning...3 times, can you imagine?"

10) "Got to class on Saturday am and did it up.. Professor Jones is DA BOMB.. I mean this man knows mo shyt than the textbook!!! I'm just happy I have him for a professor.. and its funny how you can recognize shyt in ya day to day and relate it back to what you learned.. THAT'S WHEN YOU KNOW YOU ARE RETAINING DA INFO!!!! He let us out at 12:45 eventhough he wasn't going to catch his plane anymore *thanks hurricane rita* but he knew that some of us made plans based on his schedule so he went ahead and kept his word."

11) "During the meeting I started noticing the boys there they are so sexy well Matt is sexy, Dan is cute. I look at Matt and my mind starts running of all the things we could do with some time and room. I look at his lips and I want to taste them. I want to wash his beard, with my juices. But Matt is straight, at least I think he is."

Okay....that was a cool way to pass my time. I'm off to bed now.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Cupid's Return

Cupid strikes again.

Umm, he hasn't shot me. Last time he hit me, it was a false alarm. I've been trying to steer clear ever since, even though a few stray arrows tried their best to penetrate.

No. Cupid has decided to strike his arrow at my ace boon coon Eugene. I normally wouldn't talk about Eugene's situation since he needs to get his own blog. However, since I don't wish to rehash another sad tale from my sorry love life....*LOL*.

There you go.

I first realized Eugene had a serious case of the Cupid just before our Cingular issues. Eugene mentioned that this guy (let's call him Jay) that contacted him last year re-established conversation with him. They were originally supposed to drive together to Detroit last Christmas but Jay backed out at the last minute. After that, they lost contact pretty much. Until now.

Jay and Eugene hadn't met each other prior due to their schedules not meshing. But that all changed when the connection was reopened. They chatted a bit and agreed to meet in a sports bar.

Eugene told me that the two of them were playing footsies under the table. Eugene even massaged Jay's foot. He assured me that they sat in a hidden corner so nobody could tell what they were doing. There was a clear attraction but Eugene placed some boundaries immediately. He informed Jay that he wasn't into casual sex. Actually Eugene's cherry has never been popped and he's not just gonna pop it with anyone.

Whenever he's told guys that, their excitement level seems to rise. I guess there's something to wanting to be the first to pop that cherry. It's almost like a groom wanting a virginal bride.

Speaking of virginal brides...

"I'm just a virgin and I'm on my way to be wed. But you're such a hunk, so full of spunk, I'll give you head."

Sorry. Prince's Head lyrics came to mind just now.

So Hemingway after that meeting, Jay tried to bust a move by convincing Eugene to go home with him. He tried telling Eugene that he'd be a good boy. But like Lisa Lisa, Eugene asked...

"I wonder if I take you home, will you still be in love, baby?"

Heh. That just flowed so nicely.

So since Eugene wasn't gonna go home with him, Jay asked if he could at least get a kiss. Eugene obliged and he told me that Jay's a great kisser.

Actually Eugene's talked about Jay a lot this last week or so (between our arguments over our cell phone service). It's been a bit nauseating. It's cool too, though. I know Eugene doesn't have anyone else he can talk about it to so he turns to me. And outside of my fellow bloggers, Eugene's the only person I share all my relationship woes with.

It's a bit scary too because Eugene doesn't excite easily. Only one other time I could recall him relishing a guy. But Eugene quickly lost interest when he realized that the guy was only available on his terms.

But so far Jay seems to be pushing all the right buttons. He's called Eugene multiple times a day. I know this because he manages to call whenever I'm talking to Eugene myself...and you know who gets the heave ho when Jay calls. *LOL*. Well I guess I'd do the same if some guy I'm interested in decided to call me while on the phone with Eugene.

I'm happy for Eugene but am scared at the same time. Eugene talks a good game about not letting his emotions get the best of him. But he's kind of slipped already.

Jay invited him to spend the night at his place. They're supposed to just cuddle. Jay says that he justs wants Eugene to lay besides him and have him be his side when he wakes up. Awww...so sweet, right? But I'm hoping Jay doesn't try to make any moves to try and get it from Eugene.

I mean, I was shocked when Eugene called me and said he arrived at Jay's spot. Eugene always told me that he wouldn't place himself in a compromising situation. He berated me time and time again how I always seem to put myself in these situations, risking being raped (which actually I was a few years back...that's another story.). But he's now in the same situation. Jay's 6"3 and 240 pounds, which is 50 pounds and 5 inches taller than Eugene.

I can't help but worry about him. He's my big brother and I love him. I don't want anything bad to happen to him.

I have a feeling this may be a turning point in this new relationship. Things can either go up or down from here. I'm hoping things look up. I'll know tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Cingular Sucks MG's Turds

Ok...does anyone here buy Miracle Greens? For those who don't, it's basically in a nutshell a superfood supplement that's usually in powder form that provides five to ten servings of fruits and veggies a day. Hemingway I ordered a new batch of the stuff, which they call their "fall harvest". They say it's full flavored and full bodied. I mixed it in with my fruit smoothie like I've been doing the last couple weeks and nearly gagged when taking a drink of it (while dealing with Cingular, no less, which I'll get to that rant shortly). This batch of greens is full of something alright. It's extremely bitter and assaults your nose and mouth with nastiness that no amount of salt, sugar, whatever takes it away. I almost want to send it back, but of course, Miracle Greens has the disclaimers that different batches have different tastes. Of course they claim that it's always a good taste, but that's debatable in this case. If you haven't ordered your new batch of MG's, avoid the "fall harvest" batch like the plague.

I may want to check out another type of greens next time until they're out of the "fall harvest", which hello...it's freaking summer almost, even though the weather feels like fall, so it's actually appropriate.

Worse thing, even if I wanted to take it back, I can't since I opened it. WebVitamins only accepts unopened containers. The rub...how the hell would I know how nasty it is unless I try it? Bastards. Hemingway!

Now on to Cingular. I've never had any real problems with the service. But that all changed this past week.

I called Eugene last Wednesday after work as normal. He told me that he had trouble contacting me. We both sorta shrugged it off and continued our chat as usual.

Later on that evening, when I called him again, he complained of the same thing. I was a bit puzzled considering I was able to call him. He decided that he would check with Cingular in the morning.

So he does just that. He winds up calling my home number. He then tells me that Cingular techs says that my phone has the problem. We argued back and forth over this. I was questioning why my phone (cheap as it is) would be the one with the issue considering I was able to call him.

Eugene added that Cingular says I should call and open up a trouble ticket for my phone. I decide to do just that. So I call Cingular and rehash what Eugene told me his tech said. The tech I got told me that logically it would seem that the problem would be with Eugene's phone. I liked the way my tech thinks.

So I relay my tech's message to Eugene. Eugene's a bit livid over this since he insisted his tech told him the issue was with my phone. We argue some more.

You see how Cingular conspired to break up our friendship.

After some heated words were exchanged, Eugene decided to call again the next morning with me on the other line. After eventually getting to a technician, I dropped off while the technician worked with Eugene. Believe it or not, that tech also told Eugene that the problem was with my phone. Eugene called me back and had the tech explain the problem to me.

Apparently, if I recall, there was an issue with routing his call to my number. He concluded this because Eugene was able to call other numbers in my area code and prefix. And since he wasn't able to call that same prefix to me, then it was my issue. The tech told me that since I was in a different region from Eugene that he couldn't deal with my issue and that he would transfer me to another tech and explain the situation to that tech.

I was placed on hold for ten minutes. When a tech finally came on the line, he was clueless to what was going on. I lost it. I told him that I couldn't believe the other technician didn't inform him of what was going on. I sighed as I did my best to rehash what Eugene's tech told me.

Tech #4 was using the same logic that Tech #2 told me. He basically was telling me that Eugene's phone is the problem. I lost it again. I told him that if I told Eugene that, we would wind up arguing again. I was truly beginning to wonder if Cingular was trying to break up our friendship since I do call Eugene several times a day and since we're both with Cingular, they're not making any money from our conversations.

Tech #4 misinterpreted what I was saying to mean that Eugene was afraid to call tech support. I had to correct the idiot that Eugene's called twice and they claim the problem was with me. So I'm going back and forth with the tech for fifteen minutes before I finally relent and allow him to leave a voicemail with Eugene.

So you guessed it? Eugene and I argued some more. We decided to both call Cingular but deal with customer service. Basically both of us were at the point that we were ready to drop our service over this. So we get a customer service person and Eugene started going off. I silently listened until it seemed like Eugene wasn't on the line anymore, even though he was the one that called. Since Eugene was still silent and fearing that the customer rep would hang up, I took over. I was ranting and raving for a few minutes and then I got dropped.

I called Eugene and found out he dropped me. Apparently he was on the line and bitched that he couldn't get a word in edgewise because I kept talking. I told him that the cust rep and I didn't hear him. He said with sarcasm that how come I could hear him now.

I was steamed. Here I was trying to help Eugene out and even went along with his stupid tech's answers because I wanted to get to the bottom of why Eugene couldn't call me and this was the thanks I got. Rather than say something I might regret, I told Eugene (in a dramatic tone)"I need to go to work. Bye." and hung up.

Halfway on my way to work, I get a phone call from Eugene. He had a senior tech rep on the line and basically was going over the problem for the fifteenth time. *LOL*. Hemingway the tech asked if the number was an AT&T number. I did transfer my number from AT&T, though wouldn't that be a moot point since AT&T and Cingular merged. But whatever. The person wanted to contact an AT&T techie. (Didn't they merge..and why can't techies from one region talk to those in another...IDIOTS!) But the angle this rep made was progress, however warped it was.

But moments later the line dropped. Eugene and I were still connected but the tech person was gone. Fifteen minutes later I arrived at work. We were peeved because we couldn't believe that the person didn't even bother to call us back. I told Eugene I had to go and that we'd deal with it later.

Before hanging up, Eugene apologized for his behavior towards me that morning. It's not often Eugene admits to being wrong so I accepted gleefully.

Later that afternoon, I got a phone call from another Cingular techie. They confirmed that whatever they did for Eugene's phone worked. Moments later, Eugene called me himself. I was happy.

I still hate Cingular, though. If it weren't for the rollover minutes, I'd be gone. My contract does expire this August. I'm seriously considering moving elsewhere.

But Eugene said it won't matter. Ultimately corporations such as Cingular can afford to provide piss poor service such as we experienced because they're becoming more and more of a monopoly (with all the mergers). So it almost doesn't matter where you go.

Crazy.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

"Your Place Or Mine?"


They say a picture is worth a thousand words. The players involved of course are celebrating a victory last night against Washington and seconds later everyone else falls on top of them. But damn...some clever photographer caught Lebron James and Damon Jones at the most optimum moment. Interesting.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Listen To My Song

Here's hoping everyone had a great Cinco de Mayo.

I love my girl Chanté Moore. Tonight's post is pretty much just the lyrics to one of my favorite songs from her. It was cool as hell reading Trent's blog a few weeks back and him running into Chanté Moore during his night out on the town. I was feeling that whole six degrees of separation thing since you know, I met Trent a few months back when I was L.A. and he goes and meets Chanté Moore. It was like I met Chanté personally myself via Trent. Weird, I know.



Hemingway I was a bit sad to read that she wasn't planning another solo album anytime soon. I guess I'll need to buy her new duet album with Kenny Lattimore to get my Chanté fix. Maybe I should get her first duet album with him too...*LOL*.

So I was feeling a bit low lately about my romantic prospects. Dudes in Chicago play too many games. Ok fine, I'm sure Chicago doesn't corner the market in the game playing but it's pretty damn close.

Hemingway (again...*LOL*) to quinch my blues away, I was listening to classic Chanté at her best. Precious, her debut album that came out almost fourteen years ago in 1992. She garnered a few hit songs, including Love's Taken Over, Candlelight & You, and It's Alright. Her entire album was butter. One of my favorite songs off this album (among many) is Listen To My Song. The song is after my own heart. I could really feel what she was saying in her lyrics. To me, it tells about her needing a guy to express his love for her in unexpected ways. Do this and you get her love unconditionally. The part that gets me is what I coined Bridge 4.

"Say that you love me....the words I long to hear." I long to hear those words too, said with sincerity, of course, and not after laying it down hard on a brotha and he's only saying it in hopes for sloppy seconds.

So Hemingway here's Chanté's song. Ohh..and I also include an audio of the song. Even though the quality sucks, you can still hear the raw strength of her voice. Vintage Chanté at her best.

Listen To My Song - Chanté Moore

this is an audio post - click to play


(Listen....)
Throughout the course of your life
Many things are discovered
Finding real love in a woman made for you
So look at me
But not with your eyes
Touch me with more than your hands
Imagine the two
My darling, me and you
In the meadows of some distant land
Imagine, my love, I know you can

[CHORUS]
Listen to my song
(Listen to my song)
This melody of love
This melody's for you

[BRIDGE 1]
It's a song of wonder and beauty
My heart beats the rhythm and it's just for you
(For you)

Verse 2
When you're all mine, yes I know
We'll move as one
Our bodies keep time together they grow
Making passionate love
Destiny found
I'm feeling your body and I'm loving the sound
You say you love me
And we'll discover, I'm always your friend
And eternally your lover

[CHORUS]
[Bridge 2]
Now that you're mine
The love of my life
I am your woman, your lover, your wife
Sent from above
Can't believe it's true
Baby close your eyes

[CHORUS]
[Saxophone]
[Bridge 3]
Making passionate love
Destiny is found
Feeling your body and I'm loving the sound

[CHORUS - Repeat]
[Bridge 1 - Repeat]
[Bridge 4]
Say that you love me.
The words I long to hear.
In the end, you will discover
I'm always your friend
And eternally your lover

[CHORUS]
[BRIDGE 2 - Repeat]

[CHORUS]
[BRIDGE 1 - Repeat]

[CHORUS]

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Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Your Time Is Up

Last Friday I was reminded that life can throw unexpected curve balls. Friday morning at the job was like any typical Friday. I came in the office, logged into the system, and prepared my breakfast of oatmeal with almonds. I then made my way to the cafeteria to get hot water for my breakfast and returned to my assigned jail cell, in other words, my cube.

As I walked back to my seat, I noticed that a crowd was gathering around a cube about 40 feet away from me. I noted that it was a bigger crowd than normal but made nothing of it. I settled back to my cube and noticed that co-employees were standing around murmuring about the crowd forming.

I realized that something was off. I asked Dan if he knew what was going on. He said he wasn't sure. We stared at the scene ourselves for a few minutes before resuming work.

Moments later I heard a loud noise coming from that area. I got up and looked again. I walked over to Dan's cube and we both stood up. I saw security and EMS folks running along that aisleway. They stopped at a cube. I was thinking of who sat there and realized it was MrsP, a co-employee that has worked with our group in the past.

The crowd had grown into numerous mini-groups that just silently watched the situation unfold.

At this point, I had no idea what was happening but I knew if EMS was there that it couldn't be good. A human resource rep started walking down the aisles, urging everyone to get back to their work at hand. Nobody really paid attention. What was happening was just a bit too surreal.

SLAB came over to Dan's cube and was a wreck. He worked closely with MrsP for a number of years. He found out that MrsP had apparently stopped breathing and basically EMS was working on reviving her. They couldn't really move her until she was revived.

The silence (other than the EMS workers) in the building was deafening, especially considering since the company's too cheap to have "white noise" installed, that you pretty much can hear every single conversation going on around you.

Witty came by moments later and pretty much rehashed what SLAB had said. At this point, all everyone was doing was sitting silently and waiting.

Eventually EMS took MrsP away after reviving her and things appeared to be back to semi-normal with folks resuming their conversations and work.

My group was planning to surprise Dan (who got married last year) with a baby shower/lunch. I wasn't able to go because I had another anniversary lunch scheduled that same day.

The lunch was excellent. It was held at an Italian restaurant I've never been at before. I enjoyed the food and my mind was taken off the earlier situation in the office.

After lunch I ran to Target to get a gift card and Hallmark card. I had the rudest cashier. This guy didn't even respond to my greeting and then after ringing me up, proceeded to scratch his ass (on top of his clothes thankfully...but still). Sick bastard! Then on top of that, after I paid with my credit card, he put the gift card and Hallmark card in a giant ass bag instead of the smaller bags that those usually go in. I was so pissed but I was in a hurry to get back to the office so I didn't really have time to bitch. But I sighed just thinking about the quality of people they're hiring.

Hemingway I got back to the office and went to borrow a pen from one of my bowling team members that works in the same building. He sits in a different wing of the building so he didn't see all the commotion going on earlier. However he had found out about it and he and another co-worker of his were grilling me on what happened. I gave them a synopsis and basically told them that hopefully MrsP was okay. The co-worker then shared a bit of information that I didn't know. MrsP died.

I was shocked. The co-worker felt bad because she thought I knew MrsP died. I told her it was cool since I would've found out soon enough.

The rest of the afternoon was really weird. We were told that we could go home early if we wanted to, but a lot of us stayed on. In a odd way, that's probably what MrsP, a known work-a-holic would've wanted.

From what I heard, MrsP worked 12-14 hour days (by choice). They tried getting her help but she wouldn't let go of any of her projects, all of which were heavy eaters of her time.

It was found out she died of a massive heart attack. She was in the middle of a conference call that morning when she stated to a co-employee that she felt like throwing up. Moments later when someone asked her a question and she didn't answer, that same co-employee went to check on her. He found her not breathing.

They did what they could to revive her until EMS eventually came. She died shortly after making it to the hospital.

It's just amazing how funny life is. Obviously you never know when your last hour will be. For MrsP, she died doing what she enjoyed doing. She was only 43. Scary!

When I eventually meet my maker, I hope I can say that I at least lived a full life. I hope I get to travel more, find the love of my life (though I don't think that'll ever happen...*LOL*), accomplish my personal goals, etc., etc.

Hopefully my shoes have a lot more miles to walk before my time is up.