My 3-Day MLK Weekend

This past weekend, I told myself that I was gonna have fun (since I didn't have to work on Monday), yet stay warm (cause God knows it's cold as shit now!). I accomplished the first, but not quite the second one. You can't win em all you know lol.

Friday night one of my friends had a little get-together at his house to celebrate his 26th birthday. It was good seeing him, cause I haven't seen him in months. And I'm proud of him because he used to weigh over 200 lbs. Now he looks at least 40 lbs slimmer. He's actually looking kinda sexy now lol. It was also good to see his brother, who I am also friends with. Haven't seen him a while either, but he is still keeping himself together physically too. I also saw a few others there that I'm cool with. Everybody seemed to be having a good time. Liquor was flowin (rum, vodka and gin) and I think people were in there smoking just about everything (but I don't smoke). A spades game was briefly played, but I don't think anybody could really concentrate cause they were either drunk or high lol. Then the music kicked in. I tell you, if I see one more homo dance to Single Ladies I'ma fight em lol. But I must admit, you can't sit still when that song comes on. But I didn't start movin til the House Music came on. Now that's my shit! By the time 2:00 came, people were startin to be out, so I left soon after (there wasn't much goin on after you left, Jay). My weekend was startin off pretty well.

Saturday my sexy coworker, myself and whoever else he decided to bring with him planned on going to the movies to see The Wrestler, with Mickey Rourke. (We like to see movies together, sue us lol.) But plans changed...when he called me that evening, he told me that "the consensus" decided they wanted to see Notorious, the movie based on the life of rapper The Notorious B.I.G. I was indifferent about the movie; it wasn't my first choice on the movie to see, but I didn't care that we were going to go see it. We decided to go see it at this movie theater in Manhattan (in Union Square), and ordered the tickets online at Fandango.com. We knew the ticket lines would most likely be ridiculously long, and when I got to the theater, I was right! It was jam packed with people. Even the lines for the Fandango kiosks were long as hell. Here we go, I said to myself. I was the first one to get there, so my coworker told me to save 4 seats. "I'll try," I said. I knew the line would be long, but I was not prepared for what I saw: the line outside the theater was literally down the ramp and up against the wall. I have NEVER seen a line so long for a movie. (Of course the thugs came out to suppport, but there were surprisingly quite a few white people there as well.) And I was allllllllll the way in back of the line. I couldn't believe it. This is a classic reason why I hate seeing movies opening weekend. But alas, a silver lining....one of the movie ushers told the crowd that they were seating people in the balcony section as well, because it was a "sold-out show." I really wasn't expecting to find a seat, but I took my chances anyway. Good thing I did, cause there were actually seats available for our party of five. I had to be ingenious and put my coat on two of the coats, and my scarf on the other two. And believe me, people were eyein them seats. Hell, I practically had to beat em off lol. About 15 minutes later, my coworker finally arrives with some female family friend (that he already fucked, natch lol). He told me that the other two (his sister and brother-in-law) were still on their way. About the movie....uhhhh...I thought it was good for what it was. I wasn't expecting it to be some grand, award-winning movie. It pretty much told us what most of us in the NYC area already knew about the man: he grew up in a single parent household, sold crack, how he met Diddy & 2Pac, his rise in the hip hop game, his meeting Lil Kim and Faith Evans, the whole East Coast-West Coast rivalry, and his untimely death. The dude who played Biggie was pretty good. And of course Angela Bassett always does her thing. I can see why Lil Kim was mad, cause she was portrayed like a straight-up jumpoff. Oh well, if the shoe fits... lol. The girl that played her was OK. Derek Luke (dude from the Antwone Fisher movie) played Diddy. Didn't like his performance all that much. I didn't like the 2Pac character that much either. (The dude from the Spike Lee movie She Hate Me.) If I was Roger Ebert, I would give it a marginal thumbs up. (We still plan on going to see The Wrestler though.)

Sunday morning at 8:30, I was awakened by the ringing of my telephone. Anybody that really knows me knows that I am not a morning person. You're lucky to get me on the phone at 10:00 on weekends, seriously. And I also hate being awakened from my sleep, because I don't fall back asleep easily (or sometimes not at all). After about a half hour, I struggled with myself to get out of bed to find out who interrupted my sleeping time. It was...ta dah!...my sexy coworker lol. He sent me a message saying that he's going snow boarding and invited me to come along. (He went snowboarding about a month or so before, and he loved it and couldn't wait to go again.) We had discussed this yesterday, and I could've sworn he told me he wasn't going. That bastard lol. But one thing about my coworker is that he's very adventurous and doesn't mind trying new things. (Hmmm...I bet the same applies in the bedroom too lmao.) It was just one more thing for me to say I did in my life, so I kinda jumped at the opportunity. My black, homo ass was going snowboarding! So I got myself ready and headed up to Vernon, NJ (about 1 1/2 hours from me). I got there around noon and it was crowded as hell with both snowboarders and skiers. Guess everybody had the same idea. There were also quite a few black people up there. Go head us...tryin to take over skiing and snowboarding too lol. I met up with my coworker and 4 other dudes. One dude was a newbie, just like me, another was there for about the third time, and the other was pretty much a pro. He was showing me and the other newbie dude the basics like how to position our feet, how to control our speed, how to stop, and how to steer. It's definitely harder than it looks, and I took a whole lot of falls. We practiced for a while on a little hill, then worked our way to two more hills. *I have to stop here to tell you that the other newbie dude was a Latino from Queens, but he had such a nice ass! I caught a glimpse of it when he was removing his shirts to wipe off the snow. I saw it through his windbreaker pants. You don't know how much energy it took for me to control myself lol. Turns out he's a personal trainer. If personal training gives you that, shit, sign me up!* Back to the story...the second and third hills were not kind to me at all. I can't even count how many falls I took...on my back, my stomach, my knees, my ass, my hands. It was quite a challenge. I was so damn exhausted and cold after I while I just said fuck it and walked down the hill. I went to the cafeteria and got myself some hot chocolate. But nonetheless, I enjoyed myself. I left around 8:30.

And today I was supposed to go to Dave & Buster's with a few others, but I was in so much pain in my body I didn't feel like goin out. Even as I write this, my elbow, legs, knees and ass are still hurting lol. Sucks to be non-athletic. Oh well. I'll be OK after a while.

So that sums up my weekend. Hope yall enjoyed yours.

Happy New Year!

Have a safe and Happy New Year everyone! May the new year bring you (and me) all the blessings and good favor that you need and deserve!

What a (Thankful) Thanksgiving!

My original plans for Thanksgiving were to either spend it with my brother, nieces and nephew in PA, or just go to my aunt and uncle's house in central Jersey (where I used to live with them). I had planned it that way for about a good week or so. But early last week, my sexy coworker (read all about him in my blog entitled "Who? Me?!") asked me what I was doing, and extended an invitation for me to join him and his family for a Thanksgiving dinner at his sister's house in the Bronx, NY. I thought to myself, Hmmm...well it would give me a great opportunity to see his sexy ass again, and his family always welcomes me whenever they see me, but do I really feel like driving to the Bronx? I'll have to think about that one.

After going back and forth with myself for the next few days leading up to the holiday, I decided to nix the PA visit (didn't feel like driving the long distance). I called my aunt to see who else was coming to the house, and she mentioned her son (who I have no problem with, but really didn't feel like talking to him all day long with), and her grandchildren. Nope, not enough people, I said to myself. So I decided I was gonna go to my aunt and uncle's house, then make my way to the Bronx afterwards. On Thanksgiving Day, I text my coworker around 1PM and told him that I was on my way to the aunt and uncle's house, and that I was only gonna be there for a few hours, to which he replied, "OK." I finally arrived at the house and greeted all that were present: my aunt, uncle, cousin, and his kids (her grandkids - one 16-year-old boy and one 18-year-old girl). But then I saw two others I didn't recognize. Turns out they were two friends of the 18-year-old, so I cordially shook both of their hands. One of them was around 10, and the other was around my female cousin's age, with baggy jeans, baggy shirt, and two pigtails. Looked like a damn hoodlum to me lol. The hoodlum was a friend that went to college with my cousin, and the 10-year-old was the hoodlum's cousin. After some small talk, it was finally time to do what the hell we were there for...to eat! It was at the table that I came to realize that the "hoodlum" was a girl. She looked just like a dude to me lol. And she didn't even have a female's name. And I observed the interaction between her and my cousin, and then I saw it......my cousin had a tattoo of a guitar with the rainbow colors in the middle! Wooooooooow....my cousin is a lesbian, and this is her girlfriend! LOL I chuckled to myself at that, even though nobody mentioned it (it wasn't the time anyway). But I'm very curious to know what her parents and my aunt had to say about that, being that they're all Pentecostal ministers (you know how they, and most Christians, feel about homosexuality). After we finished eating, I went to help my uncle with some iPod issue, and my cousin and girlfriend went into the living room to watch TV, with my cousin leaning all over her girlfriend. Yup, she's definitely gay lol. This is an interesting Thanksgiving, but it was gonna get even more interesting...

I was pretty much over all of them by 5PM, so I made my grand exit. Coincidentally enough, my sexy coworker text me telling me to let him know when I was on my way, and I happily obliged. I called him when I was about 10-15 minutes away, and he tells me that he'll leave the door open because he's about to take a shower. O-M-G...let me hurry my ass up to see him! I was cursin every car in front of me and every damn traffic light lol. When I stepped inside, he had just gotten out of the shower, and he was standing upstairs with nothing on but a towel! *Fanning myself* It took everything within me not to run upstairs and rip off the towel. Talk about torture! I calmed myself down after he came downstairs fully clothed. That flirtatious bastard lol.

So we made our way to his sister's house about 20 minutes away. We stepped inside and most of his family members were already there. Most of them I didn't know though, but I greeted everyone with handshakes for the men and kisses on the cheeks for the women. I especially was greeted by his mother (who adores me), his father, and his female cousin. After some small talk with a few of his family members, it was time for me to eat for the second time. But at this dinner, they had some nice red wine, and my coworker's brother-in-law made some bangin ass jello shots filled with Bacardi and Parrot Bay. Compliments to him! LOL After the food and drinks had subsided, my coworker proceeds to look in is iPhone for movies that are playing that night (he's always looking for a movie to see).

Me: What movie are you looking to see?
Sexy Coworker: I'm looking to see that movie Milk with Sean Penn. (Milk is the story about 70s gay rights activist Harvey Milk, the first gay man ever elected to a public office. If you are not familiar with him or his story, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_milk).
Me: Who are you going to see it with?
SC: I'll go by myself.
Me: I'll go with you. (I didn't have to work the next day, and this was a good way to chill with him one-on-one.)
SC: Aight cool. (Jokingly) You think it'll look right for us to be seeing this kind of movie together?
Me: (Jokingly) Just don't sit next to me.

Not too long after, we left his sister's house, dropped off his cousin, and made our way into Manhattan to the movie. We talked about a few things on the way there (including how I felt about gay marraiges), but nothing at all about the movie. We finally get to the theatre, and it was packed. (It was playing at a small, local theater, so it was very easy for the theater to get packed.) So guess what? We had to sit right next to each other. Oh well lol. And the movie was excellent! Sean Penn really did a good job playing Harvey Milk. There were a lot of things I connected with and related to in the movie. In fact, there was one scene where Milk is giving a speech and he shouts, "Come out to your coworkers! Come out to your friends!" Ummm....is he talking about me? LOL All throughout the movie, revealing my "secret" to my coworker was nagging at me. When we left the theater and got back into his car, we talked about how great the movie was. I asked him why he chose to see that movie, and he tells me that he's a very open-minded person and how comfortable he is with himself. At this point, I felt like I was gonna burst if I didn't tell him. And since we just got finished seeing a movie about gays and gay rights, now was the perfect time for me to tell him. So here is the big moment:

Me: So (insert name here), let me tell you something...
SC: Yo (meaning, go ahead).
Me: I'm gay.
SC: You?
Me: Yup. I know you already knew, with all those gay jokes you say to me.
SC: Nah, I was actually just playing with you. If I'd have known, I wouldn't have made the jokes at all. But I'm cool with it.
Me: Well that actually didn't bother me at all, cause I know you're a silly ass.

We talked a little while longer about the subject: why did I "choose" this lifestyle, who else at our job knows, who at our job is also gay (he mentioned 2 people, but I didn't know either one of them), who at our job he thought or still thinks is gay, if family knows, have I ever dated/messed with women. I was expecting those types of questions, so I answered everything honestly. I think he's bi-curious, because he told me that he does wonder what it would be like to be with another man, but he keeps reminding himself on how he loves to "blaze women." (I'll work on him on that lol.) I really felt a big relief because gradually it was eating away at me. And hell, it was gonna come out eventually, cause things like that always do. But I was even more relieved that he took the news in stride. It's always a double-edged sword when you drop some news like that on a person. Either they're gonna accept it, move on, and treat you exactly the same as before they found out, or just do a complete 360 and stop being bothered with you. After our discussion, I'm sure it's the former. In fact, when I was getting into my car to go home, he already invited me back to his house for Christmas.

Now only two people at my job know about me. But the question remaining is....is he still gonna bring over a chick for this threesome we're supposed to have? LMAO. I reminded him about that as well, and he said, "Oh yeah, I do have to work on that." But time will tell. Oh well, that's neither here nor there.

What a Thanksgiving huh?

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to wish you all (and your families) a Happy Thanksgiving! May you always be grateful for everything you have in your life...family, friends, your health, a place to live, food to eat, etc. But especially in this rough economy, be thankful you have a job! (I know I am.) God bless you all!

A Tribute to Our President-Elect

Here are some newspaper covers and reactions from people all over the world regarding President-Elect Obama. It's quite an amazing feat that one person can have so much of an impact on the world!



















From France:



From the Philippines:


From Senegal:


From Indonesia:

All Hail the Queen (of Pop)

After nearly 20 years, my dream finally came to fruition this past Friday...I saw one of my favorite performers live in concert: the one and only Janet Damita Jo Jackson! I've bought every album she has made since the Control album. The reason why I like her so much is because I am also the youngest sibling in my family. So I know what it's like to try to blaze your path and step out of the shadows of older siblings to fully establish yourself. And what a path she has blazed for herself! Multi-platinum albums, numerous #1 hits, millions of albums sold worldwide, and the only artist to have 7 top 5 singles from one album (not even Michael has been able to do that). She has paved the way for just about every female artist in the 90s and 00s with her intricate choreography alone (can you really imagine artists like Ciara if there were no Janet?)

When I found out back in May that she was going to be touring again and making a stop at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, NJ, I signed up for the Janet Jackson Fan Club just so I can get the advanced tickets. Yes they were a bit pricey cause I ordered a floor ticket, but hey, this was a golden opportunity. And who knows if she'll be touring any time again in the future? After all, this was her first tour in seven years. I was gonna take advantage of and fully enjoy this opportunity.

She cancelled and postponed a few concerts before the NJ one because of vertigo, so I was a little concerned that this one would follow the same fate. So to say tha I was so excited when I got the Izod Center was an understatement. I couldn't wait to take my seat and see the woman of the hour live and in person. And my friend that I came to the concert with pointed this out as well, but Janet is one of the few artists who can transcend every race, nationality, ages, and sexuality. There were people from ALL backgrounds there, which is a true testament to her superstar status. The concert was supposed to start at 7:30 (with LL Cool J as the opening act), but it actually didn't start til around 8:20, with no LL in sight. And honestly, who needs him? Janet doesn't need an opening act! So I didn't care at all that he wasn't there.

*WARNING...IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE CONCERT AND STILL PLAN ON GOING, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!*

The lights dimmed, and a booming voice comes over the intercom system. And suddenly, two oversized letter J's move out of the way to reveal the woman we all paid money to see. The crowd went crazy. And she looks the same in person as she does on TV. She was short and petite, yet she had a commanding stage presence. She had her hair in a mohawk, and she was wearing a beige and black catsuit (as shown in the pic above). And she is so beautiful! A few seconds after the spotlight turned on, she went into her first song of the night: "The Pleasure Principle." She then segued into such songs as "Escapade" and "Feedback." I was so happy I got a floor seat, cause when she walked to the front of the stage, I was able to see a nice view of her. I was not happy that I didn't have a digital camera with me. The tickets said "no cameras or recorders," but as soon as she stepped to the front of the stage, the cameras and lights were flashing. I was so over all of them! LOL I had my little cell phone, but that shit did not even compare. Ugh....oh well. The memories will be etched in my mind. As she went through hit after hit, costume change after costume change (including a gorgeous red evening gown she wore during one part), I think I only sat down for a few minutes. (Of course, that also had to do with everybody else standing up in front of me lol.)

Janet then stops to talks, and she says that people have been asking her why she doesn't do certain songs on tour. Hmmm....I wonder what songs she's talking about, I said to myself. "This is for the true diehard fans," she says before going into three songs from her very first two albums (the self-titled one and Dream Street): "Young Love," "Say You Do," and "Don't Stand Another Chance." That was truly a welcome surprise, cause I haven't heard those songs in a looooooooooooong time.

Then came the part that Janet has been known for for a few years...bringing up a male concertgoer to do the really sexual part of the show. This year she decided to choose the song "Discipline," and the lucky dude was a white, pretty cute dude that was sitting in the front row (that bastard lol). The song has an S&M-type of feel, so it was fitting that the female dancers tied him up with leather straps and metal hooks and suspended him horizontally at one point, while Ms. Jackson lied on the floor right beneath him. The dude was then lowered right on top of her, and she showed just how nasty she can be by pressing his head right into her cleavage. Then he was lowered onto the floor, and she got on top of him and simulated the riding position, then a 69 position. Everybody went crazy! And I know that dude will NEVER forget that day!

After a few more songs and costume changes, the unfortunate time came for her to exit stage left. Dressed in all white, she graciously thanks NJ for coming to see the show, and bid us good night. This was around 11:30. We all slowly filed out of the building to get into our cars.

People can say what they want about Janet. No she's not the greatest singer (which is also why I'm glad I bought the floor ticket), and yes her album sales haven't been selling the way they used to. Hell, what artist do you know has a multi-platinum album every single time? None! But there's no denying that you get your money's worth from her concerts. She is one of the best live performers you will ever see. Why the hell it took me so long to see it with my own eyes I will never understand, but oh well. Better late than never. And I'm so glad it wasn't too late. Now I can die in peace lol.

Did McCain Back Himself Up Into a Corner?

McCain is now forced to defend his opponent after one of his own supporters referred to Obama as "an Arab." Boos follow thereafter when McCain further defends Obama. I'm sure this is not where he envisioned himself to be at this point in the election. See the clip below.