There's an energy washing chemically over me

This boyfriend thing is taking up a tons of time I could be devoting to blogging, so I want to apologize straight up for my neglect. I'm going to run a quick overview of things since I've been back from my road trip...

Saturday, July 5
I came home and Chris came and picked me up that night. We hung out for a while and then went out to Mirabar where I was hoping to run into my friends Billy and Jamie who were visiting from LA. I saw them, and we hung with them for a bit. Then Chris and I left early because I was really tired.

Sunday, July 6
Chris and I went down to Connecticut for a barbeque at my friend Doug's house. We left that early too, more because somebody who shall remain nameless was being a drunken asshole. Let's not discuss that, shall we?

Monday, July 7 - Friday, July 11
Typical week all around, but fun. Much time spent with boyfriend. Starting to sense a theme, are we? I worked Friday night at Dark Lady, it was really nerve-wracking being the first time I'd worked since the incident in the basement Pride. They were having a blackout underwear party which was lots of fun, except it was difficult to tell who was working and who was just naked -- especially since they had five of us on -- Adam, Jamal, Matt, myself, and new boy Tony.

Saturday, July 12
I took the night off of work because it was my dear friend Grace's birthday, and I D.Ded for her. It was good that I was not drinking, because technically alcohol is bad for me with the Crohn's and all and I really needed to step back from the celebrating my 21-ness to realize how much better I was feeling overall back when I was 20. Also celebrating with us that night was Naseer, another friend from high school; his boyfriend Paul; and yet another person from high school Brendan. (How many Brendan's can I possibly have in my life?)

Sunday, July 13
Grace's actual birthday, Chris and I joined her briefly for continued partying -- this time with Courtney, Kilian, and Tara Jane -- all of whom I fondly remember from high school but basically never see anymore. I know, bad friend. It was really nice to reconnect with all of them though. :)
(And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, a picture of Chris and I! Much anticipated, I'm sure. :P)

Monday, July 14
Chris' vacation week began on Monday, so we went to NYC. I know, NYC on a Monday....it seems peculiar. He told me we were going to have dinner and drinks with his mother. I was nervous to say the least, not to mention a lot surprised at how soon I was meeting his mother (a fact that would soon make me a complete hypocrite.) We stayed at the cutest bed & breakfast, called the 414. It's fairly near Time Square. Very centrally located.
After we checked in, we went to lunch at a cute little restaurant, where cute, enthusiastic people provided excellent service. It's too bad the food *sucked* because I really wanted to like the place. Anyways...while we ate, I proceeded to pick apart Chris about this dinner-with-mother thing, more than I already had that is. Turned out I wasn't meeting his mother -- he'd pulled strings and, in just two days, gotten tickets to see Spring Awakening!!!!!! Even though Jonathan Groff is no longer in the cast, it was just as amazing as I remembered it.

Tuesday, July 15
We came back from NYC and made it back JUST in time for my physical therapy appointment. They started me on heavy-duty strengthening excercises that left my arm exhausted and left me not feeling up to very much, so Chris and I headed back to my parents' house, where I am currently residing on the misguided theory that on a Tuesday afternoon nobody would home -- as this is often true.
Instead, everyone was frikkin' home. My brother, who doesn't even live here anymore, was there. Chris spent the rest of the day with me....and my family. Even when Dad took my brother, me, and Chris out for clam cakes. See how I'm a hypocrite? Cause I sure do. And so does Chris, as he will not let me live that down...

Wednesday, July 16
Chris and I hung out more, it being his week off. That night we brought my brother up to the train station, and then brought Topher to work, and then went out for fun at Mirabar. I met a couple of his friends, which was a nice change. :P
Unfortunately, we got into our first big fight when we left. I'm not going to air the details to everyone, especially since it's basically over and done with. If you really want to know, there are plenty of more private ways to get in touch with me, yes? Yes. And then you can blog about it all Gossip-Girl style -- cause we all know how I'd *love* to be in something tabloid-esque.

Thursday, July 17
Chris and I resolved our issues over Facebook. After watching Burn Notice with mom, I went up to Mirabar, where he was working, and Dark Lady to hang out. I got harrassed by a kid who lost Dark Lady's hot body contest and was not happy about it...I decided to be nice and not explain that he might have lost because of how he wasn't actually that hot. I know, normally I'm really honest but that's the sort of thing I like to sugarcoat, and there was just no way of doing that. He lost to a drag queen for crying out loud. (A hot drag queen, but still.) The other people who lost (some of whom were pretty good looking) weren't bothered by it.

Friday, July 18
I got a haircut. Then I worked at Dark Lady. Typical night, with four of us (Adam couldn't work). Drama happened, it didn't involve me. Chris and I went to breakfast afterwards.

Saturday, July 19
Chris and I had a really lazy Saturday, though we went up to the Natick Collection (that's the mall's real name apparently). Then it was Christmas in July. Which was looottttts of fun. Only Matt and I worked, but Jamal and Tony were there -- it was nice to have the added back-up. Cleaning up took til about 4:30 am though. Needless to say I was exhausted when I got to Chris' house. He hadn't had a good night either, though he'd gotten to see several of his friends from MA. So we slept, or tried to sleep, but with both of us being in bad moods at that point it just didn't work out well. So we were exhausted Sunday...

Sunday, July 20
...So we did a lot of sleeping. Or at least, I did, I don't really know what Chris did since I came home. Stayed home too!

Monday, July 21
Today was solidly productive, kind of. Dell is coming tomorrow to fix everything wrong with my computer. The warranty is done on August 18, and if I don't get it fixed I'm betting I'll need a new one about August 19.
Then, Chris and I met up and I brought him to Dark Lady as my date to the surprise birthday party of one of the owners. It was fun, although we left a bit early. I don't really like going out on Mondays, you know? Is that weird? Anyways...that brings us to now.

Tuesday, July 22
I'm going to try this sleeping thing again. I was trying early, it wasn't working out because I was thinking about how I hadn't blogged in forever. Now that I have, hopefully I'll sleep for a few hours before I have to get up to wait for the Dell guy. Then, I'll get to nap again before physical therapy. I hope.

PS Go back to a few of the recent previous posts, there's been new pictures added to some of them! (One of them includes Chris!)

You moved me in a way that I've never known

So, remember how blown away I was last time I told you guys what was going on and how much of a roller coaster this summer was turning into? I had no idea. The most excitement my life has ever seen, I'm not even kidding.

So, things were seeming pretty quiet for a little while. Like, a couple hours. :P My mom's car was in the shop to fix a noise it was making, so our family was juggling cars and that was fine. Almost as soon as mom's car came back, the bumper of dad's car fell off. Like literally. So then his car was in the shop. They were looking for a used bumper so it was in the shop for a while.
And just before we got his car back, I somehow mysteriously managed to have two of my tires go flat. At once. Without hitting a curb, because the road I was driving on doesn't have one. Your guess about that one is as good as mine. Anyways, fortunately when they took it in they discovered my brakes were about to go so they fixed that up for me.

In other news, I met a boy. His name is Chris. He's the most adorable ever. And...as of Monday morning (although, in a when-I-went-to-sleep kind of way it was Sunday night), he's my boyfriend. Yeah, I got a boyfriend. Who knew? :P Not only do I have a boyfriend, but he likes me and I like him too. It's like....an unheard of phenomenon. But it's super nice. :)
Anyways, I'm really happy about that.

Also, we had Pride. Now, Dark Lady had a three-day block party for Pride and I volunteered to work all three nights cause, hello, this boy needs the cashy cashy goodness. Friday night went decently, not fantastically.
And then, at the end of the night, a bunch of guys from Trixx came up to the stage and decided they wanted to get up. Which is all well and good, except we hadn't really said they could. Anyways, long story shortened, I ended up dancing with TJ Hawke. And like ten minutes later, I had met Guy Parker and Jesse Santana and dragged them up on stage with me. At the end of the night, I was hanging out with them and some of the Trixx boys, one of whom I hadn't met before but who tells me he's going to be going to school out near my school, actually! They all tell me I have to come by Trixx the next day and I tell them...if I get some time off during the night. But in my head, I'm like "What are the chances of that?"
(The boys with their shirts lifted up are TJ Hawke, Guy Parker, and Jesse Santana. I borrowed this from the Trixx Myspace.)

So, remember last time I learned that if a porn star invites you somewhere, you should just go? This is still a true fact. But we'll get to that.

First, the Pride Parade. After wandering around Providence for much of the day and miraculously avoiding sunburn, we went to Dark Lady to get ready. I was all decked out in green (I was either Tinkerballs or Twinkerbell, up to you...)
Anyways, eventually the parade started and we were off and it was SUPER fun. There's lots of pictures, but I haven't seen any of them yet, so hold your horses. They'll get up here.

Then the party at Dark Lady started. Everyone who wasn't working was having a blast, but it was one of those parties where you have to wonder "Why do I do this again?" Tips were few and far between, I got stepped on, and worse.
I went down into the basement, right? And as I'm going down the stairs, someone turns off the lights. The light switch is at the top of the stairs. I'm like "oh, crap" cause it's not hard to figure out what's going on. Fortunately, I have pretty good night vision and there's light from an exit sign down there to help with the seeing things. So I scamper down the stairs, grab my phone from out of my pants and start screaming things about how he needs to go upstairs while I'm trying to send out text messages to everyone who is there saying that I need help in the basement. But, unfortunately, I'm in the basement so almost none of them went out. Meanwhile this fat guy is liking slowly coming down the stairs, but, thanks to my screaming he disappears back out of sight. But I didn't hear the door open so I figure he's still up there. So I crept in an as-out-of-sight place as I could and waited. And about twenty minutes later, one of the bartenders came down. I've never been so relieved in my life. He made fun of me, but he saved my ass so that's okay.

And that's the story of why I asked for Sunday night off even though it was a three-day block party. See, I should totally have gone to party with porn stars instead.

Sunday I hung out with Chris, which was super nice. We watched Camp which is a really good movie, but if the guy who played Vlad ever comes to RI I think I'm going to get dumped for him. (I think I would understand though, and I would probably even take Chris back when it turns out the actor's a horrible person in real life. :P)

Then Monday was my birthday. Cody was thinking he was going to come up to RI, but he didn't (chill, it's all cool) so I was going to spend the day doing basically nothing when I get a phone call from Matt saying he's at Doug's still (from Saturday night after the block party...someone else missed work on Sunday!!) and we decided I should come over for lunch.
And booze. Oh good god, booze. I became a total shitshow, which would have fine if I was actually fine but apparently I was more upset by Saturday night than I ever realized. I started throwing up, and then I started with the sobbing and breaking down. It was pretty and now that I've aired it on here, let's please not speak of it again. Then there was like an hour I don't remember, but the next thing I remember is being on the phone with Chris and he says I told him he woke me up, so I'm guessing I was asleep. Then we watched the end of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. And then Doug made filet mignon on his grill. And then they brought out the ice cream cake. And then Matt and I headed up to Providence and I got to my birthday party an hour late. I got to be a shitshow once more (not as bad as that afternoon), but Chris -- bless him -- drove me to his house and took care of me.

Last night Chris and I went to Downcity Diner for dinner -- it was delicious. So good. Then we went to karaoke at Dark Lady. Now I'm home, packing for leaving for PA tomorrow. We must continue the 21st birthday parties!! (Though hopefully with less drinking than we had the first day. Agh, agh, agh!)

So, yeah, more pictures coming soon!!!!

Oh, and what I got for my birthday: Will & Grace Season One, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, two Grand Canyon keychains (because I collect keychains but I hadn't started collecting when we went to the Grand Canyon when I was in 2nd grade), a pair of shorts, money, and several CDs including Spring Awakening and the Moldy Peaches (who did the music for Juno). So yay!

"And if our good fortune never comes, here's to whatever comes"

I'm going to be honest with you all.
I have no idea where I've been all week. I mean, not literally. Literally, I know. But time has flown by, it almost seems like it's been somebody else and I've been fast-forwarding the tapes, occasionally slowing down for a minute or two so as not to miss something while I'm eating.

I've filled out so many job applications, my eyes started to hurt. And I handed them in. I improved my resume. I deleted my resume and made a better resume. I handed out resumes. And now, I wait. Most of those didn't get out til Thursday so I'm not expecting anyone to call until Tuesday -- if at all. I don't know how many of you have noticed: the economy sucks.

I got this brace for my elbow, to help me be able to straighten it. I'm not sure how to describe it except for a white and red piece of plastic torture. With velcro. And for at least two half hours every day (not consecutive) I bend my arm into a right angle (which is not like, hard or anything but it has to be pretty exact) attach this grotesque invention to my arm, turn the little knob/dial/thing-gummy and it straightens my arm until it starts to ache. And then I whimper quietly to myself while I wait for it to stop aching (usually about five minutes), and then I twist the knob again and straighten my arm more until it aches some more. And this goes on for, like a said, a half an hour. Twice a day. Tomorrow I get to start doing it three times a day, and I for one am overjoyed, as you can imagine. Fortunately, I still have one free hand which allows me to do....well, very little that's worth doing. :P

Other than that, there's been the usual clubbing going on. Like every night. Also, my dad had a birthday. He's impossible to shop for, so I made mom get my present like I always do. I picked out a card though, I'm a good kid. Anyways, this weekend I worked Friday and Saturday once again, the money was decent and no -- we didn't take any pictures this weekend, sorry Lewis and anonymous Facebook friend who IMed me to tell me how much you liked last weeks picture. :P Today I went to a cookout in Connecticutt with a bunch of friends from the clubs. It was a fabulously wonderful time, I met a few new people and had quite a great time.

And now I'm home watching In Plain Sight. I need to stop updating only on Sundays or this show is going to become like the patron TV show of Grahamblings. :P

This week, I'm going to hopefully interview for some jobs, hand out more applications, go to physical therapy again, go shopping for fairy wings for the Dark Lady's pride party, go clubbing and partying, work at Dark Lady....and who knows what else? I guess we'll see and I will let you all know.
Hopefully this week, even if things are still fast-forwarding, I'll feel more like I'm inside, not watching. :P

Sweet temptation wash all over me

I'm not doing so hot on this updating every day thing, am I? I keep getting distracted every time I come online. First, I found this bunch of games where you get to be morally ambiguous characters -- which I adore that sort of thing. They're simple yet fun and addictive RPG sort of things -- I know, I'm being a geek right now, deal with. There's one for pirates, two different Mafia ones (a 1925 game and a 1955 game) and a game set in the future where you get to play a futuristic criminal type, they call them "CyberPunks". This is totally the sort of game where, if you were young and impressionable, you would run out mugging people in real life later. What a terrible influence on society -- and what a great way to get reduce boredom. :)

I also, just ten minutes ago, stumbled across something on my Facebook news feed (god it's a creepy thing, but oh-so-good). Friends of mine joined a fan-group for a blog, so of course I had to check it out. And that's how I discovered Catty, Bitch Queens. It's a fictional, episodic soap opera-type thing following a group of gay friends all (or maybe most? I haven't read all of it) in a theater department at some school in Providence. So, you know I love it -- Providence, plus gays, plus theater, plus other people's drama. And, hey, there's even nightclubs!
I have to say, I love love love the format it's in. Each "episode" is narrated by a different one of the characters. It takes a minute and some reviewing of past episodes to get how interconnected all these characters are, but that sort of pulled me in. I only have two issues with two things in the series: there does not seem to be a fag hag in the bunch -- and that, of course, is a necessity because who else is going to simultaneously keep the gays in line AND create even more, somewhat unnecessary drama by being the supportive fag hag to the whole crew of them? S'all I'm saying. Also, Providence as an anti-gay city? I can only suspend my disbelief so much -- it sounds so much more like York or Harrisburg than Providence of all places. (Though the mugging is about right...)
Still, I've been really enjoying reading it and I will be adding it to my blogroll (over on the right, check 'em out if you haven't already).
(PS, Kiddos! When is there going to be a Grahamblings fan group on Facebook? :P WTF mate?)

Anyways, this week hasn't been the most exciting thing ever, lots of down time for me to look into things like Pirate Quest.....
However, I have made several new friends, including a boyyyyy that I like (and a couple of others who I have totally slutty lustbunnies for. God they make 'em hot in this state. That explains me too, I guess. :P)
I went to karaoke night again this past Tuesday, which was fun. Then Wednesday night I went to retro night at Mirabar, so yay! Thursday I hung out with the boy...who is named Matt, which is going to make tagging him in blog posts super confusing. (Haven't we always frowned upon repeating names -- especially when the name in question appears in my immediate family as well? :P)
We rented two movies -- Mad Money (which I think may have been Katie Holmes' best performance ever) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. (I'm sensing a pirate theme this week. Arr, matey!) Both great movies, I had a really good time...and have, of course, failed to call him since then. I suck at this whole like social skills/liking people thing. I'll call him tonight....or tomorrow.

Friday night I went to work at Dark Lady (after my mother guilt tripped me about gas prices, but I can't very well be like "Yes, mom, I know, and I'm going to go be almost naked in front of a bunch of strangers so I don't have to worry about gas, shut the fuck up bitch.") It was my first night back since I was ill for last weekend's military ball. It was great, I had a blast, I got a ton of tips. And I met a gorgeous, gorgeous guy named Darren. From New York, who was too drunk to remember me. But he has my phone number anyways. I was a little distracted because Darren was right in front of me all night, so I probably could have made even more than I did but oh well.

Saturday I headed up to Massachusetts for Jason's -- my friend who bartends at Dark Lady, not the Jason from Pennsylvania -- graduation party. I got there at about 5:30 and fortunately my friend Rich was there, because otherwise I would only have known Jay and that can be awkward. I ate for the first two hours and then I started to socialize. I talked to most everyone there, until I sort of settled down and talked to Tom, who is this seriously, impressively built cop (and a complete smartass) and Keenan I think his name was? It started with a Kee and ended with an "in" sound but sometimes when people said his name it almost sounded like there was no "n" in the middle? I don't know. People talk too fast here. :P Anyways, I stayed sitting around them until about 10:30 when I headed off to work another night at the Dark Lady. It was going really well for tips at first, and then the drag queens went on and did their show. It was Miss Kitty Litter's birthday, you see, so it was a big deal, this show. And they were raising money for AIDS charities so they milked money out of everyone. Which is great, they made a ton. But I didn't. :P

And now, today, I'm here, reading and playing morally corruptive games on the Internet. :P In Plain Sight on USA airs its first episode tonight at 10! I'm so excited!!

This is fast, because I've finally been declared better and I can drive once again and stuff sooo...

I just discovered I was wrong about the date of Providence Pride. I thought it was the weekend before my birthday weekend. I'm not sure where I got this idea from, but I was wrong. For anyone I might have informed otherwise: Providence Pride is June 21. Two days before my 21st birthday -- so the day before we start my birthday celebrations we'll all be celebrating Pride.
I don't care much, so long as I get to swing by Trixx and see the porn stars they have coming. Of course, I'll also have to work at the Dark Lady that night, so we'll see what happens. Cross your fingers that I can make it, or that I can meet them at the parade, because it would be so lame if I missed the Pride porn stars again this year. Seriously.
At least this year I have a really good excuse, I'll be working! :P

On the Highway to Hell!

Okay...so, last Saturday I had planned to go to Dark Lady and then head to Mirabar. But, as they say, the best laid plans....

So I went to meet up with Grace and Ryan at the Providence Place Mall and then we were going to go over there together. Grace was still with her two younger cousins, so we went to take them home -- of course stopping at Newport Creamery for food and ice cream on the way -- and then we headed to the Dark Lady.

It was PACKED. We were late, but it was still early for it to be that crowded. Matt was over at Mirabar, and he had to leave early, so I saw him for about thirty seconds out on the sidewalk (sad face!) And inside....wowza mcwowza! TONS of people! It was thoroughly exciting and tons of fun.

And the big triumph of the night? There's a guy in Providence, who shall remain unnamed, but I've had lustbunnies for him for like two year now, and he actually flirted with me! I'm pretty much feeling like the sexiest thing ever right now.

So we never actually left to go to Mirabar, but we had a total blast.

So I got up the next morning, went to the Easter Sunday service with my family. We had an Easter dinner, just the family no extended family, around 2 pm. That was all the Easter we did, which was more than fine with me. I never used to get sick (before they put me on immunosupressants) but for some reason I was always sick at Easter. I can remember maybe twice being sick when it wasn't Easter in my whole life, so it's not my favorite holiday.
I did enjoy the couple of hours I spent at Trixx that night though!
We road tripped back from Pennsylvania, and it was quite an adventure. Meghan, Dara, Amanda, and I. Oooh boy! That was an adventure -- and I'm not even talking about the guy that Amanda and I saw peeing at the gas station. Ewwwwwwww. Meghan and I left my house and headed into Connecticutt, up to Massachusetts to grab Dara and Amanda. We switched off driving each time we stopped, so each of us (except Dara) drove once for three or four hours. It was a much longer trip than the usual six hour drive I have when I go it alone. Not sure how or why that happens. We did go a totally different route though, we got on 84 in Massachusetts and took that all the way to Scranton, PA, where we got on 81 and took that down to 83.
At one point we got off to find a McDonald's for lunch. Rhonda was giving us directions to the nearest McDonald's, but she left out a little teeny tiny turn we had to do. Amanda was driving, and in perfect Amanda-style she pulled a double u-turn -- effectively a three quarter circle -- in the middle of the road to get us back on track. That was maybe my favorite moment.

My least favorite moment? We stopped by the mall I work at along the way, since we were going by and I had a paycheck there.
Or thought I had a paycheck there but apparently several hours of work I did have either gone missing, or the check is being mailed to me. Since I'm not getting hours except for the once-a-month overnight, I'm livid. I need the money!! I don't know how I'm scraping together enough for all of the bills this month, but I'm betting I'm calling Grandma for help again this month. And the job hunt isn't going well because I'm seriously busy -- which makes me wonder, could I even work another job? If it's not late at night, I don't know.
Anyways, that's neither here nor there.The best part was discovering that if we photographed cars that were moving slowly in the high speed lane, they would speed up.

PS Since I know that the saga of Katie's foot is becoming epic, I wanted to share with you the latest update: she went to physical therapy and the therapist told her that her foot was not sprain but was in fact broke. Shocked? I'm not. So she's going to see -- surprise, surprise -- another doctor! But she's getting a second opinion and hopefully this doctor won't be so...much like the last one.

And in answer to the question people keep asking me -- yes, I'm still very bitter. :P

(Pictures in this post courtesy of Ryan, Amanda!) (And thanks to Rhonda, below, for the directions and adventures...)

"Just give it time, kid, I come to one and all"

Okay. Wow, that's really all I can say. Wow.

Thursday...let me explain Thursday. Katie called me from work and informed me that her doctor had called and determined -- a week later -- that there was actually a fracture on her foot in the x-rays. She was informed that it was urgent for her to see an orthopedic doctor immediately.
So, after my 12:30 class, I took Katie to her appointment with the orthopedic doctor who is coincidentally the same one I am seeing on March 31st about my elbow.
So she filled out her paperwork, and we waited. We got brought to a room. And we wait. Fifty-six minutes we waited -- which is lucky for him, because after an hour I go look for the doctor. (Yeah, I'm one of those guys.) He breezes in, barely introducing himself, feels Katie's foot and says "I didn't see a fracture on the x-rays" and makes like he's going to leave. Without so much as looking at the x-rays with her.
Katie gets upset -- this is the fifth doctor she's seen, and she keeps being tossed back and forth between "it's broken" and "it's just a sprain". The doctor tells his technician to call her family doctor and ask about this supposed fracture. Then, he walks out of the room. The technician makes the five minute phone call and then we spend a half an hour waiting for this doctor to return. When he did, he insisted that even if there was a fracture, it wasn't causing the pain and therefore it wasn't important and he would not be treating it. He diagnosed Katie with a "perrenial tendon sprain", and told her to do physical therapy, and sent her out to the check out.
At the check out desk, they got confused by the lack of a follow up appointment, which confused Katie, so she ended up crying again. The doctor had her brought into a room so he could "try to help her understand" so she wouldn't be upset -- and by that, he meant explain what he'd already explained only this time in a more condescending tone.
All in all, we spent two hours there and saw the doctor for a total of seven minutes.

Then, we had to rush because Katie's relatives were meeting us at our apartment that night for dinner, and I had to pick up my road trip comrades from campus before six o'clock. We sent Ty, Amanda, and Dara in my car to the diner and we ate dinner with Russ, Mandy, and the three little tykes....who, despite was Katie assured me would happen, immediately adopted me (rather than avoiding me). They're fun and good kids but it was still miserable in that I don't like little children sort of way.

Thursday night was a riot. We all went to Club XS (even Katie because that horrible doctor said she could) and almost everyone was there, it was crazy fun! We came back to my apartment and had a slumber party there -- Katie gave up her bed and she and I crashed on my futon.

The next morning, we all left for New England. Well, not as early as we'd intended. We picked up an extra passenger -- my friend Meghan who decided she didn't want to take the train (I've road tripped with her before). Then we stopped for breakfast. So we didn't really leave til like 11 am.
Then there was construction. And traffic. And then a truck blocked our view of a vital road sign and because of this we ended up having to drive through New York City -- fortunately, the navigation on my phone (who we've named Rhonda) saved us. It also got us up through Connecticutt into Massachusetts to Amanada's house, down to Meghan's in RI.
All in all, it was a nine hour drive. Fortunately, the company was good and we switched off drivers.

After just a couple hours home, I set off to work at the Dark Lady's beach party. There were tons of new faces, as well as plenty of familiar ones. It was a great time. I also kinda met a guy. Yeah, I might talk about that later...but at the same time, meeting guys in RI does me how much good? Pretty much none.

Today has been fairly relax. I got coffee with Matt -- the guy from last night -- and then we went and got my car inspected and then I've been chilling at home and running errands but pretty soon I'll be heading out again.

I'm gonna do it my way, take it for just what it is.

Now that you've been caught up on meaningless stuff like my car and my short play....here's the real deal update:

Two things I know you're concerned about: my party life, and my love life. Cause you guys are shallow like me, admit it.

Soo...since partying it up hardcore (Steve's favorite word) in Providence, working at the Dark Lady twice (Thanksgiving Eve and then the following Saturday), parties in Central Pennsylvania have been, well, drab. As is my usual first response after a taste of Providence.

So I haven't stayed in Pennsylvania. Okay, mostly I did. You know, I went to XS a lot. Thanks to my car issues, not as much as I wanted to though. I didn't get to work as much either, so I'm a little broke, but that's beside the point.
Unfortunately, going to the club less means I'm going to more on campus parties and drinking more. Plus, Katie and I had our own Christmas party which quite a few people came to and, yes, we drank. But Katie and I baked cookies for that too!!

Anyways, the big event was heading down to DC for Town. You see, it's been around for about a month and it is supposed to be the biggest best party in the region.
It is. No lie. I had more fun that night, in that crazy party. I want to go back every week -- and when I'm around here, I think I can. I'm seeing about getting a job there when I get back from the holidays. It was SO thrilling.

Speaking of thrilling, this just in: Jason Sechrest said I was fucking adorable. JASON FUCKING SECHREST LIKES MY LOOK (or pretends to, though I really don't know where the motive behind that would be). Where the hell do I sign up for HIM??? And who is gonna pay for me to go to LA like...uhm, now. (Okay, after New Year's. :P)

Right, and that brings us to my love life.
Actually, there's a teeny something here: someone sent IMs from AIM to my phone (which is the same as texting me cause my phone is that old school :P). Here's our clues about this person's identity: I see them almost every day, I don't talk to them much any more (I didn't talk to a lot of people much this semester, it was a rough one on me), and I believe they had an exam Friday morning, and I am Facebook friends with them. They said they were shy, which truly cuts down on which of my friends it could be. We can also be pretty sure this person is in the closet.
I've figured out several people that it isn't. More than that, I've figured out: it would be absolutely impossible for me to date a closet case on our campus. Remember Anthony? Remember how all of campus found out he'd cheated on me before I did? I have no secrets from these people. :-P That doesn't mean I wouldn't try, though, depending, of course, on who it is.

And that brings us to our close. In conclusion...
Katie: "I like it so much better when you don't have your conscience."
Graham: "Well, I just picked it up somewhere and I can't find the receipt."
We've determined that we're much more Jack & Karen than Will & Grace.

What's the buzz? Tell me what's a-happening...

I get it, ya'll don't like how I'm not posting......so let me tell you what all has been going on.

I got cast in the fall main stage production of Gint. I was up for the lead, but the damn script....the minor characters are more difficult to play and require a greater ability to have variety. And for that reason I was not cast as the lead -- which is a good thing, I suppose, except for the one little detail: It looks shitty not to have leading roles on your resume!!!
Okay, over it.

I'm slacking in my core class. The professor is allowing it. "I need you guys to watch this video, but just in case you can't see it when it's on TV I'm going to give you the answers to the worksheet in class." Yes, that's how I'm earning my participation grade. Dead serious.

As for my little adventure back home to Rhode Island this weekend...it was because I had a film gig. For a web series. And it sounds like it will be the first of several appearances I have on the series. My video isn't even out yet and the character is already getting involved from his Bebo...
My friends Kat and Katie came with me. To make the weekend even better, it was my mom's birthday. And the last full Waterfire of the season. And the Dark Lady was having it's Gay-sha block party!

In other news, a few pop culture things that irk me:
The Backstreet Boys have too many things in common with their songs. For instance, their two most recent "hits" (that I know of) are "Inconsolable" and "Incomplete". Can we get a new first syllable, boys? Aside from the similarities between the words themselves, both songs suck. Course, I have never been a fan of them so...maybe I'm biased?

Next on the agenda: Chris Cocker, or whatever his name is. The boy weeps in the defense of a tragic mess and, dare I say, a lost cause (Britney Spears) and suddenly shoots to stardom. Can I just throw this out there: he's OBNOXIOUS. His hair is bad. His face is bizarre. I'd rather listen to nails on a chalkboard than his heinous voice. And could you be any more....(for lack of a better word) gay? Seriously, get a personality and follow it up with your sexuality, not the other way around.

Aaaaand, on a totally seperate note...how's this for exciting: Expressmen Interviews My Friend Tony Gibble!

"Now my whoring has turned into art!!!!"

I have several things to discuss here. Very important things of course.

First of all: I've said this before, and I'll say it again. The Wild Party is the most "me" musical there is or has ever been.

Anyone who happens to be thinking something like "Gosh, I'd love to pre-order a CD right now", Darren Hayes' new CDs are coming out on August 25th. I will not be pre-ordering it. However, I may try to sway my parents or an aunt (my aunts enjoy spoiling me...most of my family does. I think this explains a lot) into doing so. Probably after I tell them about that speeding ticket from a few weeks ago. I should get on that, huh?
Anywho, I'm also trying to sway you into pre-ordering it. The faster he becomes a huge megastar in the US, the faster he does a concert here. The sooner he does a concert here, the sooner I can get a backstage pass and become fast friends with him -- and then have him sing at my wedding. See, it's all part of my ebil scheme.
His song "Step Into the Light" is on the July CD at Abercrombie & Fitch, and it makes my life complete.

I am ecstatic, ps, because I just found Roman Heart's Myspace. I sent him an add request. And a message which is something I will probably be embarrassed about for...y'know, the rest of my life. 20/20 hindsight, ya'know? On the other hand, I told him about my repeated failings to see him in person, so he may at least be amused by that. We can hope.

Oh, I got the new Harry Potter today. Late birthday gift. Cause, y'know, I didn't get enough books. Now before I hear everyone's opinions on the series and J.K. Rowling, and all, I will say mine. It is not literature. As a piece of art, really, it's terribly. Rowling is not a writer, she is a storyteller. For all of it's failings as a piece of literature, it is a well-crafted story.
Okay, carry on.

Okay, on to Saturday....because I know you all are dying. Aside from my large (for Dark Lady) amount of tips, the party was sooooooo much fun. Spoon (my friend and the other dancer) and I had trouble finding Christmas themed stuff to wear, so I raided my family's Christmas tree decorations. Yes, we were decked out in garlands. He had managed to find a Santa hat and a red bowler (which I tried to wear, but, once more for the record: I am not a hat person. Especially not bright red bowlers.) I had a red bow tied onto my upper arm. It was pretty hot.
There were tons of photographers there. Of course, some people just wanted photos for their home collection (which makes me kind of annoyed because, of course, they never tip when they take pictures...). Also, a comedian was there, taking pictures for his comic routine. The photographer for EDGE Providence was there. And a photographer from I.N News Weekly was there. Spoon and I ate up the attention. Sort of like we ate up all the free stuff we were getting from the food court. Fat kid at heart much? Yeah, I am.
The party was a great success. Tons of fun. But it was five hours of dancing with no break (because I don't take breaks -- I'll stop dancing to wander around and talk to the crowd, but I don't rest or relax or stop moving ever), versus the usual three hours. So, obviously, we were beat by the end. And then we helped clean up. Which got us plenty of respect from everyone, although, two days later, my body still hates me. Oh well. Mutinies like this make the work day exciting. :-P

(The photo of me was taken by Bill Berggren of I.N. News Weekly. The other two pictures I found on...you guessed it, Google Image Search!)

Whoa, so much going on!

I haven't been updating because, for the most part, there's been nothing going on. And I keep losing track of the days of the week. (Brad, I'm gonna post-date a Matt Damon post to a Thursday, and I'm gonna write it ASAP! Maybe I'll post-date to *next* Thursday...) Looking back though, my vast "nothing" to update on is actually quite a lot of stuff.

So, I got hired at Dark Lady. It's very different from Club XS but also very similar. They schedule us on different nights, but I guess some of the dancers aren't totally reliable because I occassionally get calls on Monday that are like "Hey, come in. Tonight. Yeah, in like an hour would be great." Usually I'm scheduled for Saturday so....
The tips aren't great, we need to publicize the dancers more so we can get better tips. We're working on it.

Speaking of publicizing, and I acknowledge this is rather late if anyone reading this would be planning on going:It's a benefit for FACTS Nursery, which is actually a really good cause, so this is me doing charity work. Who knew I could do a good deed and be almost naked? :P

I have been working at A&F a lot too. Of course, that still leaves plenty of time to have fun. But working there can be quite the adventure too. For example, a woman was evangelizing at me the other day. At work. At Abercrombie & Fitch.
I mean, she started out normal, asking if I liked work, where I was from, my name, etc. Okay, so she was slightly creepy to start out with.
But when I revealed that I'm a city person and she irritably replied with "No you're not. This is God's country!" That's when it hit me: this woman is a religious nut and she's about to give me a message from God.
Now, I have nothing against people who want to spread the word of God. But there's a time, there's a place, and there's a way to do it. This woman had none of the three done correctly. In fact, she broke every rule I'm about to write out.

Graham's Helpful Tips for Evangelizing

1. Do not interrupt a person who is working to tell them about God's love. You are getting in the way of their job, and no God, however happy and loving, is going to sound good when the manager writes up a person because you just couldn't keep the Good News to yourself.
2. If you must evangelize when a person is working, do not stand in the way. Follow them around as they work, sure, but do not stand there making sure they can only be talking to you.
3. If a person you are evangelizing too says something you disagree with, let it go. It might be a matter of opinion. You might be an evangelist, but you're not God, your opinion is not right. Do not tell them cities are bad. Do not tell them that the reason they like to stay busy is because they haven't realized God's love. And, most importantly, do not act like they couldn't possibly know that God loves them without hearing it from you first.
4. Lastly, do not make assumptions about people. If someone says they enjoy going to nightclubs, and you run into them at work, this does not automatically make a person too busy. Do not assume that they have no time in between these two activities. That doesn't make you a messenger of God, it makes you an idiot. I'm just sayin'.

I went out with a bunch of friends from work. To a straight club. Well, two straight clubs. Those places are frikkin' expensive, can I just say? But it was fun. Straight people do not, as a whole, party as hard as gay people do at clubs. I mean, I was sober, and for all the drinking they did to loosen up and have a good time...I was having just as much fun as they were without a drop. I was a little off my game at first cause I felt a little awkward but, oh well. It was a good time, definitely.

And here's a horrible picture of me at the Roxy...

"A feeling, a moment, a bursting of bubbles..."

I am having a serious Darren Hayes day. Okay, week. Month. Life. Shut up, I'm not obsessed.
First, there's his new music video, which I have been watching repeatedly for roughly since I first found out about it. When I can't actually watch it, I play it in my head. :P I don't understand the video, it's a little trippy, but I adore it anyways.

He also is on the new A&F CD with his song (from his upcoming album) "Step Into the Light". My manager laughed at me when I got all excited over the song, cause I was telling her about it (she'd missed it on her break) and she said something along the lines of "I'll know which song it is because I'll just watch you have a seizure." Yeah, I was that excited.

I've now worked at the Dark Lady three times. It needs to publicize its dancers a lot more, which is something we (the dancers) are going to begin working on immediately. I only have a few weeks left of my summer, and I'd like to have the club be much more profitable by the time I come back in the winter and next summer, y'know?
Still, it's a suuuuper fun place to work, and that's nice. :)

Birthday Weekend!!

Okay, where did I leave you guys off at? Oh, yes, yes...I told you it was my birthday but neglected to mention anything else.

So, sad news: I haven't run into car guy again. Not that I haven't tried, but that's beside the point.

So, Friday night I went to Topher's house and happened to be there at midnight when it became my birthday. So yay that! Shortly thereafter we went to Dark Lady where we talked to the manager. He told me to come in Tuesday to get scheduled. YAY JOB!!

Anywho, Adam was at Dark Lady and told us that Jon was at Dark Lady. Now, Jon and I were still in a rather bizarre place because of the things he'd drunkenly said at Pride...so I thought "okay, we'll go over." Topher and I went and hung out outside of Mirabar. That was super fun, actually, as there wasn't much time left for them to be open and everyone kept coming out, so we actually saw a million people. Including Jon. Who was with a boy, but whatever.

So I met a man named Steve who took Adam, Topher, and I out to breakfast for my birthday. We had invited Jon and his boy, but they showed up at the restaurant to tell us they couldn't eat with us. Because, y'know, not coming wouldn't have gotten the message across. :P After I gorged myself on chocolate chip pancakes, I went home and went to sleep.

I woke up, showered, got dressed and went to work at A&F. Work was a lot of fun, especially because everyone was bragging to everyone about how it was my birthday. And my manager gave me a walkie-talkie to use for the day. It was exciting.
After work, I went to dinner just outside the mall with my family. Grace waits tables at a restaurant there, so of course we went to torture her. It was good food, and of course she tried to embarrass me by having the whole staff of the restaurant come to do their birthday chant thing to me. Unfortunately for her, the first line of the chant is "We can't sing, so here's our thing".
So I said to her, "But you can sing, what gives?" :D

We left the restaurant and headed to Providence for Waterfire. There's really no way of describing Waterfire, so I won't...but if they're having one on your birthday, and you're in Rhode Island...there is just no way you miss it. So we went.
After that I headed to Energy and ran into tons of people. Chris and Bill were out, Dave and Josh, Bill, Roland, Scott and Mike...it was a good time. Grace met up with me there after she got off work and we met some new friends there (another Dave...we need more names in this city!). After that, a bunch of us trekked to Mirabar. She and I ran into Kenny there, which was so exciting. His boyfriend John was, unfortunately, not out. I didn't know why, but I just talked to John so I know why now. :P

Anywho, following going out, and almost everyone was out so that was fun, a bunch of us headed out for breakfast. I didn't know most of the group, but they all turned out to be fabulous and amazing. Josh and Grace were actually the only two I knew ahead of time. It was a great time, and I got home at, I think, 5:30 in the morning. I was the first one home.

I woke up the next day, showered, and was almost immediately told that the whole family was there for my birthday and I was the only one missing. Yikes.
So I scrambled to get dressed and ran downstairs and we chatted for a bit, then ate lunch, then did presents. The loot report was such:
-Dungeon Siege II: Broken World (my brother burned it for me because he knows how much I was dying for that! I'm a big fan of the Dungeon Siege games)
-Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (the second book of the Southern Vampire novels...of which I have the first, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth.)
-The Dragon King Saga by Stephen Lawhead (he's totally my favorite author and this series, which my dad found all in one book, has been on my list for years)
-A new battery for my laptop, it desperately needed it. Unfortch, my dad got me an upgraded battery and it won't charge on the adapter I have, which I can't explain. It may that my adapter was dead, not my old battery. Who knows?
-Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
-Son of a Witch by Gregory Macguire (the sequel to Wicked, which I have and read.)
-Eragon (Inheritance, Book 1) by Christopher Paolini.
And plenty of money. All in all, a good haul. :)

Anyways, yesterday I worked at A&F. It was horrible, we won't discuss it.
Today's been good. No work. Jon and I are supposed to hang out soon, and then he Grace and I should be going to Justin's movie night, and then I'm stopping by Energy to see John and Kenny and then I'm going to Dark Lady to get scheduled and then I will returning to Justin's house to finish movie night.

For those of you in the US, please, please, please, please visit this link, watch the video, and fill out the form.

"We knew all the answers and we shouted them like anthems"

...I may have jumped the gun because my mood was so BLAH yesterday.

So, let's start with Joey.

He's cute, and generous, and sweet, and nice, and funny, and romantic.......

But he's got this thing. He worries a lot. And it makes him distant sometimes, and I'm not sure I can handle that. He's worrying about this that and the other thing, most of which are things he should actually be concerned with. But then he's also worrying about, for instance, what will happen when I go back to PA at the end of August. I haven't had a relationship that lasted that long, ever. And planning that far ahead makes me feel stifled. So, that actually isn't going well, but it's for kind of a stupid reason, I think.

Then we have Ryan.

Everyone and my brain are telling me to move on, forget about him, he's already forgotten about me and he's bad news as it is. So, despite the fact that I've figured out what I did (and it's stupid, and he's jealous, and it's totally something that should be a non-issue if I'm right) and I could apologize, and part of me wants to apologize...I don't think I'm going to.

And last, but definitely not last, there's Jon. And despite the fact that yesterday it seemed like there was a problem...it's pretty evident there's not. I'm just an attention whore and I need to tone it down a little so that I'm actually also a human being.

But I am down numbers in the choices area. And, rereading this, it's not even a choice anymore. This reeks of a decision that has been made.

In more good news? Look what I stumbled upon from the club Dark Lady today:

Dark Lady is the club that most of the drag queens of Providence hang out at (to my knowledge) and since drag queens usually love me (except when they hate me, so we'll see) I think I have a good shot at this.