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...)

It's been a long, been a long, been a long day

Actually, that's a lie. I've been awake for like an hour. :P

Anyways, to start off with, I just want to say "YAY SHANEY!" because he commented my last post.
Going back to that, a whole bunch of you were all trying to impress upon me the importance of Anne Frank's story. Go back, reread, guys. I never said I wasn't enthusiastic about the show. I never said I didn't get why it's an important show. I said I wasn't enthusiastic about the role that I'm playing. Which is still true, he's just not a character you can do a lot with. He's got a limp (we think he had a limp, all I've found is that he was injured in WWI and that in other productions, he had a limp in his left leg), I'm playing around with that. Other than that, there's pretty much nothing you can do with this guy. (No offense if any of Victor Kugler's relatives read this...as a historical figure, he's amazing and fascinating. As a character in the newly adapted version of The Diary of Anne Frank he's a dull and depressing bearer of bad news who shows up three times for like a minute and a half each. If he were still alive, I'm pretty sure he'd sue.)

Anyways, Cody's been complaining about how I haven't been writing. Truth is....I really haven't felt like it. I've been seriously stressing lately, mostly over money. Scratch that, entirely over money.
Right now, I can't go grocery shopping, I don't have the funds. So I've been eating on campus. But next week is spring break, and I'm not going anywhere, so we'll see how fast I starve. :-P After spring break, I'm going to start working out on campus, because its free, until the end of the school year. Despite my whole I-can't-work-out-in-front-of-lots-of-people-who-know-me thing.

The screen on my cell phone died. I managed to get an upgrade, so I have a new phone. It's pretty. It's cute. It has a camera! It does not hold a charge.
And, ultimately (with the mail-in rebate) it will only cost me 3 dollars. Yaya!
And cause of the camera, it means that soon there will be more pictures on this blog!!

I have this...disgraceful atrocity on my face next to my mouth -- it looks like a herpe -- but my friend Michele (who is not exactly a dermatologist, but a bio/psych major is close enough for me) assures me that it's probably from dry skin.

What else is going on?
Not much. This past weekend was boring....weather screwed it up on Thursday and Friday, then I had to work on Saturday. So, that was blah.

Oh, but I will say this: the weekend before was anything BUT boring.
Thursday was XS, as per usual. It was pretty normal, packed and fun. And I went to the diner afterwards, despite my Friday morning classes, as I was really hungry.

Friday -- oh Friday! TJ had this dinner party in Reading, which I promised I would go to for a little while. After we were served our drinks (the wait was ridiculous), I fled the scene and made it to Towson in a much shorter amount of time than I should have been able to. But I sped. And tricked a cop into pulling over someone else. I'm awesome like that.

Anyways, we got to Towson and we all finished get hottified at Brendan's house as usual -- I think this is a nice ritual we've sort of accidentally started. Anyways, so we went to Town and had a blast. I hung out with the dancers there a bunch, which is always fun. They're amazing guys and I love that I know most of them now.
There was a V-Day thing going on, people could get numbers (which were on stickers you put on yourself) and using those, you could send messages to other people or give them flowers or candy. There were several big screens displaying the messages and who had flowers and candy and such. It was cool, and sometimes trashy, and awesome. My favorite was the one that ended with the signature "Ashley from the bathroom".
We ran into Erik, who, if we saw each other more than once a year, would be almost the perfect boyfriend for me. :-P I sent him a message using the screens, but he was high as a kite, and thought it came from Brendan. Shit happens, y'know. (Brendan best be backin' up off my boi, yo. :-P) But Erik and I danced some and that was fun.
It was funny though -- because I'm totally inept at flirting when I mean it -- so Cody goes up to help me write the message to Erik, and he and Jared (I think that's his name, he's one of the dancers I don't know as well) are like standing on either side of my, giving me advice. And I am, of course, like panicking, cause I don't know how good their advice will be. Smooth, Graham, smooth. (And I'm pretty sure Jared now thinks I'm retarded.)

After Town, we all went back to Brendan's and crashed. Cody and Bill shared a bed cause of how they're dating, and I got my own -- which is nice, I guess. I suppose it's less awkward than if Bill and I had shared beds and Cody has been alone.
Anyways -- some of you know this, others don't. Not only am I kind of an exhibitionist, I like to watch. If you know what I'm saying. So, Cody and Bill are both horny. And both like to be watched.
And they have not yet actually had sex. (Although I'm sure they fooled around.) So there I am, and I got to see the two lovebirds bang for the first time! (And even though I'm not really attracted to either one of them separately, it was kind of hot. Just sayin'.)

(The pictures, of me talking to Dennis, were taken by Hott Boyz Entertainment....and, they're from several weeks ago, I just didn't feel like going back and putting them in the correct post. :P)

Saturday night, Katie and I hung out. A bunch of our friends turned 21, so we, with plans of not getting too drunk, went to one party. By the time we decided to go to the other, we called the DD and she was like "It's pretty much died down."
So I called up Jake, one of my straight guys, to see what he was up too. Neither one of us was in any shape to drive home, so when Tom (a visiting straight guy that I love who I had no idea would be in town) answered the phone, we went over with plans of sobering up.
Yeah, that didn't happen.
We drank. We played drinking games. We had a blast. We tried to leave, but Katie -- drunk and in heels -- couldn't go very far.
So...Katie, Tom, and I snuggled on the futon in Jake's room. I was incapable of moving at all, stuck between the two of them.

And the next morning, I awoke, still drunk, and headed for where I was meeting the cast of Anne Frank to go down to DC to go to the Holocaust museum. I sobered up pretty quickly that morning -- before we even made it into Maryland I was fine. And it was, except for how depressing and gruesome the museum is, a really fun day of cast-bonding.

"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!)

There's no St. Patty's Day songs?

St. Alcoholic's Day was a great party at Club XS. Great for the customers of the club, anyways. Tons of people were there, and drunker than I'd ever seen most of them. I was honestly surprised that people didn't pass out and die.

I was also honestly disappointed because they spent all of their money on booze and very little on me. :-P

Still, I managed to have fun. That's really all there is to say about the party though...so now I'm just going to satisfy you with lots of fun (and hot) pictures.Matthias and I, because as usual we had to take a million pictures. I don't really mind all the pictures I take with him -- besides they're usually wicked hot, but usually they wait til the end of the night. We definitely started taking pictures at about midnight and I think that may have had to do with my lack of tips. It's cool though, we have sexy pictures!
...Especially from right after when Todd (who will be joining the ranks of we dancers on Saturday) pulled Matthias' fuzzy green underwear *and* g-string down.There's a flamboyant but kinda cute guy I don't know, Matthias, everyone's (or at least my) favorite Baltimore drag queen Vanity Star (yes, the boobs are real, and amazing :-P), Todd, and myself.
This is Andy (another one of our dancers), myself, and Matthias.

See, it was a very sexy party.

"We are dreamers. We are daring."

Okay! Let's talk about this audition thing!
My ride bailed on me. I was pissed. I haven't been that pissed in a long time. Fortunately, Ryan and Jake -- two of the amazing straight guys who live on my floor who I would be perfectly content marrying -- came to my rescue and gave me a ride there so I just managed to get there for 4:30, which is when I had been told (when I called the day before) that the audition was. It turns out I was there an hour and a half early -- but that worked to my advantage.

(That's my headshot, right there. My brother, who aims to be a photographer, took it. My brother is an amazing photographer, but more of scenes and scenery than of people. Not that this is a bad headshot at all, but he's capable of National Geographic level photography, and I'm not exaggerating.)

One of the women who worked there, a black woman who had a look that was vaguely reminscent of Oprah, came into the room and showed me how to do the runway walk I was going to be asked to do. I did it nearly flawlessly. I even walked in a straight line.
I picked out a script, a 30-second bit of commercial (it was an anti-drug commercial) and I memorized it. Line memorization has always been one of my strong suits, but it's really not difficult to memorize a 30-second bit. It's like four lines.
I spent much of the time talking to the woman's daughter, who is amazing, and her own daughter who is just a little baby but SO cute and who just found rhythm, she can't stop dancing. It's adorable.
I also talked to some of the people who were coming in when it got closer to time. Two girls that were sitting by me, and their parents (it was an all-age open call!) and this guy sitting next to me.
A guy was going around making sure he introduced himself to every auditioneer. His name was Jeff, and while I initially didn't know what he was doing there, it became clear very quickly.

They had brought in three professionals to watch our auditions, to take notes on us, and to ultimately make the decisions for who got the prize: to be invited to convention of talent and talent agencies taking place in Atlanta, GA this may. Jeff Rose, Vince Paul, Horace Bass (I can't find any links for Horace, but he models basically all of the socks you find in Target). When I say professional, I mean...these are people who are where I want to be. They make plenty of money in the business, most people have seen them in at least a commercial, but they're not in the tabloids every day. Maybe a little more fame than they have would be nice.

So, after all the younger kids went, I got in the front of the line for the 18-and-up auditioners. They started my runway music, I got up on the stage and I did everything right, except that I veered to left!! So, though I was mentally beating on myself for that one, I introduced myself in a loud clear voice and went on to say my bit. I didn't forget any lines, although I had the paper folded and in my pocket just in case. I said it clearly, I put in all the poses, emphasis, head movements, and facial expressions I had planned out. And then I sat down.
"That was great, it seemed so natural!" the girl behind me whispered. That was a great compliment, because I was feeling pretty stiff.

The best part was at the end. Always one to network, I went to tell the three professionals how nice it was to meet them. Vince and Jeff were still at their table. "It was great to meet you!" I said to both of them, and then I was accosted with complements -- not something I was expecting from such professionals.
"Are you with the Harman Agency?" Jeff asked me.
"No," I replied, a little shocked, "Uhm, not yet. I mean, maybe soon." Me with the speaking-English-good skillz. Woot.

Then I went back on the runway and talked to Horace a bit. Well, let me rephrase that. I tried to talk to Horace, but it was difficult to get a word in. "You were excellent! Very good!" He kept going. That was a little stunning. "I was very impressed!"
"Oh, thank you so much. It was nice meeting you!"
"You too. Don't quit!"
"Oh, I can't. It's in me. I tried to quit once, it doesn't work."
He laughed. A lot. And then we said good-bye.

And then I didn't get a call. They didn't pick me, but that's alright. Ultimately, that saves me money. The experience was great -- the best audition I have ever done, I swear -- and more to the point I networked. I went up there, played ball with the pros, and I escaped not only unscathed but with an even more inflated ego. How's that for coming out way on top?
Now they know who I am, and if I have anything to say about it (especially when Iget my car back), they won't be forgetting any time soon. There are so many opportunities before me right now....and I'm throwing open all the doors and windows and letting them all go!

Which is funny, cause that's what my horoscope on Yahoo says is going to happen, and it says that though not everything will work out, I have nothing to worry about.
I hate it when horoscopes are so eerily accurate, freaks me out. :-P

"Before we play the game, let me say that I never lose"

So, let me start by saying that I am in SUCH a good mood today. I slept an almost normal amount of sleep (unlike my 12 hour coma the night before...that was some crazy ass shit :-P), and when I woke up I pulled out my as-of-yet unopened book Yoga in Bed by Edward Vilga. The book is full of nice easy stretches to do in the morning when you first wake up and right before you go to bed. The stretches are very easy to do and perfect for beginners like myself, and perfect for people who don't have time to do yoga during the day. It even includes tips for power napping -- something I can really use! I highly recommend it.
It's definitely a step in the right direction for something I haven't been doing terrifically at: taking care of myself. I also took my morning pills today -- it's been a while since I took my pills. I've also written down a to-do list for tomorrow that includes calling my doctor and making an appointment. I've got enough going for me right now that I can't afford to be slacking off and ending up in the hospital.

Another thing improving my mood? Fairview Sue, of course! She did this whole post about how fabulous and unscratched I am and it really brightened my...well, I guess this is still morning since I've only been awake for a couple hours. (No, but since I went to bed at 6 am, I'm really not a waste of life!)
And the comment that our favorite Down Under stud Shaney left on the post was also an ego boost. :)

Speaking of Down Under studs...Aussiebum not only makes the hottest underwear, but they have the most gorgeous models. Seriously. I've been going through the site this morning looking at things I want to order when I think mom won't mind or get suspicious or after she's found out I'm go-go dancing and finished flipping out about it. :-P

Anyways, I won't keep you waiting any longer, I know what you want to hear about (or at least I think I do)....last night was....WOW. I know I say that every time I have a weekend or go out for a night, but every night I get surprised at how much fun I have!
First of all, I hadn't been out with the kids from our Gay\Straight Alliance since November, really. Some of them I hadn't even seen since November when I started working at the club I now work at (almost!) every weekend. Also, my friend and Queer Mentor* who graduated at the end of last year showed up on campus to surprise us!
Also, Cody found out I was going so he went. As did Brendan, bringing a new friend of his named Joey. Carl was there with some friends of his. And my friend John who I haven't seen since November was there. Codi, who bartends there, was there with his boyfriend even though he wasn't working tonight. Mark was there, Danny was there, Adam was DJing, Will was training the new bartender, Jacki was working the door, Loki was on staff, Ray was doing security, Brenda was checking IDs...all these people I hadn't seen in forever because they work there! All in all, it was amazing to see all of these people!

Unfortunately, there were like 3 people there who I didn't know. They were awesome, but it was dead. It was cool though, we made the party happen.

(This picture is of my lesbian (yes, mine) Margie and I doing our "Just a Little Too Late" faces at each other while the song was playing. Her Lesbian Death Glare has been perfected.)

Worse still, there was drama. Well, apparently there was some lesbian drama going on, but I followed the Treatise of Drama* and stayed the hell out of it. But there was other drama....
Now, I had heard that some of the bartenders and managers from the club I work at had gone to this club and made asses out of themselves and been banned. I hadn't realized that they had gone so far as to ban all employees of the rival club -- which includes me. I understand their thinking here, I really do, but there were some problems with that:
-I hadn't driven, which means I was going to be stuck in the stairwell til 2 in the morning.
-From a business perspective, 11 people from my school came. Most weekends they stay on campus for their partying. Not to be stuck on myself BUT....what does that tell you?
-There were probably less than 10 people there who weren't there in the.
-When I take a night off...I have no other clubs to go to.
Anyways, Jacki talked to Loki on my behalf (after she gave me my five bucks back and told me I had to leave in a really apologetic way). She said she was going to discuss it with the club's owner too, because I have never given her a problem. Which, I'm sure isn't true, but whatever.

Anyways, I was allowed in for the night and she didn't take a cover charge the second time I went in...so I bought a lot of drinks. The new bartender they had that night, Josh I think they said his name was....CUTE!! Gonna have to go back soon, and on one of his weekends, so I can maybe talk to him a little bit more. I gave him big tips though, so I think I got his attention at least. (Also, I was talking to Brendan and said "The new bartender is CUTE!" right when the song faded so I'm damn sure he heard it. Whoops. :-P)

*At my school, we have these people called "Peer Mentors" who teach incoming freshmen about our school. Ryan, my "Queer Mentor" taught me about the gay culture when I came out, so we call him that. In return, I am referred to as his protogay. (protoge? It's really very clever. :-P)

*The Treatise of Drama is a (fictional) document written and signed in the early '70s (or whenever) which clearly states that gay men are not to be involved in lesbian drama and lesbians are not to be involved in gay drama. If it is mixed drama, it is fair game. All drama is fair game for heterosexuals.

Not our pretty person of the week...

Yes, the guy in these pictures is GORGEOUS (:-P) but he is not our Pretty Person of the Week.
I'll post that later, after I sleep.
But I did want to show you these pictures of me that my friend Jenny took of me when she visited me at school yesterday.
By the way, I'm basically finished with my label-fixing. Only a few of them only appear once, and I can almost guarantee that they will be repeated in the future so I feel that that is okay. Anyways, look for the labels to be showing up on the side soon!!

Moving on: in my attempt to make this blog more friendly towards the readers, do you have any other suggestions of things you would like to see?

Okay, so Wicked late...

I had to throw that pun in there.

I'm finally going to share with you my amazing experience from last Saturday. There is back story to explain first...

I have more than seen Wicked. I was backstage, I was on the stage, I was in the costumes. I was all but in the show. Needless to say, I'm slightly in love with the show now. Moreso, since I was in love with it before that.
You see, my Crohn's disease, for all how much of a pain in the ass it can be, is loaded with perks. And I am never one to keep the door shut when opportunity is knocking...so when I was told I could have a wish granted by A Wish Come True Inc. of Rhode Island, I leapt at the chance and the end of July 2005 and the beginning of August 2005 saw my family in New York City, staying in the fanciest hotel, loaded with cash, and with a backstage tour of Wicked. (And Rent, but that is neither here nor there at the moment...)

Now, it just so happens that Wicked has come to Providence, RI, the hometown of Eugene Lee, the award-winning set designer for the show. In fact, he still lives there. It also so happens that my family is well connected in the theater industry (dear Lord, we are lucky devils sometimes :-P).
So we got tickets. Amazing tickets.
Now, knowing that the set is usually cut back and things often just aren't as good in the touring shows as the Broadway show, we were all a little prepared for it to be not as good as the Broadway show. We weren't going to be disappointed, because we had lower expectations for this performance.
It did not meet our expectations.
It wildly exceeded them. The show was the best touring production I have ever seen. The set was nearly exactly the same as the Broadway set (which makes sense, because you know Eugene Lee came to see it and you know he'd throw a diva-fit if his set was wrong :-P), and everything else....it was spectacular. Everything about this touring production was Broadway level.
If you have the chance to see this production while it is in Providence (which means you already bought the tickets :-P) you MUST SEE IT.

Uh.....huh?

I was having trouble finding a random image I liked for today. Nothing really fit my mood...a mood I couldn't really identify.

And then I went on Facebook. The mood was narcissistic, I think...the random picture is from shortly before Christmas:
Yes, I really am decorated. :-P
Yes, that is a really bad picture of me. :-P

"You've got so much to do and only so many hours in a day..."

So my weekend, which was crazy as per usual, began early. It began on Thursday night, and what an adventure it was!

You see, Brendan, Cody, Jason, and Josh were planning on visiting Club Apex in Washington D.C. I had not planned on going with, because of Friday's road trip back to Rhode Island.
But I ended up having a very frustrating day on Thursday and I decided that, since every plan I'd set out for that day had been screwed up and twisted in a way that was not fun...I was going to screw up one of my plans in a fun way. And I was going to be spontaneous.

So, 7:30 Thursday night, not a thing packed for the return to RI, I jumped into Cody's red convertible (not as hot as it sounds, trust me. :P) and we left for York. We picked up Josh, and flew down the roads to Maryland to meet up with Brendan. We piled into Brendan's sleek and silver BMW series five (which is plenty hotter than it sounds) and headed down to D.C. where we going to meet up with Jason -- and Chris, who dances with me on weekends!
We went to Soho, which was right near the club, and got food and coffee. I myself got a White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake which is pretty much heavenly/orgasmic. Not even kidding, try it some time.
So, then we went to Club Apex. I made some new friends -- three. Two of whom I look forward to seeing next time we go down to Apex. Cody also took a video on his camera...if you look closely, you can see me occassionally when the light is right. I was dancing right in front of him, a little to the right, though sometimes I'm definitely dead center in front of the camera. Thankfully, Cody is taller than me so you can still see stuff. :P
(The picture is of Josh and I.)

Now, I really can't tell you what the point of taking videos inside a club is because you can't see anything...but hey, since it's there, I figured I might as well post it! :P

We got back from D.C. at six in the morning. I set my alarm for 10:30, packed in an hour (I'm discovering now I didn't bring enough clothes that I like to wear out...oh well. I'll do a lot of laundry. :P), slept til 11:30, threw my stuff in the car, got Meghan, said my good-byes....
And then by 12:30 we were off. I drove for a while, we switched when we got to New Jersey. She drove til Connecticutt, and then I drove the rest of the way. We got to my house at around 7:30 that night. Pretty good, since it's an 8 hour train ride and we'd had to brave rush hour near New Haven.

So, I powernapped -- exhausted, and then I was off. I'd gotten a spontaneous invite (well, okay, he sent out a myspace bulletin asking if anyone wanted to go with him) to a party his friends were having. So, I went and met Scott in Providence.
...and I drank more than I should have.
And I think I annoyed Scott. Which, well, I guess he doesn't like me drunk. Oh well, it's not like it happens with any frequency.
But...I made some new friends!

I left there at about 5, got home at 5:30, and slept. Then I woke up and proceeded to get ready for a Christmas party my friends Big Bill, Little Bill, and Chris were hosting. Even though I ended up two hours late (thanks to my mom :P), it was a great time. And, following the theme for the weekend, I made new friends! Most importantly though, I caught up with old ones. And then I stayed to help clean up, and then I went and found out that no matter whether or not where I parked was legal...I didn't get a ticket. :P

Today was interesting because an old friend of my parents came by. You see, my brother and my existence hinged entirely on this person's behavior when he was sixteen. My parents spent a year raising him in his mother's stead.
Apparently, he's also gay and has been with his partner for 14 years. How impressive and inspiring is that? It does happen! :D

"If you didn't know then now you know!"

I am posting this now, mid-studying, because I have been waiting all day to get the pictures from this weekend but I think everyone else slept today. Must be nice. :-P

Anyhow, I am definitely going to put a number of the pictures up when I do get them (probably tomorrow night). It has been quite the weekend though, definitely.

First I had a very typical Friday. I worked at abercrombie from 8 am to 1 pm, and went back to campus. I was busy with random end-of-the-semester things, and hanging out with friends who I never get to see these days, and utterly forgot about the nap I was supposed to get before I went to work at the club.

This guy was there, James, who I had met (and given my number to) the weekend before. Let's backtrack a second and take a look at why in the hell I'd give out my number to someone I met while I was working: I was up on stage, it was getting towards the end of the night and this giant of a man -- total stud, but still, ginormously tall and built! Oh God is he built! -- and he politely goes "Can I dance with you?" in this totally gentlemanly way and of course I'm like "Yes!"
So then we danced together...and even though I was just in my underwear, he didn't let his hands wander to anywhere that the skeezy old guys let their hands wander. And he was just...he was just this huge gentleman, and it was great.

So he was at the club with a friend of his (Brad) on Friday too, and I danced with them at the end of the night. And then, yesterday, James and I went to Park City together. Then we went to dinner together.

Last night I had a couple options for what to do before going to the club. One was to go to this dance recital that our school's dance club puts on, and a lot of my friends were in it. The other was to go to the birthday party for my new friend Jenny, who I really only officially met (although we knew of each other for long before we met) a week or so ago. So I went to the birthday party, and I brought James along as my date.

We hung out in the hotel until we all had to vaminose (I don't know if that's a real word but it sounds like a foreign word for "go" so...I use it :-P) to the club. We got there, Mike and I got into our undies, and then we got up on stage while the rest of the party headed up to their V.I.P. balcony lounge (where Mike and I went for all our breaks).
A good time was had by all, much clothing was removed from various party-goers...and for some reason, the masses of unintelligent club-goers tipped some of the party-goers who weren't working -- even though they had pants on. As I said about four times "It's not hard. The people wearing pants aren't employees and should not be tipped. The people who aren't wearing pants should be tipped." Still, I think I made pretty good money.

We returned to the hotel around 2:30/3:00 am and we partied for a few more hours. I won't lie, I got a little bit drunk....fortunately, James was there to hold my attention so I wasn't too slutty -- that's always a risk when there's me and alcohol. He really is a gentleman and he cuddled with me all night, which kept me busy enough to not go into the whatever-was-going-on-in-the-other-room...they had the door shut.

Morning came and it was just James, Josh, Jenny, Neil, Scotty, Sean, and myself left. We cleaned up as best as we could (pretty good if I do say so myself!) and hit the road. I brought Scotty to the train station -- he needed to take the train to Exton, so he could meet a friend, then go to Philly to catch a flight back to Oregon. Yeah, I know, long way for a party but it was called "East Meets West" for a reason -- he and Jenny have birthdays near each other so it was a dual party, and apparently they had the Portland chapter of it last weekend.

Anywho...then I came to Etown and finally got to talk to Boy-Craig. We hadn't talked at all this week, I'd been busy and he'd been...well, busy. He's still indecisive, up-down-all-around...and honestly, I'm getting very tired of it. We'll hang out over winter break and whatever happens will happen but I expect that will be the end of it.
(I know you're rejoicing over that one, Johnna. Sometimes I get a kick in the butt from my own common sense. :-P)

And then the truly bad news hit home.
The head of our theater department here, who is sort of a father figure to many of us, myself included, recently had brain surgery on a benign tumor. Unfortunately, when they opened up his skull...they discovered things are a lot worse than they thought. It's my arch-nemesis back and attacking someone else close to me: cancer.
He's a stubborn guy, tough as nails, and he's going to kick it's ass, I'm sure. There's some people that nothing can touch...Muse, Jackie, for instance. I think that Sevy (as we call him) is one of those people.
But then again, I thought that about my grandfather and Jessee (or read about her here). Still, both of them put up a good, an amazing fight and I know that Sevy will at least manage to make us proud. He still has a sense of humor -- actually, it may have even improved from when he was healthy :-P -- and he's still going to be around for us. He's turning himself into a family man, not a professor, but the theater department is one of his kids and he's going to make sure we're taken care of too.
I think we're all a little in shock. We all thought everything was fine since the surgery, we'd thought it was just the benign tumor. This was just kind of slammed on us tonight.

Credit to Jenny for the pictures! More pictures of our amazing weekend can be found on her website!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So I'm in Rhode Island again. It's nice, but I quite wish that timings of some things were different.

I got in on the train Wednesday afternoon and hung out with Johnna for a while. It was a short but typical Johnna and Graham adventure -- meaning there was lots of unhealthy food and ice cream and we pigged out like the fat kids we secretly are. :-P
She called me earlier today to let me know that she had safely arrived in Memphis. She is opening a new chapter in her life, and I couldn't be happier for her. I think that her blog is going to become an absolutely thrilling retelling of her adventures adjusting to life in the South very soon, and I'm excited to read it. I recommend it to all of you as well.

Someone else has left my life, and much more permanently than Johnna has. My parents are insisting that they told me, but I have no recollection of this. Our cat Moonlight was put to sleep two weeks ago. I knew she'd been having some health problems, she was pretty old, but I wasn't aware they were getting so bad and I swear they never told me they put her to sleep. So instead, I found out...in the middle of Thanksgiving today. I was stunned, and I'm still a little shocked and a lot sad.
The picture is of her getting stoned off of catnip, it's the only one I could find of her.
She was dumb as a rock, and scared of almost everything, but she has been around for as long as I can remember and I loved her even if she ran away from me (and everyone else) half the time.

Wednesday night was Club XS's pre-Turkey Day party, w and apparently it was a blast. They had asked me to dance that night, but being in Rhode Island made that completely impossible. The dancers, I hear, made hundreds of dollars. Each. I'm a little pissed at the unlucky timing of all of that.
I know the dancer in the scarf, and all I have to say (despite how he's gorgeous and how he's actually a really nice guy) is: how the mighty have fallen.
Then again, making hundreds of dollars for just dancing and having a good time...that's not much of a fall, is it? :-P
Credit to jenniferthomas.org for the picture!

I was at XS Tuesday though, just partying before I left, and here's two pictures from that:
Can you tell I'm not getting enough sleep? I see those bags under my eyes and all I have to say is "ewwww!" My sleep schedule is not adjusted to working yet.

Anyways, today (yesterday...) is Thanksgiving, so here's a list of things I'm thankful for:
1) Memories. Moonlight was just a cat, but I she's in so many memories I have and I find myself suddenly grateful for each and every one of those. I'm even more grateful for all of the time Johnna and I have spent together. I'm also grateful for the times Johnna and Moonlight have spent together:

Way to fall out of your shirt and look high in the same picture Johnna. :P

2) Johnna. She is the best friend I could ever ask for, and she been with me at the absolute lowest, hardest points in my life when no one else was. I've made her a promise that when she gets married I will have Jimmy Buffett at her wedding, but I would get Jesus Christ himself there if she wanted. I know, he's dead. But I would work miracles for this girl.
3) My health. There were times when I didn't have that, and right now I'm both healthy and happy and I appreciate it so much.
4) Employment. It was a long and difficult journey getting a real job with a steady paycheck, and I'm so grateful to Zach for hiring me. He's really a good friend, even if we don't know each other too well yet.
5) The Internet. I don't know what I'd do without it.
6) My family. They love me no matter what. Even though I complain about them a lot, they really mean so much to me and I am fortunate enough that they support me in everything. Although, I haven't told them about my go-go dancing...
7) All of my other friends. I am blessed with popularity. I love all of the amazing people who surround me in my every day life and my online life, and I can't imagine what my life would be like without all of these wonderful people. These wonderful people, of course, including all of you.

The list could go on and on and on forever. But it's about time for my beauty sleep. As evidenced by those atrocious bags under my eyes in that picture, I clearly need it.