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Hello I'm Rich Brown and this is my personal website and blog. I'm just your simple, average, down to earth, professional, out gay man and aspiring circuit boy, living in Phoenix, Arizona with a few things to say while trying to find my place among all the scary, conservative, religious nuts in this sick and twisted world.
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Dinner at AZ-88
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@HOME. Dinner at AZ-88 in Scottsdale with Justin and PB Loco Anthony. I appologize for the quality of these photos, but I took them with my phone since I didn't have my camera with me this evening.
 
 
At AZ-88 we ran into Bob, one of my co-workers, and also that cutie Chris, Darin's roomate. Chris came over to say hello and gave Justin and I both a hug and kiss. This woman that was sitting down with her husband waiting for a table made the most hideous eye-popping, jaw-dropping, where the hell am I face. I caught it out of the corner of my eye that when she saw Chris come over give me a big smooch. He's so cute, but I digress ... she then turned to her husband to say something and then they both turned and looked around the bar (restaurant), and I mean it's AZ-88, hello, not exactly the straighest place on a Friday night. They quickly gathered themselves and moved out to the patio to sit where no one was sitting since it was still 101 outside. *LAUGH* I guess they felt the sweat outside was better then the nervous sweat inside. God forbid they get accosted by a gaggle of giddy gay boys. Oh well ... I say let them sweat it ...
Following dinner we headed once again down to Amsterdam for a a drink before heading back home. It was a fun evening hanging out with Anthony. I'll write more tomorrow. Cheers!
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A Picture Share!
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Berger is hanging out on the bed with me while I'm working from home! (errr bed even)
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VIP Night at Club Miami
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@HOME. So last night was the 'unofficial' opening night of Club Miami. There was a VIP party from 8 - 10 where the new club was unveiled. Darin, Anthony, Justin and I decided we HAD to go since we had been given passes, and free drinks too of course, who wouldn't right? We met up for a quick bit to eat at Hamburger Mary's at 7. Well ok, actually Darin was there at 7 on time, Justin and I arrived a little late, and Anthony a little later, but I digress. We scarfed down some food because we didn't want to arrive at the VIP party late after all. So we got there right about 8:10 or so ... and it was packed. There were long lines in the front room for the bar to get a drink because wouldn't you know it, but free drinks brings everyone out.
Anywho the bar was packed and it was very nicely done. Pretty impressive for Phoenix and not what I expected at all. It had a nice modern, clean look, white walls and lights. It reminded me a little bit of John Blair's XL in New York. So we're like yeah this is pretty cool, this must be the front bar area and they're waiting to open the dancefloor until 10. So 10 rolls around and everyone is like ok, where's the rest. Noah the bar manager say what do you mean the rest, this is it. THIS IS IT? So where we had been standing, which looked more like a front bar area to the clubs we're using to hitting up in San Fran and New York, was the club itself. Welcome, we're here. Hmmm. I didn't know what to say. I guess I expected a little more then that. Oh well, it's Phoenix, we're only the 5th largest city in the United States, I guess it was too much to expect something bigger. I do understand there is going to be a pretty big back patio area addition as well which is not yet complete. It felt more like an extension to Amsterdam rather then it's own club, but maybe that's what they were going for anyway. Who knows. At least we're growing up a bit here in Phoenix and it's a cute, trendy little club. Like I said, it was nicely done, the music was really great and it has two connecting doors to Amsterdam, my favorite bar, so I'll give it a rave review, even though I was expecting more of a dance club feel.
Well we mingled with the hotties, had a few more drinks and stayed until around 1 AM, to which we bid goodnight to our friends and headed on our merrily way home. It's a school night after, we can't be out too late. I have some real pics I took with my camera which I will post later. The previous few posts were sent directly from my cell phone. Cheers.
 
 
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Saturday, August 20, 2005 |
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Let the Games Begin [Part 2]
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@HOME. Alright so I figured I better finish this post before I forget about it. Justin and I arrived at Amsterdam before the rest of the gang. We proceeded to make use of the facilities when all of a sudden I heard someone screaming my name out across the bar. Looking around, I found my neighbor sitting on the couch with a drink. When I say my neighbor, I really mean my neighbor, as our houses are situated right next to each other.
Anywho, I knew he might stop by because before I left the house I returned something to him and he asked if we were going out tonight. I say "hell yeah" and he replied "well maybe I'll meet you guys out down there." Now you're probably asking yourself, wow I didn't know R&J's neighbor was a homo? Trust me, that's a story better left for another entry. Needless to say he is, and he's just coming back out of the closet after 10 years, so he's a bit of a mess right now trying to get things figured out.
'the Neighbor' and Justin
So Darin finally arives sans Chris because that bitch decided he was just going to meet us out at Charlie's instead. We orderd a few drinks and proceeded to in Darin's terms "get all shades of shitty." Drink, after drink, after drink, we pounded them back like water. Darin and 'the Neighbor' began a heated discusioon which really spiraled downward into a series of insults. Darin and 'the Neighbor' had met once before at one of our parties and well let's just say it's not a pretty story, so that's one better left untold.
While sitting on the couch talking to 'the Neighbor', I ran into my friend Jim Cook (white shirt) leader of the GPGLCC (Greater Phoenix Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce) Corporate Pride goup, and 2 of his friends who were in town visiting from San Francisco.
At this point Darin and I decided to leave Justin on the couch to hang out with 'the Neightbor' so that we could go cruise the bar.
I asked Darin to hold my drink while I went to the little boys room.
Rich and Darin walking around the bar in a drunken haze being quite silly
While Justin was still inside having a conversation with 'the Neighbor', Darin and I stopped off to talk to 'Back Bar Brian' who was at his usual post schlepping drinks for everyone outside.
So after a few hours we decided it was time to end our visit to Amsterdam and head up to Charlie's to check out the scene. Darin, Justin and I packed up and headed out while 'the Neighbor' packed it in and headed home for the night. We arrived at Charlies and as usual it was packed. We kept running into tons of people that we knew.
Don and Brian
Rich and Tracy, one of my oldest friends from back in my early days in Phoenix. Tracy's an air mattress now, so we don't get to see each other that much anymore.
Porn Star Chuck. He's not really a porn star, but lets just say he should be *WINK*WINK*.
At some point in the evening we lost Darin and Chris never showed up either. Yeah thanks for standing us us Chris! Justin and I just bounced our way around the bar talking to old friends and familiar faces. It was a nice evening that pretty much turned into a total blur as to how fast it flew by us. We ended the evening by dancing a bit on the dance floor and then heading home around 3 AM. Whew, another weeked out with the boys of Phoenix. Cheers.
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Let the Games Begin [Part 1]
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@HOME. Well we were supposed to get up and see Kevin off at around noon, however that just didn't happen. I rolled over and looked at the clock and it was 9 AM. I thought, ok, I have some more time to sleep. I rolled over again and I screamed "HOLY MOTHER OF GOD" well it was 2 PM. We overindulged in our much needed rest. Just by a little bit.
Darin called around 3 PM and said Kevin was off at 12:04 and that it was now time for us to hit the town for some Marga-root-ies on the patio at Hamburger Scaries. We had a few things to do so I told him we'd meet them up there in a little bit. We got there about 2 hours later and the boy, much to our chagrin, had abandoned us without a note, a word or anything. Justin and I were so devastated we passed out and were force fed chicken, burgers and fish to help get our energy back up to go out and face the world without our posse.
Anyway, I knew those bitches went down to Roscoe's. It's the next choice any logical gay man would make after Hamburger Mary's. So we finished our food and headed down to Roscoe's.
Sure enough they were all there ... Darin, Chris and Donnie, all of them about 5 sheets to the wind by this point.
Chris and Darin, with Darin sporting his sweet halter top.
Darin decided that it was getting a tad bit late for his extremities to be hanging out of the halter top for all the young boys to see. He headed out to change his shirt to an extra one he had in the car. After returning we all had a good laugh at his choice of the 'Pitcher' shirt.
OH PULEASE GIRL ... PITCHER? MMMMWWAAAAHAHAHAHAH ... LIES BITCH!
Ok sorry I just picked myself up off the floor again. So we had a few drinks and a few laughs before trying to decided what was the plan for the evening. It really was a no brainier, Amsterdam and then Charlie's, but the complexity of the issue was that Chris had to go back home and change before he came out to play. Bastard.
Justin was looking as beautiful as ever, cute face, fabulous smile, great teeth, perfect hair, stunning eyes to match the blue in his new shirt. But then again, he's always beautiful to me :-)
Chris and Michael, one of the Roscoe's bartenders. Aren't they both so photogenic? Bastards.
So we packed it up and agreed to meet at Amsterdam in about an hour to hang out and people watch on the patio. After a quick stop at Linen & Things, Justin and I headed down to Amsterdam to begin the carnage.
[to be continued ...]
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Goodbye Kevin ... Finally a Reason to Drink
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@HOME. Well tonight was both sad and fun. Justin and I met up with Darin, Kevin and a few others at Amsterdam Bar for a few drinks. Kevin was back in town to pack up his apartment and head out to Los Angeles for good. He left back in July for a temporary contract but has since decided he liked it so much in the city of sin that he was going to stay. The word is that he got a fat little pad in WeHo (West Hollywood) that we're going to have to visit frequently.
We started out at Amsterdam where is was dead. Maybe it was because it was early, maybe it was because everyone was somewhere else. It's Friday afterall. We decided to take a hike and check out the scene at Roscoe's on 7th.
Darin, Kevin, Patrick, Justin, & the Coach.
Kevin, Rich & Justin as Rich the control freak proceeds on yelling at Darin for not knowing how to work the camera! "Push the button ... JUST PUSH THE F$%@#! BUTTON ... oh for the love"
Darin proceeded on demonstrating once again to everyone his idea of the universal sign for a woman's ... well you get the point. After only a few minutes and photos at Roscoe's, we decided to head on over to Charlie's to see if anything was kickin there. It was early, only about 10 PM at this point.
Once in the door at Charlies, and yes girls clutch the pearls because they actually did let Justin and back in after our episode last weekend, we ran into Darin's roomate Donnie as well as a few other friends.
Donnie being molested by Darin
Brett, an old paramedic friend of mine, and his old/new again beau Adrian
We stayed long enough at Charlie's to snap a few more pics and have a couple of cocktails. It was soon to be midnight which was Kevin's self imposed curfew to be back to apartment to finish packing up so that he could leave Phoenix behind for good at noon tomorrow. We had just enough time to pack it up and head over and check out the Padlock, our friendly local leather and levi's bar. Well let's just say kiddies that the are no photos from the dark corners of that bar, nor will I even repeat what we were all witness too in the back. After about 5 minutes it was more like "oh look at the time ... well Kevin you should be going and so should we ... " So Kevin said his goodbyes and headed home to finish packing.
Don't cry Darin it's ok ....
Darin begain to cry, no not because Kevin was leaving, but because the night was still early and wanted to have few more drinky drinks ... we're right there with ya sister. So Darin, Justin and I decided to head out and spank the town. We made a quick stop at La Rocca which was dead, so by request of Darin we quickly left La Rocca and headed up to Apollo's for a change of scenery. Wouldn't you know it, Karokee night, woo hoo! Not that any of us actually sing, but it's always fun to sing along.
So Darin got a little sassy after Justin informed Darin that no self respecting gay man should be caught dead in a gay bar after dark in flip flops (Justin has an anti-flip-flop thing going on ... ) Anyway, lets take a look at those offending tootsies ...
For the love of god woman, put on some shoes already ... thankfully you at least had a manicure before you came out in those things.
While at Apollo's, we ran into Vance, probably one of the hottest 48 y/o guys we've ever met. Darin and Vance already knew each other but I won't get into the whole sick, twisted and broken chair story mmmm kay ;-) That's for Darin to spill and you to find out.
Darin and Vance decided to compare their hot tummies for the bar. AHHHH is that a ghost on the left. Gurl, you need to get out in the sun some more, you're not ripe yet.
Vance decided take off his shirt and give us the full show, which included a view of his underwear and a few other things while we were at it. Once again, since this isn't a porn site, so I'll spare you all the fabulous pics.
Prior to leaving I made a pit stop in the men's room where I found this wonderful chalk board with all sorts of witty word art ... Of course I had to make sure my name wasn't up there.
And it of course wasn't. God that would be tragic to have that happen again. Oops did I say again? I kid of course, my name only appears in the upscale bathroom walls, p-u-lease, I have a reputation to uphold here now sweeties.
So as we were headed out the door to leave, Darin stopped to say goodby to Vance and give him a peck on the cheek. Little did Darin know that Vance was instead going to perform a full outpatient tonsilectomy on Darin with his tongue alone. Wow ... now that's a talented man.
After being given oxygen and picked back up off the floor, Darin gave us the universal signal that he was ok (Or was it something else he was trying to say? One can only wonder with that cat!)
Well that was it for the evening action recap. Darin, Justin and I had a great time out on the town and look forward to doing it again tomorrow night. We will, of course my darlings, miss Kevin dearly, but it's a very exciting time for Kevin to embark on this new journey. We wish you luck Kevin and make room because we're coming out to visit. That's it for now, Cheers!
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My Music Selection
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@HOME. I got tagged by Darin over at All Preparation No H, so as to avoid having Darin rag on me anymore for not doing this ...
Here's the instructions I received:
List ten songs that you are currently digging ... it doesn't matter what genre
they are from, whether they have words, or even if they're no good, but
they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these instructions,
the artists, and the ten songs in your blog. Then tag five other people to see
what they're listening to.
Ok, so this is going to look more like my DJ Top 20 list ... but here it goes anyway:
01 - Strings of Life by Soul Central feat. Kathy Brown [Danny Haivit Re-Edit]
02 - Sunrise by Angel City [JJ Stockholm Club Mix]
03 - Call On Me by Eric Prydz
04 - Star to Fall by Cabin Crew [Uniting Nations Remix]
05 - Put'em High by Stonebridge feat. Therese
06 - Be My Friend by Scrape [Michael Gray Mix]
07 - Deepest Blue by Deepest Blue
08 - Get Up Stand Up by Stellar Project feat. Brandi Emma
09 - Here I Am by David Morales with Tamra Keenan [Kaskade Club Mix]
10 - Wonder Of It All by Kristine W. [Offer Nissim Mix]
11 - Ends of the Earth by Sun [Tony Moran Club Mix]
12 - You Wouldn't Know How by Sarah Atereth [Tony Moran & Warren Rigg Club Mix]
13 - Most Precious Love by Blace Presents UDA feat. Barbara Tucker [Future 3000 Mix]
14 - Love On My Mind by Freemasons
15 - Take me Away by Stonebridge feat. Therese
16 - That Big Track by Steve Mac vs. Mosquito
So yeah, I got a little carried away because I kept thinking of songs that I really like that are out right now. Some of these may not have been played very much in the states yet unless you happen to be listening to a dance station like Energy 92.7/101.1 or EnergyArizonaFM.com on the Internet.
The best 3 album sets I have right now are the Ministry of Sound Funky House Sessions, the Master Beat S.PF.20, and the #1 Funky House Album. I'll spare tagging anyone else with this mess because I'm completely opposed to doing these meme's ... Darin's just lucky it was about music :-P Ok now that's it ... I really swear I'm going to bed this time.
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Conversation with Darin
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@HOME. So yeah, Darin, our buddy who also has a blog over at 'All Preparation No H', is a total crack up.
 
That boy makes me laugh and as you can see from a transcript of our brief conversation on an unnamed online service right before I went to bed. He truly brings out the best in me :-)
Darin: Kev's in town tomorrow thru Saturday. drinks tomorrow nite at amsies.
Rich: Oh how fabulous... are you stalking me .. good god woman do you have to be on EVERY online service .. (not that I would know because i'm not on every one ... )
Darin: clearly..you need to be filling out the meme i tagged your ass on... you're the only one who hasn't done it...sheeeesh
Rich: oh puuuuuulease.. thats so 8th grade ... and I'm clearly ... CLEARLY ... only to 3rd grade so far
Darin: hmmm...interesting...i could have sworn 7th....i've seen your pubes.
Rich: *gasp* mother of mary say it isn't so ... I thought I had plucked that stray
Darin: oh honey...you've got enough "strays" to start a dogpound.
Rich: don't I know it sister ... I've pulled more children out of me then a burning orphanage .. oh wait what were we talking about ... hair right?
Darin: oh.for.fucks.sakes. Rich: alright pumpkin .. this girl needs her beauty sleep badly... little wrinkles starting ...you know how it is honey ... you were my age once ... anyway drinkies it is tomorrow with the boys ... can't wait.
So for those of you who were wondering how we gay's always manage to end up out at the bars, at a party or having a party, it all starts out like this. Now you know the secret. You can finally sleep well at night. Cheers, I'm off to bed.
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Thursday, August 18, 2005 |
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Dinner with Justin & Daniel
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@HOME. I should probably be in bed but I'm not all that tired yet and I get to work from home tomorrow so it won't be an incredibly difficult day. At least I hope. Anyway tonight was short just like all the evenings after work.
I had told my friend Daniel that we could meet up and do something this evening, so Justin, Daniel and I went out to Chili's for dinner.
 
It was most unspectacular. Dinner that is. We should have hit up Red Robin or something else instead. It was a pretty short night since we headed out to dinner at 9 PM and before we knew it, 11 PM was upon us. Daniel headed home, and Justin to bed. I'm off here in a few minutes as well. I heard rumors that Kevin is back in town this weekend. Looks like drinks with the boys are in store for the weekend. Will write more this weekend. Cheers!
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Wednesday, August 17, 2005 |
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A Mobile Photo Share
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@MOBILE. Don't I wish this was true with everything in life? Although I do believe my Mother has all the kitchen ones.
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A Mobile Photo Share
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@MOBILE. So I was just sitting here in the office and as I looked over on the corner of my usually empty and boring desk, the cover of one of my super duper geek mags caught my eye. It read "You get. Now share it!" It's amazing at how versatile this phrase can be. It can be applied to so many different and useful situations. I think it's a motto we should all live by or actually maybe NOT live by, especially by those in the gay community who tend to share too much. Get my point here?
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New Lawn Mower and Kicked Out of Charlie's
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@HOME. So as we all know last weekend was Justin's birthday. Now that was a party we'll all remember for a long time. Anyway, Justin wanted to go shopping yesterday to use the gift cards he received from our friends, so after we primped and preened (one never knows who one may run into so it's always wise to look one's best), we headed over to the Chandler Mall. A few short laps around the mall and several bags of clothes later we were done.
My turn. I needed to go to Lowes Home Improvement Store (I know my little nosepickers, you're all thinking right now "Oh my, how incredibly butch of him ..." but let me assure you, there are some bigger queens to set foot in that store honey, and trust me on that, I've seen them in there!) Anyway I needed to get a new lawn mower. Now mind you my lawn is a square of maybe 10 feet by about 20 feet total, so a monster lawnmower isn't really required here. But hell girls, who said anything about required here, we're talking about fashion even if it is a lawn mower right? I really wanted one of those big riding mowers (oh yes, this one likes to ride!) so that I can put up the canopy without need for my garden sun hat, and ride in style with a cool glass of iced tea while I mow the lawn. P-u-lease ... no self respecting gay man in suburbia would be caught dead getting all sweaty outside with a push mower. Afterall, you never know who's going to drive by now do you? Anyway, as I said that's what I wanted, but I settled for the more reserved and price conscious mid-level push mower. I know what you're all thinking ... and I didn't want to say it, but I'm really performing a community service here by getting the smaller mower, I'm doing all the neighborhood women a favor by letting them see me and my hot body outside working up a sweat with the push mower. *LOL* Or not. Anyway it's my fantasy so stuff it!
So after getting my new lawn mower and returning home we decided to clean up and head out for a few drinks at our usual watering holes. We met up with Anthony at Amsterdam for a cock-tail.
Geez Justin ... did you get Crest white strips without telling me?
Awwww how cute ... oh yeah and Justin too.
We also ran into Kennelle ... and he was quite busy having fun with his friends!
After a few cock-tails, we decided to head up to Charlie's to continue our fun for the evening. Justin wasn't really feeling it, so he had a hard time sucking down that last drink. As for me, well all I can say is "it tasted so good on my lips..." enough said.
So anyway we get to Charlie's where nothing was too out of the ordinary. The three of us headed back to our usual spot in the outside corner. I headed to the bar to grab a few beers since it was quickly approaching last call. (This one doesn't want to be without her drinky-poo in the event last call happens and my liver is still parched if ya know what I mean)
So as it turns out Justin wasn't really drinking fast so I had to hold his spare beer in my back pocket, where I usually keep my spare beer but had already finished it. Last call came around and shortly after the 2 AM bar scan which means the bartenders walk around and collect everyone's unfinished drinks. Well as luck would have it they overlooked the one I had in my back pocket. For the moment, anyway.
We headed inside for a breath of cool air and to check out the sights. While we were standing inside, Justin and I thought it would be wise to finish off that last beer and placed it up on the railing. About 10 minutes goes by and this flashight is all of a sudden shining in our faces. It's one of the bouncers hovering over us saying that someone complained that we were hiding beers in our pockets. Um ok ... that was so like 5 minutes ago but whatever. So he insisted on using his flashlight to inspect us and our pockets. He quickly apologized when he realized that in fact we didn't have any beer on us and left. I was just mad I didn't get the full body cavity search. ;-P So being the dumbass that I was being, I jokingly picked up the empty bottle off the side rail and pretended to put it back in my pocket. I didn't I returned it to the side rail. Yet another 10 minutes goes by and a different bouncer comes over our way, picks up the bottle off the side rail and starts ranting about how someone saw us hiding beers and there's a reason why they have to collect them at 2 AM. Blah...Blah...Blah. Ok, yeah but that was so 20 minutes ago. By this point none of us felt like arguing or trying to disagreeing with him, so we just stood there with that "yeah? so? your point?" look on our faces. I guess he wasn't thrilled, so he promptly informed us that "we're going to need you guys to leave the bar!" Um ok. Talk about a buzz kill. So that's my story ... we got kicked out of Charlie's and it wasn't even for being drunk. Lame.
At this point, it was 3 AM and Anthony had to head home. Justin and I headed over to Genny's for a quick bite to eat before we headed back to our side of town. Well that's another story. This guy who was there alone and obviously completely betty-ford intoxicated, was sitting a few seats down from us us at the counter. He was so drunk that he could barely stay on the counter stool. He kept up this cycle of swaying to either side which eventually ending up in a position where he was leaning back with his head completely thrown back, mouth wide open and passed out cold. Everyone was laughing at him in between the few times a waiter would come up and smack his hand down on the counter to wake him and ask him if he needed anything more. Then the cycle would start all over again. Stop the train and let me and him both off. Justin and I almost fell off our stools since we were laughing so hard at both him and the look on the guys face that was sitting next to him. I did try to snap a photo but I just couldn't get a good shot without being completely obvious about it. Oh well, maybe next time.
So that folks was our adventure for the weekend. As for now I'm off to test out the new mower and cut my lawn. Ladies get ready, here I come ;-P Cheers.
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Wednesday, August 10, 2005 |
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Must Be One of Those Moods
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@HOME. Justin and I just got back from Dinner at 'Some Burros' a local Mexican restaurant. We've been there a few times before and it was even my suggestion to go there tonight, but after the fact I realize that I didn't really feel like Mexican food afterall. It's been sort of a weird day for me. I'm in one of those moods right now, I can't really explain it. I just have a lot of thoughts racing through my mind right now. Thoughts about work, thoughts about life, thoughts about the future. I guess I'm being somewhat introspective which usually puts me in this weird, almost disconnected mood. Anyway, I don't want to get too deep into this because I don't feel like writing much about it and it's just a personal thing I have to work through.
So Queer as Folk came to an end after five years on Sunday night. I know that many in the gay community didn't like the show and felt as if it portrayed the gay community in a negative way but after living for a few years in San Francisco and spending some time in the gay party scene, I personally have a different take on it.
  
  
For me the community, the friendships, the relationships, and the drug binges portrayed on Queer as Folk were very much a part of the gay community that I knew. I know there will be many people who disagree with me on this, and I admit that the show does not accurately portray all gay people and their lives, however it it's not supposed too. It was a representation of one group of friends which certainly closely resembled the friends and life I had while I was living in San Francisco. I think the reason why many in our community can't identify with the way the gay community was portrayed in QaF was because it's an experience unique to a predominately centralized gay community and it's members in a big city.
One other thing it closely resembled was my relationship with Justin. Justin and I met just before Queer as Folk began airing. This means that we too are going on five years together. Just as Brian and Justin were 10 years apart, when Justin and I met he was 19 and I had just turned 30, also 10 years apart. We've gone through many of the same ups and downs in our relationship that Brian and Justin went through on the show. The parallels of our relationship to that of Brian and Justin have been eerily similar. I jokingly had this conversation with Justin last week ...
Queer As Folk Narrator: "After 5 years all good things must come to an end and it's time to
say goodbye ... There is only 1 episode left ... Watch to see the shocking
finale ..."
Rich:
Turns to Justin and says "... So Justin, after 5 years all good things
must come to an end and it's time to say goodbye. Stay tuned for
our shocking finale ..."
Justin: *frowns*
I of course was joking. This is where the parallel between our relationship and the show will end. We of course will continue on. I have to admit that I'm sad to see the show end. We tivo'd the QaF Goodbye Special and watched it last night. It made me realize that no matter how it portrayed the gay community, it was a huge step for us to have a groundbreaking show like this on the air. It touched on the issues of gay sex, gay love and gay marriage long before this was mainstream to talk about. I do know that all good things must come to an end, so after 5 years, I will say my sad goodbye to our Sunday evening ritual of watching Queer as Folk.
Alright well I'm done with my rant and I really should be getting back to my introspection ... actually I think I'm going to head to bed a little early tonight (early for me is before 2 am). Cheers for now!
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Back to the Daily Grind
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@HOME. Wow ... What a weekend! Well it finally happened. It really was inevitable. Sometime last night while I was sleeping, Marguerite (aka. my liver) decided to crawl down and out through my arse and make the break. I knew it was just a matter of time before that bitch decided to escape and flee to the Betty Ford clinic for some R&R. No seriously though, I'm going to give Marguerite a rest from the drinking for a while, or at least until Friday. :-)
I had a really great time with Justin and my friends this past weekend. It's always good to be able to hang out with them. I wish we are all closer together but we all change and move on with our lives, that's life. I'm thankful that we've been able to keep in touch and stay close. I'm also happy for the new friends that Justin and I have been making here in Arizona. Anthony is great, Darin is a total trip, Tyler and Sam are well, Tyler and Sam ;-) I think life is so short that it's really important to meet people, have some good friends and really make the best out of it.
So today was the first day back in the office since last Wednesday afternoon and let me tell you girls, I was crazy busy trying to get caught up with work. It looks like it's going to be one of those weeks. Oh well, I party hard, but I work hard too, so it's all good.
So on a last note, I can't believe that Peter Jennings died today. I grew up with him on the news and he was just diagnosed with Cancer in April. This whole thing just adds fuel to my belief that when someone has cancer it's the chemical treatments that speed up the process and inevitably lead to a faster demise. I had to watch my father go through that and I swear I will never put myself through that. Anyway, I didn't mean to get all Helen Keller serious here, just a random thought.
Ok well I'm off to watch some TV programming before I make my way into the bedroom. Cheers!
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Happy 24th Birthday Justin
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Happy 24th Birthday Justin!
@HOME. My friends Shane and Brian left this morning and my friend Philip left this afternoon. Now it's some quiet time for Justin and I to relax and enjoy the evening before heading back to work tomorrow. Happy 24th Birthday Justin, I love you sweetheart!
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Saturday, August 06, 2005 |
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Justin's Suprise Birthday Party
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@HOME. Tomorrow is Justin's 24th birthday and I have been planning a surprise birthday party for him for the past few weeks. We all got up around 11 AM and Tyler came over to pick up Justin to go over to the mall to go shopping. As soon as Justin left Shane, Mark, Andrea and I headed over to pick up the food and cake that I had ordered. Everyone was supposed to be showing up around 2 PM for the party and Justin would be back to the house at 2:30 PM. We were really tight on time with trying to get everything picked up and back to the house before people arrived.
 
Philip, Shane and I managed to get everything setup and ready just in time. As we were finishing up, our friends started to arrive and soon Justin would be here. Tyler and Justin got back to the house around 2:45 PM and as Justin walked in he turned to Tyler and said "You Bitch!" Justin said that he had a feeling there was something going on because people were calling all week and asking to talk to me, and I kept going outside to speak to them. He didn't know any of the details or who was going to be there so it was still a bit of a surprise for him. Part I: The Surprise Birthday Pool Party Gets Started The party was originally setup as an afternoon pool party and we were planning on heading out for drinks later, but as it turned out that wasn't going to happen.  |  | | Andrea & PB Loco Anthony | Darin & Shane |  |  | | Mark | Kris & Don |  |  | | Tyler | Philip Looking Like a Bug with Wings |  |  | | Shane | Brian |  |  | | The Boys Floating Around Drinking | Shane & Brian |  |  | | Which one of these is not like the others? | Andrea are you triple fisting again? |  |  | | Show us the new tattoo Anthony | Hungry Boys? |  |  | | Happy birthday princess ... Oops, I mean Justin! | Blow like you've never blown before, oh never mind |
Part II: The Surprise Birthday Pool Party Goes Bad. When you have a pool party and you add some margarita mix to a little tequila along with some shots in the kitchen for everyone ...  
You end up with this after a few hours ...
Oh good god Darin, what in the hell are you doing. Gurl, you're a mess, please put down Andrea's sarong and step away from the margarita pitcher before this party gets any worse.  |  | | Darin & Diva Shane | Shane & Darin with Diva Brian |  |  | | Yo, Homies | Philip shows us the proper way to eat cake |  |  | Notice how happy they are
to see the new pitcher of drinks | 1 Sassy Girl & 10 Gay Men ...
Instant Fabulous! |
Part III: The Surprise Birthday Pool Party Goes Really, Really, Really Bad. So as the evening progresses this afternoon party is now quickly turning into an evening party. Before long, someone (ah hem, Darin ...) decides to be even more fabulous then he already is by putting on Andrea's spare bathing suit. Darin desperatly wanted to give us a reenactment of his devistating 4th place runner up finish at last years Miss White Trash Arizona swimsuit contest. Oh dear Darin, I hate to tell you but that suit's a little tight hun.  |  | | Gurl, You're a Mess! | Andrea demonstrates the proper way to wear it |
So the evening progressed and all the drunk people quickly decide to consume the last of the afternoon food. The crowd then even started to get a little rowdy for some more grub. My neighbor Joe heard all the ruckus and stopped over to give us some chicken and shrimp to cook on the barbie.  |  | | Shane is trying to eat Philip ... run Philip, run! | Grill Up That Food Biatch'es, We're Hungry! |  |  | | Smile pretty for the camera boys! | The hungry, angry mob surrounds the grill |
It was a really fun party and thanks to all of my friends who were able to make it down and help to turn the evening into quite an interesing party. Labels: Justin Chanley, P.B.Loco
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Day #3 with the Boys
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@HOME. The day started off with a really hot cable guy showing up at 9am to install our new high definition DirecTv dish. Brian called at about the same time to ask for directions, so Boy #1 could drop him off. While the cable guy was doing his work, Brian Shane and I hung out in the kitchen over a pot of fresh coffee. The cable guy was here for about 2 hours installing everything and casually listening in to our conversation of gay bars and boys.
We headed over to YC's Mongolian barbecue for lunch and then up to Scottsdale mall to hang out and pick up Justin's birthday present. Next up was Hamburger Mary's for a few happy hour drinks and appetizers.
After happy hour we headed back to the house to change and go out. We took a quick skinny dip in the pool before getting ready again. Mark and Andrea didn't feel like going out with us, so we stopped by their house for a beer on our way back out to the club. We once again headed up to Amsterdam to mingle with the crowd. I didn't take many pictures at Amsterdam because it was too crowded and we were all too busy talking with friends and new acquaintances.
Gilbert, Justin & Shane
Jaime, Brian & Philip
Around 12 AM we decided to head up to Charle's for a change of scenery and some dancing. We were all wiped out and set off around 2 AM to go home and get some rest.
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Happy Hour at Hamburger Mary's
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Out with the boys for happy hour drinks at Hamburger Mary's
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Thursday, August 04, 2005 |
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Day #2 with the Boys
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@HOME. Tonight we decided to head up to the Oreganos Pizza Bistro on Camelback and have dinner before going out for the evening. Some appetizers and 2 pizzas later we packed into the car and headed down to Amsterdam for a few drinks where Tyler and Sam also decided to head over and meet up with us.
Brian
Shane
Philip
Justin & Rich
Tyler & Sam
Thursday nights at Amsterdam is usually 'Drag Night' where there is a group of regular drag queens that peform for a few hours. We've been a few times now and they always put on a pretty good show. It was pretty loud and there were a lot of people hanging out but Brian still managed to strike up a conversation with the 2 cute boys who were sitting next to us at the bar
We weren't at Amsterdam for very long before we decided to head up to Roscoes for a little less noisy place to hang out and have some drinks. Brian convinced the 2 boys he was chatting with to go up to Roscoes as well. On the way out of Amsterdam the boys stopped to pose for an 'action' photograph. Silly boys!
Justin, Philip, Shane & Tyler (bent over)
Roscoes isn't very far from Amsterdam, so we made it there and proceeded to punish our livers for a few more hours.
Shane & Rich
Brian, Boy #1, Tyler, Boy #2, & Rich
I think we closed the place out but I'm honestly not quite sure. I was a tad bit tipsy and I was just having too good of a time to worry about the time. We grabbed our purses and headed outside. In the mean time, Brian decided that Boy #1 was cuter then Boy #2, so instead of heading home with us he decided to instead and go home and play leap frog with Boy #1. We packed Philip, Shane, Justin and myself into the car and headed home to get some rest before going out and starting all over again tomorrow.
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Wednesday, August 03, 2005 |
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The Boys Are In Town
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@HOME. My friends, Shane and Brian flew in from San Francisco earlier today. The 4 of us headed up to AZ-88 for dinner where we met up with 2 more of Brian's friends. It was a little too warm and humid outside, but we decided to avoid the wait and take a patio table. AZ-88 is always fabulous and their buffalo chicken sandwiches are the best in the west. After dinner, drinks and sweating profusely on the patio, we all headed over to BS West for 2-4-1 drinks. Whoa nelly, those drinks were strong. Shane and Brian got a little tipsy before we made our way back home to await Philip's arrival from Los Angeles.
Philip finally got here around 2 am after taking a short 60 mile detour through Wickenberg, AZ by mistake. Who knew there were 2 US 60 segments in Arizona? I guess Philip sure found that one out.
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Life Is So Exciting In the Burbs
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@HOME. So it's sad to say, but still nothing exciting to write about. If it wasn't for Darin's constant badgering about me not posting anything for days I would probably be sitting here staring at the screen wondering what to write about. I don't think that that girl realizes that the rest of our lives can't possibly be as exciting as her's. She who travels all the way to Flagstaff for band camp but instead hangs out with the over 80 knitting club while still managing to swing the hook up with one their grandsons. Geez Blanche, I mean Darin, you have the life I tell ya :-P
So anywho, life is just so exciting in the burbs these days. Justin and I decided that our measly smalls desks we had in our office weren't big enough for all the junk mail we accumulate during the week, so therefore we had to take our monthly trip to Ikea to look around. After having a fabulous meal of the Ikea Chef's special balls, oops I mean meatballs, we headed off for a grueling few hours of Ikea shopping. Long story short, we bought some new office-like desks, packed up the car and headed back to our surburban paradise.
Once unloading the 25 plus boxes that composed every little piece of the unassembled desks we decided what the hell, lets put them together. Why they give you a stupid scrukignugen tool in every box I'll just never understand. But alas ... photos from the wonderous event.
BEFORE: Justin starting to put the million pieces together.
AFTER: Tada ... Wow, so much room in the office now!
So yes, after much time and effort, about 5 hours worth, we finally had our new desks assembled and the office put back together. I work from home a great deal, so this will give us both a lot more room to work.
I've found that Berg now uses the space between the desks as his personal tunnel to hang out. Occassionaly while I'm working he will pop his head up to make sure I'm still awake. I actually think this picture is kind of ... well, yeah um ... it's not what you think you sickos!
Well that's about as interesting as it gets out here in the burbs for now. This weekend is Justin's birthday and my friends are also getting into town on Wednesday to hang out and party for the rest of the week until Sunday. Shane is flying in from San Francisco, and Philip, who just moved back to Los Angeles from San Fran is driving out as well. It should be a fun filled weekend which ensures that I should have some more interesting things to write about later this week. Cheers!
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