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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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Thursday, August 31, 2006 |
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Quick Update Before I Head Out
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I know it's been almost a week since my last post but we've been a little busy. Aside from trying go get things cleaned up and put away around the in preparation for my Mom's arrival next week, we've been working quite a bit which hasn't left too much time for writing.
Here's my update as to what's been going on. Last weekend Justin and I ended up going out to BS West in Scottsdale for the 'Grand Re-Opening Party.' Let's just say it was hardly worth the effort. Don't get me wrong I do like BS West, however it was Saturday night, it took us nearly 30 minutes to find a parking spot because every straight person in the valley was out in Scottsdale, and when we finally got to the bar the attendance was lackluster at best. We did run into Jeff Hoover, a local real estate friend, and a few others who were on their way out. Justin and I had a drink and then headed out to Charlie's.
We got to Charlie's and as usual it was packed. Immediately inside the door we ran into Don Lack, Jim Boyd and Jim Cook and stopped to chat for a few. Upon venturing to back patio we ran into Lance Kneebone who was on the verge of passing out. Here are some photos of Justin and Lance, while Lance could still stand up.
 
While we were standing at the back bar grabbing some drinks we first ran into our friend Steve and then the blogger crew Jimmi, Darin, Jason and Matt who were out for a few drinks as well.
Photo borrowed from Jimmi's Blog
We stood and chatted with the gang for a bit before they headed out to call it an early night. Almost shortly after that I also ran into Jeff and his new roommate standing out back as well. It must have been Phoenix blogger night out at Charlie's. Justin and I had a few drinks, talked with friends and headed home shortly after 3 AM. It was a fun night out.
The rest of the week's been spent cleaning up the house and getting a few small things from Ikea put together. I'm headed back to Philadelphia first thing on Saturday morning to help my Mom with a few things before the movers arrive on Tuesday to pack her up and ship her out. I'll be in Philadelphia from Saturday until the following Friday morning when we'll both be flying together back to Phoenix.
I'm almost looking forward to heading back because it will be my last trip for a long time back to the old neighborhood. I'll have a chance to catch up with some of my old friends namely Missy & Bryan Kline, and Sean & Suzette Hagan over dinner. I'm also committed to the annual family Labor Day BBQ at my Aunt & Uncles which I'm excited about because some of my cousins will be in town who I haven't seen for several years. It will be good for us all to catch up.
While I'm in Philadelphia, Justin's going to be hanging out here with Berg and holding down the Casa. I wish he could have come out with me but he just didn't have time off and he's between our upcoming vacation to Montreal and him starting a new position tomorrow, we just couldn't work it out. I don't think I mentioned yet that Justin accepted a new position. I'm excited that he's going to have a new opportunity because I know he's been feeling quite stagnant for the past year at his current one. The only downside is that he's going to be located at a different campus so we won't be carpooling or having lunch together anymore. It's actually a good thing for me because I won't have to get up so early to get him to the office at 8am since I don't have a set schedule. So everything seems to be falling right into place.
Tomorrow will be spent doing a little work, and then I'm taking the afternoon off to run some errands. I'll be on an early morning flight on Saturday back to Philadelphia, so I'm not sure if I'm going to have time to post anything or not. We'll see.
Lastly I did get the chance to speak with Tony again today. He once again thanked me for showing him a great time in Phoenix and also for the Blog post about him. He told me that I forget to mention that he's single and looking so I told him I'd post a personal add for him here on my blog to try and find him a date. He said NO, that he was just kidding, but I'm going to do it anyway. Hell I have over 11,000 unique visitors a month so I might as well use the power of networking to find Tony a date right? LOL. Here you go stud...
Tony
Trendy, Hot, Fun, Single & Looking in San Diego
26, 5'10, 160#, Brn Eyes, Brn Hair, & Smooth
  
  
   
Tony's a fun, down to earth guy currently living in San Diego. He's successful, has many friends and is a really fun guy to hang around. If your hot, fairly normal, down to earth, love the club scene and would like to meet Tony then send me an E-Mail and photo so that I can pre-screen all applicants and we'll take it from there. :-)
There you go Tony. LOL. As Suzanne Sugerbaker once said ... "If we can put a man on the moon, we can put one on you!"
Well, that's it for me, I'm out and off to Philadelphia. Cheers!Labels: Tony
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Tony's Visit
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Bernard called me on my way home from the office on Wednesday to let me know that Tony was coming out for a last minute business trip for two days. Now if I didn't mention it before, Tony is a friend of Bernards' who we met at the White Party, and it was Tony's house in Hillcrest where we all crashed and partied for the San Diego Pride weekend.
Ever since practically sharing our rooms with each other at the White Party, hanging out at pride in San Francisco, and crashing at Tony's house in San Diego, we've really gotten to know Tony very well. He's a great guy and another friend added to our growing list of new long-distance friends.
Tony got in on Thursday afternoon with his boss and co-workers and coincidentally was staying at a hotel just 3 blocks from our house. We ended up going over to pick up Tony and head out to grab a bit to eat. Being that this was Tony's first trip out to Phoenix there was absolutely no question as to were we were headed to eat, AZ-88 of course.
As always dinner was very tasty and it was nice to spend some time being able to sit and chat with Tony. While we've hung out quite a bit, this really gave Justin and I chance to get to know him a little better. We finished dinner and decided to head over to Amsterdam for a cocktail or two. Forgetting it was drag show night at Amsterdam, we grabbed some drinks and headed out to the newly renovated back patio, otherwise known as the Malibu Beach Bar where we immediately ran into Richard and Mark.
Drinks, conversation and boy watching were the highlights of our time at Amsterdam. Around midnight we decided to cruise over to Charlie's to give Tony a look at one of the other Phoenix favorite water holes. Surprisingly Charlie's was very crowded for a weeknight. Apparently after talking to a few friends who were there, Charlie's is the place to go for dancing on Thursday's. Who knew. The 2 for 1 drink specials were an added bonus as we sucked down a few more cocktails before heading home around 1:30 AM.
It was great having Tony here, getting to spend some time with him and learning a little more about him. I don't think I've every hear him talk so much before last night. I think it's probably because he's usually pretty quite when he's in a group of people, but since we're all really starting to get to know each other now, he's really opened up to us. Word on the street is that Tony's company is looking to open an office here, so it may give him the opportunity to head back out to Phoenix and hang with us for a few additional weeks.
Alright well that's my update for last night. Justin and don't really have anything planned for tonight, I think this weekend is going to be spend relaxing and finishing things up around the house before I head back to Philadelphia next weekend. Cheers.Labels: Tony
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Wednesday, August 23, 2006 |
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Here She Comes
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Well I don't know if I've given everyone the scoop or not but I'll be traveling back to Philadelphia for a week at the beginning of September to help my Mother with the movers as she's finally going to be moving back out here to Arizona immediately following labor day.
My Mother and Father had retired and moved out here in 1998 but when my Father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2000 they packed up and moved back to Philadelphia so that my Father could spend his last few months with his close friends and family.
   
My Mother and Father were so very much in love, and when my Father passed away on December 12, 2000, incidentally the night of my first date with Justin, my Mother was devastated. Her whole life came crashing down around her and all of a sudden after 40+ years she was alone.
So with all that said, she's been pretty much alone back east with the exception of her sister and a few select friends. I know that's she's extremely lonely and she wants nothing more then to be closer to us. So after 6 years, and Justin and I being fairly settled, we extended the offer to help her move back out here to Arizona. She's been ecstatic for months now, but even more so as the move date is finally approaching.
 
We found a really nice 2-bedroom apartment for her less then 4 miles away. It's a brand new, gated complex with gym, and heated pool. I know she'll be very happy there, and it's close enough that she can find her way easily over to our house.
I know it's going to be an adjustment for both her and us, as Justin and I aren't used to having family here in town, but in the end I'm glad that she'll be close and we'll be able to help her out a little bit. I'm also happy that she's going to be able to help us out and feel like she has a little bit of purpose to her life again. I know Berger is happy as well because he loves it when she feeds him potato chips and she's looking forward to being able to doggie sit for Berg while we go on our trips in the future.
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Huge Storm In Phoenix
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Tonight as the sun was setting, we had a large storm front roll through the valley bringing with it over 2 inches of rain, loud thunder and lightening to illuminate the sky. It's one of the monsoon season storms that we get here this time of year.
I managed to catch some photos of the lightening as it was coming down all around our house.
 
 
We later found out this storm caused massive power outages, flooding and fires. Luckily for us our neighborhood was unaffected.
The house pictured above is our neighbor's house just across the street. Although it looks like their house was actually hit, the lightening was much further north of us then it appears in the photos. It was quite the spectacular sight to be standing out front of the house and see the huge bolts of lightening coming down. Needless to say I didn't stand out front for very long as the storm quickly traveled closer to our home.Labels: Phoenix
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Another Gay Movie
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I'm so excited, Justin just told me yesterday that Another Gay Movie is going to be playing at the Tempe Arts Theatre here in Phoenix on September 1. We both really wanted to see this movie but no dates for Phoenix had been set. Check out the website at http://www.anothergaymovie.com for the trailer and showtimes.
Hopefully this movie will be a blast.
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Saturday Night Out
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As I said in my post yesterday, Justin and I had decided to go out last night to our usual gay stomping grounds for a few drinks. We headed over to Amsterdam Bar around 11 PM and met up with the P.B.Loco Boys Keith & Anthony.
 
It's rare these days that we get to see too much of the P.B.Loco boys since they're very busy running the Cafe. It was nice to finally be able to meet up with Keith and Anthony and catch up over a few drinks.
Surprisingly Amsterdam wasn't all that crowded. We ran into Gilbert, Mark & Richard and then Paul from the gym. It seems like Paul's been out almost everywhere we've been these days, first San Diego, then all the bars around Phoenix. I guess we're all just a bunch of bar flys.
After a few drinks we decided to head up to Charlie's while Keith and Anthony decided to call it a night. Charlie's was pretty busy with mostly people we didn't know. We ran into Gilbert again there on the dance floor and then Mark and Richard again out back by the volleyball court.
 
We had a few beers, chatted with Mark and Richard, danced a bit and then called it a night around 3 AM and headed home.
I really wish we had more gay friends in Phoenix to hang out with. We know a bunch of people here but only a few, like Keith and Anthony, who we would call real friends. I think we could build a good friendship with Keith and Anthony, but they're always so busy which makes it tough for all of us. The big downside to Phoenix, and I'm not sure if it's just Phoenix or not, but it honestly it seems like most of the gay guys here complete and total flakes. I don't know maybe it's just the people we've met so far who knows.
The bottom line is that I miss the circle of friends that we had in San Francisco. Mostly from the perspective of us all being able to meet up, dine together, and hang out. For gay men there is no substitute for a strong circle of gay friends. I mean don't get me wrong here. I do think we have a core group of friends with Bernard and Philip. I love the fact that Justin and I have still been able to continue building a strong friendship with them both even with us all being in different cities. I even believe it actually helps that we are in different cities because we're always happy to see each other and we certainly don't take each other for granted. However I still wish that we were all together again in the same city. Who knows it might be a reality someday.
Anyway I better wrap things up here. I think I hate Sunday nights the most because I know I have to work tomorrow and I'm never quite ready to wind down the weekend. Anyway, hopefully this will be a better week then last. Cheers.Labels: P.B.Loco
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Saturday, August 19, 2006 |
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I Love My Friends
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Enough Said! I can't wait to see you guys again soon!
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The End of Summer
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Well fall is almost upon us and the summer around here is pretty much over. For those of us in Central Arizona, this doesn't mean a drastic cooldown in the weather, changing leaves, or the need for fall clothing. It means 2 things ... Arizona State University is back in session and the Snow Birds are headed back to town.
On a good note, that means the beautiful university eye candy is back and the bars will become overflowing with weekend drunks. On a bad note it means our traffic gets worse, rush hour is prolonged, and we have to deal with snow birds trying to merge a football field long camper across 3 lanes of traffic during the morning commute.
My first real sign of fall here in Arizona was at the gym the other day. Since Justin and live only a few miles from Arizona State University, our gym is the closest 24-Hour Fitness to campus. This means the facility is remarkably less crowded during the short summer months when the university's out of session, but becomes almost undesirably busy once it starts back up. We walked into the gym on Monday and very quickly determined by the drastic increase in attendance that the university must be back in session. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it gives me more distractions while I'm doing my cardio. Just so I don't drop a barbell on my head or sprain a muscle from twisting my neck to check out a hot guy it's all good right?
Justin and I really don't have too much going on this weekend. I think I might drag Justin out to a bar tonight just to get out of the house and mingle with some people. I'm really jonesing lately for another dance party. The SF Crew (Bernard, Philip, Justin and I) decided that it was probably best for us to limit ourselves to something every other month since every month was probably just too much. I'm thinking we probably had that discussion right after an event because I find the more dance music I listen too the more I want to go to another party. Usually right after these events we are pretty tired and pretty burnt out and can't think about going to another one anytime soon.
All this talk of circuit parties and you're probably asking yourself what's the drive that all these guys have for going to these parties. Well aside from the music, let me show just you a few reasons ...
  
  
  
  
Photos from Gay Days Orlando (c)2006 CircuitNoise, the premier paper guide to the Gay Party Circuit.
There does that help give you a little better understanding of why we enjoy going to these parties, not to mention our incessant drive to go to the gym 6 days a week? The photo above were taken from Gay Days / One Mighty Weekend in Orlando, Florida this year. This is one of our 'must-go' parties for next year.
Anyway I need to get my ass in the shower and hit up the gym for a few hours before we go out tonight. Hopefully I'll have a few photos to publish tomorrow. Cheers!
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My First Personal Trainer
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I just got back from the gym and my first meeting with a personal trainer. Her name is Brooke, she seems pretty cool and I would guess knows what she's talking about. The only catch, I'm a bit uneasy about the whole thing.
I guess it's just change more or less that I'm uneasy about. She pretty much wants to shake up my entire diet, cardio and weight training routines. I know it's probably for the better to take me to the next level but I personally know how far I've gotten with what I've been doing, so it's going to be difficult for me to go with the flow and switch things up. It comes down to the fact that it probably doesn't hurt to try a new routine and see if I get better results, as I can always go back to what I'm doing now right?
I certainly don't proclaim to know everything about working out, I just know what's worked for me so far and what's not. The main thing is that I'm in a routine right now that I'm comfortable with and motivated to do, so I guess I'm worried that if I switch things up a little, I'm going to loose my motivation to continue working out as hard as I've been.
 
By this point you're all probably wondering why I even went to a personal trainer if I was afraid to change my routine. Well the bottom line is that I probably would have never actively sought out a personal trainer, but I changed my membership type at the gym and did a 3-year pre-pay which included 5 sessions with a personal trainer. She called me to setup the appointment, so I figured what the hell, I'm sure I can learn some new things and she can really help get get to the next level.
Today was spent mostly talking about my diet, my current routine, and my activity levels. She put everything into a computer program and it spit out a customized day-by-day menu and a customized workout routine for me. I go back to see her on Monday and she's going to start me out on some new core training activities. My main goal at this point is to put on some additional muscle mass and drop my Body Fat % from 19% to 14%. This means I basically have to loose 7 pounds of fat and put on 7 pounds of lean muscle mass to achieve that goal. She said as long as I'm comfortable with my current weight of 158, I should be able to stay in that range while still putting on lean muscle.
I guess I really am excited about having the opportunity to learn some new things, and I'm hoping in the end it will really get me over this plateau and take me to the next level with my body.
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Wednesday, August 16, 2006 |
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Back From The Gym
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WARNING: SELFISH POST AHEAD. Justin and I just got back from the gym and I have to say that I personally feel incredible. We've been working out pretty much 5-6 times a week these days, significantly modified our diets, and have been doing a good job at sticking too it. I've lost a total of 50 pounds and am down to 158. Justin's lost a total of 75 pounds and is down to 185. All this since February, it's crazy to think about. I have to give Justin the most credit though, he's been doing an amazing job at working out and being our pillar when it comes to sticking to a reasonable diet. Hell if it were up to me I'd be eating cookies and ice cream every night in front of the boob tube.
At this point, I would probably say that both Justin and I are in the best shape we've been in several years, if not our lives. I still feel like we both have a little way to go yet before we're where we want to be physically, but it's really only been a little over 6 months, so it takes time and I think we're doing pretty damn well.
I guess our decision back to start going to the Circuit parties has been a big motivating factor for us both to get into shape and stay in shape. There's nothing more motivating then taking your shirt off and dance among a group of several thousand incredibly fit gay men. Also Philip and Bernard have been a big help as well. They keep us motivated and are very supporting of us by encouraging and helping us modify our workout routines to get better results.
If you couldn't tell I really enjoy taking my camera to these parties. Aside from capturing some really great memories, it's interesting because we can really see how we all look and change from party to party. These next 4 photos of us are all from the San Diego Zoo Party. I think they're good with the exception that by the point these were taken we were on our third day in a row of non-stop partying, so we're all a little tired.
   
Anyway enough about the parties for now. Can you tell it's only been 3 weeks since San Diego and I'm already jonesing to head out to another party with my friends?
So tonight after we got home from the gym, Justin decided to model his new Wrestling outfit for Berger and I. He's testing out outfits that's he's considering for the 'Jock Party' at Black & Blue.
 
Since there's a 'Jock Party', 'Military Party' and 'Leather Party' in conjunction with the main Black & Blue 'Supersonic Ball' event at the Olympic Stadium, we're going to have to cart quite a few different outfits along with us. I wonder if you can check a trunk onto the plane? Just kidding about the trunk. We're actually trying to coordinate our outfits with Philip and Bernard so we all match for at least the jock party. I'll be excited to post photos of us all from those parties.
As for me, I figured that since we had the camera out to take some photos of Justin, I might as well join in the photo session and take a few of myself too. I'm starting to be a lot less camera shy these days since I'm in much better shape.
 
I have to say I'm really happy with myself these days, both physically and emotionally. Life is good. Just ask Berger, he would agree. :-) Speaking of Berger, as you can see from the photos above, he's a pretty big puppy. Most people think from stand alone photos of him that he's not very big, but sitting next to Justin who's 6'3 or myself who's 6', you can actually tell that he's now over 100 pounds and quite the little monster.
Anyway, that's about it for my shameless selfish post. I was just in a great mood after getting home from the gym, so I figured I would share my good mood with everyone! Happy Hump Day!
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Outfit for The Leather Party?
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So I was scouring the internet tonight looking at photos from some of the previous year's circuit parties, and I don't know why, but I decided to check out the Folsom Street Fair photos from last year.
Now you may or may not know this, but at the Black & Blue week in Montreal there happens to be a leather party. I think after finding this photo, I finally know what I'm going to wear to this party ...
CERTAINLY NOT THIS!
I mean seriously people, it's Canada in October. I would literally freeze my buns off in this outfit, not to mention probably draw the 'WRONG' type of attention. I guess I'll just keep searching. ;-)
*UPDATE 2006-08-19*
For all of those who have emailed or messaged me to ask if this is a photo of me, it is NOT a photo of me, it's just a random photo I found on the internet when looking through the Folsom Street Fair Photo Galleries. Thanks for asking, but I would NEVER personally wear something like this in or out of public. (At least that I'd admit to all of you ... )
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Feeling Out Of It
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It's been a really long week. I think it's just because it's my first full week back to work and I'm simply drained right now. I know poor me right? LOL. All I'm saying is that I'm glad it's the weekend starting tonight.
Cartoon by Sean Delonas (c) New York Post Online
My Mother forwarded me this Cartoon. I'm shocked to realize she has a sense of humor, she's usually really uptight about these things. In her most PC of comments to me yesterday she said "I don't understand why they keep letting all these terrorists into this country" I've learned to just agree with her and move on.
So how about those new travel restrictions, eh? I found it extremely amusing that the first comment from nearly all the friends I spoke with when this came up yesterday alluded to this incident being yet another tired ploy by the Talking Monkey's people to stir up another round of panic since we're in an election year and public opinion of the administration sucks. Hell, public opinion towards the entire republican party sucks at this point. Sorry republicans, you really do suck. When will the political powers actually get a clue that not all of us in this country are redneck, backwoods bumpkins and some of us really can see a trailer in a tornado a mile away? Oh well I'm not going to get political, I just think it's all so predictable these days.
Friday's Favorite Photo of The Week
A photo I snapped today of Berger lounging around in the office. This is what he does all day long while I'm sitting at my desk working. He seems to be enjoying the new floors.
Anyway I'm really looking forward to a long awaited break this weekend. I pretty much want to do NOTHING but relax by the pool. We'll see if that happens or not.
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Wednesday, August 09, 2006 |
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Busy, Busy, Busy. Finally A Break.
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I know I'm behind on my postings. I've thought about posting a few times, but I just haven't had the time and frankly I'm really bored with Blogging at the moment. I'm bored with my blog, reading blogs, and pretty much the entire Blogging community in general. It's so overdone these days. No offense to anyone, I'm just being honest here. For me Blogging is a past time, not a way of life, so I guess I've just been too occupied with living my real life to actually have time to sit down and blog. I know it goes in phases for me just like everyone else, so I'm certainly not going to be one of these people who gives this long and dramatic farewell because I'm not going anywhere. I'm just busy, so deal. I guess the fact that I'm not blogging as much as I used to is a good thing, for me at least. Ever since the White Party in April it's really been a non-stop summer for Justin and I. I'm as happy as ever, and I never could have imagined that this year was going to turn out so well for us. We've gotten even closer to Philip and Bernard, and the four of us have become really found of traveling together. We all enjoy doing the same things and just have so much fun when we're all together. We've already started talking about our travel plans for next year. Justin and I have also been making a ton of new friends as well. Who knew that many of the same people go to all the circuit parties, so party after party we've been seeing familiar faces and making new friends from all around the country. I guess it's just yet another part of the circuit appeal. So what's been going on with me lately ... Well he's a little bit of an update: San Diego Pride (Circuit) Weekend:
(Jul 28 - Jul 31) At the end of July we headed out to San Diego for Pride weekend. I guess you could say it was during pride weekend, but not really for pride weekend. The purpose of our visit to San Diego was to attend the long circuit party weekend which started on Friday night with a boat cruise off the San Diego Harbor, continued with Circuit Daze at the Sports Arena on Saturday night, the Zoo Party on Sunday, and the Closing Party which took us into the wee hours of Monday morning. It was a jam packed weekend of non-stop parties and dancing. Justin and I got into San Diego late on Thursday night where we met up with Bernard and Tony at our friend Tony's house where we were all staying for the weekend. On Friday afternoon Philip arrived, we got up, cleaned up and walked over up to the Hillcrest District to have a bite of Sushi for lunch and then up to Hamburger Mary's for a few drinks. It was a little crazy because I think all of gay Phoenix was in San Diego for the weekend. We stood in Hamburger Mary's and watched guy after guy from Phoenix walk into the bar. I think we drank a little too much because most of us ended up coming back to Tony's and passing out for a few hours before we had to head out for our Friday night party. Philip used this opportunity to take advantage of Justin while he was passed out. After we all finally pulled ourselves together and got cleaned up, we headed down to the San Diego Harbor where we were having our first party of the weekend aboard the California Spirit. It was a 2-hour dance party boat cruise. Following the cruise, we headed up to 4th & B for the after-hours party and made it back to Tony's around 5 AM. Just enough time to get a few hours of sleep before everyone started to arrive at 9 AM for the Pre-Pride Parade Party at Tony's. Bernard, Justin and I did get a chance to walk up to the pride festival during the afternoon, but San Diego was un-godly hot for some reason this weekend, so we just walked around the festival a bit and quickly headed back to relax and get ready for an evening of dancing at the Sports Arena with DJ Manny Lehman. Prior to heading out to the Sports Arena, Justin's sister Sarah and her husband Jed drove down to meet up with Justin and I for a bit to eat. It was good to see both Sarah and Jed again, although unfortunately it was a very short visit due to our tight weekend schedule. I didn't take my camera to the Sports Arena because I didn't feel like carrying it, but the event was a blast. We stayed until 6 AM and then even went over to Ocean beach for a little while afterwards to relax and chill out a bit before heading back to catch a few hours of sleep before the Zoo Party. We awoke around 2 PM on Sunday, got ready and immediately headed over to the Zoo Party. The Zoo Party is the premier event of the weekend and as you might have guessed is held at the San Diego Zoo. It's really cool because you go into a separate entrance just for the party but then you can walk around the zoo as well. The zoo is still open to the public, with only the party area being restricted to ticket holders, so it's a somewhat strange experience to have a bunch of gay boys wandering through the zoo while families and children are there as well. Lucky for us we even got to see two turtles making some sweet love. I mean seriously, could the weekend get any better at this point? The main DJ was Tony Moran and he kicked off his set around 7 PM and took us through to the end of the party. Because the Zoo Party is only a T-Dance it ended at midnight and was followed by the closing party. I think we left around 11 PM and headed down early with Bruce and Tracy to 4th & B for the closing party. This space is an amazing space and filled up very quickly. It was jam packed with people, really hot, really sweaty and an overall amazing night. The DJ was Rosabel and they spun one of the best sets I've heard in a really long time. Bernard thought the music was a little 'dark', but I don't know I must have been in just the right mood, because it just kept me dancing all night long. The entire weekend in San Diego was a total blast and many thanks to our good friend Tony for letting us crash at his house and pretty much takeover his bedroom. I'm already looking forward to going back again next year. Justin's Birthday Weekend (8/4-8/7):
(Aug 4 - Aug 7) Imagine it, two weekends in a row of non-stop fun. Now you know why I haven't had time to blog much. This past weekend was Justin's birthday and both Philip and Bernard came into town for the celebration. It was only 3 days since we all parted ways in San Diego and here we were back again at our house for a weekend of relaxation and hanging out by the pool. We decided to have a very small get together on Saturday night so that we could celebrate Justin turning 25. Ugh, he's such a puppy still. The party was fun, we grilled up some food and it was a great time hanging out with friends, enjoying the pool and the Arizona heat. Philip and Bernard headed out on Monday and Justin and I probably won't see them again until we all head up to Montreal together in the fall. So that's pretty much the summary of what's been going on the past few weeks around here. It's been busy, busy, busy to say the least. We did finally get our floors finished as well, so I'll post some photos of them here shortly. I do have to admit that I'm glad we have a little bit of a break for a few weeks now. Justin and I are both somewhat drained from party hopping and we're in need of some rest, and some quality time here at home together. I'll be headed back to Philadelphia in September to help my Mother finally move back out here to Arizona, and then Justin, Philip, Bernard and I will be headed up to Montreal in October for our last Circuit Party of the year, Black & Blue. It's a week long event that will be our first trip all together out of the country. I can't express how much fun I've been having with Justin, Bernard and Philip this year. It really started with the White Party and I think none of us ever expected what was to follow. We've been forming a great friendship, the type of friendship where you know you'll hopefully be partying together and traveling together for many years to come. I always thought that to have a close circle of friends who enjoyed doing things together, everyone had to live in the same city. I couldn't have been more wrong. I think the fact that we live in different cities really helps to strengthen our friendship, because when we travel together to these events, it gives us all something to look forward to and we never take each other for granted, we just enjoy each others company and the short time we have to spend together. These guys are like my family now and I'm glad I know I can always count on them and count on having a wonderful time with them. Alright for being bored with blogging I've sure rambled on enough with this post. That's my update for now, keep yourself posted for more to come. Now that I have some down time I may post a little more frequently, however I'm not promising anything. *Circuit Party Note ... 'When Boy's Fly':
I just have one last thing. If you're not familiar with and at all curious about these Circuit Parties and what goes on at them, you should rent the movie 'When Boy's Fly', a film/documentary by Stewart Halpern & Lenid Rolov. It follows a few different guys who are into the circuit scene to one of the parties, namely the White Party. This movie will give you a very accurate portrayal of what goes on at a typical circuit party. While I disagree with a few parts of this documentary and feel that is focuses on mainly the negative part of the circuit scene, it really does give some insight into the circuit, much of which I do not discuss in my blog. If you've seen this movie, or rent it as a result of my suggestion, drop me an email and let's chat about it because I'd be interested in your thoughts and feedback, especially if this is your first look into the Circuit. Labels: Bernard, Circuit Party, DJ Abel, DJ Ralphi Rosario, Gay Pride, Jerry Timms, San Diego, San Diego Boys, Tony
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