snuck out of my chains of bondage and went out to play with some boys and girls last night. ubertrendy christopher dragged me along with straight aaron, tattooed melissa and a few others to san diego’s surprisingly hip electro night, electroluxe at the pirate’s den.
in general, electro is synonymous with funky punky clothing. the theme for the night last night was controversy, which for our crew translated into chris dressed in cowboy hat, elvis tee and a coonskin tail hanging out of his jeans. the girls dressed as a cross between ibiza glam and mary tyler moore. straight aaron had some sort of union army / navy seargant jacket. i just had my limited london/faux-cali wardrobe last night :)
Continue reading ‘‘lectroluxe’
i’m normally the type of guy that falls asleep moments after my head hits the pillow. it’s an easy claim to make, since normally i only go to sleep when i’m tired, not per any prearranged schedule.
tonight, though, i can’t fall asleep. there’s sugar in my bloodstream, i see shadows darting across my hotel room ceiling, and i very easily am forgetting where/who/how i am.
yay travel.
today we did a serious of supersexy americana photoshoots for the magazine. although i’ve been involved with many aspects of the magazine, this was my first proper photo shoot. yesterday was spent scouting locations, acquiring costumes and fetching peeps from the airport. today was spent doing setting up the shoots and just generally having a wacky, fun time.
probably the highlight for me was spending time with my colleagues. i really treasure spending face-to-face time with peter, damien and james, people who i’ve sorta worked with in the past, but had forgotten how fabulous they can be in action, in person. the day climaxed with what i think will be an excellent 2-page spread in the mag, a shot of two sexy cops sitting in their cop car munching donuts whilst two sexy villians steal money and donuts from the two sexy bakers in the background. oh, the cops are shirtless, and the car is incredibly tiny. we found sexy outfits, sexy models, and i had the dubious pleasure of bribing the chinese donut mafia to let us use their store.
the only side effect, really, is this damn sugar high that i can’t seem to shake. we have one more sexy shoot tomorrow morning, but i’m always vivacious at 730am. well, that’s one good thing about jetlag: your body doesn’t really pay any attention to time-of-day.
a snippet from a great story in the new yorker entitled the zagat history of my last relationship:
The Chick & Hen
Perfect for breakfast “after sleeping together,” with “killer coffee” that will “help cure your seven-beer/three-aquavit hangover.” Not that you need it—your “amplified high spirits” after having had sex for the first time in “eight months” should do the trick.
thanks, stacy
my good friend greg left san francisco around the same time i did. my way of dealing with long-lost friends is primarily through impersonal group emails and drunken phone calls from london clubs at 4am back to the states.
greg has done a great job of catching up with his friends via song…. check out this tune sent out to his long-lost friends…
i sometimes forget, or take for granted, how much i do enjoy my job. i think the subject matter of working for a gay magazine is incredibly thrilling — dealing, in a very raw way, with young gay men’s emotions, lives, aspirations, traumas. love, lust, politics, society, humanity, fashion, culture… it’s really quite exciting.
i sometimes forget, or take for granted, the fact that yes, i am pretty good at working in this fast-paced, deadline-hectic, upside-down, trans-atlantic environment. the past few days have been spent using all parts of my brain, which is refreshing. calling film studios, scanning photos, laying out sections, fixing our website, dealing with boys, climbing through piles of mail and debating the merits of every square inch of content for the next issue. good stuff.
the downside is that the rest of my life is on hold. i’m isolated from nearly all of my friends, my confidants, my peeps and my posse. but it’s alright, just for this little while.
todd levin thinks he might be gay. and he’s got proof!
there is quite a bit of familiarity and normalcy in being in san diego again. i think, finally, after years of back-and-forth travel [germany-indiana, pasadena-chicago, san francisco-los angeles, london-everywhere] i’m finally getting to the point now where:
1. i no longer say “in london, we …” or “it’s different where i’m from cuz …”
2. i no londer have a superiority nor inferiority complex
3. i can celebrate cultural and societal differences without relaying them to others
like, yesterday, i had drinks with my old pal christopher for just two hours. in those two hours, we caught up, smiled, laughed and didn’t focus on the abnormality of our relationship. we didn’t fill our conversation with mindless fodder about the weather or jetlag or crap like that. that’s cool — and shows that he’s the type of person i like to call a friend.
the last few days have been filled with lots and lots of work, which i’m actually relishing in, and a fair amount of play, san diego style. great meals at the antique road cafe, me checking out the scene at numbers and other trashy sleaze cloney clubs, lots of coffee and lots of distractions, as is to be expected.
the best part is chatting with people on the phone, and online, and nobody knowing [or caring] which part of the world i’m in. that suits my global soul nicely.
oh i had the worst flight ever. it took all of my perserverence and good humor and nice-guy-sensibilities with a touch of respect-for-elders to deal with my flight. well, the flight itself was good… british airways are far from my favorite airline, but they’re unsurprisng [at least] in their mediocre services.
the london to san diego flight is some 11 hours 20 minutes. i woke up at like 6am, packed for an hour. half hour tube journey to victoria. 45 minute train journey to gatwick. 2 hours of waiting at gatwick before boarding. 1 hour of waiting on the runway as we got a late takeoff window. at this point, although i’m groggy and grumpy and hungover, it’s no biggie.
Continue reading ‘keep the mask on’
in a melodramatic, meloncholy sorta way, i said goodbye to london today.
i started off at embankment… walked along millenium bridge, made a few phone calls whilst overlooking the thames, big ben, the millenium wheel and the rest of the spectacular waterloo sunset while the busy commuters shuffled past. i skipped to trafalgar square, then on to picadilly circus where i chuckled with the tourists and took some snapshots. then on to leicester square where i met greg and we dined and wined and dined at a very gay restaurant, balans.
i needed some london gayness, as i’ll be gone for a short while. we had some wining and dining and eating and gossiping and a mildly attractive waiter, to boot.
my best mate markey was with … erm… seth, so we were left without his wit and charm and perspective. but, holding the reigns diligently was michael. michael, i haven’t seen nearly enough of, and miss having quality time with. michael joined us promptly after our meal at balans. we drank at the village, then at the escape, then at rupert street, then back to the escape. i love london, i really do.
as is evidenced by my late-night drunken ramblings, i love this city and i shall miss it as i visit puritan san diego. i smoked tonight, more than i ever have in my entire life, just to say bah to san diego and its californian no-smoking regime.
i’ll miss london, and i’ll certainly miss my lovely, crazy friends. even if they insist on making everyone else smell the nachos.
ruts.
ruts ruts ruts. ruts ruts ruts. in ruts. in a rut.
i took me a while to figure out why i was so opposed to the idea of a week-long business trip back to the states. i kept explaining to everyone [and to myself], i don’t want to put my london life on hold. which seems like a fair statement — but it is only slightly accurate.
the main reason, it turns out as i was explaining the situation to my advice-giving mates, is that i’m far too comfortable [bored] with my current [undesired] flexible [lazy] work paradigm. i work at home, from the home office, at random times on random days, and although i despise the arrangement, i’ve grown very accustomed to it. :roll:
even as i type this, part of me is [for some reason] annoyed with the idea of working in a real office with friendly fun colleagues doing what is quite possibly my dream job. and seeing old friends and enjoying some sunshine too.
suck it up, chump!
