doesn’t seem like i’ve been in los angeles for a week. but guess what, i have. i’ve been doing a great job of keeping myself busy, but i sure as hell miss my london life, my london friends. but i’m moving on.

i’ve been having a brilliant time with my long-lost l.a. friends, doing l.a. things in the l.a. sun.

friday

went out with cousin jason and his gorgeous girlfriend allison to a few [straight/surfer/sport] bars here in huntington beach on friday, which was… fun. probably the most foreign i’ve felt in a long time, but as they saying goes, when in rome… drink with the straight surfer boys. the bouncer was friendly after looking me up-and-down about 5 times. the stunning, coyote ugly-esque bartender wearing little more than a bikini top and daisy duke jeans was quite friendly to me… must’ve sussed that i’m a well-tipping gay boy alchie. i didn’t poke fun at the dancefloor until we will rock you came blaring through the soundsystem at 130am and the crowd cheered like frat boys on spring break.

saturday

after many many years, joshie finally invited me to manhattan beach to meet the fam. sat down to a lovely hom-cooked meal with his mom, sis, coworkers and bogart—who’s celebrating his 22nd birthday. i’d last seen the boys last year at disneyland, and they haven’t changed a bit. they both seemed too too excited to see me… i had to warn/remind them that i live here now, and that they’re gonna get tired of me rill, rill quick.

tiptoed over to a gross local gay bar, called the dolphin… the bar gods were seeking their revenge on me after poking fun at the straight huntington beach dive that i was at the previous night. we made the best of it, though, ending up at hermosa beach where none of the ogre-like bouncers would let us in [too many mens, not enough wimmins] so we trotted back to josh’s place, and sat in the front yard like hillbillies, drinking and chatting till the wee hours. i felt very much at home.

spent most of the night poking fun at josh’s coworker gio, who looked/acted/sounded like wilmer
valderram [aka fez from that 70's show]. he denied any resemblance, even though i was confused when some girl named lindsay kept calling him all night.

last night

i’m so lucky to finally, finally live in the same city as my christopher. he’s intelligent, witty, sarcastic, handsome, charming and always, always seems to able to handle whatever i throw his way. together, we’ve explore the likes of england, ireland, amsterdam, san fran, san diego and now los angeles. with great excitement, i drove 14 hours up to silverlake to chill with the king of cool.

he took me to an excellent, kitschy-but-quality restaurant/lounge called the dresden. like being transported back to rat pack-era vegas, we dined like kings, with mafioso at the table across from ours, hooting and hollering as we all ate some juicy steaks.

in 5 hours, we managed to catch up on a year or so of drama and stories and boyfriends and projects and… life. we ate, we drank, and we witnessed a legendary lounge act, the 65yo husband-and-wife team of marty and elayne. i even found a video of the duo in action.

chris and i have the most playful, most adult friendship, and i can’t wait to watch as he grows to be an even bigger success, and i can drag myself along as his plus one to celebrity parties and backstage soirées at award shows. what? i’m not supposed to mention that yet? oops…

it’s so great to have friends to reconnect with, it really is. i’d be a miserable little lad right now if i didn’t have my l.a. posse here to keep me in check.

or, try to to keep me in check.