Stories from a man who fails to meet media expectations of what it means to be gay:
white, frivolous, over sexed yet sexless, shrill, single, stylish, a clown, unimportant, et al.

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One of the moral dilemmas of posting an online journal is determining how much to share of other peoples lives. This wasn�t exactly an issue in my old private handwritten journal. I had no expectations that anyone else would ever read it, but this journal is different

Since I don�t live in a total vacuum and have been known to to actually speak to people on occasion, I�ve decided to use the �initials standard� when I feel that an event in another persons life is worth including. So instead of: �JOE got fired toaday!�, it�ll be more: �J was fired today and it made me feel...� So yes, I may mention other prople, but it will all come back to me. As self indulgent as it sounds, the point of the journal is me, although poor hypothetical Joe.
[ Actually, this was the only entry I used initials in, It got too confusing -nico]

Anyway, the week:

I barely made it to work on Monday, 11/13/00. I left home very late that morning and got caught in a huge traffic jam. There had been a fatal accident in Boyle Heights earlier that morning and only one lane was left open on the freeway. Traffic was barely moving. I got to work an hour late, just in time to find out that WorkAlisia was sick and wouldn�t be in that day. So for most of the day it was just me and Will in the office.

After work, I went to my parents and hooked up the new TV to the VCR and stuff. Physically connecting everything together wasn�t hard, but programing the TV seemed much more complicated than necessary. Ma made dinner that night, Sand Dab and zucchini.

I got home not to late and John and I watched the episode of Grosse Point from the night before. I�ve decided that I like the show, but I haven't been paying attention to ratings, so I don�t know if it�s going to be canceled or not. Thinking about it, I watched the show, John was paying more attention to the contact sheets from his photo shoot on the weekend. His work is good. The model, Carlos has an interesting face. Apparently he�s straight & married and there�s a whole contingent of guys out there who wishes he was neither.

Wednesday, 11/15 was kind of a drag. I had to �talk� to one of the staff about his lack of progress at work. B is fairly new, but unfortunately he seems to have trouble showing common sense sometimes. A few mistakes have been made, which while not �fatal�, could have caused a lot of trouble. B� s errors and inability to learn even simple procedures have totally frustrated my normally laid back boss, so it fell onto me to speak with the young man about shaping up. NOT having an office or even a cubicle like most people in my position, I had to go out to one of the balconies to have �The Talk�. I usually enjoy supervising and training, but I much prefer it when the staff is competent and trust worthy. I guess I want things easy. B took it pretty well and think I was successful in keeping it on more of a �what can WE do to improve your performance� conversation, instead of a �your a loser, now shape up or ship out� speech.

I watched the new John Goodman comedy when I got home that night. Unless it gets a lot better quickly, this thing is definitely going to tank. I like Goodman, I really like Mo Gaffey, I even like the actor who plays the sister, but this show isn�t funny at all. It seems more like everyone is being lazy and just hoping that the �gay � thing will be enough to keep the show afloat. It�s not.

Thursday, 11/16 was a much better day. May have something to do me switching back to Fridays as my RDO. Raquel had arranged for a bunch of people from the old office to meet for dinner at a Mexican place near Silverlake to celebrate Eric getting promoted, she is good about that sort of thing. Eric is at my level now , and he has an OFFICE (get the feeling that I'm jealous or something?). Besides Raquel and Eric, Angelica, Obi, Mary and a whole bunch of people who started at the office after I left were there. D was there as well.

I was really surprised when I saw D. He has lost a lot of weight in past couple months and looks kinda ragged. D found out he had Crones disease a few years ago and has been O.K. if not exactly well since then. That seems to have changed recently. His doctor has started him on a new treatment schedule based on a fairly new controversial idea that the disease is viral in origin. I�m hoping that things go well for D, he could use a break. Unintended pun there, he could also use a vacation. The boy works way too hard, considering his health, he should cut back on those 60 hour weeks.

Friday,11/17/00 was a simpler day. I spent most of it working out back weeding, digging and cleaning up. I hadn�t even looked at the tomatoes since I early October and they look it. They were overgrown moundy things with dried up fruit on the vine and ground. I didn�t feel up to dealing with �em, but I did take some cuttings. I�m going to see if I can overwinter the cuttings. Some folks overwinter tomatoes or do the tried and true saving seeds thing, but I don�t feel organized enough to try either.

John got home earlier than I expected that day and we had a pointless argument over how I didn�t take the trash out. Well, more of a tiff really. It wasn�t a big deal.

We had to get up fairly early on Saturday, 11/18/00 to go down to San Diego. We meet Barb & Laurie and Bird & Rosie down there for Chris�s birthday. So once again, John and I were honorary Lesbians. We ate lunch at a Thai place place in Hillcrest then wandered about the city for a few hours. After some down time in the hotel, we all had dinner at Alladins, a Middle Eastern/Mediteranian restaurant and my current favorite place ever. There, both Laurie and John got to harangue Barb and me about how horrible it was when we would eat large quantities of garlic. Problem is, that garlic is soo good. I actually didn�t eat much of it, but Barb, deciding it was her birthday and what the hey, was practically drinking the garlic sauce. Next time Barb is up in the neighborhood, she and I are going to have to do a Zanku Chicken run.

After the aromatic dinner, we went to Lips to see this drag show. It was an O.K. show, if a bit short. I'm not exactly a drag show affectionado, so what do I know. The evening ended at the Flame. Barb and I danced a bit, and the others played darts. Badly. The music was kinda cool, although to much hip hop for my taste.

Sunday, 11/19/00 was less activity filled, which was fine, since I spent most of the day feeling tired. After a morning walk at Spanish Point, John and I headed back up to Los Angeles. On the trip back, we played word puzzles from the puzzle book that John bought me for my last birthday. John�s quick with those things, It would only take him a few seconds to figure out things that would take me a couple of minutes.

I had intended to get a whole bunch of stuff done after we got home, but all I did was take a nap and get this entry started. I don�t expect I�ll even get it posted until I get home From workMonday night.

more latter, nico

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