N'Touch With My Bad Self

President's Day weekend was pretty interesting. I actually went out on a Sunday Night in San Francisco, a rarity for a South-bay-er like myself.

Alex called me on a whim around 8:45pm and asked me if I wanted to meet up with Bill and him at N'Touch, the oldest remaining Gay Asian bar in San Francisco. He was like, 'You literally have to go in your car and meet me now. I'm meeting up with Bill at 9:45pm.'

At that point, I hadn't eaten dinner. I was planning an El Pollo Loco run, but I had to opt for something quicker. Sadly, that was my local Taco Bell, which I haven't had in ages. I grabbed a burrito and a couple of tacos and made my way on up to the City.

N'Touch is pretty far from the freeway, on Polk Street in the Northern part of the City. I found parking pretty easily and made my way inside. I think it was only Alex, the Bartender, and a few others sitting at the bar. Of those who were there, a good portion of them are usually sketch, but that makes things interesting.

I got there on time and we waited for Bill to show up. As I was looking to see if there was 'potential' around, I noticed the back of the person's head sitting right next to me. I thought, 'Oh, he's probably cute.'

The cute-back-of-the-head guy turns around and it's my friend Joe! OMG! I was so embarrassed. Haha. Turns out he was meeting up with someone he met online at Manhunt. (ya, it's gross.)

So Alex, Bill and I ended up playing pool with Joe. We had a good time. Loads of dirty talk happened. Alex was also wearing these weird cut off gloves. That and losing at pool were the few things I could remember. Lol.

Silicon Valley Weekly Yelp!

I'm thrilled Yelp decided to add a Silicon Valley edition of their Weekly newsletter, The Weekly Yelp.

I usually get good ideas from it about fun things do do around town. Previously, I was only reading the San Francisco version, but now I can do stuff around my neck of the woods with the Silicon Valley Edition.

Suuuuweeeeet!

Spicing up DC

I arrived in Washington DC via a Red Eye Virgin America flight this morning. I slept most of the afternoon.

I then caught the Spice Girls in Concert at Verizon Center with Brent and James. I also ran into Matty, who I met through Ty. It's a small world.

A bigger post will come later. :)

2008 Mantra: Focus on Myself and not Romance

So I was watching Oprah last week on the rare occasion I'm home on a workday. The episode discussed the power of positive thinking and 'The Secret.' They also discussed this in a love/relationship fashion. Basically, to sum up, the positive thoughts you put out in the universe will come back to you in a multiplied form. They gave a couple of examples of women creating lists of their ideal man/relationship and when they weren't expecting it, their man showed up. Basically, the trick is to be positive and be content with YOURSELF before seeking that ideal partner.

I ended 2007 and started 2008 with being asked out on dates. In late 2007, I ended a 4-month long distance relationship with Tony, whom I met in San Francisco but he lived in San Diego. I wasn't out looking for love, but I gave going on dates a shot in January. I kind of knew this was a bad idea, given the fact I was still in Michigan until Mid-January and was in a transition phase. I also wasn't where I wanted to be in my own life. I still have a lot of things I want to accomplish before I focus on relationships.

To be honest, I wouldn't want to date me now. When I go out and meet new people on dates, the inevitable 'So What Do you Like To Do?' question comes into play. My answer: uhhhh.

In 2008, I plan to focus on myself, not romance. The idea being, focusing on myself will lead to a solid relationship in the future.

I will focus on the following, and have action plans accordingly:

• Continued Education: I love learning about business. It's a passion. I especially love marketing and advertising. I'm also interested in other aspects of the business world and would love to continue developing my analytical skills. How am I going to foster this? Take an MBA class, courtesy of Google. I'm enrolled in an Operations Management course, which I started this week. It's also no secret that I would like to earn an MBA in my late 20's. I also took an MBA class while in undergrad at UC Riverside.
  
• Sports: I would like to take up one sport in 2008. I've been talking with Nai about this. We're thinking of doing Tennis. He's currently in a bowling league.
  
• Health/Wellness: After losing 100+ pounds over the course of a year and a half, I want to continue to improve my health and wellness. I need to go to the doctor. I need to go to the dentist. I will get this done. I also would like to learn more and educate myself on the Human Anatomy and Nutrition. Getting a personal trainer in Ann Arbor was a start, but by no means is the solution to everything. I want to subscribe to Men's Health Magazine as a start. I also want to run a 5K for the first time.
  
• Photography: I have a new camera that I plan to use. I want to explore the Bay Area landscape and photograph it like no other. I would like to at first dabble into photography and then refine my skills later in the year. Maybe a course at a community college. I also plan to get a new computer to help me re-touch my new Digital SLR shots. I took pictures this past weekend in Napa Valley. I'm excited to share them!
  
• Travel: I've got domestic travel down (except for a cross country road trip and a few more cities I want to visit). It's now onto the rest of the world. My first step was getting my passport, which I've already done. I plan to take an international trip in the Spring or Summer. It would be nice to have a travel companion, but it isn't a deal breaker. I don't mind traveling by myself.
  
• Work: I've been at Google for over 2 years. I know, I sometimes can't believe it. I've specialized in Quality Control, an area I never thought I'd get into. Over 2008, I want to seriously evaluate my career path. I need to (1) Evaluate my current path, (2) Decide whether or not to move to a different team/division, or (3) Consider other options (i.e. Self Work, Going Back to School, etc.)
  
• Reading: I've never been much of a book reader. I like magazines, but don't have the time to read them. I'm going to MAKE time and read them. I'm also going to explore books more, both fiction and non-fiction. I want to read one book a season, at minimum.
  
• Finance: In years past, I started to educate myself on 401K, Mutual Funds and Online Savings. This year, I want to learn how to do my own taxes, learn to invest in stocks a bit more, and learn other ways to invest, save, and improve my credit.
  
• Friendships: This year is the year of solidifying old friendships and making some new friends outside of work. In the past few years, I slowly realized my whole social life is surrounded by co-workers. That is cool, given the fact that Googlers are amazing. But I want to meet new friends and develop new relationships, outside of work.
  
• Cooking: I've relied on Free Google Food during the Week and Restaurant Dining on Weekends. I occasionally make a Whole Foods or Safeway grocery store run. But I rarely cook. I want to learn how to cook better. I want to research recipies, buy cookbooks, and throw a dinner party/potluck.
• Politics: I need to follow the Presidential Election. I've been out of the loop a bit. I need to research, read and make more informed decisions. I intend to watch more news (BBC, CNN, etc.) and listen to NPR.
• Attend More Live Theater, Explore Museums, Listen to Live Music (i.e. Get into the Arts): While traveling in late 2007, I started to go to more Museums and More Live Theater. I intend to keep this going. A group of my friends has set personal goals to attend 'More Live Theater in 2008.' The Bay Area has such a good scene, why not take advantage of it? I NEED to hit up SF MOMA and the de Young for sure. I went several concerts last year and intend to keep that up. I would also like to go to more low key live music venues. For example, I want to explore the live Jazz scene in the Bay Area.
  
• Volunteer: This is one area I've neglected most of my life and I really regret it. I donate money to causes I believe in, but I really want to do more. I should first narrow down which causes I want to give my time to and then from there move on to donate my time.
  

There you have it. Happy Valentines Day and Singles Awareness Day! I've declared 2/14/08 'Me Day not V Day.'

Craigslist Talk: "Why do all the white guys only like asian guys?"

It's no secret i enjoy reading Craigslist, especially the SF Bay Area M4M Missed Connections.

I suppose it shouldn't be in the 'missed connections' thread, but the topic of: "Why do all the white guys only like asian guys?" recently came up.

Given my past, one would most likely put me in the above category. I don't categorize myself as a 'Rice Queen' and find it semi-offensive. I'm open to dating all races, find all sorts of men attractive (various ages, race, heights, weights, etc.). It just so happens that I like dating Asian men. I also have a lot of Asian friends. I always have, from grade school to college to work. But If you look at my friends as a whole, I would say most are minorities (not white; female).

While I was in the Midwest, I would say I started to think about dating White Guys more. I feel one is open to dating what you're mostly around, given your current environment. In the Midwest, I was surrounded by mostly white and african-american guys. I probably would adapt to dating them more in the Midwest.

Given that, here was the initial Craigslist post with the Headline, "Why do all the white guys only like asian guys?"

in all honesty, i just want to know why is it that all of the white men in san francisco are only into asian boys?
ive lived here for about 4 years, and ive noticed that MOST of the white guys are into asian boys and vice versa..
so i just want to know?
i have no prejudice towards it at all because I LIKE IT ALL, but i just feel that theres this new hot craze over asian boys lately.
lemme know :)

Some chatter back to this initial question:

• "Because if you're a white guy and you are NOT attracted to asian guys, they're likely to accuse you of being racist when you turn them down.
  
  Being that these same asian guys are wanting to get with me based solely on my race, it strikes me as a double-standard, but whatever helps ya deal with rejection, I guess..."
• "you like what you like. can't change that much.
  
  i have a friend who's asian and thinks that every time he's rejected by someone, it's only because he's asian and for no other reason. i've always thought that maybe it's because he's short, or lean, or he's stuck on himself. who knows why anyone ever gets rejected or accepted, just is what it is."
• "I prefer old. Therefore, I'm bitter at the Asians for stealing a portion of my market share.
  
  Asians like old dudes, as do I.
  
  White-old-dudes.
  
  HANDS OFF MY OLD MAN, GAYSIAN!!! I SEE YOU LOOKING AT HIS CROW'S FEET! BACK IT UP BITCH!"
• "But to say that Asians take away your market share is to say that you and all the other Asians (as well as whites who like older) are all the same, and it's just a matter of chance. And though I admit that chance has a lot to do with finding "love," whatever that means to anyone, there is also a huge element of 'je ne sais quoi' that each person possesses that is unique. I guess what I'm saying is not to sell yourself short and think that one would only be attracted to you or anyone else because of skin color. While there are people out there like that, I think there are more of us out there that appreciate a person for the intangibles, the sheer 'chemistry' of it all. OK, off my soapbox.
  
  Good luck! :)"
• "Guys, guys, guys!
  What's all this? Are you all bored sitting there and has nothing else to talk about? I think the only missed connection here is simply 'grow up'!!
  We should be proud and fortunate to live in a city that's so rich with all the different ethnic groups in it. Everybody, gay or straight, is up to individual to choose who or which race one likes. Just because you can't find the right guy to out there, you just don't make such or any assumption out loud!
  And how can one say that this 'white like asian ' is the trend lately? Are we talking about Project Runway here? Please people, if you really want a real topic to talk to, how about Obama VS Clinton? Or share your favorite mom's recipe? So what's missing here again?"
• " They give great blow jobs, and make great bottoms."

Of course, I don't endorse any of the above comments. I find some offensive as well. But I think it was an interesting thread.

Super Phat Tuesday

Um. Today was awesome.

It was all about...

• Fat Tuesday. Go Cajun Food.
  
• Super Tuesday. Go Hillary!
• A day at Disneyland and California Adventure with friends and co-workers.
• Getting buzzed on alcohol I didn't pay for.
• Not about counting calories! (Wow! Weird, right?)
• Picture Taking!
• All about the Guy in the Blue Hat!
• Loads of walking around.
• Boyscoping.
• Forgetting that Valentine's Day is less than 2 Weeks away and the fact I was dumped this past weekend. Thus the getting drunk!
  

Okay. That is all. It has been a nice 2 days in So-Cal. Back to Nor Cal Tomorrow...