Bodies

I think Robbie William's lyrics for his new single 'Bodies' capture what every gay man is thinking... sadly.

All we’ve ever wanted

Is to look good naked

Hope that someone can take it

God save me rejection

From my reflection,

I want perfection

Here is a sneak clip of his video:

After Dating for years, I'm beginning to think this is true

Convos At The Gym

One of the few places I'm silent is at the gym. (If you know me, I'm very rarely silent) I'm not much of a social-gym-goer and I prefer to get in and out. However, on occasion, the occasional convo might take place. But I never ask for spotting or tips on sets.

So goes this afternoon a lady comes up to me right as I finished doing some cardio at the 24 Hr. on Van Ness in SF.

'Do You Work At YouTube? You Look Familiar.'

Her name was Kathleen, and she used to work at YouTube up until this past January. (I started in Oct. 2008, so there was a few month overlap) She was in PR and sat in a nearby cube. She's been at Scribd, a local startup in SF since February 2009. It was totally cool to chat informally for about 10 minutes or so. It totally made my afternoon, especially after getting my car towed downtown (apparently I can't read signs and need an expensive lesson).

We chatted about life at startups, moving on at work, YouTube life and general marketing talk. These are the gym convos I can get used to!

Back In Action

So I've decided to start writing again. I took a long break but it's starting to feel like I've lacked my creative outlet.

Excited!

Horoscope for Today is spot on

You are ready to enjoy yourself today, but it might not be as simple as you expect. You are willing to play, yet something holds you back from fully participating in the present moment. It's a challenge to balance your desire for pleasure now with your need to establish a deeper and more intimate connection. There's no reason for endless analysis. Just keep bringing your attention back to the current situation and act from your heart, not your head.

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I'm not usually into horoscopes, but this is pretty spot on. *sigh*

Boys. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

Calmness in LA

So I took a spontaneous Road Trip with Kevin to Los Angeles to surprise my mom for Mothers Day. It worked! Ty also went home to surprise his mom, too. It's one big ball of surprisingness in LA.

I always get mixed feelings about coming home. Who do you tell you're in town? It gets really hard cause you don't want to offend anyone but at the same time you don't want to feel overwhelmed. Well, I didn't really tell anyone I was coming down. I think that was the right strategy.

I haven't been back to LA since Christmas. Quite possibly my longest time away from home. I started to miss my family and a couple of places here and there. I often forget all that is LA. The traffic, the smog, the heat, the rice rockets, the pretty people, the hydraulics, the police chases, the plastic surgery, etc. I miss aspects of LA and I still get a sense of 'home,' at least when I come to the Valley. I love driving down Ventura Boulevard. It's like the Valley's only sense of Urban-ness. I don't think I'd move back anytime soon. But I do miss the feeling of a sense of calm when I'm at home. I'm not sure if it's worth it considering all the stress that would come along with traffic and the rest of LA bullsh*t.

I don't really have a point to this entry more than saying, I'm home... and I'm glad I came spontaneously. :)

TFLN is the new FML

So it seems nowadays that niche funny websites are all the rage. Inevitably the way to make money from these websites, say beyond AdSense, is to get a book deal.

Some of my favorite niche humorous websites include:

• FML or Fuck My Life - A website that chronicles the shitty things that happen in people's lives. fmylife.com
• Stuff White People Like - A website that chronicles... um... stuff white people like... in a satirical way.  stuffwhitepeoplelike.com
• People Who Deserve It - A website that discuss people who deserve to get punched in the face. Say you know... the person who brings 12 items in a 10 items or less line. peoplewhodeserveit.com
• Super Useless Super Powers - Exactly what it sounds like. It chronicles ideas of really useless super powers. :D http://superuseless.blogspot.com/

However, I will be adding a new one to the list. Drumroll...

• Texts from Last Night - A website that has text convos from people that are probably better left not shared with the public. Some awesome one liners! Textsfromlastnight.com

Dinner Date: Eggplant Parmesean & Late Harvest Chardonnay

Last night I had a dinner date with Lee. We did some shopping at Trader Joes before hand and headed to his apartment to cook and chat up a storm. We made this eggplant parmesean-ish dish with some italian sausage. It was really good. It was also just really fun to cook together. We listened to some tunes on his 'Chill Mix.'

I also got a chance to open up a bottle of wine I had sitting around at my apartment. It was the 2006 Cinnabar Late Harvest Chardonnay Dessert Wine. Boy was it amazing. Glad I brought it along.

I love chatting with him. We have so much in common it's pretty crazy.

Next up, we're gonna go rock-climbing. That should be fun!

New Blog Title

I haven't lived in the Silicon Valley for over a month. I think I need to change the title of my blog.

Netflix Film: Manhattan

So I started my Netflix subscription I got as a gift from my birthday last year. Haha... It's been forever. Thanks Sis.

My first movie was a random choice. I went with Woody Allen's Manhattan. I went to NYC in January, so it's still pretty fresh in my mind.

The cinematography was amazing. It's filmed in black and white. I haven't seen some of that camera work before in films, even though it's quite old from 1979.

The film is mostly dramatic with a few good one liners. The cast was pretty stellar too.

The storyline is about romance and maturity. Woody Allen is into this 17 year old High School girl who's more mature than he is. He falls in love with his friend's extramarital affair of a woman (Diane Keaton). However, things don't quite go his way...

4 out of 5 stars

Advertising in Digital Media for the Younger Generation

*Disclosure: I Work at YouTube*

I was having a conversation with Danny Reed while we were running the town amuck in Washington D.C. The topic of online ads in media came up.

He almost immediately talked about how he hated the pre-rolls on Hulu. That was his first gripe. It sorta surprised me (although I know the vast majority of the population prefer different forms of ads if given the choice in comparison to pre-rolls). I tend to hear from the older crowd (25+) that they're cool with pre-rolls. But the younger generation is WAY too impatient for a 15 second pre-roll.

I wonder if Online Media Distrubutors like YouTube and Hulu will actually let users set preferences to what types of ads they want to see. I guess it will come down to what the average CPM is for each form of advertisement.

Investing: Stick It Out

It's really easy to pull contributions or money out of investments during a tough economy.

But this presentation is quite convincing in arguing that 'Average Is Not Normal.' Essentially the stock market has averaged around 8-11% annual return. But that doesn't mean every year it has gains like that.

Look at this preso for more info:

Average Is Not Normal

View more presentations from Carl Richards. (tags: behavior gap)

Runners High

I love watching KQED. There's always something interesting to watch. I do DVR a few series, one being 'Truly CA.'

The latest episode, Runners High, is a truly inspiring story about an organization called Students Run Oakland (SRO) in which High School kids are trained to run in the Los Angeles Marathon. They get free running shoes to start off in their journey. However the ultimate goal is completing the marathon in Los Angeles. These kids aren't given many opportunities and at the end of the episode you get to see how several of the students progressed beyond High School.

The interesting thing is seeing the diversity of students - both physically and mentally - and how they approached the training. Some were larger, some were smaller. Most were out of shape to begin with. Many people bitched and moaned but were ultimately surprised with how much strain they could put on their body. It's a mental game. The documentary isn't so much about the Marathon as it is an analogy for life. You're gonna be faced with challenges, road blocks and other things in life. It's really about how you handle them, set goals and train your mind to get through them.

I definitely want to train to run a marathon, but start slow.

I know I can run a 5K (a little over 3 miles) in a little over 30 minutes. Next goal will be a 10K. I'll practice on the treadmill. :D

The Trailer

Straight Up Veto Power

Last weekend I was having a conversation at Verde with Adi when he talked about a concept he practices with his straight friends that I found fascinating and might even adapt into my life.

It's the concept of Straight Veto Power. Being a gay man in your 20's is a very difficult balance. You're getting to know yourself, the gay community and often times neglect your straight friends. You always end up doing 'gay things.' So Adi's straighties, once a month, get to veto a gay event that Adi goes to and instead hang out with him.

There may be cases where Adi looks like a flake because he said he would go somewhere but at the last minute gets struck down by the straighties.

I know that it sounds ridiculous having such a need for this power. But as it turns out, the gays like to plan... and plan a lot. We're talking having a calendar booked at least a month in advance. Thus BOOM... VETO POWER comes into play. :D

Naughty at work

Yesterday I had dinner with Nai at work after he got his Lasik check-up from his doctor.

Somehow the topic of people having sex at work came up. All I got to say is that I haven't laughed that hard at dinner with him in a long time. Dude... I miss hanging out with my main straightie.