Chick Flick Moment

So yesterday I started to become ballsy when it comes to dates and meeting new people. I pulled off what I thought was a fairly chick flick moment.

So, flash back to last weekend at Dragon in San Francisco. This guy pushed his friend to introduce himself to me around 1am or so. I was pretty flattered. His friend was cute and kinda had this urban / hipster vibe to him. After talking for a while, I found out his name was Earl. I remembered it because I immediately thought of the TV show. He remembered my name because of 'Will & Grace.' I guess we both watch enough TV to remember people's names that way. After having an interesting conversation, I decide to give Earl a ride home. I got slightly lost, but that gave us some more time to talk. Something about him was intriguing, but I couldn't quite nail it down. I arrived at his place in the Upper Haight and called it an evening. I was stupid not to give him my phone number and regretted it all week. I blame it on me being tired, because at that point it was 3:00am.

Flash forward to last night in the Castro. I was heading to the Google Castro Pub Crawl, version 2.0, but remembered Earl worked at Nirvana, a pan Asian restaurant which I went to over a month ago. It's delicious, you should try it. Nirvana is close to Badlands, the first 'pub' we were crawling.

I decided to stroll on inside after peaking in the Window to see if he was working. He indeed was. He was at the bar talking to his coworker. His back to pointing to me and I gave him a quick tap on the shoulder. He turns around and looked shocked. I'm pretty sure he remembered me. At this point it was 9:30 and i'm sure he was getting off soon. We chatted for a bit. I told him I had to go pub crawling. He said he was going to go to Hot Mess at Stud. I let him know flat out that I regretted hot giving him my phone number, So i decided to stop by and surprise him. We have the same phone, so It was easy to enter. ;)

He texted me later, giving me his number and said it was a pleasant surprise I stopped by to see him. I told him we should hang out soon.

To be continued...

Carrie Fisher's 'Wishful Drinking'

Okay. I'm a self-confessed Star Wars nerd. However, that didn't really play into me seeing Carrie Fisher's one-woman memoir-ish play 'Wishful Drinking' on Friday night at the Berkeley Rep. Carrie Fisher is of course, Princess Leia, just in case you didn't know.

Anyways, I drove up with my friend Roland, showing up a bit late because we hit some killer East Bay Traffic and unexpected bad weather. We watched the first 10 or so minutes of the show in the lobby on the TV, but that didn't really bother me. We were then ushered in with one other woman who showed up late. They made us sit on these stools, which were surprisingly good seats, probably better than the ones I paid for.

We got in and Carrie was in this robe, smoking some cigs telling us about here life. I haven't laughed so hard in ages. She has a knack for delivering one-liners. I really enjoyed the show and never really realized what's she's gone through in her life. I would honestly see it again, if it's extended run didn't end on April 12th. If you're local, I highly suggest going to see it, especially if you don't mind the occasional crude and quirky humor. I also liked her interactivity with the audience. That led to some amazingly funny moments.

One thing to note: I got the 30 under discount. I now understand why. The average age musta been 50+ in that theater. But it's good to see older folks can still laugh. ;)

After the show, we grabbed some dinner at a local pizza place who's name escapes me because it was one of the few quick-serve restaurants still open past 10:30pm. I didn't get pizza, only ice cream. It was this amazingly tasty organic stuff from Marin County.

I wanted to go out after, but Roland was too tired, so we headed home around 11:30 or so.

Making It On Valleywag

Every day I usually check Valleywag.com, the Silicon Valley's answer to Perez Hilton. In fact, their tagline is 'Silicon Valley's Tech Gossip Rag.'

Yesterday, I saw a post on Fraiche Yogurt in Palo Alto being the new 'hangout' if you're looking for Venture Capital (VC) money. I looked at the entry and noticed the photos looked familiar. It's because they were my photos! Whoa! Super cool. =)

I was excited they credited me too. It was just a nice surprise to my day.

Check out the entry:
http://valleywag.com/371610/fraiche-yogurt-palo-altos-new-vc-hangout

Back to Dragon

I really needed to have some fun last night. You might say I've been sweet talking my buddy Ty to go out to Club Dragon all week. I haven't been for a while. Next weekend is Ty's birthday and after that, he's going to become a hermit due to studying for his LSAT's. I personally like going to Dragon for the music... it's usually fantastic.

His Diversity Sourcing group at Google went to Circus School for their quarterly group offsite. I'm kinda jealous. It sounded so fun! Juggling, Trapeze, and a ton of other fun stuff. And they went out to dinner afterwards.

I called Ty up and talked him into going out, despite his wishy-washy spirit and being tired for the evening. After all, he was in the Circus for the afternoon. I called him on my way up to the city around 9:30 and picked him up at his pad in the Sunset District, after about 10 minutes of talking him into going out. A sample excerpt is:

Ty: Oh Girl, I'm tired. I went out last weekend.
Me: You have a couple of weeks until you're hermitizing yourself. You can't keep shocking your body. You need a little warm-up.
Ty: Girl, you're working it...
Me: I learn from the best...

It was actually my first time being to his pad. I got to see the infamous shoe storage system. Lol. He place is totally cute and has some nice perks.

We then went to the Castro to pick up Joe, who was at the Cafe (The Nite is called 'Boy Bar'). Although, he didn't end up going with us, so we just headed straight to Dragon around 11:30pm. Ty kept on saying which songs he's liking recently. As I was playing my 'March Music Car CD Mix' I kept on saying 'Girl, It's on it. Just you wait.' I have good taste in music, what can I say?

We got to Dragon and Ty kinda just knows everyone. Lol. We danced for a while, even though the Hip Hop floor music set upstairs was kinda blah. Ty ended up buying me a Malibu and Pineapple, which is about as wussy as you can get. But I don't really drink anymore, so it was cool.

We ran into a lot of fellow Gayglers, slang for Gay Googlers, who were also just chillin' for the night. Jordan, who I haven't seen before (well, maybe in the Gym on campus, now that I think about it) was total eye candy. There was this funny moment of him struggling to get out his Tums. Evan ended up deciding that we need to have lunch on Wednesday. So I think a few of us are gonna shoot for Oasis Cafe, which is located in my former building (*aww memories*).

I also met Ben for the first time in person. He's a nice guy who I occasionally talk to online. He's usually at Dragon and other clubs in the city to support his friends, who might be performing for the evening.

Near the end of the evening, I met Earl, who happens to work at Nirvana. I thought he looked a bit familiar. Nirvana is an Asian Fusion restaurant in the Castro, which I happened to go to with Joe and Bill a few weeks back. The food was great and so was the Eye Candy. Haha. We talked for a bit and even got our dance on for a little while. I offered him a ride home because I had to take Ty home anyways. Earl lives in the Upper Haight, so it's on the way. Ty decided to go home with Fred, so I just took Earl home. I probably should have got his number, but I know where to visit him. Haha. I also know he'll be at Dolores Park on Sunday... which I'm gonna go to so I can chill, people watch, and see the Hunky Jesus contest. Yes, you read that right.

Outside Dragon I also met Jimmy, famous for his Tyra Banks Segment on Interracial Dating. He added me on Downelink a few days earlier. So when we kept on looking at each other outside, we kinda recognized each other. He lives in LA now but visits the Bay every so often. He's a nice guy.

I got home around 3:45am... after driving home listening to some Jams...

Sweet Escape

Over the past 6 months I've traveled quite a bit, but nothing ever felt like a vacation. I've taken a few days off here and there but my mind rarely gets to escape reality.

I really need a break --- from work, laptops, tv, the economy, etc.

I almost feel as if I need my mind to be drained from current thoughts. My mind needs an escape. A book works for a while. Dancing at a club works for a while. Eating at a nice restaurant works for a while.

At this point I might need something a bit longer. More than a week. Maybe even more than a month. I need some time to reflect and be a bit introspective. Maybe I'm looking for an epiphany to come save me...

Saturday Horoscope

I had a real urge to stay in tonight. It was funny cause my horoscope was this for today:

Allow yourself the luxury of staying at home for a while today, even if everyone is heading out to have fun. As much as you could quickly fit into the group dynamic, it's more important now for you to reconnect with what's in your own heart. You may be tempted to deal with a dilemma on a purely intellectual basis, but it's much healthier to keep your emotions in the mix.

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...

NKOTB Comeback

I'm unsure as to how I feel about a New Kids on the Block reunion.

They already have a snippet of a new ballad on their official website: www.nkotb.com

I liked them as a kid, but when I listen to the music again, I feel it was a bit crap, with the exception of maybe 5 songs.

With that said, I probably would go to a concert if they came to the Bay Area. Only because I think it would be fun. Although, I think the target audience would have to be in their 30's now, no?

On a related note, I am in fact taking 2 days off near the end of February to see the Spice Girls in Washington, DC. Oh yea! Spice up my life, bitches!

Thoughts on the Economy

I'm not a fan of the two recent Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. Twice... in eight days... 1.25% total (.75 and then .5 today). My Online Savings account (HSBC) rate dropped to 3.8% yesterday. I imagine it will drop another half percent shortly. Damnit!

I get the idea. Lowering interest rates discourage savings and increases spending at the macro level.

But why fuck over the people who aren't spenders? Do you really think the $300 or so dollars Bush will give me in the form of a check later this year will make me spend? No. I'll probably save it. Why? Because I want to be prepared. Life, emergencies, etc. Ya, sure, I'll take a vacation or go out to a nice dinner every so often. I would have done that anyways, with or without your $300 dollars and cut in interest rates.

If you want me to spend, make me feel better by making gas $1, like it was when I left High School in 2001. I feel like inflation of gas prices has a greater effect on the economy. I'm paying more to travel; I'm paying more for food because of the transportation to get food to the grocery store; I'm paying more for everything else that gas touches. Get it? Fix that. Invest and pour money into clean energy. Invest more into incentives for Hybrids and they people that drive them.

Don't make my bank account suffer. Your $300 will be pretty much useless to me. I'm pissed.

NYT Article for Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/business/30cnd-fed.html

Authors@Google: Armistead Maupin

Google's really good about bringing in fabulous and interesting people for their Authors@Google series. I feel like I never take advantage of it though. I get so consumed by work sometimes. I'm going to make it a point to carve out some time to go to more of them, or at least watch the YouTube videos of the talks.

Today, I did take advantage of it. Armistead Maupin, a writer famous for his 'Tales of the City' series, stopped by Google today. And the 'City' he writes about is San Francisco, in case you were curious. I actually didn't know who Armistead Maupin was, until maybe 6 weeks ago.

A Quick Anecdote:

In Mid December I made it to Washington DC to visit my friends Brent and James. A bit of the time I had to keep myself occupied. One thing I did is go to Kramerbooks and Afterwords, a famous bookstore in Dupont Circle, the historically gay district in the beltway. I was wondering around the bookstore aimlessly. I read a bit in the 'dating books' section. Then I roamed around and picked up this book called 'Micheal Tolliver Lives.' The cover was so attractive to me. I found an instant connection somehow, even though you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. So I read a bit and find it pretty witty. I also read the flap, to get to know the author a bit better.

I didn't by the book, but it's been in my mind ever since. The artwork is so distinctive and I could tell that I would actually love reading the book. I will pick up the book and the rest of the books in the 'Tales of the City' series. I am sad though, that I didn't show up in time to get a free copy. It would have been nice to get his autograph.

It's just funny that it was that one book that I was drawn to, in a massive bookshop, you know? And who knew the author would be visiting Google shortly?