Moving day (week)...

Now playing: Artful Dodger featuring Romina Johnson - Movin' Too Fast (Bump and Flex version)

I've just spent the past week (well, three and a half days) moving. I've been in this last place I think almost a year and a half. It was initially only meant to be temporary, but seemed to work well for a while. The dynamic, though, somewhat less-than-ideal, while initially just slightly bothersome, started to become grating and repressive; I didn't want to be there, and going home was never an inviting prospect. It was time for a change, and I decided to take a bit of a leisurely avenue in this process, since the last several moves I've participated in were all one-day affairs, or several-day-long-nonstop-death-march -type ordeals (read:Chicago). I spent the prior week perusing the local classifieds (OK, 5 minutes), tired of that and then went back to my old housing standby, craigslist. Standby meaning that I used it once, maybe twice in the past with varyingly good results.

There, I saw some interesting ads, met some quirky folks, saw some cool places, read about some total dumps, and saw a few photos of lord only knows what.

I find that searching for roommates (or "flatmates", as Laura and other European types are fond of saying,) has all the worst parts of dating composited into one experience. You go out into the world, and however you find these people, you have all of about 20-30 minutes to recall everything you've ever learned about character assessment and apply it to this poor individual, who is at the very same time, if they've the presence of mind to do so, making their own judgment of your suitability to task. Then, just as a further enticement to make the right decision, you are lunging into a cohabitation arrangement that even (prudent) lovers won't touch for x amount of time, if ever. If you judge shrewdly, you'll be rewarded with limitless joy in a domicile that embodies all the happiness, tranquility, peace, serenity, and regenerative effects that a warm home should, and if not, well, you get to physically touch, move, and touch again, every single thing you own a second time, and pretty soon, to boot. No pressure, though...have fun with it!

First up, I met a girl who had just gotten out of a four month roommate horror story of her own. Probably not the worst roommate ever, but maybe six tenths of the worst roommate ever, based on her retelling. She seems very enthusiastic over the phone and e-mail. So much so, and in such a way as to not be overly cheery, I actually am very enthusiastic about the prospect of meeting her, and have a pretty good feel for the place. I meet her, her boyfriend happens to be over, he seems cool enough, but she seems a lot more soft spoken, mousy, and unsure of herself than over the phone or email. Hrm. We chat for a bit, it goes pretty well, I give the standard "I've got a couple more places to look at, I'll call you in a day or two" schpiel, and go along my way. It's a decent place, a typical bed-and-bath in a typical house-in-the-burbs - a bit out of my way (probably 15 miles towards a part of town I never frequent; closer to D if I were still seeing her, but alas) but not a bad place to fall back on, as she's a bit of a workaholic, goes out of town some weekends, and spends a couple nights a week at the boyfriend's.

Next up, I have arrangements to meet the next girl, who effectively lives across the street and a jog down the block. This listing had photos, and the place looked pretty cool, I'm enthusiastic about this place, but the girl is closer to my age, and sounds kind of overly responsible over the phone and email, voicing concern with regards to my employment status. Hrm, can't imagine why anyone would be worried about that! ;) Turns out she's an elementary school teacher, and kind of reminds me of the wife of a friend of mine...not a great sign. The house shows even better than the last place, but this is also the highest rent of the several listing I'm considering. Hrm...maybe as a last last resort, and if I happen across that steamer trunk full of cash that I'm always hoping for. Give her the closing buy-some-time line, and move on.

During the assembly of those appointments, there was another ad that was suspiciously bereft of gender-specific pronouns. For some reason, I took this to mean that it was a chick, but I had no real reason to think that. As I exchange emails with this person, they sign off with their initials. OK, that seals it for me, it's a chick with a slightly overzealous security ethic, no problem. They're talking to someone already, but will let me know if it falls through. So the day after, I get the email that it has, in fact fallen through, it's short notice, but would I like to meet up and see the place? Arrangements are made, I see the place, and it's pretty cool. It's a guy, though, but he seems normal enough. Townhouse is a little on the smallish side, but it's nice, with an attached bath (one of my "overnight guests" pointed out that that's a particularly good thing to look for if one likes to entertain "overnight guests". Cool. I think this place is going to be it: the location's good, guy's normal, place is decent. I let him know that I like the place, but I do still ahve a couple more places to look at, will be in touch with him over the weekend. This was on Friday. No problem, the guy says, he'll be out of town, but still in touch.

I'd pretty much decided on taking that last place, and in making arrangements with my old roommate, indicated that i thought I could be out by the 11th, to allow her time to steam the carpets and such if she wanted, paint, whatever. Come to find out the guy is out of town for the whole week, and can't even meet with me again until the 12th, much less make arrangements so I can be moved in by then. Lovely. In the meantime, second girl has emailed me and is getting antsy...I think I saw her place on Tuesday? Wednesday at the latest. So I email her that thanks, I should be OK, and she can in fact let the other guy looking at the place have it. Cool. Also on Saturday, first girl emails me and says that hey, after long hard though, she's decided to go with someone else too. Great, no problem. Now that I've seen a place with a better location, I'm loathe to drive 15 miles out of my way twice a day, every day, anyway. So back to Craigslist, where I see I think three more listings of interest. Two (one of which is included in my three of interest) seem to have verbiage implying that the person is gay. No problem, that should at least make for an interesting showing. I also see that girl #1 has relisted her exact same ad! WTF! Talk about weird chicks with an inability to say what's on their minds! Did I come across as psycho? Too slackerly? Not employed enough? I guess we'll never know. I'm a big boy, I can take the rejection, I assure you!

I hear back from two of the three latest listings, and have arrangements to see them..was it Saturday? Or Sunday? I want to say Saturday. First place is the potentially gay guy. I meet him at the place, it's a 1700SF townhome that looks utterly decrepit from the outside, but the interior is fabulously gay chic. And there's a rottweiler. He's friendly enough, but a slobber machine. While he's showing me the place (the guy, not the rott), all of a sudden, here's this other guy out of nowhere. Now the first guy, when I met him, I thought, oh, OK this guy isn't gay, he's just soft-spoken. he's mildly latino looking, shaved head with a mustache and goatee. This new guy, however, fully gay. A bit older, and not swishy, but kinda butch flamboyant, if that makes sense. The place is a 3BR 2.5BA, and it turns out the second guy is not moving out for 2 more months, May 01. Til then, the new renter would take the third bedroom, share the second bath, and pay 1/3 rent until second guy leaves, then go to 1/2 rent, and get both BRs and the second bath. I end up chatting with the guys for a while, they're both pretty funny, and one was also from Chicago, while the second guy had live in Chi for a number of years, so we got along pretty well. I could live here in a pinch, but the sharing of the bath thing is a deal breaker for me. Again, good place to fall back on in case whatever my first choice is doesn't work out.

Finally, this last one kinda sounded too good to be true...who knows, the guy could still turn out to be an axe murderer, who knows. He's a 26 year old builder named Seth, and he's got a 2400 square foot house on a country club / golf course about 5 miles from my old place. It's the cheapest rent of all the places I've looked at, and the location is fairly convenient, movewise, but a little off the beaten path compared to where I was before. His old roommate is moving out to live with his girlfriend, to which we both snicker a little, kinda "what's he thinking?" The area is very nice, very convenient, on a block of say 250-400K homes. He bought the house as a fixer-upper, and is working on parts gradually. I'm handy, but need to learn how to do a lot of this stuff, so I offer to help in exchange for the learning and experience. He's also got a 3 year old pale yellow lab named Bailey. Bailey's very happy to meet me and we're fast friends. We shoot the shit a bit more about this and that, everything seems cool, so we seal the deal on a handshake, gotta love the south...I'll start moving in whenever I can, do it gradually over the week, and shoot to be completely moved by Friday.

It reminds me of the old adage, "Why is it that whatever you're looking for is always in the last place you look?" Well of course, once you find it, you stop looking. I'm fairly excited about the potential here, it's definitely a lot more "overnight guest" friendly. Not that my old place wasn't, but the situation made things somewhat awkward. With this place set up as kind of a bachelor pad, who knows...perhaps when he goes to the Greek Isles in May, it'll be Gene's naked house party time, haha.

Photos soon. For now, I must sleep...much screwing around to be done on the morrow.

Travel planning...

Now playing: Thievery Corporation - Lebanese Blonde

DC bound!...? Well, maybe...My beloved Laura tells me that she'll be stateside for several days toward the end of the month:



Hello!

Always so good to hear from you, always apologetic for my inability to
properly stay in touch!

I arrive in DC Monday 27 March at 14:10.
I depart DC Thurs 30 March at 11:20.

My days will be busy with work, but my evenings are wide open.

I have a favourite bar/cafe that used to have a fabulous mojito happy
hour (have to check if that's still in place) and there's a legendary
chili dog place that I'm determined to visit. Voila.

I would love to see you (understatement).

Thoughts?

Laura



So naturally, I'm trying to figure out the logistics of heading out there for a visit to spend some long-overdue time with her. Three evenings and a morning would be dreamy! Last time I saw her, was of course, during my last (and first) trip to the EU in December of 2004...is that right? 2004? 2003? Maybe 2003. Laura? I guess I could look it up pretty easily...I want to say 2003 though.

"...Evenings are wide open." between that verbiage, the chili dogs and the mojitos, what's not to love about this girl? And I haven't even mentioned the haunting beauty, the cosmopolitan worldliness, or the "Iowa goodness"! !

Well, regardless, the timing for this trip seems fortuitous, so here's to hoping. Will have to stop in at the 18th Street Lounge (which is, of course, owned by the band Thievery Corporation and the name of their record label, aren't I cool?) to see if that Romanian guy (and his cute swedish blonde girlfriend) is still bartending, and that other bar...hrm, can't even really remember where it was or what it was called. Lucky I'm kind of lukewarm on the whole prospect of DC itself, so we can hit Laura's old haunts...mojitos for everyone!

As an aside, here's a 'review' of the aforementioned ESL. Verbiage of the review follows, but the last (and first) time I was there, it was during the middle of the week, and nowhere near as happening as is described (nor were there any bouncers...but the lack of identification definitely gave it a chic townies / insiders-only feel):



Teddy Roosevelt once lived in this magnificent historic mansion on 18th Street, part of the coveted Dupont Circle district. These days it's an ultra-classy lounge-club that‚ so chic it doesn't advertise and hardly has it's name above the door. Regulars are big-name politicos, celebrity locals and upscale out-of-towners who continue the high-brow standards set by the former Prez. Known as ESL, bouncers stand guard outside and it's best to leave your jeans and trainers at home if you want a sniff at getting in. Spread over two floors with a stairwell between, gorgeous girls in Prada, Dolce and Versace lie back on couches sipping negronis, watching dashing men in Armani smoke imported cigars over iced bourbon. DJs spin hot urban tunes, those with the urge to boogie take to the dance floor and the general Sex and the City-meets-West Wing vibe sends out a rather powerful and seductive energy.



Also, Daisy (and Mr. Daisy, for that matter) have just returned from a tropical cruise...that idea sounds nice, I'll have to get the lowdown, find a travel buddy, and try one of those myself...must get info from the Daisy(s).

Someone wish me "Bon voyage", goddamnit!

Ciao...[/swoon]

Catches 23 and up...

I've been trying to write more frequently, with the caveat that such frequency will probably diminish the average length (and perhaps erode the already low quality standards) of these posts, which is of course, just fine if I'm posting more as a result. For a little while I'd just as soon have quantity over quality, because part of the problem with writing of late has been that these entries get so goddamned long from my desire to include every aspect of every position of every angle of the issue I'm talking about, thus making the entries both unwieldy to write, and a general pain in the ass to read. A general lack of time, and/or my continued piss-poor time management skills has led me to continuously put off writing posts, so the longer I don't write, the more complete I feel the posts need to be when I DO write, and thus, the cycle continues.

This week in particular, I should be doing about a half dozen other things as well: moving, getting my real estate broker's application in the mail, taxes, etc. Then, on top of all that, I think I'm coming down with something. At first, I thought it was just overexertion from loading the truck up with boxes yesterday, but now I definitely think it's a cold/the flu. Suck. Big party weekend, too. Ah well, perhaps a nap is in order. More soon, send vitamin C, zinc, and/or good non-sick vibes.

Asian fetishes...

Now Playing: FischerSpooner - Emerge

So one of the things I've always kind of ranted about, given half an opportunity, (hell, I may have done it here already...i't sbeen so long, that I forget what I have and haven't written about) is the apparent sexual disparity in the fetishization (I don't think that's actually a word, but I'm going to continue to use it and trust you to both get my drift and keep up) of Asian women vs Asian men. Men of all ethnicites, ages, or any other demographic selector you care to use, fetishize Asian women. Further, I find that the universality of this fetish is so far-reaching, that Asian women are perhaps the most fetishized class of all. Probably more so than any other race, redheads (which I never really got, but yet I seem to end up dating a lot of redheads, go figure) and schoolgirls, for example, but probably not strippers or porn stars, which might not really be demographic selectors at all. I might have made that term up too. Not necessarily every guy wants/lusts after the idea of Asian women, but guys from any and every group invariably do. Whereas there is no correspondent widespread "mob lust", if you will, of Asian men. I've always challenged anyone to come up with even one Asian guy in mainstream american pornography. Seriously, even one. Can't be done? That's because there haven't been any. Period. (As far as I know, but I've yet to be proven wrong.)

What brings this topic to the forefront for me today, is the chance "meeting" of a girl last night. In talking to a dear friend today, it was determined that I had had this particular girl pointed out to me before, (several weeks ago) and not only did I apparently show no interest toward her then, but I seem to have no recollection of her even having been pointed out. Part of this could have been due to a prejudicial (and possibly erroneous) mindset associating her with a somewhat superficial crowd, perhaps more interested in seeing and being seen, than seeking out and/or valuing and pursuing real, deeper connections with people. Well, I officially "met" her last night, under some odd circumstances that I won't get into here, but I definitely at the time didn't know about/remember the earlier encounter.

She's a stunning blonde, with people apparently telling her she resembles celebrities from Gwen Stefani to a blonde Dita von Teese. Almost as if to illustrate the point this guy came up and told her she looked like someone while we were talking, who I totally didn't see the resemblance at all, but it escapes me exactly who it was at the moment. Said blonde is apparently a glamour model who does various types of work to that effect. She and I learned that we have some things in common, so that led to more talk on more and more random topics. Come to find out she's been to and spent a good deal of time in Korea, speaks some Korean, and when I told her that she's only the second blond white girl I've met who speaks Korean, she came out to me a little and admitted to having a bit of a 'thing' for Asian guys ("Score!", I vaguely remember thinking.) But you would think that all that time over there would/could produce AT LEAST ONE suitable suitor? Go figure. Well, far be it from me to question a set of circumstances that, in the end, benefits me.

Having said all that, however, I do have to say that for there not actually being parity in the objectification and associated desirability and/or fetishization of men vs. women of Asian heritage (I always have to remind myself to capitalize that A,) I have to say that I've probably had way more than my fair share of women who range from a mild curiosity to an out-and-out fetish. I definitely know of a few Asian guys in their twenties who are allegedly either virgins or near-virgins, and being Asian hasn't helped them any AT ALL, so in that regard, I've been very fortunate, and can only hope that I helped promote a positive image of Asian sexual prowess. Or something, heh. To be fair, I have also completely been unable to close the deal with at least one girl with an established and self-described Asian fetish, and one (Ames Esq., I'm looking in your direction) with an apparent, but undeclared/unidentified (closeted?) Asian fetish.

Of the ones where I WAS able to close the deal, an area of discussion of note is that I've been the first ever Asian guy for a good number of women, perhaps as high as 20-30 percent of the women I've been with? (Not that I know that number or even have an estimation, that's just a seat-of-the-pants guess.) Though if you were to restate that question in such a way as to ask how many of the women I've been with have been with, say more than 5 or 6 Asian guys before me, that number would probably be much, much smaller, in the neighborhood of well under ten percent. Interesting statistics, no? Either way, being beheld as a representation of one's entire race (wrong as it may be, people do it all the time for far lesser considerations) can be a bit daunting, especially in the rare case where it IS seen as something desirable, and is a causal factor in getting us horizontal in the first place.

I'm sure I'll have more on this later, but it's 4am, and I need sleep.

Oh, and incidentally, for those interested, things went well with the blonde, yay. Hope things go more well in the future, we'll see how that all unfolds. I also met a half-Japanese girl who claims to have been in Penthouse (September 2004 maybe?) Suffice it to say, it was an interesting (and surreal at the same time) evening.

Life is good. And by good, I mean charmed.

More soon,

-Gene

A show about nothing...

Now Playing: Ferry Corsten featuring Simon LeBon - Fire

Yikes, six weeks.

Okay, I've told about a billion and a half people that I want to start blogging on a daily (or at least more daily, perhaps semi-daily) basis again, even going so far as to post to a forum to which I belong, signing off with "OK, gonna try to blog now."

So needless to say, the pressure's on. One would think that I'd have an endless number of things to write about, what with not having posted in a month and a half (completely bypassed February! Haven't missed a whole month since September, tsk tsk), and that's true, to an extent. Problem is, if I were to completely update any one aspect of my life, that topic in and of itself would probably demand a multi-page post all on its own. So in a way, I'm paralyzed by the breadth and depth of subject matter.

So the forum post was made like three and a half hours ago. What's the holdup, you ask? What hasn't the holdup been? I should have gone to bed around midnight, probably. Instead, I made some phone calls, sat around, antsy as hell, but with no inclination to partake in any of the options I had available. Ah ennui is such a fickle mistress! Played some Wordsmith (a scrabble derivative/spinoff available on the TiVo service), downloaded like every Duran Duran song known to man in search of one in particular.

I downloaded the tune mentioned above, Fire, by Ferry Corsten, a DJ whose work I'm fond of, a couple weeks ago. I originally heard it on Music Choice's Dance or Electronica station, and it said that it featured Simpn LeBon. Since Ames is possibly the second biggest Duran Duran fan on the face of the planet (her hot sister M is likely the first,) I sent it to her to get her take on it. She tells me that it's basically an unmolested version of Serious, a song they'd previously released. And here I thought it was just Simon doing a guest vocalist spot on an original Corsten composition. Well, it turns out that she's mostly right, but I still like the new version better. The tempo is more appropriate for the song, and overall it just pleases my ear more to have it get the dance treatment. So while I was at it, I pulled down all the poppy 80s stuff I could think of that they did. Fun stuff.

Hrm, that's a few paragraphs, maybe enough to actually call a post? Right on, definitely! And all without having had to procure an actual substantial topic!

We'll see if I've the drive to write tomorrow, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Welcome back,

-Gene

...and oh yeah...for all those who have stuck with this craptacular blog through the six months of nonexistent posts, here's a reward in the form of some beloved T & A. It appears that my prayers to the FSM have been answered, and one of my favorite hotties' career has taken enough of a nosedive that she's finally appeared in Playboy. I heard about it because it's in this month's (February) issue, with Jessica Alba on the cover.



Link here

Article 2

Smoking Gun article, containing the lengthy cease-and-desist order to Playboy.

Apparently she's less than thrilled about it, because she didn't actually pose for the magazine, doesn't appear nude in it, and has threatened to sue the Hefner empire for using her unauthorized image to mislead consumers and sell magazines. For shame, Hugh! I'm not sure if they've done this before, but goddamnit, if I see Jessica Alba on the cover, I want to see her naked inside! Anyway, it appears that she's suing for damages and for them to withdraw the magazine. Wonder what'll happen. Regardless, as I'm looking at the cover, I notice the last line of text, I notice the words "UFC" and "Willa Ford". Jackpot! Loyal readers will remember that I've had a thing for her for like five years, ever since "I Wanna Be Bad" was a minor, minor hit and had MTV rotation. Well, here it is, boys and girls, Willa Ford naked. Enjoy, I know I did.