Start your Engines!

I'm super obsessed with RuPaul's drag race this season. I think I'm going to have a big viewing party for the Finale next Monday!

My favorite by far is Jujubee, the token Asian. I wasn't that big a fan to tell the truth, as she did this "bowing" thing on the runway that I was taken aback by, but she won me over with her killer reading skills a few episodes back.

So I thought I'd try out this tool http://www.dragulator.com/, promoted by the site. Here's what I came up with:


I may have missed my calling. So I need some help coming up with a drag name, y'all!

[UPDATE: OH! And I forgot to give you guys an update on how the meet and greet with the parents went. It went great! My parents have totally come around. They brought Chris a box of chocolates, and after dinner the second night, my Mom gave Chris a hug! I was super impressed with them (although I'm pretty sure my sister called them up and yelled at them to get them to behave). However it happened, it was amazing, and I'm really happy that they've come around and are still a big part of my life. I'm gonna meet Chris's Mom some time next month]

Updates on everything

Been super busy with work, and friends visiting, and planning the move and everything. Quick update hit-and-run:

• Picked the charities to donate to! I picked HRC and the Empire State Pride Agenda! One cool tool I found when doing this is Charity Navigator, which offers some metrics on how efficiently some charities are run, and suggests similar charities based on their focus.
• Chris and I are gonna start looking for places soon! Eep, I gotta start packing, and selling a ton of crap I can't bring myself to move again. I have like 4 boxes of old comic books that really should just not be taking up space in my new apartment.
• So my parents are coming in 2 weeks, and I decided to give them the option of whether or not they wanted to meet Chris this visit, and they actually sounded pretty open to the idea! I definitely did NOT mention that we were talking about moving in yet, and I think I'll probably tell them way later, depending on how well the in-person meeting goes.

So that's what's going on with me. Aight, I have to get caught up on my blogs. And my porn.

Happy Gayversary!

Well, I'm actually a little late on this, but I thought I'd like to thank you all for coming to celebrate my gayversary. My first "coming out speech" was just over a year ago, at the beginning of February last year. What a long, strange, trip it has been.

I've managed to come out to pretty much all of my close family members. There are a few family members that just haven't been easy to contact logistically. I have 2 cousins in Australia that I've always felt close to, but I have had trouble finding convenient times to call, and calling someone out of the blue to come out seems so forced, although I guess I did that a lot. I have also heard, and this is completely not based on my experiences with my cousins, that Australians are in generally more socially conservative? I have never broached this subject with them, and I just don't want to trip some kind of cultural minefield.

In relationship news, I spent the first 3 months of my gay life being a big whore :), and then I met Chris and suddenly became a relationship gay. To be honest, looking back on it, I really probably thought I would be single for over a year, and date more, but I really don't regret any of it. I am really happy in my relationship right now.

Which... brings us to the newest piece of news... Chris and I are going to move in together! We're going to start looking at places when my lease is up in June. I'm so excited! He basically already spends every day at my apartment anyway, and it would be economical and practical, but MORE than that, I CANNOT WAIT to live with him! Ugh, now I'm getting all gushy. Still, it is exciting building a life with someone in a way that, 2 years ago, I had completely blocked myself off to.

The only snag is he still hasn't met my parents. I really think my parents will flip out if I move in with someone they've never met (but to be honest... they're going to flip out anyway, right?). Ugh, I need some advice on how to handle this one.

Holidays and Charity

So the past two weeks were a blast. My friends cooked a big Chinese New Year feast last week and it was amazing. I won a hundred bucks in my superbowl pool. My sister came to town and I finally saw Wicked. And I probably had about the best valentine's day ever.

So things are going pretty good for me personally. It's also the time of year that my company does charity matching, and since everything's so good for me, I really want to give something back and donate to a charity that is important. I have already donated to a few causes this year. Haiti, a lymphoma society that my friends are running a triathalon for. However, for this, since it's matched and ostensibly from my company, I kind of feel like I should donate to a high profile LGBT advocacy group. I don't really know many. The only ones I know of are GLAAD and Marriage Equality USA. Between the two, I'm kind of inclined to go with Marriage Equality, but are there any other high profile, worthwhile gay advocacy groups I should consider?

Big hugz

Big hugz to Steve over at Lions, Tigers, and Science Oh My who just came out to his Mom and it didn't go so great.

When I was home over Christmas, there were moments where I felt like things maybe were ok with my Mom and Dad. They clearly were making some attempts to stay involved with my life, but I didn't know how much they wanted to know. Eventually they did ask a few questions about my bf; like where he's from, and what he does for a living (I didn't mention the unemployment, cause... that would not have made him very popular). I really hope it goes ok when I finally introduce him in person, but I should keep my expectations realistic.

I do think I still have a lot of disappointment and a little anger that my parents (my Mom in particular) didn't take my coming out very well, and in general made it all about her. Like I said to Steve, I think one of the hardest parts of growing up is realizing that your parents are imperfect, and that you can only expect so much of them before you get disappointed. My parents will never be the super-supportive PFLAG parents or anything, and if they're actually working hard to accept me for who I am, I have to be able to do the same and accept their slowness to accept change as well.

Anyway, good luck Steve, please keep us updated.

Home with friends

I know, I know. Bad blogger.

So I'm up super early on a Saturday because the couple above me had a kid 2 years ago, and now he starts running around at 8am on hardwood floors. Great alarm clock on weekdays. Horrible inconvenience on weekends when you want to sleep off about 4 bottles of wine. Chris and I cooked Steak and Brussels Sprouts for some friends who came over and we watched Project Runway and some other shows. It kind of felt super adult, in some ways, but it was really fun.

We've been doing a good job of keeping up with my one New Year's resolution, which was to save money and cook more. Chris is a really good cook, and it's really fun to plan and execute a meal.

One of my friends visiting said I was "nesting". Ugh, breeders. ;)

Happy (Belated) New Year

Just wanted to drop a belated New Year wish to everyone! I haven't been blogging at all cause I've been traveling to California, and I did a road trip with my cousins to Vegas for the past weekend!

Vegas was awesome. I went with 16 cousins (including some spouses) and this is the side that I'm fully out to. We always have a good time, and it was even more special to me because it was the first time I'd hung out with everyone in a group setting since coming out to them individually. I know it gets old cause I keep noting on it, but it's really great how nothing has changed with the relationships that were really important to me, other than that I am closer to them, and no longer lying to them. I can't express enough how much better I feel when I talk to them,

Now I'm in San Diego staying with some of them. Looking forward to eating a lot of good food down here, and doing a day trip to LA probably. Woo!