Tag: friends

friends, hmm interesting, is it just me?, venting, wtf?!

the wrong way to act

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I have been experiencing what seems like a big “fuck off” from customer service people lately. Perhaps it is because it is hot outside, or maybe something is in the water, but I feel like it has been happening more and more.

Specifically, places like the Kroger at Edgewood, the employees are consistently rude and flat out disrespectful almost every time I shop there. I have had employees run into me without saying excuse me, and have noticed more often than not that they roll their eyes when having to do something for you (such as check out); especially if you ask for something in addition to their normal routine. All in all, it is annoying, and I wish there was more kindness out there, especially in service employees, but again, maybe it is just a reaction to the heat or something that is driving this problem.

Well, none of that applies to the complete freak out that I witnessed last night. Some friends and I went for dinner at Machu Picchu up on Buford highway, and we were excited to be getting together and trying Peruvian food. What followed, however, was one of the WORST dining experiences I have ever had in my entire life.

I won’t go on and on about it, but the long and short of it was this: our food was ordered by number, because the names of the dishes were in a different language. The waiter, when bringing out said dishes, kept asking us “who had the fish”, when most everyone had ordered some variation of fish (or seafood, not even fish); but all were different and all were ordered by number. When we laughed at the confusion, rather than getting angry like some tables do, the waiter flipped his shit and started YELLING at us. Let me reinforce that for you; he was yelling, not just talking louder to get our attention. I have never seen anyone flip the fuck out like that; especially not someone who is supposed to be serving you, and is definitely working for tips. He yelled at us not once, or twice, but a minimum of 3 times. It was almost like an out of body experience, because a few people at the table tried to calm him down, but he just kept getting more and more belligerent.

As I discussed with the table last night, I have waited tables before in my life; all in all I did it for about 5 years. I have taken a mountain of shit from people, and as such, I respect people that work in the service industry more than most. However, I cannot understand what this man thought was okay with his actions, and I was completely taken aback when his “apology” simply put the blame for his yelling on our unwillingness to claim the fish dish that he had no idea what it was or where it went.

All in all, people seem to be getting more and more rude these days, but I have to say, that I haven’t seen anything like this before. Here’s hoping that’s the last of it too. Needless to say, I yelped that experience, and I am sure my fellow foodie group will as well. It’s a shame that he made an ass of himself to a table full of bloggers/yelpers, isn’t it!?

happenings, near and dear

weekend getaway

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This weekend was James’ 30th birthday!!!

So, we went up to a cabin in the middle of NOWHERE about 1 hour from Chattanooga. It was a quaint and cute little place. I surprised James by inviting his mom and dad to come and meet us there on Saturday night.

He had no idea until they knocked on the door. It was hilarious.

We had a great time, went to see Rock City, where I took tons of pictures (stay tuned), and celebrated James’ first steps into a new decade of life.

Overall, it was a great weekend, and I hope that he had a great birthday. Love you James!! Happy Birthday!!

Also turning the big 3-0 this weekend was my best buddy Margaret… I hope you had a great one too girl!! Love ya!!

In fact, I hope everyone had a great weekend, whether you turned 30 or not!

all about me, friends, music musings, the catch-all-egory

the day after sunday always comes again

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No matter how much one wishes the weekend would go on for at least one more day; it never seems to. Oh well. Here’s some random shenanigans that are running through my brain; which seems to typify every Monday for whatever reason.

  • Weezer’s new album comes out tomorrow. I am very excited about it, because they are one of my favorite bands. I am listening to it now, and it is definitely different than their previous records, but I think that I will really like it in the end. I always get excited when my favorite bands bring out new records… so far this year, it has been Portishead, Death Cab for Cutie, and now, Weezer; what next!?!?!?
  • I went to the EABF this weekend with Brody and Aimee, and I had a blast. We joked that it was more of a “white wine spritzer” fest for us, because we found ourselves drinking the equivalent; pear ciders galore. Hey, it was hot as fuck, and those damn things are just so tasty and refreshing. I finally tried Purple Haze (I always see it at the store and wonder about it), and it was gross. I am glad I never got any before this weekend. Overall, the day was HOT, but lots of fun. After the festival, Brody and Aimee came over for some Guitar Hero/Rock Band, and some pizza. After that, I tanked (at like 7), and didn’t wake up until 10:30. Sometimes, I think I could literally sleep forever. Either way, it was a kick ass day, and I am glad that I had such a great time with great friends.
  • I think that my ears might be almost healed. If not almost healed, they are definitely getting close. I can’t wait until I get some new jewelery for them!
  • I don’t do as much photography as I want to… I need to figure out how to remedy that; fast. We are going to Chattanooga for James’ thirtieth this weekend, so I am sure that I will be taking lots of nature pictures, so I guess that is something to look forward to with regards to that.
  • The Mole starts tonight, and I am having over some friends that I have known since high school to watch it. I can’t wait, because I LOVED this show back in the day… I just hope that it is just as good post-Anderson Cooper.
  • I felt like I had more than that, but I guess that’s about it. Hmmm… Not a lot going on with me these days, I guess.

"pointless", all about me, friends, happenings, is it just me?, mixed media, music musings, music suggestion, podcast, the catch-all-egory, venting

just a few random thoughts

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  • Last night, I was invited to partake in a great “bad beer” podcast, and it was a LOT of fun. I really miss hanging out with the people that were a part of it (my old trivia group for the most part), and it was great to finally meet one of the bloggers I have known URL for a while in person. I hope that we get to do more of those types of things in the future. It was funny that our podcast was talking about how bad chelada style beer was, when I am kind of a fan of Miller Chill. In fact, I actually really like it… so long as it is cold. The other beers we tried (Bud Light Lime, Tequiza, and Michelob Ultra Lime and Cactus) were all gross. I’ll let you know when the podcast is up, and you can here the silly fun we had drinking bad beers.
  • I have been having random fits of sneezing. The allergies in Atlanta are nuts, and this year is no exception. I guess there is something to be said about consistency; regardless of how annoying it may be sometimes.
  • On Tuesday night, I went out to dinner with some friends at a new local restaurant, and I did something that I have not done in a LONG time… I left the waiter zero tip. Hear me out… I waited tables for 5+ years at various restaurants, all of which served alcohol. I have NEVER in my life ever told someone that they had to pay for a drink that they determined to be undrinkable. In fact, I often apologized for something that I had no part in; I never was a bartender, and I never made those drinks. However, we always made it right, and made sure the customer was happy each and every time. I ordered a drink that was absolutely disgusting (which shouldn’t have been), and it was a simple bar mistake. I stand by the fact that this is something that I should not have had to pay for; yet, he made me pay for the drink (even though he took the totally full beverage and poured it out). Unfortunately for this establishment, this is a lesson that I have learned about that place, and as such I will not be drinking there ever again; which pretty much means it has moved itself to the bottom of my list of places to go eat. It sucks too, because being a local restaurant, I really want to support it, but I can’t control how restaurants treat their patrons. Having been a waiter myself, I put up with A LOT of mistakes without saying a word, but this was just ridiculous. Oh well… there is sure to be a yelp review to come about the experience!
  • I have to say, that I was a little surprised by who won AI last night. Oh well, the proof is in the pudding; we’ll see when they release their records, right?! George Michael’s performance on the show was AMAZING. Also, is it me, or is Carrie Underwood completely unstoppable? I mean, she is F-I-E-R-C-E fierce! Not only is she beautiful, but she can sing the shit out of anything!! Maybe I need to download her records…
  • Speaking of amazing music, the song that I featured last week, Just Dance, by Lady Gaga, is one of the most amazing songs ever. Seriously, this song is going to be my song of the summer. I have had it on repeat since last week… Loves it.
  • That’s about it… I guess. Anything going on with you that you want to talk about?? Anything questions you want to ask me that are just burning in your brain? Let me know!

all about me, friends, happenings, is it just me?, venting, wtf?!

beer fests and marta

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So yesterday, Brody invited me up to the Dunwoody beer festival, and I decided that the best, and most responsible thing to do, would be to ride Marta up, and then catch a ride home with James later on in the evening. I was to meet Brody around 2pm, but being in the hurry I was, I forgot my ticket for the festival, so I had to go home and get it. Well, it only set me back a little bit, so I should have still been there around 2:30. No worries. Well, I got to Marta about 2, thinking it would take about 30 minutes MAX to ride up to Dunwoody. Well, I waited at 5 points for literally, over 40 minutes, while no less than 3 trains (15-20 minutes apart) for Doraville came through. Finally, I got on the last Doraville train, and changed trains at Lindbergh. It turns out, that this is the new way they do things; you get your transfer train to North Springs at Lindbergh, and not 5 points, as it has been in the past. WTF? Marta, you get a huge dose of FAIL, not only for having trains only come once every 20 minutes (seriously unacceptable), but for not indicating to riders the necessary information they need to actually get from A to B successfully.

I can definitely say that I will think long and hard before I get on Marta again. It is bad enough that our city has a sub-par AT BEST transit system, but to find out that even that is unreliable, and at best filled with fault and flaws galore, that it really makes one shake their head. Why can so many cities master the city transit system, but Atlanta just can’t seem to do anything right? Ugh… frustration is all I seem to get from Marta these days, and it is frustration that I can thankfully all but avoid entirely.

After I finally got my destination a full HOUR after I set off on my journey, I had a blast hanging out with Brody, Dave, and other assorted members of their kick ball team. It was a pretty fun day. I can’t say that I drank $30 worth of booze (the price of the ticket), but I did find a new potential favorite beer in Warsteiner’s Cola beer. Holy shit! That stuff is insanely good, and very refreshing. I never though I would like a cola flavored beer, but it is damn good. I am going to be consuming lots of it this summer, I can feel it.

Either way, it all turned out to be a fun day with friends and booze, but it began with a big dose of FAIL, ala Marta style. Boo Marta… yay booze and friends.

blog on blog, happenings

APWBWGTTD

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Tonight’s APWBWGTTD was a lot of fun. It was cool meeting Brody, and talking with him, Barry, and Rebekah most of the night (as well as everyone else, who’s names I am surely forgetting… sorry)! I, for one, am super glad that APWBWGTTD has been resurrected. I really need to start getting out again; it has been far too long, and I have become far less social. Here’s to trying to get out more!

"pointless", all about me, funnies, that is so gay, the catch-all-egory, tragic

fixing our wireless, and will someone please smack this ass?!

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This past weekend, me and several friends ventured out to a new (as in, we had never been there new) bar called BJ Roosters for a friend’s birthday. He said that they normally had go-go dancers on Saturday night, but as it turns out, they had them on Friday night as well. While the whole “half naked dancing men on a bar” thing does nothing but make me a little uncomfortable, I looked at the situation as an adventure, and as such, proceeded to drink enough so as not to worry too much about it.

We settled in one of the little rooms, and not 2 minutes after we had taken our seats, one of the many strippers came into our room to “see what we were up to”. As he entered, wearing nothing but underwear, he asked enthusiastically, “what are you guys talking about in here?” as he jumped up on the table that sat between the two facing couches that we occupied. I told him that we were just talking about random stuff, and then he pulled out his dick, and asked me if we wanted to talk about that. Well, I never. I told him that he was more than welcome to talk about it, but I would pass, as I didn’t see a need to talk about his penis, being that it was his and all. Unsatisfied with my answer, he sought further approval from my other friends. After we all gave a pretty clear “we are not interested” series of responses, he felt the need to “get something” out of the encounter, and proceeded to bend over, pull down his underwear, and requested that I smack his ass. In fact, he said “smack it!” very forcefully at me. I politely declined, and then he turned to my friend Chris, and insisted that he “slap that ass!”. Chris also declined, which prompted him to ask, “damn, isn’t anyone gonna smack this ass?”, to which my friend Rich responded, “I will!”, and slapped the hell out of him. He seemed satisfied, so he pulled up the underwear and left us alone for the rest of the night.

It was definitely an interesting place. There was once “dancer” in particular who we watched intently; not because he was cute or good, but because he was so tweaked out of his mind that he was barely able to stand on the bar, let alone “dance”. It was a funny, but kind of sad sight to behold. Needless to say, he was the entertainment we enjoyed the most all evening.

The one saving grace of that place, was the amazingly hot bartender who totally gave me a “gay discount”. He looked a lot like Shayne Ward, and I was swooning over him all night. After seeing my tab, it appears I wasn’t the only one looking… or maybe he just mis-charged me… Either way, the boy was HOT.

Switching to a completely different topic, we finally got our wireless network back up and running last night, after James decided to reset everything on Monday without consulting me. He wiped out every setting, meaning that I had to re-set up everything; which wouldn’t have been a problem, if I knew all the settings I had put on it in the first place. On top of it all, after I set it up, the Xbox wouldn’t recognize the network no matter what I did. On a hunch, I suggested that we get a new router, and low and behold, the problem has been solved. Hooray for working technology; boo to partners that don’t consult you before messing something up that they themselves cannot fix. Oh well… all’s well that ends well, right?

"pointless", all about me, mixed media, movie musings, that is so gay, the catch-all-egory

give yourself over to absolute pleasure

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That’s exactly what we did last night…

Last night, in celebration of all things ghoulish and devilish for Halloween, we had our somewhat traditional viewing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. After immensely enjoying the film yet again, I have to say, I don’t know why I don’t watch that movie more often; it is brilliant! What a delightful campy classic, that not only takes you to the edge, it kicks you over! I also never realized how hyper-homosexual it is…

I have to say, though, without Tim Curry, the movie would be nothing; as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, he is completely amazing. He definitely has me shivering with antici…. pation. What I would give to have seen them perform it live… I bet that was a sight to behold.

Other than that, we just relaxed, played some GHIII and Super Smash Bros. Melee, and handed out candy to the very few that ventured out. Out of the handful of groups that we got, only one group of kids were actually dressed up. One group were even well over the age that one should be for trick or treating, however, they still got candy. James and I have learned that it is paramount to be at home and to be giving on this night, as we have had our cars egged in years past because our lights were off. Luckily, this year, we were not a target.

Another Halloween on the books without incident. Now that’s a good thing. I have never been a big fan of the “holiday”, so I doubt you will hear about me dressing up and having a great Halloween, but more power to those that enjoy that sort of thing. I hope everyone had a great night; I know I did!

How did you celebrate your Halloween?

(image of the delicious Frank-N-Furter is not mine… it’s from the internets)

all about me, cream of the crop, happenings, near and dear, that is so gay

today’s national coming out day…

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A day that represents something important that most gay people will go through; the process of putting everything on the line for the purpose of acceptance and belonging. A day where we that are out can appreciate everything that we went through on that faithful day we when first uttered the words “I’m gay” to another person. A day where we stand proud, and realize how strong we are for coming out of the closet in the first place, and understanding how it is so difficult for those that have not and even more for those that cannot. Today is a day that we get to celebrate being “out”, and relish what it means to truly be who you are for the first time, and for every time.

I have written my “first” coming out story before, but I thought I would include it here, with some edits, since it has been a few years since I first blogged it. While my story of coming out is focused on the first person that I came out to, it doesn’t truly highlight the journey that coming out has been for me, as it is for most. Being out to one quickly became being out to many, and eventually, I was out to everyone, including my family. Even though I have been far, to this day, there are people that have not come out to officially. There are still people from my past whom I have not had the opportunity to tell, who I hope will accept me for who I am, if and when they discover the fact that I am gay. Many people struggle to come out, and I was no different. I sometimes wonder what it would be like if I could go back and tell my younger self how much better I would feel once I had finally “taken the plunge”. I think that given the opportunity, I would, but I honestly don’t know what good that would do; I came out when it was time for me to do so, and all I can be thankful for today, is that I had the courage to do it in the first place.

Without too much more sappy-ness, here’s my first (of many) coming out experience. In this story, I was almost “forced” to come out to one of my best friends, all thanks to my urge to catch the debut of a little show called Queer as Folk. I hope that it is a story that is both enjoyable, and inspiring, because sometimes, those little curve balls that life throws us are big signs of change; and as with this case, change for the better.

(note: the story is rather long, so I have cut the entry here to keep the mere sight of the entry manageable; I know that some people freak out when they see an extra long entry.)

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