We'll Miss You Jerry!

Our colleague and a dear friend, Jerry, our Chief Financial Officer, peacefully passed away last night after his long battle with cancer, in the presence of his wife Sharon, his children, and a close family friend. He was 74.

Today everyone in the office spent the whole day with one another monumenting the many happy memories that everyone have experienced with Jerry. All of us were touched by Jerry’s gentleness and his amazing personality regardless whether inside or outside of the office. He was extremely very accomodating person and extended himself to everyone, anyone in every way possible. It was extremely devastating for everyone — especially to his family — to have lost a very genuine person, who loves to live life to the fullest and to put a smile to every face that he comes across with. He left us nothing but good and happy memories that we will all cherish for the rest of our lives.

To his beloved wife, Sharon, just know that we are here for you at any time. We are such a unique group of people that someone’s pain is everyone else’s. You are in our prayers. We love you!

To our blessed friend Jerry, from STAT Marketing, Inc. family, it’s sad to see you gone but we know you are in a better place - in God’s faith. We will miss you and you will be in our hearts for as long as we are alive. You will exists in our memories now and forever. We love you, Jerry!

Energizer for Human Perhaps?

After a rather long, dreary, nasty and yet very fun weekend, I think I need a fully loaded, energized battery to get my brain and body up and running by tomorrow. Can’t help but drift every now and then because of not having been fully caught up with sleep recently.

Well, this past weekend didn’t help at all, in terms of sleep. Although I planned to kind of relax at home knowing that the weather was going to be bad before hand, I still managed to get out and have a drink or two with friends…

Started off Friday with clubbing at Club TOWN with my friend Gino, his boyfriend Jesse, and a friend of theirs, Molly. At first they ewanted to hit APEX instead of TOWN but I insisted that we go to TOWN instead. My reasoning perhaps was lame but I said that I had enough of APEX’s perks that lasts me a lifetime. That place has given me good and bad memories back in my early 20’s, and going there makes it harder for me when I re-connect myself mentally all the events that took place in that club back when I was still with my ex. Kind of sad but I won’t get into it. I must say, however, that being in early 20’s at the time was the greatest and funnest place that every single gay men in the DC area must “belong” or go.

Nowadays, that place has changed a whole lot over the course of the past few years. Hmm? The question perhaps though have the place changed? Or have I? The prognosis is that both have changed. People change their outlook with different places and places changes what people see as benefits from it.

Anyway, I just haven’t refreshed my interests in going to that bar, but I do hope though my friends and I will go back in time and remember those wild crazy times we once had at that place. We are still wild and crazy bitches though, and we will at some point in the future repeat history…

Moving along…so we hit TOWN and have a great time (but won’t go into details) and I got home at around 3:30 am, which is pretty early for me than usual. Kind of different in a way…your heart’s still pumping at that time of the morning and brain is aiming for another round of shots. So that was the deal for Friday! Saturday as you all know, it was nasty but perfect time to chill at home and watch a movie or two. Well, I did a few errands in the morning (IN THE RAIN!) then after that I hanged out with Rich at his condo. We originally planned to see “Max Payne” in Potomac Mills but he wasn’t feeling good. Or should I say hung over? Yea, he had a great time with his friends at Freddies the night before and had too much shots that his head felt it was gonna explode on him.

That took away the mess that he and I would have had to deal with, had we gone and did what we planned. Well, we decided to just chill out, watch a movie or two, eat popcorn and pizza, etc. We did all that and it was soothing. We watched Ironman (i’ve seen it but I’ve been dying to see it again) and after that we watch “Bangkok Love”, which is an independant international film showcasing two Thai men who dicreetly had passion for the same sex despite of the social seasoning they grow up in. We enjoyed the movies and kind of relaxed, lounged on the couch and so forth. I loved it!

Again, it was a good ole staying home and watch a movie kind of setting. I think that we were both aware of the situation that we are in and that we must control ourselves unless we both want to move forward. In any case, it was a wonderful evening! We both can’t wait for next weekend to come.

Today I hanged out with my brother and his girlfriend Risa. Did the whole Filipino lunch thing (It was kind of nice actually) then we watched a movie at Risa’s house. It was great and I can’t wait to take my brother and Risa at TOWN for Risa’s birthday on Nov 17th. It’s gonna be great!

So, two words for this past weekend: FUCKING AWESOME! Yea! Woot! Woot! I’ll keep in touch what will come next within this week and weekend. Ciao!

Gluing Broken Pieces Together

In the next few months I feel it will be about time to end my account with WordPress as well as my other blog site at Blogspot. I have truly found both sites highly propitious in a number of ways during the past several months because of the many major family issues and some personal dilemmas that I’ve had to go through. Needless to say all of us go through the different milestones of life - but how we differ is how we find different ways to output ourselves, developing shields to breakthrough it.

It is shamefully sad - but this online blogging community I’ve involved myself in has become my second home. More so at times when I feel disconnected with myself. Logging in and endlessly write helped me pick many broken pieces of my self-esteem while fishing for comfort and try gluing ‘em together.

Intentions often times doesn’t always work in your favor; although you blatantly tell yourself that whatever the outcomes might be, it may just be what is precisely necessary for you. No ones believes your intentions but yourself.

Well, since the first quarter of this year, all along I thought medicating myself through writing numerous blogs and exposing them to family, friends, and in many cases to total strangers, would quite hold me rock solid throughout the many beautiful “perks” life has to offer. Majority of the time I cling with this site when hard times come crashing into my life. Mental calamities are the ones I can’t handle. And, when they appear culminating internally I default to blogging boundlessly at midnight (often times 2 or 3 am) - which I must confess felt quite gratifying in so many levels. It did feel like I was connecting with someone out there. But, I later realized that someone out there was me.

Frankly it did, however, shed some light into my emotions whenever I felt I needed to sit in the dark and lit a candle with hopes someone come and empty me and fill me in at the same time. Our emotions and our minds are the most powerful things in the world - where our eyes sees what it chooses to sees, our ears hear what we want to hear, and what our minds tell us what to believe and not to believe.

I picture myself every night feeling and thinking how I could chime out my thoughts and feelings I choose to keep in a particular day and I find sending them out through this cyber-space quite therapuetic. God only knows who reads it, makes a sense of it and relate to it, and simply don’t give a turd about it. The essence of it, however, is that I say what I feel and think and for sure someone out there feels the same way. For those of you out there on the same page as me - you are not alone.

For those who have given some attention to my blog site from time to time or have faithfully been reading my writings, thank you. I hope that those times you spent reading and listening to my thoughts have given you some comfort when you need one. The prognosis is that I probably don’t know you - but perhaps by connecting with me through this gave you a sense of who I am.

I feel that I’ve out grown this channel of my way to gather myself together. It’s time to move on. I think I’m capable of facing myself now with some confidence, with which I desperately need after developing a personal war that I can never win! I’ve seen myself fall on one or more occasions where I feel I no longer crave for invisible connections. Right here, right now is when this has to end and where it begins.

By any means possible, this is NOT a goodbye note. I just feel I’m brushing off the old self and breathing in a new me in many ways. Thanks, WordPress, for being reliable (Ha!) every step of the way when I needed you the most.

Thanks to all my readers — friends and strangers! New chapters will come along soon.

Where I Make the Greens!

This week has been overwhelmingly slow and yet extremely mentally exhausting. The week started off with slight cold because of the drastic drop of temperature (Ugh! I can’t wait for Summer!), the climax of the program development I’ve been working on, stuff between Rich and I, then lastly but certainly not the least, quite a few events in the office. Events? Yea, not so exciting events.

But, before I get into that, I wanna get these few things out of the way first…

Regarding work load, I’m still working on getting the final piece of the program that I’ve been developing all these time. I’m working with a vendor that specializes in abstract management systems. Right now I’m doing some session scheduling, notifying hundreds of professors around the country (they specialize in social work research) with their presentation schedules, working with another vendor that manages our hotel reservations and conference registrations, working closely with a designer to get our program book designed, laid-out, formatted, and printed (I’m responsible for EVERYTHING that goes in it!), and lastly, collaborating with the program committee to develop our new theme for our 2010 conference, which will be held in San Francisco, CA in January 2010. I’ll be working with the Associate Dean for Academic Research at the University of Pittsburgh. So, I’m looking forward to working with him in developing that program.

Rich and I spoke on Monday night for about 20 minutes telling each other our weekends and our schedule this week. He has a very hectic schedule this week and so do I so we might not have the time to catch up on one another. But, he said he will touch base with me again towards the end of this week and see where we are with our workloads. I hope my schedule opens up for me and Rich to do something. We shall see, but quite frankly I’d be happy to go out with him - but won’t be as excited as I was. For those who doesn’t know, read my other blog that’s called “Far Right Lane”. You will get an idea of what has been going on between me and him and you will understand why I said what I said.

Jerry, our Chief Financial Officer, was diagnosed with some kind of cancer a while back and he’s been taking medications and treatment for the last year or so. He seems to be not quite responding well enough to them recently. We are very worried for him. We just want him to get better very, very soon. We miss him a lot in the office and we are there holding strong for him. (A little bit of background of Jerry: He is such a nice guy. Despite of his professionalism, he is a fun person to be around; a reliable person; very smart guy (he’s the CFO, so yea!). He doesn’t bother anybody in anyway. You do your job and he does his job. That’s the deal. He certainly makes our workplace very pleasant place to work in.)

Another not so good event is that one of my co-workers, who actually just got hired two weeks ago, her mom died yesterday from a cardiac arrest. Apparently she had history of heart attacks and unfortunately did not survive this time. We are very sad to hear it. It just unbelievable that you don’t know when your own time is. Really scary! But, be prepared for anything, everything that could happen. It makes you think, doesn’t it?

To bring the spirit back up in this blog, I made my hotel and flight reservations for my New Orleans trip in two months. I’m quite excited to go down there because I will get to see two of my friends who lives in Louisiana. We haven’t planned anything yet of what to do but we are very eager to catch up face to face. Yay!

Oh, and I’m going to New York to see “Grease” on Saturday, December 6th with quite a few friends. This is going to be great. But, I’m kind of sad that I won’t be able to go to Chicago tomorrow. There’s too many things going on right now at work and I cannot afford to lose a day or two of work as the next two weeks are the highest peak of my schedule during this time of the year. It’s too bad but I suppose I can make plans to go with them some other time.

Anyway, closing this blog now. I hope everyone’s week has gone pretty good so far. Oh, and I haven’t gone to the gym for close to a week now — thanks to my cold crap that I have. However, I can’t wait to go back as soon as I’m feeling better. I’m gaining a bit of weight; that’s why! LOL… OK… I’m out!

Taking Baby Steps

This coming Thursday would be the second week that I have not seen Rich since our last meeting, which was at his place for pizza dinner and some coctails. That night was awesome! He got off early that day to go shopping for ingredients (I think that was really cute!) and I said to him I was very disappointed I didn’t get to go grocery shopping with him. Anyway, he also bought two kinds of wine: Simi and Chaetaue St. Jean — both very good! We enjoyed each other that night with some good pizza and cocktails. Very relaxing, indeed!

Well, after our deep conversation last Thursday, which was a week after the pizza dinner, we didn’t talk at any time Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday. Pretty much the whole weekend - until I got a phone call from him on Sunday at around 2:00 pm. Unfortunately, I was at the store grocery shopping for goodies for last night’s dinner. I had people over so I had to shop for stuff…and wack the weeds! Yea, tell me about it. I’ve been meaning to get that part of my chores done like almost a month ago - but I motivated myself to do that before my friends came over.

So I called him back and left him a voice message telling him I was busy and didn’t get the chance to call him until around 6:30 last night. I was apologetic about it. He said he would call me over the weekend, which he did. I give him that credit!

Anyway, he called me today to see how I’m doing and see what I’m up to. He went up to Pennsylvania for a business meeting early this morning but he came back like around 6:30. After 30 minutes or so he called to say what’s up and to tell me how his day and weekend was. He was busy doing his own thing and I was, too. Then he sort of told me his schedule this week, which is kind of busy of his traveling. I told him “Hey, what can you do? Do the job if that is what it is.” I bluntly said to him I will have a busy week as well. In fact, I’m coming up to a whole lot of stuff right now during this time of the year: the tail-end of the programmatic development I’ve been workin on, then quite a number of marketing and advertising stuff for my other clients.

In any case we sort of talked for about 15-20 minutes letting each other know our schedules this week, then he said he’d touch base again with me towards the end of this week. Well, I told him right away I will have a busy weekend: going to a museum art in Manassas with my roommate; go to some local fair that involves lots of pumpkins and apple-cider; go golfing at a driving range right at my backyard (I recently discovered there’s a golf driving range few lights away from me…so yay!); have dinner with my friend Jeannie and her girlfriend Marisol (both Peruvians) and Jabari at a restaurant (we haven’t decided where we’re going); and hang out with Gino probably at TOWN.

And on Sunday I’ll visit my Mom since I haven’t really visited her recently. I miss her and so with my stepdad, so I will try and pay them a visit at some point this weekend. I will try and get my brother and his girlfriend to come, too, since I haven’t seen them either. Well, my brother having two jobs is kind of difficult to get together. In any case I’ll bug him to go with me to Woodbridge.

So I said all that to say this: I’m very appreciative that Rich took the time/chance to call me tonight. Quite frankly, yes, I’m tickled. But again, don’t bet everything you got. I’m kind of holding back and let him come and meet me in the middle. And I think that’s the game he and I are playing…let’s see who is going to win or give in. That is almost predictable (If I’m the one judging it) but we shall see what will happen.

Taking baby steps…maybe…but ideally that is what it should be. So I’ll do that for now while living casually.

Here’s my horoscope for this week. Again, this is just hypothetical but it does look promising. We’ll see.

Contacts and communication feature throughout the week, but the angle is definitely positive. Something is likely to keep you on your toes: a snippet of news or a tantalizing bit of information should be pursued and explored further. It is an excellent week to think in the long term and now is a great time to share your thoughts and plans with a trusted friend. They may well have some useful advice for you! Thursday’s planets hint at a secret admirer!

Far Right Lane

During this past week I have been kind of sitting on edge with things between me and Rich. We haven't really talked like normal since last Thursday and our communication was sort of faded during the last few days. Though I must say that we had been very hectic with our own schedules and finding the time to catch up with one another was very difficult.

Well, finally we were able to squeeze in a 45-minute phone call to say what's going on and see where we are with our work so far and how things are going with me and him last night--after a few days of not talking gave me the excitement to talk to him.

It turned out the week for him has been very busy with his job and everything going on at the same time. Busier than he anticipated. That's what happens when you work in sales and marketing. There's always something to do. Anyway, he got a promotion within the company that he works for and he seems to be very excited about it and looking forward to the many travels that he will be doing as a nature of the job he accepted. I said Congratulations and that I will take him out for a celebratory drink. So that's pretty much what has been keeping him occupied.

Well, mine was sort of busy and intense. Intense? Yes, it is because the fact that we haven't had the opportunity to catch up. That sort of bothered me a little bit. But, last night I explained that my week has been just as crazy as his, given that my boss wasn't in the office for the majority of this week. I further explained that it kind of sucked that there was no time for "us".

I am somewhat discombobulated with the fact that he felt uncomfortable with how things are going on between us. He felt that it was going faster than he anticipated. So he decided to take it slow and see where it leads us. Knowing me I said "That is perfectly fine by me." He's reasoning was that he just took this job and it will require him to travel a lot within the next two or three months and hanging out with me would be extremely challenging for him. Well, guess what my ass said to him:

Thanks for telling me how you feel about things and given your situation in your life and things between the two of us, it may be best that we re-arrange our priorities. You just accepted a job and whatever the nature of it is, you gotta do it; even though it means more traveling on your part. It is a job and it is your job--not mine. I would probably do the same thing if I was in your shoes. If your job is a priority, then prioritize it, and if you think traveling would be a burden for us to get together, then you will have to make a choice.

That is the beauty of dating is that if you meet someone, regardless of how much job you have in life, you will have to make time for that person. And again, job is a job. If you find it hard to find time to get together with me when/if you do your job, then I have to move on. The only time this could work is either you make the time or I deal with it. Unfortunately, I'm the type of person that likes to be around with somebody I enjoy especially when I'm dating someone. I, however, understand that there is a time to stop...or slow down.

At this point in my life I want to have a relationship, build a future, and raise a family. I want to be quite frank with you - but if you are not the person who can share the same interest at this point of your life, then I think it would be best that we stay as friends. Now, as friends, you know we still go out and do stuff together. But, do them with the intention that we are just friends and not as potential boyfriends. I hate to say this but the ball is in your court. I told you where I am in my life and what I want from you, and depending upon how you react to this we will move forward. But for now, we'll just gonna play everything by ear and at the same time be not exclusive. If you meet someone else along the way, that's great for you, and of course vice versa. If something happens beyond us being friends, then that would be wonderful. It's all good, otherwise.

I don't think he was well prepared for this discussion but he stood still and listened to me and then said:

By all means I'm not saying Goodbye or anything. I just like to take it slow and see where it leads. I don't think I'm ready for a one-on-one relationship yet at this time especially now that I have taken this job, which will require lots of traveling for the next two or three months. I don't want to lead you to anything that it's not there because I would feel very bad about it. However, I still want to do stuff with you--go see a movie, invite you for dinner, go here and there, etc. But I want to take it slow. Can we plan something this weekend? I'll call you.

I'm sitting there thinking what my reply would be so I said:

You are more than welcome to take your time getting to know me and see where your emotions takes you. Meanwhile, I have a life to live, a job to do, and goals to achieve. And again, if we get together and it goes beyond friends, then that's cool. If not, that's cool, too. You may call me this weekend and let me know. But, don't go out with me for pity sake. I'm fine with the way things are right now. I feel better that you told me how you feel with things and now at least I know where I stand. Definitely not going to hold this against you. I cannot drive your life to compensate what I want in life, if you are not willing to do it. I can only control myself, not others. Only you can control yourself. If I have time this weekend, I will go out with you. Otherwise, it'll be next time.

So that we have a closure to this discussion, how about I say that I'm glad to have met you and did those things together. They were certainly fun! If you are willing, we can stay connected via phone and face-to-face as seldom as possible. Again, I'm sorry that I came off too strong for you. Stronger than what you can handle. That's just me! I'm special. OK?

Don't stress about this tonight. You have a long day ahead of you so you could use a good night sleep. OK? I'll catch up with you later.

That's pretty much how the conversation went. Kind of intense, but I remained composed the whole time. No sign of disappointment, nor aggravation, nor coldheartedness. As far as I was concerned, I was clear with what I want from him and I told him how I feel. I'm known for speaking my thoughts freely and not hold back. I cannot stand having to hide my feelings and not tell anyone. I'm honest with myself and so with others. I'd rather tell you what and how I feel then fight myself over for not being honest.

Not sure how it's going to go on but I will keep making connections with folks (in fact I have back ups...LMAO!) and see it will take me. Dating, dating, dating...you gotta love it! Anyway, have a good weekend everyone!

Ciao!

Buckle Up!

So it turns out I have quite a few travels (both pleasure and business) that I need to start planning on. During the last two weeks or so, I thought I would travel reasonably not too far away before the year ends. Since I haven’t had any chance to take vacations yet this year, I thought now would be a good opportunity.

The following are my travel plans I have for the next few months:

Next weekend - William and his boyfriend, Ernesto, wanted me to go with them to Chicago for the weekend. I’m not sure if I’m going as I have planned other stuff with some friends. The likelihood is that I won’t be able to go. God knows! Things may change. I suggested that re-schedule it early November so I can go. I shall see what their reaction is, and if they are willing to, I will then be off to Chicago! Woot!

Week of Thanksgiving - I plan to drive to New Jersey (just minutes outside of New York) to go shopping for Thanksgiving. I did do that few years ago and I’d like to do it again this year.

On December 6th - my friends and I are going to New York to see a broadway show called “Grease” which will be held in Brooks Atkinson Theatre at 2:00 pm. Special guests will include Ace Young and Taylor Hicks. Part of the itinerary will include seeing World Trade Center, Rockefeller Center, Time Square, downtown Manhattan, and Brooklyn. Will plan to leave VA early in the morning and come home late at night. This is going to be great!

On January 15th through 18th - I will be in New Orleans, LA for a business meeting for one of my clients. I am their Program Director (I’ve been working on this program for 7 months now so I better be! Yea, I am!) so I HAVE to be there. Everyone will be depending on me as I am expected to know the whole program from inside and out. Kind of scary, ain’t it? Nah, not really. Actually it’s fun! While I’m down there, I made plans with a friend of mine who live in Shreveport to come down to New Orleans and show me around. I really hope she’ll be able to make it - she sounded like she could. Otherwise, I’d be very sad - but I also have another friend who live in downtown New Orleans. I’ve already been in touch with her and is looking forward to seeing me down there (and vice versa). We shall see how that will go. It’ll be fun!

That’s my travel plans for now. I hope this list will populate itself so that I can keep my schedule booked for the rest of the year and for the most part of 2009.

Anyway, hope I’d share that. Hope everyone’s week has been going pretty well. Mine is somewhat mediocre - but whatever. It’ll get better.

Love Keeps Losing Me

Falling for someone is the most beautiful thing
I have a hard time imagining the joy it brings
For I am lost in the world of passionate love
I can't feel nor see it, should I give up?

I was once loved and cared by you alone
You comforted me then, now and forever long
Your warmth, touch, and presence said it all
I find no one else that I can claim "my all"

Your love and passion carried me through far away
From my world of deep misery to your mighty way
Not scared at all to fall and break around you
Because I feel you are there to catch me blue

Your words in the morning light lift my spirit up
Your voice makes it all fine from the ground up
I just can't imagine without you by my side
My world will fall by my feet deep and wide

My heart of mine sees everything with greatness
Not sure how to reciprocate with much gentleness
With such fear in me drives my soul shamelessly
For you don't deserve misery after saving me

Too deep in my own world that love doesn't exists
Should have loved you and feel how love truly sees
I don't want to hurt you so run away and stay far
Love someone who have already won their own war

I'm battling myself for many and different reasons
I just wish I can get over it with learned lessons
So that I can move on with my life feeling happy
I want to feel love once again and be sturdy

I need you along my side watch me grow on my own
Brush me from time to time when I feel alone
Love is such a beautiful thing to waste
I'm willing to go anywhere beyond my ways

Sorry that I have hurt you in one way or another
Don't know how to go one step being a lover
I wanna share my my life with you so deeply
For I can't love anyone until I love me

[Re-Post] Show Me How

Everytime I think about you I see myself fall
I couldn’t help - but wish I could end it all
One morning I will wake up seeing you there
To make me strong and feel like a flare

Too much to say don’t know where to begin
Seemed you’re the world I want to live in
So deep in love that it makes me blind
Didn’t care where love takes me around

Feels like I fell into my greatest weakness
Too painful to feel any ounce of bitterness
Your presence seems to make things well
Even when I’m in pieces you say “Be well”

Sometimes the day go by so fast but hard
Your Hellos and Goodbyes gives me reward
You cheering me up whenever I’m lonely
Takes me away and there comfort you give me

I see that your affection has become cold
Your eyes tell me you’re ready to fold
The one time passion is ready to fade away
Never come back but I wish it’s not too late

Now I can’t fly without you holding me
It hurts knowing you’re away from me
Wish you would come back and be with me
Share you my life now and eternity

Show me how to find myself somewhere
Fit myself some place not everywhere
Hope I’ll find someone like you near me
A true love that brings me to my knees

Please come back redeem I’m all yours
Let the wind blows and let love flows
Don’t tell me that I’m free to love again
I’ll fall in love again, but how. show me how.

What's In It For Me?

Apparently this is what my luck was for today:

Taurus (April 20 - May 20): Your work routine may be subject to some minor disruptions, thanks to the inharmonious aspects of the full moon. Getting started won't be too difficult, but little things and worries will seem to crop up out of nowhere. This is a good day to ignore that pesky inner voice!

This has nailed the snail right on the head yet again. My boss is out of town for a business meeting from today all the way through Thursday, which means I have to deal with extra work for the whole time she's away. Got an email message from her today explaining that I have to get as much work as possible to her project that she's been working on during the past several weeks.

It's not so bad, I suppose, but I get to finish the very important element of the whole project. I volunteered that I'd take over the project because I know exactly what to do - but at the time she declined because of the other programs I've been working on. (She just doesn't want me to be overwhelmed with stuff) And now, see what ended up happening. Oh, well! It sucks. That means I have to make some re-arrangements with my plans this week to accommodate hers. It does make you feel crappy when you are someone's deputy that you are expected to change your plans anywhere possible. Again, oh well. What can you do?

So that is where the whole work routine disruption come into play. On, and on top of that, I have these little worries that has been driving me nuts during the past few days and I choose not to talk about it here. They seemed to have came cropping up out of nowhere and I realized that I shouldn't let it drive me crazy. I'm just a human being that I get driven shamelessly by my own fears. I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel so I think I'm just gonna "let it roll off my shoulder and move on".

So the bright side of all of these is below. It sounds like it would be very promising - but again this is just a horoscope. We shall see how the week progress and that will justify it being true, somewhat true, or just a big blurb.

Taurus (April 20 - May 20): Foggy influences on Monday and Tuesday indicate a tendency towards wasted effort. Perhaps the most you can aim for on these two rather obstructive days is to keep your head above water. However, from Thursday onwards there should be a complete turnaround: a revelation; an offer of support and an unexpected gesture will come at the right time! Tuesday's full moon may home in on your work routine.

Have a great work week everyone! Hope yours will go well this week. Ciao!

I Love Connections!

After having a couple cups of coffee, I still have hung over from last night drinking with friends at Freddies. But, let me not start with that… here’s the re-cap for this past weekend’s events…

Workwise my work week has been quite stressful, and again because of this whole program development that I have been working on, after a while it takes the toll on you. I’ve been working on this for the past 7 months and I’m getting to know the whole in and out of the process and because of that I’m expected to be responsible for knowing the system and to direct people how to manuever themselves in the system. Anyway, it was stressful but again my outlet to let all that out is the gym. You gotta love gym! I find gym quite useful at times like that.

My roommate went to Chicago for a business meeting last Monday and she came back yesterday. All week I’ve been working and getting off early to take the girls out. I don’t like leaving them at the house for not more than 9 hours. I love them so I sacrifice for them. I guess if you are a naturally pet-person you’d do those kinds of things. So since I was by myself, I watched several movies I’ve already seen and caught up with my favorite TV shows like CSI: Miami and Fringe. (Can’t wait to see CSI: Miami tonight!). Rich fortunately likes Miami too so he and I can relate how ridiculously cute Eric is. (Eh, what the heck! Ryan is cute, too!). Anyway, did most of that Friday night–movies after movies. It was fun actually!

Saturday I went to the gym and worked out a little bit then kind of chilled by driving around checking the various restaurants around where I live. I haven’t realized until then that there’s so many interesting places out here in Manassas. I like where I live. It’s close to everything. It has everything I need except a job.

Part of Saturday also was going to visit my friend William where he works and after that my friend and I went bowling in Woodbridge. I couldn’t believe I did 166 after haven’t gone bowling in about 10-11 months. Still did pretty good - but I noticed I still need to work on my consistency, and that is still a working progress. After that we went to the potomac mills and walked around and visited Silas. After a while I got tired from walking so I called it a day after like around 4:30ish. I went home did my laundry and cooked dinner. (Yea, I know. I’m surprised, too!).

Moving along… Sunday was really awesome. First I went to see my Mom in Arlington where she works. Every now and then, if not every Sunday, I pay my mom a surprise visit at her job. The majority of time, however, she is busy. But, all I wanted is to be able to see her and talk to her for a little bit. Anyway, she was very happy to see me (and vice versa) and we talked a little bit - but then she got busy and I had to leave. On the way home, so that I can get to pick up my roommate and her mom at Dulles airport, I saw Rich biking around Shirlington/Arlington area. Kind of funny to see him out on the road - but what amazes me the most is the fact that he makes time to be active and do what he enjoys. For me that’s what matters! He said at some point in the future we’ll pursue one of our plans before–to go biking in the city. Can’t wait for that to happen…

So I went to Dulles airport picked them up then we went to IHOP in Centreville for lunch. We had a good time there. We all came home very tired so we took a nap and woke up all energized. So I thought I’d go to the gym do some cardio and maybe go to Freddies for drinks and the drag show. So I got ready and headed to Freddies. I was there for about an hour watching the show, then my friend William and his boyfriend, Ernesto, and a friend of theirs, Luis, came and joined me. We had a good time. I felt so bad about being disconnected from Ernesto for a little while. I apologized for not having been able to connect with them - but he understood.

I thought to myself these guys are the ones I want to keep as friends. They have the interest in making a connection as friends, stay connected, and have a good time anywhere possible. I told them I’d better in staying in touch with people. Sometimes I have the tendency of detaching from folks for a while. I love these guys and I can’t let them go.

Anyway, I had a good time with them and was happy to have met one of their close friend. In fact, he already invited me for a Christmas party on December 20th. Thank, God! I should be off work by them all the way though January 2nd. (One of the perks in working for my company is that you get to be off from like December 18th through January 2nd PAID! Woot!). So I’m looking forward to that…

So the here’s the recap: Weekend was awesome. Did minimal stuff. Had a great time with friends and in meeting people and making connections. We will try and do something this coming weekend. Not sure what Rich and I will do during the week but we have yet to talk about it. I told him that my schedule this week with my boss being in Denver, CO from today through Thursday would be a challenge to find time. Anyway, we’ll figure something out…

Have a great work week everyone! I gotta go take the dogs out to the dog park today. It is such a lovely day to stay in. Heck no! Ciao!

Aiming for A+ Yet Again

I think I might have already blogged about this - but in the coming months, I will plan to register for yet another class at NOVA this Winter. This is sort of an addition to what I already studied last Fall 2007 and Winter of this year. It turned out that the CAE certification exam requires 100 CAE hours for those who plan to take the examination in 2010. I’ve already completed 90 CAE hours and so I need to accumulate 10 more. This upcoming class will give me 45 CAE addional hours, which would put me over the required CAE hour requirement. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to have too many than not having enough…

Well, guess who will be taking that exam that time…me! I’m not quite happy with how the policy changed in just a matter of a year or so - but I knew, however, that I need to get all the requirements met before I can apply to sit for the exam. At the time I hated the fact that I have yet to register for another class and now I’m quite looking forward to it.

Now the challenge is to figure out which course I should take, a class that would keep my interest going as long as possible would be difficult to determine. I actually gave it some thoughts towards the end of my last class back in March which course that makes more sense. Two of things I had in mind was either Social and Public Policy or Financial Management for Non-Profits. These were the two best candidates as oppose to the other ones like hotel management, which I am not in the business for, or meeting planning, which I have already taken and passed. And not to mention, got an A+! I also thought about taking Publishing course but it’s not so relevant to what I do now. However, knowing some publishing principles is quite essential in the association management industry.

I really need to be thinking about this as soon as possible before registration closes. I’m glad that I’m thinking of this kind of stuff now rather than later. Actually I’m excited about going back to school. I’m looking forward to getting off early at work once a week to go to school and stuff, writing papers, etc. Not at the rushing point when a paper is due or the final paper - but the ability to write a thesis and go back and read what you wrote every now and then. Whenever you have a passion about something you like to see the end-product as numerous as you like. In my case, I like to write and read. Anyway, whatever it is I think I will enjoy going back to school again. I may be able to meet folks - different folks - this time around. And besides I need something to keep me occupied other than just doing the typical work and gym stuff.

Well, I’ve got someone whom I can do “other” stuff with now. (I hope it goes on and on…) He seems to be nice and always enthusiastic to see me (and vice versa!). Rich is his name. He’s in North Carolina right now, but he and I are looking forward to hanging out this Saturday at his condo. We briefly talked about cooking dinner together on Saturday night. That should be fun! I’m really looking forward to it.

Anyway, that’s the news for now. Time for another round at school and always on the hunt for stuff to keep myself occupied. Any suggestions? Let me know.

Ciao!

It Takes 2 To Tango

One word I could ever describe this weekend would be effing SWEET! Quite frankly I don’t know where to start really, but I’ll try to recap what went on as best as possible…

After Rich and I met on Tuesday at Sakura in Fairfax for dinner, we sort of immediately discussed what we woudl do in our second date. Well, first we thought biking in downtown DC would be a good idea, somewhat active and kind of extra-ordinary. That idea went soaking in our thoughts with excitement until Rich got little under the weather on Thursday all the way through Friday. So I was worried that we were not going to be able to go biking, but Friday fortunately he felt better. We gave what we initially planned another thought - but I suggest not to pursue it given that he wasn’t feeling all that well during that past two days.

That didn’t happen fortunately, as I suggested, however, we thought we would do something more low key and yet out of ordinary…

Friday night we talked and decided to go to Bethesda, MD to check out the “Taste of Bethesda”, which is an annual food festival, bringing in all kind of local and regional restaurants in Bethesda with their specialty dishes, etc. So that was the plan! On Saturday met up with him at his apartment where one of the people I know, whom I was trying to be just friend with, live.

It was actually very, I mean extremely, awkward to walk into the same building where I met him…

Anyway, went up to his condo and boy, I must say I thought I walked into a model house. In fact, I could say beyond a model house–fully furnished and definitely has a good taste. He gave me the tour and I was fascinated with the amount of art and furnishings he had in that condo. I told him I was amazed with his taste and I also said I was in the wrong business. We kind of laughed at that! We sat for a little bit and talked about the places that he’s been to and the places he’d like to check out. He mentioned about his interest in going to some countried down in South America. I bluntly said I am very enthusiastic about traveling just about anywhere. Anywhere other than Virginia would be beyond good for me. Some of the places he mentioned was Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. It turns out he’s been to Chile and Peru and so he wanted to go back and visit again. Towards the end of that conversation I made a point that I’d be thrilled to go travel with him just about anywhere and he threw the interest back at me–which is a good thing!

After that we got in the car and drove pass Shirlington and just so happen Shirlington was having the Octoberfest. Well, that sort of got our attention so we turned around and checked out the event. It turned looking at different kinds of beers at noon wasn’t a good idea - perhaps later that day but not that time. So having said that we went on and took the Metro to Bethesda.

So, we arrived in Bethesda, had a hard time finding the place though but we made it there. Boy, that event was amazing–truly was. There must have been tens of thousands of people, and I found it very fascinating. Bought our tickets which got us to check out different type of foods — definitely did not check out your typical burger and steak foods but cross-culture food. We tried Japanese, Malaysian, French, and Spanish cuisines. The various tastes are just incredible and what’s very sweet about was us with the crowd of folks feeding each other. I thought it was very cute! We sort of acted like no one else was around but us. Definitely sweet! I felt ants all over me. Really.

After that we had no luck to find a cocktail bar, so we ended up going to Chinatown and had cocktail. We both had Mojito, which we both like. Haven’t had those in a long time and yesterday was the perfect day to re-connect with it. Perfect drink, perfect weather, and a partner! It couldn’t have been better.

We sat and talked about several things. Actually glad it happened because I get to know him at a different level–knowing his relationship history, his family, etc. Us sitting across the Verizon Center having a drink or two was just perfect and relaxing. After that we offered we’d go back to his place and he’d make me more cocktail! I said Yes but surprised me with a drink. He made me a pomegranate martini, which is my favorite. I know, I know…Martini, a very gay drink! It does taste good and it taste better when you’re around somebody you enjoy. Anyway, he made a good one and having mojito before that kind of pushed me closer to my limit line and so I called it a day. Relaxed a little bit, chilled with him with more of the talking. Gosh, we just couldn’t stop talking!

The night went on as long as I could ever imagine. Very soothing and out of the ordinary. I quite frankly needed that. We both did, and I’m glad I decided to go on for another date. It was well worth it. Definitely worth it.

He is traveling for work during this week but will be back before the weekend. Whew! I’m glad because I’m waiting for my second round of home-made pom-tini! We might be going golfing next weekend, but I asked him to give that idea some thinking. Otherwise, we’ll pick some other ones. As far as I am concerned, whatever it is, I just want to see him again…

Sold At Hello

This the shortest blog I have ever written… Tonight was my date night with Rich, the guy I met at Freddies on Sunday night. Well, I will say the night was incredibly awesome…

Had great food and service at Sakura in Fair Lakes… Very relaxing! We both tried some exotic sushi that we both haven’t had in the past…and guess what? That kept us excited throughout the whole dinner. Good food! Definitely would reccommend it…

Had a terrific time conversing about one another… We started talking about our family and work background. Boy, I must say he excelled in the business that he is in, and he seems to have passion in what he does. FYI - he is in the architectural and design for big companies throughout U.S. Then we talked about our hobbies, shows (Gawd! He is a CSI: Miami fan! I wanna marry him NOW! LOL), our relationship history, and some of the things we’d like to do in our own spare time. You can tell the conversation was lively, and it felt like we never ran out of things to talk about. Definitely a good communicator…

Headed to a bar to catch up for more drinks… Then there we kind of sat at the bar talking about what made him interested, etc. And surprisingly enough I threw the ball back to his court. There he explained more about what his personality is and things he can do. For example, mixing drinks. I asked him what he would make me given how the weather outside and he said “I’d make you a Chocolate Martini. Kind of dreary day and cool so it would give me the warmth that is suitable with someone to cuddle up with.” He sounded very knowledgeable about mixing drinks so I think there is an advantage for someone like me who doesn’t know shit about that kind of stuff. Anway, he is pleasant to sit at the bar and have a drink with!

Given all those events, we might have the second shot coming at us very soon. We’ll see how that goes and it hopefully both of our expectation will be met. Looking forward to seeing him again…