Ocean City
"The Ocean City buoys the heavy heart..."
I had a very LA day today. An LA vacation day to be exact. I woke up in downtown to a gorgeous, sunny view of the mountains from my 26th floor perch, hot guys flooding my mailbox with invitations. It was a perfect summer day in the middle of the winter and I actually appreciated it this time. The San Francisco winter is cold, dark, and most of all overcast. Ok, so I like the cooler weather up there and walking everywhere and the city feel and stuff, but spending these days in LA reminds me it is my home. What does it mean? What can it mean? I mean I feel at home here. I know how it works, where everything is. There is a feeling of being comfortable in my own skin. San Francisco, on the other hand, is a place I still have not fully adjusted to. The rudeness, the self-righteousness, the arrogance. SF is so full of itself. LA is a MUCH bigger city, like 10 times bigger or more, and only half the attitude. Also LA is 6 times cheaper than SF. This morning I paid $2 to park for 2 hours at a meter. In SF meters are $6 per hour so I would have paid $12. Really extreme. Putting it in those terms, I am kind of an idiot to live in SF. Can't have it all. I will definitely need to have a conversation with SC about this. What do people see in SF? The leather community? I see it as a negative. So much pressure to perform and be something I'm not.
Two exciting developments today: I got the reservations for both the Wigwam Village on Route 66 AND Luminarias in Phoenix!! Both of these were sold out according to the internets so I feel quite lucky and excited that both are happening!!
So yeah I woke up to the beautiful view, had brunch at Clementine in Century City, a very refined and classy time, tasteful and understated. Then I wandered around LACMA for a couple hours. Really love the Hudson River School exhibit and the gift shops, though did not buy anything. Might stop by again when I swing through LA on the trip back in January. LACMA, a real museum in a real city. SF feels so tiny by comparison. Another example, Jake Shimabukuro just happened to be in town. Such things never happen in SF. In SF you are lucky to get a trumped up drag queen traveling through town. Major acts don't stop there so often it seems.
After LACMA I grabbed some bottled water at the 99 Cent Store, again something which would have cost 6x in San Francisco for no reason. Then I headed to Malibu to spend a bit of time at El Matador Beach. I was planning to watch the sunset at Moonshadows, but I lost track of time doing some writing and listening to the waves and luxuriating in the warm breeze that the sun was setting already. I watched the purple and turquoise sunset at the beach. I braved a long ass traffic-filled 2 hour drive to Franklyn Palace Massage in Rosemead, I am pretty sure Ho turned me onto that place. The foot/body massage was really great. She started by rubbing an herb ointment on my face muscles above the eye sockets where the eyebrows are. It was very relaxing. A Chinese courtyard drama played on the TV above, which reminded me of Romeo and Juliet with its balcony scene. A few chairs away a young guy was taking calls on his cell. "Wassup my niggah... You lost all your money, now you are broke in Vegas for two days?" Then he called a girl and talked to her in a sweet tone. Straight guys can act that cute and sweet. "What are you guys doing later? Do you want to go to karaoke? You are going to Ray Ray's in Baldwin?"
Now I am at Ozero Cofftea in Alhambra, a favorite hangout of my 20s. It has been renamed to Twinkle Brown Sugar but all the signs are still Ozero dark brown and pink. Driving here from Malibu through South Pasadena, I would stop at some intersections and marvel at the amount of luxurious space. The intersections were so wide I could barely see the other side of the street. In SF the streets are narrow and at times claustrophobic for me, someone who got used to having all the space in LA for all those years. LA is a much more livable city. And what about SF? What does SF have going for it? What SF has going for it is everyone is so ALIVE there. LA is inert by comparison. Although what I have seen today is it is possible to live and have a good time and, most of all, to enjoy one's life in LA. Not to mention the ease of getting to China or Istanbul or Paris by walking into a plane, taking a short nap, and walking off the plane a few hours later already in Istanbul. The only place you can fly from SF is Frankfurt. I am not a huge fan of Oakland Airport right now.
In summary, I have enjoyed my time in LA. Last night I went to one of my favorite restaurants, Simpang Asia, an Indonesian restaurant in Palms. It was so chill, staffed by a down-to-earth lesbian. SF lesbians are militant for the most part and prefer not to hang out with men. I think it is a pity because I make good friends with lesbians. Some of my best friends in college in Chicago were lesbians.
Tomorrow I head to Phoenix and the Southwest Roadtrip begins in earnest. I secured a reservations at a Sheraton in Tempe. By the way, I really love Tempe. Desert intelligentsia. That simplification does not do it justice. It is burnt pink brick and stone. A place built on Native American legends yet firmly existing in the modern day. But above everything, it is a feeling and one I cannot put into words other than it is unique, beautiful and unlike any other place in the world. I am thankful I will get to "exist" there for a couple days.
Back to the question of what role LA is to play in my life. A difficult question with an easy answer. For now it will have to be a place I visit from time to time. A few times a year from the looks of it. Next trip will be for taxes in March. That reminds me, I will have to plan the April trip to China soon. Find the passport and all that. So for now LA will be the place I visit more or less often, as schedule and finances permit. In the long term, I don't know yet. I feel like I have to fall in love with SF. It is like "the ultimate place." The promised land, and all that, blah blah blah. How can I live anywhere else except the center of the gay universe. There is a manifest destiny about it. At the same time, I can't deny how I feel about LA, the attraction I feel towards it, how free and easy life is there, how I already feel at home there. The visit to LA further supports the SF-LA-Honolulu residential triangle I have planned. The Hawaii Men 2015 calendar was definitely a good purchase and one I will be using a lot this year. Remember the big dude from San Jose who gave me a nice, slow bj in his room at the Ramada? Ah, Hawaii and the fond memories. But you know, life is not just about bj's. It is also about hugs, communicating telepathically, nuzzles, electricity. LA and SF are only sets of coordinates. The latitude and longitude and not nearly as important as how they make you feel, who you feel you are when you are there. When I arrived in SF, really for the first year, I felt new, confident. It was a new beginning, the world was mine and I felt endlessly powerful. I could write that manual I always wanted to write. I could take the first steps toward becoming an entrepreneur. Well, things didn't exactly go according to that plan. Sure some things went well, are going well. Like the condo, confidence, a more outgoing and social personality. These are things I like better about my SF self. Other things did not go as planned. I fell back into my old workaholic routine at work, gym fell by the wayside and so did the boyfriend search. These two things I hope to revive in 2015. I guess it's my New Years resolution. Yet another friend announced his engagement on Facebook to 200+ likes. It's all babies and weddings these days. You know, people can do whatever the hell they want. I need to focus on my own stuff and not worry about anybody else.
So no bj's in LA. I gave it a half-hearted attempt to locate something the first night, but um, I have too much respect for LA..? LA, I don't feel that way about you. You are not just a trick. There is clearly more to this story. It's not that complicated. I have had a few LTR's in LA.
I had a very LA day today. An LA vacation day to be exact. I woke up in downtown to a gorgeous, sunny view of the mountains from my 26th floor perch, hot guys flooding my mailbox with invitations. It was a perfect summer day in the middle of the winter and I actually appreciated it this time. The San Francisco winter is cold, dark, and most of all overcast. Ok, so I like the cooler weather up there and walking everywhere and the city feel and stuff, but spending these days in LA reminds me it is my home. What does it mean? What can it mean? I mean I feel at home here. I know how it works, where everything is. There is a feeling of being comfortable in my own skin. San Francisco, on the other hand, is a place I still have not fully adjusted to. The rudeness, the self-righteousness, the arrogance. SF is so full of itself. LA is a MUCH bigger city, like 10 times bigger or more, and only half the attitude. Also LA is 6 times cheaper than SF. This morning I paid $2 to park for 2 hours at a meter. In SF meters are $6 per hour so I would have paid $12. Really extreme. Putting it in those terms, I am kind of an idiot to live in SF. Can't have it all. I will definitely need to have a conversation with SC about this. What do people see in SF? The leather community? I see it as a negative. So much pressure to perform and be something I'm not.
Two exciting developments today: I got the reservations for both the Wigwam Village on Route 66 AND Luminarias in Phoenix!! Both of these were sold out according to the internets so I feel quite lucky and excited that both are happening!!
So yeah I woke up to the beautiful view, had brunch at Clementine in Century City, a very refined and classy time, tasteful and understated. Then I wandered around LACMA for a couple hours. Really love the Hudson River School exhibit and the gift shops, though did not buy anything. Might stop by again when I swing through LA on the trip back in January. LACMA, a real museum in a real city. SF feels so tiny by comparison. Another example, Jake Shimabukuro just happened to be in town. Such things never happen in SF. In SF you are lucky to get a trumped up drag queen traveling through town. Major acts don't stop there so often it seems.
After LACMA I grabbed some bottled water at the 99 Cent Store, again something which would have cost 6x in San Francisco for no reason. Then I headed to Malibu to spend a bit of time at El Matador Beach. I was planning to watch the sunset at Moonshadows, but I lost track of time doing some writing and listening to the waves and luxuriating in the warm breeze that the sun was setting already. I watched the purple and turquoise sunset at the beach. I braved a long ass traffic-filled 2 hour drive to Franklyn Palace Massage in Rosemead, I am pretty sure Ho turned me onto that place. The foot/body massage was really great. She started by rubbing an herb ointment on my face muscles above the eye sockets where the eyebrows are. It was very relaxing. A Chinese courtyard drama played on the TV above, which reminded me of Romeo and Juliet with its balcony scene. A few chairs away a young guy was taking calls on his cell. "Wassup my niggah... You lost all your money, now you are broke in Vegas for two days?" Then he called a girl and talked to her in a sweet tone. Straight guys can act that cute and sweet. "What are you guys doing later? Do you want to go to karaoke? You are going to Ray Ray's in Baldwin?"
Now I am at Ozero Cofftea in Alhambra, a favorite hangout of my 20s. It has been renamed to Twinkle Brown Sugar but all the signs are still Ozero dark brown and pink. Driving here from Malibu through South Pasadena, I would stop at some intersections and marvel at the amount of luxurious space. The intersections were so wide I could barely see the other side of the street. In SF the streets are narrow and at times claustrophobic for me, someone who got used to having all the space in LA for all those years. LA is a much more livable city. And what about SF? What does SF have going for it? What SF has going for it is everyone is so ALIVE there. LA is inert by comparison. Although what I have seen today is it is possible to live and have a good time and, most of all, to enjoy one's life in LA. Not to mention the ease of getting to China or Istanbul or Paris by walking into a plane, taking a short nap, and walking off the plane a few hours later already in Istanbul. The only place you can fly from SF is Frankfurt. I am not a huge fan of Oakland Airport right now.
In summary, I have enjoyed my time in LA. Last night I went to one of my favorite restaurants, Simpang Asia, an Indonesian restaurant in Palms. It was so chill, staffed by a down-to-earth lesbian. SF lesbians are militant for the most part and prefer not to hang out with men. I think it is a pity because I make good friends with lesbians. Some of my best friends in college in Chicago were lesbians.
Tomorrow I head to Phoenix and the Southwest Roadtrip begins in earnest. I secured a reservations at a Sheraton in Tempe. By the way, I really love Tempe. Desert intelligentsia. That simplification does not do it justice. It is burnt pink brick and stone. A place built on Native American legends yet firmly existing in the modern day. But above everything, it is a feeling and one I cannot put into words other than it is unique, beautiful and unlike any other place in the world. I am thankful I will get to "exist" there for a couple days.
Back to the question of what role LA is to play in my life. A difficult question with an easy answer. For now it will have to be a place I visit from time to time. A few times a year from the looks of it. Next trip will be for taxes in March. That reminds me, I will have to plan the April trip to China soon. Find the passport and all that. So for now LA will be the place I visit more or less often, as schedule and finances permit. In the long term, I don't know yet. I feel like I have to fall in love with SF. It is like "the ultimate place." The promised land, and all that, blah blah blah. How can I live anywhere else except the center of the gay universe. There is a manifest destiny about it. At the same time, I can't deny how I feel about LA, the attraction I feel towards it, how free and easy life is there, how I already feel at home there. The visit to LA further supports the SF-LA-Honolulu residential triangle I have planned. The Hawaii Men 2015 calendar was definitely a good purchase and one I will be using a lot this year. Remember the big dude from San Jose who gave me a nice, slow bj in his room at the Ramada? Ah, Hawaii and the fond memories. But you know, life is not just about bj's. It is also about hugs, communicating telepathically, nuzzles, electricity. LA and SF are only sets of coordinates. The latitude and longitude and not nearly as important as how they make you feel, who you feel you are when you are there. When I arrived in SF, really for the first year, I felt new, confident. It was a new beginning, the world was mine and I felt endlessly powerful. I could write that manual I always wanted to write. I could take the first steps toward becoming an entrepreneur. Well, things didn't exactly go according to that plan. Sure some things went well, are going well. Like the condo, confidence, a more outgoing and social personality. These are things I like better about my SF self. Other things did not go as planned. I fell back into my old workaholic routine at work, gym fell by the wayside and so did the boyfriend search. These two things I hope to revive in 2015. I guess it's my New Years resolution. Yet another friend announced his engagement on Facebook to 200+ likes. It's all babies and weddings these days. You know, people can do whatever the hell they want. I need to focus on my own stuff and not worry about anybody else.
So no bj's in LA. I gave it a half-hearted attempt to locate something the first night, but um, I have too much respect for LA..? LA, I don't feel that way about you. You are not just a trick. There is clearly more to this story. It's not that complicated. I have had a few LTR's in LA.