Las Vegas Part 2:

-I spent a couple of hours one afternoon at the hotel pool. It was not quiet as relaxing as I had hoped, since the place was geared up for the young party crowd, with a DJ blasting ‘Classic’ R&B and rap hits… you know, when exactly did 90’s music of any genre get to be considered CLASSIC? Um, sidetracked there, as the point is that it was loud; when all I really wanted to do was sit in the shade, reading my book, while listening to the music of my choice on my ipod.

I’m old, get over it.

Anyway, getting my goals accomplished was harder than it should have been since the music was so loud I couldn’t hear my ipod unless it set to eardrum damaging levels, and the layout of the pool made for very few shade covered spots, all of which were occupied, so I made do with merely reading my book, I’ve been reading Steven Rinella’s The Scavenger's Guide to Haute Cuisine, which is proving to be an interesting, if occasionally difficult read covering such subjects as how far removed we as a culture from the source of our food (occasionally difficult not for language or style, but for it’s frank description of hunting, prepping, and cooking game). In the end though the music and crowd were too loud to concentrate to and I switched to people watching.

By people watching, I of course mean checking out guys.

Unfortunately the majority were overly and badly planned tattooed boys. Really gente, if you have to have more than one tattoo, for pity sake have a plan before you end up looking like a randomly doodled piece of paper. “Cool” is not having a fake islander/tribal stripe next to a Tasmanian devil cartoon next to your astrological sign next to a devil head next to a star next to your ex girlfriend’s name next to some kanji that hopefully means what you think it means.

Um sidetracked again, so uh, tattoos I expected. What I didn’t was the relatively high number of young straight guys with pierced nipples. In every clump of guys trying to chat up girls was at least a couple of pierced boys. Is this a trend among college boys I didn’t know about? Or was the selection of wanna-be ‘playas there skewed towards the ringed and barbelled for some odd reason?

In truth, tattooed or pierced or not I didn’t find too many guys worth checking out, mainly because the crowd was fairly young. There was one gym bodied, bald, 30-something white guy who was rather nice to look at, but he had a girlfriend and it quickly became obvious that he knew he looked good and worse kept on walking the same route around the pool to show himself off, which was ultimately a turn off. There were also a few chubby college boys who were all about the cute, but well, college aged, which well cute or not, ultimately made them less interesting to look at.

I left at the same time as two short, very skinny (no, really, really skinny) Chinese (Southeast Asian?) guys who I assume were gay, because even though straight boys may think nothing of jamming slivers of metal though their fleshy bits, they still refuse to wear shorts higher than their knees, and these two kids wore bright colored skimpy square cut trunks that stopped just short of being speedos.

We got onto the same elevator, and as we rode up together I realized that one of them was looking at me through the corner of his eye. I got off at my floor, and as the doors closed I heard the two of them giggle and start talking quickly in whatever language it was they spoke, so either I got cruised and was too dense to realize it, or they were laughing at the fat Mexican guy.

I guess I should be displeased by the later option, though I don’t care if they were laughing at me or not. I would normally consider the former a compliment, but for some reason I am not really seeing it as one. I guess because even if I were on the look out for an affair, I can’t imagine that our hypothetical sexcapades would have been any good. While it is not necessary for a guy to be beefy or large for me to find him attractive, it would help if he weren’t so rib poking skinny like these boys that I‘d spend the entire time in fear of sharp angles and elbows, or worse worried that he would be so brittle that I’d accidentally snap him in half.

So um, on that disturbing image, another story later,

Be well gente.

vegas

Las Vegas night

I’ve been back form Las Vegas for a week now, and I guess it’s time to start getting some of these stories out of the way. In no particular order or importance:

Vegas part 1

-We saw Le Reve, a Cirque du Soleil-like show, which I think was created by an ex creative director of cirque, though I may be wrong about that. It was a water based show in a theater in the round setting with the seat surrounding a large water tank. The story, of what there was, was something about a woman dreaming that she had lost then eventually found her man, or as I joked about it afterward, it was the story of how the heterosexual love between a hot woman in red and her equally hot bald headed man will prevail against all, even with the devil, droves of look-a-likes, and homosexual body builders all running interference.

Which makes it sound like I didn’t like the thing, which is wrong, since I did, though as my friend K pointed out afterwards my enjoyment may have had something to do with the majority of the male cast consisting of barely clothed, beefy thighed, bald headed white guys… and um, well, while perhaps not the sole cause of my enjoyment, it certainly didn’t hurt either.

-Before the show we had dinner had the Wynn buffet. I’d looked it up online before the trip and reviews tended towards the extremes of love and hate, with the haters complaining of high cost and ‘weird’ food such as sushi. Yeah, apparently sushi is weird.

So, dinner. To the left of us was a table with a married couple where the wife spent most of her meal looking bored as she stared at her husband eating plate after plate of piled high meat y crab legs.

In front of us was a table of young college aged guys, Japanese (at least I think I over heard a couple of Japanese words) and a lone white guy. I got the 'vibe' from them, which was confirmed when I saw that one of the Japanese guys had his hand on the white guys knee. They made for a way cute couple, assuming they were a couple and not just some hook up, though even if they were, they were still all cute.

Finally to our right was another married couple, possibly from South America from the sound of their Spanish. That husband did not have his plate pilled high with food, though he did visit the dessert selection twice. Apparently a mistake on his part since when he sat down with that second plate, his wife crossed her arms and somewhat loudly proclaimed "Y QUE ESTAS JUGANDO!" She then railed into him for eating so much, while his only defense was that he only wanted a second helping of creme brulee. Hehehe... well, I found it funny at the time.

Anyway, the food was really good, and while I did not have plate after plate pilled high with red meat and crab legs, I did indulge in things I like but rarely eat, like lamb and ceviche. Goodness that trout ceviche was good.

So uh, maybe more stories later, in the mean time be good, and have some creme brulee for me.

and for no real reson, a video somebody shot of one of the numbers, and an example of the show's hunky male cast wearing red skirts, because they are just THAT macho:

A short video consisting of photos from the Ethel M Chocolates Factory Cactus Garden in Las Vegas taken earlier this week. Vacation is over, so sad...though the free sample of chocolate at the end of the factory tour was nice. No chocolates in this cosa though, just cactus y otros plantas.

It would seem that me + lack of sleep + camera = a silly pointless video. This was done a few days ago in Las Vegas in my hotel room bed. Off to work now... yuck. Be well gente.

Work has been so hectic that I haven't had a chance to write up anything about my recent Vegas trip. Eventually I'll get around to it, but in the mean time how's about a quick mention of Moyashimon? I saw the anime series in Vegas and had a blast watching 'em, they were so quirky and odd, yet also educational. It involves a freshman at an agricultural college with the ability to see (and communicate) with microbes, and not just any ol' microbes, but the cutest little buggers you could imagine. While that sounds strange, and is, it dovetails into the fact that it is a story about growing up and accepting yourself and your choices in life while simultaneously being a anime about fermentation. Again odd... but also really cute. Hopefully it, or at the very least the manga version will get released here in the states.

Two vids, the first, one of the best anime intros I've ever seen, and the second, an example of one of the little educational microbe theater segments that end each episode:

Hola mis mijitos lindos, I'm actually in a good mood today. Probably has something to do with my heading off for Vegas for a few days. This break from work is much needed, though unfortunately work is so crazy stupid that two measly vacation days has necessitated my jumbling around my work schedule to come in on what should be a day off. Ehh, whatever.

Anyway, my erratic barely here posting will become even more erratic and barely here for a while, though I expect that I'll eventually be inundating you all with vacation pics as I am want to do. So until then, here's something to tide you over (not that you need any tiding), another of the me vs. gay stereotypes videos that I've been putting up at youtube. This one is about the idea that ALL gay men are vain, vapid creatures overly concerned with appearance. Because of course, there is no such thing as a gay slob... unless you know me that is.

Another video instead of written content. This time it's a couple of short stories about two plays. First, Emergency written and performed by Daniel Beaty playing at the Geffen Playhouse and My Fair Lady playing at the Ahmanson.

In the first story it may or may not matter that both the running man and rude woman were late 40's or so, and that the woman appeared to be um, more than comfortable money wise.

In the second story I fail to mention that during intermission I walked by a group of women when one of them suddenly turned to me and asked "Quick! Who played professor Higgins in the movie!" Were I quick witted I would have made a crack about not being that gay, while stalling for time to think of the answer. Then again if I were that skilled I would have remembered that it was Rex Harrison, instead of just stammering "Um, Uh, Um" since the only name I could come up with was Audrey Hepburn, which started my brain on a weird path wondering what a cross dressed version of the play would be like. A dubbed Audry Hepburn in drag king gear singing about why women suck when compared to men. huh...

This weeks Top Chef left me wondering why the folks in charge are airing footage showing a fly buzzing around the main kitchen set. This is the second week in a row it's happened. You'd think they be disinclined to show vermin flying about the place.

I'm disturbed that this song is growing on me...

More with the idea of gay stereotypes vs. me. This time the idea of "ALL gay men are artistic," which while it can sound like a good thing, considering the low value 'the arts' have in modern American society, is probably not so much a compliment.

Should have posted this a coupe of days ago to be more topical, but anyway I watched and was surprised by Top Chef this week.

While the final elimination results did not go where I expected, and I was amazed that they allowed the contestants to complain about (and actually showed them taping up the doors so they would stay closed) the refrigerators during the refrigerator product placement segment of the show, what truly shocked me was during a scene in the Top Chef kitchen Tom whatshisname is talking to one of the Chefs and a fly lands and walks around on the Chefs arm.

A FLY! in the TOP CHEF KITCHEN! in the same episode that they bitch out another contestant for being sloppy and unsanitary. A FLY!

Actually, a fly in the kitchen doesn’t amaze me as much as the fact that they actually used that footage.

Revisiting an old idea asking if I successfully fulfill the stereotypes expected of me. In this case, Am I promiscuous gay man incapable of maintaining a long term relationship?

Temps are going to be in the high 90's today. A bit wacky since that's height of summer type weather and it's only April. Supposedly it's going to cool down as the week goes on to a more normal low 80's, which will be much appreciated.

Revisiting an old idea asking if I successfully fulfill the stereotypes expected of me. In this case, Am I effeminate?

In lieu of new content, how about an entry from my old diaryland blog:
(from 04/02/2002)

Mestizo


There have been times recently when I've startled myself by looking in the mirror. I will be brushing my teeth half awake/half asleep in the morning and suddenly I see my father looking back at me.

The older I get, the more I resemble my father.

This is something I have been hearing from friends and relatives as I work my way through my thirties. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but after spending most of my life being told I take after my mother's side of the family, it is not something I am used to hearing.

Resembling my father means that I am slowly gaining the stereotypical rounded Southern Mexican Indian facial features, or rather, that what is already there is now more noticeable. My features are simultaneously becoming both more sharper and more softer. No one will ever look at me and go "Hey, that guy looks like an Native American," but I am starting to see a hint of a resemblance.

My father's people are from Michoacan and look it. If you have seen a photograph of an average Mariachi band, you have seen my family. The men are invariably solid and the women sturdy.

There is a family story that a Great, Great, Grandfather of mine was a sailor and brought a Samoan bride back to Mexico with him after one of his trips. Supposedly this is the origin of the physical strength and fortitude that flows through the female members of the family. My sister jokes that our primas are all Amazons. Considering that they all tower over me, there is some truth to the statement.

In the extended family there are Craftspeople and Factory Workers, Restauranteurs and Musicians. Related more closely, are a large number of tias, tios, primas and primos who no longer speak to my side of the family because we are not born again fundamentalist Christians. These days, we usually only hear from them due to the occasional death or marriage. Considering that I am a lapsed Catholic and worse, openly gay, I don't spend too much time worrying about this lack of communication.

My mother's people are from Northern Mexico. She is fond of telling an inappropriate joke which essentially relates that through our veins flows the forcibly mixed blood of German Mennonites, French solders, Spanish conquers and at least one of the native tribes of Chihuahua.

One of my Great Grandfathers fought with Pancho Villa. A supposed embarrassment north of the border, but a strong source of familial pride south of the border. More recently, the family has produced Lawyers and Teachers, Ranch Hands and Doctors. The family has also slowly spread out from Mexico northwards, reaching to the Dakotas.

The marriage of the two families has resulted in me. Someone who was a skinny, relatively pale boy, with chocolate brown eyes and straightish, black hair who has grown up into a not so skinny, light medium brown skinned man, with chocolate brown eyes and wavy black hair.

A man who occasionally sees history when he looks into the mirror.

More later,

nico


(In truth, my gaining weight off and on over the years is what really created the stronger resemblance to my father. Also, in stating that both families were moving northward of the border, I overly simplified things considering that members of my father's family have been moving between California and Mexico for at least a hundred years now, and totally ignoring the fact that until the late 19th century my mother's family lived in Texas, when it was decided that due to prejudice and threats that they should move across the border into Mexico).

Looks like I'll be in Vegas for a few days at the end of the month, thanks to my friend K letting me tag along with her on one of her gambling excursions. Considering I'm a bit sick of my work right now, the break is much needed and will be much appreciated.

I've been having headaches off and on for the past week.

Muy annoying.

Another video blog, or vlog if you prefer. This time about seeing Margaret Cho perform a couple of weeks ago, and a brief mention of taxi bars.