Things that might be decidedly odd…

Drunks

I stumbled across this list in a comment to a slog post.

Apparently King County (the county where Seattle and most of its surrounding suburbs like Redmond are located) is #12 on this list of counties with the highest percentage of residents who have drunk alcohol in the past month. It’s by far #1 on the west coast and #1 for counties with populations more than one million residents. Weird.

Most of the counties on the list are located in the northeast with a smattering through the rust belt and mountain west. No counties in California made the list, but another county I once lived in made the list. Orange County, NC which contains Chapel Hill and Carrboro is #57 or #1 in the south.

Cheerwine

I was wasting time browsing around the web when I ran across something about Cheerwine. I’d totally forgotten about that stuff. I can’t believe somebody has a whole site devoted to Cheerwine fandom. Bizarre but fun I suppose.

News in NC

While browsing around this morning, I ran across this article on a gay marriage ban in North Carolina. Interestingly, North Carolina has been the only southern state (well, there’s also Florida but that’s sort of a grey area when it comes to ‘the South’) to not pass one of these yet, largely because the governor’s mansion and both houses of the legislature are solidly held by the Democrats (red presidential voting doesn’t always mean red state office voting). Now, many (probably most) of those Democrats would vote for the constitutional ban if it came up, but their platform has been to not bring it up because it distracts from other more important issues. It will be unfortunate if the Republican minority can through procedural maneuvering force a vote on this issue, because there’s almost no question what the outcome will be if that happens–both houses will approve it and voters will support it in the election.

Donation

When I was younger, I never really got involved in any sort of cause. I did volunteer work in college, but most of it had to do with local music (KALX, WXYC, 924 Gilman Street), which wasn’t exactly the most noble cause. Even now, I find myself wanting to get back into volunteer work, especially something more meaningful but it’s just hard to find the time with work and social obligations.

However, now that I’m working in a career-oriented job, I find that I have the resources to give financial support to more than ever before. I comfort myself somewhat by noting that even organizations with a good amount of human capitol still need money to be effective.

A while ago, I came across Soulforce and their activism through some sort of news article. Basically, they work against religious oppression of GLBT people through activism and demonstration. Mostly, they bring attention to entities that do this sort of oppression. Currently, they’re doing two different bus rides around the country, stopping primarily at small religious colleges. Just today I was reading an article about how their bus was defaced in Iowa, which is really unfortunate. It reminded me that I wanted to donate to them and now seemed like a good time. Since they’re a 501(c)(3), my company apparently will even match the donation.

In particular, I chose to use my donation to sponsor a guy named Matt Hill Comer who runs the blog on which the article I linked above was posted. I think it’s great that some riders are blogging about their experiences on the trip. Moreover, his story resonates with me. Having lived in North Carolina, I’ve known many people raised in religious families who faced a lot of hardship coming out. It’s all too easy to forget while living in a gay-friendly place like Capitol Hill in Seattle and working for a gay-friendly employer like Microsoft how things are so different in so many other places.

As many political battles are being waged in court houses and state houses across the country over issues like anti-discrimination laws and marriage equality, the harder but core underlying issue is really a cultural one. I can only hope that this sort of work helps draw attention to that and lends some support to a cultural change already underway.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

For my drive to Oregon and back last weekend, I bought an audiobook through iTunes. The book I bought was the abridged version of David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day. It’s a collection of entertaining essays. I’d heard about Sedaris a number of time from various people and seen him listed on random people’s MySpaces even. The first time his work was recommended to me though was by my friend Amy who I knew in Bayreuth. I actually didn’t know much about the author except that his writing is apparently entertaining and that he’s gay. It was quite entertaining for all sorts of reasons though. He largely grew up in North Carolina, so there were lots of references to my former state which I found amusing.

I managed to find a link to one of the more amusing NC-related essays here. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re one of my UNC peeps.

Pictures from NC

Unfortunately, I didn’t take as many pictures as I’d have liked to in Chapel Hill. I did get a lot of pictures at the beach though especially of myself. I know that I’m a narcissist which is why I have the narcissism tag on flickr. I’ve got to keep around hot pictures of myself for sites like myspace and gay.com you know.

Anyhow, you can check them all out here.

Ibiza in Wilmington

On Saturday night, I did end up going out to Ibiza in Wilmington. It’s quite possibly the only gay dance club in a very large radius, so I didn’t really know what to expect. Upon arrival at around 11pm, it was empty–maybe just a half-dozen people in what is a fairly large space. It had a dance floor, outdoor patio and a bar on the ground floor then some comfy seating, a pool table and another bar on the second floor. All in all, it was a pretty nice space actually. Fortunately, as the night wore on, the place filled up pretty well. The scene at this place was roughly analogous to Neighbors in Seattle–an 18+ place that mainly draws a 18-30 gay clientelle with quite a few straight women along for the ride.

This was not only my first time at a gay bar/club in North Carolina (I never got around to going to any in Raleigh when I lived up in that area) but my first time really going to a bar or club by myself. Honestly, every other time I’ve been to such a place it’s been with friends or I arrived by myself with the prearranged plan of meeting people I already knew. As you can imagine, I felt a little awkward arriving at a place that was pretty empty by myself, but I did what every self-respecting individual in such a situation would do–I started ordering drinks. By the the time I’d had a couple, the place was busy and the dance floor was active.

I danced with this one guy for a while. I didn’t really find him attractive (longish hair doesn’t do it for me), but I figured I had nothing better to work with at that point. Those I found interesting and cute either weren’t on the dance floor, were ignoring me when I tried to dance with them or were clearly dancing in groups where everybody already knew each other. I danced with him for a while and he kept acting stranger and stranger. He’d say something to me, but when I’d ask what he’d said (because it was so loud in there and I have bad hearing), he’d get all moody and give me a “never mind” look. At various points, he seemed to get offended and get a bunch of attitude that I wasn’t dancing with him correctly or something. After only dancing with him briefly, he’d ask me questions like “you’re not going to be jerk tomorrow morning are you?” I mean, WTF dude?!? I’ve just been dancing with you for a couple minutes because there’s nobody else currently on my radar. That doesn’t mean I want to take you back to my hotel. Even if it did, it’s a little pre-emptive of you to start asking questions which quickly reveal that you have some weird issues. After some more of that bullshit, I just walked off and got some more water to drink and basically ignored said guy the rest of the night. He did come back and try to dance with me and this other guy later in the night. I had to give him a glare and kind of push him away.

Fortunately, he was not the only guy I danced with that night. At some point, this one dude comes up to me, hands me flyer for some event or other and informs me that I’m cute. We danced for maybe 10 seconds before he continued on handing out flyers to other people. I could tell right away that he was some kind of A-list gay in this town/club. He seemed to know the bar staff and lots of other patrons there. Later in the night after getting yet another cup of water (it was hot in there even with the A/C), I bumped into him again and I talked with him and his friends. There was definitely some clickage between the two of us and we soon headed to the dance floor. There I did some of the standard gay boy dirty dancing with him and his friends, which was fun. No stupid games, no bullshit, just having a good time. It probably helped that he was 34. There’s something to be said for the amount of drama being inversely proportional to age (in general, not always).

As people who have asked me about it might know, I don’t have one type–but a set of types. This guy was definitely one of my types but one that I don’t find as often for whatever reason. He was about my height (probably a little shorter), blond, not skinny (not fat but with some meat on his bones), a bit hairy and had a cute face. He got bonus points for being into piercings (had his nipples done but used to have 12 others which he took out a while ago) and having a southern accent. I didn’t go home with him for a variety of reasons, but we did have a nice time I’d say. One of his best friends recently moved to Seattle, so perhaps some day I’ll see him again. Or perhaps I’ll find myself back in Wilmington another day.

NC Update

My trip so far in North Carolina has been fun. I went out to Patio Loco with many of my friends for a birthday dinner which was followed by some excellent pie at Sarah and Jason’s. Afterwards, a few of us went over to the Speakeasy in downtown Carrboro for a couple more beers to finish off the night. I spent most of Friday shopping. The Ross stores in the Triangle are so much better than in Seattle or California! I got a pair of shoes there for $30 that would normally be $60. I also did some shopping at the Briar Creek Target (one of the best Targets around) and over at Southpoint Mall in Durham. Friday night I had some takeout for dinner with Brad and Aaron at their place in Durham. After that, I went back to Jason and Sarah’s to watch some TV with Jeff T, Paul and Russ too.

This morning, I went over to Durham to have dim sum with Steve and Steve. We went to a place called ChinaOne (I think) over off NC55. I’d never had dim sum before and definitely enjoyed myself. After returning from lunch with the Steves, Jason and Sarah left to go to the outer banks. On a whim, I decided I still had enough time to drive to the beach today. Hence, I left around 2pm and was on the beach (North Topsail) by about 5pm. Travel time included a stop at one of those heinous beach stores to buy a beach towel and pair of boardshorts since I hadn’t brought either with me. It was actually a pretty nice time to go–not too hot or too much direct sunlight but the air was still warm. The water was probably in the high 70s which was also very comfortable. After about an hour and a half of being there, I decided it was time to go and drove into Wilmington.

Originally, I’d intended to return to the Triangle tonight after the beach, but I figured I’d just stay in Wilmington and check the place out. There’s a gay dance club called Ibiza in the historic downtown that I’m going to check out tonight. Hopefully, it’ll be fun…

Work, Swimming, Camping

This week was sort of weird at work. Right now is a time of transition, which often seems to make me feel unproductive and uncertain. It’s all just part of the development cycle though.

Yesterday I went to a meeting about the recruiting trip to Chapel Hill I’m leaving for on Tuesday. I got the skinny on the ins and outs of everything I’ll need to do while I’m there. I’m supposed to be giving a talk and I’ll need to spend some time on Monday getting the slides for that ready too. It should be a good time though getting to talk to young, eager prospective future employees as well as seeing my friends. Apparently, we’ll be giving stuff away and raffling off an xbox or something too. So UNC readers should make sure to drop by!

I went to Orcas tonight, which makes it the third time this week. I’m psyching myself up to get going more frequently. I just find I get a much better workout when I do Master’s swimming than when I go by myself. Plus, the environment is much better–friendly people focused on the routine as opposed to passive-aggressive people with no swim ettiquette. If I can keep it up for the rest of the year, I’m going to cancel the gym membership I get through work. My employers pays something close to $100 a month for my memberhsip. I have to pay the income taxes on that money though, so if I’m not using it, it’s just not worth it. The only thing I ever use the gym for is the pool, so there’s not much point keeping the membership if I’m not swimming there any more. After Orcas tonight, I went with a sizeable crowd for dinner. I’ve gone in the past to dinner afterwards, but now that summer’s coming to an end more people seem to be returning to the pool. I had a nice time and got to socialize with some interesting people.

Tomorrow I’m going on a brief hike and camping trip near Mt. St. Helens. It’ll probably be the last hurrah of camping for me this year unless I get bold and take up snow camping or something. The hike should be cool though too. I guess the trail goes around the volcano and there are some views into the crater. We’re planning to leave at 7am, so I decided not to go out tonight in an attempt to get a decent amount of sleep.

North Carolina Bound

For those who haven’t heard, I’m going to be in Chapel Hill at the end of next week on a recruiting trip for Microsoft. I’m going to represent the company at the annual fall career fair and also at the diversity night (need to get a rainbow button or something for that). I’ll also be in town for my birthday (the 21st) and will have to go out on the town like old times or something. I also kind of want to go to Trailer Park Prize Night at Flex since I never got to go when I was still living in North Carolina. I suppose it’s my hot birthday and I’ll do what I want. (: