Of Rice and Beans

Arabic Script Tshirt = No Service at Jet Blue

In AM New York today, there is an article about a passenger, his tshirt and racial profiling.

The article can be found here.  It seems that wearing ANYTHING in Arabic script labels you a terrorist.

One of the officials told him, "Going to an airport with a T-shirt in Arabic script is like going to a bank and wearing a T-shirt that says 'I'm a robber."' he said.

If you are Italian, drive an Escalade and live in New Jersey, does that make you a Soprano? C2 and I had a discussion about the issue and what is not being said.  Was the passenger drunk? Did he act in a manner which triggered the action taken?  Was he belligerent towards the crew? The Staff?  Bottom line is this: if he was ANY of those things, then why was he allowed to board the plane ONLY after he covered up his tshirt?  What the heck happened to free speech?  And then to put him in the back of the plane?  I understand the logic behind that - not near the cockpit, right?  How about the middle, or in a window seat, but the back of the plane?

People acting in a manner that is reactive, fearful and detrimental to others is a clear sign of where we are today as a society.  Why not, the other half's president (and his cronies) promotes this state of anxiety!

Whenever this administration's inability to function is in question (or better yet, in the limelight) they decide to raise the threat level, thus raising the anxiety level. Then, people act the way they did with this passenger.

She noted that the incident occurred two days after British authorities announced that they had foiled a plot to blow up jetliners over the Atlantic.

Keith Olbermann does a nice job of unmasking this "Wag the Dog" tactic Washington keeps using.  To see it, go here.

Lessons learned while working out

Last night, while working out with Eric at DBG, here are some of the things we covered in our conversation..

Angertwink (noun):
A young urban gay male who goes through his life very angry because:
1) The rest of the gay world does not recognize his incredible hotness.
2) The rest of the gay world is not incredibly hot, like he is.
Identifying characteristics: Angertwinks can often be spotted wearing fauxhawks, popped collars, and expressions of disgust. (Angertwink was apparently coined by Dagon)

Apparently C2 and I had an encounter with an Angertwink at Ascension, but it wasn't apparent until C2 and Eric spoke with him at DBG the week after.  Amazing, they now have their own classification.  I just call them "bitches."

Also,  it seems that last weekend on FIP, my friend (Friend1) had a ménage à trois.  He later learned that a friend of ours (Friend2) had dated one of the 2 in the couple (CoupleA).  Friend2 had doubts if he should only date CoupleA because he was good looking UNTIL CoupleA asked him this:

I get confused, which is the city and which is the state - Delaware or Maryland?

At which point, Friend2 decided he had certain standards, thus they dated no more.

What got me going was that CoupleA was born on a Caribbean island which affords American citizenship.  It is my opinion that anyone afforded American citizenship should damn well know that Maryland is the city and Delaware is the state. Geeezzz..

Ascencsion

I was back out on FI with C2 for the Ascencion party.  I arrived on Saturday night just in time for the end of low tea and then the new "middle" tea (that limbo time when the Pavilion is open during high tea and Sip N Twirl).  The DJ plays a mix of 80's Jane Fonda Workout like  songs...  Madonna, Depeche Mode, "Pump up the Jam", some Fire Island classics...LOL...oy...to think we danced to all this music at one time, and to think we are dancing to it again! It was a lot of fun.

We had a great time but decided to call it an early night since Sunday would require a lot of energy  with all those "recreational" activities... We ended up sleeping almost 12 hours..

Sunday morning started off really wet but quickly turned into an amazing day..

My opinion - great party.  The setting, music and people all came together for a nice afternoon.  After the party, we  went to low, middle and then high tea.  Being that I get enough vacation time @ DPA to make Europeans cry, I took Monday off (yes, I have been there a month and already have vacations days "accrued").  When I left on Tuesday morning, I have to admit that I was a bit sad.  Eric's posting today pretty much wraps it up....

C2's house mates have been great this summer..  I can't thank them enough for some great weekends.. and C2 obviously has been great!  I will keep the sappy stuff to myself...  We had a great weekend - nuff said.

New Hood, New View

View from my balcony on the UWS.  Sunlight.....ahhhhh

Southern Comfort, Vol. 2

After being here all week, I have to say that my enthusiasm has hit a wall (my gay enthusiasm).  All these hot, military, post frat looking guys and I cant read a single one (well, I can read one, but he is a screaming Mary).

While the food is great and the city itself is pretty, I can't get over the fact that downtown Charleston has only 1 gay bar.  After living in NYC for 11.5 years (and all the years in Miami before that), I hate to admit it but I miss all the Gay's.  I am used to being myself and feeling comfortable about it.  I know that I should be comfortable ANYWHERE I am, but at lunch all week, I kept seeing the same item conveniently placed between the utensils and the newspapers.  As if to entice someone to come and read it.  Actually, I found it quite offensive (as it reminded me of all the things I don't care about my culture AND so many other cultures).  I am talking about a BIBLE (and yes, that is the BIBLE in question, sitting on top of a magazine).

At first I thought it belonged to one of the cashiers, but on the same day they were both out, it was there (along with a 2nd bible).  With everything that is going on in the world right now, I can't help but assocaite a lot of it with fanatics fighting over whose GOD has the biggest bat (and I start with our own President).

Considering I was on-site at Blackbaud, I thought things might be a bit more progressive.  I mean this company was founded in Long Island for Christ's sake.  Then I remembered the strong Catholic presence in the area. No wonder all these guys are so closeted.  On the last day that I am here, the one guy I wanted to be one of us, confirmed that he played on our team, arrgghhhh.  To hear him say that he keeps his sexuality on the "down-low" made me feel empathetic and annoyed at the same time.  We take a lot of this for granted in NYC.

At least now I am sitting at the airport waiting to return to a concrete jungle.  Boy, a dive bar like RAWHIDE never seemed so good as it did this week.

A "Furry Affair"

I saw this today and thought of Eric's "Chasing Papi" post today.  Though I want to believe that  I don't have a type (and my partner in crime will swear up and down I do), I do like'em furry.

Southern Comfort

It is now my 4th week at DPA and I am on the road again. Check out this sunset at 35,000 feet.

My colleague Stefanie and  I are in Charleston, S.C. for the week.  After the heat wave in NYC last week, this weather is a cake walk.  We are confined to Daniel Island during our stay (since our client is located out here).  Our client's headquarters has been referred to as Gattaca.  They have some 600 employees and the average age is 27.  To top it all off, they are as cheerful as Disney employee's.  This leads me to believe that they are part of some science experiment.  I refuse to buy food or beverages at the employee cafeteria.

We get 3 hours every evening in the downton district. Since Stefanie and I love seafood and meat, Charleston's cuisine suits us well.  Tonight we decided to walk into an X church which is now a sports bar.  The Monday night special is 50% off Martinis, draft beer, calamari and burgers. Served along side good ole southern boys and a game of Trivia. What more can you ask for? Tomorrow night I am trying shrimp and grits .

 

Pines Party Weekend

tlI spent the weekend with C2 and crew out on FIP.  Thanks to Jeff (a/k/a "Sugah Tits") who gave up his space in the house so I could stay with C2).  There was a trade off - Sugah Tits stayed at a friends house.  He ended up meeting a famous (and quite muscle bearish-n-hunky) writer. They had a passionate weekend love affair.

The ride out there was a bit of a pain since our train never left Penn Station (we ended having to switch off a broken train).  Once we actually headed out, a message came across from the conductor which basically said "We have no idea where this train is going. Once we have confirmation from the Movement Bureau we will let you know."  The "Movement Bureau?"  The bureaucracy that controls movement? Geez. All in all it worked out fine as we didn't have to pay.  Since we missed the ferry, it gave us the opportunity to talk with friends at the ferry dock while drinking margaritas.  The Sunset on Friday was awesome (as were Saturday and Sunday).

I was told that this particular weekend would have a lot of visitors (vs. the regular share crowd).  That information was right.  There was a strong presence of my fellow Miami Cuban friends.  It was nice to be surrounded by familiar faces.

Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous day.  I was able to get in a good run in with my buddy Eric, hung out by the pool and then we had a great dinner cooked by Jeff (who was also our costume coordinator).  Come 10pm we all took showers and got dressed as "pirates" for the Pines Party.  The costumes were a hit.  The party was a lot of fun.  It was my first time at that rodeo.  Watching the sunrise while dancing your ass off to a gospel/choir version of pretty much anything "is a good thing." We made it back to the house around 630am.  A brief run by the hot tub/shower was interrupted by biting flies.

Part of Sunday was used up as we slept in/recuperated from the party.  Once we did get up, it was another gorgeous day.  We spent it poolside until it was time to go back to low-tea.  Leave it to a bunch of boys to prolong their departure for another round of fun.  We didn't make it back to C2's apt till after midnight.

Thanks again to the bf and his house mates for being such great hosts..!