Here I Am

Live Earth

johnny — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:36:57 -0300

So I bought a six pack of compact flourescent bulbs for $10. The box claims I'll save $36 on electric within a year. It just kinda made sense to do. I was kinda worried that the lights wouldn't be bright enough in my bathroom, but to my surprise, they were brighter than the round bulbs in my bathroom vanity.

Checkout Live Earth for tips on saving money and the environment.

Hey Baby Hey

johnny — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 17:00:06 -0300

Ryan got back from New York last night and I picked him up at the airport. I was so excited to see him. I missed him alot, though he was only gone for a week, I'd gotten used to seein' him every day.

Frama

johnny — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:38:57 -0300

So this post is gonna be me venting about alot of things. I had an OK weekend. Shane left on Thursday for a cruise with his coworkers. I thoroughly enjoyed having the house all to myself, and got alot done.

On Friday I was tired and feeling kinda ill, but Patrick and Eric wanted me to go out with them. I eventually decided to go. So I drove over to Patrick's and bought some beer for them on the way over. Robert was out of town for the weekend, so I thought it would be a good time to hang out with just Patrick. He's always joking that if they broke up I'd never come to hang out with him.

Anyways, we went to Christopher St. Pub and it was sink or swim there. For some reason Patrick had the brilliant idea to go to Chambers. We went there and I paid for him and I to get in. He only wanted to stay for one drink though, and then he wanted to go to the male room. When we got to the male room, patrick told me that Ryan had said something to him (that i will not mention here), that was upsetting. I text messaged Ryan and he called me back, refuted what had been told to me, and telling me the only time he had talked to Patrick before he left was when I was with him. Patrick had called me and then asked to talk to Ryan.

So basically Patrick, my friend, who I trust, told me a flat out lie to make me upset and angry with my boyfriend. There is more to the story than that though... Patrick had previously told rather nasty lies about me to Ryan. Of course it got back to me, and eventually I did find out that it was Patrick who said those things. So I basically came to the conclusion that Patrick A) is an unhappy person who can't stand to see other people happy, B) uses his disease as a justification for his abuse of prescription drugs and alcohol. I was fuming mad and threw my drink and then my glass at Patrick before we left. Then we argued the entire time home. I had a couple things to say to him.

I was so glad to be at home.

On Saturday Tropical Storm Barry made landfall early in the day, bringing us some very needed rain. It hadn't rained in months here, so it was a pretty good thing. I slept through it mostly, I love sleeping when it's rainy.

On Saturday, I had some projects to do around the house, but mostly I just relaxed and hung out. Same thing on Sunday. In the evening, Austin came over, I was bored and I wanted someone to vent to about the above drama. He also had his own drama to tell me all about. His crazed ex-roommate, Nancy, aka, Little Miss Piggy, had come over to his house and flipped out in front of his current roommates, as well as showed up at his place of employment. She also threatened him with coming to his work and waiting for him in the parking lot. I told him to get a restraining order.

May

johnny — Wed, 30 May 2007 12:18:08 -0300

May is almost over. Wow, it's crazy how fast it went by. I've been dating an awesome guy, Ryan. I spend a lot of time with him, he's awesome.

Though he's gone to NY for vacation. I dropped him off at the airport on Saturday morning, and have been kinda bored and lonely since. Trying to keep myself occupied, but it still sucks.

I went to the beach on Sunday and now have a nice tan and I'm hoping I can keep it for a while this time. Last time I went to the beach I got too much sun on my back and all of it ended up pealing, leaving me a little bit spotted. Sunset Beach was so packed when I was there, it was kinda crazy. I went there and met up with Patrick and Robert. Their friend Eric came just as we were leaving. Afterwards I had to go home to eat and shower off all the sand.

We had planned to meet at Baywalk to see Bug, but Patrick was running late, so I went over there and rode over with them. The movie was so awful. It was terribly boring, and I found myself laughing at parts that I felt were supposed to be scary or disturbing. The acting was soooo overdone. It was just bad. Bad Bad Bad. I wanted my $7 back...

Spring

johnny — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 12:52:27 -0300

Well, it's been almost a month in the new apartment. After the first few days of sleeping on an air mattress, my back started bothering me. I wasn't sleeping well, so I went and bought a new mattress. I still have to get the frame that I want from Ikea. My room still needs some more furniture, but a lot of my stuff is unpacked.

Last weekend, I bought a couch. It's surprising how much more homey it feels with that one piece of furniture.

What else is new...? Hmmm... Well, I've just been busy with getting the apartment together, work, hanging out with friends, etc. Things are good. One pain in the ass did surface last weekend though. My car started making a nasty grinding noise when I brake. So I will be taking my car in this weekend, which sucks.

Moving

johnny — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:37:46 -0400

So yesterday was the big day. I woke up around 9:30 and quickly showered. By the time I was dressed and ready to move my car into the driveway, Shane was awake and ready to go too.

Shane had borrowed Robert's TrailBlazer so we had more space, and consequently, less trips. We filled up our first load and headed up to our new place. We got keys, and took care of some paperwork. From that point on, we both worked all day moving boxes and furniture, heaping everything in the living room, in an effort to be efficient. It was hot and I was literally dripping sweat. We took 3 carloads with both vehicles and it was done.

We waited for the technician to come from Brighthouse to hook up our internet/tv. He was kinda creepy, and took his sweet time getting our stuff together. We were both starving and wanted it to be over with as quick as possible so we could go eat. While he was there, I tried to keep myself busy putting together a couple chairs and tables.

Afterwards, we went to Arby's, and then to Walmart. There's no shortage of things we needed, so we ended up spending a lot of money there. Then we drove the Blazer back to Robert's.

Robert and Patrick came and saw our apartment in a horrible condition, boxes strewn everywhere... But I think they saw the potential.

Today I woke up and thought to myself, I should ask Shane if he wants to go to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. I opened my door and went into the living room and Shane had a dozen donuts and a box of fresh, hot coffee. Psychic? I dunno, but it was awesome.

What's New

johnny — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 20:21:45 -0400

I'm moving on Thursday, so most of my weekend was spent packing. On Friday night I stayed at home and went to sleep early. During the day on Saturday, I got alot of packing done. I managed to put just about everything in boxes. I still have my computer and some miscellaneous items that need organized, but the majority is definitely done.

On Saturday evening Shane and I went out with Patrick and Robert. They wanted to go to the Madeira Beach Bar, which was fine with me, because, frankly, I'm poor, and that place is cheap. Joe and Shaun wanted to go out also, and decided to meet up with us. I ended up drinking too much and getting sick. The next morning I woke up at 9am at Patrick and Robert's house and Shane drove home. I ate, showered, and then went and took a nap for the rest of the day.

New Post

johnny — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 19:27:23 -0400

Hey everyone,

I've been super busy lately and haven't really been in the mood to post anything here. But I think I'm gonna start doing so once again.

Check out some things I've been working on:

John Ryan Design

Pittsburgh Blogs

Disappointment

johnny — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 12:40:02 -0400

So, on Thursday, I had a date to go out with Alibi with a guy I had been interested in. We'd been talking online off and on for 2 years, and I'd met him once at Alibi, which didn't go too well, cuz I didn't remember his name... Since then we had talked online several more times, and I convinced him to hang out with me. lol

Jason came over on Thursday and we hung out at the house for a little bit before going to Alibi. I was having a really good time there, and saw a lot of people I knew. While we were there, Jason was talking about going to Wrangler's on Saturday. He asked me if I was gonna go, I said maybe. Then he asked how he could turn my maybe into a yes, I thought that was pretty sweet. So I did say yes... I saw Nick, who gave me a hug and was all friendly to me, even though we hadn't spoken on good terms since June. Jason spent the night, and we slept most of the day, since both of us had off for Veteran's day. We drank coffee and talked. Jason ripped a contact, so he went home.

I was in a really good mood, cuz we had hit it off, and it's been a while since that happened. I cleaned out my car and hung out around the house. We texted back and forth, and decided that we'd both eat, shower, etc. and then meet up later on to do something.

We eventually decided on going to Chambers, and Jason drove over to my house again. We watched a dvd and hung out before going out. Joe texted me and asked what there was to do on a Friday night. I told him we were going to Chambers, and he called and said he wanted to go. I offered him some gas money if he'd pick us up. He showed up, all late, as usual. His boyfriend was with him, so I introduced myself and Jason and we headed out.

On the way over, Brian made a nasty comment to me, which won't be repeated here... But I didn't acknowledge it, nor did I hang out with either of them the rest of the night. I did have a lot of fun. Jason and I took our shirts off and danced, and at the end of the night, got a free shot.

On Saturday, Jason spent the day at my house. We didn't really do much, but I made dinner that evening; he helped. We met Jason's friend Cary at Alibi so we could all ride over to Ybor City together. We were waiting for Jason's friend to call so we could all get in for free, so we went to Cityside for a bit. It was their 16th anniversary party, and they were actually pretty busy. It was kinda strange though, because that was the 3rd year that I've randomly been at their anniversary. The first year was with my ex, Joe, my friend, Shawn, and some of Shawn's friends. Last year Shane, Jay and I went there.

After we left Cityside, we headed over to Ybor and found parking. Jason's friend still hadn't called, so I texted my friend, who works there, and he was at the door. Wrangler's was a pretty cool bar. It was the first time I'd been there. It totally reminded me of Chrome though, from back in the day. lol. I ended up getting pretty drunk off of free shots and drinks all night, go figure. Jason and I danced shirtless on platforms, and got our picture taken quite a few times.

Jason didn't leave my house until after dark on Sunday. I was kinda sad to say goodbye, but we'd had a good time, we both liked each other, and Jason had asked to take me to dinner on Wednesday. I showed up at work on Monday in a great mood. Jason and I texted back and forth all day, and then talked on the phone after work. I woulda gone over there, but then he said his roommates would be home from work soon, and he didn't know how they'd feel about company. So i went with Shane to Austin and Nancy's house and hung out with them.

On Tuesday morning, I texted him to say good morning, and he told me that he had called off work and was at Busch Gardens with his friend, R. I had met the guy briefly on Friday, and knew he was a former interest of Jason's. No big deal, but the tone of the texts that we exchanged from Monday to Tuesday were completely different. I started to have a bad feeling. Well, more than a feeling, I knew what was up, I just kept trying to tell myself that i was wrong.

Anyways, on Wednesday, after work, I called him and we talked for a little while. He told me what was up, and basically it was that he had dated this guy before, but there were other things going on at the time. They got together on Tuesday and started catching up, and decided to give it a shot without any distractions.

OK, so, I've been in that situation before, I understand... But that didn't help the fact that I felt incredibly disappointed. A part of me wished he woulda continued to see me, and keep R. as a friend. But they have history, and I'm not gonna compete with that. Horrible timing, but eh, like I told him, things happen... Jason said that he really liked me, and hoped we'd stay friends.

Even though he's seeing someone now, just the way he handled the whole situation makes me appreciate him more. Most people, when they're not interested, just seem to disappear, or stop talking to you, so I find it really admirable when people are upfront. The last person who was like that with me was Justin, and we ended up being really good friends. So, we'll see what happens...

CompuHell

johnny — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:52:57 -0300

I recently ordered a new processor/motherboard combo. For some reason I didn't catch that it didn't come with a CPU fan. When I got my package in the mail yesterday, I realized I needed to go get one. I could've ordered online, and paid shipping, etc, but, well, I really wanted to hook everything up and use my much faster computer...

I had planned on going after work yesterday to shop for Robert's birthday present with Shane. The only place I could get a CPU fan was at CompUSA in Clearwater. So, I picked up Shane and work and we drove together up to Clearwater. I had no problem getting what I needed at CompUSA. I love that store, I wish there was one closer to my house. Best Buy doesn't carry CPU fans (or a lot of things, for that matter), and IMHO is overpriced...

We got Robert's presents at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Walking in the door I had flashbacks from when I worked for one day at the one in Pittsburgh. I hadn't stepped foot in one since then. What a horrible job...

On the way home, I dropped Shane back at his car. Once I got home, I promptly started disassembling my computer in preparation for the new parts. Once everything was put back together, I plugged it in, and started it up... Nothing happened. I realized that I needed to upgrade my power supply. It wasn't providing enough power to the motherboard.

So, I ordered that today and will be, **Gasp**, without a computer for the weekend. I'll live.

After that fiasco, I went to Alibi last night with Shane and Austin. It was not very busy, so we met Patrick and Robert at Jimmy's house. We hung out there for a while, then hit up Grand Central, and then back to Alibi before heading home. It was a fun night. We're going camping for Robert's birthday. It should be really fun, I haven't been camping in years...

New Car

johnny — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 10:26:47 -0300

Pictures of the new whip, as promised, though they're not that great quality. I still haven't gotten a replacement for my broken digital camera. These were taken on my cell phone.

Lameness, Courtesy of Walgreen's

johnny — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 17:14:07 -0300

On August 26th, I dropped off some photos at Walgreen's. I had never taken them there before, and I usually don't ever use regular film cameras. It was close to my house, so I figured I'd give it a shot. How bad could it be. The answer: bad.

I went back the next day to pick up my one hour photos. They weren't done. Strange. Their machine was broken, they offered me $5 off, which was fine. I then called the next day, and they told me the machine was fixed, only did one roll, and they would call me when my photos were ready. I proceeded to call every day on my lunch break until I went on vacation.

So I go to PA for a week and a half, get back and no one had called me. Still... So on Monday I went in and picked them up. I didn't look at them until I got back to my house, but was disappointed to see that they had printed all of my pictures as panoramas. None of them were supposed to be panoramic. It was Advanced Photo System film, which let's you choose the format of the printed picture.

The photo CD and index print were missing also. So on Tuesday I took the photos back. I simply wanted my money back. They had messed them up so bad, I just wanted to take them elsewhere. The gentleman assisting me in the photo department had no clue what he was talking about. I tried to explain to him about the 3 picture formats, and showed him how the tops and bottoms of most of my pictures were cut off. He just told me that they were supposed to be like that, and also told me that there was no way for them to make a photo CD using the APS machine.

I've never had problems like that anywhere trying to get film developed. Thank God for digital cameras, right. Anyways, I wouldn't recommend going to Walgreens to process film. If they can mess up what is an almost completely automatic process, then they don't need my business. haha

Anyways, so I took them to CVS, and they did a beautiful job. Yay!

Ugh

johnny — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 15:34:30 -0300

So, I'm in kind of a surly mood today. There are a couple reasons...

Last Thursday, I went out to Alibi with Joe and his friend. I had a good time there. While I was there, a guy came up to me. I didn't recognize him, but he said hi to me and was really friendly. Until I told him I had no idea who he was. He said we'd been talking for 2 days and I should know his name. I didn't. I think he got offended when I had no clue who he was. He said well, if you figure out who I am, come talk to me. So, it did eventually occur to me who he was. But, first of all, I wouldn't recognize him from his pictures online, he was cuter in person. Secondly, I never did ask his name and it's not apparent from his screen name, like mine is. Third, he could've just introduced himself, it woulda made it a lot easier. Also, I was very drunk.

Anyways, now he won't talk to me anymore. I talked to him on Saturday, and he was really rude, and I attempted to talk to him today, to no avail. Blah, it sucks because I did enjoy talking to him and wish I had a chance to get to know him, he seemed like a pretty nice guy.

On Friday, Shane drove Austin and I to Chambers. I had a really good time there. It was really packed; more people than I have seen there in a long time.

On Saturday, Shane and I went to Chili's. I called Joe to see if he wanted to meet us there, because he had just gotten off work, and he said he wanted to hang out after that. He said he wasn't hungry, but he would meet us anyways. We waited and waited for Joe, only to find out that he had gone to the wrong Chili's. I called him and he got really pissy with me, so I told him not to bother. We finally got the waitress and told her that we weren't waiting for another person, and that we were gonna order.

Joe did end up joining us at Chili's when we were ready to leave, ate some of my food, and kept going on and on about how hungry he was. After that we went to the mall and shopped around, which is an annoying process with Joe. Everytime I'd pick something up, he'd say it was cheaper at Home Depot. So I ended up not buying anything I needed. Oh yeah, and then Joe broke a brand new neon light I had bought for my car. No apology, no offer to fix or replace it...

The evening, I didn't really feel like going out, but felt like I should go do something to celebrate my birthday. So after some debate, I decided that we should go to Alibi. Mike was offering to drive, but insisted that we take my car, as he poured himself a (mostly vodka) drink. So I had Shane drive.

We met Robert and Patrick there, who I was really glad to see. When it was time to leave, I told Mike and Joe that I was gonna go catch last call at GC with Patrick and Robert. I tried to say goodbye to Joe, because he said he was going to leave when we got home, but he kept walking. So when Patrick, Robert and I got to the house, Joe was still there for a little bit before he left for the evening.

Patrick, Shane, Robert and I left as Mike went to sleep. We went to Patrick and Robert's house, and I was finally able to enjoy myself in a drama free environment.

On Sunday, my birthday, I slept in, late. I called Joe when I woke up cuz he had sent me tons of messages. He started in on me calling me names and bringing me drama. On my fucking birthday. Excuse me; I think that I can hang out with whoever I please on my birthday, that means I have no obligation to do anything with you... Thanks... Especially after how he acted Saturday evening, why would I even want to?

Back in Florida

johnny — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 17:35:39 -0300

So, I'm back in Florida. For the majority of my vacation/trip to Pennsylvania, I didn't have access to the internet. Well, I could get online on my phone, but I wasn't about to blog from that, especially with the painfully slow connection I had up there... It really surprised me how no one I know has internet. Most everyone has computers though, which is a change from last year.

So it was an interesting trip, I drove up with my roommate in my old car, stressed out over finding a new car, visited with my family and friends, and then drove back to Florida in my new car.

I definitely need to write more about it, but that will have to wait. For now I do have photos that you can see here.

I got back to the house on Tuesday evening. I didn't have to work Wednesday, so I slept literally all day. It was great. During my trip I never really got to sleep in or relax. Anyways, I spent the evening unpacking, organizing, etc. And then I took a trip to Wal*Mart with Shane, where I cracked out on car accessories. $90 later, I had all kinds of new crap to jazz up my car. Yay

Yesterday was my first day back at work. I'll have to admit, it was kind of odd. Today is number 2, and it's almost over. Yay. It's my birthday weekend, so I'm formulating lots of entertaining plans.

What's New

johnny — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 09:54:38 -0300

Since my last post, a lot has gone on, of course. I've been terrible about updating; been so busy and haven't really had the energy...

The weekend after I last posted, on Saturday, the 19th, Patrick rented a limo and Robert and he picked Shane and I up at Justin's house. We were also with two other people who went home after the first stop. We drove around, listened to music, oh, and drank. A lot... We went to Z109, but it had apparently been closed down. So we went to Grand Central, then Alibi, and then we went to the Male Room. I barely remember being at the Male Room at all. It was a blast though. I had such a great time. The only bad thing that happened was that I broke my digital camera...

On Sunday I slept. On Monday, I felt sooo tired, when I came home from work, I slept some more. lol. On Thursday I went to Alibi on a date. I went out with a guy I had started talking to online. Meeting him in person, I realized that I had actually seen him out before and thought he was really cute, but was too shy to talk to him.

On Friday evening, Austin convinced me to come pick him up and take him out. I really didn't feel like going out, spending money, etc. Mostly I was just tired and lazy, didn't feel like leaving the house. So I went to pick him up. We had a drink at Grand Central, then drove to Alibi. Kevin called and said he was there while we were on our way. When we got there, he was nowhere to be seen, which was kind of strange. lol

After Alibi, we headed over to Tampa. I had called to see what Mark was up to and he said that he was at Baxter's. He met us at Cityside. Cityside was pretty dead. We were only there for a brief time. Robert was on his way home from a dance competition in Naples. We had talked about possibly hanging out when he got in.

Robert called around 3 to say that he was tired after all, and was just gonna go home, but that we'd have to hang out later on in the weekend. I said goodbye to Mark and his friend and took Austin home, then drove all the way back to my house and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning with missed calls from Robert and a text message saying he had something to tell me...

Though the text message didn't say that he had something bad to tell me, I assumed the worst. I went downstairs for some coffee before I called him. As I was pouring it, Shane walked in the door, home from work. I heard the door open and went out to the foyer, he asked me if I heard, and I said no. Justin had overdosed on prescription medicines, and Patrick found him on Saturday morning.

Shane and I had tickets to see Mary J. Blige that night, though we both felt horrible. I went to Justin's myspace to try to find Candace's daughter's page so I could get in contact with her. I tried to stay as busy as possible after I found out. I took Shane with me to the post office, and then we went over to Tampa really early before the concert, mostly just driving around, but we did stop at the Citrus Park Mall for a few moments.

The concert was amazing, though bittersweet, and pretty emotional. I think I'm gonna do a separate post about her though.

This week, I'm focusing on getting myself ready to go to Pennsylvania. I'm going to visit family. It's been over a year since I've been up. I'm also driving, which I'm not looking forward to. Tropical Storm Ernesto is moving north through Florida right now, and will probably leave lots of crappy weather for me to drive through... I can't wait to get a new car... At least the drive back will be in a new vehicle.

Car Shopping

johnny — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:31:40 -0300

Next week I'll begin the process of looking for a new car. I've been thinking about what I want in a car, or some models that I think I would like.

	Hyundai Tiburon
	Honda Civic
	Toyota Solara
	Volkswagon Passat
	Nissan Maxima

Currently I drive a 1994 Toyota Corolla, which has been an excellent car, but with 207,000 miles on it, it's time for an update.

Some things I absolutely must have are power windows and doors. Keyless entry would be nice, and I'd also like something with a sunroof. In Florida, it would be great to have a convertible, but there aren't that many convertibles that I really like. I'm not a big fan of 2 door cars in the first place.

For a stereo, I'd actually prefer to have a tape deck, as I use a tape adapter with my iPod. I never listen to the radio, and changing CD's would drive me crazy. Hopefully I can find something with a tape/cd combo, as the radio tuners never seem to work well for me.

Cingular 8125

johnny — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:18:08 -0300

So, I've had my new phone for a couple weeks now. I'm completely enamored by it.

For the most part, it does everything I want it to smoothly. The internet runs quickly and the chat program I downloaded works really well. My favorite feature of Agile Messenger is that you can use it to take a picture and send it to one of your online buddies. Or you can send a file from the phone's memory.

Memory is a slight issue though. I haven't yet received a 2GB miniSD card that I ordered from ebay. If you plan on installing games, videos, music, etc., plan on upgrading memory. I got a pretty good deal on the memory card. After conversion to GBP I believe it was around 60 USD. Not bad at all for a chip that's not even 1" x 1" and holds 2GB.

I had to, unfortunately, perform a hard reset on my device several days ago. While installing a program, something went wrong. Horribly wrong... My phone would no longer sync with any PC, nor would it let me install or remove any programs using Microsoft ActiveSync.

Resetting my phone to factory settings fixed the problem when nothing else would. Fortunately, everything was backed up... Except for my contacts. Yes, they were on the SIM card, but SIM cards only hold name/number combinations, not multiple phone numbers for contacts (home, work, cell, etc.), email addresses, pictures, etc. So I sent part of my contacts to myself via email as vcards (.vcf). This preserved everything except for the user picture.

I think in the future I'm going to export my contacts as vcards and store them in my ipod's contacts folder. I don't yet know of a program that will mass export an entire address book. It's kind of a pain to do these individually...

Also, I later found that on the HTC Wizard phone, the contacts, calendars, notes and tasks are stored in a file on the root of the file system called pim.vol. So copying that file before performing a hard reset would theoretically save your contact information. You need to rename the pim.vol file before you are able to move it. For some reason it allows you to rename it but not copy it from the phone to the PC...

Naughty Naughty

johnny — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 15:19:37 -0300

Shit! I haven't posted in forever...

I've been busy lately, I suppose that's as good an excuse as any. I'm saving up for a new car, a trip to Pennsylvania... Hanging out with friends... Yeah, lots of exciting stuff.

Anyways, some friends of mine moved to Clearwater from Ohio 2 weeks ago. Well, I only knew Austin, but his roommates are cool. Shane and I have been spending a lot of time down there. 2 weekends ago we took them to Flirt. Flirt was a good time, but the night ended kinda badly... Kevin will be coming back this weekend, I'm kind of excited to see him again.

Other than the night going to Flirt, I really haven't done too much, I'm trying to be extremely frugal... I don't like it one bit. But I need to stop spending so much money! Joe and I did go to the outlet mall once last weekend, and I managed to only buy one item, a belt from Banana Republic.

Yesterday I had tickets for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays v. Toronto Blue Jays game. Having never been to a baseball game, I was pretty excited to go. Though I didn't know a thing about baseball, I figured it out pretty quick.

Last night I went to Georgie's Alibi, and met Robert there. He was with a friend, Patrick, who I'd met before, but couldn't remember exactly where... I had a really good time hanging out at Alibi. I hardly ever go there on Thursdays anymore, but I'm glad I did last night. They played some really good music, stuff I've never heard before.

The price of fun

johnny — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 17:19:11 -0300

Felix arrived on Monday, on leave from the military, and freshly back from Afghanistan. When I got home from work yesterday, Mike and Felix asked if I wanted to go to Grand Central with them later on. I did. So I bummed around, took a shower, ate. Oh, and watched several episodes of Lost.

We left around 11. On Wednesday nights, they have strippers. For as trashy as Grand Central is, they have some yummy dancers (I guess they're not really strippers if they don't have clothes on to begin with.)

Felix met some people there that he knew, David and David, so we were hanging out with them. Patrick and Robert showed up a little later on. At some point, after I'd had a couple Budweisers, Patrick wanted me to do a shot with him. I don't know why, but I always end up doing Jaeger Bombs when I go to that place... Four of them last night. Yeah, way too much for a Wednesday night.

I had a great time hanging out with Patrick though, he bought all my drinks and kept handing me dollar bills to give to the dancers. He's friend with one of the dancers also, Todd, who is straight, but definitely kept us entertained.

Mike, Felix and I headed home. Oh, and I smoked 1 cigarette right before leaving, but at that point I was trashed anyways... stumblin' down the street smoking a Marlboro Red and chugging the last of my Bud.

At home, Mike busted out the Margarita's. He's been hooked on this stuff that comes in a bucket and you add your own tequila and stick it in the freezer... Felix and I tried to rouse Shane, who was not happy. Felix took some pictures of Shane sleeping. Shane is still mad... Like I needed to drink more... Especially Tequila! It was a late night.

I woke up this morning when Joe was calling me, around 9... So I was late for work, felt like crap, actually, pretty much still intoxicated. I've slowly recovered throughout the day. I went home for lunch and laid down, though I couldn't eat much; took some Advil for the thundering headache...

HTC Wizard

johnny — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 10:17:03 -0300

I just spent lots of money on something I don't really need...

Gay Beach

johnny — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 16:42:32 -0300

Didn't do much of anything on Friday, took a trip to the liquor store, bought some beer, hung out at home.

Mark called me during the day on Saturday and said he was in the area, and had borrowed his step-mom's car for the day. He said he was going to stop by. For some reason, Joe got angry when I told him I had plans with Mark.

Mark, Shane and I went to Baywalk and ate at TooJay's, then walked to the pier. Neither of them had ever been there before. We walked around, browsed the shops, and took some pics. We came back to the house and hung out for a while. Mark left around 8:30.

Later on, Joe came over and we hung out, but didn't do much, cuz he wasn't feeling well.

I guess he was feeling better on Sunday. We went to Treasure Island to eat at Caddy's. I had never been there before, but it was good. The half naked, drunk boys hanging out there were nice to look at too.

After we ate, we headed to the beach; the gay beach. I'd not been there in a while, but lord, there were a lot of gay boys out on Sunday. The beach itself isn't that great, but fun nonetheless.

I got a good amount of sun, though it rained briefly while we were laying out. I drove us back to my house where I showered and then tried to figure out what we were gonna do. Joe wanted to go get food, though neither of us were hungry... Then Joe decided he wanted to see a movie. I really didn't feel like watching a movie, but went along anyways. I stopped for Joe to get something to eat, and drama ensued because I didn't want to eat also... I really don't know what's going on with him...

Anyways, that was cleared up, and we went to the movie theatre. We were way early, so we went in Target, walked around, and then decided to eat at Chili's. We ended up seeing My Super Ex Girlfriend, with Uma Thurman, which was really funny.

I didn't have to work today, so I slept in and then hung out around the house, not accomplishing much of anything.

I can't wait for the weekend to begin

johnny — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:05:32 -0300

I had asked Shane days ago if he wanted to go to Alibi on Thursday, since I hadn't been on a Thursday evening in months. So we went. Robert and Patrick were there, along with Jimmy and Marshall. I had forgotten how tasty cheap long island iced teas can be... lol

We left Alibi and went to Grand Central with Robert and Patrick. Didn't stay there too long though. I bummed a smoke off of Patrick because I was drunk, but hadn't smoked in days, so it's not that bad, is it...?

Bitch

johnny — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 11:37:51 -0300

Went to Chambers with Joe, his ex, and the ex's boyfriend. It was fun, Cengiz was in town and I got to see him there, though he didn't seem like he was in such a good mood. He left kind of early. He also wouldn't even speak to Joe, nor would he tell me why. It was strange. I didn't need the drama.

Cengiz had one cigarette that we shared, but other than that, I tried my best to not smoke. It made me a little mean. If you've ever been around someone trying to kick the nicotine habit you know what I'm talking about.

Saturday was worse. Shane and I both were having serious withdraw. I really didn't feel like doing much of anything... Joe made me breakfast - cinnamon rolls and coffee on Saturday, which was a good start to my day, but I was still grumpy. On Saturday evening, Joe took me to Fort Desoto, which I had never been to before. We walked the beach and watched the sunset. It was good to get my mind off of wanting a cigarette, and also calmed me down. I know I was getting on Joe's nerves for most of the day...

That evening, we stayed at the house and Mike, Shane, Paul, Joe and I drank and hung out. It was really fun to just chill at home. Though before I had gotten home from the beach, Shane had bought a pack of cigarettes. Mike tried hiding them, but I found them, and had a couple that evening. So did Shane...

On Sunday, Joe and I headed to the beach, but ended up turning around, because it started raining, and looked really dark and cloudy. So we stopped for food, ate, but it still looked stormy, so we just hung out at my house. Later on that evening, we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which was alright. It was big on action, small on plot. Definitely not as good as the first one, but not many movies ever are...

Being a Non-Smoker

johnny — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 23:23:50 -0300

Isn't as easy as it sounds...

On Wednesday, I decided that I wouldn't buy anymore smokes. I didn't, which left me with one that I smoked on Thursday morning on the way to work.

I made it all day Thursday with no cigarettes, with only minimal irritation. When Shane got home from work, he had a pack, and I bummed one, which made me kind of sick. OK, really sick and dizzy. Oh, the joys of nicotine.

Shane was only home briefly before he decided to drive to Walmart for a cheese grater (it was the first day he had his car, so any excuse to drive somewhere was valid). So I went with him and we were off to Walmart.

On the way there, Shane was going around a corner and the car started fishtailing badly, the road was a little wet from rain earlier in the day. Shane turned the wheel one way, then the other. We flew off the side of the road, over a curb and straight towards the large wooden sign in front of what we thought was a church. I was on the phone the entire time with Justin, freaking out... lol. Luckily Shane managed to slow down and veer back into the road... So yeah, really needed to smoke after that. Shane bought a pack of cigarettes and split them with me. At some point he decided to quit smoking also, and it does make sense for both of us to quit at the same time.

This morning, I did not go to work. I had been feeling under the weather for a couple days, and needed to get some rest and take care of myself. I ended up cleaning for hours trying to distract myself. I washed all of the curtains from the upstairs porch and bathroom, and mopped/ deck brushed the entire kitchen. Also scrubbed some of the remaining paint spots from the construction off of the kitchen tiles...

I'm going out tonite with Joe, so we'll see how not smoking at the club goes...

Blond

johnny — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:57:43 -0300

After work on Friday evening, I went to the mall, which is pretty routine for a payday Friday, for a haircut. I got it cut, and while cutting it, my stylist asked if I had ever colored my hair, or gotten highlights. So, we started talking about that, and then she totally talked me into getting what she called a shoe shine. I didn't really get what it was, but it sounded cool. So I got it. It looks really cool too. I could have probably done it myself though for a lot cheaper. It ended up being pretty expensive.

After that, I went home and hung out for a while. Joe had asked me on Thursday night to go out with him, so I was expecting to do that. He ended up taking a nap and sleeping longer than he wanted to. He was kind of irritated when he got to my house. We were going to TriAngle in Bradenton to hang out with his friend, Shaun, and Shaun's boyfriend. TriAngle was pretty lame, but eh, what do you expect? I'd been there once before, but I think it was a Saturday night and there was a little bit more going on.

We didn't stay for very long. We left there and Shaun dropped off his boyfriend. Joe stopped at a gas station so I could pick up some beer. We went to one of Shaun's friends house and swam in her pool, though it was freezing...

We had a couple beers there, and then wanted to find a hot tub to hang out in. I drove with Shaun, because he's a smoker, and I wanted to have a cigarette on the way. Joe ended up getting really mad about that, jealous I guess, which was unexected. So we went to Shaun's old apartment complex and got in the hot tub there.

After we left there, Shaun was getting ready to go, and had been having problems with his phone, a Razor, and decided he didn't want it anymore, and smashed it on the ground, stomped on it and kicked the various pieces around the parking lot.

After that, Joe and I went on our way back to my house. He pulled off on the Pinellas Point exit, and I wasn't quite sure where he was going. He pulled into a park and we got out. I asked him where we were and why. He told me, and said he thought I'd like it there. I did. It was really pretty, we walked out onto a pier, where we could see the skyway bridge lit up. We sat there for a little bit and talked/made out. It was really kind of sweet and romantic.

On Saturday I woke up starving, ate some Oreo Pie, which was fantastic, it's like eating an actual oreo with a fork. MMMmmmm... Oh, and I had it with coffee, it was really good...

Joe really wanted to go eat, so we left and went to his house for a couple minutes so he could change. While we were there, we got invited to go to Shaun's cousin Tiffany's house for dinner. She was cooking chicken and dumplings, but they weren't going to be eating for hours, so we got a sub at Publix and then went to a park by the water and ate. We walked around the park for a bit and then headed over to Tiffany's.

I met Tiffany, David, Joyce and Pat. Shaun and Brian were already there. Tiffany had made Chicken, and all kinds of other food. I was pretty full from the sub, so I just ate small portions, but everything was really good.

After dinner we all hung out on the patio. Bugs were eating me alive while I helped refill and light tiki torches. Tiffany had a propane mosquito eliminator, which none of us could figure out how to use, or even if it was working. Eventually we figured out that we should put it away from us, and then we weren't bothered anymore. All of us swam in the pool for a little bit, which was fun.

Shaun wanted to go to Alibi, so all of us piled into two cars and headed over. Alibi was alright, I was already quite drunk when I got there. I saw Brad, who was up from Ft. Lauderdale for the weekend. I only talked to him for a couple minutes. While I was talking to, Nick, who was standing behind me, sent Brad a text message, which I saw when Brad read it, that said He's a Liar... It kind of pissed me off.

Then Nick text messaged me and came over to talk. I really didn't care what he had to say. Blah. Danced on stage with Joe, had a good time. After going back to Tiffany's house, everyone left or went to sleep except for Joe, Brian and I. Joe was on the phone having an intense conversation with his boyfriend, and Brian and I were outside smoking. Brian went to bed, and I fell asleep on the lounge outside, which probably got me even more bug bites...

Tiffany had offered for us to sleep in one of her extra bedrooms, but we headed back to Joe's house and passed out. Didn't do too much on Sunday, went out to eat at Sweet Tomatos with Joe's friend, um... Joe. Then we hung out at the other Joe's house for a while.