JOURNAL: Clemson is #7!

Wasn't sure what category this goes into, and I didn't want to create a special "SPORTS" label, so "JOURNAL" it is. Clemson made #7!

GAY DAY PICS: ME!

Me with the ladies greeting visitors at the TTC :)
Cori and Me
Splash Mountain... I manage to stay dry. HA!
Does this queen make me look gay?
I love my Stitch Sticker
Just chillin' with my son on Sunday

GAY DAY PICS: Seeing Red - Bears Edition

As you can tell from all the other pictures I've posted, there were a lot of bears in attendance at Gay Days. Here are some pictures:

VIDEO: Shoes

Here's the video that was referenced by one of the Gay Day shirts:

VIDEO: SYTYCD S3, Brandon Norris

So You Think You Can Dance, Season 3, Brandon Norris, Clogger, Awesome:

GAY DAY PICS: Seeing Red

(just some more pictures from the weekend)

GAY DAY PICS: PDAwww

If you ask someone about the early Gay Days, you'd probably hear about extravagant, flamboyant displays of gaiety. It's my experience -- this being my fourth year -- that the event is becoming milder as far as costumes go and the love that we share and express is no more different or extreme than any other. Here are a few pictures of some PDAwww from around the park:

bears hug

the young ones
we heart each other
red and blue

[p.s. in the third picture, the guy facing the camera is wearing a shirt that reads "Can I refund my hotel room? Because all week I slept on the beach"... niiice.]

GAY DAY PICS: Shameless

Five shameless (some would say stalker-ish) pictures of guys at the parks this weekend.

Shameless Pic #1: This guy looks like an older Dermot Mulroney. He had an Asian boyfriend (who I'm Totally cuter than).
Shameless Pic #2: We're looking at the guy on the right... with the girl. Kevin (on the left) was a very good "subject of the photo". I didn't have to say a word.
Shameless Pic #3: I was just trying to get a picture of the shirt. Cori would sacrifice his body if it means I'd get that really-good shot (looking at the Incredi-bears... not the guy in the yellow).
Shameless Pic #4: Yee-haw to the guy from Woody's Cowboy Roundup. I like the combination of baby blue, canary yellow, and sweat-on-his-brow cowboy.
Shameless Pic #5: Dream Along with Mickey at the guy on the right. There were also some pretty girls on stage. (What am I saying?!)

GAY DAY PICS: The Red Shirts

Here are my favorite shirts from this year's Gay Days:

Honorable Mentions
"Just Married"
Location: Ticket and Transportation Center
When: first thing in the morningComment: Simple yet strong. Just the words evoked a feeling of something new, hopeful and exciting. (What a great way to start the day!)

"Thing 1s and Things 2s"
Location: Bridge between Liberty Square and Main Street USA
When: early morningComment: The encounter of these two couples was one of those "everyone's part of this one big family" sort-of-moments, which is great for Watermark (the local gay mag). Unfortunately, Dr. Seuss is Universal Studios, not Disney. (Disqualified)

"Sinner"
Location: Tomorrowland
When: I don't rememberComment: Just like me. I would Totally wear that shirt out. (but not to Disney)

"Mine's Bigger"
Location: In front of the Country Bear Jamboree
When: 12:30pm-ish on the way to check up on the Leather Pirates gatheringComment: Mischievous and fun-looking couple. I love the monkeys and the lettering. (Cute Cute Cute)

"Rub My Tummy"
Location: In front of the Country Bear Jamboree
When: at the 1:00pm bear gatheringComment: Pooh Bear + Asian-theme = "I've gotta take a picture of your shirt"... "Just the shirt?!"... Awww. (Yeah, I rubbed it)

"Incredi-bears"
Location: Everywhere
When: early afternoon Comment: Very organized, great work with the logo and presentation - clean, crisp, very well-executed shirts.

"Misses"
Location: Fantasyland between the Carousel and Peter Pan.
When: late afternoon Comment: Very nice idea. I like the thought, collaboration, and handi-work involved with the shirts. And the guys had nice... um. Yeah... they looked good. Unfortunately the shirts were black, not the official color red. (Disqualified... definitely too bad)

The Runner-Up
"OMG Shoes"
Location: Liberty Square heading towards Frontierland
When: i don't rememberComments: Subtle, yet not. Inside, but not. G-rated funny, yet with PG-13 material (69). Totally random shirt. (I love it)

My Favorite
"I Married Him"
Location: In the queue for Winnie the Pooh
When: right after the 3:00pm paradeComments: I like how the shirts have a childhood picture of the other person on it - one with "I Married Him" on it, and the other with a thought bubble with a hamburger in it. I liked their shirts the best because they're playful and really shows how much they care for each other.

VIDEO: PetSmart Bulldog Commercial

EVENT: GAY DAYS!

OMG, THAT WAS SUCH A GREAT WEEKEND!

It started on Friday with a wonderful lunch with a good friend in Celebration, followed by a visit to the Gay Days Expo, a trip to Disney-MGM Studios, then to the Tea House, and then overnight with my friend Cori and his partner Marty.

There were heavy rains early Saturday morning but that didn't stop us from getting to Magic Kingdom by rope-drop. We were able to ride everything that we wanted and then some. We gathered for the 3 o'clock Make Your Dreams Come True Parade and oh, THE SEA OF RED WAS AWESOME!!!

I then headed over to Universal Studios' Hard Rock Coliseum to meet up with some other friends for the Lisa Lampanelli show, and that was also Super Awesome, especially when she ragged on the deaf people and their interpreters. Instead of the contracted 1 hour set, she did 2 HOURS! (The Orlando crowd really cheered her up... awwww).

And Sunday, I just stayed over at my friend Pom's and watched A LOT OF TV (Top Chef marathon, Sheer Genius marathon, America's Next Top Model marathon, The Next Food Channel Star...) and LAYING AROUND... what another great day!

I'll post the pictures by the end of the week. Now I absolutely must take a shower and goto bed.

EVENT: Getting Ready for GAY DAYS!

Okay, in less than an hour, I'll be on my way to Orlando for a Gay Days weekend. I've got butterflies in my stomach already and my vision is blurring in-and-out.

This will be my fourth year there, and I still feel like I don't know what to expect... which in itself may be a source of __(dah-dah-dah-dah <-- i.e. good things)__ [words are failing me at the moment].

I'll be sure to post pictures of some of the pretty boys I find there. (Woo!)

Have a wonderful GD weekend!

EVENT: Proctor Reception

Last evening, I attended the wedding reception for my friends Travis and Teresa. It was held on the oceanview deck of the Crown Plaza. There were delicious heavy hors d'oeurves, a dj, and a character artist. Here's a couple pictures of some of the food:

I met Travis and Teresa through a mutual realtor when I moved to Melbourne. We went to go see Charlie's Angels 2. Then came a series of dinner parties at both their and my houses -- for the holidays, for watching Desperate Housewives or movies, or for no other reason but to catch up and eat Teresa's cooking (wait, that's one of my reasons -- she's an AWESOME cook).

Anyways, congratulations to Travis and Teresa -- to two people who are absolutely perfect for each other.

JOURNAL: yikes

holy crap it's past 10pm and i haven't packed for the weekend yet. i haven't even showered. i'm stuck in front of the tv watching the scripps spelling bee.

i don't really have set plans for tomorrow, and i'm anxious... so anxious. i'm not feeling 100% for an all-out, non-stop weekend.

i want to immerse myself in the "gay" but know that i should just take it easy.

okay, a boy from california won with 'serrefine'.

now i can shower, pack, plan, and sleep. omg.

WORK: Where Did Everyone Go?

Today's my virtual Friday since I'm taking tomorrow off (I worked extra hours earlier in the week to be able to do this... plus I'm getting my coding and testing done). I just need some help with finding some processed data, but those who would know are either in design reviews or missing. Where is everybody?

Anyways, I hope they show up so I can get some code moved along. In the meantime, it's more testing, drinking iced RaceTrac coffee, making trips to the bathroom to pee.

***
UPDATE: It wasn't too much longer before I found my co-workers and got the information I needed. Since then, I've finished Regression testing! And now I'm updating some design slides. It looks to be a good rest-of-virtual-Friday. Woo!

DISNEY: Another picture of "Could've Been" guy

Because of the positive feedback I've been getting, I'm going to post the other picture of "Could've Been" guy for y'all:

RUN: ~3.5 miles @ ~28:00

It's been almost a week since I've run, and I felt it. Not so much on my legs as in my chest. Yes, the minimal exercization of my arms produced a cramp in my chest halfway through tonight's run. It's kind of sad, but sad-in-the-funny-way sad. Anyways, yeah, it's a late night run. I put in an extra couple hours at work so I can take off Friday (AM, and then make up the PM hrs next week) and head over to Orlando without any pressure/rush... maybe have lunch with my/the/a/bauh guy and visit the expo before meeting up with my friend Cori -- we're hitting the parks early Saturday... Disney's expecting to hit capacity by 10am. (I'm SO excited!)

I'll keep this entry short so I can take a shower and make it to bed by midnight. Woo!

ANIMAL: I Stop for Turtles

Today after work, I saved a turtle. I saw it on the road, stopped, put the car in park, turned on the emergency lights on, and got out of the car. As I drew closer, the turtle shrunk into its shell. Seriously, that's all it does?... well, I found out that it can do more than that.As I picked the turtle up (to move it onto the grass), water started POURING out of the thing. I couldn't tell if it was water it was just retaining from the pond, or if it was doing some serious peeing. Anywho... I saved a turtle, and it peed on me.You're welcome.