Working It Out On The Inside: January 2008

Thursday, January 17, 2008

You Don't Know Me But...

It was a biting thirty-something degrees and so windy I could hardly keep my balance. I had also conveniently forgotten my coat at the apartment and the only clothes I donned were a t-shirt and thin, breatheable gym pants. I was delighted about my trip back to the rec center that I had so carelessly avoided for many weeks.

The gym was crowded but I managed to find a vacant elliptical machine and began hopping to-and-fro while jamming to the new Radiohead album. I spotted a fellow on an exercise machine whom I had seen numerous times at the rec but paid no attention to previously. I guess I had seen him enough times to notice that his hair color was different. He had a thin, lanky frame and an attractive face that was covered slightly by his tousled hair. I watched him as he listened to his iPod and exercised furiously. I imagined him listening to some hip, indie English band. I watched him until he finally glanced over at me. (Why is it that every time you look at someone, they look back?) I immediately switched my eyes back to the television set as if he didn't just catch me staring. After a few seconds, I looked in his direction again and we met eyes another time. This happened about two more times.

Normally my gaydar is impeccable and I can tell if a guy is gay in about .02 seconds but for some reason it was having trouble processing this particular person. Surely a straight guy wouldn't return my curious glances more than twice, right? He eventually got off the machine and began walking on a treadmill. The rec had just intalled new treadmills that come equipped with individual televisions. He immediately tuned his to Project Runway which to me was an unmistakable indication of his sexuality. Elated, I hopped of my elliptical and made my way to the treadmill next to his and tuned my television to Project Runway as if to say, "Yeah, me too."

When he finished his running, he started to exercise on an abdominal contraption near the stairway. In order for me to leave I had to pass him one last time. I told myself that if he watched me pass by, then it's for sure I wasn't imagining the whole thing. And sure enough, he looked.

In true stalker fashion, I arrived at my house and did a search for every gay guy at the University of North Texas. I found him on the third page and called my friends to ask if I should send him a message or not. Brittany told me it was too early...so I sent it anyway. It read:

"Subject: You Don't Know Me

I normally don't do this, and I'm aware that it may seem a bit creepy but I saw you at the rec center tonight and wanted to tell you that you're very cute.

That is all.

- Patrick (not a weirdo)"

And tonight he responded back by saying, "I saw you too and the feelings are mutual. Coffee? Marriage? Kids?"

Unfortunately I made that last part up. He never responded. And now I'm terrified to return to the rec center for fear of running into the cute guy who now thinks I'm a creepy and obsessive facebook stalker. And I'm willing to admit that's not far from the truth. How embarrassing.

Here are some more pictures from the Christmas break:

Cat arm mustache

Tree in my front yard

Out in ATX for Emily's 22nd birthday. Beauty Bar is the best place ever. It's a club/bar themed like a vintage 60's hair salon. They play the best music.

Evan rocks out at PURE

New Year's Eve crew downtown Ft. Worth.

Parking lot outside our favorite San Antonio restaurant.

I hate bars. But they give me great opportunities to take pictures.

Drunk

Mary's working To-Go in the background. She offered to be out server as well. What a sweetheart.

Back in Denton.

Laters for now.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Foolhearted

Paulie Bleeker: And Blair Witch Project was about to come on Starz, and you were like, "I haven't seen this in forever" and you wanted to watch it, but then you were like "Oh no, we should just make out instead. La la la."

- Juno (2007)

It's been over a month since my last post. I'm a horrible person. You'd think that over a span of a month I'd have something to talk about. And I probably do. It's just I can't think of anything at the moment. So deal. Instead you can consider some of these suggestions:

LISTEN TO THIS:
Chris Garneau is an artist I ran across while watching the LOGO channel, a network aimed towards a homosexual audience. He's a lovely (and gay) musician from Brooklyn whose style is very much in the vibe of Sufjan Stevens -- except even more mellow. I can't stop listening to his single "Relief" and his cover of Elliot Smith's "Behind the Bars". Check out his myspace.http://www.myspace.com/chrisgarneau

READ THIS:
Audrey Niffenegger's novel The Time Traveler's Wife was recommended by my friend Jessi, who is perhaps the most ferociously literate person I've ever met. I trusted in her taste bought the book and am so thankful because the novel is simply amazing. It's about a man who involuntarily time travels back to periods of his life and how it affects his relationship with his wife. It's currently being made into a film which may or may not be a good thing. Check it out.

SEE THIS:

I read the novel Atonement and really enjoyed it. When I heard the director of Pride and Prejudice was taking over the film I was beyond excited. It's almost 100% true to the book, which is rare. It's shot beautifully, the score is perfect and the performances are very believable -- especially the actress who plays the little girl in the first act. She also just booked the lead in Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lovely Bones. (which is another great book) It's definitely worth a look.

No Country for Old Men is a very different, but thoughtful film. The story is simple -- a man is hunted by a coldblooded killer after taking some money from a drug-deal gone wrong. There is barely any music throughout the film but it works. Javier Bardem plays the bad guy and is so fucking scary. I have a feeling this is the film that'll take the Oscar for best picture.

Juno turned out to be a much bigger success than I had expected since seeing the preview months ago. I enjoyed the film better the second time. The dialogue tends to get a bit annoying at parts but the movie as a whole is very pleasing and humorous. I wish the film featured the character Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera) more because he was definitely the stand-out. Michael Cera is so convincing and breaks my heart in half. The soundtrack is perfect, too.

No movie that was released during awards season really blew me away. I think my favorite film of the year was Sunshine. It was directed by Danny Boyle who did 28 Days Later and Trainspotting. I tend to stray from any sort of sci-fi flick, but this one truly blew my mind. It's one of those films that is shot so beautifully that you want to run up to the screen and make out with it. It's philisophical but extremely entertaining. You must see it. Sadly it will get looked past for any awards because of the genre it belongs to.

Here are the first half of the photos from my break.

Kevin graduated and is now officially a doctor! He toasts the family as we celebrate at a wine bar.

Shana threw a Pike Christmas party!

Everyone was in town for Kevin's graduation/party and mom, of course, rolled her ankle yet again and was forced to walk around with crutches all weekend.

Kevin gets the party started.

Party People

Fam

We had way too much to take home that night. The only room left for 4 people was in the front two seats.

Laura drove, Kimberly sat on the console, I was being sodomized by the passenger seat arm rest, and Kevin leaned out the window. I won't elaborate as to what was happening in this photo.