Have to Play the Game...

If you want to win.

I went on a date last night with a less than pleasant guy. I had just got home from work and I wanted to nap but said guy wanted me to meet him at 4:50 to go to an improv show. I overslept a bit and rushed to meet up with him only to find out the show started at 7:30. I could have slept for another hour. We had two hours to kill and he had not made any plans in that two hours. We walked down Whyte Ave trying to figure out what to do and settled on drinking at The Next Act. In all honesty, I did not need to drink or eat before the show. I have been trying to save money (he offered to pay for the show). While we were sitting there he kind of hinted that he wanted me to pay for this round of drinks and the snack we got. Hell to the no. Don't invite me on a date then ask me to pay... I failed to mention this guy was really awkward and terrible at conversations...

We finally made it to the improv show. I found out this guy goes about weekly to the improv show. No judgment... It was an international competition. This show was between a team from Toronto (one girl was so freaking funny. I want her as my best friend) and a team from Atlanta (the winners!). The second half were these two guys that were not really that funny. I think everyone's buzz had died. After the show, we went our separate ways to probably never cross paths again.

After an unsuccessful date, I didn't exactly want my night to go to waste.

Conveniently, a guy I had been talking to messaged me and wanted to hang out because he was leaving for the states for three weeks. He asked what I wanted to do and I said I was up for nearly anything. He stated that he was tired and we would probably just cuddle and sleep. Deal. I can do that.

He comes to pick me up (although totally inept at following directions) and takes me to his place. He knew I had to be at work at 8am but still said I could stay the night and he would take me home. We arrive to his place and soon after he starts kissing me neck. Great. Another hook up. So, I indulge him... We start getting into it and he does this awesomely douchey move here he pushes my head down signaling he's ready for me to suck his dick. Are you serious? Are people still doing that? Well, he did it twice and he hadn't even sucked me once. Whatever.

We start to get into it even more and he leans over me and says, "I want to top you." Wow. He knows full and well that I am a top. Here's my thing - if you are versatile, and you are hooking up with a top, don't expect to top. If you can derive pleasure from bottoming, then do that. He stated a few times how he wanted to top me and how I was "missing out". Prince Charming, right here. Of course, he still tried... He finally did ask if I want to top him but there wasn't much follow-through. So, after an hour or so of him jacking off, we finally decided he wasn't going to finish, so I did and we went to bed.

His bed was comfortable. His pillows were not. His alarm was set for 7:20am to allow ample time for us to take me home. Well, he snoozes it and at 7:30am it goes off again and he snoozes it again... I get up and start nagging him reminding him I have to be at work at 8am. "The stars have to align for me to get out of bed. I'm not a morning person." Dude. Get the fuck up. Ain't nobody got time for this.

He finally gets up and out of bed (7:42am) but then proceeds to get full on ready instead of just taking me home. He didn't have to be at work until 9am. So I get to sit there and watch him get ready and even eat a bowl of cereal. Sometimes you truly just wonder why people are single... We finally leave at 7:55am, I get into my apartment and quickly freshen up to go to work.

Well, I stroll into work 10 minutes late and everyone is stern and almost sad looking. I know people are not that upset about me coming in late... I later found out that there was a shooting/robbery in one of the residence halls while I was away. Three lives lost and another in critical condition. More about it here. So my office is pretty stressed and it's been a hectic morning.

What an eventful 16 hours.

My Phone Came

And so did I.

I had gone nearly four weeks without a cell phone. Anyone growing up in this day and age can tell you that is an impossibly long time. There had been a slight hiccup, and with international travel... Regardless, my phone is safe and sound in my hands. I have been reconnected to the world.

Not having a phone for so long really got me thinking though. Before phones, conversations had to have been really intentional. You can't just meet a guy or gal, exchange numbers (or add to Facebook), and stay connected that way. If you really liked someone, you must have done every effort to never let them go. If you gave someone your mailing address, I imagine it would still take weeks between each correspondence. I can almost see how being amorous was frowned upon. You wouldn't want that one guy/gal slutting up the whole town preventing people from sending letters.

I am really going to try and be more intentional with my conversations in hopes of finally finding that one. I'm turning to a life of video games to ease up on my sluttiness.

Great White North

Now I get why they call it that. There really are so many white people.

I've been here for a mere 10 days and so much as already happened. I met some cool friends and was already drunk within the first 24 hours. Had to walk an hour home several times. Been offered drugs. Escorted. You know. Very typical Canada things.

I have a pretty awesome job with Residence Services at University of Alberta. The people are really cool. I already think that I will keep in touch with the people I've met from my job. We are supposed to go camping at some time next month.

It's a really short post but I fully intend on updating with great stories of the Great White North.

This is All That

I was supposed to go to TigerHeat (some gay club) last night but let's say that didn't exactly happen. Everyone kind of backed out at the last minute. Oh well. I had to be into work early today so it was probably a good idea I didn't go out last night. Work today was pretty boring. Event Operations couldn't delinen beds properly and I'm pretty sure they are just dumb. That's all I'll say about that.

I had my first check in today: National Cheer Association. It went by pretty smoothly. It's a conference to teach the staff that will teach at cheer camps. They seemed okay enough. They were all pretty nice. At the same time MAWS (Marijuana Anonymous World Services) was checking in at the same time right next to me. It's an organization that helps people become sober (I think...). They were all older and more laid-back. Who is surprised. But most importantly (!!!!) I was sitting next to Lori Beth Denberg!! Normally an intern will check in a conference but she was the one checking in the group. If you're wondering who that is, she's from All That. She went by LB so I wasn't absolutely certain at first. But she looked just like Lori Beth so I looked her up and sure enough it was her. She's quite funny and SHE KNOWS MY NAME!!! It was a truly wondrous experience. I'm going to bring it up in the office tomorrow and if I see her again I'm going to actually talk to her.

Oh, WACAC

Short story long, my friend William who is from Maine but who just graduated from Clark University and spends every summer in LA/Fresno is moving to Fresno was well moving to Fresno... How awkward of me... Anyways, he was going to visit me in LA as a pit stop before he continued on to Fresno. He has lots of cousins in the area so no, he wasn't coming solely to visit me. It was just convenient. Apparently a lot of people thought otherwise and it caused a lot of confusion. His younger sister was helping him move to Fresno and also visiting for two weeks. This is where the fun begins. Note: I use the term fun loosely.

It was a pain to try and tell William where I lived and that's all I'll say about that. He already was having a bad day since he just flew in, his tires were messed up from shipping his car, he nearly lost his keys, he wasn't raptured. Pretty depressing stuff. So, he gets to my place and I tell him that Andi (another intern) is cooking a big dinner for some other interns and her friends and I've already paid for him to go and afterwards there is Grease sing-a-long. (!!!! More on this later) He was totally down for the idea. We're just hanging out, getting ready until it's time for dinner. We go and eat some amazing pasta and then on our way to Grease he tells me that his sister really wants to do all of these things in the city and that they don't think they will have time to do them if they go to Grease. Bitch bettah recognize I'm not missing Grease. We decide it's best if they just spend time together in the city and when Grease is over they will come back and we'll all go to Weho to party some. Well, I get a text (after about an hour) saying his sister is freaking out about some stupid shit and that they are just going to go to their cousins for the night. Quick back story, I took off of work today so that we could go out last night and have today to do touristy things. Whatever. Not to say he ruined my night and today... but he kind of did. That's all.

Back to Grease. WACAC (not sure what it stands for but it's a conference for high school academic counselors in CA and NV) is currently our only conference in house and we (the glorious four[ious]) got word that they would be having a Grease sing-a-long. Naturally we were going to crash it. After dinner we all head over there and have an amazing time. After having already drunk some dranks, we discover the open bar they set up. Jackpot! We're singing and dancing and having an overall great time. Nilani starts to get a little crazy and says she has to leave or she won't wake up for work in the morning. Mike, being the gentleman that he is, takes her home and Andi and I are left to finish off the movie. It was a perfect evening which later turned into a perfect night. Wink.

Today, my off day, was not an off day. Oh!! But before I talk about work. FIU calls me at 8am basically saying they can offer me an assistantship for the fall. Good bye Peace Corps and hello normal life! So, I go to this meeting at 11am, I'm so bored that I just decide to go into work. I stay until about 3pm. My Zipcard came in today so I can now rent Zipcars and actually drive around. So I did. Ashley and I went to Target, which is connected to a mall. I only had an hour before I had to return the car so I went to Macy's to look for some khaki pants. Blah blah blah my day was boring... Until... (!!) WACAC was having a party!!! I discovered it earlier while I was working and immediately went back to the other interns to tell them we had to go. Just went my night was getting boring, Andi texted me and said that she and Mike were going and that I should go. I did.

The party was hosted by SubLime which, cleverly enough, decorated with green lighting, had an open bar with lime drinks, and catered with lime desserts. It was really fun. They were playing some 70s and 80s music and then they had a live band that played the same. It was a pretty great experience. Overall, I can definitely see why California is the way that it is. These are the counselors that are guiding California's youth. It is no wonder California is in the bottom ten every year. If these past few nights are any indication of what summer is going to be like, this is going to be one fucking epic summer!

First Weekend

Well, this weekend has essentially been a whirlwind. That is pretty much the reason I am not updating until Monday... Plus work and life are both exhausting. /cry

Thursday night was an interesting one. My neighbor, her friend, and I went to Santa Monica 3rd St. Promenade to go shopping and essentially just to hang out. We had a great time. Then, I had a friend (Marq) who also brought a friend pick me up and take me out for my first experience in Weho. Weho (West Hollywood) is like the party district. We kind of toured Beverly Hills and everyone on the way. I saw Christina Aguilera's house. That was cool. So, we finally get to Weho and the magic begins.

By magic I do not in fact mean magic.

Marq is the kind of guy that always makes the pouty lip/fishy face in pictures. But the worst part is that he kind of always has that face. He's also a really bad dancer. That aside, he bought me drinks so whatever. We went to four different bar/clubs and just hung out. At one of them a guy's friend came up to me and introduced me to the other guy (Adam) saying "Oh, you have a stalker." Normally someone would see this as a red flag. I of course see it as an open invitation. I need to fix my filter.

So this guy and I are talking. We exchange numbers. Then we go our separate ways. I was hardly doubting to ever even hear from him again. But of course, later than night he texts me and asks me to meet him at the world famous Abbey. So, I ditch Marq and go to meet Adam who I found out is actually a soon to be big time director. I'm basically walking around Weho alone, going into bars alone, and standing around. Alone. No bueno. I finally find Adam and we pretty much immediately leave to go back to his place to cuddle. More red flags than a UGA football game. (I know they aren't red but for this purpose they will be). In my defense, Adam is pretty attractive, great smile, great body. I wasn't completely in the wrong.

So, we get back to his place and we start watching a movie and cuddling. It seemed like a great movie but I was passing out while watching so I suggested we just go to sleep. I honestly did want to go to sleep. Since I got here I've just wanted to sleep... Didn't happen. He says, "Come here." We start making out. One thing leads to another. And then soon I had officially taken my first black guy. I took it like a champ too. I was half expecting a victory belt afterwards. He pulled some pretty douche bag moves though so I was pretty much done with him after. For those of you wondering - he was safe. He had just been tested and still had his papers in his pocket. I'm not that big of a fool. We then proceed to actually fall asleep. Except. I could not fall asleep. His bed/pillow were way too soft so I proceeded to lay there until 7:50am when the alarm goes off.

This now takes us to Friday.

I had to be at work at 9am. I go in. Drudge through the day. Get off work at fourish. Run some errands. And then nap until midnight. This pretty much takes us to Saturday because after my nap, I chatted with friends and then went back to bed.

Ashley (my athletic neighbor) and I have been trying to plan a bike trip down to Venice Beach. My bike sucks so it's been difficult. We also have been trying to figure out bike paths for days. We woke up early Saturday to get to the beach and walk around a bit. Well, my not so athletic roommate (Stephen) who does not have a bike overhears us and is then of course invited along to come with us. So we then decide to take the bus again. We prepped better this time and now have a firmer grasp of the bus system. We got off at the appropriate stop and proceeded to Venice Beach!

We walk about a mile to Abbot Kinney which is a long strip of shops and restaurants. We stopped at this really nice diner that had the most amazing bagels. We kept walking and I encountered my first food truck. It was a Korean taco or something place. It was incredibly delicious. We finished walking the full length of A. Kinney and turn onto Venice Beach. Ashley had been on a mission the entire week to find certain items for her trip to Vegas next weekend. This is why we have been shopping so hardcore like. So, we walk to the beach and then walk up and down the strip looking at all the vendors and the stores along the way. I'm starting to get burnt so we proceed back to a bus stop to take us home.

Well, we walk all the way from Venice to the Marina (no short walk) and just decide to eat there. Finding the place we wanted to eat required another long ass walk. After we had eaten and rested a little we decided that since we were so close we might as well just walk back to LMU. We couldn't exactly find a path so we just decided to take the bus back. By this point we had probably walked a total of 7 miles. Which is a little ridiculous if you ask me. And you aren't because you can't. But I'm telling you anyways. Not letting a short walk deter us from having fun, we were already making plans for the evening.

Saturday night...

Ashley and I started our night off by riding our bikes to a liquor store. We are two classy ladies. So, we get back and drink some dranks and wait for our ride to take us back to Weho. One of the awesome interns has friends that were playing in a show at the Roxy so we hitched a ride with them. We get to the Cantina and find some good drinks and meet some cool people and just end up hanging out with them for the rest of the night. Then we get to the Abbey and the real shit show begins. We get inside and there are practically naked go-go dancers and Ashley is intent on dancing with them so she basically fights her way to the stages and makes her way around dancing with the different guys. There's an overhead pole/bar that they use to dance with - this comes into play later. We make our way around the huge club/bar dancing and walking and drinking and talking. We get to the lounge area with various couches and start dancing on those. We see the bar that the go-go dancers use spanning across the ceiling so we jump on that and start swinging and using it to dance. Ashley jumped for it in her heels, completely missed and then twisted her ankle. We were a huge mess...

So we leave and meet up with our other friends and walk about a mile to a diner. Ashley, Ms. Mess herself, walking with a twisted ankle and being completely sloshed was a site. We get inside and she is practically passing out. Her head fell down and she just kind of drooled all over herself. It was funny in a really sad way. So we get her to go to the bathroom and we're all fine. We eventually make it back to the car and continue home in a happy manner.

Sunday morning our friend Scott was playing in a softball game at 8am. Yeah. Didn't quite make that one. We still met up with him at his softball fundraiser which to our dismay was at another bar. I think I'm destined to be an alcoholic. We hang around the bar and meet some interesting people. One guy thought I was in town for the entertainment business because I have that 'model look'. It pretty much made my night. We just hung out trying not to pass out. And that pretty much concluded our night. We went to Target afterwards and I got home and did some pretty exciting things right before bed. And that was my first weekend in LA. If everything else is that crazy I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up.

Welcome to the land of fame excess...

Well, I've decided to blog about my summer adventures in Los Angeles, California. So, for all 2 of you that are reading... yay!

I arrived last Saturday after graduating, saying good bye, and then a five hour, freezing plane ride. But at least I had leg room in the exit aisle. It's the little victories... After arriving, my supervisor took my roommate and I to the bar that Moe's from The Simpsons was modeled after. Apparently one of the drawers or creators of the show went to LMU. Which leads me to what I will be doing this summer: I am a summer conference intern at Loyola Marymount University. The other interns I'm working with are super awesome! We have ITT (intern time together). We're going to be BFFS (best friends for summer). And I'm done...

This week has basically been filled with ice breakers, training, and free lunch. Now that the free lunch and ice breakers are over, I get to sit through meetings I almost feel I could run. But it's the price you pay. Our first conference is Monday so things will really start to pick up then. I think this summer is going to be so awesome! Conference Services has been giving me so many awesome things too: a bike, pots, pans, silverware, other utensils, bedding for my other bed (I have my own room and two beds), shirts, and a Zipcar. Ahmahzing.

And we're pretty much caught up to today. Except, I rode my bike to the store and back yesterday. It. Was. Torture. Now we're caught up.

Today I was taken to lunch at a place that served popcorn instead of chips. I died in Heaven which caused some eternal paradox and sent me back to Earth. It was at Tower Pizza which is also a sports grill. It was pretty crazy. I got BBQ Chicken Pizza which was nothing like YourPie's pizza of the same name. Given the choice, YourPie.

While I was sitting through a meeting, Ashley (a fellow intern from USF who is working with judicials) asked if I wanted to brave public transportation and go to the mall. Never one to pass up an adventure, I gladly said yes. With my roommate (another intern from Old Dominion working with housing facilities) in tow, we set off to get to the mall. We were too afraid to take bikes and we felt like walking would have taken too long (lies) so we set off for the appropriate bus stop. Ten minutes later we arrive, get on the bus (at least they're always on time) and try to figure out where to get off. It was one of those things where we had to get off a bus to get on to another bus. We find the right stop and immediately try to hail a taxi... Buses are pretty much that bad. Maps don't tell you anything. Bus drivers have pocket knives to cut anyone who asks questions. And Liza Minnelli was sitting in the front seat... Welcome to California.

We see a cab pass by and immediately call the number. "We don't service that area." Then what the f are your cabs doing driving around? Giving up we decided to wait for the next bus to take us to the mall. We are clearly not from here. Long story short, we make it to the mall, I bought jeans and a pair of shoes for $75, and I'm never taking public transportation again. The ending of the story was anti-climactic but so are most of my sexual encounters. Hi-oh!! Not really... Anyways. I'm excited to see what LA has in store for the summer!