Cheap Perfume

Nothing too much to talk about so I guess I'll do a brief update.

On the Roommate search front, "Interesting guy" has stopped talking to me because (at least I think) , you guessed it, I told him I was gay. *sigh*. So most of the other guys I've contacted haven't responded even to my first message so I'll assume that they've might have already found a roommate or that they're just not using the CHARMS matching system. There is one guy I talked to and responded back, "eclectic gay" responded back to my first message. He was away on a trip or something which limited his Internet capabilities which explains why he took a while to respond back. I messaged him back with a few questions and stuff but he still hasn't responded back which has be worried slightly but whatever.

I'm headed off to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival tomorrow which is a giant event held on the national mall in front of the Washington Monument which is a celebration of international cultures with an emphasis on Asian cultures, that and a bunch of local things like wineries, local restaurants and craftspeople. I went last year in 90+ degree weather and ended up going home dehydrated and passed out on on my bed for 5 hours until I woke up at 3AM. (sounds fun, eh?)

Sorry I don't have much to talk about, things haven't too interesting unless you find watching youtube videos all day interesting. One thing that did happen to me today though which wasn't particularly pleasant is the little surprise I got at the gym today. I got on to the erg (that evil rowing machine that I love to hate) and there was an elderly lady running on a treadmill next to me, how sweet. Well, I took two strokes and then I noticed something, a smell in the air. It smelled of a mix of really bad B.O. and cheap perfume, like the industrial grade stuff you find at the dollar store. I stopped and smelled myself, I mean, maybe I stepped on some dog crap on the way in or something, well my inspection of myself failed to turn up anything. Then, it hit me, the nauseating odor wasn't form me, it was Ms. Stinky Sally running next to me. Ugh, it was bad, really bad.

Haha, well, I hope everything is going well in your neck of the woods and I hope you enjoy your summer weather (or winter if you're in the Southern Hemisphere).

Ciao,

JP

And the Search Goes On

So I realize I came down as a bit harsh yesterday on the whole "close match" situation. I've checked again today and he hasn't responded back so I think the whole thing is over. I'm not angry in a sense but more frustrated and somewhat upset about the situation. Given what he hold me about his upbringing I guess it would make sense that he would probably be uncomfortable rooming with a gay guy. He seemed like such a nice person and I'm sure he is, so, if I do meet him I hope we can still be friends.

With this, I'm continuing on my search for a roommate. I've contacted three other people and I hope they'll respond back. One of them outright said he was gay in his profile and says he's "eclectic" which I will be asking him to expand on later if he responds but we share a good bit in common so we'll see how it turns out. I labeled him as "eclectic gay" in my CHARMS contacts. The other person I've contacted is a bit more athletic, he plans to get more involved but he seems to be pretty study oriented as well. He wants to go out and explore the city however which I would gladly oblige to do (hey, I'm an area native, it's practically my duty). I nicknamed him "sporty". The final guy I messaged was this really fun sounding guy. He also is rather laid back but he seems to like to have fun and balance that with studying it as well. He's a 6'3" unicycle rider which is freaking awesome. I labeled him as "fun guy"

I know, those are some of the stupidest names of all time but they get the point across and I can easily tell who's who at least.

Well, wish me luck. Hopefully I can avoid a "close match" debacle repeat.

All the best,

JP

I'm Delicious All Over

-don't ask.-

Anyways, I learned five things as a result of my first camping trip yesterday.

1. Bug spray not only keeps bugs away, it makes an excellent flame booster when building a fire.

2. Bring a pillow...or two, a rolled up pair of running pants will not effectively provide any comfort whatsoever.

3. Metal coat hangers are a bit too flimsy to hold a hot dog over a fire, they're excellent for marshmallows however.

4. Don't flirt with the group of hot, young campground managers, it's awkward.

5. If you're going to be the only guy in a tent with four girls, be prepared to talk about past/present crushes, your favorite names, slutty girls from school, pregnant slutty girls from school and the inevitable bringing up of once a month lady-functions (ew.)

I'm convinced Abercrombie guys are stuck in a never ending camping trip

So camping was fun; I made it out alive, and learned I'm an ace when it comes to filling up my car's trunk up to the brim. Sure, it was hot, muggy, dirty and bug infested but hey, who cares, you're effing camping.

Anyways, update on the "Close Match" saga, well he didn't respond to my message in the end. Usually he responds within a day but given he has broken his otherwise perfect on-time performance, I'll take it as "Hey, no, I can't share a room with a queer, and no, I'm not sorry"

Dude, I asked you a fair question, and rather than just leaving a conversation like that, man up and have the balls to actually say it to my face, that way I can at leave still have some tiny fleck on respect for you rather than the absolute lack of any I have right now.

I'll give him one more day, and if he still can't muster a response by then, screw him.

All the best,

JP

"Close Match"

Finding a roommate is normally a random process. If you go to a school where you can request a specific person then power to ya, but part of college is to meet new people, and a roommate is a good place to start.

At my university, there's a roommate matching program that's pretty unique. It's called CHARMS (stands for something, I swear) and it's the official "roommate search/dating service". Humourous description for sure. How it works is that you first fill out a questionnaire about your living preferences like when you like to go to bed, what volume of music you listen to, whether you mind sharing items etc. and then you're given a list of all your top matches.

When I was given my list of top roommates (annonymous, everyone is just a number), I messaged my top match who I nicknamed uncreatively "Close Match". We got to talking and he seems to be a very nice guy. He says he's originally from Arizona and is an outdoorsy type of person despite not having gone backpacking in a few years. We share a lot in common - be both like the same music, have the same sleep patterns and seemingly similar personalities.

As we've talked more, I've learned more about him, he has siblings and was raised a devout Catholic. Today, when I checked my messages I found out he even attended a Jesuit high school and he says his Catholic upbringing has strongly influenced his beliefs. When I heard this I became slightly concerned. You see, there isn't a question on the questionnaire about sexual orientation. I was going to mention that I was gay in the "additional information" section of my profile but I don't want people to judge me based only on that detail from the start so I decided to leave that out.

For some time now, I've been feeling that I'd like to be roommates with Close Match but now that I've learned about his beliefs I felt that it was the right time ot let him know. I guess I came out to him in my last message where I explained that I wasn't the stereotypical gay guy and all that so he wouldn't get uncomfortable if he would in the first place. At the end of my message, I asked him if that would be a deal breaker and if we do become roommates in the end, whether he would respect that or not. He usually responds the next day so I'll end up hoping he responds before I leave for my camping trip tomorrow at 2. Otherwise, I'll have to wait until Saturday and I don't think I'll be able to bear the anticipation if I had to wait until then.

I hope my impression of him as a nice, fair guy holds up because I'd really like Close Match to be my roommate.

All the best,

JP

Guys, I think I have.....

Dammit, I still can't say it.

You know the feeling you get when you've done something you know you just can't let anyone else know about? An unspeakable act, something you know you never should ever do or have done, well I think I've done just that.

There's been a strange disease that's slowly been spreading across the nation, it's primarily been afflicting tweenaged girls but it hasn't been picky about who it's been trying to touch it's sticky, lecherous hands on. Scientists have yet to discover a cure and some fear it will get much worse before time will ultimately provide some sort of cure, until then, more and more people are catching this unspeakable disease. I think I've caught.....Bieber fever.

Me developing a liking for the music of Justin Bieber is the ultimate musical sin in my mind, he represents eveyrthing I stand against. Since he hit the airwaves, I've derided him as a one-hit wonder, the pewny little teenager whose voice is bound to crack soon enough and end his high-pitched musical career. Okay, so that's admittedly a bit harsh. especially coming from someone who did chorus back in elementary school and was a Soprano I of all things (aka, highest pitched position at the time). I hit notes twice as high as him back in the day which is disturbing now that I think about it. But the thing is, his popularity is so unfathomable to me, I think I went immediately to defence mode.

His synth-heavy, booming beat, pop music shouldn't be good, it just shouldn't, but before me in my itunes library, my collection is inexplicably growing like a group of mice going at it all day and night. Why? Someone please tell me why. Maybe I've been too closed minded, I mean, his music isn't horrible, I've heard some monstrosities in my life and so far at leats his music is okay. Also, despite having critisizing him as looking like a 12 year old, in more recent evolutions he's grown up a bit more and he isn't horribly bad looking either. Maybe all this subliminal catchy dance music/nice smile business is subliminally appealing to my gayness.

I feel like Tina Fey in that SNL skit a few weeks back, the one where she's a teacher and is having weird feelings of attraction to student-Bieber and fantasizes about pushing him around in a baby carriage (okay, that's just weird by any measure). Nevertheless, Justin Bieber will probably be a point of contension for me for the time being; I'm at an intersection of what I like and what I vehemeantly stand against.


I still can't wait for the moment puberty shows it's ugly face and his voice cracks though. >:)

All the best,

JP