California – Page 10

Back To The Grind

Well,

Break is over, and it’s back to work for me… Another hour and a few odd minutes and we’ll be back in the OC. I really don’t want to go back. I really wanted to stay in Iowa.

If someone were to offer me a job back there tomorrow, I’d totally move back. Even the people on this flight going back to the OC are bitchy as hell… All the people on the flight out of DM were really nice and friendly. There’s this lady sitting in the isle seat on my row. She’s a total fucking bitch.

Anyways, yesterday was lots of fun. Got up about 8:30, after sleeping forever and then went up to Ames and visited with Krellisans for a long while. I wish I still worked there. Barb even gave me a hug!

After that I went out to lunch with Sarah and we had a good time talking about homos and stuff. Then I drove back to PC, stopped at home for a little bit and then went and picked up Nikki. We had to pick up her sister after a movie, so I didn’t really want to go anywhere and start doing anything, so we just drove around some. Finally the movie was over and then we went off to my house and I showed them around PC. After that it was supper at Hickory Park in Ames, and then down to DM to visit my cousin. That was a blast.

From there it was Java Joe’s for like an hour and then back home for the night. I’m really glad I got the chance to show them around DM.

This morning. I got up about 10 and went to Jordan Creek. Walked around there for an hour with my mom. The boys are Hollister were WAY hot!

From there it was back home and then time to leave. Got to the airport and have had really good flights so far. Both of them should be getting in early. My first one was just a little early, like 15-20 minutes. The one I’m on now is nearly an hour early. Which is just amazing.

Work tonight. I think I’m going to go home, rest tell 3am and then go into work and work tell 10… Which is what I have to work tell anyways. Tomorrow I’ll be sleeping really well.

I’m really glad that I have the 3rd off.

Umm, anyways. I shipped my box to Cali, it was only $45 which wasn’t bad for a 65 pound box.

Have I mentioned that I want to move back to Iowa. :'( Usually I’m crying on planes because I’m leaving someone I love… Now I’m crying because I’m leaving somewhere I love. :'(

Blah. Well. I just don’t know what to do. Andrew keeps saying that if I like it there so much I should move back… But I don’t feel that I can. I don’t want to feel like I gave up on living in California, I don’t want to leave my job which I DO like. And I don”t want to move back and have my grandma be all…. I dunno how to explain it, but she’d be right.

Apparently my generation is called the “echo” boomers. Gah, crazyness.

I really wish that I had time to get a second job….I’d like to have some extra money to buy new clothes… Or to start setting aside for a house…. I figure I should purchase something in the next 5 years… If it’s for me to live in or rent out, either way. I should start investing in the real estate market sometime soon.

Ok, well my computer hasn’t been charged in a few days. So it’s nearly dead. I’ve got to break.

Laters all.

Welcome Chris and Ty

Well apparently the roommates have been reading my Journal. So Welcome to them.

However, it appears there is need to go back over what a blog is and what the point of this is.

A blog, is an open space for me to write my feelings/rants/annoyance/happyness/etc. The writings on here are for public interpertation and whom ever reads it can and will read it. If there’s something on here which you find offensive and derogatory, you can nicely ask me and I will politely tell you that I have the free speech to put what I want here. 🙂

The world who reads this comes for the interesting tale of the life of a gay boy who moved from Iowa to Sothern California. They come here not for gossip about who I’m living with/fucking/making out with or for the latest news of the world. But for the pure entertainment value and hopefully some form of educational value, in the times when I write something semi-educational.

Again, a blog is the equivilent of private journal, which has been opened to the public for thier needs to read and enjoy…

Now, back to what was happening this weekend before I got stolen away from my desk yesterday….

Anyways, we came down to the Laguna area and looked at a few places and I found some really nice apartments that I really liked. Went to CoCo’s for supper and then took Andrew back to Chapman, played some Video games and then I headed home to hang out with everyone. We did that, and now it’s been so long that I can’t rember what we did. Though I know it was fun and exciting!

OH, I do remember buying halloween candy at Wal-Mart.

Sunday was a day of rest, as it should be. I spent the day in bed tell 4ish when I finallly got up and then went and did some stuff and just generally hung around.

Before leaving I left Ty the 1/3 of utilities which I owe.

Went to work and that was hellish/exciting all at the same time. All the sites went down at some point or another in the morning hours and the OnCall SA didn’t have his blackberry on, so I had to call the other one and wake him. I felt back. But he’s switching to OnCall this week then.

Jon came annd stole me at 6am yesterday and took me for a drive. We went over to the SBC Communications building which is fucking awesome! I couldn’t beleive the security in that place, and I asked Jon what we pay per month for there and it was insane!

Anyways, we talked about my future with the company and said that I want to go into the SA path of a career. He said I need to start working on Cisco certs then. I should get one level per month. I went out and bought a book for the CCNA exam. Hopefully by the end of Dec I’ll have that. 🙂

So that was about the only good thing that happened all yesterday.

And since Sunday at noon, I’ve only had 3 hours of sleep.

I get home and there’s a note on my door saying, “Chirs this is the wrong amount, please pay the correct amount by monday.” I wrote on there, “Ty, this is the corrrect amount if Chris is going to continue living here and using Utilities.” And I taped it back to thier dooor. Tried going to bed, but I couldn’t because I was way too pissed off about a lot of things, so I went and showered.

Came out and Ty comes up to me and says, “We need to talk.” I tell him that he doesn’t want to talk to me unless he wants a black-eye. And go into my room and shut the door. Get dressed and go to leave. He trys talking to me anyways, and brings up this website. (IE the reason for the refresher on the discliamer). And I get even more pissed off at him.

He claims I never clean. I do clean, not my fault he can’t look and tell that. Just like the other night when I spent an hour after cooking supper cleaning the kitchen and he comes out 30 minutes and continues to re-clean it. Even though it was ALREADY CLEAN. This including the MANY other times which I’ve cleaned up after them, and done many other things to clean. AND all the times which JonJOn cleans our apartment.

He then went on to say that the parking pass is in “his” share of the rent…Umm, excuse me? When I moved in, he stated and I have it in writing that the pass was a shared item. Which it hasn’t been for weeks now. He also claims that the pass costs him an extra $100 a month, or some outrageous thing like that. Anyways, I went today and asked for a copy of the lease and it said nothing about an extra fee for the parking pass. Which is where this “fee” would have to be included if he is in fact paying it.

Also, when he gave me a the bill for the utilities this month he included a price for Water and trash… Which FYI, he stated before I moved in that… “Water and Trash pickup are included in the rent.” And that’s a direct quote from his e-mail…. Also in his e-mail he stated that HE pays for the home phone line, and offers that the roommate can use it, and pay for it. However, I DO NOT use it, nor do I WANT to use it… But I pay for it.

Another utilities based thing, it is against california law for the “landlord” in this case Ty, because I’m sub-leasing from him and paying HIM rent to cut off any utilities which I need to function and or do my work. Well today when I got home, I was unable to access the Wireless network. It said my computer was unauthorized. This either means something got really fucked up (Which is highly unlikely because it’s been working without a hitch in 6 months) or Ty has changed the WEp password or disallowed my MAC address… Again, another instance of him breaking California law, since this is a utility which I pay for, and was un-duely cut off… If in fact this is the case about what happened… Which I beleive it is, because I saw him using his computer wirelessly today.

Lets, see other things he’s done wrong…. The apartment complex doesn’t know about the cats. (An additional deposit and monthly fee). He states in one of his e-mails that “It is required by law and the state of California that any person over the age of 18 must sign on to a lease if they will be living in the apartment.”… Chris is technically LIVING in our apartment, is over the age of 18, and Ty has stated that Chris is paying RENT. HOWEVER, Chris is NOT on the lease agreement. Thus Ty is breaking California law.

I called up my lawyer, who thus put me on conf with a nice team of rental property lawyers, and we had a nice 2 hours discussion today. I faxed them copies of my lease with the property owners and my copy of my arrangement with Ty (the written e-mails). He said that since I had a pre-arranged contact with Ty before the lease with the property owner was signed. So thus the lease with Ty has precedence over my lease with the property owner and I can thus break the lease with the property owner at any time.

There’s many other things which my lawyer and I discussed and it seems that I can get out of all leases with Ty. However, I’ve choosen to be nice about it and offer to continue to pay though Mid-December, even though I’m moving out on Saturday. I also have choosen not to bring up all of these areas where Ty is breaking california law, as well as all the places where our property owner could immediately break off the lease complety and evict him.

Anyways, needless to say, I didn’t sleep at all today and spent the day on the phone/looking for apartments. I found a really nice one and have put down my reserve for it. I can move in on Saturday if everything goes well.

Tonight was long and lots of yelling. Though I did get in a nice 3 hour nap. I could use some more sleepy time.

Well, I’ve written enough. So…

Laters all.

Suze Orman!

I’m in love with Suze Orman.. Can I marry her and Rachel Ray!?! I want to marry them both!

I thinkSuze might be a lesbian though. Who knows. 🙂 But I love her!

This weekend has been really great.

I got my first manicure this past week, and also did some other really fun things.

Plans were initiated for a weekend in Palm Springs and then quickly cancelled. Hopefully it’ll be re-created soon, because I really want to go. We’ll see! 🙂

Umm, Friday was spent here at the apartment, Ty really pissed me off, because he came home and JonJOn and I had all the lights off, because we were watching a movie, and then he comes home and turns on EVERY LIGHT around. And then just today he complained about how much the electiric bill was, and it’s like, WELL DUH, it’s because you ALWAYS turn on every fucking light around the house!

Gah! Anyways, watched QaF last night and had a really good time.

Woke up really early this morning, and hung around here for a bit, then headed up to Chapman. Had a great time there today, we drove up to Pasadena to this big art museum. They had a lot of boring paintings, just like about everywhere else. But also some that I REALLY loved! It was worth the horrible traffic there and back!

After that was over, came home and have been hanging out here all night. Re-Read the chapters regarding IRAs in my Suze book and now I’mw atching her show! Weee, I lov eher!

lol. Ty and Chris are gone for the night, so that’s really exciting.

Tonight was really funny because everytime Ty picked up a cat or talked or did anything the cats would freak out. But then Dreamer came over and cuddled with me and slept in my lap and danny slept in chris’ lap. lol. And it’s funny cause whenever JonJon comes over the both curl up with him. They like everyone but Ty…. Gee I wonder why!

Umm, yeah. So that’s been my weekend. really good times! 🙂 I’m enjoying life right now, but at the same time I’m pretty annoyed/upset/depressed about California. It’s just not living up to my dreams.

I want to leave, but I can’t since I JUST moved here and shit. I have to live here for a while at least. Gah!

Well laters all!

Fat People? Joke?!?!

Unashamed of their size, fed up with fat jokes, and angry at the national obsession with dieting, overweight activists are mounting a feisty protest movement against what it calls the medical establishment’s campaign against obesity.

“We’re living in the middle of a witch hunt and fat people are the witches,” said Marilyn Wann of San Francisco, a militant member of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. “It’s gotten markedly worse in the last few years because of the propaganda that fatness, a natural human characteristic, is somehow a form of disease.”

The association, known as NAAFA, holds its annual convention starting Wednesday in Newark, New Jersey, bringing together activists for social events and workshops on self-acceptance, political advocacy and the “fat liberation” movement.

“I hope we can be a viable force of sanity in the midst of hysteria,” said NAAFA spokeswoman Mary Ray Worley of Madison, Wisconsin. “I’ve found allies in all kinds of unexpected places, but overall there’s a lot of animosity. Some people act like obesity is the next worst thing after terrorism.”

The convention comes as the movement is scrambling to counter federal government pronouncements that obesity is a “critical public health problem” costing more than $100 billion and 300,000 lives per year.

Jeannie Moloo, an American Dietetic Association spokeswoman who counsels overweight clients at her nutrition practice in Sacramento, California, empathizes with the activists’ fight against bias, but says they should be wary of oversimplifying obesity-related health issues.

“Some people can be overweight all their lives and not end up with diabetes or heart disease or hypertension,” Moloo said. “But the majority are probably going to develop one of these life-altering conditions.”

Fat-acceptance groups were dismayed when federal officials announced last month that Medicare was discarding its declaration that obesity isn’t a disease. The policy change will likely prompt overweight Americans covered by Medicare to file medical claims for treatments such as stomach surgery and diet programs.

“Obesity is not a disease,” insisted Allen Steadham, director of the Austin, Texas-based International Size Acceptance Association. “All this does is open the door for the diet and bariatric surgery industries to make a potentially tremendous profit.”

Most fat-acceptance activists endorse the concept of eating healthy food and exercising regularly, but they oppose any fixation on losing weight and contend that more than 95 percent of diets fail. They also decry the rapid growth of stomach-shrinking surgery; the number of such procedures has quadrupled to 100,000 annually since 1998.

Wann depicts bariatric surgery as “stomach amputation” that imposes anorexia on patients and exposes them to long-term risks. Kelly Bliss, a self-described “full-figured fitness instructor” from Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, predicts that future generations will disapprovingly look back on stomach surgery as “comparable to lobotomies.”

Bliss, who coaches clients by phone and in fitness classes, subscribes to a philosophy called “health at every size” — preaching that health, fitness and self-esteem can be achieved independent of weight.

“There’s a war on obese people, and I’m treating the casualties – people whose hearts are being ripped out,” Bliss said.

NAAFA and others have tried to combat what they see as rampant discrimination against fat people, but progress has been sporadic. Southwest Airlines, for example, resisted protests targeting its policy of requiring large passengers to purchase a second ticket if they can’t fit in a single seat.

“People want to fight for their rights, but there’s a lot of shame involved,” Steadham said. “It takes a whole lot of determination to stick through it to the end.”

A few cities, including San Francisco, explicitly outlaw weight discrimination. Michigan is the only state to do so, but its Civil Rights Department said only five of 1,696 job discrimination complaints filed in 2003 involved weight.

Walter Lindstrom, a San Diego attorney specializing in weight-discrimination cases, said overweight plaintiffs usually must prove that acts of bias against them are covered by federal laws prohibiting discrimination against disabled people.

“These cases are more difficult from a proof standpoint, and also because you’re dealing with a very unpopular class of clients,” Lindstrom said. “Juries are generally disgusted with your average size-related plaintiff. You have to get past that, and have them see the plaintiff as someone with a true medical problem.”

Many fat-acceptance activists were heartened by this year’s publication of “The Obesity Myth” by University of Colorado law professor Paul Campos, who contends that diet promoters, drug companies and weight-loss surgeons have whipped up an irrational panic over weight.

Campos shares many of the activists’ views but says their effectiveness has been limited.

“The movement has found itself marginalized by drawing its membership and leadership from the far extreme of obesity,” he said. “It will be more successful if it can attract the two-thirds of Americans who are being told by the government that they weigh too much — the I-want-to-lose-20-pounds crowd who are starting to feel a certain amount of resentment from the constant haranguing they’re getting.”

Here At Last

Well here I am. In California.

I now officially live here… Well I will once I get an apartment. Anyways,

I’ve been meaning to write an update for a while. Well, I wanted to write one wed, but never got around to it.

Andrew came over Tuesday after work and we hung out at home all night talking and went hot tubbing one last time. We really didn’t do too much it was a sad night for me.

Wed morning we got up early and left, I dropped andrew off at courts house. We hugged and said good bye. And off I went for my drive half way across the country.

The drive from DM to Grand Junction, CO went fine. Nothing really interesting. Spent the night in Grand Junction and then was off again for the drive Thursday.

Again, nothing really happened tell I hit the Cali border. That’s when things really started to go downhill. I started to breakdown and cry and think that I couldn’t do this.

That this wasn’t the time for me to be doing this and this wasn’t the way that it was supposed to go. I cried off and on all the way to LA. In there somewhere my mother called and the whole time I was talking to her, I just wanted to break down and cry and scream, “I wanna come HOME.”

I really just want a BIG hug from Andrew right now, I really just want to go back home and stay the summer there and then come back here with him and start everything. Not that he’s the reason I’m moving here, because as we’ve established before, that’s not it. It’s just that I really need his support here.

I’m glad that I still have it over the phone, but that’s just not enough right now. I NEED to have him here.

Well I really wanted to update more, but I’m just not in the mood anymore. I think I’m going to head out here soon and look for apartments and maybe pick up a little breakfast. Laters all.