hear me roar!

i am beat - this friday can’t be over fast enough. actually i am putting an end to it soon. i am really looking forward to my vacation in miami, but before then, some quality time with mr. big.

i was good today - i stayed out only until midnight and limited myself to two drinks, although one was a double shot of fernet. yuck! but AC showed up and i haven’t seen him in a while, so i had to drink what he and the boys were drinking.

mr. big was there - he apparently has no intentions to hide what’s going on. most of the night, he had his arms around me while we were sitting down, so even to the most oblivious people, it was pretty clear. i had to leave to go do some work around midnight, and he told everyone that he was gonna walk me to my car. so i guess if there was any doubt in anyone’s mind, that took care of it.

i really enjoy his company - but for now, i will not to let it get to my head too much.

i had planned on heading home early for once after working out - but JY invited to hang out w his thursday night vball crew, mostly people i haven’t met before. i have been in a super social mood as of late, so i agreed. we ended up hanging out until almost 1 a.m., drinking and then sobering up (at JY’s request) over greasy chinese food.

i really love meeting new people - and an ever expanding social network.

i can’t believe i slept most of tuesday - i think it helped, and i am hoping the scratchy throat will be limited to just that. i was groggy all day, roaming from couch, to bed, to another couch, in search of a cool place to sleep. i felt much better after working out around 9 pm.

i like the mirrors at the ST club one so much more - makes me look slimmer and taller. i think the other club one mirrors distort images.

got a bunch of stuff to wrap up at work before my vacation - i really gotta make progress with that. also there are tons of social stuff to look forward to. tonight AC and AL want to go see some fashion show - aka, drinking outing. JY’s vball friends have a bday thing - another drinking outing. tomorrow night is our vball social - definitely a drinking outing. friday night i am catching up with CV over dinner. and after, i offered to help mr. big prepare whatever it is that he wants to bring to the oyster fest on saturday. i am no master in the kitchen, but i can supervise while he executes. he seems ok with those roles. and saturday, of course, is the big oyster fest.

at vball last night, i kept on getting hit, physically.

twice i went up to block, the ball did not make it over the net, but the hitters “spiked” (hahaha, inside joke for myself and people at work) hard enough that the ball hit the net, and then me. once on the nose, and another time my arms. also, mr. big had spiked one at me and bounced off my left shoulder area. it was sweet - he walked over to make sure i was ok. the scary thing is - he wasn’t even try to hit it very hard. i am glad that i didn’t have to take that one in the face.

afterwards, a bunch of us went to get beer and food. and somehow (i believe it was AL, or AC) turned the attention towards me and started asking me what’s been going on in my life. so i took a few more shots, but managed to remain discreet.

but now they are suspicious… i wonder if anyone noticed that he walked me to my car.

i woke up this morning with a bad sore throat - even when i was sleeping last night, my ears were hurting when i swallowed. in the interest of my upcoming vacation, i am not taking any chances. so in a bit, after i check my emails, i will be taking some nyquil and going back to sleep.

hopefully it will go away, soon.

and south beach is only a few days away.

i know, i am normally very relunctant about refering to something as a date. but this one was no doubt a date. it was kinda cool. i can’t remember the last time that i went out on a real date (you know, an occasion both parties recgonize it as such).

mr. big was pretty much everything that i had expected - but even more direct. i told him that it was a good thing. although i don’t think i can be as direct in return. and there is no need to. someone has to keep things a bit mysterious. i think i really like the fact that he is pretty mellow and amenable to my ways.

at the end of the night, he asked me when i was leaving for my vacation and if i were around next weekend, we should hang out. i invited him to the oyster fest. i like him enough already to introduce him to my close friends, which is another rare thing.

what a weekend! CT arrived late friday evening - we had planned out this weekend a while back, knowing that it would be after the markman madness. as a favor to me, BL picked her up from SJC, so i had some free time to hang out with my grandma. of course she proceeded to show me two sets of pictures of boys that her friends wanted to set me up with. i politely explained what a fob is and asked her to promptly dispose the photos.

i walked over to the melting pot to meet CT and BL, and we had a really fun dinner. every time the waiter came by, he would always catch us in the middle of laughing about something, wholeheartily. it didn’t help that CT and BL decided that the waiter was checking me out, and to make matters worse, BL blurted that that “she is single!” Apparently, the waiter responded, under his breath, “good to know…”

CT and i stayed up to about 3 am. the next day was pretty low key at first. we met up with MT and CQ at santana row - they were leaving for hawaii the next day, but managed to squeeze out a few hours to hang out. hanging out is never dull with MT. too bad they couldn’t stay longer. after that, we had dinner at circolo with PL, JL and SC. i had picked circolo because it was in the neighborhood of the theatre where the 18 mighty mountain warriors were going to perform that night, for which PL had bought tickets.

i had never heard of MMW before - they are sort of like an asian american SNL cast. the skits were very funny, and not to mention we had rock star seating (second row, center). after that, we took CT to medjool, the new hot spot in the mission and hung out for the rest of the night.

i made sure we left by 1 am- so we can actually wake up for the muir woods trip the next day. we still didn’t sleep until 3 to 4 am, but hiking around muir woods was awesome. the sky cleared up, but among the redwoods, there were a lot of shady spots. it was very serene there - even though we were only a short drive outside of the city. SC’s friends were great - i knew we would all get along immediately.

on the way home, we hit the gay parade traffic. but we still had enough to come back and shower, before i took CT back to the airport. i can’t believe it’s been a year since she last visited- so much has changed in our lives, but i believe, mostly for the better. much better.

then i was off to my rendez-vous.

“A burgeoning romantic flirtation could blossom if you start picking up on their signals. They are shyer than you think and a bit afraid of rejection (but who isn’t?). Be empathetic and meet them halfway.”

hmm…i think i have picked up the signs pretty well. could he be shyer than i think he is? but i have done well in encouraging him. i am definitely meeting him halfway. but not an inch more.

some people are really good communicators, in terms of calling all the time, responding to emails promptly, letting you know their whereabouts. basically, all the indicia of trustworthiness. and they look good on paper, with the right education and career, and a family background that would satisfy the most demand parents. but they have other, deep-hidden issues with past relationships, commitment, etc. in short, they are just ” not sure” about you (actually, me).

other people aren’t so good at checking in, don’t call when they should, don’t miss you the way you miss them, have unexplainable affinity towards certain hobbies (not bad habits or anything). but they are really sure that you (in the case i am thinking of, it’s not me) are “the one,” and they want to be with you, with or without the formalities.