Language Courses

So I'm really starting to seriously consider quitting my job and teaching full-time. I just need more clients and a little more stability. But in any case, I'm advertising like crazy. Anyone want language classes? I do individual, pairs and small group classes in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Catalan and English.

My rates look like this:

$50/hour (individual)
$30/hour/student (pairs)
$25/hour/student (3-6 students)

My rates are, of course, negotiable if you want several hours a week or make me an interesting deal. I sell time in blocks and the more time bought at once, the cheaper the rates. For individual classes, for example, this is what I normally do:

Block of 5 hours: $50/hour x 5 = $250
Block of 10 hours: $45/hour x 10 = $450
Block of 15 hours: $40/hour x 15 = $600
Block of 20 hours: $35/hour x 20 = $700

I'm even beginning to offer a new service online that I find kind of interesting. Conversational English courses online through VOIP software such as Skype. My target clientele are students with some English knowledge but who lack the opportunities to practice their spoken English and listening comprehension with native speakers. It gives them a chance to really apply what they learn in class and improve their fluency.

One of the really cool things is that they can pay me online with debit or credit through Paypal!

For that service, my rates look like this:

Block of 5 hours: $35/hour x 5 = $175
Block of 10 hours: $30/hour x 10 = $300

This one is negotiable too, of course.

If you know anyone interested in lessons, refer them to me and I'll pay you a finder's fee (that means 10% of the first contract!) So if you find me a student who commits to 20 hours at $35 an hour, you get 10% of that $700! So, that's a nice $70 for having done nothing except making a phone call.

Keep me in mind, guys.

First posting for 2008

Well guys, another update finally. It's been overdue for a while.

Well, what's new? In my quest to find people to practice my Catalan with now that I've left Catalonia, I discovered an organization called AICS (the American Institute for Catalan Studies). It's like a cultural center for Catalan things here in Houston (or a casal català as they call such things in Catalonia). Anyway, they had one of their semi-annual cultural events in December, which I attended. Wow, how exciting. I met a lot of Catalans and had a great time. I met the board of directors of the organization as well and they adored me, being that I'm a Texan with no real connection to Catalonia other than my crazy love story and linguistic interest but I speak Catalan pretty fluently and am interested in their culture... so I left them with a really great impression.

Then they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

The president of the organization asked if I would lead the youth portion of AICS and help organize stuff for the youth in Houston's Catalan community. Awesome stuff. And now they want to send me to a conference for casals catalans all over the world as their youth representative in April for five days in Catalonia! Awesome stuff some more!

Well, the fun doesn't end there! In December, a reporter from Catalonia doing a documentary on Catalan products sold outside of Catalonia found me on the internet. She was sending a camera crew to do interviews with some guy who sells Catalan nugats here in Houston and while they were at it, they wanted to interview some Catalans living in Houston and also people interested in Catalan culture. Well, this woman searched on Google for "catalan" and "houston" and up popped my blog. She read my story and watched my videos about my story with Rubèn and she said that it was such an interesting story that she asked me if they camera crew could film me and do several interviews with me in various parts of Houston. And on top of that, she offered to pay me money to just hang out with them and interpret.

Well, they came, and it was an awesome week. We had so much fun and I feel like I made three new friends who live in Barcelona. You know, I've learned three very important and practical languages (French, Spanish and Portuguese) and nothing too interesting every came of it. And now, I just recently learned this little bit European language and suddenly all this cool stuff is happening because of it. Who could have imagined that speaking Catalan would bring so many fun opportunities to my life. Maybe I should learn another small language!

So what else?

Well, there is my weight loss. In 2007, over all, I have last around 50 pounds. When I got back from Catalonia, I had lost about 55 total, then I gained like 15 back in September and October... and since then I've been working to lose it all again. Well, I lost about 10 of those pounds and I'm almost back to where I was. 2008, I plan to lose thirty more pounds maybe. We'll see what happens.

Here's a visual aid to help things out. I started it over. At first I only wanted to lose 50 pounds... well, now I've gotten there so I've upped my goal. I think I should weigh around 120 with my height... actually, I just want to lose my fat. So whatever weight I end up with after I lose the fat is good for me. In any case, I made a ticker to show what's going on. :)

And... well, here are two new photos just for fun. :)

This is me playing with some blue contacts. I think it made me look kind of evil. Hahaha!

This is me when I went out to the Red Door with that camera crew and some other people we met. Miquel (Miki) is the one right behind me with his hand on my shoulder and then there is Enric next to him, this one with his tongue sticking out and the crazy face. The girl and the guy with the cigarette are some people we met through interviews and stuff. Anyway, Enric and Miki are awesome. I miss them!

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Wow, so I'm finally back in Houston. I really wanted to update sooner, but when I returned to El Vendrell from Lisbon, we didn't have internet at home so I was kind of disconnected for the last month.

Well, so what happened the last month of my trip? Not a whole lot. I ended up going to the hospital twice because I had some extremely high fever. It turns out that I had an upper respiratory infection. I also travelled around a bit with Rubèn. He took me to the Pyrenees into the Vall d'Aran where they speak a really neat language called Aranese which is somewhere in the dialect continuum between Catalan and Occitan. We also went on a few other small trips to other places and saw lots of pretty things.

Oh! Just before I left, two Wednesdays ago we went to Sitges (basically the gayest city in all of Europe) which is only about 20 minutes from where I lived. We wanted to go out to the bars and party. Well, we were walking around and came upon a club that was having a foam party. I'd never been to one, so I was really excited. We went in, checked in our clothes (most people were wearing only undies) and danced in foam up to our waists. It was so fun! Hehehe. Just lots of really hot, foamed up, attractive men in wet underwear dancing.

In the last week, when we started paying more attention to one another, we really reconnected. It's too complicated. I'm happy to far from him now, even though I feel like I left my heart there with him. I love him and I just can't let that go. There is even another WONDERFUL guy named Fábio who loves me and simply adores me and the sex we have is exponentially better than the sex I had with Rubèn... but I just can't open my heart to him. It's such bad timing. I need more time to heal.

Well, I don't really feel like writing much right now. I'll say more later. I just really wanted to update. And just for fun, the grand total of weight that I've lost since January is 54 pounds. Here is a photo of me as a fatty and some photos from this week so you can see the difference. :)

Fat Charles:

Chubby, New Charles:

Heartbreak and Portugal

Well, I know you guys have been waiting for it. Here it is. Any questions? Ask, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Someday I'll Fly Away!

So I fly away in about 13.5 hours. I am so incredibly excited! I should totally be finishing up my packing, but I wanted to step away from my luggage for a moment.

I really doubt I'll sleep tonight.

If you are interested in seeing exactly where I am going to stay, click here and you can see a map of Spain with a little blue marker over the town where I'll be staying. You can zoom in and everything. Take a look. :)

Wrapping up!

So I wanted to start making entries more often, at least once a week. But these last few weeks before my trip I've been really a bit busy with so much stuff. I have finals this week and preparation and such... my friends are wanting to spend time with me and go out and do stuff and getting in their last minute Charles-time.

I can't believe I leave in fifteen days. Holy crap! (Yesterday, I said holy crap in public and some lady responded that crap isn't holy; only the Lord is holy. Of course I had to respond that her assumption was incorrect considering that crap may or may not sometimes be full of holes. Homophones, bitches. Then she tried to recruit me into some cult.)

Anyway... AH! So what are we doing this weekend?

Technorati tags: vacation, holiness, cults

Video Blog!

So, I decided to make a video blog! Tell me what you guys think!

Decidi de fazer um blog video! Digam-me o que vocês acham! Espero que gostem! :)

Technorati tags: vlog, português

Hair Removal!

So, some of you who know me REALLY well know that I have some assymetrical body hair on my right shoulder that I think is super ugly. Well, I have finally started taking the steps to permanently remove it. I went to a hair removal place a week ago on Thursday and got my folicles zapped. I'm so excited. After a few more treatments, I won't have to shave anymore!

It's always been a source of insecurity for me, so I'm so happy to finally start getting it removed. My second session is in a few weeks, and hopefully I'll get another one in before I go to Catalonia... then when I come back, I'll resume treatments -- unless it's not too expensive to continue in Spain, in which case I may get some treatments there... but you can't be in the sun between treatments, so I'm thinking that it might be a big no since I'll be living a five or ten minute walk from the beach all summer.

So anyway, super exciting for me. I may be a teddy bear, but I don't have to be totally fuzzy wuzzy!

Happy Birthday in love!

Well, yesterday was my birthday. I'm 23 now. Sheesh. I'm like almost 25. I'm almost dead in gay terms.

Anyway, I had a nice birthday. My mommy bought me two pretty shirts and she made me a delicious caramel cake. Thanks to everyone who remember and who sent me e-mails or posted happy birthday in their journals for me. :)

I have to say, though, one person really surprised me.

Remember when I mentioned that I think I have an internet boyfriend? His name is Rubèn, by the way. He's a handsome, charming, Catalan guy who lives in a little city called El Vendrell between Barcelona and Tarragona (25 minutes to get to either one from where he lives). He owns and runs a business consulting firm, he's an economics professor in the evenings (because he loves to teach), he sings tenor in a choir in Tarragona, is the treasurer of big GLBT organization in Catalonia that does lots of outreach stuff, is 33 years old, has a perfect body (seriously, it's perfect), isn't religious, is funny, smart, sweet, a little bit serious, a little bit irresponsible, passionate, and is crazy about me. He's seems perfect to me by what my idea of the ideal man is.

Well, we continue getting to know one another and we talk via voice-chat or telephone every day and still, it seems that we can't get enough of one another. And even when we reveal more and more of ourselves to one another, we actually seem to become more and more fond of eachother instead of scaring one another away like it usually happens. He tells me already that he loves me and he believes that the search is over... that this is it. I think I'm buying it. I think I feel the same way.

Although we have never been with one another physically in person, we've bonded on a really deep level. We have each seen lots of photos of one another and he knows what I look like... he knows I'm chubby and teddy-bear like and he loves me just the way I am. I know he's... well, actually he's perfect physically, so my physical attraction to him isn't an issue. And it seems to me that he likes guys like me, so I'm not worried about things suddenly changing when we meet. He has started calling me his xicot (boyfriend) and his parella (it literally means pair, but in this context it means something more like the person you share your life with or "partner"). I guess I should do the same. I mean, I feel like I have a boyfriend -- just part of me feels like I shouldn't feel like he's my boyfriend since we've never met face-to-face... but seriously, it feels so real all the same.

Anyway, on my birthday, he woke me up when he sent me the following text-message on my phone:

Feliç aniversàri! Espero que tinguis un dia fantàstic. Mil petons per al noi que em té el cor robat. T'estimo.

Translation: Happy birthday! I hope that you have a fantastic day. A thousand kisses for the boy who has stolen my heart. I love you.

"How sweet. I love him!" I thought... and I got up to check my e-mail like I do compulsively every morning. There I found the following e-mail:

M'hagués agradat molt ser avui amb tu i poder-te'l donar personalment, però com això no és possible et faig arribar un arxiu adjunt per a que almenys puguis veure el meu petit regal d'aniversari per a tu. He pogut trobar una llotja on crec que la visió serà bona. Desitjo que t'agradi.

Si vols més informació pots trobar-la a la pàgina del Liceu,
http://www.liceubarcelona.com

Tingues un molt feliç dia d'aniversari.

T'estimo,

Rubèn

And for those of you who can't quite understand Catalan yet, it means more or less:

I would have really liked to be with you today and be able to give it to you personally, but since that's impossible, I sent you an attached file so that you can at least see my little birthday gift for you. I was able to find seating where I think the view will be good. I hope you like it.

If you want more information, you can find it at the conservatory's webpage.
http://www.liceubarcelona.com

Have a very happy birthday.

I love you,

Rubèn

Holy crap?? What is he talking about? I clicked to open the attachment. It was a scanned image of tickets. My goodness, that crazy fool bought me tickets for us to go see the opera "Norma" by Bellini together at the Gran Teatre de Barcelona in July. And the tickets cost him almost 200 euros! Which is like... $250, I think. He's not a rich man and doesn't have money to just throw around... especially not for someone he doesn't know. He just wants to make me happy. God damn. I think he really does love me.

He's so perfect for me. I believe that we're in love. I can't wait until I get to Catalonia in May.

Barcelona!

On some days, I feel like I am the luckiest boy.

I have been looking for places to stay in Catalonia with friends on the Internet and stuff like that so that I wouldn't have to pay rent. Well, since I decided that I wanted to stay there for three months, it's been kind of difficult to find enough places to stay because obviously I don't want to wear out my welcome. Two weeks here, three weeks there, two weeks there... hmm... I still need two and a half more months worth of rooms!

Well, I found out that my friend Eugeni and his girlfriend Gemma have an extra room in their apartment and coincidentally are looking for a roommate for the summer. Well, not bad. They pay 600 euros a month and want to split it three ways with a roommate. 200 euros a month is really cheap for a room around there, and since I would be paying, I wouldn't have to worry about outstaying my welcome.

But well, they don't live in Barcelona. They live in a city just outside of Barcelona called Sabadell. Kind of like Pearland is to Houston. It would take me about almost an hour to arrive in downtown Barcelona from their apartment including the walk to the train station and the wait and then the actual ride, it seems. Well, okay... I'm already used to commuting for about 30 or 35 minutes every day to get to wherever I need to go in Houston. No biggie. It seems like that was going to be the plan, then.

Well, today, I was telling my friend Ivan about it. Ivan is my friend from Barcelona who has lived here in Houston for several years.

"When are you going?" he asked.

"In the middle of May until the middle of August," I reply.

"Well, I'm moving back to Barcelona in February. Why don't you just stay in my apartment all summer? I have three empty rooms. You don't have to pay rent, but you can help me pay for food if you want. My apartment there is right in the heart of Barcelona in the highest part of the city."

"Sold!"

Holy shit. This is better than I imagined it could be. And that's 600 euros I'll be saving... which is like... $750. $750 I can spend on partying and travelling around Catalonia.

It's all working out perfectly. Gosh. Let's hope everything continues this way. :)

Thanksgiving update!

Hey everyone. I suppose it's time for me make an update. It's been a while. Several weeks have gone by without a word from me.. even some of my friends are sending me e-mails wondering if I'm still alive. :P

Well, I'm alive and doing very well, thank you.

What all has happened since my last updates? Well, nothing too interesting. Just the typical boy drama. I'm horny as all hell and still no boyfriend or special friend to help me out with that. Dry spells suck hardcore. Oh well.

My job is going well. I have paid off all my credit card debt as of yesterday. What a good feeling. Now all money I make can go towards the trip I am planning to Catalonia. I'm hoping to spend the summer there. I have a friend named Eugeni who lives in a city 20 minutes from Barcelona called Sabadell. He told me that I can just stay with him and his girlfriend, so that's exciting. No paying for hotels is always exciting. I also have a friend, Vicent, who lives in Ibiza who wants me to stay with him and his family. So... I know I have two places in Catalonia where I can stay for sure. There are a couple of other cute boys I've met too in other cities like Barcelona and Sitges who have made me offers, but I'm not sure if they just want the company or expect sex... not sure if the latter would be such a bad thing anyway. ;)

Dana, my former French student, is living in an apartment all alone in Paris, so I'm probably going to go visit her for a week or so... I can't wait to go party in Paris. And my friend Gérald who lives near Lyon wants me to go and spend time with him... I can't wait. I miss him so much. So I'm sure that France is going to be one of my destinations while I'm in Europe.

Then, of course, there is Fabiano... one of my former lovers from my days in Brazil. As it turns out, he's moving to Lisbon (that's in Portugal, just in case you didn't know. Hehehe) in January... and he's really pressuring me to go visit him. And of course, I've been dying to go to Portugal... so... I guess that's on my list too. ;)

And lastly... two more things. My baby snake Richard has finally passed away. I suppose from old age. I took good care of him... so it was either that or who knows... whatever. I was kind of sad... but I got over it.

A week later, since I was feeling so down about so many things, I decided I need something to show my love to... so I adopted a baby girl. Her name is Daphne Ethel-Camille DuRapau. I made a video of her eating for you guys to see. She's so beautiful. Truly, I am in love. If you meet her, you will fall in love with her too.



It's she lovely? Sometime, I'll post some nice photos of her. She has beautiful honey-coloured eyes and little spikes on her eyelids that look kind of like eye lashes. Love. She's a bearded dragon, in case you are wondering. And she loves to be held, licking things, eating crickets, eating fruits and vegetables, eating mealworms, eating anything really, bobbing her head, and waving at people passing by.

So that's that. :)

Kisses,
Charles

New Camera!

So I bought a new camera on Thursday night. It's love; it's pure love.

Kenny suggested that he come over and paint my face with some clown make-up he had lying around and that we should take some photos. So we did. And some videos. Here's Kenny painting my face and being shy on camera:


Yeah, we're total geeks, I know. In any case, here's some of what the final product looked like:



Well, we tried our best.

So later, we headed out to the bars and had a few drinks... well, a few too many, that is. Then we tried to play pool at 611, a bit drunk. Actually, I think all the drunkenness suddenly hit me the moment I decided to try to hit the ball and break.



"Oh god, I think I'm drunk!"

A little later, Amanda joined up with us and met Kenny for the first time. That was nice to see my friends bond. I caught on video a moment of bonding between them as they discussed how R&B is good for grinding on the dance floor. "Mmmm!" I like drunken conversation.



We got to the point that we decided that we had drunk enough... and just then Amanda's charm earned us each an extra shot and an extra free cosmopolitan. We were so gone by the time we got to Southbeach shortly after. I caught Amanda and Kenny dancing a little bit and declaring how cute they are together in the drunken way that we do. Notice how after Amanda stops laughing, that her face gets so serious and she does her "blue steel" pose to dance.



Is it just me, or did Amanda sound kind of like a chicken when she shouted, "We're so cute!"

Anyway, as it usually happens, the alcohol made us lose our better judgement, but it made for a pretty video.



Boys kissing are hot. Drunkenly kissing Kenny was pretty hot.

Anyway, so Amanda decided to go home and Kenny and I walked back towards my car. Kenny got the bright idea to lay in the back of some stranger's pick-up truck parked on one of the streets in the gayborhood.



He invited me in, and of course I couldn't resist. We lay there for a while and stared up at the sky and the beautiful tree above us. Kenny decided to take some pictures of the tree... and then he started taking photos of us in the stranger's truck...



I have to say, although we were violating some unknowing stranger's truck, it was quite hot. I told you we lost our judgement.

Speaking of lost judgement, Kenny decided that the tree was so pretty that he wanted to climb it. So he did.



He ended up getting a few scratches on his arm:



But he kept on going and eventually got up higher and even took his shirt off... man, he was hot. He looked like a savage jungle man up in the tree. Yum.



Anyway, we finally made it home and passed out. We slept like babies.

Good times.

I'm over it!

So Cláudio informed me in a recent e-mail of his that he is dating someone new now. Well... I'm happy for him. He's so wonderful that I'm glad he doesn't have to be lonely. But a big part of me wishes he weren't over me and that part of him were suffering because we're so far apart. I guess I'm just selfish. Oh well. At least I have several other foreign boys I can obsess over. Alexandre, Fabiano, Camillo, Gérald... the list goes on.

Speaking of which, there is a straight guy that I know who lives in Catalonia. He's a super cool guy and we met online to do a language exchange. I help him with English and he helps me with Catalan. He's been in a relationship for a while with a girl that he's quite fond of and just recently they moved in together.

I think he has a crush on me. Well, I'm pretty sure. He recently confessed to me that he thinks he is bisexual. And the way our conversations go... and we get along too well. And I know we miss one another when we don't get to talk often. Too bad he's not closer and well... gayer. I think we'd make a nice couple. Not to mention that he's handsome too. Tall, athletic, dark hair, green eyes... intelligent, fun, open-minded, sweet. What else could I want? If I thought I had a chance with him, I can see myself really being crazy for him.

Monday night drunk

So Monday night, Kenny and I had planned on having dinner together. We went to Mak Chins or... well, I think that is the name of the place. It's a really cool Pan-Asian restaurant with a bar kind of ambiance. A good friend of mine for many years, Tony, happens to be the manager of the restaurant. Bad equation. The product of it all turned out to be lots of free drinks from the bar with a really messed up Kenny and Charles.

But wait, let's take a step back. For those of you who don't remember, Kenny is the only guy whom I might consider to have been a boyfriend. It only lasted about 5 and a half weeks, so I don't know if it counts. We were official, though. So I guess that makes him my ex-boyfriend. In any case, we stopped talking for about three years and just recently we have been talking again -- as friends.

Anyhow, Kenny has been stirring up some old feelings in me. As you guys know from my needy personality, I never really stop liking a guy once I really begin to like him. And Kenny never truly wronged me, he just broke up with me for reasons that I found to be very silly at the time (which I understand now) and really neither of us knew any better. So I was never able to hate him and just forget him.

Monday night, after getting totally fucked up and the restaurant closed, Tony suggested we go to EJ's since they had $1 vodka drinks. Well, I've always been afraid to go to EJ's, but I couldn't resist the $1 vodka drinks. So we went.

At some point Kenny needed me to cock-block when some scary guy was flirting with him. So we told him that I am Kenny's boyfriend... and Kenny kissed me. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. Stupid emotions. Stupid being so needy.

The next day, I told Tony that Kenny had been behaving ambiguously with me and was making me have funny thoughts. Tony of course, with his big mouth, blabbed to Kenny that he needed to call me and clear things up. Shortly after talking to Tony, Kenny called explaining to me that Tony had just called him. He then proceeded to explain to me that although he loves me as a friend, it's not going to go any farther than that. He also added that he hopes he can still be flirty with me. Audacious. Oh well. We'll be friends. Great friends, I'm sure.

At least this story is over quickly and everything was brought out into the open before I even had the chance to suffer. I wish that had happened with Leo.

And enjoy the old photo of me, Tony, and Kenny. It's from several years ago when Kenny and I were boyfriends and I had long hair. And another photo of Kenny looking really drunk with Tony.

Catch up and ugly ducks!

So... what has happened lately? During the holiday weekend I got not just drunk, but messed up three times within four nights. Bad Charles. I went on a really bad date and made a boy cry because he wasn't really my type. How come I finally go on a date with someone who finds me really attractive and charming, but he's crazy? Stupid world.

Anyway, Leo was travelling and away for the weekend in Chicago, so I had a chance to get away from him. And when he came back, I had decided that I was going to distance myself from him as I had previously mentioned. It lasted an entire couple hours. I couldn't do it. I gave in and visited him on Tuesday.. and I have slept there the past two nights. I know -- I'm weak.

Monday, Dustin and I had a picnic at Herman park and I took some pictures of some really ugly ducks. I even found a bunch of those ugly ducks wallowing in a puddle of mud right next to a lovely pond. They actually chose the mud puddle over the pond. Ugly ducks, ugly habits.



And here is a close-up of one of the ugly ducks along with another photo of the ugly ducks sitting in a fountain thing.

Una nit sense en Leo

This is the first day in a week and a half that I didn't go see Leo. I was getting too attached.

I opted to stay home this time instead of rushing over when he called asking for my company. Honestly, I don't know how to feel. I guess part of me is sad because I miss him (not to mention that I was really enjoying sleeping in the same bed as someone else several nights in a row), but part of me is relieved. I'm so bi-polar.

He's another guy who makes me feel deficient. I think I'm going to distance myself from him. I know he loves me, but I still just feel bad about myself around him and I shouldn't surround myself with people who make me feel like that.

New semester!

So it's Monday. I've survived my first week back at school for the semester. I love my classes and professors. I'm making some cool new friends. And most noteworthy, I've seen Leo every day for eight days straight. And three nights, I spent the night with him here. We're not having sex, no kissing, nothing... we're still just behaving like friends. I'd like to see more than that happening, but I don't want to push it and scare him away. I think I'm getting attached. I'm crazy about him, but I don't think it's a feeling that we both share... but I know he adores me -- if not as more than a friend, I know that he loves me and considers me to be someone very special to him. Maybe with time things will change. We'll see.

So right now, I'm in Leo's dorm room (or "our place" as Leo and I call it). I spent the night here with him again last night after a night out with Dustin. Leo has left and taken off to class and forbidden me to leave so we can hang out afterwards. I'm glad. This reassures me that it's not just me forcing myself on him and possibly being that guy who just keeps inviting himself over.

Last night, for reasons I won't go into right now, I saw Leo get emotional. He weeped in my arms. I saw him in a very vulnerable state. It broke my heart to see him hurting so much, and yet in those moments, he was more beautiful to me than he has ever been.

In any case, here's a kind of old photo of me (on the right), Leo (directly to my left), some guy, and Amanda.

Oblivious boys!

I know that I often seem like I am in love with a new boy like every week and then I complain about how frustrated he's made me...

Well, it's been a little while since that happened, so time to get back into the cycle. ;)

But I won't give too many details this time. I'll just say that boys are so oblivious. They have no idea what's going on. I'm crazy about him... I have been since I met him a year ago. I guess I'll just grow a pair and tell him how I feel. I'm just such a pansy when it comes to boys and telling them how I feel and being direct. I wish he would just see it in my eyes, understand, and kiss me...

Stop dreaming...

The Medium

So the opera "Medium" was last night. To those of you who didn't go, it was really quite good. Very modern 20th century type opera. And also the fabulous company who showed up made it even better. Patty, her daughter, Stacy, Brett, Carlos, Grady, Leo and Sergio. Some of my favourite people.

After the opera, we went to JR's and Southbeach, all except Patty, her daughter, and Grady. We danced a lot and Leo and I flirted all night... it was good. I wish Leo were interested in me. He's not into chubby guys. It really sucks. I think we'd be great together -- everything else fits perfectly. I can definitely tell that he adores me. Well, the fact that he tells me so kind of gives it away. But he's one of those few guys that I can go hang out with and we'll talk and talk and talk and never be able to say goodbye because we don't want to end the dialogue. I guess I'm kind of infatuated with him. Anywhere, here is a little blurry photo of me, Amanda and Leo. It's from a few months ago and it's not a very flattering photo for any of us... and it doesn't help that Leo always makes goofy faces for photos.

Did I mention that Leo is from Argentina? And he speaks really pretty Spanish? Yeah...

Last night I also saw Tiago Brandão (AKA Tiago Whore). I called him out on his being selfish and always using people and he got a little impatient. Oh well.

V For Vendetta

So, I saw V For Vendetta tonight with Stacy, Olga, Steven, Rosie, and Jason... what a great movie. And so relevant to us, I think.

Perhaps even a scary forshadowing of our future...