Houston International Festival 2007

So the Houston International Festival started. It's going on this past weekend and next weekend. For those of you who didn't go, you missed out on some awesome concerts.

I work on the Hospitality team which, as you may know, offers hospitality to the artists and musicians flying in from everywhere. We pick them up from the airports, we transport them to the hotels, festival, wherever. It's a pretty cool gig. Anyhow, this weekend I had the opportunity to meet one of my favorite singers and the members of her band: Angélique Kidjo. I've been a fan for about two years. Her music is awesome. I spent some time with her and she is such a cool person. Her personality is very fun and energetic. She seemed to me so powerful and childish at the same time. Really interesting.

After their performance last night, the band members wanted to go to have dinner, so we took them all to Mai's for some yummy Vietnamese food. I finally had the chance to get to know them a little better. I sat next to Rubens who is a really cute Brazilian guy from São Paulo... the guitarist for the group. He was super nice and fun. He even gave me his card and contact information so that we could stay in contact. His brother is an opera singer in Barcelona and he's going to try to introduce us while I'm there this summer. Yay for networking!

Anyway, there should be some good shows and concerts next weekend. If anyone is going, you should contact me!

Oh, and just for fun, here's a cute photo of my niece Kaiya playing with my second cousin Jayden.

Technorati tags: Houston International Festival, Angélique Kidjo

My mother

I just felt like sharing with the world a photo of me and my mom. Isn't she beautiful?



And some other random photos of me, my mom, Amanda and my niece Kaiya...

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.

Recent Nights Out

Shilpa and Leo when we went to eat at Chili's. Leo is addicted to margaritas, as you can see. :)



Me, Ingrid and Amanda at the Taqueria del Sol while Ingrid was in Houston visiting Edward (now her fiancé!).



Me, Amanda and Ingrid at some straight bar on Ingrid's last night in Houston. Later, we went to Southbeach and partied like crazy.



Me and Amanda... looking cute like usual.

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.

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.

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.

Amanda!

I miss my Amanda.

She was my really good friend that I met through the YMCA BIP program last year. And during the training process, we became really great friends. Now she's been in Brazil for almost three months and I don't have my sidekick anymore!

But... she'll be back soon. In like two weeks. I can't wait to see her again. And Valentina too. We had such good times. ;)

So anyway, here's a photo of us drunk.

Butt pirates.

Here's a cute photo of a flag that Dustin sent to me. I wanted to share.



Yes, that does say: "Surrender the Booty"