Yule All Have Lots of Drama

First off, have a happy Winter Solstice, which occurs today marking the official first day of Winter.

I won a bike. Yes, I know, how random! I won a bike from City Bikes in Adams Morgan (on Columbia & Champlain St. NW)
I like to think of it as the Universe giving me a little unexpected holiday present.

And to top it all off... today while looking out my office window, I noticed in the office building adjacent to mine...a guy was changing out of his suit.

Totally. I mean, underwear and all. Yeah. If you're strip-in-my-office-with-windows-wide-open guy reading this, take note. People were watching you.

See This Movie

Last night I caught "Brokeback Mountain" at the theater on Dupont Circle.


I really don't know what else to say. This is a powerful movie. Watch it.

Festivus Miracle on 19th Street

First off, if you aren't familiar with the holiday of Fesitvus, read up on it. I think it should be the new non-demoniational celebration. And who doesn't LOVE the concept of the "airing of the grievances?"

So, Monday (12th) my boyfriend Phil was guest bartending at JR's and so I showed up, along with all of his friends. I had a great time... I was there from 7pm to 1am... and forgot about the little part of getting up for work the next morning. To my credit, Tuesday morning, despite a NASTY hangover, I got up and came to work... only to go right back home because I felt like hell. All day I was recovering, it felt like. Never drink that much again (sure...I've said that before).

Wednesday (14th) was a huge day. It was the evening of my office party, Phil's office party for the DNC, and Dave's party.
My office party was at Lauriol Plaza, but I couldn't hang around too long (long enough for three maragaritas). Caught the subway to Chinatown to meet Phil at Drinx for his party. More on that later...
Then we hopped a cab to his friend Dave's place on upper 14th St. It was a really great party, Phil's good friend Cameron was there, and I continued to not watch how much I drank (just like Monday night) and poor Phil had to take care of me when we got back home! Sorry babe!


The next morning Phil left early to catch his flight for Vegas, and I crawled home to shower and go to work hungover yet again. I was so unproductive. And yet somehow, after work, I caught my second-wind and went Christmas shopping over at Pentagon City. On my way home I got absolutely drenched by the cold rain, and deicded to call it a day and go to bed.

Friday every one split the office early, and I went to finish up my Christmas shopping at Pentagon City yet again (I had to return something anyway). My patience with people is about expired, from the rude bitchy salepeople, to people that don't move out of your way, I'm dreaming of a nice Christmas plague.

Saturday night was the Festivus party at Emily's. Phil came with me, and we caught a ride with Margo and Fred out to Leesburg, Virginia. Yes, Leesburg... it's near the West Virginia border. It's out-there. I don't think the word "suburban" even describes it. Anyway the party was fun, had a yankee-swap gift exchange...which I was never too find of, but in the end I won my precious economy-size bottle of Champagne. We came back to the city, and had a late-night dinner at the Diner in Adams Morgan, walked over to my place, and crashed.

It was so nice Sunday morning to sleep in and enjoy eachother. When we finally did feel like getting up, we met Dena for brunch at that bagel shop on P st. She convinced me to go to Eastern Market over on Capitol Hill with her for some shopping. I spent the whole day avoiding cleaning or doing laundry (which is getting rediculous... I should hire a maid!)

More exciting things coming this week...I'll keep you posted!

"A Long December"

It finally feels like the Holiday season! Here's the re-cap of Adam's week. On Wednesday (December 7th) I planned to have dinner with Margo, Fred, Crystal, Marc, Phil, and myself at Churreria Madrid, on Champlain St. I heard it's a wonderful Spanish restaurant. But go figure, they are closed Wednesday and Monday nights! Note to anyone going there! Fortunatley The Grill from Ipanema, a Brazilian restaurant, was open (and one block away from my place, might I add).
The Brazilian food was fantastic! A bit pricey, butI highly reccomend a visit there!
Thursday night into Friday morning it snowed quite a bit. Of course, living a 10-minute walk to my office building, I had no exuse not to show up (except in a real blizzard maybe). Even though 90% of my office lives in the city as well, only THREE people including myself showed up. It was a total slacker day, and I left around 2. Came home, took a nap, and hopped the Metro to go shopping at the Pentagon City stores. As usual, I found more things for myself than for others. I'm one of those people that is lucky if I'm not out X-mas eve shopping for gifts still. I hate shopping for gifts! Anyway, had Thai for dinner, and went back to Margo & Fred's to watch a movie and have drinks. Phil was working late and exhausted, so we met up Saturday afternoon.
I made him a martini and we relaxed, and he wisked me away to the sculpture garden by the Smithsonian for a super-romatic evening of ice-skating. It's been ages since I went ice-skating. It was SO much fun.

Then he took me to dinner where it all began - Lauriol Plaza. We both had wonderful food, and got more than a little drunk off the potent margaritas.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow

While there have been hella-cold temperatures and flurries in the recent past, today is DC's first real day of snow!
I was walking back to work after making the mistake of going to the post office on Florida Avenue (oh how I hate mailing packages in December) and it started to snow.
I always found it ironic that the mass of tourists come in the humid sticky summer... Washington is truly at its most beautiful in the snow.


So let's see how my week has gone, in a condensed version. Had dinner with Phil at the Duplex Diner on 18th & U st.before he left for his business trip.
Friday (the 2nd) was truly a busy day; I had SO much going on at work I thought my head would explode. For one, there was this event I had to go to at the Wilson Building on Penn. Ave. for the Mayor (good ol' Anthony Williams, sans bow-tie) to sign into law creating the District of Columbia Department of the Environment. An interesting little ceremony, even if it did take way longer than necessary. And I ALWAYS get a kick out of seeing the fabulous Carol Schwartz.

Had Japanese lunch with a co-worker, which was my only little moment of Zen in the day. Went back, cranked out a press release for some project in Beijing, went home. And of course went out with Ken with the sole purpose of getting drunk.
Saturday I had dinner and celebrated my younger brother's birthday, came back to the city and Phil had come back from his trip early, so we...went out drinking.
Spent the better part of sunday morning snuggling and staying warm, grocery shopping (thanks for letting me barrow your cart Phil... carrying those bags up the hill is a pain in the ass!). By the way, anyone out there know where the cheapest place to buy one of those little grocery carts is in this city?

Lawrence and Stuart go Antique-ing

Read my blog this way:
The Ghetto Version of Adam's Deep Blog



So much drama to speak of... hung out at Apex on Friday night with Ken and this guy Dan and wound up having dinner before hand with my ex "Hitler"/Casey, Drama Dan, and Ken at Kramer's. Now THAT was a trippy dinner. Pretty much closed Apex down, got home at 5am, and the next morning went on a wodnerful roadtrip to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia with Phil. He snagged a friends car for the weekend, and it felt so wonderful to get out of the city and see the cute (and surprisingly gay-friendly) mountain town of Harper's Ferry. Highly reccomend it! (see pics above). Came back to DC, had dinner in Virginia first (hence the Awesome Blossom, which was actually quite awesome), went shopping. Yes, Phil and I were buying house stuff together... well for ourselves, not like THAT, hello it's only been a few weeks. I finally saw Saw, as in the movie. Sunday had brunch and coffee with Ken (at Kramer's yet again) And now work. Blah.

Seven Washington Nights

Well, a great deal has happened since my last post. My dillema over men is over, I think it's pretty safe to say Phil has emerged as quite a catch, and we have had such a fun past few weeks together.

Thursday (17th) I had lunch with "Hitler," my ex, during my lunch hour. Hey, he offered to pay - even though I know in a town like DC there is "no such thing as a free lunch." I'm still trying to figure out what his motived were for taking me to lunch. The scary thing is his office building is literally 5 minute walk from mine. It's a small world afterall...

Last Friday (18th) after work, I hung out with Phil at JR's for awhile. I hereby take back all the negative things I've said about JR's in the past... It's not a bad bar to hang out at. After that I caught the Metro to Old Town to have dinner with Margo, Manish, Marc, and Emily at Founder's on King St. After dinner we went to Murphy's, Laughing Lizard, and some place called Tiffany Tavern for drinks. It was such a cold night, I remember. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday (19th) during the day I had chores and laundry to do (fun times) but afterwords I met Phil in the Circle and he spontaneously took me to a new restaurant on U Street, called Creme. The food and the service was absolutely amazing, and over a bottle of wine I had one of the best dates I've ever had with Phil.
For dessert, I took him to Queen's Cafe in Adams Morgan (a block away from my apartment as well, might I add) and over Turkish coffee, baklava and smoking an orange-flavored hookah, I introduced Phil to chess. It all somehow added up to an unconventional yet intensely romantic evening.

Sunday (20th) My mother and my brother came downtown to meet me, and see my apartment. Oh, and also to bring me an aquarium and a microwave I wanted. Being sunday, and a very warm day, I decided to take them to Kramer's Afterwords Cafe, being the Dupont Circle institution that it is. Of course, being part of the quintessential DC Sunday brunch experience, it was also extremely busy. It was a nice day, and after my Mom and brother went back to Virginia, I met Phil at JR's for a drink before going home to make dinner and crashing.

Because of the holiday my office was only open Monday and Tuesday. I need this off time bad, I think. Tuesday I went over to Capitol Hill to visit Phil at his job to give him some flowers (to thank him for the great week).
Wednesday was awesome, I was off work so I spent the whole day with Phil. We met around noon a did clothes shopping along 17th St. and in Georgetown, and we went on a nice walk along the Georgetown canal. It was a lot fun and we both got some cute things. We walked back to Dupont, got some things Phil needed at Whole Foods for making his Thanksgiving dishes. I took him to dinner at City Lights and as we were walking back to his place, it started snowing!! The first snow of the year!
The whole thing was so romantic. We went back to his place near U Street and shared a glass of retsina and...

Thanksgiving day I went to my parent's house for dinner, ate myself silly, and then met Phil and we went together to Margo's house for desert, wine, and games with her and Fred, Emily, and Marc. It was one of the best Thanksgivings I've had. Aftrwards Phil came back with me... today we are currently both sitting at Soho cafe, as I write this. And THAT has been my amazing week.

Crazy...

Well, I never thought I'd say this, but it appears Alanis Morisette and I have something in common. One of our favorite all-time songs is "Crazy" by Seal.
She did a remake I heard on the radio, and surprisingly didn't butcher it. Hmmmm

Love Affairs
Life IS crazy for me right now. You see dear readers, Adam has bitten off more than he can chew. I am in love with two different men.

This all started shortly before Halloween when I met two different guys all around the same time. So, as I was dating and getting to know people, I figured I would go ona few dates and get to know these two guys (who I will refer to as "S" and "P") a little better.
Things have gotten a bit more complicated than that as the weeks have gone by. I see them both, and with each I see great things I could fall in love with. I know, having two men in my life is so Anna Karenina, but I've gotten myself into this mess, and I'm not sure what to do. No easy answers.

And I'm sick of cliche shit like "follow your heart," especially when my heart is evenly divided. It's not that easy. One of two things will come of this: I will have to choose one over the other, or I will loose them both. Either way at least two people involved will have feelings hurt, if they haven't been hurt already.

I haven't been all that honest in this blog either, ommitting details of my life, since people read this blog and word gets around. But I'm coming clean because a decision-making has been thrust on me, like it or not. I told "P" the truth Friday night when I went over to his place, and I told "S" the truth last night as we took a nightime walk along the canal of Georgetown. I parted ways with him, and found myself crying, walking through Georgetown, the weight of it all hitting me, that there is no easy way out of this.

Novembre en photographies

1) Me in my window, 2) Dancers in Meridian Hill Park 3) My kitchen in progress

November, November

AH, my dear blog readers, so much has happened!! First off, I hate moving, but everything that could possibly go wrong did... For starters is you plan on doing a do-it-yourself move, do NOT use U-Haul. They are assholes who systematically fucked me over and put me in a black mood. WHY does moving have to be such drama. And HOW in 24 years on this planet did I acquire so much STUFF??
I won't even go into the details of my Kafka-esque drama Friday and Saturday, but by Saturday night I was completely moved in to the new place on 19th St, and I needed a drink. Several Long Island Iced Teas in fact with my friend Ken at Omega.
Sunday I had the pleasure of going to Meridian Hill Park (off 16th st.) for their drum and music sessions that happen every sunday, weather permitting, until around 9pm. It was absolutely amazing, dozens of drumers, flutes, guitars, dancers, African, Carribean, Brazilian beats. And all kinds of people from all walks of life. It's truly an experience everyone in DC should go to at least once! (if only to see the beautiful Meridian Hill Park)

I went on a fantastic date last night with a certain someone. We had a great dinner at Lauriol Plaza, followed by a pleasant walk on a perfect autumn night, to sharing glasses of framboise at the Brickskeller. It was a wonderful night.
What more can I say?

Adam's Reccomendations

Here are some books, music, and movies from the past few weeks I have enjoyed and want to pass along to you. I have the links to Amazon where you can buy the items, but in now way am I getting kickbacks or linked to Amazon, and I encourage you to find better prices elsewhere.
SO,
Music

Sufjan Stevens - album: "Illinois"

Decemberists - "Picaresque"

Books

The Dark Descent- short-story anthology

Black Days, Blue Nights - Ron Nyswaner

Cinema

Dummy - starring Adrian Brody, Milla Jovovich, Illeana Douglas.

Wings of Desire - German film with English subtitles.

I'm not dead!

Well, some people out there have given me some kind words about my blog (thanks to Brian among others)... and mentioned I haven't updated in awhile. You know me, these things come in spurts.
Actually, aside from the day-to-day garbage, not a whole lot new to report!
Halloween this year felt very anti-climactic, almost like it didn't happen at all. Anyone else feel this way, or it is just me growing older and more of a curmudgeon

"I think I'm Turning Japanese..."

Well, I have been on a shopping binge as of late. I really need new stuff, and getting rid of old stuff. This time around I am going for a sort of modern Japanese/Zen theme, especially for dining room and kitchen. All over I want a sort of Asian minimalism to prevail.



SO, to that end, can any Washingtonians reccomend a place I should turn for shopping? I have seen some interesting things I might want in Chinatown over on 7th Street, and there's Ginzo in Dupont Circle. But if you have any local or on-line ideas, let me know!

Newsflashes

Well, in the life of Adam today, I am officially signing the lease on the new apartment in Adams Morgan today. I'm moving the first week of November, and I'm registered at Macy's for housewarming gifts (just kidding on that last part!)

So much has been happening lately I don't know where to begin. I have been on several dates, which can be fun. I find myself seeing lots of good qualities as well as not-so-great qualities about the guys I meet. Of course, we're all human, but I'm not sure my knight in shining armor has come galloping up the street yet either.

Oh, and I;d also like to add I went to this really great Indian restaurant last night with Nick, called Jyoti. The food was wonderful, great portions, outdoor patio seating. I think this is my new favorite Indian restaurant in DC, minus the one on Penn. Ave that has hookahs to smoke.

PS (10/19/05) If you have time, check out the hour-long internet radio show of This American Life" In specific, in this episode the producers spend 24 hours in an all-night diner in Chicago, and interact with the staff and patrons. You really get a broad spectrum of the American experience, I found it fascinating. And specifically listen to around the tenth minute in the program dealing with this old woman who smokes and drinks coffee, it's too funny.

In Vino Veritas!

translation from Latin, "In Wine there is Truth!"

It's been an awesome weekend. I needed a good weekend after the madness of the week, especially Friday. I don't want to jinx anything, but there is one particular apartment I really like, so Friday was a comedy of errors as I found myself making many trips to get the things I needed...long story short, I got the last apartment. I will bring further details on this later. At any rate yesterday was the much-anticipated Virginia Wine Tour 2005 =)







From top to bottom: Marc, Crystal, and Manish tasting the wines of Oasis Vineyards, Margo and Fred at the vineyard, the whole group, red grapes still on the vine, and our tour guide at Rappahannock Cellars

Despite the dreary day, I think the trip was a success for everyone. We hit up Stillhouse Vineyards (which I wouldnt reccomend seeing twice), the very nice Oasis Vineyards, the group favorite Rappahannock Cellars (where Marc scored us a private tour of the cellars), followed by a nice lunch at a little restaurant in the town of Front Royal, and finally North Mountain Winery. Afterwards we also made an apple stop at Stirbling Orchard.
It's been a long time since I spent the better part of a day buzzed. =)

Schlock-toberfest

Well, my favorite month is here again, and it's already been a whirlwind, four days into it. Dena says it's my favorite month because I'm "Lucifer incarnate," keeping with the theme of the Halloween season. Old bitch. Anyway, I'll just give you all some updates on my life.
Speaking of Dena, I had the pleasure of having lunch with her in the Circle. Well, by pleasure I mean an hour of her nibbling at my food and gossiping and telling me I'm Lucifer incarnate. Some other fun things that happened were having dinner Friday with Fred and Margo at Pizza Paradiso on P St. I had a wonderful pizza, and it's great to see Margo coming out and about.


Music

Sunday night I went with them and a new guy named Mark, first to an Ethiopian restaurant on U St called Dukem. Ethiopian food is always a unique experience, though not for the timid of tastes, perhaps. I liked it anyway.

After dinner we went to see The Decemberists, who played at the 9:30 Club. The opening band, Sons and Daughters, were so-so, but I have to say that The Decemberists fucking ROCKED live! I like their albums, but of all the bands I've seen play, they have been among the top rock bands that put on a really good show.


The Rental Life
Well, it's time for Adam the nomad to pick up and find a new apartment.

So this week I have nearly exhausted myself, emotionally at least, trying to find a place. You know, in the past 4 years prices have skyrocketed, building waiting lists seem to be longer and longer.
But one thing hasn't changed: the bitchy attitude of building managers! Ok, is it just this city, or is this a pervasive problem? Tell me!

It seems like EVERY building manager in the District is a through-with-life nasty old woman who thinks she is a Divine Representative of God Himself for giving you any information. God forbid actually show you the property!!

Adam and Steve

Today reading the Express on the Metro, I came across a funny article in the Styles section...
A reader wrote in asking if there was something for men akin to a woman's Wonderbra, that could, er, enhance his male assets.
So the writer reccomends the "Adam Brief"
Well, I finally have my name attached to something of interest!

Let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel...

Here are some news stories that caught my eye this week...

Gay Giant Squids
Yes, apparently the sex life of Giant Squids is very interesting..


And speaking of gay non-human animals, I recently recall reading about the gay male penguin couple at a zoo in New York City (where else, of course!) that adopted an egg from a female's nest and hatched and raised the chick as if it were their own. They even share duties such as egg-warming and gathering food. And the redecorating, and occasional nights out in Manhattan's clubs scene too, I'm sure =)
In sad gay animal news it seems the gay polar bear couple at the Portland, Oregon zoo (again, big surprise) are heading towards divorce!

Falling for Fall / Dinner with Dena

Welcome to Autumn, as it began on Thursday. This, for me, has always been the season of new beginnings. Kind of ironic, I realize. Everything is dying and getting colder, so it follows my life would be going great! Sigh...
So this week has been a truly weird week. For starters, I saw "Uranium Man" (see earlier entries) getting arrested for standing in the middle of the 14th St Bridge...only to see him again Thursday night, free, while meeting a friend for dinner in Adams Morgan (crazy people sure do get around!)
Monday my job was working in a partnership with a clean-up/revitalization of a public park in Northeast DC ("In the ghetto...in the ghetto..."). It was a choice between sitting in an office all day or getting out for fresh air to help plant trees... so I chose to help plant trees. It was a lot of work, actually.. these were not baby trees like I expected. Digging god knows how many holes. But the whole thing was incredibly butch and I was trying to figure out the guys there that played for my team.
I had dinner with Tom at Spaghetti Garden on 18th Thursday night, which was great to see him again. But by far the weirdest thing that happened this week was...

Dinner with Dena

After work I was at SOhO waiting for Ken to meet me for coffee, when Dena herself comes waltzing across the street. The whole thing was so weird! First she accused me and Raven of stealing things from her apartment...then Her, Ken and I were at DC Cafe having dinner together. Must've been the full moon!

Plant Aid

Does anyone know anything about Crotons?


I have one in my office window, a beautiful plant... unfortunately I came in the morning to find it suddenly dropping half it's leafs. It's dying! Help!