22 May 2008

Straight Guy Activities

So, in spite of the fact that I love so many gay things (such as Broadway musicals, great haircuts, and shopping at H&M), there is a part of me that really gets into some "guy stuff." For example, I love automobiles. I love driving fast in sports cars. I love old American-built muscle cars (the 1968 Chevy Camaro SS is my dream car). I love trucks with big tires, climbing over huge boulders out in the desert. I love the Baja 1000 (and I intend to enter it some day before I die). I can also fix cars quite adeptly (I used to work as a mechanic for a few years while at BYU).

Another thing that I always really enjoyed while growing up was marital arts. I became a student of Jiu Jitsu when I was a teenager, and participated in that for almost 4 years. I competed in the Judo competition at the Utah Summer Games the first year that it was an exhibition sport (I'm not sure if it ever made it beyond that first year as a sport for those games), and I won a gold medal. I haven't done any martial arts since high school, and I admit that it's something I've missed.

Well, I decided to remedy that. I have taken up Muay Thai kickboxing. I did my first workout session last night, and I am so sore today I could die. I feel great! The gym I'm attending is one of the premier training gyms for a few of the professional fighters that compete in the Ultimate Fighting Challenge series, and a few professional kickboxers. They are all pretty mellow, low-key dudes, but still a little intimidating. Hopefully none of them are homophobic, although I don't really plan on flaunting that aspect of my persona in a place like that. ;)

Oh yeah, and now that I've gone through a workout session, I have a whole new respect for how incredibly in-shape boxers are.

20 May 2008

Random Quote

This quote sums up very well how I feel about everything right now:

It's hard to wait around for something that you know might not happen, but it's even harder to give up when you know it's everything you ever wanted.

-Author Unknown

15 May 2008

CA Gay Marriage

So... am I a bad Mormon if I don't agree with the church on this one?

The problem with the government defining what is and isn't marriage is that marriage is a religious institution. It is not a legal institution, and never should have been included in any laws. From a legal standpoint, any pair of people should be able to grant inheritance rights, hospital visitation rights, joint tax returns, etc, etc to each other. If we can vote, then we are adults and should be able to chose those things for ourselves.

Marriage shouldn't be part of the government. Marriage should remain in the religious world, and then the churches can keep the definition in the traditional way that it was meant.

Can't we do that and make everyone happy?

12 May 2008

Men Are That They Might Have Joy

Do you have joy?

I do. And I don't.

I have joy when I go to church and feel the spirit, when I read my scriptures, and when I pray. I don't have joy when I think about all of the church rules and regulations for coupling on this earth, and how marriage to a woman does not interest me. Nor do I have joy when I think of living alone for the rest of my life.

I have joy when I hang out with my gay friend, when we go out for a night on the town, when we cuddle on the couch to watch a movie, when I bid him farewell and kiss him on the cheek. I don't have joy when doctrine creeps into my mind telling me that a homosexual relationship is evil, now that I've realized I'm in love with this friend.

I thought I knew where I was going. I thought I had made up my mind. But then I met an amazing person that I connect with in a way that I had never imagined possible.

Now I'm conflicted again.

08 May 2008

Maturity In Gay Men

I made an incredible discovery recently which answers the question as to why gay men are typically less emotionally mature than their straight counterparts:

We age in hexadecimal.

That means I'm only 23.

This not only answers the maturity question, but also proves beyond a doubt that I am a nerd.

06 May 2008

Another One of Those So-Called "Learning Experiences"

This past weekend I was up in Utah for my youngest sister's wedding. It was a really good wedding - much better than I had anticipated. I ran into a lot of people I have not seen for a long time. And, I learned a few things.

Learned Thing #1:
Now my dad's side of the family knows that I'm gay. I recently added a few of my cousins to my list of friends on Facebook. Their oldest brother is my gay cousin that I've referenced in the past. Well, turns out that he and I share several mutual gay friends in Utah. So my cousins, being the smart and observant people they are, put 2 and 2 together. My uncle asked my parents about it. They were a little surprised, but confirmed it to him.

Learned Thing #2:
Being gay can bring estranged families together. My dad's side of the family has also become quite estranged over the last few years, due to certain aunts and uncles taking offense at stupid things that other aunts/uncles/parents did and holding lame grudges. It would appear that seeing how my gay cousin separated himself from the entire family due to the way he was poorly treated when he came out, led my aunts/uncles to reconcile with my parents in order to be able to be closer to my family and show love and support to me. My uncle, who has NEVER shown any resemblance of affection to any person on the planet as far as I can tell, came directly up to me at the wedding reception and gave me a huge hug and told me how glad he was to see me. It was a shocker that I will not soon forget.

Learned Thing #3:
If you wear a clean suit and hold a child under the age of 2, your suit will be dirty when you put them down - and usually from something sticky.

Learned Thing #4 (and the most important one):
Don't judge other people. The whole time my sister has been dating her husband, I haven't really liked him. He's a goober. He's not that type of person that I would ever really choose to be my friend or to hang out with. But, I have never been rude or mean to him because I could always see that he truly loved my sister and treated her like a goddess. My brothers who have seen him on a regular basis have not been so kind. And in spite of all of that, according to his mom, he loves my family more than anything on the planet. I couldn't figure out why until I heard his background story.

When he was a toddler, his biological father left his biological mother and started living the flaming homosexual lifestyle. He died from AIDS a few years later. Around the time the father left, his biological mother became schizophrenic and disappeared. Nobody knows where she is. His aunt and uncle adopted him and his brother and sister and raised him. His adopted father is a jerk and treats him like crap. He does nothing but cut him down and tell him what a worthless person he is.

I could go on, but I won't. When I heard about his past and witnessed how he was treated by his a$$hole adopted father, I felt really sorry for him. I was finally glad that he was becoming my brother-in-law. He's a good man. A little goofy, but good.

01 May 2008

Weekend Wrapup

I know, I know, it's Thursday by the time you are reading this and you are confused as to why I'm talking about the weekend when another is nearly upon us. It's because I control the universe. Take that!

Anyhoo, last weekend was the second annual Huntington Beach Mid-Singles conference. It was a lot of fun. I didn't attend as much of it this year as I did last year. I was unable to attend on Friday night due to prior commitments, and I had a few things to do at home on Saturday morning. As such, my adventure with it all did not start until Saturday afternoon.

Well, I guess it sort of started on Friday night. One of the L.A. mohos and his friend spent the weekend on my couch so that he wouldn't have to make the hour drive from his house to HB each way all weekend. We stayed up fairly late each night chatting. It was a good time.

On Saturday afternoon I helped out with the surf clinic. It was great fun. It was so hot - perfect beach weather! The water was quite cold, but the waves were decent for beginners. I helped out a couple of girls for an hour or so, until my feet went numb. Then I got out and went to hang out with friends on the sand.

The dance later that night was a lot of fun. It was an 80's flashback dance. Lots and lots of good music. And in one of the lounge rooms, they had Rock Band set up. Wow. I love Guitar Hero, but holy crap I adore Rock Band.

Throughout the weekend I ran into quite a few people that I haven't seen for ages. It was really great getting caught up with them and their lives.

As expected, I didn't meet the woman of my dreams. Although that's probably mostly due to the fact that I don't really dream about women. I dream about... um... er... other things.... Like food... and such. Wow! Look at the time! I'd better wrap this up and get to bed...