It’s Just Justin

Always Busy

It seems like every week I’m flying out somewhere or otherwise taking a trip out of town.

Texas, Birmingham, Chicago, Kansas City, Saint Louis, San Francisco… This Monday I’m flying out to Raleigh North Carolina and giving a presentation to the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission and then Ryan will join me in Texas to spend a long weekend with my grandmother and grandfather at their home there outside of Austin.

I am really excited/nervous about the trip to Texas.  This is the first time that I have really integrated a boyfriend in my family life.  I have always wanted to do so with my past boyfriends (namely, only, Landon and Geoffrey) but a mixture of my fear and my family’s obvious distaste for that quelched any chances of something like this.

However, my family seems to just love Ryan, a lot.  I mean, why not?  He’s smart, funny, loving, cute, incredibly diligent, charming and so kind.  He has helped me grow and feel comfortable in my skin.  He is such a light in my life and my family must see that.  He emails back and forth with my grandmother and my parents ask about him everytime we talk on the phone.  How great is that?

So anyways, going to be busy traveling but it will be a lot of fun and let’s be honest, getting out of Columbia is about the best thing one can do in the summer!

Tags: Family, Geoffrey, Kansas City, Landon, Love, North Carolina, Raleigh North Carolina, Ryan, Society and Culture, St. Louis, Travel, Work

How I Celebrated my Independence

So yesterday was the fourth of July.  Or rather, it was the Fourth of July.  The day we celebrate our independence, here in America. Last year I was in Washington DC for the Fourth of July with best friend Landon.  We had a nearly missed the show, and in the capitol city, but it was a wonderful time.  This year was different, being in Missouri and not anywhere all that exciting.

We celebrate this by cooking out with friends and family, grilling some burgers and brats, enjoying the outdoor weather, drinking and setting off fireworks followed by watching a professional fireworks show later in the evening.

I accidentally didn’t do any of those things.  I had the intention of grilling out with Ryan at his work.  I had this idea that I’d hang out with my friend Beau and his guests for a Bar-B-Que.  I thought I’d pick up some sparklers for a photo I wanted to take.  I thought later I would go to Jefferson City or to Faruot Field and watch the fireworks show.

What happened was totally different but still a lot of fun.  I went to Harpo’s where I hung out with Colin, Kevin, Brittany, Ashley and a couple of other friendly people.  We had the idea of being on a roof equaling a great view of the fireworks.  Not so much.  The trees around the building blocked any site of the show.  But that was ok, we had our drinks and our conversation.  I had not seen Kevin in about a year so it was wonderful catching up with him. Plus, we totally matched.

Later we went to the trainwreck of a gay bar out here called, Arches and Columns.  I hear it used to be a real deal pub, and then it was a leather daddy bar and now it’s just a dive.  But always fun.

Bumped into more people I hadn’t seen in quite some time, had a drink, had a good time.  We hung out a bit more at Kevin’s before I went home and crashed.

Tags: America, Ashley, Brittany, Colin, Fireworks, Fourth of July, Gay, Going Out, Kevin, Landon, Pyrotechnics, United States, Washington DC

On a Mission (in the Mission)

Our last day in San Francisco was a busy day.  Ryan had a lot of paperwork to get processed and needed a few LiveScans for a job application and ambulance license so we marched down Powell to the Bart station.

Wow, I guess I forgot all about the Pride Parade.  Thousands of people met us at the Bart station, completely hiding it from our field of vision.  We hung out, watched a few floats go by, reveled in the fun, friendly good times and took a few pictures.

As with any gay event, not everyone there was there to celebrate equality.  Some religious zealots where protesting the parade, the weekend, the gay marriages in California and just whatever popped into their heads.

They blamed the fires on the gays.  They blamed the terrorist attacks in 2001 on the gays.  They blamed the salmonella on the gays.  They blamed the storms on the gays.  Apparently it’s our fault.  Sorry guys.  Our bad.

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The kicker was when he said, “If you guys are such a loving, kind and friendly people, why do you need all of these police officers?  It’s because you cause hate and destruction that they are here” and then went onto something about paying good Californian’s tax dollars for us to celebrate our heresy…

I guess what he was missing was this.  The police are there not to protect us from ourselves but from people like him.  Pride is about as safest I have ever felt in a city, day or night.  The only thing one gay guy wants to do to another gay guy is fuck him (excuse my vulgarity and obvious exaggeration).

Well anyway, we finally made it to the UPS Store for Ryan’s LiveScan only to find it had closed for Pride.  Haha, a UPS closed for Pride, how awesome.  We took a seat at Squat & Gobble for lunch while we figured out a Plan B.

Squat & Gobble is the perfect little brunch place.  I always think of Landon when I go there.  I’m pretty sure you would love it Landon, reminds me of The Café in Washington DC only… better.  It was delicious.  While there we found another LiveScan place, hopped on a bus and back to the Mission we go.

LiveScan went easy enough, then back to the hotel.  I’m leaving Ryan here to go to Pride for a bit.  Catch you guys later!

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Tags: California, Dining, Food, Fun, Gay Lesbian and Bisexual, Gay pride parade, Jester, Landon, LiveScan, Mark, Mike, Paul, Pride, Religion, Ryan, San Francisco, Shopping, Society and Culture, Stupid, WTF?, Zealot

I love Birmingham Alabama

I am here in Birmingham Alabama to do a photoshoot with the Taste of the South Magazine and the National Sweet Potato Commission.  Right now I am sitting at a two story Starbucks in their old downtown.  

As the plane made its rough, really rough, landing, and as I looked out of the window to what would surely be the city I would die in (I swear we all thought the plane was going down) and took a look at my final destination, I had a revelation.

I love Birmingham.  Right now, after spending a few hours in the old downtown and just really falling in love with the old downtown, I am just certain that I need to live here.  I even picked out an apartment for Ryan and I with it’s own Bar/Restaurant on the ground floor.  How sexy is that?  I have even planned out our lives here.  Oh my!

 
 

I had dinner at this awesome restaurant/bar that had all sorts of fun food and lots of veggie foods… Great wine selection of which I had the Bacarro Pinot Grigio.  I also passed probably 10 gay people so far, which is not what I expected for a city in Alabama.  They rank 47th in hate crimes based on sexual orientation and 50th in overall hate crimes!  Awesome (unless I’m reading the statistics backwards…

Look at that adorable fountain.  Oh this is lust at first visit.  Below is my new church… haha, well it is a Methodist church! 

 

I’m sorry that I’m stuck using my iPhone to take the pics, with it’s new broken camera.  I didn’t want to walk around town with my camera bag, but if the weather is nice tomorrow, I certainly will.  

What do you think about Birmingham?  hmm?  Can I convince Ryan to move here? haha, not likely.  Cost of living is 4.8% lower and income is 2.5% higher.  How awesome is that? 

So far Chase, Ryan and Landon think I’m crazy.

Tags: Alabama, Awesome, Birmingham, Chase, City, iPhone, Landon, Love, Move, Photography, Ryan, Travel

Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?

This is the first time for me to come back to Houston and not hang out with high school friends.  It seems that I have reached the point in my life where old friends have become forgotten friends.  I spend my time with my family and alone doing work instead of prowling the town into the late wee hours of the morning.

I was just here in March for Spring Break and my Lasik surgery and even then I had friends with whom I got to enjoy my time here.  It is amazing to me how quickly our lives change and how few of my former high school classmates have decided to stay in Houston, or even Texas altogether. 

It isn’t just my high school friends either.  My friends from Mizzou seem to be moving to the coasts, primarily San Francisco and New York City/Washington DC.

And coincidently, or perhaps not, right now Ryan and I are planning our escape and what are the two top places on our list?  San Francisco (the bay area) and Washington DC.

What is that draws us all so far from the Midwest?  What is so undesirable?  The east and west coasts are significantly more expensive and the job market is much more competitive, especially for college graduates.  Housing is up to ten times more expensive on average and crime is up.

We sacrifice security, cheap housing and our set of wheels for these destinations and what’s more?  We stay there!  This isn’t a vacation.  On top of that, we recruit.  I can’t count the number of people that moved to San Francisco after I did.

Alas, until Ryan and I pack our things and move to the coasts of California or the Capitol City, we will be rehearsing our goodbyes as our dwindling number of friends continue to venture out of Middle America for the cities with the power to make, or crush dreams.

Tags: Friends, Landon, Midwest, Money, Moving, Politics, Ryan, Travel, Washington DC

Now for the Main Event

We almost didn’t make it to see the fireworks. It was touch and go as we were still eating when we heard the first crack of the fireworks. We actually missed much of the show, but thanks to Landon, we made it just in time to get a few glimpses at the show from the roof of his office building.

Now for the fireworks…

And then there were all of the cities surrounding Washington DC having their own fireworks shows. It was awesome to stand on the roof of Landon’s building and see six or more different fireworks shows 360 degrees around you.

And here is why I love my new (yet old) lens. These next two shots were taken from Landon’s building in the heart of Washington DC of a fireworks show in Maryland Virigina!

Tags: Fireworks, Fourth of July, Fun, Going Out, Landon, Photography

Sk8 P@rks R Gr8!

So, while we waited for the fireworks, drank some water and sat waiting for Landon’s friend Paul’s friend Kate to show up, we watched the skateboarders.  Afterwards, about thirty minutes later, we would all be evacuated from the American Mall because of tornado warnings.

Luckily, we had already left for the bars before that happened haha.

This guy was so graceful on the board, just swept through all of the chaos.  He was definitely cooler than me.  LoL

I just love that tattoo.  Always nice to find a punk-rock-skateboarder who loves his gays and… well is gay himself.  I find that incredibly, uncontrollably hot.  Call me a punk-rock lover!

Really though, I have found myself, since California, being just infatuated with punk-rock, emo, skateboarding, hipsters.

Nota bene… he didn’t wipe out, somehow, either through amazing physics bending or magic, he landed and rolled away.  Kinda reminded me of Fat Albert, no offense… ;-)

This guy (above and below) could get some serious air.  It amazed me every time because it seemed to defy gravity how he could jump up from either a standing or moving position, flip his board over a few times while soaring a few feet into the air.  Yes, soaring feet… haha

This one was like four feet tall.  He was pretty awesome though :)  Probably that lower center of gravity thing… Hmm, I don’t know.

Tags: Landon, Photography, Portrait, Spontaneous, Washington DC

Disappointed Turnout

Come on! It’s G*d-Damned-America on it’s G*d-Damned-Birthday! Where are all of the G*d-Damned-Protesters? haha

There were only two, one who has been there for over 25 years, 24 hours a day and one… Either crazy or one hell of an interesting story.

Tags: Landon, Photography, Washington DC

DC Nights

Landon was a doll guiding me through the city tonight.  Awe!

Tags: Landon, Landscape, Night, Photography, Washington DC

Night Shots

These were all done candidly, as in I can do didly about the quality since I didn’t have a tripod or much time. I was just walking, riding or sitting and took a quick snap shot. Some of these pictures would be stunning, IMHO, with a tripod and some patience. Perhaps I can make it around with both of those next time.

Tags: Landon, Photography, Washington DC