Colorado, from a New Yorker's point of view

I’ve been trying to improve my photography.   The most important aspect of photography is light.  I recently purchased a multi-strobe system.  Strobes are flashes.  Wanting to improve my photography skills, and having a credit from selling a piece of work I took a class on lighting a nude.

Here are some of those pics.

The London Pride I’m drinking is going down pretty smoothly.  London Pride, I had never tried it before.  It’s a nice English Lager.  It is just after 1pm, a day off from work because of the 4^th.  Sitthing in my neighborhood pub grabbing breakfast.  I guess I’m grabbing lunch, but it’s my first meal of the day .

Typically I eat breakfast 30 minutes of waking up and before leaving the house.  Then there are days you want you just want to get out of the house.  It is weird when you don’t feel comfortable in your own house, or rather when you just don’t want to be in the kitchen.

Today is a gorgeous day to do something. But I’m more concerned about getting my own stuff done.  I’ve been too social lately and a day to myself will be good.  It is definitely time to step-up my house hunting efforts.

What do you do when an old guy staggers out into the street in front of you? I was the first car stopped at a light, at a busy intersection.  This old guy staggers out, trying to cross five or six lanes of traffic.  Sober but old.  He looks confidant and then rather quickly. . . scared. Which reads dementia to me.  My first thought was to get out & help him.  Then my mind switches to having my passenger help him.  I was definitely thinking he’s someone’s father.  Somewhere this guy has grand kids.  I would feel horrible if this was my relative, just staggering into the street.  Trying to cross, but not really in the crosswalk.  I don’t even think there was a cross-walk.

Al’right. Let’s be honest. As a New Yorker, I wanted the guy out of my way. The light was green, I looked both ways to make sure there were no other cars, or bikes about to run the light.  It was time to go.  I was in the clear. Which means time to hit the gas.  I got somewhere to be, get this old fuck out of the road.

No, I don’t mean that. I feel bad for him. . . but then again. . . . he is in my way.  And why is his family letting him wonder off? If they don’t care, why should I!

But what if they do care? What if this was his prison break? What if he’s had his mind set on this afternoon for weeks.  His one escape to chase some tail and eat a cheeseburger.  Either way he is in my way.

When are you officially dating someone?  I wrote about this once before.  I usually like to avoid the official title of “dating.”  I like the ambiguity that we can still be seeing other people.  I don’t want to pressure anyone and I’ve fucked up relationships by trying to label them.  So I avoid it.

I was talking to a couple of friends the other night.  Both of whom had dated each other.  One commented that she always needed to have clarity as to the status of the relationship.  Her ex was just the opposite.  Her ex told me that she avoids adding a title to a relationships for as long as possible.  Being a guy I just figured it was because she wanted to keep dating.  Instead she explained it as being afraid that a label places too much pressure on the relationship and the other person.  Interesting.  I really thought she didn’t want to commit to one person.  “I was completely faithful from the beginning.  I just didn’t want to pressure her.” she told me.  She has a very interesting perspective on things.

When do you call someone baby?  It’s a little weird if it is the first time in bed with someone.  Baby to me always implies more of an intimate relationship.  Of course, if you have to concentrate & ponder which name you should be moaning out I would think it is probably better to use something generic like baby.  I came to that conclusion the other night as this girl and I were rolling around.  I was thoroughly enjoying myself when my mind wondered to a simple thought;  ‘She’s done this before.’ I don’t want to say she’s been around, but by the time you reach your late 20′s I expect you’ve been around.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. In fact, I sort of expect it.  But then you can’t help but wonder how around is around?

Something tells me she’s been calling me baby to keep my name straight.  Which is somewhat ingenious.  I mean it is not ingenious like Michael Angelo. But ingenious enough.

What is the worst free drink to get after already having one of the same?  Does that make sense?  What is delicious the first time around, but horrible for round 2?  A bartender offers a second beer or glass of wine on the house.  No problem.  But what about mixed drinks?  The Dirty Martini has to be it.  Especially one made with 30-40% olive juice.  When served in a 10 oz martini glass? “Wow! thanks but no thanks.”

If I’m drinking martini’s it’s usually a one and done thing. Or rather one and move on to something else.  The other night I was given a free dirty martini. If it wasn’t overflowing I would have thought that someone else returned for being half olive juice.  I only wanted one, but then to get a horribly made second drink yech.

When do you try to salvage a relationship and when do you decide to walk away?  I’m not talking about long term relationships or situations with kids or joint bank accounts.  I’m talking about new relationships.

How do you decide if something is simply a miss-communication issue or something deeper?  When and how do you decide if something small and minor about a person that you don’t like is enough to call off a relationship?  If you say “no, it’s a minor issue”;  what happens if it blows up?

I recently started seeing someone.  For once, from the start I actually really liked her.  As a friend told me I was probably too nice to her.   I’ve been somewhat rude (in my own unique way) to all the women I’ve dated since I’ve been in town but for some reason I’ve  was too nice to this one particular girl.

Part of me says to walk away and stay away.  After all if we are arguing this early it is only going to get worse.  On the other hand, I honestly believe it might just be an issue of poor communication.  The problem is she is a revisionist.  The discussion changed into an argument when she accused me of saying something I didn’t say.  I probably could have put that behind me.  I’ll admit the argument or miss-communication was 90% my fault.  About a week later I tried for a reconciliation.  The conversation was going well until once again she rewrote history.  This time she started arguing that she never accused me of saying what she had accused me of saying.  Holy shit, “I told you I never said it and you fought with me and now you admit that I never said it, but you are denying you accused me of saying it.

Maybe I’m just better staying away.

I’m trying to gather a collection of stories of the weirdest experiences or unusual things you find when going back to someone’s house to hook up.  If the hook-up is unexpected you get to see how someone lives when they are not expecting to have company.

Years ago I remember finding condom wrappers lying on top of this girl’s garbage can.  I didn’t really mind, but it is a little disheartening.  I mean this wrapper was right on top, as if she was hooking up with someone else earlier that day.

Another time, lying right on top of this girl’s garbage can in her room was a home pregnancy test.  A friend tells me that he thinks he found a fetus in a girl’s toilet one night.  As he tells the story:  “I couldn’t tell if it was just a nasty shit or if she had a miscarriage.   Either way she forgot to flush.”   There was one night a while back I went over this girl’s house just to hang out.   She reminded me of Muddy Miles, which is a reference that only two or three friends will get.  She had two hairless gremlins.   She claimed they were cats, but dammit I sure as hell wouldn’t feed them after dark or get them wet.

This girl said that in her company’s cafeteria they have pictures of employee’s pets on the wall.  She was actually told to remove the pictures of her cats because they were so ugly people were losing their appetites.  So what is the weirdest experience you’ve had going back to someone’s house?

I was recently scared straight reading my horoscope in The Onion.  That’s something that probably hasn’t happened to too many people before.  When I was in college, the movies Kids was always my ‘scare me straight’, pro-condom movie.  Having friends with kids was never enough.  Little demons* running around.  But periodically I’d watch Kids.  It was always a good reminder that the pill was not enough.

Surprisingly I’ve seen more women less concerned with what a guy wears. And the less concerned someone is the more concerned I become.  It’s weird because I figured women would be more concerned than men.  Maybe I’m just overly paranoid.  Of course then I also become paranoid and cautious when someone else is overly concerned about using protection.

I guess it wouldn’t bother me if the one I’m thinking of in particular was a responsible member of society but she’s more of a. . . . Hmmm, what is she? She’s more of a wild card. Just some random unknown in a math equation. If I could figure out more about her maybe I could solve for X.  Of course an unknown could have a sweet & innocent past, where as in this case the word “wild” is probably descriptive enough.

• Okay maybe not demons, I don’t want anyone misinterpreting that.  I have a vision of someone calling me out on that when asking me if I want kids.  I do,. . . . as long as I can enslave them. Cheap labor would help. Cheap labor would be awesome.  Actually, skilled cheap labor is what I want. The problem is you have to raise them. Someday I’d love to have a kid or two, but right now I’m way to selfish.   Yes, I did just say I want cheap, skilled labor.  I’m a capitalist dammit.

I’ve been a fan of The Rolling Stones since I was a young child.  My father has an extensive vinyl collection and the Stones are a focal point.  A couple of friends of mine, as well as many rock critics feel Exile on Main Street is one of the best, if not the best Stones album.  I’ve always strongly disagreed.  IMO Exile is good, not great.

I’ve been listening to a lot of The Rolling Stones albums lately and I decided to give Exile another chance.  I’ve always thought there are at least four stronger Stones’ albums.  Let’s see if that holds true as I revist to my collection.

–Continue