The past week has been full of amazing moments I'll remember forever. Thanks.



I'm leaving for JFK airport in about two and a half hours. By 11 p.m. PST, I'll be at my summer home. Excited?



Peace out, New Jersey.

Rainbows and drag queens and gays, oh my!



More photos from New York City's Gay Pride parade are here.

I spent 30 minutes tearing this house apart look for my car keys. Meanwhile, Terri was waiting on the tennis courts at Northern Highlands, without a cell phone or any other way for me to contact her.



Can I get a "Funk dat?"



FUNK DAT.

P.S. Charlie's website is goooood times. And he is a good guy. Yes, it's true.

Ben and I have debated over which pride celebration would be bigger, San Francisco or New York. I don't know how numbers compare, but today's event - the culmination of a week of pride activities - was kick-ass. The clouds and rain stopped just in time. It was sort of poetic - the rain ending and a billion little rainbows (in the form of ribbons and flags and balloons) appearing. Anyway, the parade featured everything from traditonally tacky drag queens to Cyndi Lauper singing while trying to balance on top of a float to Hillary Clinton walking into a storm of applause. (Literally five seconds before she came past us, I saw another politician's signs and sad to someone, I want Hillary to march. It was scary)



There were more people than I had ever seen in the city, which is quite remarkable. Afterwards, at the pier dance at Chelsea Piers, we heard that tickets for 50 bucks each. After some hesitation, we walked up to the ticket holder's line and bargained with the obviously drunk ticket takers, eventually throwing down two five-dollar bills for four of us and walking in. There was a sea of shirtless men - and practically no women - dancing and flirting. The big rumor rocking the pier was that either Britney or Madonna was going to be the special quest. Obviously, I was in a bind. I hadn't planned on staying that late, but the thought of missing Britney made me want to throw myself into the river (and if I find out she was there you'll be able to hear my shrieks acrodss the country). Eventually, when we heard Brandy's name enter into the equation, we decided to leave - but not after seeing Debbie Gibson. Oh yeah, baby. She did a new song before breaking into an a cappella version of "Only in My Dreams."



... and then I came home and found three goodbye card from my mom that made me tear up.



It's hit me the past two nights as I've driven home. Inevitably, there is some sappy song about sayign goodbye on the radio that makes me want to burst into tears.



Let the countdown begin. Six days.

There would have been more if Blogger hadn't destroyed my post.



Funk dat.



Pridefest tomorrow. Peace out.

Last night I had my first surprise party ever. I was completely out of the loop, to the shock of everyone. Last night also marked the first time I had to drag a semi-conscious friend into bed, clean up puke and other such not-so-cute things.



More later.

My brother has a major chip on his shoulder and it's really pathetic to watch him lash out at others instead of dealing with anything. It's sad because he just lacks the emotional maturity to handle things, so he regresses and acts out like a 10-year-old. He's going to be 20 in December and I really don't forsee any major changes in attitudes or behavior. And, you know, it's not like I wouldn't like to have a sibling I could interact with, someone who could handle an adult conversation, a person who could deal with frustration or negativity without resorting to juvenile trash-talking or destruction. So, I try to just ignore him because I know that we're not on the same wavelength, but it's really tough to not want to knock him on his ass sometimes.

Lesson: When playing with Snickers, don't open mouth. The dog will try to lick your face and will end up french kissing you.

Today I went to the beach.

Today I sat under the sun.

Today I rubbed special sparkly tanning lotion into my skin.

Today my skin turned bright red.



I just hope it doesn't peel off tomorrow.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A streak? Journalicious.

blue-green hair makes everything except blue look ridiculous



p.diddy.s. has anyone seen the movie "sing" with that girl from "homefront" and patti labell and lorraine bracco and the juniors and seniors put on a musical competition and it's awful and wonderful all at once? why does blockbuster mock me?

Also, I just checked my stats for the first time in about a month (I don't know what was wrong with me - temporary insanity), and I found all of these new linkers, including David Ferré. Hello? This is a former Targum editor I've heard stories about but never met, I don't think. Very random. The power of the Internet, I guess.



Hello, David.

If Ben goes to San Francisco's pride parade with Brian from outage.com it means that my Ben will meet my Tim before I do!



I was supposed to fly to SF on the 23rd, a day before the parade, giving me time to meet up with the kid whose site I've followed for ... a long time. But now I'm going a week later. How unfair is that?



But whatever, because I'm tan and I'm returning to the beach tomorrow and that almost makes up for it. And I will demand guilt favors.

It was very apropos. The Elvis Costello-wannabe onstage at the Sidewalk Cafe in the East Village was singing a song called, "Drinking Beers with Mom." Everyone at our booth kept looking over at me and my newly coiffed mom, who had just done a shot of goldschlager with me.



Rewind to 5:30 p.m. Terri and I drove into Hoboken and PATHed to the city (I may be moving to San Francisco, but New York will always be "the city"), where we ate a less-than-thrilling dinner at Manatus (Christopher and Bleeker Sts.). We bummed around for a bit, darting between air-conditioned stores because the heat and humidity were truly oppressive. I kept shouting, "It's like we're in Thailand!" Terri, who had just come back from nearly a year in Hong Kong can vouch for how disgustingly humid it was, especially later in the evening.



After drinking a lovely deep chocolate peanut butter shake and spinning some records at a rad store, we walked past a sunglasses stand. I had been whining that I needed a new pair. As I was checking them out, I noticed that the store next door did tatoos and piercings. Terir had mentioned that she wanted a tatoo, but I didn't expect that she'd walk right in and get one that second!



After a 30 minute wait, a man who had tatooed Carmen Elektra, Jesse Camp and Tommy Lee (we saw the pictures - he actually changed Tommy's Heather tatoo to Pamela) was inking an onk onto Terri's back. It was insane - and hurt like hell, she says. If I had had the 45 bucks I would have gotten the Chinese character for fire on my arm, but I'm a poor mofo. The blue hair has made me a fierce bitch.



We had just enough time to grab a cab and jump to the other side of Manhattan to see Derek's band play at Sidewalk Cafe. It was a family affair. My Aunts Laura (Derek's wife) and Liz met us there. Then, my mom and Earl showed up,. to the shock of many. My mother may be cool and young, but she's not the type to stay up past 11 - even on weekends.



So there we are, two generations swapping stories about first times getting drunk, about drug use in middle and high school. Taking shots together! Insanity.



Mom and Earl dropped us off back on 9th St. so we could chill. I wasn't really in the mood to move through the soupy air, but we kept walking, searching for food and good music. We walked past this gay bar on Christopher St. called "The Hangar." the music sounded great, but the sign with "Go-Go Boys" turned me off. But, we decided to go if there was no cover, so there I was, sitting next to one of a handful of women in the whole place, watching a short, muscled guy with too much junk in the trunk shake what his momma gave him (like that?) as a parade of gay stereotypes oogled each other. We also made friend with a very flamboyant and "fierce" guy who kept insisting that he should get his black ass back to Brooklyn, but continued to chat, giving us high-fives and hugs every 30 seconds.



Waiting at the Christopher St. PATH station, a ran into Tom from Targum and a couple of other people I kind of know. I had a total crush on Tom freshman year - for about 30 seconds, but still, it's always fun to see him.



But the weirdest part of the whole night, I think, was driving back to my house, past a minibus full of guys who had just gotten trashed. As we drove past the bus I noticed there was a TV. When we passed it, I saw that they were watching porn! Like, some chick was getting fucked on screen - it was one of those moments.

Hi. I'm T.J.



I have blue hair. Check it out: one | two

I'm absolutely in love with "A Dating Story" on TLC. Obsessed!



It just warms my heart when there's a match!!!



:)

"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."



-Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989

Dear diary,



I have something to tell/show you.



Tomorrow.



Nighty night.

Dinner conversation:



Mom - "Did you know that Earl broke a spatula on my ass?"

Earl - "I don't think we should be talking about that."

Marion, your new site is ... fierce.

Check out the photos...



(God, there are some awful ones)

Ann Arbor sure is arboreal, but it didn't quite live up to its reputation as "the perfect college town." Granted, the U of M area, at least the main campus, is a lot like Berkeley - cute, busy and full of restaurants, but most of the town falls somewhere between New Brunswick and Princeton.



I wasn't there for the scenery, though. I was there to meet Ben's parents, sister and friends - a tight-knit, drama-heavy group of people I'd heard stories about for more than a year. I knew all about their issues and histories. I knew how much they all adore Ben, so the party we had the first night we were there was semi-intense. Adding a dash of TJ into this group required one important ingredient: alcohol.



I was really buzzed by the time Andrea drove up from Toledo with her friend. And by the time they left, I was wasted. I spent most of the night in the kitchen, pretty anti-social of me, but I met all of the important people, including the legendary Brenna. Graham, Kate, Ben Levy and Marion were all there, as well. It was bizarre to look across the room and see someone whose site I've read for months and another person who I know has loved and hurt my Ben.



The trip, overall, was a blast. We double dated with Brenna and Brooke at a kick-ass breakfast place, saw Moulin Rouge (loved it), went to Ben's sister Emily's graduation and did a lot of hanging around - which the kids in Ann Arbor seem to do a lot of.



We also visited Ben's high school, Community High. This is Ann Arbor's "alternative" high school and it shows. Students call their teachers by their first names, they have forums, which are like homerooms but much more intense (they go on camping trips with their forums and stuff like that). There are rainbow stickers everywhere. It seems to be a very open, intense (albeit changing) place.



At Emily's graduation, the consensus became clear, these kids adore their school. At the ceremony, every student got a chance to speak on stage and about 75 percent of them talked about how Community allowed them to be free or find themselves, how they couldn't have survived in the city's other two high schools. The students are diverse, but most seem incredibly creative and intelligent. People used their stage time to recite beat poetry, play instruments, slam the administration and even spin turntables.



Let me say a few things about Ben's family. His parents are very nice. They seem like hippies who've become sort of WASPy. They're very open and cool, but traditional: dinner together (gasp!). Emily, his sister, is amazing. She's funny, a smarty (top five percent of her class), sarcastic and as open as they come. Seeing how strong the family's roots are, it's no wonder Ben is such am amazing kid.



It's definitely odd to see someone in their home environment for the first time, but it made me feel closer to Ben. And I really felt comfortable and at home for the most part. A lot of people must have thought of me as an intruder (and, honestly, I felt like I had to prove something to friends and family), but everyone treated my kindly - and I really appreciate it.



And, hey, did you hear about the pink house, where Madonna gave birth to a kid while she was attending U of M? :)

Back in NJ. I just booked my one-way (ah!) flight to Oakland. June 30. I had to delay it a week, but it's all finalized.



Now, I just have to figure out that pesky job situation.



(More on the Ann Arbor trip later...)

Dear Ben,



Wake up. It's 2 p.m., you bastard.



Love, TJ



P.S. I'm in Ann Arbor, MI, having a good time.