THE CARNIVAL OF THE BROWN BOY!

Love and Sex Edition!
(as I come to the realization that my last kiss was over five months ago...)



- Profgrrrrl says that size really doesn't matter. If someone that's almost tenured says it, it must be true, right?

- (I know I'm late with this one...) Maxim named Sarah Silverman the 29th hottest woman for 2007. I propose adding another digit to than ranking...

- I thought I might be getting better in my Catholicness. Then I saw these products (via BoingBoing, NSFW) and couldn't decide whether to be offended or laugh my ass off.

- A sociology professor at my alma mater has written a book about how religion influences the sex lives of teenagers. According to the book's findings, true love really does wait. At least for another 18 months or so...

- I'm kinda anxious to see "Knocked Up." Of course, we all know the premise is TOTALLY believable. I mean, hotties hook up with scruffy, tubby guys all the time! (And no, I'm not bitter.)

Maria, I've just met a girl named Maria/
and suddenly the name will never be the same to me...

Went to a birthday party last night at the house of an old friend. It was an 80's party, so I was rocking the skinny tie, tan sportcoat (collar up), and Chuck Taylors. Thundercats and Transformers t-shirts, bangle bracelets and crimped hair also made an appearance. (Sadly, most of the guests did their shopping at Hot Topic, I was the only one who went to Goodwill for my outfit.) I also was reminded of the awesomeness of Street Fighter II, and the difficulty of Ghosts'n'Goblins.

Earlier in the day, another friend sent me a text. She was in town from Austin and was wondering what I was doing for the Spurs game that night. I told her about the party, but she was going to a wedding, but said she'd try to make it afterwards. She arrived with her sister, wearing a shimmery brown and gold number. After introducing them to the party hosts and guest of honor, we went to the kitchen to get a beer. And that's when it started.

I've known this gal for over a decade, we first met at UT while attending a summer program before our freshman year began. We fell out of touch for a while, until a Chinese New Year party here in town where we ran into each other. A few weeks ago, another chance encounter at a downtown restaurant gave us another chance to catch up. This time, I got her number. I'd tried calling a few times whenever I was in Austin, but never successfully meeting up, until last night.

I'd always thought she was cute. She was also smart, first majoring in math, before going into communications. She's now getting her Ph.D. She's also brown, bucking a lifetime trend (first noticed by my mom) of Hispanic women not giving me the time of day.

We talked about how she was doing in Austin. She said that she was setting a social goal for herself of going out more, especially with guys. She told me there always seemed to be some sort of dealbreaker when it came to men. Too short, too round, not smart enough, not sarcastic enough, being a garage guy (code for pot smoking, which was going on in the garage of the house at the time).

"Ever try the online thing?" I asked.
"No," she said. "My friends usually try to set me up."

As you can probably tell by now, I like her a little. I'm trying not to go overboard this time as I've done in the past, but I know there's got to be some middle ground between "falling head over heels" and "I don't like you in that way." (link probably NSFW) What that is or where to find it, I don't know.

(via Pico's LJ...)

Your Score: Mohinder Suresh

You scored 37 Idealism, 54 Nonconformity, 45 Nerdiness

My father spent his life chasing after this insanity. Now I'm wasting mine trying to prove he was sane.Congratulations, you're Mohinder Suresh! You're a curious, passionate, and intelligent person. You're prone to changing your mind about the important things in life, though. You're interested in doing what you can to help people who are gifted with special abilities.
Your best quality: You're a maverick intellectual
Your worst quality: Your opinions can change rather quickly and suddenly

Link: The Heroes Personality Test written by freedomdegrees on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Today, a friend of mine from work came to my desk with a card and a package for my birthday. He's dating a friend of mine, and the gift was from both of them. The card read:

Just thought we would try to help you with your fantasy football! So don't open present here at work. Wait till you get to your car or home.

With a warning like that, I just HAD to have a peek at my desk. Breaking one of the pieces of tape, I pried open the box to reveal this book. "Great," I thought, "and only myself to perform a puppet show for."

After my shift ended, I took the box to my car to see what else was in store for me: a position of the day book by the good people at Nerve.com. After looking to see what fell on my birthday ("doubleclicking"), I went back to cursing my friends.

Honestly, I know they meant it as a gag, but I already know how much sex I'm not having. I don't need friends pointing it out to me as well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Today is my actual birthday, but yesterday was the big party. Turned out to have quite a few family members come out, along with a few friends. I was a bit disappointed in the number of work friends that came out (zero), but, as my mom told me earlier today, "The people that came are the ones that really care about you."

Brisket, basketball and beer were the order of the day. There would have been some swimming if clouds hadn't decided to make their presence known. After the game and clean-up, a buddy and I made an impromptu trip to Austin for Mexican food and drinks.

Today brings some rain, as well as a debate to get another sort of birthday gift later on. More than likely, it just means for time for me to sit and think about how to get to the "next level" that I've been telling friends about.

29... this is going to take some getting used to.

Oh, and one more thing...

my birthday is in a week. If you'd like to attend the party next weekend, drop me a line.

Last night was the Relay for Life. Thanks to a pretty creative fundraiser, our group raised over $1000. I also found out that I'm not the best prayer ever.

(When I say "prayer," I mean "one who prays." I don't know what that noun is, if anyone does, please help a brother out...)

A couple of people got together and constructed a cardboard cross which we invited members of the church to attach intentions to, written on paper hearts. Most of them were prayers in remembrance of those who died from cancer. Our intention was to dedicate one lap for each intention. After a few laps around the dirt track, and seeing how slowly the stack was diminishing, we decided to take one heart for each person walking that particular lap (in other words, if five people walked a certain lap, we had five people to pray for). After starting at 7:00 in the evening, we finished the stack at around 3 or 4 in the morning.

About halfway through the night, after reading yet another heart, I started wondering if my prayer actually made any difference. I realize part of the communion of the Church is praying for the intentions of others, but I started to doubt whether my contribution was worth it.

As much as I talk about being Catholic, I really don't pray that often, mostly because of my belief that I'm not much good at it. Some people, when called upon, can deliver the most beautiful, poetic and heartfelt prayers. When it comes my turn in most prayer circles, I usually just stammer about some insignificant concern that I'm going through at that time. ("Lord, show me your way when I decide what to order later at Chili's...") That's kind of what took me back a bit when my friend said that I'd make a good priest. (That, and the rampant self-abuse, but I digress.)

Don't get me wrong, I love my faith and my Church. But sometimes, I wish I could be better at being Catholic.

P.S. According to the good people at dictionary.com, "prayer" actually can mean "one who prays." Guess I am a cunning linguist after all...

Four words that made my night:

Golden State in six.

SEX...

is like fantasy football. Unless I'm involved, I don't want to hear about your participation in it.